Let's read together the inspired word of God, profitable for us. Revelation 12, starting at verse 1. 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 pained 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. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and it 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 caught up unto God and to his throne. And 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. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and 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. 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 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 sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And the woman And to the woman 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 a time, from the face of the 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. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and 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. Thus far the reading of God's holy word from Revelation chapter 12. a most powerful passage in the word of God. In this passage, we have a few portions. I'd ask you to take your outline of the book of Revelation, the second page, where we go through this in high detail, then we'll get into some of the lower level details. Verses 1 through 6, we have in this chapter 12, the woman, the child, the dragon, and the 1260 days of the woman's feeding. This serves as an interlude. If you recall, we had the seals, we had the trumpets, and to follow this are the vials, the fourth vision and its exposition in chapters 15 and following. But here we have an interlude. In fact, it is my understanding that here we have a rewind back to the beginning of the history of the church. And if you'll remember, the book of Revelation has three time references. What now is, what is shortly to come to pass, and what is to come to pass hereafter. So as we read chapter 12, we must read it with that in mind. The visions God gave to John to show to his servants those things, not those things that happened at the very beginning of the world, not those things that happened at the incarnation of Christ, not those things that necessarily were going to occur only at the end, but rather all of the period of gospel history, we might call it. these last days, which goes from the resurrection of Christ all the way till the end of the world. So here, with that in mind, we have the woman, the child, the dragon, and the 1260 days. Then in verses seven through 17, we have Michael defeating the dragon, and the dragon persecuting the woman and her seed. Chapter 13, verses one through 10, we have the blasphemous beast from the sea, his war on the saints, and his reprobate followers. Then we have verses 11 through 18 of chapter 13, A second beast, a lamb-dragon man who comes from the earth, his lying wonders and his graven images. Then in chapter 14 we have in verses 1 through 5 the Lamb of God and the redeemed and sealed elect. We have the everlasting gospel in verses 6 through 13, Babylon's fall and everlasting death and life. And then in chapter 14, verses 14 through 20, we have the harvest of God's wrath. Now then, let's consider the first portion of this interlude, the woman, the child, the dragon, and the woman's feeding. Here we have a great wonder, or literally, a great wonder emphatically appeared. This wonder is as a miraculous event, contrary to the usual course of nature. Can you imagine a woman fighting a dragon and being the victor in the battle? Can you imagine that? No, it's a wonder. It's a thing beyond comprehension, a miraculous sign. She is in heaven, this great wonder of a woman. Arthur Dent in his Ruin of Rome says the following, It is to be a wonder in heaven, because the church here in vision appeareth not upon the earth, but in heaven. Inasmuch as her birth is from heaven, her inheritance in heaven, and her conversation in heaven, this is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the woman. Let us be of such a birth to have such an inheritance, to have such a heavenly conversation. The woman is clothed with the sun, the brightness or the effulgence of the sun, even the sun of righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. She's victorious over the moon. Now, the sun, you will notice, will have occasional eclipses, but the normal posture of the sun is fullness and brightness and life-giving. What about the moon? Well, it's changeable, isn't it? And it reflects the glory of the sun. It can get smaller in our perception or larger. And it gives us the elements of the world, either of Judaism or of heathenism. And here the church stands triumphant over both, not subject to the elements of the world, but rather victorious, clothed with the sun of righteousness. Upon her head is a crown of 12 stars. She is a queen. She is a spouse. She shines with Christ's righteousness. She is crowned with victory and honor. And here notice the number 12. 12 being the number of the apostles, but also the divine number three, multiplied by the number of creation four, God's blessing and multiplying the creation in his covenant. Thus, the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ were twelve in number. The tribes of Israel were twelve in number, the Old and the New Covenants or Testaments. She is God's heir and queen. She has a crown of righteousness from her glorious husband. She has the stars of the apostolic ministry. Edward Lee calls these stars the shining crown of the twelve apostles. Do you remember what Paul said in Acts 13 47? That God had appointed the apostles to be a light to the Gentiles like stars shining in the sky. And this reflects, you might say, the white horse rider of the first seal. This passage appears to give us all the way back to the first seal, a review of that whole period so that we may understand in better detail both the dragon and the beast who follows him. Christ's church then is glorious, robed