Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 274 · October 1
The Accuser Cast Down
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
Where does the voice come from that reads your record back to you at two in the morning, in order, with dates?
Revelation gives that voice a job title. The accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Day and night describes a workload. The room is a court, the charges are specific, and the prosecution never rests.
Then the verdict. Notice that nobody disputes the facts. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, which means the case collapsed on payment. The charges stood. Paul stands in the same courtroom and asks the two questions it exists for: Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? John names the third figure at the table: we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
The other two clauses have to be kept honest, because they get sold as a technique. By the word of their testimony means they said something out loud, in the room, about whose they were. And they loved not their lives unto the death means these people died. This describes martyrs, and turning it into a method for surviving a difficult week is how the verse gets emptied.
Next time the reading starts, do not argue the facts; they are mostly accurate and you will lose. Answer with the one line the passage gives you, out loud if you are alone, and notice how short it is: the blood of the Lamb. That will not make the voice stop tonight. It is what is true while it carries on, and you were never the one asked to build a case.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 274 is Freely Loved (Hosea 14:4).