So let's hear the Word of God from Revelation chapter 12. And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his head were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who drew all the nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, so there she might be nourished for 1,260 days. And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon and the dragon of his angels waged war. And they were not strong enough and there was no longer place for them found in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the lamb, and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their life even to death. For this reason rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he only has a short time. And the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth. He persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. And the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured out water like a river out of his mouth after the woman so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. And the earth helped the woman. And the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring. who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of Your Word. And we pray for real insight and understanding so we might understand Your Word. Send Your Spirit with Your Word. Help us to see our Lord in all of His glory. May we be encouraged, Father, at what He has done for us. May we be drawn ever nearer to Him and conform to His image. May we be encouraged to live our lives for Him, Father. We pray that You be with Your servant. Guard his mind and tongue that he may only declare that which is true according to Your Word. As Your Word is explained, Father, may Your name be exalted. May Your church be encouraged and strengthened. In Your wondrous name we pray. Amen. Dragon tales go back almost to the beginning of time. But every culture has stories of dragons There's especially been tales very much like the one that John gives here. It seems to be almost a universal tale in the ancient world of someone who is a ruler, whether it be a god or a demigod or something like that, who knows that a woman is about to give birth to a deliverer who will deliver the people or destroy this kingdom. So he seeks to destroy the woman and somehow the woman is brought to a place of refuge where she can give birth and the child escapes. And the child then wreaks his vengeance upon this one who was going to kill him. So we see here a tying together of two kind of themes that are worldwide. Because all flow from Adam and from Noah. So we have these similar stories. We have these dragon tales that have been told and that have engaged the imaginations of men over many centuries and also the story of a child of a woman who would destroy basically the evil ruler and to set up the kingdom of peace. And it seems as if what John does is he takes this story that would be known to all different cultures and he retells this story using particularly Jewish flavor to teach the people of God something about the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation on one level is very easy. The simple story of Revelation is it's a revelation of Jesus. It's not something that Jesus reveals as much as it's a revelation of Him, of who He is and what He's done. And in the end, the story of Revelation, what He has done is He's conquered for His people. Jesus wins. That's the story of the book of Revelation, very simply. It's also a book that's very difficult because we're not used to these stories. We don't tell these stories anymore. So when we read it, we say, hey, that's just like the Persian myth. Or that's just like the Arabic myth. Or that's like these other stories. I know how this story goes. And we're not so familiar with the Old Testament imagery that we immediately pick up and say, oh, he's pulling this from the Exodus, or from Isaiah, or from Daniel, or from Ezekiel. So when we read this, we get very confused and wonder, how do we make sense of this? So it becomes difficult for us. And I'm not going to claim to be any expert in the book of Revelation. I've studied it to great detail, and I'm still unbewildered at times. So my approach to the book of Revelation is minimalist. I'll explain to you the things that I understand. And the other stuff, we'll leave to mystery and say, I don't know. And on some of the things, I can give you an educated guess, but I'm not willing to fight about it. And the problem with Christians with Revelation is they want to fight about the stuff that's highly debatable. That almost for as many people there are, there's different interpretations. And what we do is we miss the forest for all its trees, and we forget to realize there's certain things on here that are obvious. that are very clear. And that's what binds us together. So instead of fighting about small little details and trying to say, well, I have to be right, and I have my pet theory on this, and people are going to, of course, say, well, you're not a Christian if you don't believe my small little interpretation of this little piece. Let's just look at the big picture. See if we can get the main characters, the main story here, and I think we'll be able to see really the point. What John's doing in here, what he's telling us about Christ and about us. as John tells this dragon story here in chapter 12. So let's