Revelation 12 (Con't)

Good morning. Sean Connery, when you sit down, did you open this up?

Heavenly Father, we thank you that in your goodness, you brought us back to your house. Thank you for that. We pray for this time of study, that it would be profitable for us, that you would strengthen us in our faith and grow us more like Christ.

We pray that you'd be with our brother as he's prepared to bring your word to us and pray that you would use him as your condo, if you would speak through him. And we'll thank you and pray to the Lord.

In Christ's.

Name we pray. Amen. Hey, December 13th, Saturday, four o 'clock, we'd like to have y 'all over for dinner at my house, if y 'all want to come. Anyone? Sean Connery? Everybody. Oh, I just said she was hung up.

She was she'll be here. I'm just a mouthpiece of saying when I'm not cooking, she's cooking and you'll be glad for that when she gets here if y 'all want to get with her and figure out if she needs anything.

I think I don't think she does. I heard disappointment. Maybe you changed. But the 13th at four o 'clock and we did it earlier instead of later so that those that have a hard time driving at night, if you want to.

Come, you can come. Okay. Take your Bibles and let's open up to Revelation.

Revelation 12 as a Connected Section

Chapter 12. I know y 'all gonna find this hard to believe, but we will finish chapter 12 today.

Maybe.

And as normal, we're gonna read 12 and 13 because they're a section they are connected and a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothes with the sun and the moon under her feet and her head had a crown of 12 stars and she was with child.

She cried out being in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads, 10 horns and on his heads were seven diadems and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven through 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. She gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron.

And her child was called up to God and to his throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God. So there she would be nourished for 1260 days. There was war in heaven, Michael and his angel waging war with the dragon and the dragon and his angels waged war and they were not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

And the great dragon was thrown down and the serpent of old who was called the devil and satan who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. Then 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 brethren has been thrown down.

He who accuses them before our God day and night. They overcame him because of the blood of the lamb and because of the word of his testimony and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

Now for this reason, rejoice oh heavens and you who dwell on in them. Woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you having great wrath knowing that he has only a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.

But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place where she was nourished for a time times and half a time in the presence of the serpent.

And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped the woman and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.

So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children who keep the commandments of God and who hold to the testimony of Jesus. And a dragon stood on the sand of the seashore and I saw a beast coming out of the sea having ten horns seven heads and his horns were ten diadems and on his heads were blasphemous names.

And the beast which I saw like a leopard and his feet were like that of a bear and his mouth like that of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain and his fatal wound was healed and the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast.

And they worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast and they worshipped the beast saying who is like the beast and able to wage war with him. And there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act of 42 months and was given to him and he opened the mouth of his blasphemies against God and blasphemed his name and his tabernacle that is those who dwell in heaven.

And it was also given to him to make war with the Saints to overcome them and authority over every tribe people tongue and nation was given to him and all dwell on the earth will worship him everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of the life of the Lamb who has been slain.

If anyone has an ear let him hear. If one is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes. If anyone kills with the sword, the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the Saints.

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb but he spoke like a dragon. He exercises all authority of the first beast in his presence and he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed.

He performs great signs that he even makes fire come down from heaven to the earth in the presence of men and he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which was given to for him to perform in the presence of the beast telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

And it was given to him to give breath to that image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause all as many as to worship, I'm sorry, as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

And he causes all small, great, rich, poor, free, and slaves to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead and he provides that no one will be able to buy or sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of this name.

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast for the number is that of a man and his number is six hundred and.

Sixty-six. Okay, so when we started this section said there were seven scenes. What was the first one? Anyone? Anyone? Woman? What was the second one? What was the third? What was the next one? Just make sure you know it ain't me.

What was the next one? There you go. This is where we'll be today, but anybody remember where these two are? Beast one, beast two. Yep. Just to give you a little.

Information. As we move forward, we often forget that the beast number two winds.

Up becoming named as the false prophet. Anybody catch that yet? Has y 'all read.

Through the book? Anybody? Anybody? If you read through the book, beast one is the governmental structure that comes up out of the sea. Remember, seven heads, ten horns, seven diadems, all that. But then the other one comes up.

It's the one that speaks pompous words against God. Well, I think it's in Revelation 16. He's.

Called the false prophet. So, the beginning of the chapter, we had true.

Israel, 12 stars, as me and Mr. Berry were talking earlier, that my understanding represents the true Israel of God beginning in the Old Testament, progressing its way through. The true Israel produced the male child.

