John was on the Isle of Patmos, which is just off the coast of Miletus in the Aegean Sea. It was the Lord’s day, and he was given the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The image of the Christ before him was different than the one he had come to love while in Jerusalem. It was different than the resurrected Christ John saw in the locked room or off the coast of the Galilean Sea. He saw the exalted Christ, “and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength (Rev. 1:13-16). It is this Christ that stands in the middle of the churches and says, “I know your works…” It is this Christ that has thrown down the accuser from chapter 12.
In this chapter, Satan is shown to be the one that accuses us day and night of sin. “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘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 brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.’” (Rev. 12:9-11). Now that these things have come (salvation, power, the kingdom and the authority of Christ), the accuser has been thrown down. We are able to overcome because of these three things. The blood of the Lamb, the sacrifice for our sins so that they will be taken away and there will be nothing to accuse us of on the day of judgment. The word of our testimony, that is, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Acts 8:37). A love for God more than life (Rev. 2:10; Gal. 2:20).
If these three things are in place in our Christian lives, then we to can overcome what Satan will throw at us. We must be vigilant. Satan is still as a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8, 9). If we are abiding in the love of God by keeping his commandments, then we can be made as conquerors through His love (Rom. 8:33-39).