Sermon Transcript

0:00:14.0

Well, let’s start with a little exercise this morning, a game of opposites.  All right?  In your notes there you should have a way to play along this morning.  A game of opposites.  I'm gonna say a word, and then I want you to write down the opposite.  All right?  So get out your notes, get out a little pen or pencil or something to write with there.  Here are some words, just simple words, you write down the opposite.  Number 1, before.  (After.)  Okay.  Just write it down.  It's not a responsive game.  You write it down, then we're gonna score it later, okay?  Let’s try this again.  Before, number 2 is black, men, day and good.  Now, just take a moment, write it down.  See how you're gonna do here in a moment.  Score yourself.  Don’t look at your neighbor’s score here, don’t be peeking for answers.  All right.  Here are the answers.  Before, the opposite is what?  After.  Black?  (White.)  Men?  (Women.)  Day?  (Night.)  Good?  (Bad, evil.)  Okay.  Bad or evil.  We’ll give you credit for either one of those.  

0:01:23.2

All right.  Here's a sixth one I'm gonna give to you.  Are you ready for this?  And this one trumps all the others.  You get this one right, you get a 100% on the test here this morning.  You get it wrong, you get everything wrong.  The word is God.  (Satan.)  I thought you would say that.  I thought you would say the opposite of God is the devil.  If you did you got to mark it wrong, because God has no opposite.  The devil is not the opposite of God, because God is in a category all unto Himself, is He not?  The devil is not the opposite of God.  The devil is not all-powerful, he's not all-knowing, he's not everywhere at all times, right?  He's not omnipotent, he's not omniscient, he's not omnipresent.  No, the devil is limited in his power and in his knowledge and in his presence.  That's why he's not the opposite of God.  God is all-powerful, He's omnipotent.  He's all-knowing, He's omniscient.  He is omnipresent, we say.  He is everywhere at all times.  He has no opposite.  The devil is a created being, once created as an angel, a beautiful angel named Lucifer, the Bible tells us.  God is not a created being.  He exists eternally.  “From everlasting to everlasting, you are God,” the psalmist says.  So God, in every category we could possibly imagine, God has no opposite.  

0:03:01.9

Now, why is that important for us to understand?  Why start there with this little exercise this morning?  Because that's important theology to understand as we dive into Revelation chapter 12.  And in Revelation chapter 12 John sees in this vision a great sign…actually, two great signs.  He sees a great red dragon who pours out great wrath upon this earth, and He sees a great eagle that helps a woman take flight and escape the wrath of the great red dragon.  And John also sees…if you can imagine this, if you can factor this into your theology this morning…he sees war breaking out in, of all places, heaven.  War between the good angels of heaven and the bad angels of hell.  War, as it were, between God and, not His opposite, the devil, but His nemesis.  This fallen angel known as Satan, or the devil.  War breaks out in heaven, and John gives us a picture of that.  We got to have our theology right when it comes to our understanding of who God is and how He operates in this world, and even as it relates to Satan, the devil, the demons and all of that.  So with that in mind, let’s dive into these first six or seven verses where John sees two great signs.

0:04:27.2

He says in verse 1, “And a great sign appeared in heaven.”  And then a little bit later, “another sign appeared in heaven.”  Now, this gonna thrust us into the role of Bible interpreters, because the two signs have to do with a woman and a great red dragon.  And the question is, do we take this literally in the sense that he’s talking about a real, you know, human, physical woman, a female?  And what's all this business about a dragon?  Well, fortunately John calls these two “signs, great signs,” which helps us interpret this.  It helps us understand that he's talking about this woman and a great red dragon being symbolic of something else.  So as good Bible students and interpreters, we have to figure out what is the woman, this great sign, and this great sign of a great red dragon, what are they symbols of?  Who are they, what are they doing and why are they significant in John’s vision?  

