Good morning, everyone. It's good to be back with you.
Missed you guys last week while we were in Seattle.
And it's such a joy to worship God together.
If you are here and you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.
We'd love to give you a Bible that you can use.
We are in Revelation this morning for our sermon.
We've been in the book of Revelation, been going through it from the beginning to the end.
We're about halfway through.
And we're in chapter 12.
We just passed the kind of climactic midpoint of Revelation.
And now the rest of Revelation is going to explain in greater depth, with greater specificity,
what the first 11 chapters basically, Revelation, meant.
And so that's kind of where we are at the start of that, Revelation 12.
A lot of people consider this kind of the interpretive key to the entire book.
Because if you understand this passage rightly, you can understand a lot of other things in the book of Revelation.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.
Father, glorify your name and the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, this morning, through the reading and preaching of your Word.
Lord, remind us of your salvation and authority and glory and power.
Remind us of the great mercy and grace in which you have covered us, forgiven us by the blood of the Lamb.
Amen.
Assure us of our place in your kingdom, of the way you see us in Christ.
Fill our hearts this morning with faith, with hope, with love as we live out this world that is full of tribulation.
Strengthen us to be faithful to you, to be faithful even unto death.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Revelation 12, 1 through 17.
If you would please stand and then I will read Revelation 12, 1 through 17.
And 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.
She was pregnant and was crying out in earth pains and the agony of giving birth.
And another sign appeared in heaven.
Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadons.
His tail swept down a third the stars of heaven and cast them to the 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.
She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.
Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
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, 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 that his time is short.
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.
But the woman was given the two wings of the 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 half a time.
The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the flood.
But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river and the dragon 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.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
May be seated this time.
I noticed that over the last week or so, a couple weeks, there was a long, entertaining debate recently on our church's Off Topic channel.
And about whether dragons are actually dinosaurs.
John Buckley, Nina's I think in labor, so you have to pray for her.
John Buckley cited an article that claimed that until the word dinosaur was coined by Richard Owen in 1842,
most cultures throughout the world refer to ancient dinosaur fossils as dragons or terrible lizards.
And apparently, as recently as 2007, some villagers in central China have been digging up dinosaur bones,
believing that it's dragon bones and using it in traditional medicine.
And Susan Wang chimed in, noting that the Chinese word for dragon is actually in the Chinese word for dinosaur,
which is literally terrible dragon or fearsome dragon.
That's what the word dinosaur is in Chinese.
A BBC article from a couple weeks ago showcased a remarkably complete fossil that looks just like a dragon,
an aquatic reptile that has been dubbed a dragon because of its long neck that matches the popular conceptions of dragons in various cultures.
Whether dragons are actually dinosaurs is a tickling possibility that, as Lauren Miller noted, ultimately doesn't matter.
But I do want to settle once and for all that dragons are real.
As Kendall Fowler wisely noted, if there are dragons in the Bible, that's good enough for me, y'all.
And here it is.
Verse 3.
Revelation 12 is the story of epic proportions, if there ever was one.
But aren't dragons the stuff of mints?
What is it doing here in the Bible?
Well, yes, they are the stuff of mints.
But that's why C.S. Lewis once described Christianity as, quote, myth become fact.
And he defines myth in his book, Miracles, as at its best a real, though unfocused gleam of divine truth falling upon human imagination.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not only a propositional truth to arrest our reason,
but it's a story, a drama to capture our imagination.
It's not only something to assent to, but something to delight in.
The story of God's redemption of his people in and through his son, Jesus Christ, is the best story of all.
It's the original voice of which all good stories are just a faint echo.
It's the original fountain that's bubbling over, of which all other good stories in the world are,
but a small, narrow, little bit flowing from it.
Revelation 12 is complete with a great red dragon, a star-studded, pregnant woman,
who gives birth to the chosen one, the Messiah, the promised king.
And it teaches us that we are the heirs of that king, the offspring of that woman,
and that we must conquer the dragon by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.
That's my main point this morning.
We're going to go through this passage and talk about the dragon and the woman and the king and the heirs,
and I'm going to spend more time on the first two points to build a case for the latter two points.
First, let's talk about the dragon.
Isaiah 27.1 prophesied, we read this in our cult worship,
of the Lord's day of redemption,
and that in that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword
will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent,
and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Revelation 12 is a fulfillment of this prophecy.
Prophecy.
We don't know what the creature's precise genus and species are,
but dragons are in the Bible sea monsters.
The sea is often a symbol of cosmic chaos throughout scripture,
and one of the things that ancient people feared more than anything else was the sea.
Why?
Because you can't measure its end, you can't plumb its depth,
you can't predict it, you can't control it,
and many people died in the seas.
And so at the end of chapter 12, this dragon is standing on the sand of the sea,
it's coming out of his abyss in the seas to come in and wreak havoc upon the earth.
And then later in chapter 13, the beast that the dragon uses to do his bidding
also rises up out of the sea.