take a look at John's tale, little by little. We'll see what it means, see what the main characters are, and then see if we can determine, okay, what's the main point of this story? And then we can apply it to our lives. He starts off in 12, verses 1 and 2, and he introduces the first character. He says, "...and a great sign appeared in heaven, A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet. And on her head a crown of twelve stars. And she was with child and she cried out being in labor and in pain to give birth. So here's a sign up in heaven. And the sign is a woman. And this woman is almost beyond description. She's clothed with the sun. I have no idea what that means. What does that mean, to be clothed with the sun? It seems to at least have the idea that she's appearing in some kind of glory. It's kind of an awe, sorry, spectacle here. The moon is under her feet. Again, whatever that really means about that. But here's an important part. She has a crown of twelve stars. Now, that's helpful, because we heard the term twelve. into the Bible quite a bit. You have 12 tribes of Israel. You have 12 apostles, right? Now, here's a picture that we can grab on to a little bit. Probably the picture here is of the woman being the church, especially here being in mind the Old Testament church. Here is the woman with 12 stars, 12 crowns, making up the 12 tribes of Israel. and she's in labor. She's about to give birth. Well, from whom does the Messiah come? He comes from the church. He's born from a woman in Israel. So, this is probably not a reference just to Mary herself, as some would think, because we see later it just doesn't fit the rest of the story. But it's probably here the woman is the church. And we're on pretty safe ground to say that. It seems to be the Old Testament church coming right to the point of the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah is ready to be born in the church. Okay? So, that's easy enough for the rest of our story as we go through. Whenever you see the woman, we think the woman is the church. In verses 3-4, we see the next sign in heaven. It says, And another sign appeared in heaven. And behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his head were seven diadems. His tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. We have our second main character here, which is the dragon. It's a terrible picture of a red dragon with multiple heads, seven heads, like the Greek Hydra, the dragon that every time you cut off a head, it sprouts more heads. and has ten crowns with this idea that it's great and powerful. With its tail, it could sweep the stars out of heaven. Some have said this refers to Satan in his fall draws a third of the angels with him. That could be, but it's not worth fighting over. But it just shows that he's very powerful and has some kind of a following. And has some great power even over the heavenly realms. We know that this dragon is Satan. And I'll tell you the key. Now, you have to be incredibly Learn it and scholarly to understand this because it would be very difficult to find. But I'll show you the key. If you go later into passage to verse nine. It says, "...and a great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who was called the devil and Satan." So you see how complicated this is to figure out who the dragon is. It says it right there. And let me tell you, this is a very safe way of interpreting the Bible. If the Bible says something is something, that's what it is. You don't need to argue with the Word of God. But believe it or not, there are some who have argued, no, this red dragon is... This kingdom or this kingdom? No, but a few verses later, God says, oh, by the way, this is who that character is. So, the red dragon is Satan. We're on sure ground here, because John says, just in case you are apt to misunderstand this, the dragon is Satan. This is an image that is very familiar with the Jews. For one, where do we find Satan in the Garden of Eden? What does he appear like? A serpent, right? If you read throughout, especially you see in Job and in some of the Psalms, it'll refer to the great sea monster, Leviathan. And the sea monster we've always seen is kind of almost like a sea dragon. So this is a very popular notion. Even the serpents that bit in the wilderness, in some of the passages, in some of the languages, it's described as dragons. So this picture of this serpentine dragon kind of figure, of oppressing the people of God, as being opposed to God. So, a Jewish person reading this would be very familiar with the imagery. But, even if we're not all that familiar, we know for sure that it's speaking about Satan, because the text describes it that way, again, in verse 9. And what is Satan seeking to do? Satan stands before the woman, as she's about to give birth, and wants to kill the child as soon as it is born. Now, this could be a reference to Satan inspiring Herod when he goes to kill the children after Christ is born. Remember, the wise men go to Herod. Herod says, can you tell us where this child is? so that we might go and worship Him. The wise men don't go back. They're warned in the dream not to go back that way. And Herod being enraged, he does what? He goes to Bethlehem and has all the children under two years old killed, seeking to kill the child. So it could refer to that. But