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Well, of course last time we
came to the end of the seven trumpets that we find there in
Revelation 11 19 as we mentioned though The the seventh trumpet
sort of encompasses so much more of what we have in the rest of
Revelation in that the bowls can kind of be seen as under
the umbrella of the trumpets and I think it even takes us
all the way to Chapter 20 where we get to that that kingdom of
the Lord but of course When we ended chapter 11, it actually
ends on the same note that the seven seals did back in chapter
eight, if you remember. We also spent a little time last
time looking at this. It also ends on the same note
that the seven bowls will in chapter 16. And so if you remember
each of those three series, starting with the seals, continuing here
with the trumpets, and then ending with the bowls, Each of those
three series ends with this great heavenly storm that we often
describe as a storm theophany. Theophany simply means the manifestation
of God's presence through the language of a storm. And of course,
we have the lightning and the thunder and the voices. Voices
can also be translated sounds. So voices, thunder, lightning,
sounds, that all deals with things that are in heaven and coming
from heaven. But eventually they all come back to earth and they
bring some great earthly calamities as well, like the earthquake
and the great hail. And sadly, unfortunately, For
so many who have received the mark of the beast, for so many
that do not believe in Christ, many of them will continue to
resist and rebel against the Lord and will not repent of their
sins and the things that they've done against the Lord that we
saw in chapter 9, the end of chapter 9. Now, even though each
series, starting again with the seals and continuing here with
the trumpets and then ending with the bowls, each series does
seem to describe different events and different judgments in time,
they all also seem to bring us to the very threshold of the
return of Jesus Christ to the world. We're not yet there, but
it anticipates it. And it's sort of hearkening that
so that we're when we actually see Jesus return in the clouds,
we will certainly be excited about that, along with John in
this in this book. Of course, when Jesus does come,
like we saw there in verse 19, the it will be the end of the
kingdom of the world, as well as the beginning of his eternal
reign. Actually, that's more in verse
was it? 15 right the kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ
and he shall reign forever And ever so that that's the climax
of the seventh trumpet the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and
all of these storm Theophanies that we come to are just anticipating
that so that we can expect it even more And yet, again, once
we come into chapter 12, John is brought back again. He's anticipating
it. He sees this storm again. He
hears about the storm again. He's awaiting the coming of Christ,
and yet he's brought back again. And so John is now more fully
informed about the wrath of the Lamb. Early, before he's fully
informed about the wrath, that will come. He's given another
vision that we describe also as a prelude to the seven bold
judgments that we'll get to in chapters 15 and 16. This prelude,
though, covers three whole chapters. We're going to take the time
again today to actually read through these chapters, but it
starts in chapter 12 and it goes all the way through chapter 14.
Now, what we mentioned last time is that this prelude also provides
more background for us about God's people and really the great
cosmic conflict that is going on between God and the devil
and between his people and the world. We saw this in chapter
7, when we looked at the seal interlude. We saw this in chapter
10 and 11, when we looked at the trumpet interlude. And now
we have even more information when we come to this prelude.
Now we briefly saw last time that this prelude to the seven
bowls of wrath actually encompasses everything that we found in the
two previous interludes that we've already looked at. It encompasses
all of them, sort of the bookends, if you will. So chapter seven
really kind of has more of a narrower focus. Chapter seven dealing
with the great tribulation and the saints of God that go into
it and then the saints of God that come out of it. The 144
that go into the Great Tribulation, and the great multitude that
comes out of the Great Tribulation. So it's really focused on a narrow
period of time. In chapter 10 and 11, which is
the next interlude, it broadens out. It encapsulates a longer
period of time, if you will. Because not only do we have the
ministry of two witnesses, but we also have the ministry of
John. And that goes all the way back to the first century. Well,
now we come to this prelude, and this goes even further back.