So this sea is a symbol, a sign of that chaotic force in rebellion against God.
This is why at the end, after God's final judgment in Revelation 21.1,
when God brings about a new heaven and a new earth,
he says that the sea was no more.
So throughout Old Testament, dragons are associated with the sea,
and also dragons are often used as symbols that represent evil kingdoms
that war against God and his people.
Ezekiel 29.3 calls Pharaoh the great dragon.
And Psalm 74.13-14 dramatically describes how God split the Red Sea
and delivered Israel from Egypt and from the great dragon and Pharaoh in this way.
He says,
You divided the sea by your might.
You broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
You crushed the heads of Leviathan.
You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
So in a similar vein, Revelation 12 uses the dragon as the symbol for the devil, for Satan,
because it is the most fearsome creature known to the human imagination.
And this is no ordinary dragon either.
It's not the run-of-the-mill dragon.
This is the great dragon,
suggested of its massive power and size.
Most of us, I think, would be frightened if just like a tiny bat flew in.
And it's hovering around our faces.
But imagine a terrifying creature who in verse 4 says,
With his tail sweeps down a third of the stars of heaven and casts them down to the earth.
This is a Godzilla-scale dragon.
But the great red dragon of Revelation 12 is even scarier because it's real.
We know that this dragon and the woman in verses 1 to 2 are signs.
They're called signs, which tips us off to the fact that they're symbols.
They're figurative and representative.
But the fact that they are figurative representations of spiritual realities does not mean that they are less real.
Actually, the Bible considers the things of the spirit, things that are unseen,
to be just as real, if not more, than physical realities that are all around us.
It is described as red, likely because of the color's association with blood.
Later in Revelation 17, the great prostitute that seduces and leads God's people into immorality,
the city of Babylon, a symbol of Babylon, is seen wearing scarlet.
And that color is explained there as because she's drunk with the blood of the saints,
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
And unlike Jesus, the Lamb of God, who sheds his own blood to redeem the people of God,
his people for himself, this dragon terrorizes and sheds the blood of others for his gain.
Earlier in Revelation 6-4, the rider on the red horse also symbolized war.
Not surprisingly, red, because it's associated with blood, is also associated with war.
It's the color of the Greek god of war, Ares, and the Roman god of war, Mars.
And this dragon has seven heads and ten horns, and on its head, seven diamonds.
I'll talk more detail about what these seven heads and ten horns mean next week
when we are formally introduced to the beast.
The dragon's beast also has seven heads and ten horns.
But for now, it suffices to say that this is an allusion to the fourth beast in the visions of Daniel,
in Daniel chapter 7.
This beast represents worldly powers that are in rebellion against God,
that oppose God and persecute his people.
And in the Bible, it's associated with Egypt, Babylon, Rome.
I think, in our modern day, it would include states like North Korea, China, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and others,
where there is severe, widespread, state-sanctioned persecution of Christians
and systemic oppression of believers.
There are many others.
We are told explicitly in Revelation 79 and 1712, respectively,
that the seven heads represent seven mountains or hills,
and that the ten horns represent ten kings.
We'll learn that one of the nicknames for the city of Rome was City on Seven Hills.
So then Revelation 12 here is teaching us that the great dragon,
this ancient serpent with seven heads and ten horns,
has been behind these sinful world powers and empires all throughout human history.
It's the dragon that lies behind the beast.
It's the dragon that lies behind the false prophet.
It's the dragon that lies behind the great prostitute.
All three of them will be introduced to in the coming chapters.
They all do the dragon's bidding.
This dragon that we see here is our greatest enemy,
and he is the fiend behind all fiends.
And the description of the dragon in verse 3 suggests that this dragon is contending for the throne of Christ.
Jesus has been described, already in Revelation 5-6,
as the lamb with seven horns,
referring to the completeness and the perfection of his authority and power.
And this dragon tries to do him one better.
He's only a pretendent.
He has ten horns, it says.
Jesus is described later on in Revelation 19-12 as wearing many diadems on his head.
And here the dragon, too, is wearing seven diadems on his seven heads.
This dragon is the one that Scripture veerously calls the ruler of this world.
He is still under the ultimate authority and sovereignty of God,
but he has nonetheless been given,
quote,
the kingdoms of the world and their glory, as it says in the Gospels.
This is the one that 2 Corinthians 4-4 calls the God of this world,
who has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,
to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God.
He is the one that, in Ephesians 2-2,
calls the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
So, all that you see that is sinful and broken in the world,
of course, in part, it has to do with our own sinful flesh,
our own sinful nature.
But the demon, the devil, the dragon is also behind much of what is going on.
This dragon is an illegitimate claimant to the throne
that rightly belongs to Christ the King.
And that's why he is hell-bent on destroying the woman's male child,
which is Jesus.
In verse 5, he's the one who is to rule all the nations with the rod of iron.
