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The Word of Their Testimony


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 12:11)

          This verse gave me pause. It’s from Revelation. That means the people described have to be Tribulation Saints, doesn’t it? I didn’t capitalize the words by mistake. Aren’t Tribulation Saints a different breed from the rest of us? They’re the Rottweilers or some sort of war dog. I’m more of a Pug with delusions of grandeur. 
          And God whispered one of His marvelous bits of wisdom. They might be Rottweilers, and I may be a fat little pug, but both breeds have teeth to use as weapons, and those teeth are the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Testimony, in the legal sense, is a statement of what we have experienced, what we have seen, and what we know to be true based on that experience and witness. Our opinions don’t count. It’s very much the same in a religious sense, except we and the people to whom we tell it are the judges.  
          So, if we really believed what we say we have believed, what God has told us in His Word, would we also not love our lives so much as to shrink from death?

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