Rev 12:1-6: Dragon Food

Please remain standing as we will read out of Revelation chapter 12, verses 1 through 6.

It's page 1233 in your pew Bible, beginning at chapter 12, verse 1.

A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

And she was with child, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.

And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

And her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1260 days.

Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do thank you for your word.

We pray, Father God, for your spirit to be with us today, that you would grant us insight and wisdom and discernment.

Father, as I preach this message, I pray, Lord God, that I would be faithful to the text, that you would bring forth the things that you would want to speak to your people.

We pray, Father God, that you would comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, that my words, Lord God, would be your words, that my thoughts would be your thoughts.

Father, now I simply ask that you get me out of the way, that your word would be proclaimed and you would be honored in glory.

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Please be seated. In the

Protestant Episcopal book of common prayer, there's a section on marriage. And the opening statement to start a wedding is this, and you've probably heard this before.

Dearly beloved, we're gathered here today in the sight of God and in the face of this company to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony, which is an honorable estate instituted of God, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt

Christ and his church, which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence and first miracle that he wrought in Cana of Galilee, and is commended of St.

Paul to be honorable among all men, and therefore is not by any to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God.

Into this holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined.

And here's the part that I want to concentrate on. If any man can show just cause, while they may not be lawfully joined together, let him now speak, or hereafter forever hold his peace.

Now, these words have become a tradition at most marriage ceremonies. And I've never attended a wedding where an actual objection to a marriage was actually made.

Now, in my sick mind, I actually want to experience this at some point in time. I want to see how this is going to play out.

But that's just a sign of my depravity. And unfortunately, even worse,

I would say, I think that there are probably reasonable objections to be made at most weddings.

Are these two participants truly faithful to one another? Have they truly understood the gravity of the vows that they're about to take?

The only time I've ever heard any objections made at a wedding ceremony is when I'm watching a romantic comedy on TV.

And the objection has absolutely nothing to do with the seriousness of the vows. It only has to do with the emotional state of love that the person is in or isn't.

And sorry, ladies, it's because the romantic comedy movie genre has absolutely no ground in reality whatsoever.

Sorry. Today, marriage has become nothing more than glorified dating.

And in most cases, dissolvable by any excuse and for whatever reason you may like.

Serious vows have become trivial platitudes. And what makes me laugh the most is when the

Hollywood elites lecture the country on how we need to get along with the other countries in the world.

Yet they can't stay married to one person for more than two consecutive months.

Yet they lecture us. Many, many people have misunderstood the point of marriage.

As we look at our text today in Revelation chapter 12, this starts the second half of the book of the

Revelation. And many scholars consider this a central key vision of the entire book.

In fact, it's a peek behind the spiritual curtain to peer into what's going on behind the scenes spiritually.

What we need to realize is where we see many things happening in the physical realm that we see in the world today, both good and bad, there is much deeper spiritual activity going on behind everything that we see.

This particular chapter will give us a glimpse into the heavenlies, behind the veil, to see what's actually transpiring behind the scenes.

What is motivating everything that's happening in the world today. These first six verses will describe the cosmic and decisive battle between the church, the devil, and the royal child, none other than Jesus himself.

These six verses end up being a snapshot of the Christian worldview.

And the story of salvation summed up succinctly. And it's a condensed repeat of everything the entire book of the

Revelation up to this point has described. So we get to this point in the book, and this is kind of like a summary statement describing everything that's happened.

In fact, the story is going to be repeated a second time, right after these verses, in verses 7 -17, with some more pertinent details.

So chapter 12 ends up being two complementary visions that give us the symbolic backdrop to what's going on, and what's going on is that the people of God are under attack, and they need to see the big picture.

We need to see the big picture of what's happening. So today, I'm going to introduce the two signs that we just read.

We'll go through the three main characters, and then explain the essence of this pericope.

Remember, the book of Revelation relies heavily on the Old Testament, and it's filled with symbolism and imagery.

And this symbolism and imagery is not to be taken in a wooden, literal sense. If you miss the imagery, you'll miss the entire point that the

Apostle John is making. If you take the symbolism in a wooden, literal sense, you'll be left with an eccentric and unintelligible mess.