And, of course, this dragon doesn't want anything to do with that.
So he makes war on the woman and makes war on the rest of her offspring,
in verse 7 here.
He says in verse 4 that his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven
and cast them to the 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.
Some people think that the dragon sweeping down the third of the stars of heaven
and casting them to earth with his tail
is referring to the same event as verses 8 and 9,
where the dragon and his angels are defeated by Michael and his angels
and then cast down from heaven down to earth.
I do not think that's the case,
because here it's the dragon himself who is doing the casting down to earth.
But later in verse 8 and 9, the dragon is cast down by others.
And I also don't think that, as some people think,
that this verse is referring to the primordial fall of Satan and his angels.
We know that there are fallen angels that have been rebelled,
and they're recorded as being incarcerated in Tartarus in 2 Peter 2.4
and inbound in eternal chains under gloomy darkness in Jude 6.
I don't think this is referring to that fall of angels,
because they're not thrown down to earth, but they're thrown down to Tartarus.
I think this is referring to a different event in history.
I think it's best to understand the sweeping down of the stars of heaven
as an allusion to Daniel 8, 9-10, which uses that exact language.
Daniel 8, 9-10 is a prophecy about Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus IV,
who persecutes and kills God's people in the 2nd century BC.
And so Daniel uses the language of sweeping down the stars of heaven
to refer to this earthly ruler killing God's people, persecuting God's people.
So I think this refers, this woman represents the people of God.
And I'm going to demonstrate that more shortly.
On her head, crown of 12 stars.
So this fits the Revelation context really well,
because she has these 12 stars on her head.
And we saw earlier in Revelation 1,
that the seven stars that Jesus holds in his right hand
represent the seven angels who are representatives of the seven churches.
And so I think this Satan sweeping down the 3rd of the stars
refers to how he is persecuting and killing God's people.
The 3rd is probably an approximate figure, a symbolic figure,
but a sizable chunk of God's people.
And the people that are being persecuted here
are people who have their citizenship in heaven,
and that's why they're a heavenly figure,
and yet they are here on earth.
That's why the stars are swept down.
The dragon also tries to devour the woman's son as soon as he's born.
This probably includes Herod's murder of the innocents,
we see in Matthew 2, 16 to 18,
when he orders all male babies, age two and under,
in the Bethlehem region, killed,
because he wants to make sure that Jesus doesn't survive,
because he is the prophesied Messiah.
This likely also includes the numerous times throughout the Gospels
when people, animated in part by this dragon,
tries to kill Jesus either by pushing him off the cliff
or stoning him to death.
Happens many times throughout the Gospels.
So this is the dragon trying to kill the male child,
the prophesied prince as soon as he is born.
But the dragon fails to destroy this chosen one, the Messiah.
The woman successfully gives birth to her,
and then this child is subsequently caught up to God and to his throne.
So Satan loses his bid for the throne.
Jesus still ascends to the heavens to occupy his right place
at the right hand of the Father to rule forever.
And Satan's earthly defeat at the hand of Jesus
then is enforced and executed in heaven by Michael and his angels
who defeat the dragon and his angels and cast them down to earth.
He says in verse 9,
The great dragon was thrown down,
that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan,
the deceiver of the whole world.
Now, but that doesn't mean that the dragon is done.
Now, it says 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.
Having failed in his attempt to kill the prince,
he now goes after the mother and the rest of her offspring.
The word pursue here is the same Greek word
that's often translated in the New Testament to mean persecute,
especially in the book of Acts.
Persecuting God's people,
and I think that's exactly what this is meaning here.
The woman representing the people of God being persecuted.
But the woman is also protected by God.
So it says in verse 17,
Then the dragon became furious with the woman
and went off to make war on her rest of her offspring,
on those who keep the commandments of God
and hold the testimony of Jesus.
I'll explain more shortly what it means
if the woman is protected,
but her offspring are not in some way.
But right now, I just want to focus on this reality
of the dragon and the spiritual war.
Right now, there is a great red dragon
who is pursuing us and champing at the bits to destroy us.
Oh, how differently we would live
if we actually believe that?
Ephesians 6, 12-13 exhorts us,
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers,
against the authorities,
against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore, take up the whole armor of God
that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand firm.
In one of his podcasts,
I don't actually listen to his podcast,
but I just came across it in an article,
Jocko Willink, former commander of the U.S. Navy SEALs,
was asked how when he was out in the field in war,
he managed to wake up at 4.30 in the morning every day
to exercise and work out and train for the battlefield.
And his response was very simple.
I know that somewhere out there,
another man is also preparing,
and that man is the enemy.
If you know that you have an enemy out there
who's trying to kill you,
you bet that you're going to train hard.
But our enemy is so much more than a soldier with a gun.
He is the great red dragon
who's prowling like a roaring lion
seeking someone to devour,
1 Peter 5.80.
He's out there, right now.
