7th Revival is tonight, the book of Revelation chapter 12. Good to have each of you back with us this evening. We had an awful good meeting this morning, didn't we? Wasn't that a good meeting? And I was blessed. I was blessed to be here and two baptisms and got two brand new church members. It was good to see that happen. Remember Vacation Bible School is this week and we have a Bible class. If you want to use that for revival, A lot of people do it and you can come and I think you'll enjoy it. I think you'll enjoy watching the kids and carrying on. All right, let's open Revelations chapter 12. Good to have each of you with us this evening. And Revelations chapter 12. Now we'll write in the book of Revelations, if you will remember, we were looking at the seven sealed book. And then when we got down to chapter 11, or actually chapter 10, we change books, but the message of the Little Open Book is given in chapter 11, chapter 12, and chapter 13, and we can also include chapter 14. Then eventually what's going to happen is we're going to go back to the Seven Sealed Book. The purpose of the Little Open Book is showing why the judgment is so great. I mean, when God is going to bring judgment on this earth, it's the time of His wrath. And what He will do is He will get His people out of here first. Aren't you glad? He takes us out of here first and takes us on to be with Him. And beloved, we need to live our life with that in view. You hear what I just said? We need to live our life with that in view. Beloved, Jesus could come tonight And there needs to be a sense of urgency on our part to witness to people. I was talking about bringing folk to Jesus this morning. I mean, Jesus could literally come tonight. Wouldn't it be an awesome thing? I've seen, I've told you this before, but I've seen a preacher, it was on a video is where I saw it, and he was preaching away and he was in the pulpit and all of a sudden lightning flashed and they were gone. but it also depicted people in the church that were still here. Wouldn't it be a frightening thing for the master to come and then you still be here? So in the little open book, it's explaining why this judgment is so great. In chapter 11 we looked at it and showed the two witnesses. Remember the two witnesses? They represent all witnesses really. One reason why God is angry and one of the reasons why He's bringing such great judgment is because of the way this world has treated His witnesses. all the way back. You can go all the way back, all the way down to when Jesus here, who was the greatest witness? Was Jesus the way He was treated? After that, all the way down to the day, you look at the dark ages and things, God's people's always been persecuted. And one reason why the judgment's so great is the horrible way that this world is treated God's people. And when Jesus comes again, He comes and gets these people out. He's a God of love, but by the way, He's a God of wrath too. And He's going to drop all of His wrath down upon this earth. And it could happen at any time. Nobody knows a day in the hour. I mean, you got guys that's guessing that stuff. You got guys that sells books and does that. And if you bother books, shame on you. Because they don't know. I mean, no one knows a date in the hour. And the Lord is in charge of all of that. The thing that we have to do, since we know He could come at any time, we always got to be Get ready. You always got to be ready. Ready to go up. I was doing a funeral one time, and I was actually at the graveside, and I've told you this before, told Lee this, and one of their men up to the funeral home was there with me, and I got to preaching, and I was getting happy, I guess you could say. I was talking about the second coming. I like to preach in a situation like that. And a graveyard is just really, they call them memorial gardens, but you know why you call them that? Because they're filled with seed. And one of these days is going to do what? It's going to come up. And I started preaching, and I got happy, and I guess I was getting louder, because I could hear me echoing off one of them buildings down there. And started talking about 1 Thessalonians 4, when the dead in Christ rise, and Jesus comes in the clouds of glory. And that guy let out a war hoop. And it like scared me to death. I thought that was it. But I thought it was a wonder. It was one of the best shouts I've ever heard. And it was a timely shout, but he was really, really, really happy and ready to go up. Now chapter 11 is the two witnesses and in chapter 12 what this does is it gives us kind of a history of Jesus' Kingdom. A history of the Lord's Kingdom is what this does. When you think of Revelations you think in all future but not in the little open book part. He showed you how His witness was treated in chapter 11 and then in chapter 12 He's going to give you kind of a history of Jesus' kingdom. Now when we're