So we have to see how these symbols play out in the Old Testament, and bring them current to what we're reading today.

Now sometimes, as we'll see, an image can refer to more than one thing. More than one thing in particular, because the scene it's describing is covering a long period of time.

For example, when the Scriptures speak about the Spirit of God, we can read in John 3, the

Apostle John saying that the Spirit is like a wind blowing. Or in Acts 2, the

Spirit's like a mighty, rushing wind. Or in John 7, the Spirit's like a river of living water flowing from our belly.

Or in Genesis 2, it could be called the breath of life. See, these are all images that sum up who the

Spirit of God is. And they paint a more complete picture in our minds.

This is what understanding the book of the Revelation will do for us. We'll get a broader, more expansive view of the whole of biblical history.

So, let's start at verse 1. Revelation 12, when 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 12 stars.

This is the first of two signs that we're going to see in this passage. And the first sign is a great one.

A woman, right? This is not just a sign, it's a great sign.

It's actually translated as an extraordinary sight. And most of you know, being

Reformed people, you know how R .C. Sproul described Adam when he saw Eve, right?

What did he say when he saw the woman? Whoa, man. That's how a woman got her name. Whoa, man.

And you married men know what I'm talking about when you saw your woman walk down the aisle for the first time to the altar, after not seeing her for the whole day before.

You finally see her with a beautiful wedding dress on. It's an exhilarating sight, an extraordinary sight.

When I saw my wife, I said, whoa, man. All right? And by starting this paragraph with this great sign, we're reminded that the whole book of Revelation begins by explaining that this is the way things will be made known to us, by signifying them to us.

Signifying. The book of Revelation is going to speak to us in signs. So this opening to chapter 12 is a great sign, a woman.

Now, the sign isn't great just because it's describing a woman, although that's great in itself. It's great because it's describing a crucial turning point in the narrative that we're meant to focus on.

This would be especially pertinent to the first century hearers who would soon undergo severe persecution.

They needed to hear this. This sign was great for them and will also be great for us.

The great sign in heaven is of a woman, and she's clothed with the sun, which is pointing to her glory.

It doesn't point to her own glory, but the glory she receives from God. She shines with the brightness of Jesus, who is the light of the world.

She's also depicted as standing on a moon. And we know the moon has no light of its own. The moon can only reflect back whatever light that shines upon it.

So the moon, again, is a reflection of God's glory and a reflection of what God does to us.

The glory of God is man, and the glory of man is his wife. Remember Moses when he met with God face to face on the mountain?

And he came down and his face was shining, glowing with the glory of God? So much so that he had to put a veil over his face?

That's the picture. The woman is glowing with the glory of God, a reflection of God to the world.

And this is a great sign because it's the appointed time for God's bride to shine.

Isaiah chapter 60, verses 1 through 3. Isaiah says, Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the

Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.

But the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.

This sign is being fulfilled right here and now in the book of the

Revelation, and it has tremendous prophetic significance. The reference to the woman being crowned with 12 stars points us back to Genesis and Joseph's dream in Genesis 37.

Jacob says, Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars were bowing down to me.

You see, these 11 stars with Joseph, he makes the 12th. And that would point us to this being

Israel. Israel was symbolized by 12 stars. And what else is

Israel symbolized by with the number 12? The tribes, right? The 12 tribes represent

Israel. They're a royal nation, hence the crown. Since Israel is also

God's bride, she would or should reflect God's glory into the world, hence her standing on the moon.

So the woman is described as Israel. Now Israel is comprised of 12 tribes, we know that. And the stars point us to heavenly powers.

Where else do we see the number 12? In the Bible. In the New Testament, of course.

When we see Jesus choosing what? 12 apostles. 12 new tribes, but still one bride.

See, in the New Covenant, Jesus is reconstituting Israel. He's reconstituting his bride.

The 12 tribes and the 12 apostles show us the unity between the Old Covenant and the

New Covenant. And points us to the community of believers from Adam up until now.

And I see this image signifying the community of believers beginning from Genesis on through to the

New Testament church. The New Covenant is a reconstitution and an expansion of the

Israel of God. No longer will it just be genealogical Israel. It will be people from every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation.