Have you put on the whole armor of God?
We're supposed to take up the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God,
by praying at all times in the Spirit
with all prayer and supplications.
But I think it's quite fitting.
I think our women's ministry had a social gathering yesterday,
and they did a fun activity called sword drills,
where they, I think, are supposed to find something
in the Bible quickly.
I guess it's a sword drill
because this is the sword of the Spirit.
I like it, yeah.
And do you have your sword at the ready?
Does the Word of God reside in your mind and in your heart?
Are you fitting yourself with God's armor through prayer?
Because that dragon is out there.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2.11,
we must not be outwitted by Satan
or be ignorant of his designs.
We can't just saunter out into the battlefield
and just hoping that we're going to be lucky.
We need to be aware of the schemes of the enemy
and how does our enemy work.
His names give us a clue as to how this dragon works.
He's called the ancient serpent,
according to Genesis 3,
the deceiver of the whole world in verse 9.
One of the main weapons of this great dragon is deception.
The title ancient serpent,
referring to Genesis 3,
where at the Garden of Eden,
the serpent deceives Adam and Eve
to eat the forbidden fruit
from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
He impugns the character of God,
slanders God's character and says,
God is withholding this good thing from you
which will make you more like him
and open your eyes.
He slanders God and accuses God
and then he lies and sells poison.
death that seems to rest to humanity
and all creation.
That ancient serpent, that's his strategy.
2 Corinthians 11 speaks to how Satan
spreads a different gospel
and imparts to people a different spirit
just as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning.
He uses, as 2 Thessalonians 2 tells us,
false signs and wonders
and all wicked deception.
He is a liar
and a father of lies,
as Jesus called him,
John 8, 3, 4.
The enemy will lie to you
about God's character
and he will lie to you
about God's word.
He will lie to you
saying that God is not good,
that he is not sovereign,
that he is not loving.
He will lie to you
saying that God's word is not true,
that it's in your best interest
to live according to your own will,
not according to the word of God.
Beware of the great dragon's lies.
The dragon is also called the devil
and Satan.
And he's described in verse 10
as the accuser of our brothers
who accuses them day and night
before our God.
These titles, devil is a Greek word,
Satan is a Hebrew word.
They both refer to this meaning
of slanderer or accuser.
That's what the devil is.
That's what Satan is.
He accuses.
Remember in the book of Job
how he slithers into the court of heaven
and then accuses Job before God?
He doesn't love you.
He doesn't want to obey you.
He's only doing that
because you've given him
all these good gifts.
Take them away.
Take his children away.
Take his wealth away.
Take his health away.
And he will defy you
and blaspheme you to your face.
That's what Satan does.
He accuses the saints of God.
You see that in the book of Job.
He does it again in Zechariah 3
when he accuses before God's heavenly court
that Joshua, the high priest,
not any just Israelite,
a high priest,
the holiest person really
in that community
and says he is unclean,
unfit to be a high priest.
That's his MO,
accusing the people of God.
Even though, as we'll see,
he has been overthrown
from the heavenly court,
he's not stopped accusing us
to be in our midst.
He accuses our brothers and sisters to us
and he accuses us.
Have you ever had
just a sinister accusatory thought
about a Christian brother or sister
in the church
just starkly sneaking into your mind?
That's how he sows dissension.
And be wary also
of condemning accusations
that are leveled directly against you.
The Holy Spirit does, yes,
convict us of sin,
but the Holy Spirit
never condemns
the people of God.
If you have already
repented of your sins
and you have put your faith
in Jesus Christ
but you are still feeling
this nagging accusations,
condemnation,
and dejection from God,
that is not
the voice of the Lamb.
That's the voice of the dragon.
Beware of the dragon's schemes.
Our battle is not
against flesh and blood.
Now that's the dragon.
Let's look more closely
at the woman.
It says in verses 1 to 2,
And a great sign
appeared in heaven,
a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head
a crowd of 12 stars.
She was pregnant
and was crying out
in birth pains
at the agony
of giving birth.
Now at first glance,
we might begin to think
that this woman is married,
since she is,
after all,
the woman who gave birth
to Jesus, the Messiah.
However, there are several
decisive clues here
that point us
in a different direction.
First,
we know that this is not
a liberal woman,
but a figurative woman
because she was called
a sign in verse 1,
a symbol.
Second,
later on in verse 6,
this woman flees
into the wilderness
where she has a place
prepared by God,
and we don't ever see
Mary do this
in the Gospels
after giving birth
to Jesus.
Third,
in verse 17,
we are told that the dragon
became furious
with the woman
and went off to make war
on the rest of her offspring.
And who are the rest
of her offspring?
On those who keep
the commandments of God
and hold to the testimony
of Jesus.
If the woman is Mary,
then the rest
of her offspring
would be Jesus'
half-brothers,
James,
Joseph,
Judas,
and Simon,
and Jesus' sisters
who are mentioned
in Mark 6, 3.