0:05:28.2

Well, let’s start with the great woman.  John says in verse 1, “a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”  Now, you can imagine in 2,000 years of Church history how Bible interpreters have been all over the map as to who this woman is.  The Catholic Church immediately runs to Mary, the mother of Jesus.  They say this is Mary, this woman who has this clothing of sun, the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars.  In fact, in 1678 and Italian artist named Murillo painted a portrait of this great woman in Revelation chapter 12 and called it The Mystery of the Immaculate Conception.  Even the artist Murillo said, “Hey, this has got to be Mary.  If there's any woman that Revelation 12 is speaking of, it's got to be Mary, the mother of Jesus.”  The problem is, you would have Mary giving birth to her male child, Jesus, in heaven, not on earth.  So it's really hard to press this into the Mariology of Catholic theology.  Others have said, “No, this is the Church.  This must be a symbol of the Church in some way.”  But here you have the Church giving birth to Jesus, the male child mentioned here.  And actually, that's the other way around.  Jesus gives birth to the Church.  So we can't really press the Church into this.  The Christian Scientists believe that this is Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Scientist movement.  And that's a huge stretch.  I mean, where did they ever come up with that?  Well, I guess because Mary Baker Eddy’s a woman and she was the founder of the Christian…then this must be Mary Baker Eddy, right?  No, that's just craziness, that's silliness. That's what gives some Bible interpretation with regards to Bible prophecy a bad name and a silly name and all that.

0:07:27.7

No, here is where the Bible itself becomes its best own interpreter.  And one principle of hermeneutics, we call it, or Bible interpretation, is to let the Bible interpret itself.  And so when John says that “a great sign appeared in heaven: [this] woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars,” this should remind us of Genesis chapter 37 and the story of Joseph.  Remember Joseph in the Old Testament?  Joseph was a young boy, a teenager, and he had a dream.  He had a dream about the sun and the moon and 11 stars that bowed down to him.  And when Joseph told the story of the sun and the moon and the 11 stars that bowed down to him, when he told that story to his family, well, his father, Jacob, rebuked him.  And his 11 brothers eventually grew jealous and sold him into slavery, because they thought that he was saying that one day they would all be subservient to him; his father, his mother and his 11 brothers.  And you know the story of Joseph, a story of hard knocks.  He was sold into slavery, he made his way to Egypt, he had a really, really tough time of all that, but he rose to power in Egypt, became the Prime Minister of Egypt.  And when hard times fell on Egypt, it was Joseph who had the plan; seven years of storing up grain for the seven years of famine that would come.  And when the famine came, the entire world came to Egypt.  And the dream that Joseph had became a reality, because his father and his mother and his 11 brothers showed up in Egypt one day subservient to him.  They had to get food from him.  

0:09:12.6

This is what's in view when John says a great sign appeared in heaven.  It makes us think of Genesis chapter 37.  The Bible interprets itself here, and so it should very easily fall into place that the woman here is symbolic of the nation of Israel.  Because Joseph and his 11 brothers became the 12 tribes of Israel.  Remember Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 12 tribes of Israel.  And it shouldn't surprise us, it shouldn't be difficult for us to see this woman as Israel, and to see once again Israel’s centrality, the central role that Israel plays in Bible prophecy.  God still has a plan for His chosen people, Israel.  And that plan shows up again in Revelation chapter 12 where a great sign appears in heaven: this woman, this woman clothed in the sun, the moon and a crown of 12 stars around her head.

0:10:12.7

And John goes on to say she was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs and the agony of giving birth.  Later on, “She gave birth to a male child,”—verse 5—“one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne.”  Obviously the male child here, and the child with whom she is pregnant, is the Messiah.  Messiah came through the nation of Israel, and this is all pictured here in the vision.

0:10:45.8

Well, of the two signs that John mentions here, this is the more difficult one.  The next one is the sign of a great red dragon, and there's really no argument about who this is symbolic of.  It's symbolic of the devil himself.  In fact, if you read on a little bit further in Revelation 12:9, it says, “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.”  So again here, the Bible interprets itself.  We don’t have to get off on some, you know, crazy edge here trying to, you know, figure out what the symbols mean here.  The book of Revelation really isn’t as difficult as many people make it out to be when you let the Bible interpret itself, and not some crazy idea that we might have here.

