We're in Revelation 11 here tonight. We're going to look at Revelation 11 and chapter 12 and work through this as quickly as we can. I do understand Pastor Bailey preached for me last week and he got you guys out early.
So he kind of set a precedent from what I've heard. And so I have to like, I know you guys are hoping. You're kind of like, can we get Pastor Bailey back every week so we can get out on time and get out early and things like that.
So we'll do the very best we can. But I'm grateful that he was able to teach last week. Always does a great job around the word of God.
So like we always do. I want to show you our timeline first just to kind of keep us engaged so we know. And just a reminder: this is like the timeline for the book of Revelation. If you can't see this, if it's too small here up on the screen, we also have outlines that you can, or a timeline sheet on your way out today, grab one. And you can just keep it in your Bible as we go throughout this series just to keep you understanding kind of where we are in our study through the book of Revelation.
And so, Revelation 1 through 3 is about the church age. That's where we are today. We are in the church age. And then in chapter 4 and 5, it gives us a heavenly glimpse, which I would say is kind of the rapture of the church. That's the next event.
On the timeline, on God's timeline. And so we're waiting for that trumpet to sound. And honestly, it could happen at any moment. There isn't any events in Scripture that scripture tells us that we're waiting on for that to happen. It literally could happen at any moment.
And that's when the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we which are alive and remain will be caught up together to meet him in the clouds. That's not the second coming. Those are two different things. The rapture, he doesn't come all the way to earth. He'll be in the clouds, and we will go to meet him up in the clouds.
And what a glorious day that's going to be. And that's in four and five. And then in chapter six, all the way through 18.
So that's where we are in our study. We're looking at the seven-year tribulation period. And a lot of terrible things are going to be happening on the earth as God pours out his righteous judgment on those who have rejected him and on a world that has rejected him. And so in these chapters you see God's judgment depicted in three specific ways. The first one is seven seals.
That are broken. And we've already looked at the seven seals, and there's tons of natural disasters that are happening. There's people dying. There's demonic oppression happening. There's all these terrible things that are happening.
And these seven seals are one way that we see God's judgment depicted. The second way that we see is seven trumpets that will be blown. And tonight we will look at the seventh trumpet. We saw the first six already. And then the last way that God's judgment is depicted in these chapters is going to be through the seven vials that will be poured out or the seven bowls that will be poured out.
And that's kind of signifying the last half of the tribulation. Period.
So in chapter number 11, we have a little bit of a break. between the sixth and seventh seal. And uh or the sixth and seventh trumpet, sorry. And uh there was a break between the sixth and seventh seal as well. And uh and here there's a little bit of a break between the sixth and seventh trumpet that will be blown.
And what happens in that break, it is really just a reminder that God's mercy is still on display even as judgment is being poured out. You see the very heart of God in the midst of his judgment being poured out on the world. You still see his heartbeat asking for people to repent. And the way that he does that is what we saw a couple of weeks ago with the two witnesses. That's chapter 11, 1 through 14.
We saw that two weeks ago. And what you see is that God appoints these two witnesses, and their whole mission is to go around the world dressed in sackcloth. preaching a message of repentance. In the middle of these natural disasters, in the middle of people dying and all these terrible events that are happening, God sends these two witnesses to go around preaching a message of grace, preaching a message of mercy, asking for people to repent.
Now, the sad thing is that the scripture says many people, even after the 144,000 that were sealed, the Jewish people, even after a multitude of Gentiles we saw are going to come to faith in Christ, even after these witnesses are preaching a message of repentance, there is still going to be people. that reject God. Isn't that amazing? And there's still going to be this hate towards the things of God. There's going to be this hate.
In fact, these two witnesses in chapter 11, what we saw a couple of weeks ago, is that they are going to be martyred. And there's rejoicing. There's parties. being thrown Because these two guys who preached a message of repentance, because they died. That's how much people hated God.
But remember, God always has the last word. God always has the last word. And so, in the midst of all these people celebrating the death of these two witnesses, God literally calls them back up to life and they go up into heaven to forever be with the Lord. We looked at who those witnesses are, and there's much speculation about that. We looked, and I gave you reasons why I believe this is probably Moses and Elijah.
And so we looked at that, and I'm not going to go a whole lot into that from last week. But today, we're going to look at chapter 11, verses 15 through 19, and then we're going to get into chapter 12 as well. In verses 15 through 19, you are going to see. The seventh trumpet. The seventh Trumpet.
And you are going to see This seventh trumpet being blown here in verses 15 through 19. And it says this. We'll go ahead and read this together. I'm going to read it straight through, and then we'll talk a little bit about the seventh trumpet. But I really want to get into chapter number 12 here tonight.
It says this: And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven. saying the kingdoms of this world are become The kingdoms of our Lord. And of his Christ, and he shall reign Forever and ever. By the way, if you look this up in the Greek, the phrase are become, it's like one word, and it carries on this idea of absolute certainty. Absolute certainty.
So, in other words, what he's saying is this seventh trumpet is really this announcement that God is coming to rule and to reign. And that's what the seventh trumpet is. Verse 16, and the four and twenty elders. Which sat before God on their seats fell upon their faces. And worshiped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and wast and art to come.
Because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged. And that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints. And them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven.
And there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament. There were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail. Two things kind of briefly tonight about the seventh trumpet. I forgot to put these up on the screen tonight, so if you want to add these on the margin of your outline, you can. But two things about the seventh trumpet.
The first thing that I want you to see is that the seventh trumpet announces that God is going to take over the earth. As judge. And King.
So, the seventh trumpet is an announcement that God is going to take over the earth as judge. and king. This is what you see here in verse number 15. This is the declaration, if you would. That's what this seventh angel that is blowing the seventh trumpet is declaring: that God is now coming and God is going to take over the earth.
In other words, the time of God has come near. We are getting closer now to the moment that God is going to come and He's going to rule and He's going to reign and He's going to judge the earth. And by the way, this brings some joy. What you see here is that in the midst of this incredible declaration. That God is coming, you get a little bit of a back of a glimpse of heaven for just a few moments.
that with this declaration came great. Great joy. And what you see, number two, the second thing I want you to see, remember this isn't on your notes. You can have this in the margin there. But the second thing is, the seventh trumpet led the 24 elders to fall on their faces and worship God.
So, two things about the seventh trumpet. The first one was that it is an announcement that God is going to take over the earth as judge and king. And then, the second thing you can write down is this: that the 24 elders fall on their faces and worship God. God.
Now, we've seen the 24 elders mentioned a couple of times already in the book of Revelation. The 24 elders represent. The saints. They represent the church. And so these 24 elders that are falling down, they represent the church.
And you see on three different occasions already in the book of Revelation, you see that the 24 elders fall on their face to worship God, three different times. This one's on your notes. The first time that the elders fell on their face was when they were worshiping God as creator. When they were worshiping God. As their creator, you see that in chapter 4, verses 3 through 11.
These 24 elders, the saints, they fall down and they worship God. Remember, it's this incredible scene in heaven. And these elders, who are a picture, if you would, of the saints of God, they are worshiping God as creator. Here's what they say: they're crying out this: they say, Thou art worthy, O Lord. To receive glory.
and honor and power. For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. created. The second time they fall on their face is in chapter number five, and that is when they fell on their face worshiping God as Redeemer. as Redeemer.
That's in chapter 5, verses 8 and 9, these 24 elders. It says they fall on their face, and here's the new song that they were singing. Thou art worthy to take the book. and to open the seals thereof. For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us.
To God by the blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. In other words, these 24 elders, they are in chapter 4, they're worshiping God and singing this song around the throne that He and praising Him and worshiping Him because He has created all things. And then in chapter 5, they're worshiping Him because He has redeemed them. The word redeemed means to buy back. It means that he has purchased you.
In other words, God, through his blood, has bought you. You're a bought with a price. You say, what was the price? It was the precious blood of Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God, that bought you back. And now, because of His blood, by the way, that's the only way.
He is the only way. He is the truth and the life. And through Him, we can have a relationship with our Father. But it took the blood of Jesus. But here, in chapter 11, you see the third time that the elders are falling on their face and singing and worshiping God.
And here, what we just read. They are praising him. Because we're worshiping God as judge. And King.
They are worshiping God as judge and king. You can see it in verse 17. We give thee thanks. O Lord God Almighty, which are and was and are to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power. And has has rained.
And so tonight they are worshiping. These elders are worshiping in this scene in heaven. God, because the seventh trumpet is being blown, announcing and declaring that God, the time has come, God is coming. And the time is near that God is going to come and judge. and rule the earth.
And what a day that's going to be. And that's when all wrong is going to be made right. When you look at our world, you wonder, like, how long go, Lord? And there's these cries that you see crying out to God, how long ago, Lord, can we be here? And you look around and you're like, how in the world can these things continue to happen?
Well, there is coming a day. There is coming a day when God is going to come back to this earth after the tribulation period. And when he comes back, he is going to rule and to reign, and all wrong will be forever made right. And I'm looking forward to that day. Let's move on to chapter number 12 here tonight, where we're gonna spend the majority of our time that we have left.
And I've entitled this The Woman. The child and the dragon. There's three characters here in chapter number 12 that we are going to look at here tonight: the woman, the child, and the dragon. And so, what we're going to do, I'm going to read verses 1 through 17. It's a lot of reading.
I'm going to read it straight through. Then we're going to kind of unpack some of that together. And so, I know it's a lot of reading.
So, look to your neighbor and say, get ready. All right.
So here we go.
Somebody said, hang on. I feel you. And so you will hang on throughout this. Here we go. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven.
A woman clothed with the sun. and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she being with child, cried, Travailing in birth, and pain to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven. And behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
His tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven. and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman. Which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it. was born.
And she brought forth a man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was called up unto God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought in his angels and prevailed not.
Neither was their place found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Verse 10. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven: Now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore, rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the seal.
Uh or of the sea. For the devil has come down unto you Having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. When the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child, and to the woman which were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half of a time from the face of a serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. Verse 16.
And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, swallowed up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth. With the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. There's a lot there, and we're going to look at it for a little bit here tonight. Um Just to tell you up front with this chapter, there's a lot here.
There's. There's seven signs that you're going to see from chapter 12 on through the book of Revelation that you're going to be able to see. Two of them are mentioned here in this chapter, and we're going to look at those just a little bit. But in verse number one, when it says a great wonder, this is. As John is seeing all these clusters of visions, this looks to be a sign.
A sign that he is seeing, a representation, if you would, here in this chapter. Also, as we get into chapter 12, I want you to know that we think in our worlds, we think everything through a chronological type of mindset. That everything needs to happen in a certain sequence and stuff like that. And in chapter number 12, it's a little bit different. This is the middle part of the book of Revelation.
Not sure if that's symbolic, but in this chapter, what you are going to see is really John, he is going to see some things that are future, but in a lot of chapter number 12, he is looking back, if you would. He's going to take us back just a bit, and he's going to look at this.
So, this isn't necessarily all happening in chronological order after chapter 11. He is going to look back a little bit, and we're going to see some of that here this evening. But what I think he's showing us is this. Is God's redemptive plan? That has been set for all along.
And what he's going to do in chapter number 12 is he is going to reveal to us and really pull back the curtains just a little bit. On what has been happening since the beginning of time until this day. And that's what you're going to see here in chapter number 12. And so the first thing is: you see this woman. And the question is: who is this woman?
I want to talk just a little bit about that before I tell you who I think the woman is.
So, wait just a second with the next slide. But, you know, there's a couple of different people that believe different things about this or different groups of people.
So, the first one, I would tell you, the Roman Catholic Church would believe that this is Mary. And for them, it makes sense. It's a woman giving birth, and Mary gave birth to Jesus. And so for them, it makes a lot of sense. But a couple of things of why I don't think it's Mary, and I'm pretty strongly against that it is Mary.
And the reason is that I would disagree with that is because of verse 1 when it says a great wonder, this is a sign. I don't necessarily think this is a literal woman. And so I think that this is not Mary here in this, but there's a lot of also Protestants who believe that this is representative of the church. And I understand their reasoning, some behind that. But the reason why I don't believe that it's necessarily the church, and here's what I'll tell you: I was honest with you from the get-go that the book of Revelation, there's a lot of good people on a lot of different streams of thought.
And so I'm going to always point out different. You know, theories and beliefs or interpretations. And I'm willing to kind of tell you what I think as well as we work throughout the book. But I never want to come across arrogant in a sense that I have everything about Revelation figured out. And if you come across somebody who is arrogant about all of this, whatever, I'd probably stay clear of that because there's a lot of questions that I still have about the book of Revelation, okay?
But the reason why I don't think it's the church. Is because the only time the church is mentioned In a female sense, in the book of Revelation, is when it's referred to as the bride of Christ. When it is, or what we are referred to as the body of, or the bride of Christ. And I also think it just makes sense. God gave.
Birth. To the church. The church doesn't give birth. God's the one who birthed us from the very beginning. And here you have this woman.
That is giving birth here, this sign, this picture, if you would, this representation. And so for me, it's like, I don't think it's the church because the church is only referred to in a female sense as the bride of Christ, and the church is never pictured as giving birth to anything. If it wasn't for God sending His only begotten Son and shedding His blood for us, there would be no church. He is the one that birthed us. And so when you come across people that think it's the church, I would disagree on that for those reasons.
So who is the woman? Here's who I believe the woman represents. I think the woman represents the nation of Israel. The woman represents the nation of Israel. And what you're going to see, I think it's fairly clear.
I understand that there's a lot of different reasons behind this, but what you see is this woman giving birth. She is clothed. It says in verse number one. She is clothed with the sun. And the moon under her feet.
and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
So she is clothed, if you would, with the sun, the moon, and the. and the stars. And here's what I'll tell you: when you interpret things like this. My best advice I can give you is that the absolute best commentary that you can ever find on the Bible. is the Bible.
Okay. Makes sense, right?
So, when you look at this, that she is clothed with the sun, moon, and stars, there's a story in the Old Testament. And it's in Genesis 37 with Joseph. You remember Joseph, son of Jacob of Israel? And Joseph was given a gift.
Now, his dad, they loved him the most and different things like that. There's some dysfunction there and stuff. But he was given this gift, if you would, of interpreting dreams. And what a gift that would be, right? And Joseph, who is probably a teenager at this time, probably like 17, 18 years old.
And if I was 17 and 18 years old and I was given the gift to interpret dreams, I'd probably go around talking about it and boasting about it. And Joseph had a little problem with that, and it sometimes got him into trouble. I ended up in Egypt somewhat as a result of some of this. But one day in Genesis 37, Joseph comes and he thought it would be a smart thing to tell his brothers about a dream that he had. And in his dream, in Genesis 37, you find that in his dream, the sun, the moon, and the stars bowed down to him.
And in his dream, the son. Represented His dad, Jacob, Israel. The moon represented, you know, his mom, Rachel, and the stars were his. His brothers. And you see this: that there's this picture here of something very similar to kind of what you have here in Revelation chapter number 12 with the sun, the moon, and the stars.
And when it says that her head was crowned with these 12 stars, I think what it's talking about is the nation of Israel. In fact, there are three passages, we're not going to turn there, but three passages specifically in the Old Testament. That portray the nation of Israel in a female sense, also kind of supporting this: Isaiah 54, Jeremiah 3, and Ezekiel chapter number 16. All three of those refer to the nation of Israel in a female sense. And so, I think, like, when people say that this is Mary, I don't think it's Mary.
When they say it's the church, I don't think it's the church. I think what you find here with the sun, moon, and stars, I think it goes back to Genesis 37, and I think the 12 stars are the. the nation of Israel.
So I think the woman represents the nation of Israel. But then there's also a child here. And the child very clearly, I don't think there's debate about this really, the child represents Jesus. Jesus Christ. And you see that in this child that she gives birth to.
And here you have two things about the child that I'll mention. Um first you see that he will rule the nations. with a rod of iron. He will rule the nations. with a rod of Iron.
The rod of iron was literally this rod, if you would, that signified authority. It was this scepter, this rod that was used to rule and to reign. And in a couple of different places, you find some messianic kind of verses about the coming Christ, the coming Messiah, who mentioned the rod of iron. One of those is in Psalm 2:9. You can put the reference down.
I don't have it up on the screen. But it is a messianic prophecy, and it mentions that the coming Messiah will come with a rod of iron. of iron. And then moving forward in Revelation 19, when Jesus comes back. It says that's the the second coming of Christ.
He will come and he will rule. with a rod of irons. He will rule the world with a rod of iron. And so the child here represents Christ. And he will rule with a rod of iron.
But not only that, what you also see here is in verse five, the child, he was called up to God and his throne. You see that? Let me read it again, verse 5. And she brought forth a man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was called up unto God.
into his throne. That's the ascension of Christ. That's what it's referencing here. And that's what I was telling you. Revelation 12, he's really going to show you kind of this total picture of the redemptive plan of God here.
And so what you see is that this child was called up to God and his throne, also giving proof that this is Jesus Christ, and that's an ascension, or that's a reference to his ascension back up into heaven.
So the dragon. The third one, who is this dragon?
Well, scripture tells us who the dragon is in verse 9, so it makes it pretty easy for us. The dragon represents Satan. represents Satan.
Now in this text Um There are several names for Satan that we are given. names for our enemy. And I want to give them to you just because I want you to know who our adversary is. And I want you to know that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. And what you're going to see here is who we actually wrestle against.
And here's what it is: so he's referred to in chapter, or in verse 9. as the old or that old serpent. That old serpent. What you see here in verse 9 is that John really goes all the way back to Genesis 3 when. When he disguised himself as a serpent to Adam and Eve.
So he's referred to as the old serpent. Also in verse 9, he's referred to as the devil. The devil. Uh in Greek, this word literally means the accuser. It's used 39 times in reference to Satan.
He's also referred to the third way is what we're calling him tonight, Satan. That's the blank. Then, verse 9 says, That old serpent called the devil and Satan. Uh this word literally means adversary. or enemy.
And that's what we have to be careful about because in 1 Peter 5, we see that we are supposed to be vigilant. We're supposed to be sober. We're supposed to be alert. Why is that? Why is that, you know, something that the church should be?
It's because the adversary, this adversary, the dragon that we are seeing here tonight, is walking about seeking whom he may devour. That's what he's doing. He's on the prow, and he is looking and searching and walking around, seeking whom he may devour. The fourth name that he's given in verse 9 is the one who deceives. The whole world.
He deceiveth the world. You say, how does he do that? 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4 says, The God of this world, that's little G, that's the devil, hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. You see, what his main role is, is he wants to deceive. His mission is to deceive as many people as possible.
so that they do not come to faith in Christ. You want to know why the enemy goes after young people so much? It's because he wants to get them while they're young. I'm convinced of it. He wants to devour them and he wants to deceive them while they're young, while their minds are still being formed, while they are still open to new ideas.
That's why the enemy is trying their best at going after your kids and your grandkids. You say, why is that? Pastor, are you just doom and gloom? No, I'm not, but I'm telling you that you have a real adversary. And he's using every means possible.
to destroy and to deceive. Uh The the fifth Um name he's given is in verse 10. He's called the accuser. of the brethren. The accuser of the brethren And what's amazing is it says here that he accuses the brethren at the end of verse number 10.
Day and night. In other words, he's relentless. He accuses the brethren constantly. He does not stop. Nothing's going to stop him.
And he's going to constantly Go after and accuse the brethren. The enemy hates you. The reason he hates you is because you are made in the image of God. He hates us because we're made in the image of God and we're loved by God. And so, therefore, his main goal and his main job is to walk about and seek whom he may devour.
And his job is to destroy as many people as possible.
So, you have an accuser here, he's the accuser of the brethren. But it also reminds me that we also have an advocate. And that's what's good. That's the good news for you.
So at the same time, the accuser is constantly accusing you of things and accusing you of your sin and accusing you of all of these different things. And it says he's doing that day and night. He's relentless, he's constantly accusing you. But at the same time, the New Testament tells us that Christ is our advocate. In other words, we have a defender.
So, as the accusations are being thrown our way or thrown towards God, let me tell you this: that there's this moment happening. I don't have all the answers about what that looks like, but there's this spiritual element that is happening right now where the enemy is accusing you. And in the midst of the accusations, you have an advocate defending you at the same time. And that's Christ. I like what one commentator Said, I read this to my Bible fellowship class recently, but they forget things from time to time.
So I'm just going to tell you, I'm going to read it again. That's a joke. They know why I'm joking about that. But it says this: I like what one commentator said. He said, It is as if we stand as the accused in the heavenly court.
before our righteous judge, God the Father. Our advocate stands up to answer the charges. He is completely guilty, Your Honor. In fact, he has even done worse than what he is accused of. and now makes full and complete confession before you.
The gavel slams and the judge asks, What should his sentence be? Our advocate, that's Christ, answers. His sentence shall be death. He deserves the full wrath of this righteous court. While all along, our accuser Satan is having great fun in all of this.
We are guilty. We admit our guilt. We see our punishment. But then Our advocate asked to approach the bench. As he draws close to the judge, he simply says Dad?
This one. belongs to me. I paid his price. I took the wrath and punishment from this court that he deserves. The gavel sounds again, and the judge cries out, guilty as charged.
Penalty. Satisfied. Our accuser starts going crazy. Aren't you going to put him on probation? No, the judge shouts.
The penalty has been completely paid by my son. There is nothing to put him on probation. Four. Then the judge turns to our advocate and says, Son, You said this one belongs to you. I release him into your care.
Case closed. You see, here's what I want you to know. This picture going on that we see here in Revelation chapter 12, where you have the accuser of the brethren. And at the same time, we have an advocate stepping in every single time on your behalf. And guess what?
Here's what I love: the advocate, he's not arguing anything in you because here's what I'm telling you: there is nothing good in you to argue for. What he's arguing is what he did. He's arguing on his hands and feet. And his body that was destroyed, and his blood that was poured out for us. It's based on what Jesus Christ did for you and the blood that redeemed you.
That's what he is arguing on your behalf for.
So, what's happening is that, and then in verses 7 through 9, you also have this moment where John goes back. even further And he talks about this war that is happening in heaven. He goes back to this sign when Satan was kicked out of heaven. And we don't have enough time to go all the way into that, but I'm going to just show you a couple of things. In the Old Te just because I I understand that if you're kind of you know, sometimes we don't always study everything together so we can forget certain things.
So just remember, Satan was created and called the Um the anointed cherub. And he was called that in Ezekiel 28. And he was called that, and he was beautiful. I mean, you can read all about his description in Ezekiel 28. And he was called this anointed cherub.
And I mean, he was, you know, a high-ranking. Angelic being? when he was created. And and I mean, he had, you know, there's references in Ezekiel 28 about, you know, pipes and different things like that. And most believe that he was very musical.
Some would even go and say that he was probably, you know, your lead worship leader in heaven, if you would. And all of this because he was a high-ranking angelic being. And so when he was created, that was it. And what I'm telling you is, we know that because he had pride, That he was cast from heaven.
Well, here in Revelation 12, John is kind of recounting a little bit about what happened when he was kicked out of heaven. In verse 7, it says that there was a war in heaven. Where Michael the Archangel. Mentioned four times in scripture. He's the only angel mentioned as the archangel.
That Michael was really fighting against the dragon, fighting against. the enemy. In other words, what you see here is in heaven, there was this cue, if you would, of of like the you know, this rebellion where all of these, you know, these angelic beings were rebelling against God. And I don't fully understand all of how that works and stuff, but they, you know, the devil, the enemy, was leading this rebellion. And what it says here is that a third of the stars, that's the fallen angels, fell with him.
You'd say how many was that? We don't know. We don't know because I have no idea how many stars were up there, how many angels were up there, but a third of the angels followed. The devil. And because of this, it says in verse 8.
that he prevailed not.
So in this war in heaven, you know, he prevailed not. Neither was there place found anymore in heaven. In other words, when you go up against God, there is no place in heaven found for you. And so therefore they were cast down to earth. You know, the devil and and his angels.
And they were cast down to this earth. And you say, what does that mean?
Well, some of them we know throughout scripture that. You know, some of them were kept in what is called the abyss or the bottomless pit. And they are kept there. Chained, and one day that bottomless pit during the tribulation period will be opened, and these terrible demons that fell from heaven will be released into the world, and they will torment people. They will torment people.
But they are kept there. The rest that were not kept in that bottomless pit. They exist. in a spiritual sense in our world today. They exist and they are tormenting.
People. That's why There's demonic. I know we don't like to talk about stuff like this because it sounds. Scary and things like, you know, a little eerie about talking about demonic things and stuff. But what I want you to understand is what we have at play.
Remember, I told you chapter 12 is really the entire picture of God's redemptive plan. And what you see here is that from the very beginning, these fallen angels exist in the spiritual realm and they are tormenting people. That's why we have demonic activity all around our world. Just turn on the news. You want to know why some things happen?
It's because of demonic activity. It's because of demonic activity. And Paul says to the church in Ephesians chapter 6, he tells us what it is.
So I don't know why we act surprised by this, because it shouldn't be a surprise. He says we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
Some of us think our enemy is like Washington and all these individuals or whatever. I'm telling you, it's not a certain people. We don't. Wrestle and fight and war against flesh and blood. No, who we are warring against.
is principalities. And it's against these powers. It's the rulers of darkness that this world is. It's the spiritual wickedness in these places. And that is what we see here.
And that is happening all around our So we see the woman We see the child, and now we see the dragon. What all does That means? How do you put it all together?
So if the woman's the nation of Israel, And the child represents Christ. And the dragon represents The devil. Why put them all together? Like, what does that even mean? And here's why.
The woman, the child, and the dragon represent Gods. entire redemptive plan. It represents his entire redemptive Plan. And and here's why, in a nutshell. God, when he created the world, remember he had a plan.
And God is sovereign. God knows all things. And so God created the world. We read about that in Genesis 1 and 2. And when he created the world, he created man.
The only thing he created in the image and likeness of himself was mankind. us human beings. And he created you. You want to know why you were created? You want to know why you're on this earth right now?
We always talk about purpose. Like, why are we here? What are we supposed to do? Here's your purpose. To have a relationship with your Creator.
And that was the purpose. That's why he created you, so that he could know you and you could have a relationship with your creator. But we know that everything changed about that relationship in Genesis chapter number three when the dragon. When sin entered into the world, And that dragon, the devil, came as that old serpent, verse number 9. He came and he deceived Eve.
And Adam, and told them that if you take of that tree that God told you not to, you're going to be like him. And that's why he doesn't want you to.
So they took the tree, sin into the world, and from that day forward, sin has now passed upon every single one of us. Every child, every person that's ever been born is a sinner. You're a sinner, I'm a sinner, the people on your row are sinners. And because of our sin, our original purpose to have a relationship with God has been destroyed. And the only life worthy of a relationship with a holy, perfect, righteous Father.
is a holy, righteous, perfect life. And here's what the Bible says, that none of us can live that type of life. None of us can live a perfect life. And so if none of us can live a perfect life, what a terrible ending of the story that would be.
So God noticed that, and so God set out his redemptive plan. Plan. It started with the nation of Israel.
So he rose up this nation. Through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he rose up the nation of Israel, and he said that out of the nation of Israel would come one. The Messiah. And out of God's chosen people would come this Messiah.
And by the way, I don't have a lot of time to go through it, but in the nation of Israel's camp, you know what God did when he created them? He gave them instructions to build like the tabernacle. You say, why is that? So that God could dwell with them. Remember your purpose to have a relationship with God?
The tabernacle was the place that they could have a relationship with him. Because God's redemptive plan has always been from the beginning of time.
so that you could have a relationship with God. But sin has ruined that. And so from that moment, God has had a redemptive plan to redeem you back into that relationship. It started with the nation of Israel, and then it led into Jesus dying on the cross for you. And through his shed blood, we can now have a relationship with God.
Him. And here's the point. From the very beginning, the scripture says... That right here, that this baby at the end of verse four. This child That was born.
Right? Christ. The dragon has sought to devour the child as soon as it was born. You see, the point is: is this: that the reason the woman, the child, the dragon, what do they represent? They represent God's redemptive plan.
His redemptive plan from the beginning has been to redeem his people, you, mankind, back into a relationship with him. And here's the problem. is that we've had from the beginning a dragon. An enemy. Who is constantly raging war?
He is constantly trying to stop God's redemptive plan. Plan all along. He's always in opposition and raging war against the one true king. And so, what you have here is the dragon constantly raging war. He's been behind.
He was behind the serpent. He was the serpent that deceived Adam and Eve in the beginning. He was behind Pharaoh when he tried to wipe the Jews off the planet. He was behind Herod when he tried to murder the Jewish babies. He's been behind everything.
You could go throughout history and you can see the enemy is always raging war against God's redemptive plan. You want to know why Israel has all these problems and all these enemies and people always trying to wipe them off and lots of people not even happy that they're a nation again and stuff like that? Why is that? It's because the dragon. It's because from the very beginning, he is trying to rage war and stop God's redemptive plan.
It's been true all along, and you've seen it. You've seen it through Hitler and Germany, and you see that with the Nazis and the Jewish people. I'm telling you, you can follow it. If you study this, you're going to see that he has been in opposition raging war against God's redemptive plan all along. along.
In fact, um a story and I'll be uh I'll be done. Benjamin Naded Otto, and I never can pronounce his last name, but he's the prime minister of Israel. And he served several different terms. He was quoted saying this. This has been several years ago.
This was in 2017. And he was quoted to say this about his nation. And he was talking with the president of China. And also India, and they were at whatever meeting this was, and he was talking to them. about their nations.
And he says that the Jews and the Chinese are two of the oldest people on earth. This is the Prime Minister of Israel saying this. And obviously they said that's true. And he included the Indians as well into this, one of the oldest nations that exist. And he said, but there is a difference between us, Israel, India, and China.
And they said, what's the difference? And he said this, and this is so true. He said, how many Chinese are there? And the They answered, well, there's about 1.2 billion. And then he said, how many Indians are there?
And I'm quoting this. And they said about 1 billion. And then he said, how many Jews are there? And they said, well, right now there's about 13 million Jews. And there was silence.
In the room. And he said, Mr. President, this is the president of China, he's talking directly to him. He said, Isn't it odd? We've been around for thousands of years.
You exceed a billion, and we're only thirteen million. He said, what happened? And he responded because there was no answer. He said, a lot of things have happened, but they've boiled down to one thing. You?
The Chinese have kept China. The Indians have kept India. And we The Jewish people lost our land. and were scattered to the far corners of the earth. And for the last thousands of years, we've had one goal.
to come back to our ancient homeland. and reconstitute our life. Here's what I'm telling you. is that the enemy has tried to destroy every bit of God's redemptive plan. He's tried to destroy Israel.
He's tried to destroy the church. He's tried to destroy you. And this dragon, your adversary, is constantly accusing you And may and everything in between. And it's been that way from the beginning of time. But here's what I'm going to tell you, and here's the lesson that we learned here in chapter 12.
is this. The Gates of Hell will not prevail. against the redemptive plan of God. the gates of hell. will not prevail.
Against the redemptive plan of God. Let me say it again: the gates of hell. will not prevail. Against the redemptive plan of God. I'm going to say this till you say amen.
All right.
The gates of hell will not prevail against the redemptive plan of God. And what you see from the very beginning of time is, I want you to understand this: that from the very beginning, we've had an accuser, we've had this dragon, the enemy. And he has constantly been trying to destroy God's redemptive plan. And I want you to know, and what you see here in chapter number 12, verse 8, just like way back in heaven, he prevailed not and he was kicked out. Let me tell you this: that as we move forward through the book of Revelation, we're going to see that he has an ending place.
He has a final resting place. And one day, let it be soon, right? One day. He is going to be forever destroyed and forever cast into the lake of fire to burn forever because he has constantly been raging war against the redemptive plan of God. But what I can tell you this: you've seen it from time and time again, that God's redemptive plan will always prevail.
There is no scheme, there is no accusation, there is no word, there is no enemy. God's word will prevail 100%. of the time. And here's why. Because the blood of the Lamb has overcome.