Now there's no shortage of opinions as to who the woman is. Some say it's

Eve exclusively. Roman Catholics say it's Mary. Various cults like the

Christian scientists even claim that the woman is one of their own. Mary Baker Eddy. We can rule that one out.

Others say it's Old Testament Israel only. Others say it's the

New Testament church exclusively. So I don't think any of these actually hit the mark.

And for the Roman Catholic who insists that it's Mary, the woman cannot be the Virgin Mary because of the later reference in verse 17.

Verse 17 says, and to the rest of her offspring. Unless the Roman Catholics want to reinterpret the perpetual virginity of Mary and say she had other children, this just won't work and serve as the proper interpretation.

I think Sam Strong gets it best when he says this. The most probable interpretation is that the woman symbolizes what we might call the believing messianic community.

Both Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church. Later in the chapter we read that when the woman is persecuted, she flees into the wilderness and has other children who are described as faithful Christians.

In other words, the woman is both the community of faith that produced the Messiah and the community of faith that subsequently follows and obeys him.

I agree with that understanding of the identity of the woman and I think it will become clear as we continue on.

So there's a great sign that appears and it's a woman. This is a good sign for us. In verse 2, the description of the woman is expanded.

As we read, she was pregnant and crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.

So the woman, the believing community of faith, the people of God, was pregnant with a child who we will later learn is the

Messiah. This is Jesus himself who's now going to come into the world. In fact, we can see this in Micah who prophesied about it in chapter 4 verse 10.

He says, This correlates very well with what we're reading today, this passage.

Micah cites Zion. Again, I want you to see this. He cites Zion, which is a city, which is also

Israel, and also a woman in labor who would writhe in pain and agony in giving birth.

So there's that symbolism again. Later we'll read in Revelation chapter 21, So in these verses, the woman is called

Israel, Zion, New Jerusalem, the church, the bride.

And they're all referring to the same entity, the faithful followers and believers in Christ.

So there are many symbols, many facets that point to that one entity, the bride of Christ. Again, Sam Storms explains,

The woman is pregnant and suffering birth pangs. On the one hand, this represents the longing expectation and anticipation of Messiah's birth on a part of those in the

Old Testament community of faith. But it's also a symbolic reference to the persecution of the covenant community and the

Messianic line during the period of the Old Testament leading up and into Christ's coming.

So as time passes and birth pangs ensue, God is making prophetic progress and bringing his plans to pass.

Prophetically, this pregnant promise finds its origin in the garden after the fall. You know this verse,

Genesis 3 .15. Genesis 3 .15 says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring.

He will bruise your head and you will bruise it. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

And to the woman, he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing.

In pain, you shall bring forth your children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.

So this promise has significance right from the beginning in Genesis.

In this verse, we see the promise, the offspring, Jesus. The pain the woman will bear in rearing him and his ruling, or the word for ruling there is shepherding.

Him shepherding over her, his bride. And you could say that Eve at that moment would represent the woman.

While the seed of Satan would be represented by all of the enemies of God. In other words, all the wicked rulers, all of the beasts motivated and driven by Satan.

This battle between the two seeds would start right there and continue on to today.

From that moment on, the battle began to rage. We see it now. Dennis Johnson explains it like this.

It is seen in the opposition of the two seeds throughout history. Cain against Abel. Ishmael against Isaac.

Esau against Jacob. Edom against Israel. Saul against David. From the expulsion from Edom, God's people would have been an expectant mother, awaiting the birth of the seed who would champion their cause against Satan, the liar, the accuser, and the murderer.

So we see right from the beginning, those two seeds, and that ongoing battle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.

Cain and Abel. Ishmael and Isaac. Esau and Jacob. We see this right from the beginning.

And this great sign, this woman clothed with the sun appearing, will become the turning point.

The point in time that the one promised in Genesis 3 .15 that will crush the head of the serpent and defeat the wicked rulers will arrive and shepherd over his people.

At the same time, the prophecy of Isaiah 7 .14 finds fulfillment. This is a verse we read during Christmas time.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name

Emmanuel. This is a great sign. This is the pivotal moment that's going to change everything for the world.