0:11:33.0

Now, he's called the “great red dragon.”  And he's not red because of some medieval reference to the devil wearing a red suit with horns on his head and a pitchfork in his hand.  No, the redness of the dragon here is a reference to his murderous ways.  “Satan, the devil, is a liar and a murderer from the beginning,” Jesus said.  And we've seen much, much bloodshed already in the book of Revelation sourced in the devil himself and in his chief architect during the Tribulation, known as the Antichrist.  And it's interesting here too, that John says, “another sign appeared in heaven,”—verse 3—“a great red dragon,”—now, listen to this—“with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads [there were] seven [crowns, or] diadems.”  Remember the two kinds of crowns in the Bible.  The stephanos was the crown for the athletic victor, the crown of victory.  And then, the diadem was the crown that the ruler would wear.  All right.  Well, Satan is pictured here crowing himself as a ruler, much like Jesus did.  

0:12:49.2

But I'm particularly interested in these 10 horns, because the 10 horns is referenced many, many times in different places throughout Bible prophecy.  In fact, if you read on just in Revelation chapter 13, where we're introduced to the second and third member of the unholy trinity, that we call the devil, the Antichrist and the False Prophet, in Revelation chapter 13:1, “I saw a beast rising out of the sea,”—this is the Antichrist—“with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on [his] horns and blasphemous names on [his] head.”  He's gonna look very much like the devil himself.  But the devil has 10 horns, the Antichrist has 10 horns.  This reference to 10 horns also takes us back to the book of Daniel.  Let’s go to Daniel chapter 7 for just a moment here.  It's always good to keep your place in the book of Daniel as you're studying the book of Revelation.  But Daniel chapter 7, and beginning in verse 7 is really the first time we have a reference to this 10-horned beast in the book of Revelation.  Verse 7, Daniel says, “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong.  It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet.  It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.  I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one,”—a little horn—“before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots.  And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.”  One of the other names given to the Antichrist is “the little horn,” “the little horn of Daniel.”  

0:14:51.5

Verse 24, “As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and [he] shall put down three kings.”  Now, follow me here.  Many Bible prophecy scholars point to Daniel chapter 7 and the reference to the 10 horns as the future revival of the Roman Empire that will rise up again during the tribulation period.  A 10-nation confederacy.  And out of which one more horn, a little horn, will gain power by putting down three of the kings, or the horns.  In other words, many picture the Antichrist gaining power through a 10-nation confederacy, which is the revived Roman Empire, and he initially gains power by seizing control of three of the nations, probably the weakest of the 10.  And this has made many Bible scholars throughout the years scratch their heads and say, “You know, well, who are these nations, and where are they; the revived Roman Empire, and so forth?”  And about 40 years ago when the European Common Market formed, many Bible scholars pointed to that and say, “Here we go.  Here's the revival of the Roman Empire.  All of these great nations and great lands that used to be part of the Roman Empire are coming together again in this thing called the European Common Market,” which later was called the European Union.  The problem is, the European Union quickly grew to 27 or 28 nations.  And it left a lot of the Bible scholars scratching their heads and saying, “Wait a minute, the prophecy says 10 horns, or 10 kings, or 10 nations.  I don't know how the European Union can be that when it's all the way up to 27 or 28 nations.” 

0:16:38.4

Now, I'm not one to be sensational about the latest headlines in the news and tying it to specific places in Bible prophecy, but I found it extremely interesting that Britain recently voted to exit the European Union.  And this has caused a tremendous consternation all across the globe.  It upset the financial markets for a few days, and there's talk of many other nations exiting the European Union.  And the thought just crossed my mind that perhaps…and I stress perhaps…that this is the beginning of a winnowing down of the European Union from 27 or 28 nations down to 10.  I don't know if this is the case, I don't know how it's all going to happen.  I just know that the prophecies of Daniel, and also Revelation chapter 12, 13 and so forth, speak of a 10-nation confederacy.  If that forms through something called the European Union, then yes, we have to go from 27 or 28 nations down to about 10 by the time the Tribulation begins.  And at the midpoint of the Tribulation, this beast that rises up from the sea that has 10 horns becomes the little horn of Daniel chapter 7, seizes control by putting down three of the horns, or three of the nations that, I would suggest, are probably the weakest of the 10.  Plausible?  Possible?  Interesting thought?  It just crossed my mind.  I wasn’t real panicked when Britain exited the European Union.  I just thought to myself, “Well, that would fall in line with what the Bible says in Daniel, and in Revelation and in other places about this 10-nation confederacy that comes together.”

