There is a misconception about the gospel that has, unfortunately, become common among modern believers in Jesus. Especially those who, like me, are American and Evangelical. The misconception is that the gospel is mainly, or even entirely, about being rescued from hell so that we can live forever with Jesus. Now don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. It’s not a misconception that Christ did this; he absolutely did, and it is absolutely good news. No, the misconception is that this is the main point of the gospel. In reality, the gospel that is revealed in Scripture is more than just that. A lot more.
Most Christians know that the word “gospel” means a proclamation of good news, and many modern translations will say “good news” instead of “gospel.” The original Greek word is euangelion. As for what this “good news” actually entails, Scripture says:
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:14-15).
Personal salvation from sin and its consequences is, undeniably, very good news indeed. But the really good news, according to Jesus, is that “the kingdom of God has come near.” Similarly, we read in the last book of the New Testament:
Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth – to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (Revelation 14:6-7).
In Revelation, the gospel is not only that God’s kingdom has come, it’s also that God has begun his judgment of the earth. Does that sound strange to you too? That the judgment of God is good news? Then let’s dig in and see if we can unpack it.
Two chapters earlier, in Revelation 12, the Apostle John described a vision of a pregnant woman being pursued by a seven-headed dragon. The woman gave birth to a son who, we’re told, “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter” (Revelation 12:5), an unmistakable reference to Psalm 2:7-9. It’s pretty clear that this child should be identified as Jesus. If there’s any doubt, the fact that the text also says he is taken up to God’s throne in heaven settles it. But something that I think is very interesting comes right after that. The woman flees into the wilderness and then we read:
Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him (Revelation 12:7-9).
In the earlier chapters of Revelation we can see God strike the earth with plagues, and demonic armies are let loose on the earth to kill and to torture. This chapter, however, is the first time we’re told that there is war in heaven as well as on earth. The passage also identifies the dragon of the vision as the devil, and we see that his actions are a danger not just to the earth, but to heaven as well. He is a cosmic level threat, at least until he is driven out.
Now, in the text, this scene of battle in heaven occurs immediately after the child is taken up to God’s throne, and immediately before the dragon charges off to attack the child’s mother. This seems to suggest that the battle occurred, in earthly terms, during the period between the ascension of Christ in Acts 1 and the beginning of the persecution of the church in Acts 8. This is noticeably different from the very common idea that the devil was thrown out of heaven not long after the beginning of the world – an idea that, I think, draws more from Milton’s Paradise Lost than it does from the Bible. However, I think caution is appropriate in trying to develop any kind of timeline. John was describing events from heaven’s perspective, not earth’s, and there is no compelling reason to assume that time works the same way, or even that John was seeing things in chronological order.
Regardless of the timing, we see that even though the battle is fought in heaven, it appears to have been won because of events on earth. Reading this, you might be thinking, “well of course; it was Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection that won the victory.” That would certainly be the first thing that would come to my mind. But, interestingly, that’s not what the Scripture says:
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death
(Revelation 12:10-11).
“They” triumphed over him. Who are “they?” They are the ones who are covered by the blood of the Lamb, and who have a testimony to give, and who are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of God’s kingdom. That’s not something angels do; this passage is talking about martyrs in the church.
We’re not shown the actual way that Christian martyrs on earth gave Michael and his angels the victory in heaven. There’s no indication here that the church is praying for this battle, or even knows that it is being fought. And it might well be that the actual means by which this victory occurred is beyond human understanding. In any case, the Holy Spirit did not think it was necessary to explain to John, or to us, how it had all worked, merely to tell us that it had. And to show us that it happened, not just because of Christ’s sacrifice, but also because of the sacrifice made by many in Christ’s body, the church.
If I take this passage seriously, then, I have to accept that spiritual warfare is much, much more than just confronting and casting out demons. According to the Scriptures, God’s angels threw the devil out of heaven because believers on earth trusted in Christ’s blood, spoke the word of God, and remained faithful even when it meant their own death.
This passage gives a new perspective on Paul’s words to the Corinthian church:
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).
That is, our weapons are not just different than worldly weapons, they make absolutely no sense from a worldly point of view. Peter had something similar to say:
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming (2 Peter 3:11-12).
In other words, in some way that I don’t really understand, my obedience and my faithfulness work both to defeat the devil and to speed the return of Christ. If that’s true, then my disobedience and my lack of faithfulness must work against those things. That’s pretty heavy.
The dragon was a cosmic threat. Having been hurled out of heaven, he is that no longer. But he is still a threat to “the earth and the sea.” Perhaps even more of one now that his focus is no longer divided. John has already told us that the devil “leads the whole world astray.” His most important weapons, in other words, are not swords or guns, but lies. The devil’s primary attack against the church, and against the human race, has never been persecution, but rather deception.
