The Thrill of Victory and The Apparency of Defeat

An old television program called Wild World of Sports opened with a heart-wrenching sequence showing a professional skier’s harrowing accident as an example of the agony of defeat.

In high school while working on my car in my driveway, I witnessed an out-of-control, unlicensed driver skid around a corner, slam into a female crossing guard, throw her like a rag doll into the air and onto a yard a good ten feet from where she once stood in the street.

The competitive skier from Wide World of Sports and the crossing guard from my childhood both lived, even though it appeared that they could have died.

Looks can be deceiving. A snapshot does not show the whole story of what happened before and what life is like after a single event.

Out of Babylon

Nonbelievers act without regard to Christian beliefs, not seeing the church as a threat to the global agenda but as a speed bump to drive over on the way to establishing a new world system. 

Look at how many Christians have fallen by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. The United States of America, including much of the church, has come to represent what Babylon in the Bible stands for. Babylon in Revelation goes up in flames, and similarly, some have seen visions of America burning. Even now, the once thriving culture of the U.S. and the prominence it once enjoyed in the world appear to be going up in smoke. 

The Lord tells believers in Messiah to come out of Babylon. By listening to God’s call, the true church comes out or is coming out of the deceitful Babylonian system. This guarantees we will not be judged along with the whore who has corrupted the world with her whoredom. 

War Against the Beast 

Fleeing Babylon frees us from the influence and consequences of following Babylonian customs. Christ also grants us victory over the beast system, which, unlike Babylon, is characterized by violence, death, terror and destruction. 

Victorious Christians are being raised in righteousness, a righteousness that has defeated the antichrist spirit and rejects the deceitful tenets of Islam. The unwise only see in snapshots distorted by the lens of unprincipled thinking. They are either not willing or unable to distinguish between war against people verses war against an evil philosophy of murder and terror.

Victory on Behalf of the Saints

The remnant church not only experiences the victory of coming out of Babylon, which rose to power on the wings of lust, but also overcomes the image, mark, and number of the beast by the blood of Jesus the Lamb of God, the word of their testimony, and by not loving their lives unto death.

This brings us back to where we started. 

Those intentionally or unknowingly living godless lives do not realize that the things they see are not as they seem. Christians must not fall into the same trap. We must obey the voice of Christ not to be blinded by the increased darkness, especially when we are tempted to get caught up with all that’s happening in the world rather than being caught up with Him. 

People of the world fail to look beyond their own desires, but we who trust in God must forsake what we so easily and selfishly hold to. The unbelieving and disobedient cannot see the reign of righteousness God has established through Christ, but the truth is that God is preparing His bride without spot or wrinkle no matter what may appear to be.

Neither the new world order nor the beast system will win. The Kingdom of God will prevail until all the enemies of Christ are under His feet. Messiah’s reign will crush all other kingdoms. It will become a mountain far above every other mountain, and all people will be drawn to it. 

Christians have been the victims of the world, but God comes to declare victory on behalf His people, not because of our righteousness but on the basis of Christ’s death and victorious resurrection from the dead for us. This is the deliverance from the time of Jacob's troubles. This is also what drove the enemy out of heaven and frees us eternally from his accusations.

Glorious Triumph of The Lord Jesus Christ

God’s gift of redemption is the scarlet thread connecting every believer from the age of creation to the present age and into the age to come, the age of the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells. 

We have nothing to fear. Instead, we have an everlasting basis for confidence. Christ has overcome the world, and in righteousness by faith in the blood of the Lamb, so do we. 

Those who are overcoming have died and their life is hidden with Christ in God. He has purchased our victory, raised us to life, and has forever defeated the enemy on our behalf. We are called to be caught up with Christ and trust completely in Him for the grace to be given us at His revealing.