I don't know, I've jumped here, but it produced the male child. Where did Christ, was Christ born to apostate Israel or faithful? Faithful. Yeah, faithful. And when he was about ready to be born in our Nativity scene of chapter 12, who was waiting?

Yeah, what was he fixing to do? He was gonna eat him. Yeah, and we could go all through redemptive history and we could see time after time after time where the.

Seed of the woman was going to crush the head of the serpent. And remember, it did.

Say serpent earlier in the chapter too. So, he was waiting for the child to be born and his main goal was to keep that from happening, whether it began with the killing of Abel. Remember that godly line in Genesis chapter 4?

And it just continued on. Then when Mary was about to give birth, the dragon's waiting. Man, imagine him, he's there and there is slobber hanging off of his mouth just waiting to put his fangs in and kill the Messiah.

Well, what happens? He runs off into, when the baby is born, what happens? After the Magi come, Jesus is probably two years old, then where do they go? It's always odd to me. Where'd they flee to? Remember?

Egypt, which is always odd because where did they normally, remember they were, huh? They leave, yeah, there it is, God redeems them out of Egypt, right? But where do they always flee to for safety? They would go to Egypt.

Yeah, and then that would then fulfill the prophecy and Matthew would, out of Egypt, I will call my son, meaning when he would come back because, you know, that is what Matthew says. Well, once Jesus' life, it went one verse, remember one verse, they tried to sum up Jesus' whole messianic ministry roughly from the time he said he was born and then God takes him up and he puts him at the throne, which is his ascension.

What happens, what does Michael do? He wages war with the dragon. Very, need to make sure you under, hey baby, what you got, what you bring? Dang it. So, when Michael, the dragon didn't wage war with Michael.

Words have meaning in the way that they're put in a sentence. Who waged war with the dragon? Michael did. He said you ain't got no place here anymore. And why? Because it says the accuser of the brethren and who is the accuser of the brethren?

The serpent, Satan, yes. And what did he do day and night? He accused the brethren and we used two instances last week. What were the two? Who? Job, and who was the other one? And it's kind of an obscure passage, we also don't remember that, but in Zechariah, when Joshua the high priest, remember poo-poo on his clothes?

Okay. And I did, I'm about to show y 'all, I did say poo-poo. So, Michael kicks him out. Now, when the dragon can no longer try to kill the male child, who does he attack? The offspring. Look, if you can't hurt, look, if you couldn't hurt me or Sybil, you couldn't get to me or her, you could get to Luke and I would be very upset, okay?

So, now that the Jesus, when he thought, I do believe in Satan's mind, I know this is conjecture, I do believe in some point that Satan obviously knows the Word of God, knows that Jesus was coming, he was going to destroy his works, okay?

I believe that. I believe that Satan knew that, but he is so self-deceived that he really thought maybe Jesus wouldn't rise after he entered into Judas. He was sold for 30 pieces of silver and then Jesus was crucified.

Maybe he was going to pull it off. Kind of reminds you of Romans 1 .18, suppressing the truth, you know what I'm saying? And he is, and he is the father of lies, he can suppress the truth. Not a bad analogy, but.

But I do believe maybe he thought, this is it! And then, boom, when Jesus burst forth out of the the tomb, that is when Michael's 80, 60, and now that he was thrown to the earth, he has no longer has access to heaven.

Remember, at that point, and I know that's hard for us to understand, is, you know, why is it that he still had access to heaven? Ask God when we get there. I have no idea. I mean, I know what would have been great if God would have just banished Satan in the garden.

That would have been great, but that's not what he did. For whatever his purpose is in carrying out and revealing his, his attributes on a panoramic picture. Like, if you take a picture like this way, and you just, and you want to see the whole scenery, that's what God has done with his attributes because of the fall.

Hey, no fall? Would you have never, would you have ever have understood grace? No. I mean, don't get me wrong, in the garden was God administering grace to Adam. You better believe it. Did Adam deserve to be created?

No. Did Adam deserve to be God's vice-regent? No. Now, God extended grace to him, but grace to an innocent being looks vastly different than to one that's fallen and deserving of God's judgment. So, now, we, God being graceful after they, they fell, now we understand God's mercy.

Because what did God do? He withheld punishment to them by putting it on what? An animal, so that he could make a covering for them. Now, so, now that Satan can no longer eat the male child, he knows that his doom is sure.

The text says that his time is short. So, what does he do? He is thrown to the earth, and what does he do? He makes war with his offspring, and that's where we'll pick up in chapter 12, verse 15, because that's where we left off.