But nowhere in the Gospels
do we see Satan
specifically targeting
Jesus' biological siblings.
Rather,
verse 17 identifies
the rest of her offspring
as the people of God,
those who hold
to the testimony
of Jesus,
the church,
the gathering
of Christians.
So this woman
is not Mary,
but she's a figure
for the covenant
people of God,
of whose stream
the New Testament church
is also a part.
Mary is a special member
of the people of God.
Remember,
Angel Gabriel
called her
O favored one.
The Lord is with you.
She is a special member
of the church of God.
She's included
in this woman,
but we cannot equate
Mary with this woman.
That the woman
stands for the people
of God is confirmed
by the description
in verse 1.
She is clothed
with the sun,
with the moon
under her feet,
and on her head
a crown of 12 stars.
This recalls
Genesis 37
where Joseph
tells his father,
Jacob,
the dream
that he just had.
And in the dream,
the sun,
the moon,
and the 11 stars
come and bow down
to Joseph.
And Jacob
immediately interprets
this as
sun representing him,
the moon representing
his wife,
Joseph's mother,
Rachel,
and then 11 stars
representing the rest
of his sons,
11 sons,
coming back to bow down
to the 12 star,
which is Joseph.
Joseph.
And so there's
already this connection
that these images
represent the people
of God
because Jacob,
renamed later Israel,
is the one from whom
the 12 tribes
of Israel come.
His 12 sons
make up the 12 tribes.
So,
and this is why
Jesus says,
specifically in John 4,
22,
that salvation
is from the Jews.
This is the covenant
people of God
connected to the old covenant.
Now,
the authors of scripture
also frequently
describe God's people
figuratively as a woman,
even as God's wife
in several places.
And citing the prophecy
of Isaiah 54,
1,
Paul writes in Galatians
4, 26 to 27,
but the Jerusalem
above is free.
He's talking about
heavenly Jerusalem,
a heavenly people of God.
Jerusalem above is free
and she is our mother,
he says.
For it is written,
rejoice,
O bear the one
who does not bear.
Break forth and cry aloud,
you who are not in labor.
For the children
of the desolate one
will be more than those
of the one
who has a husband.
The old covenant
people of God
were like a barren woman
who has failed
to be fruitful
and bear children.
However,
this prophecy
predicts a time
when she will no longer
be the desolate one,
but whether she will be
a fruitful one
and have many children
and that prophecy
is fulfilled
by the coming of Jesus
and all those
who follow him thereafter.
So,
this woman
that Paul calls
our mother,
Jerusalem,
represents the people
of God
and this woman
now also includes
the covenant,
the new covenant
people of God,
the church,
since the church
is part of that same stream
of God's people
and this woman
continues to live
after Jesus' ascension
to his heavenly throne.
This is why
in 2 John 1,
John addresses
the church figuratively
as the elect lady
and her children.
This is a common
biblical image.
But this raises
a question.
If both the woman
and the rest
of her offspring
refer to God's people,
how can it be
that the woman
is protected
and nourished
in the wilderness
while the dragon
makes war
on the rest
of her offspring?
Notice how verse 6
says that the woman
flees to the wilderness
to a place
prepared by God
which she is to be nourished
for 1,260 days.
This is talking
about the same thing
as verse 14
where the woman
was given
the two wings
of the 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 half a time.
Now we're getting
into heady territory again.
A lot of you guys
are with me
for Revelation 11.
If you want more details
you can go listen
to that sermon.
But this is a time,
times and half a time
is a year,
two years
and half a year.
So it's three and a half years
half of a seven year period
which refers to
a complete
perfect period of time.
This is an allusion
to Daniel 12.7
which prophesied
that the end of the world
would be preceded
by a time
times
and half a time.
And that's the same time frame
as 1,260 days.
If you count 30 days
to a month
and that's how many days
there are
in three and a half years
1,260.
But while this woman
is immune
to the dragon's attack
verse 17 tells us
that the dragon
became furious
with the woman
and went off
to make war
on the rest of her offspring
and on those
who keep the comets
of God
and hold to the testimony
of Jesus.
Later in Revelation 13.5-7
we're told that
the dragon's beast
is given authority
for 42 months
to blaspheme
the name of God
and to persecute
God's people
and to conquer
the saints
to make war
on the saints
and to conquer them.
So Satan is able
to make war
on the saints
and conquer them
and he does this
for the exact
same time period
42 months
which is
1,260 days
which is
a time
times and half
a time
three and a half years.
What's going on here
in chapters 12-13
parallel
what we saw
in chapter 11
verses 1-14
where the holy city
which represents
God's people
is trampled
for 42 months
but the two witnesses
which also represent
the church
are protected
and given authority
to prophesy
for 1,260 days.
So John is using
these two different
time expressions
42 months
and 1,260 days
to refer to
the same time period
in order to express
this tension
between the two
dueling realities
that on the one hand
church bears witness
but on the other hand
the devil blasphemes.