So we have this going even before John's ministry, even before
the birth of Christ, and extends all the way, again, to the very
coming of Christ. Just getting us right up to the
threshold before his actual return to this world. So, again, this
prelude gives us more background, more information, and it encompasses
everything that we found in the two previous interludes in the
seals and the trumpets. So, with every passing chapter
in Revelation, the anticipation, I think, builds. It all builds
for the one that we're looking for, right? Titus 2.13 reminds
us that we're looking for the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and that is our blessed hope.
And that is really how we started our entire series on eschatology.
This is our blessed hope. We're looking for Christ. And
so that theme of revelation keeps coming full circle. Time after
time after time after time after time we're getting right up to
the threshold so our anticipation continues to build and build
and build until chapter 19 when he actually does come on that
white horse and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom
of our Lord and of his Christ. Now just like we looked at the
other two interludes, again the special focus is on the people
of God. As we're going to read through
this prelude, there are really three main ways, three main sections
if you will. Now obviously there's some overlap
between all of them. In chapter 12, we can see, I
think, the sustaining of God's people by the Lord as they remain
in the wilderness of this world. And so as we read through chapter
12, I want you to think in terms of sustaining and preservation. God sustaining his people in
the wilderness of this world. And the preservation that we
find in this chapter is primarily given to us in a spiritual and
heavenly way. And so that's what we're going
to see when we read through chapter 12. In chapter 13, we can see
the suffering of God's people. that they are called to experience
for the sake of the Lord. And that struggle is what we
find here in this chapter. And instead of more spiritual
and heavenly things that we see in chapter 12, in chapter 13,
this struggle, this suffering by God's people will be given
to us in a more natural and earthly way. And this is where we learn
more about the beast and the career of the beast and the oppression
of the beast of God's people. So we have the sustaining of
God's people in chapter 12. We've got the suffering of God's
people in chapter 13. And even though there will be
great suffering from chapter 13, in chapter 14, we can also
see the service of God's people, even during the times of suffering. And even though there's a lot
of back and forth, between heaven and earth in chapter 14, ultimately,
what we're looking at is that God not only will bring reward
for his people, for their service, but he will also bring retribution
to their persecutors, who they have continued to serve, even
through the time of tribulation and suffering. And so, when God's
people are to serve him, even during the most difficult, trying
times of this world, They may have to be faithful even unto
death, but God himself, Jesus himself says, I will give him
a crown of life. So as we go through this prelude,
read through this prelude, think in these terms. Chapter 12 deals
with the sustaining of God's people. Chapter 13, the suffering
of God's people, which again, God's gonna sustain us through.
And then of course, the service of God's people, what we're supposed
to do during those times of struggle and suffering. And we will also
see how God rewards his servants, even if we're faithful unto death.
So before we look at the details of this prelude, we're going
to read through these chapters together. So chapter 12, the
sustaining of God's people in spiritual and heavenly terms.
Let's read that together. And there appeared, John writes,
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 12 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 1,203 score 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 any more 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 is 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 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 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 a remnant
of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony
of Jesus Christ. Clearly, we have an emphasis
of God's preservation of his people in this chapter. But then
we come to chapter 13, where that sustaining grace is going
on even while there is suffering for God's people. So chapter
13, the focus is on the suffering of God's people. John continues,
and I stood upon the sand of the sea. and saw a beast rise
up out of the sea, having seven heads and 10 horns, and upon
his horns 10 crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his
feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of
a lion, and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great
authority. And I saw one of his heads as
it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed.
And all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped
the dragon, which gave power unto the beast. And they worshipped
the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to
make war with him? And there was given unto him
a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And power was
given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened
his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and
his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given
unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.
