Conquering by the Blood of the Lamb

Text: Rev. 12:7-12, Luke 10:17-20

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            You wouldn’t believe it if you just looked around with your eyes, but you are in the middle of a war. This very moment, forces are clashing, powers are hurling their utmost at one another. But this is not happening far away, in some distant part of the globe. It’s happening all around you. This war goes where you go. It roars around you throughout your daily routine, though you rarely catch a hint of it. It rages around you as you sleep, though I suspect you sleep through it each night. The reason why this war follows you is because you—yes, you—are the prize, the one this war is being fought over. And each side is determined to win you.

            I am not speaking figuratively. This is not myth or the exaggerations of fiction. I’m speaking in as real of terms as if I were telling you about the weather or giving you directions to Mariano’s. For it’s on this day, our observation of the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, that we are forced to come to terms with that little phrase in the Creed: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.” Today we talk about the invisible. Namely, we talk about the angels.

            We do well to talk about this teaching, at least once a year, because there’s a lot of misunderstanding and outright falsehood about angels circulating out there. But what can we expect from a world that refuses to hear what God would teach in His Word?

            Angels are a creation of God. They are not eternal. They had a beginning. That beginning is shrouded from us. We aren’t exactly sure when they were created, but very smart theologians through history have offered different answers, with good reasoning behind them. We know that angels are not the souls of humans who have died, nor do humans become angels when they die. Angels are a different species than humans. They were never created to have physical bodies, like we do, and so we know that our souls are different than those spirits.

            We also know that not all angels are good. About a third of the angels fell from good when Satan rebelled against God. We don’t know exactly when this happened chronologically. But we do know that the dragon, the old evil foe, the most ancient deceiver, deceived even some of the angels, who joined his lost cause in rebelling against the Almighty Triune God.

            After the rebellion, those angels that stayed with God were confirmed in their goodness and are now incapable of switching sides to the darkness. Likewise, the fallen angels, the demons, were set and confirmed in their rebellion, and now will never change sides to return to the light. Each angel or demon fights continually for their side, seeking to protect God’s people, or attack them, depending on their side; to take up the cause of heaven or hell, light or darkness, good or evil. Very often, the battlefield is our everyday life.

            It’s this part that we focus on today. We should always focus on what God is doing for us when we gather for any divine service, whether it’s on a feast day like today or a regular service. So today we’ll give particular attention to what God does for us through His servants the angels.

            When Jesus sent out the 72 disciples, just before the place where our Gospel reading picks up today, He sent them to preach that the kingdom of God was arriving in all the places He was about to visit. In every place where they proclaimed Jesus as the Savior, they were announcing that God was taking back the rule over that place. His gracious reign would be ushered in by their preaching. That might sound a little grandiose, but it wasn’t. Just as God works through simple, lowly, everyday means here and now—God’s forgiveness delivered through a weak pastor’s voice, Jesus’ body and blood coming to us in humble bread and wine, eternal life delivered through water and Word in Baptism—so too, the kingdom of God actually arrived through the humble preaching of the 72 disciples Jesus sent. That meant that in the great war between heaven and hell, heaven was gaining ground. Everywhere Jesus was preached, Satan and his angels were driven out. They had nowhere to hide. They had no ammunition anymore because these 72 were forgiving sins in Jesus’ name. There were no more accusations to be made, so the accuser and his demons were out of a job, cast out of heaven as there was no sin to accuse God’s people of anymore.

            So when the 72 returned to Jesus in awe over these victories, Jesus explained what was happening, the invisible war being won: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” Satan was weaponless, toothless. God will hear no more of the accuser’s charges against humanity because Jesus has shown up and taken our side. He shed His blood, took our punishment, bore our sins on the cross. The victory was being won, completed when He said, “It is finished” on the cross and sealed the triumph at the empty tomb.

            Notice how this victory is spoken of in our readings today. Satan has fallen from his position of power and authority, like lightning falling fast and permanently to the ground. Listen to the loud voice from heaven in our reading from Revelation: “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb”. Jesus takes away all the sins that Satan could register against us. We conquer by the blood of the Lamb. Because that blood takes away the sin of the world, the accuser is thrown down and banished from God’s presence forever.

            That’s not to say that the evil one has given up though. “But woe to you, O earth and sea,” the loud voice from heaven continues, “for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” This is where St. Michael and all the Lord’s angels come in. They defend God’s people from the wrath of the devil. They wage war and restrain the demons that would tempt or accuse us in our waking hours. When we sleep, we’re kept safe from the fallen angel’s plots and attacks because the Lord’s angels keep watch over us. They even take hold of events in the world, unseen hands directing things to the benefit of God’s people, like the war with Persia that Daniel mentioned in our Old Testament reading: “The prince of kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days,” the Son of Man said to Daniel, “but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days.” Michael and the angels under his command will continue to protect God’s people, including you. Daniel continues, “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.” The idea of an unseen war around us, a time of trouble, can be overwhelming, but we’re also comforted in the end. God cares for us in ways we can see every day, and in unseen ways through the angels.

            So we conquer. By the blood of the Lamb and the witness to Jesus given by all believers to strengthen us, we conquer. But as a parting word, Jesus reminds us that this victory over the fallen spirits is not the true reason for our joy or confidence. They’ve already been defeated anyway, so their loss was inevitable. Jesus crushed them at His cross and resurrection. Rather, the cause of your joy, your confidence, is that your name is written in heaven. Your name, first spoken in God’s presence at Baptism, is written in the Lamb’s blood in the book of life. You know how this story ends. It ends with you singing with angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven, as we’re about to do in a few moments, as we’ll continue to do for eternity. In the name of Jesus, the Lord of Sabaoth. Amen.