And we, in return, can not defeat the dragon with physical force, but with the truth; by speaking it (Ephesians 4:15), but just as importantly, by living it. Even when living the truth costs us everything. But how can dying for the truth of Christ’s kingdom be winning? Just look at what that truth is:
The truth is that Christ has overcome death (Hebrews 2:14-15). The truth is that the resurrection of the dead has already begun (1 Corinthians 15:23-24). And the Holy Spirit is reminding the church in this passage that a major part of defeating the dragon is demonstrating that death has no power over us. This is not a call to go looking for martyrdom, but it is a call to remain faithful no matter what. Whatever the devil, or the world, might threaten; my job, my finances, my house, my freedom, my health, even my life, it doesn’t matter. All those things are for me to use as long as they are useful in advancing the kingdom, and then to let go of, because I know the truth about death, and about life. Giving up everything, even my life, demonstrates the truth in a way that overcomes the devil’s lies.
This is the truth that too many of us in the church have forgotten. Holding on to Christ and letting everything else go is not a defensive tactic; it’s an offensive one. It’s how the devil was hurled down from heaven, and how God’s kingdom becomes manifest on earth.
Does it work? Immediately after the devil was thrown down, a voice announced from heaven:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah
(Revelation 12:10).
But, interestingly, in the chapter just before this one, John tells us about seven angels with trumpets. He says in chapter 11 that when the seventh angel blew his trumpet there was a voice from heaven which said:
The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever
(Revelation 11:15).
And at the end of the battle in heaven, after the dragon has been thrown out of heaven, we read:
Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But 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.
(Revelation 12:12-12).
Just after Christ’s kingdom is proclaimed over the earth (Revelation 11:15), we see his kingdom proclaimed over heaven (Revelation 12:10). The Holy Spirit is showing us a wider view of the war, but the events are, pretty obviously, not shown in chronological order; instead, they appear in dramatic order. We see victory on earth followed by fighting in heaven. Then we see victory in heaven and fighting on earth.
Seen from this perspective, we are not just holding on, trying to survive until Jesus comes. Rather, we ourselves are the conquering army, establishing the kingdom of God on earth while we wait for our king to arrive in triumph. Jesus is not coming to save the day; he did that already. When he returns, it will be to rule the kingdom that we, his body, are even now winning. But paradoxically, the way we establish God’s kingdom is not by violence or by political action, or even by casting out demons. It’s by living faithfully as his witnesses, even to the point of laying down our lives rather than disobey him.
And there’s a sense here that what we’re seeing is both already fulfilled and also not yet finished. This is the “already and not yet” pattern that can be seen in so much of the New Testament. The devil is, right now, defeated, and at the same time we are engaged in fierce combat with him, because he is “filled with fury.”
The picture John is building is that of God’s people, oppressed and persecuted, and yet at the same time, victorious. And that, I think, is a critical point; God does not give us the victory after we’ve suffered, but while we’re suffering. Enduring persecution and remaining faithful is not about surviving until God comes to our rescue; it’s how we conquer the world. Patient endurance is an offensive weapon, and not a defense at all. We’re not trying to defend ourselves. We don’t need to defend ourselves, because death has no claim on us (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).
To the original readers of Revelation, I think this passage would have been understood as establishing the context for what they would soon experience. Rome had been persecuting Christians, and more persecution was on the way. But through John, the Holy Spirit tells them to look beyond Rome to see that the real threat is not a human empire, it’s the dragon. That’s a reminder we need today as well. We are not at war with ungodly human institutions, but with something vastly older and more subtle. Something that is both already defeated, and still fighting furiously.
And this is why I said at the beginning of this article that the gospel is not just that you and I have been saved from sin to spend eternity with Jesus. That’s part of it, but only part. The true gospel is that the kingdom of God is at hand. More than that, God’s judgment is at hard. Every thing that is wrong with the world is being set right. Every. Single. Thing. And thanks be to Jesus, we who trust in him are right in the middle of that; first because he saved us, but then also because, through us, he is overthrowing the devil and turning all of his evil into opportunities to do good (Genesis 50:20). It is certainly good news that Christ has saved me, by dying for me on the cross, when I could do nothing for myself. But the real good news is not just that I, or you, or even all of us together have been saved, it’s that the great rebellion against God has been defeated, and evil has been overcome. All of it. Everywhere. The good news is that, not only have we been rescued, but through faith in Christ we have overcome the world.
In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith (1 John 5:3-4).