And power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and
nations, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,
whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb,
slain before the foundation of the world. If any man have an
ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity
shall go into captivity. He that killeth with a sword
must be killed with a sword. Here is the patience and the
faith of the saints. And I beheld another beast coming
up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he
spake as a dragon. And he exercises all the power
of the first beast before him and causeth the earth and them
that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly
wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders so
that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the
sight of men and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the
means of those miracles which he had the power to do in the
sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth
that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound
by a sword and did live. and he had power to give life
unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should
both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the
image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both
small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark
in the right hand or in their foreheads. And that no man might
buy or sell save he that hath the mark, or the name of the
beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that
hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is
the number of a man, and his number is six hundred threescore
and six." Or six, six, six. Certainly we have the emphasis
of that chapter again, the suffering of God's people, even at the
hand of these beasts. and the image of the beast. And
then, of course, we come to chapter 14. The scene changes again. And here again, we have an emphasis
on the service of God's people. That is, what's going to happen
to them as they serve, what's going to happen to them after
they serve, and how God is going to reward them because of their
service. And I looked, John says, and lo, a lamb. stood on the
Mount Zion and with him and 144,000 having his father's name written
in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven
as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great thunder.
And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps and
they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before
the four beasts and the elders. And no man could learn that song
but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not
defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which
follow the Lamb, withersoever they goeth. These were redeemed
from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And
in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before
the throne of God. And I saw another angel fly in
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach
unto them that dwell on the earth and every nation and kindred
and tongue and people saying with a loud voice, fear God and
give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come and worship
him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains
of waters. And there followed another angel saying, Babylon
is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations
drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third
angel followed them saying with a loud voice, if any man worship
the beast in his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in
his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.
And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. And the
smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. And they
have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image
and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience
of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments
of God and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth. Yea, sayeth the spirit that they
may rest from their labors and their works do follow them. And
I looked, and behold, a white cloud. And upon the cloud one
sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown,
and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of
the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the
cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, for the time is come
for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he
that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle, on the earth,
and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of
the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over
fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle,
saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the
vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel
thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine
of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath
of God. And the winepress was trodden
without the city, and blood came out of the winepress even unto
the horse bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred
furlongs. That is where the prelude to
the bowls ends. Because right there in the very
next verse, chapter 15, the bulls of God's wrath almost immediately
begin. He sees another sign, seven angels
having the seven last plagues, in them is filled up the wrath
of God. So chapters 12 through 14 are
the prelude to the bull judgments. Now, this section that we've
just read, these three chapters, again, dealing with the sustaining,
suffering, and even service of God's people, this section is
full of what are called wonders or signs. And even miracles,
actually, those words that you come across in Revelation, wonder,
sign, miracle, they're all just different ways to translate the
same Greek word, which is up here on your screen, semeion,
which most other times is translated sign. So when you come across
the word wonder or miracle or sign, they're all using the same
word, the same basis for that word. Some have even called this
section of Revelation the book of signs. So they almost describe
it as a book within the book. So a little book within the book
of Revelation, and it's the book of signs, the book of wonders,
the book of miracles even. In fact, if you go back to chapter
12, verse 1, this word, semeyon, first shows up in all of the
book of Revelation in this first verse. So this is one of the
reasons why when people look at and try to divide up the book
of Revelation, this is one major section, because this is the
first time you find this word sign anywhere in Revelation.
And that's there in verse 1, in the very beginning of this
prelude, and there appeared a great wonder. or sign or semeion in
heaven. But after this first time, we
then find it six more times. So there's seven times where
you find this word semeion. And even though there might be
times in Revelation where seven has a special significance, I'm
not sure that's the case here, because this word semeion is
actually used in different ways throughout Revelation. Even though
it's first mentioned here and really is only found, well, not
only found, but found significantly in this prelude, Sometimes the
sign is used to signify or picture something very Figurative in
a highly figurative and symbolic way and and that's the way it
is here in chapter 12 Again, there appeared a great wonder
or sign where in heaven And then also in verse three, there appeared
another wonder in heaven, another sign in heaven. These are not
miracles in the sense of things that are being done that can't
be explained, but rather this is just a word to show to us
that something very symbolic is going to be displayed to us,
something that has very deep meaning. So when we come to these
wonders in chapter 12 and even chapter 15, it means that there's
something in it more than meets the eye. There's a lot of detail
that is going to teach us something. So it's not all meant to be taken
in a stark, literal way. Some of those things might be,
but overall you're looking at it in a visionary way with John.