0:18:36.7

Now, John sees this red dragon, the devil himself…now we're back in Revelation chapter 12…he sees him poised to kill the male child, this seed of the woman.  It says in verse 5, “She gave birth to a male child…who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, (0:19:00.0) and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she [is to be…where God prepared a place], in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.”  That length of days is three and a half years according to the Jewish calendar.  We're now into the second half of the seven-year tribulation period.  And this is when the Antichrist turns against the nation of Israel.  He was a friend to her in the first three and a half years, but now this great red dragon is poised to kill the male child, and poised to unleash unprecedented levels of anti-Semitism on this earth.  

0:19:46.1

And this has been the devil’s approach really since the beginning of time.  You go back to Genesis chapter 3 and to the fall of man, and God’s remedy in Genesis chapter 3, through the seed of the woman (0:20:00.0) He would solve the sin issue.  And you trace the seed of the woman, who is Israel, and Messiah coming through the nation of Israel, and all along the way the devil has made attempts to destroy the Jewish people.  Starting with Cain killing his brother Abel.  Starting with the Hebrew people enslaved to the Egyptians for 400 years.  And there came a time when Pharaoh tried to destroy all the male children of the Hebrews, but God miraculously saved one of those children named Moses, who became a future deliverer for the people of Israel.  Long before a guy named Hitler came along and tried to annihilate the Jews, there was a guy named Haman in the Old Testament.  Remember Haman and the story of Esther?  He was the Hitler of the Old Testament and he tried to destroy the Jews.  But Queen Esther…“for such a time as this”…stopped Haman’s plot.  But it wasn’t another holocaust plot by an evil despot named Haman.

0:21:01.5

You can even move into the Christmas story.  You know, the Christmas story is fraught with anti-Semitism, because another king named Herod was threatened by news of this child King that had been born.  And he sent out an edict to kill and destroy and slaughter all the Jewish children under the age of two, all the male children.  And that's when the Lord spoke to Joseph, remember, that dream in the night?  And told Joseph to take Mary and the little baby Jesus and to escape to Egypt because Herod was on a slaughterous ruin of anti-Semitism.  It's there, right there in the Christmas story.

0:21:40.7

But here in Revelation chapter 12, and as we being the second half of the tribulation period, the devil, through his agent, the Antichrist, will pour out a great wrath on this earth.  A pouring out of anti-Semitism like the world has never seen.  In many ways it will make Hitler’s Holocaust look like a day at the park for children.  However, the Bible clearly says that God will supernaturally protect Israel from the Antichrist’s raging anti-Semitism during this time.  Did you see it again in verse 6?  “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she [will] be nourished for 1,260 days.”  Oh, great tribulation will come to the Jewish people again.  Just unimaginable anti-Semitism will pour out upon the Jewish people, and they will suffer greatly during the tribulation period.  The 144,000 will be preserved, but many others will die.  But god will protect them from complete and total annihilation.  

0:22:51.7

That's been the devil’s goal from the beginning, is to wipe clean the earth of any remnant of the Jewish people.  Because it's through the Jewish people that Messiah came, and the devil hates the Jewish people.  You want to understand why there's so much anti-Semitism all throughout history, and even today, just read Revelation chapter 12 and understand the great wrath of the great red dragon who’s been trying to kill off the Messiah since the beginning, and anybody who might give birth to the Messiah.

0:23:26.3

So we read on in verse 7 these words, John says, “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon.  And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.  And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, [and] the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.  And 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 brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.  And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.  Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them!  But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows his time is short!’”

0:24:34.3

So while all this persecution and this anti-Semitism is pouring out on planet Earth, simultaneously we're given a picture of what's happening in the spiritual realm; war is breaking out in the heavenlies.  And does it bother you at all that the Bible says war broke out in heaven?  I mean, I thought heaven was perfect place.  I thought heaven was a sinless place.  I thought heaven was a place where there wouldn't be any wars or rumors of wars.  But here we have a picture of what's happening, this cosmic battle that is being played out on planet Earth, but there's a spiritual parallel to this.  From verse 6 to verse 7 we shift from scenes on earth to scenes now in heaven.  And John says, “War arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon.  And the dragon and his angels fought back.”  It's a reminder that all throughout the ages there's been spiritual conflict going on.  

