Revelation 12:11

And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.

This portion of the proleptic doxology, still being spoken by the angels of heaven, takes a still greater leap into the future and rejoices at the salvation of saints who would overcome by the blood of the Lamb and love the Lord even unto death. The big point of this doxology which John placed in the mouths of the angels is that Michael's victory had no saving power whatever. As a matter of fact it only resulted in Satan's being cast down to earth where his hatred of God was only multiplied, a hatred which he vented against God's human creation. Moffatt here probably understood this:

The author by a characteristic and dramatic prolepsis, anticipates the triumph of martyrs and confessors.[66]

This verse proves that the overthrow of Satan, as it regards human salvation, "has actually taken place, not through Michael, but through the power of the sacrifice of Christ."[67] Cox analyzed the things that would enter into the salvation of people thus: "the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and their self-sacrificing love."[68] It is clear that the event of Satan's being thrown down to earth was an ancient thing that did not enter at all into the procurement of salvation, except in the sense of being a feeble type of it. That is the way it is used in this passage.

[66] James Moffatt, Expositor's Greek New Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 427.

[67] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 203.

[68] Frank L. Cox, According to John (Austin, Texas: Firm Foundation Publishing House, 1948), p. 81.