These are things that are high symbols. deep imagery that we're
going to have to explore scripture to understand more of what it
means. Again, that's what we find there in chapter 12, verse
1. That's what we find there in chapter 12, verse 3, another
wonder. And then the next time you find it in this sense is
in chapter 15, verse 1, that we also read another sign in
heaven, the seven angels with the seven last plagues. Now,
what is a sign for? What is a sign for? Ultimately,
just like a sign that we have, you know, when you're driving
different places, it's supposed to point you somewhere. It's
to direct you somewhere. I thought it was interesting
because Angie and I went to go up to Marion to see Elisa's art
display up there. Very well done. Very beautiful.
But as we were coming back, we came back a different way than
we went, but we came back through Gas City. And I don't think I've
ever been through Gas City, Indiana. But if you've ever been there,
it's kind of interesting because all of their signs are held up
not just by one pole, but it almost kind of looks like an
oil derrick. And I thought it was interesting because it's
Gas City. Of course, they're going to have their signs held
up by something that looks like an oil derrick. So the sign was
more than just, this is the name of the street. It's a sign that's
a symbol of the town itself and probably a symbol of where it
got its name. A symbol of the gas that it probably has a lot
of that they're able to use, natural gas, I would imagine.
So that's what we find here, especially in chapter 12. We
have a lot of signs and a lot of symbols that are pointing
us to something. They're to teach us truth about
something. And so we have a lot of symbols in this chapter that
aren't necessarily meant for us to be taken in a very stark
and literal way. So that's something that we'll
come to in this chapter. So at the beginning of this prelude,
we come to a very vivid scene that is full of symbolic images
and meaning. But that's not the only way that
semeon is used in Revelation. The other way, for the other
four times, is something that is referred to miracles. When
we came through especially chapter 13 and we came across that word
miracle, it is dealing with things that are done by the allies of
the beast. In fact, let's look at those
real quick. In chapter 13, verse 13. It talks about he, referring
to the second beast, so the beast that came out of the land, who
is also described later as the false prophet. He doeth great
wonders, and that's the same idea, sign or miracles. In verse
14, they're described that way as miracles, by the means of
those miracles, which he had power to do. And then I think
also in chapter 16 and chapter 19, you're gonna find that same
idea of miracles of the this beast, or this false prophet.
So there's only two ways that sign is used in Revelation. Here
in chapter 13, they're false signs, okay? These allies of
the beast are trying to do things to deceive the world to follow
them and to worship them. So these are false signs that
will be used by the beast to deceive the world to worship
him. But the other signs in chapter
12 and chapter 15, the way it's used, are actually good signs,
and they are meant to reveal truth about the world and its
ongoing opposition to the Lord and his people. So we're gonna
learn a lot from these signs, because they're gonna point us
to something. Some of the things that they're going to point us
to are true, and then some of the things that they're going
to point us to is false. And we'll be able to determine
which is which by who's giving us that sign. Is it God giving
us this sign and wonder, or is it this beast giving us the sign
and the wonder. Now, because of the somewhat
frequent use of signs or wonders or miracles in this prelude,
some have tried to use that as a way to divide up these three
chapters. And I think that that's something
that most interpreters or commentators try to do with all of Revelation.
They try to divide it up in different ways. And so when you come to
this prelude, chapters 12, 13, and 14, Quite a few have tried to divide
them up into another series of seven. Another series of sevens. Some would describe that you
will find seven wonders in these chapters. And the reason why
they're looking for seven is because they want to match it
with all of the other places in Revelation that have seven,
that has some significance to it. For example, all the way
back at the beginning of the book, we have how many churches of
Asia? Seven, right? And then, of course, when we
looked at the seals, there were seven seals. And how many trumpets?