On the one hand
God protects
the church spiritually
but on the other hand
Satan persecutes
the church
and destroys
the church physically.
The church
bears witness
to Jesus
for 1,060 days
Satan blasphemes
for 42 months.
The church
is protected
in the wilderness
for 1,060 days
but the beast
makes war
against the saints
and conquers them
for 42 months.
So they're just
same time period
but referring to
the two dueling realities
in tension.
This is why
we as people
of God
are afflicted
but not crushed
perplexed
but not driven
to despair
persecuted
but not forsaken
struck down
but not destroyed.
We carry in
our physical bodies
the death
of Jesus
so that the
life of Jesus
the spiritual
life of Jesus
may be manifest
through us.
Our outer self
is wasting away
like the outer temple
in chapter 11
that's trampled.
However,
the inner self
is protected
and measured
by God
and has been
renewed
day by day.
So speaking of
the woman
represents the
redeemed
people of God
we are
even now
Ephesians 2,6
tells us
reigning with Christ
spiritually
participating
in his reign
in the heavenly
places
because we are
in Christ
and Christ
is at the
right hand
of the Father.
So then this
woman represents
this idealized
heavenly
spiritual reality
of the
redeemed
people of God.
That's why
she's clothed
with the sun,
moon,
and the crown
with 12 stars.
But even
though the
physical reality
of the woman
the church
on earth
which is
represented
by her
offspring
is persecuted
and vulnerable
this heavenly
spiritual reality
is protected
and invulnerable.
This is an
amazing truth.
We're protected.
We're nourished
by God.
Despite all
the fury
of the dragon
we are protected
and nourished
by God
in the wilderness
in the same way
the Israelites
were protected
and nourished
in the wilderness
after God
crushed the
dragon
the great
dragon
Pharaoh
and delivered
them through
the Leviathan
in the Red Sea
and then brought
them into the wilderness.
That's what we're
seeing here.
The end time
exodus
happening again.
God nourishes
people with
manna in the wilderness
so likewise
will be nourished
spiritually by the
bread of God
which is Jesus Christ.
This also
follows the pattern
we see in the
life of Moses
and Elijah.
I mentioned to you
that the two
witnesses in
Revelation 11
are patterned
after prophet
Elijah and Moses
and Elijah and
Moses both had
periods in their
life where they
fled a king
that was trying
to kill them.
Moses was fleeing
from Pharaoh.
Elijah was fleeing
from Queen Jezebel
and they both flee
into the wilderness
and there they are
nourished and
protected by God.
That's what's
going to happen
to us.
It says in
verse 14
the woman was
given the two
wings of the
great eagle
so that she
might fly
from the
serpent
into the
wilderness.
That's again
Exodus imagery.
Exodus 19
4
God says to
the Israelites
you yourselves
have seen
what I did
to the
Egyptians
and how I
bore you
on eagle's
wings
and brought
you to
myself.
It's a
beautiful
image.
A few
years ago
while we
were visiting
my parents
in Washington
State
we took a
family trip
to Kamano
Island State
Park.
Whenever we
go to
state parks
or national
parks we
like to
go birding
because we
like birds.
We like to
watch birds.
On one of
those trips we
got to see a
bald eagle
and a bald
eagle that
was just
flying in
these
continuous
spirals
like circles
just higher
and higher
and higher.
That's what
people call
riding thermals.
Birds
riding the
updrafts of
warm air
by circling
around like
this so
it can
hover to
very high
altitudes
without
expanding too
much of
its energy.
That's what
that eagle
was doing.
It's the
first time
I've ever
seen that.
This eagle
was doing
that and
we just
stared on
for minutes
and it
just went
higher and
higher until
it was just
a speck in
the sky and
I couldn't
see anything
anymore.
I'd never
seen a bird
fly that high
before.
that eagle
is untouchable.
Like what are
you going to
do?
You're going to
try to shoot
that eagle?
Nothing can
touch that
eagle.
And that's
the reality
of the people
of God
given the
great wings
of the eagle
to fly away
to be protected
and nourished
in the wilderness.
Who's going
to touch
us?
This great
dragon can
do nothing
to harm us.
Look at how
lopsided this
picture is.
On the one
hand, you've
got a pregnant
woman.
Imagine a
pregnant woman.
How vulnerable
is she?
She can't
run.
She certainly
can't fight.
And then you
got this
dragon on the
other hand.
She's just
waiting for
the baby to
be born and
he's just
going to
devour that
baby.
I imagine
him like a
bull just
like piling
the ground
and just
getting ready
to charge
as soon as
the baby is
born.
And yet he
can do
nothing to
stop the
destiny of
this king,
this child
king.
He can do
nothing to
harm this
woman who
is spiritually
invulnerable.
Why?