As believers, right now, living after this sign takes place, our mission as God's bride is to remain loyal to Him.

Continually bringing Him forth. Birthing Him into the world. How? By way of proclamation.

Jesus is Lord. By way of proclamation of the gospel. By way of holy living.

By way of trumpeting that Jesus is Lord. And evangelizing the lost. Seeing Him birth in new hearts.

And by ministering to the needy. By being Christ to the widows, to the orphans, and to the outcasts.

All of those groups of people are without a husband or a father. So this woman is the bride of Christ.

The Israel of God. The new Jerusalem. Who is to bring the light of Jesus to the world.

That's us. There's a quote that's attributed to the church father Cyprian of Carthage.

And it says, He can no longer have God for his father, who does not have the church for his mother.

Now that quote has also been attributed to Augustine. So, pick. Cyprian of Carthage or Augustine, I don't know.

You can no longer have God for your father, who does not have the church for his mother. Now, although the pregnant bride is never more beautiful to her husband, she is never more vulnerable as when the dragon enters the sea.

Which is what we get to in verse 3. Verse 3 and 4, And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon.

With seven heads and ten horns. And on his head seven crowns. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth. So that when she bore her child, he might devour it.

The dragon is the serpent of old. Who was cursed in the garden. And he knows the promise to Eve.

He knows that this may be the child who will end up crushing his head. And he's crouched down, ready to devour, to eat this child.

There's no mystery here. There's no question as to the identity of this character. This is the ancient serpent of old.

None other than Satan himself. The adversary, the devil. And he's perched, waiting to devour or eat this child.

When I read that, I had to turn over to the cover of the book to see if I was reading the Bible or a Stephen King novel. This is graphic imagery.

We just celebrated Christmas. Is this the birth narrative we're used to hearing?

Where's baby Jesus in the manger with the shepherds? You know, I bring you good news of great joy.

Where's the magi? Where's the myrrh? What about the myrrh? We have a dragon perched in front of the woman, ready to devour her child.

We need to remember we're looking behind the curtain into the spiritual realm. Watching what's happening behind the physical realm.

This was no easy birth. And this was no silent night on that side of the curtain.

When you look at this picture, this sign as it's presented, this giant, ten -headed, seven -horned dragon is crouching down before a helpless, pregnant woman to eat her child.

What possible chance does the pregnant woman have? She's in the most vulnerable position a woman can be in.

This looks like a one -sided battle that's not going to end well for the woman. This dragon is crouching before the woman like an obstetrician waiting to deliver a child.

Only he's not looking to carefully place the baby on a tray to weigh it. He's looking to rip it out and throw it on a pan to cook and eat it.

The dark spiritual forces behind the scenes. To the dark spiritual forces behind the scenes, this baby is dragon food.

And he must be stopped. And do we see this ongoing battle to today?

Absolutely. These are the same spiritual forces behind abortion. And as we can see, it's still happening today.

Look at what happened in Argentina. They just legalized abortion in that country this week.

There were women crying tears of joy. We can finally kill our babies now.

Wicked. This dragon is also described as red, which is interesting because it's the only time that he's described like that.

In fact, this is where the common images of the devil in a red suit with a pitchfork come from. This is the only description of Satan being called red.

But I want us to consider Matthew chapter 2, where King Herod, who was the king of Judea, summoned the

Magi who came to see the Messiah in Bethlehem to himself. So he too could worship the

Christ. The Magi ended up visiting Messiah. They visited Jesus and then they quickly skipped town.

They got out of Dodge after being warned in a dream not to see Herod, not to go back and talk to Herod.

And when Herod found out that the Magi bypassed him and left town, he was furious.

And he ordered that all the male children, two years old and younger, be killed.

It looks like this beast was crouching down to devour a baby. And this physical event,

Herod and the Magi, is corresponding to the spiritual realities happening behind the scenes with the great red dragon.

Now, Herod was known as Herod the Great. And his family was from Edomia, which was previously known as Edom.

Anyone know what the word Edom means? Red. Red Ones. The Red Ones, a .k

.a. the Edomites, were descendants of Esau, the brother with red hair who sold his birthright for a bowl of red stew.