Seven trumpets. And within the trumpets, there
were those seven thunders. And then later on here, we'll
come to the seven bowls and say, they would say, well, because
seven is so significant, especially in all of those different sections,
surely there must be seven of something in these three chapters. And they would say, well, we
can find seven wonders. And yet there's only two things
that are described as heavenly wonders in this particular passage,
or these chapters. And two of them happen in three
verses. So chapter one, or verse one and verse three. And so I
don't know if that's how they divide it up, but that's one
way they've tried to do it. Others have tried to find seven
divisions by looking at the seven, by looking at for seven main
characters. And certainly we already looked at a few of those
characters, right? We saw this heavenly woman, We saw this dragon,
we see Michael the angel, we see the beast of the sea and
the beast of the land, and we see the image of the beast. But
I think as you go along and you're looking, if you're just looking
for characters in these chapters, you're gonna come up with way
more than seven. So even that way to divide it kind of falls
apart. Others have tried to look for
seven main images or scenes You know, so you've got the scene
in heaven in the first part of chapter 12. You have the scene
in the wilderness later on. You have the scene in the world
in chapter 13. You have another scene in actually
heaven itself, all right, in chapter 14. And they would still
try to find seven scenes in these chapters. Well, I think no matter
how you try to slice up and divide these chapters to make them fit
into another series of seven, all of the attempts that I've
looked at, I would say seem rather artificial. And not just artificial,
unnecessary. I don't really think that God
intended for us to find seven of anything in this section.
Just by reading it, just by looking at it a little bit more closely,
when you start to look for seven, you're going to divide it in
a way that is somewhat artificial. Um, and if you're looking for
seven of something, you know, you might find less of that or
more of that than the actual seven. So I don't think God intended
for us to find seven of anything in the section just to align
with the other places where we do find seven. Instead, this
prelude of three chapters has its own structure along with
its own natural divisions. And even the chapter divisions
are a little artificial. But just to help us understand
things, I get why we try to divide it up. And I'm going to divide
it up in different ways, too. But I'm going to try to do it
based on themes and whether we come up with seven or 17 different
divisions. I don't think it is intended
for us to find seven of anything here. But all of these natural
divisions Again, I think there is some natural division between
chapter 12 and chapter 13 and chapter 14. And I think even
in chapter 12, what we'll start looking at today, I think there's
a few natural divisions that kind of flow from the text itself.
But all of these divisions, whatever they are, were really meant to
give John and us the big picture. of the big cosmic conflict between,
again, God and his church and the devil and his world. So we
recognize that there's a lot of conflict going on in Revelation,
but there's a lot of conflict going on in our life too, spiritual
conflict. And this gives us background.
gives us background for the warfare that we're going through, the
spiritual warfare that we're going through, but even the warfare
that will continue all the way up till Christ's return, especially
when we come to chapter 13 during this time of the beast. You know,
there are some who would say, and we've looked at this already
before, that this beast is yet to come. Some would say that
this beast has already come. Some would say that this beast
is currently here. But whatever way you look at
it, whatever perspective you have, these chapters really describe
the cosmic conflict between God and the devil, and between us
and the world. And these divisions will help
us understand that more. So, I wouldn't say, when you're
reading through this, to look for seven of anything. Because
I think you'll you'll you know, you're kind of wasting your time
I think because I don't think you're supposed I don't think
you're gonna find anything like that here But I do think that
the main theme of this prelude to the bowls is what, and I like
how Tom Schreiner puts it, even though he does find seven of
something in these chapters, okay? So obviously there's some
lot smarter men than I that have found seven of something in here.