0:25:40.2

You know, reality television is big stuff today, but we got to ask ourselves, “What is real and what's not?”  Are the only things that are real things that we can see with the human eye?  No, the Bible would tell a much different story.  That even those things that we cannot see with human eye, there's as much reality there as any other place.  And there are three passages of Scripture that give us a glimpse into the unseen spiritual conflicts happening in the heavenly realms.  Daniel chapter 9 is one of those chapters.  Ephesians chapter 6 is another one, where Paul talks about not “wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world.”  And then Revelation chapter 12 pulls back the veil again and gives us a glimpse into the very real spiritual conflict that is happening between Michael and his angels, the angel of heaven, who are doing war against the great red dragon and the fallen angels he took with him when he rebelled against God Almighty.  And the Bible says the great dragon swept one-third of the angels with him in that rebellion.  And they are in constant spiritual conflict, as John lays it out here.

0:27:00.2

Now, it's interesting that John says this conflict led to “the great dragon [being] thrown down.  [This] ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan.”  This could be a second fall from heaven for who was formerly Lucifer, a great angel, a high-ranking angel in the Lord’s command.  I say a second fall because the first time Lucifer was kicked out of heaven, he still had access to throne of God.  Did you know that?  The book of Job gives us a picture of that.  You read the first two chapters of the book of Job and you find Satan himself in the presence of God acting as the accuser of the brethren, accusing Job before God Almighty.  A fascinating insight into spiritual conflict, Job chapters 1 and 2 is.  But Zechariah 3:1 also gives us a picture of Satan in the presence of God.  Zechariah 3:1 talks about Joshua, the high priest.  Not the Joshua who was the sidekick of Moses, but another Joshua who served as the high priest.  And Zechariah says, “I saw Joshua, the high priest, standing in the presence of God, and Satan right beside him accusing Joshua.”  Because Satan, until Revelation chapter 12, still has access to the throne of God.  Oh, he was kicked out heaven, and he took one-third of the angels with him, but he still has this all-access pass.  And he steps into the presence of God and he slanders the saints.  He's the prosecuting attorney, and every day he's got you and me and every believer in Jesus Christ in his crosshairs, and he's bringing a case you and against…he's the accuser of the brethren.  

0:28:57.8

By the way, did you notice all the names of the devil that are mentioned here in Revelation chapter 12?  He's known by a lot of different names in Scripture.  We're given four or five specifically here.  Like, the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the devil, Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.  And every one of these names gives us interesting insight.  As the great red dragon he oversees a conflict on earth during the tribulation period where he manages and rules over kingdoms and nations and armies and so forth.  As the devil, though…the word “devil” literally means “accuser.”  He is primarily an accuser, a slanderer of the saints.  And he's been before the throne of God this week prosecuting your name.  Saying, “Hey, God, did You see Bob over here?  Did You see what he did last night?”  And he slanders the saints, he accuses the saints.  The name Satan means “Adversary.”  He's not only our accuser, but he's against us.  He's our adversary.  Peter says in 1 Peter 5:8 to believers, “We have an adversary who roams about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.”  You may say, “Pastor, I don't quite understand enemies, and I don't have any enemies in my life.”  Oh, yeah, you have an enemy, it's called the devil, and he has you in his crosshairs.  He has you and your family as you profess faith in Jesus Christ, he has you in his crosshairs.  And regularly he's before the throne of God slandering and accusing, and saying, “Who is this Suzy over here who claims to be a believer in Jesus?  Did You hear what she just said to so and so?  That isn’t how those Jesus people talk.  This person is a phony.”  And the devil is a prosecuting attorney in that way.  He's prosecuting his case against you and against me.  He did it with Job, he did it with Joshua the high priest.  Again, pictures of the accuser and our adversary.