it's probably more general. It could be that specific. But it's at least more saying what Satan wants to do is destroy the child being born from this woman before it can complete its mission. to kill it beforehand, so it can mean everything from Herod on, all the attacks Satan made against Christ, to keep him from fulfilling his purpose. Picking up again in verse 5, it says, And she, the woman, gave birth to a son, a male child, who threw all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Now, here we have another character here who's the male child. The woman was pregnant and the dragon was waiting to kill the baby. The baby is born and it's a boy. And who is this boy? We've already kind of given it away a bit in saying that it's Jesus. But how do we know it's Jesus? Well, again, look at it. It says, "...who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron." This is taken from Psalm 2. Remember, God says, why do nations rage? Why do they plot in vain against the Lord and His anointed one? He will rule among them with a rod of iron. He will dash them to pieces. This is taken right out of Psalm 2. It's a messianic figure. So, the child that is born is the Messiah. Again, it's picking up Old Testament imagery. So, that's who is born. Now, it's interesting because the child is born and is caught right up to the throne of God. So we're missing a lot of Jesus' life here, aren't we? But it basically just goes from the child is born, and in this one verse we have everything from the birth of Christ to His ascension, and we call His session at the right hand of the Father. It's all just in one little piece. But Paul does that at times. When he'll speak in some hymn fragments of Christ, who is made manifest, who is caught up into the heavens. It's showing the whole ministry of Christ in this one verse. So, the dragon can't accomplish his mission. The dragon wants to kill the child, but the child is born and isn't killed. The child fulfills his mission. He's taken away, so the dragon cannot devour him. In verse 6, it goes on, it says, And a woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, so that she might be nursed for 1,200 and 60 days. The wilderness, in the Bible, can have two different understandings. For one, it's a place of testing. Jesus goes to the wilderness to be tested. Israel is for 40 years in the wilderness as a punishment for their sin in the time of testing. But the wilderness is also a place of refuge. God brings His people out of Egypt into the wilderness, redeeming them, saving them, making them safe from Pharaoh. Pharaoh can no longer cross the Red Sea to come and destroy them. And here it seems to have this idea that God takes the woman and places her in the wilderness, places her in safety. So, He protects her so the dragon cannot get at her. And this is an Exodus kind of picture here. The woman flees from the dragon as Israel flees from Pharaoh. Pharaoh, who was an earlier incarnation of the dragon. and the woman flees and she's brought to a place of safe rest. And God nourishes her like He nourished Israel in the wilderness with the manna from above, with the water out of a rock. And He cares for the church. This could have a very specific reference in history to 70 A.D. when the Roman army came and destroyed Jerusalem. During the three years prior, during the siege, there were no Christians there. The Christians had being warned of God, had all fled to the wilderness, to Petra in modern-day Jordan. And it hid there for that time, and they weren't destroyed during that time when Jerusalem was being destroyed. So, there could be a very specific fulfillment of this, but it's better just to see the more general thing than forcing it to be the more narrow thing, that what God does is He protects His church. He nourishes her. He cares for her. He keeps her safe from the attacks and from the schemes of the dragon. The time period here, 1,203 square days as in the King James, or 1,260 days. Some have wanted to force that to an actual literal number of days. It does somewhat fit the time period in which The Christians may have been at Petra. Some people want to put it in the future for its future tribulation period. But if you compare it with Daniel, it seems to be a stock period of time in apocalyptic literature, which is a set period in which God grants His people safety. So again, we don't need to force it. The text doesn't say that we have to take this literally. Again, if we were going to take this all literally, then we would expect when Jesus was born for there to actually have been a literal dragon there, sitting in the stall in Bethlehem, waiting to kill the child. So we know we're not on very safe ground if we take every one of these references as absolutely literal. They're representing things. So the time frame here is probably just representative. There's a period of time that God keeps His church safe. He protects her. Then this scene changes from on earth to heaven. And it says, there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war. And they were not strong enough. And there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the world and was thrown down to the earth. And his angels were thrown down. with Him. This seems to be the heavily equivalent to the earthly reality of Christ's death, resurrection and ascension. In other words, here