Let me back up to 14, because I hate starting with and. That's not really a good place to start a sentence, so. But, but, but, conjunction but, Chi, huh? Yes, ma 'am, therefore, for this reason, rejoice, oh, heaven, and you will dwell in them.

And you will go to the earth and the sea, because the devil has been thrown down to you, having great wrath. Knowing that his, he only has a short time. Look, he knows his doom is sure. I was thinking about it, I remember last week, and we said, yeah, and I was like, man, that would have been great for me to have quoted that last week, because he knows his doom is secured.

And what is he going to do? He is going to wreak havoc. Anybody have seen a trapped, rabid animal in a cage? You think, oh, he's, you know, he can't hurt anybody. Stick your hand inside that cage and see what happens.

And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the child. But the two of the great, two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman so that she would fly into the wilderness.

Remember, God had prepared a place for her. This is Old Testament illusion, just as God took care of ethnic Israel, the first covenant people of God. He has promised to take care of the church, which is the true Israel of God.

And he did it for a time, time, half a time from the presence of the serpent. All right, here it is. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman so that he would cause her to be swept away with the flood.

Now, as we, good morning, so as we think about what's being conveyed here, the serpent opening his mouth and he is basically vomiting water out of his mouth to, to consume the people of God. Okay. In the Old Testament, many times the word flood is used, certainly as a flood.

Okay.

It's good.

It's in our, our called worship today, Psalm 93.

Okay.

Over and over and over again.

Okay. So at times it's used as a flood, meaning that God would overflow his enemies. Okay. With a flood could either be like it was in talking about the coming of the Assyrian invasion, or I think it's in Habakkuk as well.

When the coming, remember Habakkuk's talking about the coming invasion of the Babylonian empire, talks about they're going to be overrun by a flood. So it doesn't always mean water. It's an imagery. Anybody ever seen rushing water, how destructive it is?

Me and Sybil and the boys went to, and your, her mom went up to Asheville one year and we went to this place where you did zip line. You remember your mom falling off the zip line and the little man had to run out there with a ladder to let her down.

He looked like Mario and Luigi from, oh, it was hilarious. It's like, mom, you could have let go of the handle and got down. Anyway, so we go to this, we go to this, we want to do the rapids. So we go down to where the rapids are supposedly, and we get in this thing.

And I told the guy when we were done, I was like, man, this, this is not good at all. And he's like, well, what do you mean? I'm like, dude, I want water flying over the top of this. I want to go, oh, we're all going to die.

He's like, call me when you get back to wherever you're staying and I'll tell you where to meet me in the morning. I said, sure. So we called him. We went to Pigeon Forge. You know, that's where the dam is.

This was the time of the year. It was in September that they opened the dam. He said, you want to be scared to death? You're going to be scared to death. So they were class four and class five. I don't know if you know anything about rapids.

I mean, yeah, it was fun. So we get up there and first we're looking over, me and Zach are looking over where the water is supposed to be. And I'm like, this looks about like yesterday. And he said, just wait.

And he said, about an hour. And then I heard about an hour, you heard, and the ground, you could feel it shaking. I said, what is that? He goes, that's a few miles up the way. That's the water just being released out of that dam.

He says, that's what we're fixing to get into. And when that water came down through that thing, OK, and it was fun. We got in that thing and Luke hit that. And that guy and Luke flew out and that guy had to go go gadget arm and pulled him back in the boat.

It was fun. And the boys felt like they were going to die. And so did Zybil's mom. It was great. So the destructive force of water, OK, it has the ability to just overrun anything. Any of the floods that happened, I think, last year during the hurricanes you've seen up in Asheville again.

You see those floods. I mean, it would just tear everything in its path. And that's the point is this of the destructive force of water. It's just this the serpents opening up its mouth, dumping out this uncontrollable force of something.

And they're using imagery of water here. And it's going to for the purpose of to destroy the people of God. It said he opened his mouth out. A river came out after one, so he might sweep her away in the flood.

It says here, but the earth helped the woman. Wait a minute. This isn't these women building up a dam or the people of God blocking something up. It says who helped the woman. The Lord did it. The Lord opened up the ground and it swallowed up that which had been released by the enemies of God so that it wouldn't harm them.

We can even go back to Numbers chapter 16. Anybody remember the story of Korah's rebellion? Korah's rebellion. Korah, being a Colophite, had the ability to come and go inside the tabernacle. They even had the ability to go into...

Remember you had the most holy place and the holy place. The holy place is where the menorah, the altar of incense was. And the showbread, they would go into that area. But they couldn't go into the most holy place.

That was only for those of the descendants of Aaron. Well, Korah, Dothan, and Abiram decide that they're going to raise up a coup against Moses and Aaron. And they say, hey, you know, you're really not as special as you think you are.

You know, we're the priests too. We're part of that priestly line and we're going to show you that we can do exactly what you do. And Moses falls on his face before them and says, buddy, I don't think you know what you just said.

And they persisted. So Moses says in the morning, then we'll just have a good old-fashioned showdown. He said, bring your pots and your pans and your light to censor. And we're going to let God choose who it is.

And he says, I don't think it will work out for you. He didn't care. These were the enemies. These are pictures of the enemies of God's people. Look, anybody trying to overthrow Aaron and Moses who were the true mouthpiece of God.

Let's just say this. Did God tell Korah, Dothan, and Abiram? Did he tell them to lead God's people? Who did he tell? He told Moses and Aaron. And Aaron got brought along because Moses said, I don't talk well.

Okay.

Well, they tried to do a rebellion. He says in the morning, light your censors. And they did. And God said, Moses, back up. I'm fixing to consume them and their families. The ground opens up. They fall into the ground.

Once again, saving God's people from the prospected danger of false teachers. They were going to mislead God's people.

Because why?

They weren't the true shepherds. It's interesting in that passage. It's a long chapter. You can go back and read it. And then after that happens, the ground opens up, swallows those people. Then fire comes down and consumes the 250 people that were following Korah.

The people are still complaining. And then God sends a plague out. He says, I won't have my men talked about. And you know how many people died? 14 ,700 people. Once again, God, as a picture of protecting his people, first opened up the ground and consumed the leaders.

And then he began to those that were raised up against Moses, he killed them by whatever that plague was. Now, we also see in Scripture how God providentially, at times, he uses through the writing of the Psalms.

Somebody go to Psalm 124. I do all the reading normally. Somebody else read. Read through verse 5.

Psalm 124, 1 through 5.

Anyone?

Okay, good.

Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Or in verse 5, right?

No, 1 through 5.

Oh, 1 through 5.

Yeah.

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, nothing may Israel say. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us, when they had swallowed us up quick with their wrath, when their wrath was kindled against us, when the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul.

Then proud waters had gone over our soul.

You see what David is using here as a picture? Water consuming him. And had it not been for the Lord, what did he say? We would have been overcome by the water. We would have been killed by this raging water.

Well, here's a picture of the same thing the serpent is trying to do back here in chapter 12 and verse 16. And if you take your Bibles and turn over just a few pages to Isaiah 43. I'll begin in verse 1.

Everybody there? But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob. Jacob meaning Israel. And He who formed you, O Israel, do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by My name. You are Mine.

And when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

You see what it is once again. Who is going to protect the people of God?

God.

Who protected them when they came out of Egypt? Imagine this. The same thing that God used to destroy the armies of Pharaoh. This is what the picture of the serpent is trying to do to the people of God.

Flooding waters. Hey, imagine when Moses gets to the Red Sea, and obviously the people were going, what do we do? And he said, good question. God, what do I do? And He says, park the sea. Like, it was no big deal.

Just keep walking. By faith, they went through the Red Sea. But isn't it strange that the deceived part of the armies of Pharaoh were like, I know this looks a little weird. You know, we've never seen a sea part that's walled up on either side.

But, hey, our slaves went through there. We just lost our profit margin. Let's go in after them. Just for the life of me, I'm thinking, what told them that was smart? I mean, God had just ravished the kingdom of Egypt through the plagues, the killing of the firstborn, not just the killing of the firstborn of the humans, but every livestock and everything.

And He had pounded it with hail from heaven. I mean, all these things, right? Now you're seeing this sea open up, and you go, you know what? Let's go through there. Well, about time they got about halfway.

Remember what happens? The wheels start falling off. That's where the old saying, the old wheels start falling off the wagon. Okay, and then what happened? I mean, in my mind, and y 'all are more sanctified than me, it's almost like that last person set their foot on the other side, and it killed the armies of Pharaoh.

But the very thing that Satan was trying to do was to consume the people of God through crushing waters. He is unable to do.

Why?

Because God has preserved His people. God has preserved His people. Hey, the two witnesses.

Remember what the peas were? They don't have to be in any certain order.

Huh? Protect.

Certainly, yep. He protected them. They had a purpose.

What about true Israel?

God has protected them. He provided provision for them.

What else did He do for them? This actually we could have put here by use protect.

Because that was the first one that was used.

He preserved them. All the way from the Old Testament.

All the way.

Three peas. The two witnesses of the church, He protected. They had a purpose. Their purpose was to go and proclaim the Word of God. They did it with power. And then God protected them until, because actually when I did them, I did them this way.

And God protected them until their time was through. With true Israel, He preserved them all the way from the Old Testament. That's the true Israel. And how do we know that? Because that's how the male child was born.

And what did He do?

All the way through,.

He has made provisions for them all the way from the Old Testament up until today's date. The Israel of God, the church, has provisions made for it to have the ability to continue to go out and preach the gospel.

And you know what? We're protected. The same way the two witnesses are protected until God's finished with us.

I mean,.

There was, I can't remember his name right offhand. It wasn't Jim Elliot.

It was some other missionary.

He said, you know, one of the guys came over there to work with him and he was scared. He said, dude, we're immortal. We're immortal until God's done with us. And that's how we are. Now I'm not saying go jump headlong off the largest building downtown and don't tempt the Lord God.

You're not going to fly, I promise you. He has put other laws in place called gravity where you will splat. But what do we do? We know that as we continue to go out and do that which God has called us to do, He's going to make provisions for us to carry that out and He's going to protect us until the end.

Verse 17. So the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went off to make war with her and the rest of her children. That is those who keep and hold to the testimony of Jesus. It's very clear who these children are.

Who the offspring is. It's the continual believers through all time. He's going to continue to bring in the children of true Israel through the preaching of the Word. You know, in Jesus' high priestly prayer, you may remember what He prayed.

Did He just pray for His disciples? He makes a specific prayer for you and I. Because He says, I'm not just praying for them. I'm praying for those that would believe on Your name because of them. And each one of us in here, that's a follower of Christ.

Why do we believe? Because of the apostles. Because of their faithfulness. Because of their faithfulness to get the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. That gives us about seven minutes for questions, comments, outbursts of anger, letters to the editor, riots, demonstrations.

If not... He did say that they'll know you're all my disciples by our love for one another. And I thought that's a good point. How should people know that we're different? Because we love one another.

What Jesus summed up in two laws? What was it? Love God, love your neighbor. Love God, love your neighbor. If you don't love your neighbor, there's something fundamentally wrong with you. The apostle of love said, and that is John, he said,.

Any man that says he hates his brother.

And loves God, he's a liar. Like, man, I like that guy. He didn't make no bones about it. He said, you're a liar. And that's true. Now, if I don't need to clarify... I've seen the hand going up.

Just a question as far as, like, safety and his abilities. Would you say there is, apart from... In other words, there's no foreknowledge.

I would say he knows this very well.

Right.

I think he... And although he knows his doom is sure, like we said earlier, what's he going to do? And I think I understand what you're saying, New Reactionary. He has reacted to the finished work of Christ knowing that his works are destroyed, ultimately.

Okay?

Jesus is the firstborn from the dead as the resurrected, glorified man.

Okay?

He is the firstborn. Well, all of us will have a glorified body. That's what it says. We'll be like Him. That's what it's talking about. We're not going to be gods.

Okay?

But we're going to be like Him and Him being the first fruit of that. He knows because of Jesus' resurrection that death has been swallowed up. That is even in the passage in Corinthians where, oh, death, where is your sting?

I don't know about y 'all, but if you ever lost a loved one, it still hurts. The sting doesn't go away.

Okay?

It's forever present with you. But the point of that is the sting of death no longer affects Christ and it will be completely done away with, the sting, when we're swallowed up into immortality. That's actually what the text says.

So, He is reacting to Christ's exaltation and enthronement and being kicked out of Heaven. That's what the text says. Remember, He comes down because He's thrown down to the earth. And what does He do?

He can't make war with the male child anymore, so who does He make it with? The woman or offspring.

Okay?

But I think He's proactive in the sense of He's trying to cut off every opportunity of thinking that His defeat.

Still might not be sure.

I think He is self-deceived. Even when He is released out of His chains, specifically to not deceive the nations anymore, I think when that happens, I think this is His last hoorah. And I think He thinks He'll pull it off.

And Keith might have something different. What do you think?

No, again, Satan is a deceiver. I would agree with that.

Yeah, and to say how much He does know, I think He knows more than you and I in the sense of facts.

Okay?

Let me clarify that. But He does not have the Holy Spirit living with Him that has insight into what this reveals about the end.

Okay?

So, His waging war is an attempt to no longer defeat Christ, but to defeat His people. If He can defeat the institution and the organism of the church, then He feels like He can win. But what did Jesus already say?

That the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. So what does it mean? Hades doesn't mean inferno flames. I know most of our translations say hell. That's actually Hades, which is meaning that death will not overcome the people of God.