Because even
if the devil
can kill our
bodies, he
can never
kill our
souls or
threaten our
eternal life
because as
Colossians 3,
3 says,
our life is
hidden with
Christ in
God.
The dragon
might steal
or destroy
our possessions,
he might take
away everything
that we have,
but he cannot
touch our
inheritance that
is imperishable
and undefiled
and unfading,
kept in
heaven for
us, 1 Peter
1, 4.
This gives
us great
confidence to
bear witness to
Jesus, even in
the midst of
persecution,
because we
honestly have
nothing to
us.
This picture
of the woman
also reveals
just how God
sees us and
cherishes us.
There's a
family resemblance
between this
woman and
Jesus.
In John's
vision of
Jesus in
chapter 1,
verse 16,
Jesus held
seven stars
and his face
was like the
sun shining
in full strength.
So there's a
family resemblance
with this woman
who is clothed
with the sun
and has a
crown of 12
stars on her
head.
Well, that's
because she is
related to
Jesus.
She is the
bride of the
Lamb who
will be
introduced to
us formally
in Revelation
21, the
wife of the
Lamb in all
her dazzling
splendor.
And isn't it
wonderful that
this is the
way Jesus
sees his
people, the
church?
Imagine a
woman clothed
with the
sun.
A bride in
her clean
white wedding
gown looks
beautiful, but
it's nothing
like the sun.
the
radiance, the
brilliance, the
glory of
sun, the
purity of
its shining
forth.
Wow, that's
what this
woman is
like.
She has a
crown of
12 stars.
I imagine
that these
stars are far
bigger and
brighter than
the most costly
and precious
diamonds known
to man.
This woman is
beautiful, pure,
she has unhindered
brilliance all
around.
Sometimes I
think we as
Christians think
of ourselves as
the church of
Christ, we
think of the
church as
this lowly,
shabby whore
with raggedy
soiled clothes.
And we ask
ourselves, why
would Jesus
ever want to be
our husband?
what would
Jesus want
anything to do
with me?
Well, that's
true, but
only partly
true.
That's what we
all once
were.
Because we
had sinned
against God,
because we
had rebelled
against Him,
because we
had gone
after idols
and worshipped,
instead of
worshipping God
our Creator,
we had worshipped
creatures, we
had worshipped
ourselves and
lived for
ourselves instead
of living for
God.
So we were
like prostitutes
or unfaithful
wife that
had gone
after strangers.
And yet,
Jesus, the
Son of God,
came to
redeem His
bride for
Himself.
And He
accomplished
that by the
blood of the
Lamb, by His
own blood, as
it says in
verse 11.
Because Christ
loved the
church, and
He gave
Himself for
her, for
His bride, as
it says in
Ephesians 5,
25 to 27,
that He
might sanctify
her, having
cleansed her
by the
washing of
water with
the Word, so
He might
present the
church to
Himself in
splendor, without
spot or wrinkle or
any such thing,
that she might be
holy and without
blemish.
Don't ever
forget the
splendid glory of
the church of
Christ that has
been justified and
sanctified by the
blood of Christ.
That's who we
are.
That is our
destiny.
That's how God
sees us in
Christ.
That brings me to
my third point,
the king.
The entire earthly
life of Jesus is
telescoped into this
single verse, verse
five.
She gave birth to a
male child, one
is to rule all the
nations with the
rod of iron, but
her child was
caught up to God
and to His throne, so
that the dragon
could not devour
Him.
The destiny of
this Christ child
was already
prophesied in Psalm
2, 7 to 9, which
said that the
Messiah, whom God
calls my son, will
rule over the
nations with a rod
of iron.
But
prophecy concerning
this chosen one
goes even further
back to the very
beginning, to
Genesis 3, right
after the fall of
humanity, after
they sinned, deceived
by the serpent, by
the dragon, and took
the fruit that they
weren't supposed to
take, this is God's
judgment that He
pronounces over the
serpent in Genesis
3, 15.
I will put enmity
between you and the
woman, and between
your offspring and
her offspring.
He shall bruise your
head, and you shall
bruise His heel.
This is what pastors
and theologians call
the proto-evangelion,
the first gospel, the
very first glimmer of
God's redemptive
plan.
We see the enmity
clearly between the
woman and the
dragon, and we
also see how Jesus
is going, He
inflicts a fatal
blow to the ancient
serpent, the dragon,
by bruising His
head, but He also
will suffer, because
His heel will be
bruised.
This is fulfilled in
Jesus' death on the
cross, yet as a
sacrificial Lamb of
God, He takes our
place, bears the
punishment and the
wrath that we
deserve on the
cross.
And it's because of
His sacrifice that by
the blood of the Lamb
that we are cleansed
and we are redeemed,
and after redeeming us
in that way, Jesus
resurrects on the
third day, He is
caught up to heaven
to reign with God at
the right hand of the
Father, and that's
what verse 5 is
referring to, He's
caught up to heaven,
to His throne.