0:31:28.0

But here's the good news, friends.  If the devil is our accuser, and Satan is our adversary, Jesus is our advocate.  Okay?  1 John 2:1 says, “we have an Advocate,” a defense attorney whose name is Jesus.  And every time the devil goes into the presence of the Lord…and he has that all-access pass.  He's had it since he was first kicked out of heaven.  When he goes into the presence of the Lord and he brings accusations against you or against me or some other believer in Jesus, Jesus is standing right there as our defense attorney, and says, “Wait a minute, wait a minute.  I know this man.  He's a believer in Jesus.  I died for his sins.  He placed his faith and trust in me.  We're family.  In fact, I'm sharing my inheritance with him.  Case closed.”  And the devil is defeated.  But make no mistake about, friends, the devil is our accuser, Satan is our adversary, Jesus is our advocate.  But there's coming a time, and Revelation 12 gives us an indication of this, that during the tribulation period that conflict in the heavenly realm intensifies, and the devil is kicked out of heaven again.  This time his all-access pass is revoked.  And my understanding is from this point in the tribulation period…as I say, the half, or the midway point, or maybe, some say the beginning of the tribulation…he no longer has access to heaven and to the throne room to be the accuser of the brethren.  Okay?  

0:33:07.0

Now, all of this is very interesting stuff.  And I'm so pleased that God gives us insight in His Word when it comes to spiritual warfare and spiritual conflict, because we need to understand the schemes of the devil.  Paul said that in his letter to the Corinthians.  It says, “Do you understand the strategies and the schemes of the devil?”  If you don’t understand his strategies as an accuser and as an adversary, then you're easy prey.  You know, Adolf Hitler once wrote a book, and in that book he described how he would conquer Europe.  And most of the world largely ignored his book, and then lamented when he did exactly what he said he was gonna do.  Well, God has written a book, and He's told us about our accuser, and He's told us about our adversary, and He's unveiled some of the strategies and the schemes of the devil.  It would be wise for us to read the book.  To read especially those places, like in Daniel chapter 9 and Ephesians chapter 6 and Revelation chapter 12, where we're told about the unseen realities, this spiritual conflict that is happening in the heavenly realm.  Because, you see friends, when the devil deceives us, he attacks our minds and our thought processes, doesn't he?  And Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that's the time for us to fasten on the belt of truth.  And when the devil comes and accuses before the throne of God, he attacks our heart and our conscience.  And that's when we need to put on the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness, and take up the shield of faith.  This the armor of God that Paul told us about in Ephesians 6.  And when that great dragon acts as our adversary, and he roars like a lion, and he attacks our will and he tries to weaken our ability to resist temptation, that's when we need to pick up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  That's when we need to pray at all times in the Spirit, Paul tells us.  We need to fight spiritual battles with spiritual weapons.  And you won't understand what the spiritual weapons are until you read the book that God has given to us.  Otherwise, you're easy prey for the devil.  We need to remember, and never forget that we are in a spiritual battle, Paul says, “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.”  

0:35:43.9

That conflict that you're experiencing right now…let me just put it this way; your mate is not your enemy.  Your pastor is not your enemy.  Your fellow church member is not your enemy.  Your classmates are not your enemies.  Your neighbor is not your enemy.  You know who your enemy is.  It's the devil, it's the accuser of the brethren, it's your adversary.  But the good news is you have an advocate, and His name is Jesus.  The good news is He's written a book for us, and He's exposed the strategies and the schemes of the devil.  He's told us about the spiritual armor we must wear to wage war in this spiritual battle.  There is a reality that the human eye does not see, and the Bible reveals it to us in this great book called the Revelation of Jesus Christ.  And I'm glad we have a picture of it, because it explains a whole lot that goes on in this world.  Like centuries and centuries of anti-Semitism.  That you got to scratch your head and go, “Why does the world hate these people so much?  Why are they in the news so much?  It's a little sliver of land that's no bigger than the State of Connecticut.”  Because the great red dragon in the unseen spiritual realms wants to destroy God’s people, and anybody that names the name of Jesus Christ.  And when he's kicked out of heaven for the second time, and that all-access pass that he's enjoyed…you know, like the fast pass at Disney?  He gets a fast pass into the presence of God to be the accuser.  That's taken away from him.  Deleted.  And he's cast down to earth, John says, and he unleashes his final fury.  You thought Hitler’s “Final Solution” was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet.  He will unleash a measure of anti-Semitism like the world has never seen during the last three and a half years of the tribulation period.