But even reading his commentary, I think it's kind of artificial
in the way he does it. But I do like his description
of the main theme of these three chapters. He says this. Believers are in a great cosmic
battle between heaven and earth, between good and evil, between
love and hate, and they need to see that evil will not triumph.
And I hope you caught that as we were going through. Yes, we
have a description of God's sustaining power for his people in chapter
12. And yes, we have a description
of God's people going through suffering and persecution in
chapter 13. And yes, we have even scenes of the service of
God's people in 14. But ultimately, in chapter 14,
we also have a scene of victory. We have a scene of victory, especially
when we find that 144,000 in the heavenly temple itself, praising
God and singing those great things. And so what we learn is that
evil will not triumph. No matter how you look at Revelation,
no matter how you look at eschatology, no matter how you look at the
return of Christ, evil will not triumph. And that's what these
chapters are all about. But when we come back to chapter
12, and of course, that's where we're gonna start, This conflict,
this battle, is first described for us as a sweeping drama in
chapter 12. A sweeping drama that is played
out against the backdrop of the sky in a further expansion of
John's vision. We need to remember, again, John's
seeing this in a vision, so just like when we dream things, things
don't always happen in a natural, normal way, as if we were actually
awake and alive, you know. But in a vision, things can happen
that are a little strange. And we have here a heavenly vision
of a scene that pictures a drama of a conflict that has been going
on from the very beginning between the devil and God himself. And it's a sweeping drama played
out against the backdrop of the night sky. Now I mentioned before
that we can look at this entire chapter in terms of the sustaining
of God's people while they live in the wilderness of this world.
And I think that theme can be traced through three main scenes
that we find in this cosmic spiritual drama between a woman and a dragon.