Herod is the great red dragon. The scars of Jacob I loved,

Esau I hated, run far and deep. The seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman are still at war.

The enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman was alive and well and continued with Herod the

Great in Judea. The great red dragon was using Herod the Great Edomite as his pawn.

The description of the red dragon paints an ongoing and daunting picture. Rick Phillips says it like this.

John's description of Satan as a great red dragon not only connects back to the serpent of the garden, but also incorporates the mythological dragon imagery that symbolized chaos and evil throughout the ancient world.

Isaiah looked back on God's defeat of Pharaoh in the Exodus in these terms. Was it not you who cut

Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? He spoke of God's judgment on Assyria, saying that he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

Behind the mythical dragons of the ancient world is the real dragon, the devil. He is the true monster who lurks in history, whom

Peter described as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. So this dragon imagery happens throughout the

Old Testament and continues on into the New Testament. He's still looking for someone to devour.

Now the dragon is described as having seven heads, symbolic of his cunning wisdom.

He has seven horns, symbolic of his complete power and his tremendous sway over the wicked rulers of the system.

Remember, he swept away, swayed a third of them to come with him. On top of that, he has both military and political strength.

What chance does the pregnant woman have? Satan is wise and he is powerful.

However, his knowledge and power fall drastically short of the omniscience and omnipotence he wants you to think he has.

He's also a deceiver. Only God is omnipotent. Only God is omniscient.

Don't make that mistake. The description of the dragon harkens us back to the apocalyptic visions that Daniel had.

I'm going back a lot to the Old Testament. You could quote just about any Old Testament prophet and fit it into this narrative because this encompasses the whole thing from Genesis to where we are now.

They will all find a place, a spot to fit here. So in Daniel 7, we read about four great beasts that came up out of the sea, different from one another.

The first was like a lion, the second was like a bear, another like a leopard, and a fourth beast was a terrifying and dreadfully, exceedingly strong beast.

He was different from all the beasts that were before it. He had ten horns.

Daniel would later explain that this spiritual vision of the beast and the dragon correspond to four earthly powers or empires.

In verse 17 he says, These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. Now historically, these great beasts correspond to Babylon, the

Babylonian Empire, the Medo -Persian Empire, the Greeks, and at the time the book of the

Revelation was written, it corresponded to the Roman Empire. Satan is the power, the deceiver behind all these beasts and the chaos they cause.

He's also the power behind the great red dragon. So again, we get an insider's look when we peek behind the curtain so we can interpret what's happening in the physical world.

For everything that happens in the physical world, there's a corresponding spiritual reality behind it, motivating it, pushing it forward.

However, we get to verse 5, and the tables will now turn. Verse 5, she, the woman, gave birth to a male child, one who was to rule the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne.

After Herod's plot to kill the Messiah is averted, he misses out, the promised baby is born into this world without a scratch.

And even better than that, the text says he's caught up and brought right into the throne room of God. Now, there's obviously a time gap on earth that this verse is skipping over, which will be dealt with later in verses 7 -17, but even then, in those verses, it's not given great detail.

It's as if this particular narrative is presenting the dragon as a non -issue, a necessary small detour on the

GPS as God's purpose for this child quickly culminates with his kingly coronation.

He's caught up and brought into heaven. Jesus becomes king faster than the dragon can grab the fork and get the napkin around his neck to eat him.

And we know who the child is. It's Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. Jesus is the promised seed of the woman, hearkening us back to that promise in Genesis 15, who will rule the nations with a rod of iron.

And as later Paul would say, he's the God of peace who would soon crush Satan under his feet.

All is not calm, all is not bright for the serpent. And when we hear he will rule with a rod of iron, we're brought back to our favorite psalm, right?

One of our favorite psalms at Hope Reform Baptist Church is Psalm 2. Brother Rob read it today. Psalm 2 says,

The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

This is the long awaited Messiah, the son of God promised in Psalm 2, prophesied in Psalm 2.

And the king promised to Israel thousands of years ago has asked the father for what?

The nations. He's asked his father for his bride's hand in marriage. He will now usher in a new creation and restore the kingdom with his bride at his side.

It was a long, hard journey up until then, but God has made good on his promise.

God is a covenant keeping God. Whatever God promises, he does.

It will take place. And this is what so many Israelites were longing and yearning so many years to see.

It took a long time to get to this point, but it was worth the wait. This is the turning point of the story.

But with this new victory also comes a new problem because with Messiah out of the way and seated on the throne victorious, the serpent will now turn his full attention to God's bride.

She will come under attack. Have you ever been in a situation where you had a struggle?

Where you had to labor really hard to get what you want? What if you knew that to get what you want, you'd have to endure hardship and pain?

You know, after my wife and I were married, we were trying to have children, and it was taking a much longer time than we expected.

Along the way, we had three miscarriages. The pain of those miscarriages was debilitating.

And the more we tried to get away from that, we tried to escape from couples with kids and their families, everywhere we went, one would always show up and remind us of how inadequate we were.

Every time we saw that positive on the pregnancy test, and we thought, this is it, only to have our hopes crushed a few weeks or a few months later.

And what made it worse was when I was told, this is the work of the devil. The devil is the one taking your children.

Now, thankfully, I didn't believe that, but just the mention of that plants a seed.

C .S. Lewis wrote this, We often fall prey to two equal yet opposite errors concerning the devil.

Sometimes we take him far too seriously. Other times we don't take him seriously enough. Now, I know the devil couldn't devour our children like that.

However, he could chew on our hope. It was a very dark and difficult time for us until God, in his timing, stepped in and gave us our first child,

Eliana Grace. Now, we named her Eliana because it means the Lord answers. It felt like an eternity to get to this point, and the pain was intense.

But when our baby came into the world, the joy we felt was that much more magnified.

It became so much greater because of the pain that we went through. The struggle served to shape us and actually magnified our joy.

If we didn't go through that, I wouldn't be as appreciative of having her the way she is now. Remember, suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

The devil had no power over my wife and I having children, but he did have the power to lie to us and make us think he did.

The pain we as the church experience now is going to serve to strengthen us later.

The hope the devil tries to steal will become the hope he chokes on when Jesus arrives again.

Remember, we felt great joy to have our first child, but it pales in comparison to the event that the world experienced getting its

Savior, Jesus Christ. Think about it. After not hearing a word from God for over 400 years, it was a period of darkness for Israel, God finally brings life to Israel and the world in Jesus at his appointed time, not sooner, not later.

At just the right time, Jesus came into the world to destroy the works of the devil, to crush

Satan under his head. The hope of Israel arrived just in God's time.

So the long -awaited Messiah enters into history, and then seemingly in an instant, he's caught up to God and his throne.

And these first six verses don't give us the details about the devil's battle against Jesus, and it's done on purpose.

The book of the Revelation is a revelation of Jesus Christ and his victory over death in this world.

This is his testimony. In other words, Jesus is the focus of this book, not

Satan. And the same story is going to be repeated in a little more detail in verses 7 through 17.

And again, the focus is always on Jesus and his victory. And then

I started reading this over and over again. I'm like, why would John repeat the same story after just explaining it?

Then I realized, I'm stupid. You shouldn't have laughed.

I realized that I need to hear this story again and again, over and over.

In our depravity, in our sin -stained minds, we're susceptible to dismissing truth and believing a lie.

Think about how many times somebody's complimented you, and you feel really good about that. You could get 10 compliments.

One person comes along, says one negative thing about you. What happens? You dwell on that.

This story, this gospel, this Jesus, needs to be repeated over and over and over.

The same way God changed Abraham's name to Abraham, father of many nations, so that every time somebody called

Abraham, he heard, you're the father of many nations, father of many nations, father of many nations. He needed to hear that so many times so that he believed it.

We need to know and hear Jesus is Lord over and over and over. And based on the next text in verse 6, this is exactly what the followers of Jesus would need to remember as they fled into the wilderness.

They would need to know that Jesus, their husband, was safely and securely sitting on the throne at the right hand of God, ruling and reigning, and like, where's my brother

Mike Robesek? He puts it up on Facebook every day. Today is January 3rd, and Jesus is Lord. He's still on the throne.

He posts that on Facebook every day, and I love it. I always like it. I hit love. We need to post that.

Every one of you should post that. Facebook, me, we, Twitter, I don't care. Post it.

As the people of God, we can't hear that enough or be reminded of that enough. More importantly, we need to believe it.

Do you believe it? Do you believe that Jesus is Lord right now on that throne, ruling and reigning, even over this country?

If you don't, you need to. So verse 6 tells us, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, which she is to be nourished for 1260 days.

The woman, the bridal believing community of Christ, have to get out of Jerusalem and run for the hills.

Luke 21 .20 tells us, but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart. And let not those who are out in the country enter into the city, for these are the days of vengeance to fulfill all that is written.

So again, we see a spiritual reality corresponding to something that happens in the physical realm in Luke chapter 21.

The followers of Jesus at that time, who heard his voice and, listen, heeded his warning, ran for the hills and survived.

That's one of the things about Jesus' bride. His bride, his sheep, hear his voice.

And that word in Hebrew for hear, doesn't mean to just take the information in. It means to do.

Anything you hear, you do. So when we hear Jesus' warning and we obey it, we're going to survive.

It's here that Jesus begins to destroy the old order, the old covenant, and usher in the new.

This will mean destruction and devastation for the Jews who rejected Jesus. These would be the days of vengeance for them.

It will also mean wilderness living for his followers, the bride. But remember, this wilderness is a place prepared for us by God.

It will not be easy. It will not be a cakewalk. As she will be living, we will be living in a time that's described as the already but not yet.

The kingdom has come. It's been inaugurated. And it continues to be brought forth to the earth by his church.

But it's not yet consummated. It'll be consummated when he comes back finally. We're in that period of the already and not yet.

There is work to be done. This woman, the church, must co -labor with Christ.

Like Adam and Eve. Eve was a suitable helpmate for Adam. The bride is a suitable helpmate for Jesus.

She is his bride. She is to be a suitable helpmate to him to build the kingdom with him.

This will be a time of testing and preparation. It'll be a time of growth, a time of struggle until the kingdom is finally accomplished.

Again, we'll hear she will writhe in pain and agony in giving birth. Think about what the church does.

Bringing forth Jesus into the world will be painful for us because the world hates us.

Jesus says, if the world hates you, it's because they hated me first. But the pain will be worth it as we see our husband,

Jesus, honored, adored, worshipped. That's what true marriage is all about.

And this woman, this bride, the church, Israel, new Jerusalem, will be protected by the

Lord himself. He will nourish her, the word says. He will not forget his marriage vows.

He's a covenant -keeping God. The inscripturated word of God and his spirit has been given to the church to nourish her.

Man cannot live by bread alone but by every word out of the mouth of God. God's word, by God's spirit, will nourish and sustain her.

Now, the devil will tempt her to eat the food that the world offers, but that will not sustain her.

It will only weaken her. The community of believers is centered on the scriptures and proclaims forth

Christ into the world. And at the same time, they're also known as the bride of Christ, adorned for her husband, coming down out of Jerusalem as a city.

This, the church, will be the Lord's pregnant bride who continually brings forth and births

Jesus into the world. She will continue on giving birth to faithful children who compose the church.

And where Adam failed to protect his bride from the serpent, Jesus never fails.

Rick Phillips says, a wife is never more beautiful to her husband than when she's carrying his child.

And nothing stirs up such a manly protectiveness as the image of his pregnant wife.

Jesus will guard his bride. God likewise speaks of the protective watch over holy daughter

Zion in Zechariah. He declares that he who touches you touches the apple of my eye.

There will be no mercy for the people who harm or injure the bride of Jesus. I can't even say

God help them because it will be God himself who's against them. As we peer behind the curtain, we can see that Jesus has been made

Lord. He is the king. He is our faithful groom. And the devil has been defanged, deceived himself.

The people of God no longer fear the devil. Rather, they know that the fear of the

Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And that's where we need to start. The fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. If we don't start there, we're starting on second base.

The people of God no longer believe the lies Satan tells them. As all

God's people, all of his bride, will know him and be taught by him. However, there is a great struggle we'll go through.

