Enormous Conflict
As it was seen in the general impressions of the Gospels earlier,[1] so it is that this last great section of the New Testament canon of Scripture lays special emphasis upon the enormous conflict, the initiation of which was recorded in Genesis 3:15. This is indeed the conflict of the ages, and this book reveals its consummation as far as its progress on this present earth is concerned.[2]
The book of Job provides a “behind the scenes” glimpse of this terrible conflict on an individual basis. But the book of Revelation draws back the curtain to reveal this conflict on a truly global scale. By the time the Bible student comes to the book of Revelation, this conflict has intensified enormously. It is to be seen on every page of this book with little or no veil drawn over it.
There are at least three reasons why the conflict seems to intensify as one enters into the book of Revelation, and the events recorded therein.
God sovereignly permits the hosts of darkness greater liberty to torment the sons of men, as in chapter 9.
Satan knows that his time is short, so he intensifies his efforts to bring men into perdition. (Revelation 12:12)
It has always been true that the greatest things God does are most mightily opposed by Satan. Without a doubt some of the greatest things God is ever going to do with regard to this earth are being described in the book of Revelation. It is a sort of “Satan’s Last Stand.”
The most significant aspect of the enormous conflict revealed in this book is the fact of the overwhelming triumph of the Lamb over Satan and his hosts. In the history of the churches of Christ on the earth it has often been true that this great book has been called upon to provide encouragement to the saints when the conflict has grown intense. Another writer says the following in regard to this fact.
And so, it has happened again and again in the history of the church that when all secular securities were swept away and all human guarantees of triumph were lost, men have turned to this book. They turned to this book, which looks with the same unperturbed clarity of vision upon the face of Satan and upon the face of God and His Anointed and sees written in both the triumph of God and His Christ. Men have turned to this book and have found the strength not only to endure, but to sing. The doxologies of the book of Revelation have echoed in the church most mightily just when men as men could find no cause for songs of praise.[3]
Repeatedly throughout the book the Lord Jesus Christ is seen as the conquering Lamb Whose power is so mighty that Satan and his legions are powerless before Him.
An important lesson to be learned by all of God’s true saints who read this book, then, is that the foe who is arrayed against them is a defeated foe. However much he may rage and bluster, the One Who is in them is infinitely greater. We are, indeed, more than conquerors in Christ.
[1] Dr. Charles L. Parker, Painting with Broad Brushstrokes #1 (Columbia, S. C., USA: Amazon Press, 2015), 9-12. [2] Please see Appendix A. [3] Franzmann, p.276.