in Christ's brightness, triumphant over the lesser lights of heathenism and Judaism, those changeable times and elements of the world. She's crowned with glory and honor, with the apostolic ministry of glory and victory upon her head, shining forth the light of truth to the whole world. Let us then, as a particular visible church, strive by God's grace to reflect the radiance of our head, even the Savior Jesus Christ, to reign and govern with Him, with an apostolic ministry of light shining, a holiness that radiates, triumphing over all the dim lights of the moon. She is with child and is crying, travailing in birth. Her apostolic teaching and gospel righteousness was going to produce an offspring. She was going to bring forth a son, but how would this son come? Easy and smooth? No, she travailed. In fact, it says that she was pained to be delivered. Now this is a very interesting word concerning her pains. Properly, it means to test metals by a touchstone, Thayer says. But it went on to mean questioning people by torturing them, causing them to be pained, experience vexation in their body and mind to torment them until what? Till the man-child came forth from the church. Now it's interesting, if you know anything about the Roman law, the manner in which the Roman Inquisition would go forth was by pain and torture, this same idea. Testing and questioning by means of pain until you give them the answer that they want. The church then was pained in her travail for this man-child. She is pained to be delivered, and there appeared another wonder in heaven. Here you have the woman about to give birth. What do you have, a midwife? Do you have someone coming to assist her? No, you have a red dragon, a great red dragon. Do you remember the second seal? It was a red horse of sword and death, of killing and persecution. Here the same color, but here not a horse, rather a dragon, a diabolical enemy, destructive and bloody. And notice he has seven heads and 10 horns. Now we'll see that the beast who succeeds the dragon also has this. He'll have the same or some similar seven heads and 10 horns. Now the head thinks, it creates policy, it governs and understands. And in chapter 17, verse nine, we read the following, that these seven heads are what? Seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. We'll see after the beast, the woman, the harlot. She sits on the seven mountains of the seven heads of the red dragon. What city, you might ask yourself, hmm, I wonder, what city is built upon seven hills? Jerusalem? No. Athens? No. Corinth? No. Rome? Yes, it is the city of Jerusalem. The eternal city, as they called it, built upon seven hills. And that's where the whore will sit. But now notice the dragon himself, this red dragon, has these seven hills at his head. Now the horns, as you may see in Daniel chapter seven, verses seven and eight, and in verse 24 of chapter seven, horns are the military prowess or the power to push and defeat your adversaries. In the Psalms, when we have our horn exalted, what are we saying? We have defeated our adversaries. We have pushed and destroyed them. As the rams will push each other until one is dominant, so the horns do likewise. And so here, notice, this great red dragon has seven heads, these seven hills, and he has 10 horns. Some refer these to the 10 raging, persecuting kings, chapter 17, verse 12, who would come down with the full might of pagan Rome on what? The woman who's about to give birth to a child, who's in travail, and here the Roman persecution will come down, wave after wave after wave, until what? Constantine. He will be the end of the ten waves of persecution, and that will be it. So here, notice, these seven crowns upon these seven heads, these seven kings or emperors, They are here to withstand what? The seven stars or ministers of the church, the seven candlesticks, those churches themselves, here to withstand this woman, the church herself, fighting against the church, raging against it with blood and fire and sword. The dragon then, this great red dragon, takes his tail, his followers, and he casts down the ministry of the church, one third part, a sizable sum. Now notice, these ministers do not fall from heaven. What happens to them? They're dragged out of heaven. They're cast down to the earth of their own will, like wormwood? No. They are cast down by the red dragon himself. Not a falling of apostasy, but rather a violent casting down. Now notice the red dragon. His purpose is to devour this child. As soon as it was born, To prevent this son of the church from having dominion where the dragon has dominion. I do not want a son of the church reigning over Rome, in other words. That's what they're trying to prevent. They persecute, they withstand, they seek to destroy the sons of the church coming forth from their mother with beastly and diabolical power. I noticed then this doctrine. Pagan Rome was destined to persecute, to oppose, and to drag out of heaven, so to speak, the ministry and oracles of the church. Why? What would the ministry and the oracles of the church produce? A son who would rule over them with a rod of iron. And did the pagans want that? No. So here John is prophesying, you should expect this, that Rome will crush your ministry and oppose this son of the church. It was destined to be so. Histories, in fact, identify this period between the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ and the ascension of Constantine to the throne of Rome, 10 great persecutions. You can read histories and learn about these. In fact, I recommend you do. You may read Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, his Life of Constantine, Calvin's Institutes, Book 4, Chapters 2 and following, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, and other books you will find abundantly clear concerning the history of these things. Now, she brought forth a man-child, verse 5 tells us, who was to rule the nations. Now this word, was to rule, or this phrase, refers to something destined to be the case. It is predestined, you might say. It's about to come to pass. The dragon beast has no interest in this man-child ruling over his dominions, so he seeks to destroy him. In fact, this one to rule the nations, John Trapp in his commentary says, the whole Roman Empire, but especially to overrule this Roman Empire, they sought to subdue the church's many and mighty enemies as Constantine most notably did. It says that this man-child would rule with a rod of iron. Now, as we know, Psalm 2, 9 says that Christ would have what? He would have the nations for his inheritance, and that Christ would rule them with a rod of iron. But also, if you recall, in chapter 2, verses 26 and 27 of the book of Revelation, we read the following. He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, and what? He shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my father. Do you see that? Christ promised to his church that they would rule the nations with a rod of iron. Some identify this as the woman being the church of Israel, as perhaps the Virgin Mary giving birth, and the 12 stars, the 12 tribes. I think not. Those were not things then, or shortly to come to pass, or to come hereafter. Those were things already bygone. John is speaking in these visions of things after the time in which he lived, which is after the ascension of Christ, which is after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not referring to Christ himself, but rather to a member of his body who would rule over that world of Rome. He would rule them with a rod of iron. John Gill notes that this may regard the kingdom of Christ in the last times of which the present breaking forth of it in Constantine's time was an emblem and a pledge. Now notice, her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. He was raptured, you might say, that's what this word means, to seize and lay hold of and brought up by God to be there ruling on God's behalf. Augustine in his City of God refers to this time He says, for the good God, lest men who believe that he is to be worshiped with a view to eternal life should think that no one could attain to all this high estate and to this terrestrial dominion unless he should be a worshiper of the demons. For this reason, he gave to the emperor Constantine, who was not a worshiper of demons, but of the true God himself, such fullness of earthly gifts as no one would ever dare to wish for. God brought Constantine up to dominion. And then what happened to those ten horns? They were broken. Their persecutions came to an end. Then the woman, it says, fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God. This is also spoken of in verse 14. During this time, the plan of the dragon fails. He cannot destroy the man-child. He rather is made secure by God and given dominion over the nations. And here then the woman has to do what? She has to flee into the wilderness. After the dominion of Constantine and the unsuccessful dragon plot, what happens next? Well, then we have the third seal, you recall. We have a time of blackness. We have a time of dearth and of famine where the word of God falls by the wayside and men are not fed with the word of God. Then what? Then the slow, pale death of attrition and the destruction of the internal organs. The rise and inception, in other words, of the kingdom of Antichrist, which is precisely what this is meant to tell us. Now here while she's in the wilderness, they feed her. Now by the time of 1,203 score days, we know who fed her. The two witnesses fed her in this exact same time as we saw in chapter 11. There we had the 1,203 score days, or the time, times, and half a time. One time being a year, that is 360, times being two years, that is 720, half a time being 180. What do you get when you add those up? You get the same number. You get 1,203 score. The hostile world pushes against the woman after the days of Constantine, and so the church begins to languish, to hunger, and to die. But note here Michael's defeat of the dragon, verses 7 through 17, and the dragon persecuting the woman and her seed. There was a war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. Michael is called the archangel or the ruler of angels in Jude 9. The ruling powers among the angels we see in Daniel chapter 10 and Daniel chapter 12. They together with the ministers of Christ or those preaching his word wage war with the lawless and diabolical power of this dragon and those inspired by his power. The dragon fought and his angels, both pagan and papal Rome, inspired by the same diabolical force, fight with the messengers of Christ and a spiritual battle happens at the same time. But notice, did the dragon prevail? Could he win? The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. And so Michael and the angels prevail and the devil, his dragon goes down. The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan. Now, by the way, when the Bible uses the word Satan and it refers to the devil, does it always mean him personally or can it mean his ministers? Do you remember what Peter was called? Get behind me, Satan. Why? For thou savorest those things that be of men and not those things that be of God. This is Satan, mystical in his servants in especially civil government, which rules under him as a beast or a dragon can also be referred to as Satan. A false accuser, one who opposes as the Roman government opposed the church of Christ. So we have the violence of heathen and heretic Rome opposing the work of Christ and his church. He is now cast down, cast out, and treads where? Upon the court of the Gentiles. Do you remember this from chapter 11? When the temple was measured, when the altar was measured, when them that worshipped were measured, what happened to the Gentiles? They were pushed out. And how long were they there? 