with Jesus' ministry, here the child is born and is called up to heaven. And here we see from the heavenly side what it looks like in heaven as Jesus is prosecuting His ministry of preaching the gospel, of dying on the cross and being raised from the dead. And it's pictured here as Michael the archangel, who is seen as especially the protector angel of the nation of Israel. We see this in the Old Testament. fighting with Satan. And Satan and his angels are not strong enough. They're not strong enough, as we'll see in a moment, because it's Christ that gives the victory, not Michael who gains the victory. And now Satan is cast out of heaven with his angels, with what we call now devils or fallen angels. And it refers to Satan as the accuser of the brethren and the deceiver. The two great ministries of Satan, we would say. The two great works of Satan. To accuse God's people in the throne of heaven. And also to deceive the nations. To deceive them about who the Christ is. To deceive them about their own sins. But what is especially here going on, we see Satan is disbarred. They can no longer accuse the children of God. Satan's the accuser. He's the prosecutor. And it's as if God says, as the judge, He says, out of my court. And you're no longer allowed to enter into my court. In the Old Testament, we see Satan appearing, don't we? In the book of Job, appearing before the court in heaven. We see him in the book of Zechariah there to accuse Joshua, the high priest. But now it seems what God has done, through the work of Christ, He has disbarred Satan. He is no longer allowed into the presence of God to accuse the people of God. Why? Because Christ has accomplished His work. There's no longer any accusation to make. There's nothing else to be said. Justice has been satisfied. God has forgiven His people. They have been redeemed. They have been declared in the work of Christ not guilty once and for all. So Satan is thrown out of the presence of God. He's thrown out of court. Never to again be able to officially prosecute against the people of God. Never again to be able to accuse them before the face of God. Then in verse 10, it's actually more of a song here. It says, I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now, the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of Christ has come. For the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down. Who accuses them before our God day and night. They overcame Him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony. They did not love their life even to death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens, and you will dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea! Because the devil has come down to you having great wrath, knowing that he only has a short time." Here we find it's a song praising God for this victory that has been won. But now the victory isn't ascribed to Michael and the archangel and the other angels doing battle. Instead, he says, here's what has happened. The kingdom of Christ has come. And the overcoming, the reason for winning battle is essentially threefold. It's attributed to the blood of the Lamb. That's what brought about the victory. The Lamb being the child here. It's looking at Christ and His death is what brings about the victory. And also the word of the testimony, the proclamation of the gospel, as God's people now go forth and proclaim that word. And the testimony that's even found in their very lives, by loving their lives not unto death, that they are martyrs for the kingdom of God. That is what has overcome. This seems to fit the picture that we see in the book of Romans where it talks about how it's not just Christ tramples Satan underfoot, but the church does. That we are part of Christ's work. Christ, through His blood, He destroys Satan. But we are part of that victory. Because it's through our testimony, through our living, through our loving our lives not unto death, that we find the ultimate overthrow of Satan. That it's Christ with His people that we find victory over this terrible dragon. And what's the result of this? Those in heaven rejoice. Because Satan is no longer present in heaven. He is no longer there to accuse the people of God. They rejoice because the victory is secured in the work of Christ. But while the heavens rejoice, it's woe to you upon earth. Because the dragon now is enraged even more, knowing that he's going to lose, knowing that he's defeated, knowing that he's cast out from heaven. What does he do? He places wrath on earth. Because he knows that his time is short. And in the New Testament, the time between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ is always seen as a short period of time. Because everything that's been accomplished that needs to be accomplished, there's nothing left that Christ has to do. He's finished His work. Now it's just a matter of God's timetable for when Christ will come again. So, Satan realizing that, and Satan, like Christ Himself when He's on earth and says, you know, it's not for me to know the times, that's for my Father. Satan doesn't know when his last day is. So he works with extra wrath and vengeance, seeking to destroy the work of God on earth. So there's great woe upon the earth, because Satan, knowing his time is short, with wrath, seeks to undermine and do what he can. And then we