And I don't mean to lessen the impact and the import of this
by calling it just a drama. because even though it is sort
of like a visionary play going on in John's mind, it is very
serious. It is very significant. You know,
I mentioned that my wife and I, a couple weeks ago, we went
to watch a musical, a play, Anne and Green Gables, and it was
enjoyable. It was something meant to entertain. It was something that was meant
to be fun and wholesome, in a wholesome way. Well, that was all Somebody's
imagination, right? I think even the books that were
written that was based off of somebody's imagination, it was
fiction. Even though this might seem fiction or seem mythological,
and we'll explore this a little bit next time, but it's interesting
because some of the things that we find in chapter 12 are actually
reflected in other ancient myths. where there is a god, a false
god, and there is a dragon of some kind, and the dragon in
some way is trying to defeat this false god, and a lot of
times it's through the means of a child. And so there's a
lot of ancient myths that were actually out there before Revelation
was written, actually. But this is not a myth. And so
even though someone in John's day might have been reading this
and thinking, wait a second, this sounds kind of familiar
about some of the myths in Greek and Roman living in history,
yet here we have something that is not a myth. This is not a
fable. This is a picture, a symbolic
picture and drama of what has gone on and what is going on
between God and the devil and between us and the world. And
there are three main scenes that we find in this drama between
a woman and a dragon. And so the first scene, I would
say, is in verses one through six. And we can call this the
scene of the two wonders. These are the two wonders that
we find in heaven. Again, in verse one, it's a great
wonder, or a great sign of a woman, all right? We'll discuss that
a little bit later. But there's a great wonder in
heaven, and it's a woman, a woman with child. But as great as that
sign is, if you look down at verse three, we find another
wonder, another sign, right? And I like how it's put, just
another wonder, all right? So it's not a great wonder, this
dragon that appears, this great red dragon. It's just another
wonder. And so the great wonder, the most significant wonder,
the most significant character in this entire sweeping drama
of chapter 12 is this great woman. And we'll learn more about her
as we go forward. But those two wonders that we find in verses
one through six reveal what the spiritual conflict that we experience
every day is really all about. It's about God sending a special
man-child into this world According to his own promise in order to
bring his redemption and his rule to this sinful world because
it's all about the woman and the dragon and that child That
child that she is about to bring forth and ultimately will bring
forth in this drama, right? so the first section there is
verses 1 through 6 to wonders in heaven and But then we have
another transition, if you will, starting in verse 7 through verse
12. There's definitely some, we could call, recapitulation.
There's definitely some going back and forth in some of these
scenes. But we would say this is a scene of war in heaven,
of war in heaven, verses 7 through 12. This war that we read about
is caused by the successful birth by the woman to bring God's own
son into this world, right? Obviously, this is all the reason
why this dragon wants to go after the woman. It's because the woman
gave birth to this child. And because this child came,
he could also go back to his home in heaven in complete victory. And it's interesting because
there's really No intervening life or death or anything about
this woman About this child because he's just born and then he's
taken right up into heaven to be on his throne, right? And
so what happens? this dragon Who is clearly described
in verse 9 as that old serpent? that old serpent that we looked
at in Genesis 3 a few weeks ago and Sunday night called the devil
and Satan and he's cast out as a defeated foe who only has a
short time left to persecute God's people and even to persuade
the rest of the world to worship and follow him. So that's scene
number two. The war in heaven, which shows us that the dragon
himself, the devil himself, is cast out of heaven into this
world as a defeated foe, and he only has a short time left.
And even though he's defeated, he's going to show his wrath
and his anger because of that defeat. But then we come to the
next scene, the third scene, and that is verses 13 through
17. And that's where we find the
wrath on earth. And this is the wrath of the
dragon. You know, we're going to be talking later on about
the wrath of God, even on the dragon, but this is the wrath
of the dragon against the woman who brought forth the man-child.
But one of the remarkable things through all of these scenes of
this great drama is that against all attempts to destroy the woman,
she is sustained and preserved by God, even while she remains
in the wilderness. She's fed. She's nourished. She's
sustained. She's preserved. And so no matter
what goes on in heaven, no matter what goes on on earth, no matter
the war in heaven or the wrath on earth, this woman is sustained
and preserved by God while she remains in this wilderness. So we'll look at more about what
this can mean and how it unfolds even in our day. But this great
drama that first unfolds in the sky, Then brought down to earth
where it continues on in the next chapter So we got the war
in heaven bringing the wrath on earth and now in chapter 13
again We're talking about the suffering of God's people where
now we have that wrath of the dragon Being expressed through
the beasts who will do his bidding Now, in those three scenes that
we find in chapter 12, there are several main characters.
And again, don't look for seven, because I don't think you're
going to find them. But briefly, we're going to look at these real quick,
and then we'll end with what we're going to start with next
time. So we find several main characters. Now, some of those
characters are easy to identify. Just like some of the symbols
in Revelation, some of them are very easy for us to identify,
right? When we looked at the stars back in chapter 1 and 2,
right? And we looked at how they were
described as the angel of the seven churches. And then we also
saw the candlesticks or the lampstands. And we saw that those lampstands
represented the churches. And so sometimes there's a symbol
that is used in revelation that is clearly defined. And that's
what we find here as well. There are some symbolic pictures
of characters that are in this great drama of conflict between
God and his people that are clearly identified. Of course, the most
important one, if you look at verse five, is the man-child. And just by what we see there
and what we read there, When this man-child is brought forth
and was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, her child was
caught up unto God and to God's throne. Who is that? It is Jesus
Christ, that's clear. Without any doubt, he is Jesus
Christ. He is the one who was to rule
all nations with a rod of iron, and he is the one who is sitting
on God's throne. Now, there's descriptions here
that we've already looked at in Revelation that clearly describe
this as Jesus Christ. So that is truly the main character,
but he kinda has a limited description here in this chapter. Then of
course we have another main character that we know of and that is the
dragon he's first mentioned in verse 3 this is the Another wonder
in heaven and and again, this is the red right? I think this
is one of the reasons why when people draw the devil He's pictured
as red. All right, because we do have
a red dragon but picture this this red dragon has seven heads
and So there's some mythological elements of this dragon, 10 horns
and seven crowns upon his head. So kind of a bizarre picture
of what this dragon would have looked like. Who is he? Who's
this character? Very clearly, look at verse nine,
we're told he is The devil, that old serpent called the devil
and Satan. So again, another character very clearly identified.
We have no question as to who he is. Another character who
comes on the scene is in verse seven, and he's actually named,
right? He's actually named, and there
was war in heaven, Michael and his angels. So I would say Michael
represents who? Michael, right, he represents
himself. He is one of God's own archangels. We find him a few
other places in scripture, and you can actually look at these
places, but Michael is often the angel, the archangel of God,
who is found fighting for God's people against their spiritual
enemies. You find him especially in Daniel
Daniel chapter 10 verse 13 Daniel chapter 10 verse 21 Daniel 12
verse 1 and then in Jude verse 9 He's actually described as
an archangel and though there are some that would say well
Michael is probably a reference to Jesus himself. I I think that
as we see in this passage The archangel is different than Jesus
himself. He is certainly an angel that might represent God's people,
but he is certainly different than the Lord Jesus himself.
So there's another character that we know clearly who he is.
He is Michael the archangel. When we come down to the end
of chapter 12, we find a group of people called in verse 17,
the remnant of her seed, or the remnant of the seed of the woman.
And at first you think, well, who are they? Who's this remnant
of the woman? Well, I don't think we're really
left with much question as to who they are when you go down
further in verse 17. Who is the remnant of her seed,
verse 17? They which keep the commandments of God and have
the testimony of Jesus Christ. Who has the testimony of Jesus
Christ? I hope you have the testimony
of Jesus Christ. I hope you are the one that is seeking to keep
God's commandment. So it would refer clearly to
Christians, or we could just say the church. Those who have
the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior, as a testimony of his
grace. So we have already one, two,
three, four different characters. Again, don't look for seven,
all right? But we have four different characters that I think can be
clearly identified. And yet, when we come to verse
one, Go all the way back to verse one. We meet the very first character,
and that is a woman, right? A woman. And she is a great wonder
and a great sign. And the question that we're left
with is, okay, I know who the dragon is. I know who this child
is. I know who Michael is. I know who the remnant of her
seed is. Who's the woman? Who's the woman? Who could she be? Who could she
represent? That perhaps is the most challenging part of this
entire chapter, even though it is also the most significant
part of this chapter. So we're going to leave with
that question in our minds. And what I want you to do this
week is actually read through chapter 12 to see more about
the woman, because we can't know the identity of this woman by
just looking at verse 1. We have to learn about the identity
and the character and who she represents by looking at all
of the references to this woman in chapter 12. She's actually
mentioned multiple times in this chapter. And so as we look at
her, we'll learn how she relates to the rest of the drama that
we find in this chapter. So that's how we're going to
leave it today, but I want you to read through chapter 12 and
then we're going to start looking at who this woman is and how
it all relates to this drama there in chapter 12. Again, dealing
with the sustaining of God's people during the greatest times
of even tribulation that they will ever see. And ultimately
that will bring about and lead to the coming of Christ. I think
we're just about out of time, so we're going to keep that in
our minds and we're going to close in prayer. Dear Heavenly
Father, we thank you again for your word. We thank you that
we're able to explore it in depth, Lord, and I pray that as we look
through this prelude to the bowls, you'll help us to understand
more of what it means and what it is pointing to, especially
in our own lives and in the conflict that we face in this world. And
so, Lord, I thank you that you do sustain us even today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
The Prelude To The Bowls
Series Revelation - Victory Of Jesus!
An introduction to the main themes and characters in the three-chapter 'Prelude' to the Bowl Judgments.
| Sermon ID | 41625110512031 |
| Duration | 48:11 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Bible Text | Revelation 12-14; Revelation 12 |
| Language | English |
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