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Let’s read on in verse 13.  “And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.”  Remember the woman is Israel.  He's on hot pursuit now.  He's so mad, he's furious now he's been kicked out of heaven and his all-access pass taken away.  Now he's after Israel.  “He pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.  But the woman”—listen to this—“was given two wings of the great eagle.”  We've seen two great signs, a great red dragon who pours out great wrath on this earth, now a great eagle.  A “great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and a half time.”  Another way of saying the three and a half years, or 1,260 days using the Jewish calendar. Now, listen to this, “The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood.  But the earth came to help the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.  Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.  And he stood on the sand of the sea.”  John pictures this flood of anti-Semitism pouring out like wrath from the great red dragon.  He pictures it like water pouring out from his mouth, like a flood that overwhelms.  I don't know whether to take that literally or just figuratively here, but it's a pouring out of anti-Semitism, again, like the world has never seen.  But God protects the woman.  He protects the nation of Israel.  Not that there's not great suffering during that time, but he protects Israel from the great dragon’s ultimate goal, which is to wipe clean any remembrance of the Jews. 

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This last bit of Revelation chapter 12 reminds me of Elie Wiesel.  You may have seen the news yesterday, he died at the age of 87.  He was the oldest remaining survivor of the Nazi Holocaust.  And he documented his experience of the Holocaust in his best-selling memoir, titled, Night.  And he went on to become an influential author.  He won a Nobel Peace Prize.  He did what he could to give voice to those who didn't make it through the Holocaust.  In one especially haunting passage in his memoir, Wiesel sums up his feelings when he came to Auschwitz.  “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed.  Never shall I forget that smoke.  Never shall I forget the little faces of the children whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.  Never shall I forget these things even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself.  Never.”  There's a new translation of his memoir that was originally written in Yiddish, and in the introduction to that new translation Wiesel writes this about the Nazis in Germany.  He says, “Toward the end of their reign their goal changed.  They decided to leave behind a world in ruins, in which the Jews would never seem to have existed.”  And that's been the goal of this great red dragon, known as the devil, the ancient serpent, the deceiver of the world.  He hates the Jews, and any of their offspring.  And that would include you and me as believers in Jesus Christ, because we're offsprings of the Messiah who came through the nation of Israel.

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The good news is God has always had the devil on a leash.  And even though He unleashes him during the tribulation period, He does so in a way where He still provides protection for the nation of Israel.  I don't know exactly how that's going to happen.  All kinds of Bible teachers have speculated as to whether it's a particular nation that might protect them.  You know, some have…and this represents some of the silliness in Bible prophecy interpretation…some see the great eagle as the United States of America and her foreign policy toward Israel.  Ah, come one.  That's silly Bible interpretation.  Okay?  Many times in the Bible God describes in the Old Testament how he protected Israel, and with just creative and colorful language describes her taking flight on eagles’ wings and things like that.  It's not a picture of the bald eagle of the United States coming to Israel’s rescue during the tribulation period.  You might read about some of that in some Bible prophecy manuals or interpretations.  I think we have to be careful with that.  The big understanding here is that God protects His people.  

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Oh, unprecedented fury.  The final fury of the devil in the last three and a half years of the Tribulation.  I believe this is the time that Jesus described this way, Matthew 24:16, “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.  Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.  And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!  Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.  For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be,” Jesus said.  He said the last three and a half years is a Great Tribulation.  The world has never seen trouble on this planet like this.  And then He says, “And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.  But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”  How will they be cut short?  Well, culminating in a great battle, a worldwide battle known as Armageddon at the end of those seven years, the last three and a half years, and the triumphal return, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  That's how those days will be cut short.  Were it not for the Second Coming of Christ the entire world would be destroyed.  Sobering thoughts, are they not?  And as we move forward in our study of the book of Revelation we will meet some of the main characters.  The beast that rises up out of the sea, the Antichrist; the second beast that rises up out of the earth, the False Prophet.  We will see a one-world economy and a one-world religion forming those last three and half years, and then we will see the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. 

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Well, what do we do with a message like this?  As we said last week, call upon the Lord while He may be found.  Seek Him while He is near.  Boy, that's just the overarching application in a message series like this, when we take a glimpse into the future, the future of what God would have for us.  And we're to call upon Him while He is near, and seek Him while He may be found. 

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Let’s pray together.  Father, thank You so much for Your Word and for this opportunity to be in Your house this morning.  Bless our time of response, will You?  Help us to take the things that we've learned and apply them into our lives this morning.  We pray in Jesus’ name, and for His sake, amen.

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