God’s Church In Our Day

As might be expected, the dragon is still angry with God’s people. The great unseen war continues. In fact, Satan makes his greatest attack on the church just before Jesus comes. Note the last act in the drama at the conclusion of the prophecy:

“Then the dragon [the devil] was enraged at the woman [God’s church] and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
—Revelation 12:17.

This prophecy focuses on our day. Satan is enraged; he wages war on “the rest of” the woman’s “offspring”—God’s contemporary people. Notice that the final Christian church has certain identifying marks: they “obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

1. These last-day believers “hold to the testimony of Jesus.” Clinging faithfully to the pure doctrines of the Word of God, they testify for Jesus through dynamic Christian living. They have discovered that the great truths of the Bible awaken love and devotion to Christ. A caring people, they want to share with others the joys of living “in Christ.”

2. These last-day Christians are a people of prophecy. Receiving “the testimony of Jesus Christ” enabled John to write the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:1-3). The final group of believers receive a similar gift: direct testimonies from God through an earthly messenger. John defines “the testimony of Jesus” as “the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). Their gift of prophecy focuses their eyes on God’s revelation of their mission and their final destiny.

3. These last-day Christians are also identified as “those who obey God’s commandments.” They not only defend the integrity of the Ten Commandments, they also obey them. “God has poured out His love into [their] hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). God’s love produces joyful obedience (Romans 13:8-10).

The apostolic church demonstrated a loyalty to the commandments of God, and these last-day Christians take the same stand: following the example of Christ and the early church in obeying the commandments of God. This greatly provokes our enemy, the dragon. The devil wages war with “the rest of” the woman’s “offspring” because they bear witness to a great truth: genuine love for God produces obedient disciples. As Jesus charged: