When you take your Bibles, we'll turn together to Revelation 12. I want to begin this morning by taking a moment to talk about something a little bit technical, but it is relevant for our understanding of the book of Revelation. So far, we've looked at this book and seen how it highlights Jesus Christ. and how He is working so that the kingdom of God will be established permanently, not only in heaven, but on the earth. And we have understood this book in a chronological, normal fashion. Now, some people disagree entirely with that kind of understanding. They believe that this book is a book of signs. And as you look in chapter 12 today, we're gonna see that there are signs. Chapter 12, verse one and three, you see the sign of a woman. You see the sign of the dragon. You see the male child. So some people look at this book and they find that this book is jammed pack full of signs. Say, what's a sign? A sign is something that stands for something else. To me, I just think of an exit sign. An exit sign tells you that there is an exit right here nearby. The exit sign is not the exit, but it is an indicator of what is there. Even so, people believe that this book is full of signs, and we're not to take them as real things, but as pointers to something else. And they believe that this book is jam-packed full of signs because of what we find in Revelation 1. All the way back to the first verse, it says, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to, here's the word, show to his servants the things that must soon take place. That word that's translated show is related to the word show. In chapter 12, verses 1 and 3, the word sign. They come from the same root word. And some people believe that this book is about Jesus giving John signs. And everyone agrees that there are signs in this book. However, we don't agree when it comes to everything in the book being signs. People who believe that this book is symbolic, that it is jam-packed full of signs, they run to Daniel chapter 2 for what they believe to be evidence for this kind of interpretation because this word for signs also comes up in Daniel 2 where we remember that Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of the great statue. that was destroyed by the stone. It talked about the ruin of the world kingdoms and then the establishment of God's kingdom. So in Daniel 2, verse 30 and 45 is the same word in the Septuagint for sign or signify in Revelation 1, 1. So they say, God shows Nebuchadnezzar what is going to happen by a sign. Therefore, because the word can mean to show by a sign, and because it occurs in Daniel 2 and occurs in Revelation 1, the entire book of Revelation should be taken, should be interpreted symbolically, not normally, like you'd pick up and read a book. There are problems with that. First, that is a poor interpretation based technically on what we call the root fallacy. Just because words have a similar root does not mean that they mean the same thing. Second, it disregards context because context is what we use to determine what a word means. When we're in the book of Revelation, we're in the book of Daniel, we have this word for to show or to signify. It comes up earlier in the story of Daniel in chapter two. Many of you remember the situation that came before Nebuchadnezzar's dream is interpreted at the end of the chapter. Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, he can't remember it, he calls the wise men, they can't tell it to him or interpret it, so he determines to destroy all the wise men. And it says in verse 15 that the king's captain, and here's the word, he signified that to Daniel. Well, he certainly didn't tell him signs. and use all kinds of strange imagery. He just told him what the situation was. He told him why his life was at stake. That's why this word simply means to make known. The most frequent, thirdly here, the most frequent meaning of the word is to make known. And that's actually the dominant meaning of Daniel chapter 2, if you study the whole chapter. What we find in chapter 12 would be really strange. If the precedent at the beginning of the book of Revelation says the whole book is signs, then when you come to chapter 12, why would it tell you, well, here's a sign? It already told you at the beginning. Some of you have read Pilgrim's Progress and you know that Bunyan says this is an allegory of a Christian life. It would be very strange for Bunyan to then go on to Vanity Fair and say, just so you know, this is not a real city, this is just a sign. We already knew Vanity Fair is not a real city because of what Bunyan said at the beginning of the book. Fifthly, this book uses signs, not very often actually, but when it does so, it interprets them for us. Think of chapter one. What are the seven lampstands? We know because chapter one, verse 20 says the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Because if we don't have an interpretation, it's hard to know what the sign means. But this book is helpful, tells us what the sign means when there is one. Sixth, this book uses mostly figurative expressions. As we read through the book, you see words like like and as. So he heard a voice like a trumpet. If this book was symbolic, he would say he heard a trumpet, not a voice like a trumpet. So it's not symbolic language, It's figurative language that we have textual indicators for. And I just close by saying we can be thankful that this book is not jam-packed full of signs. Because when you use signs, it makes the meaning of the text less sure. And certainly, there's no wonder then that people who believe this book is all symbolic, they disagree about what the signs mean. If this book is a normal book of prophecy in the form of an epistle, which it is, then we can read it normally, and we find that Jesus Christ is lifted up as the great champion who brings in the kingdom of God. So that's a little bit of background. We'll get to the rest of Revelation 12 now. That's how we'll understand that. As we go through Revelation 12, it says signs, and since it tells us they're signs, we know that they are. And we'll have to figure out what they mean. We'll pray for God's help as we do that. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for making known to us what you want us to know, what we need to know so that we can give you the glory that is due your name and so that we can become more like you. We pray that you'll help us to do that. We pray in particular that you'll help us to trust you more as we see all the measures that you go to, to keep your word, to make sure that you are a God of integrity who deserves the trust of your people. We thank you for that in Jesus' name, amen. Saturday morning used to be cartoon morning. That was the good old days when I was young, and they had cartoons of the good guys and the bad guys. And the bad guys were trying to do something wrong, and the good guys were gonna put a stop to it. Those were the days of G.I. Joe, American Hero, and Optimus Prime with the Transformers against the Decepticons, or one of my old favorites, Looney Tunes, The Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote. Like the ancient Amazon Prime, where the coyote would keep getting all these packages of how to destroy the roadrunner. Somehow, a great boulder would fall and try to destroy the roadrunner. Of course, the boulder would end up falling on the coyote. And it was great. It was great to see the bad guys lose and the good guys win. Well, in Revelation 12, we come to the ultimate epic between good and evil, but more specifically between God and those who rebel against him. To this point in the book of Revelation, there really hasn't been a lot of development of what the champion Jesus Christ is up against. What is the evil that he's up against? We have seen sin in the churches of Asia Minor. We've seen rebellion on the earth when they won't repent after the judgments of the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments. And we've even read about demonic activity in the first two woes and a conquering beast in chapter 11, but for the most part, We come to chapter 11, and we read about how depraved the people of earth are, that they marvel and rejoice at the death of the two witnesses. And we might wonder, how is it that these people are so diabolical? I mean, this is just absolutely wicked. How could people be like that? Well, the first portion of Revelation 12 reminds us of the ancient conflict between God and Satan. That's the ultimate epic. Satan has not had much press in this book to this point. As you think back, there's only three references or so, and those come as passing references in the letters. Remember the synagogue of Satan, or the throne of Satan, where Satan dwells, the deep things of Satan? That's all the attention Satan gets. But we come to Revelation 12, and it sets Satan forth as the great antagonist or opponent of Jesus Christ. An important point for all of us to remember as we consider Satan is that while he is Christ's opponent, he is not Christ's equal. He is opposed to God, but he is not the opposite of God. That is because God is holy. There is nothing equal and opposite to God. He is holy, he is unique, one of a kind. God is uncreated, while all else is created. So when you think of Satan, you need to think of a fellow creature. If Satan were to have an opposite, it would be someone like the angel Michael, but not God. Satan is powerful, but he's not omnipotent. Satan is mobile, but he's not omnipresent. And Satan is mentioned in all but four verses of this chapter. So we're going to learn a great deal about him. The primary truth that we'll see about him is that Satan wants to thwart God's promises. Satan wants to thwart God's promises. You remember at the end of Revelation 11, there was the site of the Ark of the Covenant in the temple in heaven. And that stands as a reminder that God has made promises with his people Israel and God intends to keep those promises. So Revelation 12 comes along showing us how Satan has attempted to undermine God's promises. This chapter has three parts. We see them beginning in verses 1, 7, and 13. First, in verse 1, we see a sign in heaven. Verse 7, we see there's war in heaven. In verse 13, we see Satan who is, there's a pursuit on the earth. You see verse 13, there's a dragon saw, he'd been thrown down, he pursued the woman. Again, verse 17, he went off to make war on her offspring. So there's a pursuit on the earth. And while I would have liked to have covered everything in one fell swoop, I can't. So we're gonna consider just verses one through six today, which is divided into three parts. The first part, verses one and two, is the woman in travail. Verses 3 and 4, the dragon in waiting. Verses 5 and 6, the child in hand. The woman in travail, the dragon in waiting, and the child in hand. We'll consider that this morning. First, the woman in travail. Let's look at our Bibles at Revelation 12.1. The Bible says, a great sign appeared in heaven. We know it's a sign. We know that this is not a real reality in heaven. We're actually gonna find out it's a reality on the earth. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head, a crown of 12 stars. Yeah, signs are difficult to understand, but let's try to figure it out. The woman's clothing was described for us. She had a celestial appearance, the sun, the moon, and the stars. And when we think about sun, moon, and stars, that draws our attention back, as it says in the margin, to Genesis 37, where Joseph had a dream. But this is quite unlike what we find in Revelation. Because in Joseph's dream, his brothers, as well as his father and mother, were bowing down to him. So how is it that bowing down to Joseph is somehow related to this woman who's clothed with the sun, the moon, stars? Well, this woman had a crown of 12 stars. If you think back to the dream of Joseph, there were only 11 stars because there were 11 sons of Israel. Joseph was the 12th. Those 11 stars were bowing to their brother. So who is this woman? Well, it's hard to say from these details, because we haven't seen this character anywhere else in the Bible. But there seems to be some reference to Genesis 37. And we're going to find out who this person actually is by reading on in this chapter, because things are going to become clearer. Look at verse 2. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs and the agony of giving birth. Now this is a very common situation in human history and throughout the Bible. A woman's pregnant and the time for the baby to be born is at hand. So the woman's child was to be delivered, verse 2 shows us. But we wonder, who is this woman? The simplest way to figure it out is to read ahead about the child that will be born. Look at verse five. It says, she gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Now we know who that child is because it is unmistakably Jesus Christ. So if Jesus Christ is the child, the mother then must be who? Well, the Virgin Mary, right? It would seem Mary bore Christ. But Mary doesn't fit the description. Why would Mary be described in the way that verse 1 and 2 state? Clothed in the celestial appearance. And Mary doesn't fit the description of the rest of this chapter because the woman in the rest of this chapter is actually going to live to the end of the events of the chapter. And those events in this chapter are actually still future to us. So it cannot be Mary because Mary is still not here on earth, still living. But this woman is. So this woman cannot be a single human being because of the time factor. but she is linked, and this is very important, she is linked to the production of the Messiah. So who was it who bore Christ? Was it the church? That's the most popular understanding in seminaries today, but no. You say, why is that? Because Christ promised to build the church. You and I, the church, do not bear the Christ child. We know this very simply. A mother comes before the child of the mother, and so the church comes after Christ because Christ is building the church. It cannot be the church. What we know from Revelation and from the rest of Scripture is that Christ is the Lion of Judah. He is the Root of David. And when you consider his lineage in an allusion to Genesis 37 then, it's plain the woman must be the nation of Israel. The woman with the 12 stars. The nation of Israel that gives birth to the Messiah. And what we find then is that the woman in travail points to the origin of the Christ child, the origin of the Christ child. You see, the Messiah is an integral part to God's plan, and God planned to fulfill his promise through Israel's Messiah. So John saw a sign that represented the nation of Israel, and John saw a situation that represented the first coming of Christ. Now let's look at the second sign of the dragon in waiting, verses three and four. Verse three says, and another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadems. So who's the dragon? I'm not gonna leave you in suspense. We know for sure from verse nine. It says, and the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan. So we know who the dragon is, that's Satan. And the dragon's image in verse three is shocking, because Satan appears as a crowned, seven-headed dragon. A dragon is a murderous and cruel beast. It's the creature that I hesitated making the coloring page on the kids' bulletin today, because I didn't want to scare anyone. But it's portrayed accurately here. We find that this creature has seven heads, and that brings back to mind a hydra, like the hydra that Hercules defeated on his quest in Greek mythology. This dragon is cruel, it's a beast, and this dragon is powerful, and we know that because of the diadems that are on its head. It says that these are diadems, the king's crowns. More perhaps will be said about his appearance later on in this book of Revelation, but I want you to notice in verse four that the dragon's influence is significant because Satan pulled down a third of the stars of heaven. It says, his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. That does not mean that Satan reduced the stars in the sky that we see at night by one third. He has no power to do that kind of thing. But as was the case in Revelation 9, when John saw a star fall from heaven, stars refer to angels. We know that, we sing about that in the Christmas song, A Little Town of Bethlehem. We sing, the morning stars together proclaim the Savior's birth. That's the angels, the morning stars. So this verse shows us that what Satan has done is gathered demons who joined him in rebelling against God. A third of the stars of heaven. These demons are thrown to the earth where they wreak havoc among men. So we see Satan's image is shocking, his influence is significant, and in verse four, the end of the verse, we see the dragon's intention is sinister. Verse four goes on to say, and the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child, he might devour her. I was asked just a moment ago what that meant. That means to destroy the child. You say, what is significant about this verse? I would say location, location, location. When your dog is at the front door, it means he wants to go out. When your child stands in front of the refrigerator with the door open forever, it means he's hungry and indecisive. And when a dragon stands before a woman in travail, it's diabolical. We read the Christmas story and the subsequent pursuit of the Christ child by Herod. And we might think, well, Herod, he was just a typical ancient ruler. He was jealous about his own power, so he got rid of any opposing power. That's why Herod ordered that all the male children two years and younger in and around Bethlehem be slaughtered. But when we come to Revelation 12, we actually learn what was behind that whole scene. We learn that it was Satan who is behind the scheme to destroy Christ. And that is to show us a general truth that the dragon hates babies. Think about it. He hates little, weak beings that bear the image of God. As you reflect in human history, religions have often resulted in the death of babies. You think of the ancient religion of the Canaanites, where babies were sacrificed to idols in the hopes of a good harvest. You think of the modern religion of a woman's choice, where babies are aborted in the womb or left on the table. Satan hates babies, but he especially hates the Christ child. We are told of his position. He stood there, ready to