1,260 days. The same period in which the church is pushed into the wilderness and the two witnesses appear to preach the word of God and be destroyed by the wicked. The great dragon is cast out, that old serpent and devil and Satan, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ begin to take the ascendancy. Here we turn a corner from the darkness and bondage of Rome, both pagan and papal, to the rule and dominion, the power and salvation of God himself and of his Christ. and those persecuted by Rome, whether pagan or papal, how did they overcome? By the blood of the lamb, Christ's blood shed for them, gave them conquest, and by the word of their testimony, that is, the doctrine that they confessed, the truth that they believed, the word of God, both incarnate, the death of Christ, and the word of God in scripture, the doctrine of their testimony. I note then the victory of Christ's church is contained in two things. First, the fact of our redemption by the blood of Christ. And second, by the doctrines we believe. God's pure word, the ministry and oracles of Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Receive and testify God's pure milk of the word, read it, hear it, eat it up, trust in his promises, walk in his ways, and you will have the victory in the darkest of hours. Notice that these loved not their lives unto the death. They were ready to lay down their life for the Savior who had been crucified for them. Rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them, that true spouse and kingdom of Jesus Christ. Be glad you are more than conquerors through him who loved us. But notice, whoa, verse 12, curses to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you having great wrath. Those worldly wise men, those under the dominion of the devil who are unstable as the waves of the sea, he says, you are cursed. Your master, your king, as we'll see later, your whore, you will be destroyed together with her. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea. The devil comes down, he knows he has a short time. The clock is now ticking, the vials will come, and he will be done, he will be finished, and you will be finished together with him. Woe unto you if you are inhabitants of the earth or the sea. Now notice, as he comes down in his great fury, he persecutes the woman which brought forth the man child. Remember, she's been hidden away in the wilderness, fed by the two witnesses. Here now, what happens? He can't persecute all of them, so he starts with one, the woman herself, the church. itself. His power is weakened, his dominion cast down, now he persecutes the church. You may read of this in the histories of the Reformation and post-Reformation, especially Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Calvin's Institutes. In fact, the Council of Trent's decrees, you will see them do what? Call down the fire of anathema and damnation on who? Those that believe that you're justified by faith alone without works. Those who say that the scripture is our only rule. Those who say that the word of God is the only standard and you can't add the traditions and counsels of the church. Anathema, may you burn in hell, they say to such people. And they would burn them with actual fires as well. Now notice God gave this woman a way of escape. She has wings to fly to the wilderness into her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent. The church is given respite. She is given a place of hiding from this dragon. Now the time, again as I mentioned, 360 days, times is two, or two times 360, 720, and half a time is 180, giving a grand total of 1,260 days as we saw. The serpent, is fighting the woman. The Gentiles are treading upon the courts of the temple. They will not be measured by the king's rod, and so they're kicked out. And then at the same time, you have the two witnesses coming forth and preaching while also feeding the woman who is in the wilderness, all within this 1,260 days. The Dutch annotations observe concerning this period, this must mean a time that is well known unto God and shall not be known unto us before the event. The serpent then casts out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman. What do the waters do? Well, they cleanse. They revive, they refresh. Waters come forth from God as life-giving. What does the dragon do? He spits forth, this serpent spits forth waters, as if he could teach the Word, as if he could nourish, but what is he trying to do? Destroy the church with the words that come forth from his mouth. He wants her to be caused to be carried away of the flood, to overwhelm her with words upon words upon words. But note, the earth opened her mouth as Dathan and Abiram were cursed and destroyed. So the false doctrines of the serpent, where do they go? Down into destruction. They cannot touch the true church of Jesus Christ. So the dragon being wroth with the woman, what does he do next? Does he give up? Does he stop fighting? No, he makes war with the remnant of her seed. The church not being liable to his destructive doctrines, the seed of the church is now picked off one by one. And notice a description of who this people of God are. They are those that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, we're told in verse 17. Again, the Dutch annotations. They say which two marks or signs are set down of these scattered Christians, that they served God according to his commandments and not according to human traditions, and that they kept the testimony of Jesus, that is, they sought their salvation only in the merits of the only and perfect Savior, Jesus, and not in their own merits or the merits of any creatures, according to the doctrine and testimony of the Holy Gospel." Here then is a Christian. Do you believe in Jesus Christ alone as your hope of salvation? Do you keep the commandments of God? This is what it means to be a Christian. These are the remnant of the woman's seed. And thus far the exposition of Revelation chapter 12.