“The Greatest
Intro.: A number of years ago I watched a series on
PBS that recounted the American Civil War battle by battle. When the letters of the soldiers were read
each one described the conflict in which he was involved as the greatest,
expounding upon the bravery and honor of the soldiers on each side. But when one considers the great loss of
life, the pain, suffering and destruction to humanity none of these can be
viewed as great.
In fact the greatest battle ever fought was
the one in which only one human life was sacrificed so that all mankind could
be spared. This battle that took place
outside of
The first reason we consider the battle
described in our epistle as the greatest ever, is because it involved..
I. THE GREATEST PARTICIPANTS.
A. In it the most cruel and vicious of all enemies
took up arms against God and the people He loves. It is important that we hear John’s
description of this enemy and truly believe in the existence of the devil and
his evil angels. This world’s attempts
to reduce the devil to an impotent little man in a red suit armed with a
pitchfork or to view demonic spirits as nothing but computer generated works of
1. First John describes our enemy as the “great
dragon” and “ancient serpent” who, along with his angels, fought in the
heavenly realms.
John’s depiction of this dragon from
earlier verses presents him as an extremely ferocious, murderous, beastly and
cruel pretender to the throne of God who pursues and seeks to devour the people
God loves and claims.
He is the very same serpent who through
lies and deceit led Adam and Eve into sin, and still attacks us using the same
tactics; twisting God’s word, raising doubts regarding God’s goodness, and trying
to convince us to put ourselves in God’s place at the center of our lives.
2. John goes on to give our enemy names by which
we can know him. He is Satan or the
devil, the adversary of God and man. His evil is beyond our imagination; first
he leads the whole world astray and his horde of demons lure us into sin and
then He seeks to lay claim to us for eternity by mercilessly accusing us of that
same sin, night and day, before God.
This enemy, his soldiers, and the heavenly
warfare in which they engage are not like worldly conflicts. For us the most horrible battle is a
spiritual one fought against the evil forces in the heavenly realms, as
Satan and his demonic forces convince themselves that they are in
control of this world and that they have successfully snatched us from God’s
hands. And, if it were not for the
greatest battle, it would be true. We
would all be enslaved to the devil by sin, condemned to live under his dominion
in fear and anguish, without God and without hope in our world. But our heavenly Father would not allow
it. Instead, He set in motion his plans
of war against the evil one to silence him forever.
B. The greatest battle described by John does not
involve only the most cruel and vicious of enemies, it
also involves the noblest heroes.
1. The actual hero in this battle is our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God who became man.
He is the Lamb of God who by one act of righteousness, the shedding of
his blood, crushes the head of the ancient serpent and sets us free from our
slavery to sin, death and the devils power.
2. His army of angels is commanded by the
archangel Michael, who appeared to Joshua at
3. These angelic heroes have served and continue
to serve God and everyone of us. They watch over us, guard and protect us, as: “ministering
spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation..” (Heb. 1:14) Through their fearless and tireless efforts
they have won…
II. THE GREATEST DECISIVE VICTORY.
A. The victory was won by Christ’s holy life, sacrificial
death, and resurrection and ascension to heaven to sit upon his throne and rule
all things for the sake of His Church.
1. By living a holy life in our place Jesus has
totally disarmed Satan. Now, when God
looks at us He does not see the filth of sin into which the enemy has led us,
but only the pure white robe of Christ’s righteousness that covers us. As the apostle writes, “For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by
the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. (Rom
2. On the cross, Jesus received what Satan says
we all deserve; to be cursed by God and to suffer the wage of sin which is
death.
3. After His death on the cross our Lord Jesus
rose again in victory, and ascended into heaven to take His rightful place at
the throne of God. With this He took
away Satan’s power to accuse us.
Because Jesus defeated the enemy for us scripture declares: “There is therefore now no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus. For the
law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin
and death… What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us?… Who shall bring any charge against God's
elect? It is God who justifies. Who is
to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed
is interceding for us. (
B. The angelic battle was the clean-up.
1. Christ’s victory sealed our enemies doom. When He took His place upon the heavenly
throne His first order of business was to banish Satan and his evil band from
heaven forever.
2. It was the duty, yes and privilege, of
Michael and the holy angels of God to throw Satan and his evil army out of
heaven and to hurl them down to the earth.
3. And these holy angelic beings continue to
serve and protect us from evil. Each
morning and evening we have been taught to pray that the Lord would give His
holy angel charge over us so that the wicked foe may have no power over us, and
so He does. Day and night they watch
over us and with the power of the Word drive away our enemies and silence the
accusations of the devil. Because he has
been cast from heaven his accusing voice and pointing finger mean nothing. One little Word has defeated him, Jesus. At that name even Satan must bow and confess
the Lordship of God’s Son. Through the
Gospel our spiritual enemy is now bound by everlasting chains and held in
darkness until the day of judgment.
In this greatest of all battles we have
received the greatest decisive victory in Christ resulting in…
III. THE GREATEST OUTCOME OF ANY
A. The foremost outcome of the battle waged by
Michael and the angels is the glory of the Lord.
1. Today, here and around the world, and for all
eternity, men and angels join in singing the song of salvation. We sing of the feast of victory for our
God! We sing of the Lamb of God who was
slain and has now begun His reign! We
sing of the salvation of the world which has been worked by God’s mercy and
grace! We sing of the joy we have
because our names are written in heaven!
We sing because…
2. God’s kingdom and power are exalted above all
things through His Son who has once for all defeated the great dragon and
ancient serpent who seeks to accuse us.
3. God is glorified because His Son, Jesus Christ
is worshiped as King over all for us and for our salvation.
B. Because of this there is another great
outcome of this great spiritual battle:
peace and victory for us.
1. Not only is there
now peace and quiet in heaven, but everyone of us can now live in the peace of
God’s love without fear of accusation, condemnation or punishment. As John writes: “By
this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment… There is no fear in love, but perfect love
casts out fear.” (1 Jn 4:17-18)
We have been freed to live at peace with
God and without fear because we have the promise that we share in Christ’s
victory over death. As
Paul writes: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O
death, where is your sting?" The
sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. (1Co 15:54b-57)
C. The last outcome of the greatest battle which
has been waged for us, is that it gives a warning and the
promise of protection for those who dwell on earth.
1. One aspect of our epistle that must not be
forgotten is that our enemy, through rendered powerless in the heavenly realms,
has been cast down upon us. The voice from heaven says: “…woe
to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that
his time is short.” (v.12) Again in the verses that follow our reading it
says that He is “enraged at the woman”
[that is the church] and has [gone]off to make war
against the rest of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold
to the testimony of Jesus.” (v.17) Peter
likewise warns us that “the devil prowls
around like a roaring lion seeking
someone to devour” and encourages us to “resist
him” (1 Pet. 5:8). This warning,
however, comes with a promise.
2.
Christ and the holy angels continue to protect you. Christ, and His
angels have provided us with all that we need to overcome all our spiritual
enemies. We have the full armor of
God. We have the protection of God and
His mighty angels. And above all we have
the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony about Christ. There in the pure waters of holy baptism the
devil is drowned, there as we partake of the body and blood of the Lamb given
and shed for the forgiveness of sins the dragon and ancient serpent are
crushed, and in the Word read, proclaimed, and sung the accusing voices of demons
are silenced and the devouring mouth of the lion is muzzled.
Because of the greatest battle and our
greatest heroes, we have the greatest victory and the greatest life now and
forever. Amen.