looking at not only Jesus' kingdom but Satan's war against it. Satan's always battled against the Lord's kingdom. Is he still battling it today? Yeah, was he battling it 2,000 years? He's always battled against the Lord's kingdom. There's three great battles that we're going to see in chapter 12. Are y'all ready? Three great battles. I'm just going to look at one tonight because I have to set it up for it to make a little bit more sense. But I'm going to go ahead and give you the outline to chapter 12. Three great battles. this war against God's kingdom. Number one, the battle of Christ's birth. Verses 1 through 6. The battle of Christ's birth. Verses 1 through 6. verses 7 through 12, verses 7 through 12, and if I'm still here and we're still here next, no, Jacob's preaching next Sunday evening, right? You got that, Jake? Jacob's preaching next Sunday, but the week after that, good Lord willing, we'll get back on task and get to verses 7 through 12, and it'll be called the battle of heaven. Getting interested. That's what I'm trying to do little teasers. You know the battle of heaven in verses 7 to 12 and Then in verses 13 to 17 the battle Versus 13. Yeah through 17 the battle of the wilderness You got it the battle of Christ's birth verses 1 to 6 the battle of heaven Versus 7 to 12 all y'all like that one And make more sense when we get there. And then the battle of the wilderness in verses 13-17. Three battles. Three battles. In this war against God's kingdom, three battles are mentioned in Revelation 12. And all we're going to do tonight is look at verses 1-6. That's all we're going to do. We have to stop. If I get done 10 minutes, we'll stop. If I get done 10 hours, we'll stop. Well, we'll have to get done with this this evening. Alright? Alright, let's go ahead and begin in chapter 12 and verse 1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven. A great wonder in heaven. And remember what kind of language is used in the book of Revelations? Figurative language. but the context will tell what it is. Figurative language, so it uses all kinds of different symbolic language in it and it says there appeared a great wonder in heaven and it says it's a woman with the sun and the moon under her feet. That's the picture of it. And upon her head a crown of twelve stars. Well of course you have a picture of twelve stars is a picture of the twelve tribes of Israel. And the woman in this particular text is a picture of Israel. Because through Israel, who came through? I read this earlier when I was looking at the dates and things. But who came through Israel? The Messiah, the Lord Jesus. The Messiah, the Lord Jesus. So this woman clothed with the sun and the moon, under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars, it's just really, and just about most people will say that's who it is, is a reference to the nation of Israel, because through Israel came a man-child, and that man-child that come through him was who? Jesus, Jesus come to Israel, Jesus come to Israel, God created that nation, Did he? He made that nation and he started it with Abraham and Isaac and then Jacob and you look at the chronology in Matthew 1 and also in the book of Luke and it brings you all the way down to who? Jesus. So Jesus was called the Lion of the tribe of, He was of one of those tribes, one of the twelve tribes. He was the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He come through the nation of Israel. All God's people said that's who, that's who He come, that's who He come through. And that's where His ministry was at. Y'all remember? His ministry was there. He ministered in Israel. He's the greatest prophet. He's the greatest speaker. He's the greatest man that ever walked this earth. All God's people said. But he came through this woman, and that's why she's depicted with a crown of 12 stars, 12 tribes, and 12 tribes of Israel, okay? And since she was being with child, cried, and she was trevelling, she was trevelling in birth. So that means trevelling, meaning that she was getting ready to deliver. Everybody got it? So what kind of language is it again? It's figurative language. She's with child, she's travailing, and she's in pain and says she's paying to be delivered. So she was getting ready to birth this child. Well now look at verse 3. So you've got verses 1 and 2. You have a picture of this woman clothed with the sun. She has the 12 stars about her and that of course is a picture of the 12 tribes. And then in verse 2 being And she being with child, cried, Travelling in birth, paying to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven. And behold, a great red," what? A great red dragon. And he has," what? and ten horns. Seven heads, ten horns. Now I'm not going to go into this tonight either because I went in it in the past. We'll go to the book of Daniel to help us with that, especially when we get to chapter 13. It'll explain it all to you. The