«　WEEK 44　DAY 5　»

　　Rev. 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony…

　　1 John 3:8 …For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

　　They also overcame the enemy by “the word of their testimony” [Rev. 12:11]. This is their word testifying that the devil has been judged by the Lord. Whenever we sense the devil's accusation, we should verbally testify how the Lord has already dealt with him…We need to testify not only to men but also to the demons, saying, “Demons, you must be reminded that Satan, your king, has been defeated by my Lord Jesus Christ. You should not be here troubling me.” Along with testifying to the demons, you need to preach to Satan, saying, “Satan, don't you know that you have been crucified on the cross? You have been judged, and your destination is the lake of fire.” This is the testimony of your verbal word. Do not simply keep these thoughts in your mind—you must utter them to Satan…I have preached to the demons and to Satan. That preaching was not for their repentance; it was a repellent…The demons are not afraid of what I am, but they are afraid of what the blood is. We need to apply the blood. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 409-410)

　　The second thing is that the brothers overcame him “because of the word of their testimony.” When our conscience is without offense, then our mouth can give testimony. When there is an accusation in our conscience, we can utter nothing. It seems that the more we speak, the lower our voice becomes. The meaning of testimony here is to testify to others, not to one's self. When you have the blood before God, you will have boldness before God, and you will have a testimony before man. Not only will you testify that sinners can be forgiven and man can be accepted because of Christ, but you will further testify of God's kingdom. “Testimony” means to tell others what there is in Christ, and the word of testimony is something which must be spoken forth. The overcomers must frequently proclaim the victory of Christ. Satan fears the most when this fact is repeated again and again. It is a fact that the kingdom of heaven will come; it is a fact that the Lord is King; it is a fact that Christ is victorious and forever victorious; it is a fact that Satan is defeated; it is a fact that the strong man has been bound and legally condemned; it is a fact that Christ has destroyed all the work of Satan on the cross. When we declare all of these facts, we have the testimony.

　　It is the word of testimony that gives Satan the greatest fear…Satan does not fear when we talk theology or when we expound the Scriptures, but he does fear when we declare the spiritual facts. “Jesus is Lord” is a spiritual fact…When someone declares in faith that Jesus is Lord, Satan fears. He does not fear our preaching or theology, but the word of our testimony. It is a spiritual fact that the name of Jesus is above every other name. We must declare it in faith, not only to men, but also to Satan. We often speak for Satan to hear; we purposely speak for him to hear. We call this the word of testimony. Even when we are alone in our room we can proclaim aloud, “Jesus is Lord.” We can say, “The Lord Jesus is stronger than the strong man,” or, “The Son of God has already bound Satan,” etc. This is the word of our testimony.

　　We proclaim that Jesus is Lord, that the Lord is victorious, that Satan has been trodden under His feet. We further proclaim that the Lord has given us authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy…The word of testimony causes Satan to lose his ground. When we give the word of testimony, we give Satan a blow. The work of the Lord has not only given us the blood to protect us, but also the word of testimony by which we can defeat Satan. (CWWN, vol. 34, “The Glorious Church,” pp. 90-91, 93-94)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 34, “The Glorious Church,” ch. 4