get more of a picture of what he tries to do in verses 13 through the end. It says, "...and when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child." And the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time, times, and half a time from the presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. And the earth helped the woman. And the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring. who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus Christ. The defeated dragon seeks now to destroy the church. He's cast out of heaven, so he goes after the church now. Remember, the church is the woman. And what does God do? He gives her wings like an eagle. And this reminds again of Old Testament language, that God reminds His people in the Exodus that He carried them, He picked them up with eagles' wings and delivered them. And then Satan seeks to send us water after them to destroy the woman, but the earth swallows it up. And we have again here a picture of the exodus. Pharaoh is coming and he sees he's got the people of God, right? He's got water on one side as his ally and his army on the other side and he's going to squeeze Israel. They can't escape. If they can't fight him, Israel will drown in the Red Sea. And what does God do? As it were, God causes the earth. to open up and suck up the Red Sea. He provides a pathway in between. And here's the same idea. He's borrowing an Old Testament imagery. Satan again comes after the church. And what does God do? He delivers her like He delivered Israel of old out of Egypt. He delivers her on eagle's wings, places her in the wilderness where she's safe. And again, the time frame seems to be a more generic idea of a time of rest for the church. a time of protection, a time of safety. What is that time? I would submit to you that it's a whole gospel period until Christ's second coming. What did Jesus say when He talks to Peter? Peter, in my testimony on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. That the church is ultimately safe during the gospel age. The institutional church. There will always be the church. People have tried to destroy the church throughout the world from the very foundations of it. The Jews tried to destroy the church. Then the Romans tried to destroy the church. And they were unable to. Because she is safe. Because God has made her safe. No matter what the dragon could do to try to destroy the church, God has His plans to deliver the church. So she is safe. So Satan then is not able to destroy the church. So what does he do? He goes after her children. Who are the children? They're individual Christians. It's those who here are spoken of as those who keep the commandments and hold the testimony of Jesus. So, the defeated Satan seeks to destroy individual Christians. He can't destroy the church. The church is safe. But what he can do is attack individuals within the church. So, that's what he tries to do now. He can't destroy the whole church as an institution, as the visible kingdom of God. So, he seeks to destroy individual Christians and to destroy them. Jameson, Faust, and Brandner, commentators said, though no longer able to accuse the elect in heaven, he contempt and persecute on earth. And that's what Satan seeks to do even now. So, what's the point of the whole story? What's this story saying to us? Well, it's simply this. Jesus has defeated Satan and thus the church is victorious over Satan. though still persecuted by him on earth. It's a very simple point, isn't it? Jesus has overcome. The Son, the Child in this story, the Lord Jesus Christ, has defeated the great dragon, Satan, who sought to destroy the Son. And that we, as the church, are victorious in Christ. But we live at a time at which the dragon still seeks to persecute us, oppress us, to lead us astray. He will do what He can, but we are short of the victory. So what should we do then? How do we live in light of this story? Well, first, just rejoice. Rejoice! You know you win. This is like putting on, you know, your team is in the Super Bowl, or the world cheers, whatever. It's the last game. And when you turn on the channel, you already know your team wins. So you don't have to worry to the end of the game to celebrate. You don't know how the game's going to play out. You don't know every single play, but you know that your team wins. So you rejoice. You have no worries through the rest of the game. Even if it looks like my team is losing, I know they win because I was already told the final score. So no matter how bad it gets during the game, I don't worry, I don't fret, I just wonder, how are they going to bring it out in the end? Because I know they win. We need to rejoice. You realize Satan can no longer stand before God accusing you. Satan tries to convince you that he could accuse you before God. Satan tries to tell you all the time, remind you of your sin. But what Satan's not telling you is he doesn't have a license to practice law in heaven anymore. He can't do anything. He has no authority anymore. He wants you to think he does. He tries to bully you into thinking he does. But he has no authority. So you should rejoice. It doesn't matter what Satan says about me. My Heavenly Father, who also happens to be a judge, that's kind of a nice thing, isn't it? He has declared me not guilty for what Christ has done for me. So