devour. And it shows us that at the birth of Christ, Satan intended to thwart God's promise by devouring the Messiah. The dragon in waiting. The dragon in waiting. points to the opponent of the Christ child. Certainly, Satan knew that there was something going. He knew that at the birth of Messiah, that something big in God's plan had to be taking place. He knew about the promises of the Old Testament. And certainly, Satan must have thought, if I destroy the Messiah, that's going to mess up God's plan, that's going to mess up God's promises. That was Satan's intent. We move then to the last and find out what happened in the story, the child in hand. Let's see this in verse five. She gave birth to a male child who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne. So this child who was born was caught up to God. That is to show us that God preserves his promise by catching up the Messiah. As we look at Christ and the description of his life, we see that his life is described by bookends. We see his birth and we see his ascension. Some people have understood this book to mean that Mary took the child to Egypt and therefore she fled. for safety from Herod. But this text is stating to us that Christ did not flee to Egypt. It says that he was caught up to God and to the throne. He was caught up to heaven. So it's there that Satan is not able to devour the child and his weakness on the earth because the child has been exalted to heaven. So Christ's life is presented. We also see Christ's lot is to rule over all. It says that he is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. That's a reference to Psalm 2 verse 9. And it's repeated three times in this book of Revelation. We saw it in the letters, we saw it here, and we'll see it again in Revelation 19 where Christ is going to descend from heaven and establish the kingdom on the earth. You say, well, what does that rod of iron mean? When you rule with a rod of iron, it means that no one can resist your rule. You can't overcome that ruler. You know, today, it seems that whenever a political decision is made, people immediately go out and protest and resist. And in some places, their resistance is heard in such a way that people say, okay, we'll change our policy, we'll do what you want. But here's the point, when Christ come, when he comes, no one will be able to resist. No one will be able to change his mind. What he decides will be. Christ will have the nations as his heritage and the ends of the earth as his possession, as Psalm 2 says. And the gospel call then, The gospel call that by God's grace you and I have already heard and what we need to tell to our neighbors is this, we must bend the knee and acknowledge Jesus to be the Lord and Christ. Romans 10, 9 says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. He says, be saved now because when He comes again, it will not be to save, it will be to subdue. He will come with a rod of iron. So in Revelation 12.5, God preserved his promise by catching up the Messiah. Revelation 12.6, God preserves his promise by protecting Israel. Look at verse six, the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished 1,260 days. And we know from that time reference in this verse that this is talking about something that is not part of Israel's history, the past, this is talking about the future. Because we've seen this many times already in this book and we'll see it again. 1,260 days, 42 months, three and a half years. And all of those things are repeatedly set forth for us so that we know that is the time of the end. Daniel 9.27 established the chronology And Revelation fits into that chronology perfectly. So even though Daniel wrote hundreds of years before John wrote, God being the ultimate author of scripture, he doesn't contradict himself. He makes all the details fit, all the numbers fit. More can be said later in the chapter about the woman, but I want you to notice that the text says she fled to the wilderness, but she was provided for in the wilderness. I'll draw your attention to Jesus, what he said in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, 15, and 16. When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, Jesus is saying that's still a future event. When you see it, Him standing in the holy place, which necessitates a rebuilt temple to have a holy place. When you see that, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. So that is to show us that the end time is going to be a terrible time of attack upon the nation of Israel, but God is going to provide for the nation of Israel in the wilderness. I don't know all the details of that, but that's what's set forth. This chapter is chiefly about Satan, who opposes God. What you find is that he tried to destroy God's Christ in order to thwart God's promise. You see, God made a promise to redeem man, and it would seem in Satan's mind, if you destroy the Christ child, that's going to mess up God's plan. But he failed. Just like Wile E. Coyote failed. He schemes, but his schemes are unsuccessful, and the roadrunner gets away unharmed. And even so, Christ, the key character in the fulfillment of God's promise, was preserved by God. And that shows us that God has all things under His control. It shows us that God has the capacity and is working out every detail so that everything He has planned and promised will take place. And we can trust in Him because of that. Father, we praise You that You are so unlike us. Our plans fall apart. We can relate to a character like Wile E. Coyote. Not in trying to be diabolical, but just in the idea that we have plans, and they don't work. But you have your plan, which is forever settled in heaven. And everything that you have planned comes to pass. And not even the devil himself, the greatest of created beings, is able to thwart that plan. And Father, we praise you for that. We know that you had to work in order for that to take place. And you did everything so perfectly and beautifully. In the gospel, we see the wisdom and power of God. And we see that you know how to keep your promises. So Lord, may we trust you. May we trust you. We ask for that in Jesus' name. Amen.