And as a result of
these events on
earth, the
corresponding event
happens in heaven,
where Satan and
his angels are then
expelled, cast down
from heaven to earth,
as we saw earlier in
verses 7 to 9.
This is referring to
what Jesus has done.
That's why it says in
verse 10, which
interprets that,
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.
Jesus, by His life,
death, resurrection,
ascension, inaugurates
the kingdom of God,
ushers in the kingdom
of God, and He pays
for our sin with the
blood of the Lamb, and
then His salvation comes
through Him so that the
accuser is thrown down.
This is an amazing
truth.
In Colossians 2, Paul
describes it as our
record of debt being
erased so that these
authorities in the
heavenly places, these
satanic powers and
angelic authorities have
no claim over us
anymore because our
sins have been nailed
to the cross and our
record of debt has been
erased.
It has been canceled.
This is why there is
now, therefore, no
condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus said by His
death, being lifted up
on the cross, John 12,
31, that the ruler of
this world will be cast
out, and that's precisely
what has happened, and
Satan has lost his place
in heaven.
Do you remember what I
talked earlier about how
he went to the court of
heaven to accuse Job
before God's face?
He went to the court of
heaven to accuse Joshua
the high priest before God's
face.
Well, he's not there
anymore.
He's lost access because
he has been cast down from
the court of heaven because
of his lies and because of
his deception, because of his
defeat at the hand of Jesus.
So imagine Satan being like a
lawyer that's been disbarred.
His legal license has been
revoked.
And he's been debarred, excluded,
expelled permanently from that
court.
He has no claim over God's
people.
So who shall bring any charge
against God's elect?
It is God who justifies.
Who is to condemn?
Christ Jesus is the one who died
more than that was raised, who is
at the right hand of God, who
indeed is interceding for us.
Instead of having this accuser
before God's face day and
night, now we have the faithful
intercessor Jesus Christ before
God day and night.
That's our glorious reality.
So church, I know there's some of
you here who struggle with
accusations from the enemy,
condemnation of the enemy.
Don't listen to him.
He's been disbarred.
He's been discredited.
He's a liar.
We, the rest of the woman's
offspring, are nothing less than
co-heirs with Christ the King
because Christ is the first
fruits.
And we are the rest of God's
harvest.
Our victory is assured.
Look at verse 12.
The devil has come down to you
in great wrath because he knows
that his time is short.
That's the reason why he makes
war against us with such
desperation.
The devil makes war against us
and conquers us physically, not
because he's so powerful and we're
so weak, not because he's so
assured of his own victory, but
because he knows he's losing.
Because he knows that his time is
short.
He's like, I think everybody's
still aware of this, knows this.
You guys know who Mike Tyson is?
Yeah, okay.
So, I mean, it's like the devil is like
Mike Tyson trying to bite off
Evander Holyfield's ear.
After he's been pummeled and
realizes there's no way he can win the
bout, and instead of being knocked out
with, you know, graciously, he decides
to bite the guy's ear off.
That's what this devil is like.
This is an act of desperation.
He knows that his time is short.
You may know this already, but because
a serpent, a snake is a cold-blooded
animal, he doesn't require that much
oxygen to function.
So, even after you, like, cut off its
head, the head actually can still move
and bite.
Do you guys know this?
And so, you can actually find YouTube
videos of a decapitated snake head, and
you'll take, like, a snake.
Don't look it up now.
I know you've got some of those on your
phone.
But you can take a stick to the mouth
and you don't keep biting.
Like, you don't do this.
Like, I think there was a man in Texas
some years ago who was bitten by a,
like, decapitated head of a snake.
And so, that's kind of like what this is
like.
Jesus has decisively defeated Satan on
the cross.
He's done.
He knows his time is short.
He's surely going to be vanquished, and
the time is going to come, as Romans 16,
20 presses, when the God of peace will
crush Satan underneath our feet.
We will one day crush that head
completely.
But right now, even though it's decapitated,
it's still doing this.
Because it's desperate.
It knows his time is short.
And that gives us hope for endurance.
When the enemy, in his fury, comes
against us and persecutes us, know that
his time is short.
Know that his defeat is assured.
That's why he's so desperate.
And that's why we, instead of fearing
death, we are faithful even unto death.
We love our lives not unto death.
We give our lives, we willingly, for
Christ.
Because that's how he triumphed.
That's how he conquered.
By dying on the cross in our place,
and raised and ascended to heaven.
And if we follow him, and follow that
power, and are faithful unto death, we too
will be raised with him forever.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for the victory we have
in Jesus.
Thank you that he has all authority in
heaven and on earth.
Thank you that he is our great hero,
the chosen one, the king who has
vanquished our enemy.
The nemesis that was too much for us,
you conquered him.
By your blood.
And so now, help us, God, to endure
and to grab hold of the testimony of Jesus
so that we too might triumph by the word
of our testimony.
By your name, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.