we're first and foremost to rejoice. The battle is secure. The victory is secure. No one can snatch, you know, defeat at the jaws of victory here. You know, we're not going to have a Giants-Eagles game when the Giants, my beloved team, fumble with two seconds left to go and the Eagles run the ball back. Satan will, at the last moment, he gets this opportunity to, oh, just when it seemed like Jesus was going to win, he's able to pull something out of his bag of tricks when he can't. Victory is secure. So rejoice as the people of God. That's why we ought always to be joyful. Because we know, no matter how bad the battle gets, no matter how many brothers and sisters we may seem to lose in the battle, we win. So we ought to rejoice. Secondly, we ought to beware. Because though we're victorious, it doesn't mean that this world is an altogether safe place for us. Satan still is angry at the children of the woman, the children of the church, the people of God. And he will do all he can to deceive us, to tempt us, to try to draw us out of the church, out of the place of safety. So, we need to be very, very careful. That's why the New Testament words, your enemy, The devil prowls about like a roaring lion. If there's a roaring lion prowling in the streets, you're a little bit careful, aren't you? You worry about that. You be careful about that. You're not careless around the lion, but you know that he's defeated. But you're still careful. I was watching a thing this week on the great snake roundup in Oklahoma. And they were showing how you could be killed by a rattlesnake even after it's dead. You cut its head off and it could still, just as a reflex, the head could still bite down and poison you to death. That's kind of the picture here. Satan in one sense has been defeated. His head's been cut off. But you know what? If you get too close and play around, you could still get bit and get hurt. You don't play with something that's dangerous. We shouldn't have an arrogant or cocky attitude towards Satan, which sadly you see among some. Because he's defeated in Christ, we have this feeling that kind of, me in my own strength, I can stand against Satan. You can't. He's still a powerful foe. He's a defeated foe. But we still need to beware and be careful. Thirdly, we ought to fight. We live in a time in which the battle is still raging. It's secure, victory is secure, but we still live in a time of battle. So how do you slay a dragon? So you young boys who love dragon slaying tales, how do you do this? How do you fight a dragon? How do you slay a dragon? Well, we see it in the text itself. You trust in the blood of the Lamb. You don't trust in yourself. You trust in what Christ has done. That's how we fight dragons. We use the Word of God. They overcame by the Word of their testimony. The Word of God, which is the testimony of Christ and what He has done. So we use the Word of God. So this dragon, there isn't a special mythical sword you can get somewhere to cut the head of the dragon off or to fight him with. But every one of you is given the sword to fight this dragon with. It's the Word of God. And then you battle this dragon, you fight this dragon by being faithful unto death. Because even if you die in battle, it's victory. And we see that in the martyrs who were victorious even over death itself. So we are called to continue to fight in this battle. Being assured that we win, we go forth rejoicing. We go forth being careful, being aware that the dragon is in great wrath seeking to destroy us. We go forth fighting, trusting in Christ, using the Word of God, being faithful unto death. Beloved of God, the victory is yours. You need not fear. You need not fret. There's times you feel beat up. There's times that you fail. But you win in the end in Christ. So, rejoice. Be careful. You live in a dangerous world. While the church will never fail, Christians will. Well, Satan can never overcome the church. He can overcome individuals if we're not careful. So, where's the place of safety? The place of safety is in the church, isn't it? Not outside of the church. God has promised to protect His church. In the church, there's safety. God has promised us safety and to nourish us, to strengthen us. And then we are called to fight the battle. May you each be found fighting the good fight of faith for your King. Revelation 12 pictures Jesus as the slayer of the great dragon, Satan. And the church is at one time victorious over Satan and is still attacked by him on earth. This gives reason to the church. to rejoice and to beware and to do battle. May we be found doing that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we rejoice that You have given us such a champion, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You, Father, for telling us the story of Christ and these other stories by picturing for us, Father, what our Savior has done for us in the story of a dragon who seeks to destroy the child of a woman, who seeks then to destroy the woman herself, but who is overcome. by this one child born of the woman who sheds His own blood to save her. Father, may we be encouraged by this story to go labor on. May we rejoice in what You have done for us. May You be praised in us. In the name of our Lord, we ask this. Amen. Now to conclude our time of worship this evening, singing together hymn number 295.