But that struggle will serve to strengthen and purify us. I can't help but repeat what

Doug Wilson says in his summary of the entire Bible. He says, Jesus kills the dragon and gets the girl.

Right? That's our story. Jesus is the knight. We're the helpless girl, his bride.

And he kills the dragon to get his girl. We're rescued by him.

And we're safe in his hands. A great sign has appeared that defeated the great dragon.

That gives us great hope. Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil.

And he must flee from you. The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer would go on to say this.

Into this holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined. If any man can show just cause why this couple may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak or else hereafter hold his peace.

In the Protestant Episcopal marriage ceremony, if no one stands up to object to the marriage after the call for the objection is made, the minister proceeds.

Will thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holiest state of matrimony?

Will thou love her, comfort her, honor her, keep her in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her so long as you both shall live?

Now, in the biblical narrative we've seen today, with Jesus as the groom, he would respond,

I will. Then the minister would turn to the woman and say, will thou have this man,

Jesus, to be thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance in the holiest state of matrimony?

Will thou love him, comfort him, honor and keep him in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him so long as you both shall live?

This is where the bride has to respond. This is where you have to respond.

If you're the bride of Christ and answered, I will, you are in covenant with Jesus.

You're in this holy state of matrimony with him, and you must remain loyal to him.

You cannot join yourself to any other husband. Our hope is in him alone. And like the song says, stand by your man.

We face a dark wilderness right now, and we may look like dragon food to some, but he is faithful in his covenant and will nourish you.

If you've not responded to this yet, or worse, rejected Christ, it will be days of vengeance for you as God crushes the head of the serpent and his seed.

Now, we've peeked behind the curtain, and we know the end of the story. Unfaithfulness to the groom is not an option.

And when, if you're the bride of Christ, not if, when you butt heads with this great red dragon, remember, he is greater.

Those are not just my words. We're going through the book of Hebrews, and we're learning about a greater covenant, a better covenant with better promises.

Jesus is the one who said, greater is he that is in you than he who is in the world.

Oh, the devil is a great red dragon, but Jesus is a greater and omnipotent, all -powerful savior.

You are, as the bride of Christ, are not dragon food. You have all you need in him.

He will nourish you. And we need to hear this. We need to remember this.

We need to proclaim this again and again, over and over. This chapter and the whole book of Revelation is meant to encourage you and root your attitude in victory and loyalty to Jesus.

Why? Because it's true, and because we forget too quickly. If you heard those wedding vows and haven't responded with,

I will, I plead with you to turn from your sin, to repent and trust in Jesus.

He's a covenant -keeping groom and will nourish you and protect you. You have no hope, as you will be siding with the dragon and fighting against the

Christ, who's fighting for and protecting his bride. Remember, the devil operates on intimidation and lies, masquerading as an angel of light.

Now, I don't mean to diminish his effect or his power. He is a real enemy, okay?

He's much more powerful than us. He's just not as powerful as Jesus. However, we must always view him from the vantage point of Revelation, from our peak behind the veil, and know who's seated on the throne.

He is still the devil, but the bride is not dragon food. The devil can go no further, yell no louder, whisper no softer, threaten no greater, and intimidate no fiercer than God allows him to.

Submit to God, Jesus is greater. Resist the devil, and he must flee. Father in heaven, we acknowledge that you are king of kings and lord of lords, and we acknowledge as we enter into or have been in this wilderness season for a while now,

Lord, that you will nourish us. Help us to submit to you. Help us to remember your words.

Help us to recognize that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Lord, help us to be loyal to you.

Help us to not compromise. Help your word to well up in our minds and hearts by the power of your spirit that we would walk according to your precepts.

Father, we thank you that you've placed a fear in us, in our hearts, that we would not turn to the right or to the left, and that your spirit compels us to keep your law.

We're thankful, Lord, that you rule over us, even though at times our flesh seeks elsewhere.

Father, we pray that you would continue to protect your bride, and that you would add to your number today those who don't know you.

Open their eyes, open their ears and their hearts, that they would see the beauty of a great groom, a covenant -keeping groom, who's fierce in protecting his bride.

in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.