seven heads represent seven nations. And we'll say it one more time. I'm just gonna tell you about it now. I'll prove it in chapter 13 and bring you another text to show you. But the seven heads represent seven nations, okay? Really, it goes back all the Egypt, Egypt to Syria, Babylon, Persia, et cetera, all the way down, all the way to Rome. It just reads like a history book, Rick. It just reads like a history book. Seven heads had 10 horns. Now, the ten horns represent, of course, the last one, the seventh head would be Rome. And do you all remember who conquered Rome? How many of you ever watched Barbarian Week on the History Channel? Raise your right hand, I always want to see. Barbarian, I love Barbarian Week. Do you know who conquered the Roman Empire? It was the barbarians. And the ten tribes, there's ten, there are different numbers of tribes, but in the beginning it was ten different tribes that came down from, like the Jutes, the Lombards. You ever heard of the Huns? All these were, it just reads like a history book. And all these came down and the pictures, the 10 tribes that conquered who? Conquered Rome. And we'll see that, I'm just giving you a little bit to tease you a little bit, but that's what these pictures. Most people will tell you that, I think, but it just reads like a history book. We're in the times of the 10 tribes now. The descendants of the modern nations come from those 10 tribes. You ever heard of the Anglo-Saxons? England. They were descendants from those tribes. The dominant nations in the world today came from those tribes. So it reads like a history book. I shouldn't have told you that much, but that's what that's going to picture when we get to defining it when we get to Revelation 13. Okay? It says, "...his tail drew to a third part of the stars of heaven." and cast him to the earth. So verse 4 is a picture of the fall. A picture of a fall, the fall of the devil. When the devil fell from heaven, he drew what went with him. He didn't draw all the stars of heaven, but he drew, and it's talking about fallen angels. And it's a picture of the fall in this particular text. It says, and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, that's a picture of the fall, and he cast them where at? Cast them to the earth. You see the devil, he, beloved, the devil isn't in hell, he's called the prince and power of the what? Of the air. His demons are loose here on the earth. So they're not in hell. When Satan fell eventually what would happen is he's active. He says he goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He's not in hell. He's active here. And he has a multitude of demons that's at his disposal. And they're invisible and you can't see them. The angels are ministering spirits, but the demons are fallen angels. They're spirits. You don't what? You don't see them. You don't see them. I think they know who God's people are. I have no doubt. You remember in the book of Job and God said, Have you not considered my servant Job? There's none like him in the earth. And then he said, Job serves you for naught. See, he knew Job. He requested to afflict Job, remember? He knew Job. He knows God's people. He knows who they are. He'd kill you if it wasn't for God keeping you. I'm telling you he would. He'd kill you. He'd snuff your light out. If he could, but he can't, because he's not as strong as your God. And guess what you have in you? Somebody tell me. You've got the Spirit of God in you. You're not by yourself. Aren't you glad? So we have the Spirit of God. When we believe, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So the old dragon, he just tries to wreak as much havoc as he can. The Bible also says, we'll see this eventually, that he knows he has but a short time. So he's going to do all the damage that he possibly can. You know, beloved, he's likened to a lion going to and fro in the earth. But I'm going to tell you something, beloved. He's a lion on a leash. He just goes as far as the Lord will allow him. He allowed him to touch Job, but he set a limit on what he could do to Job. You say, well why did God let him do all that to Job? Where do you go whenever you're going through a hard time? You go to Job. He's the minister for the suffering saint. We go to Job. And God preserved him and protected him and worked every bit of that to the good in his glory. Never told Job why any of it happened. He just wanted Job to do what? He just wanted him to trust him. When you get there, listen, and when you get there and get all the information, then that thing will all make perfect sense then. And until you get there, what God wants you to do again? Trust Him. He wants you to trust Him. The Proverbs says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean to your own understanding. So that's the picture here, we have a picture of the dragon wanting to devour her child. He wanted to devour her child as soon as it was what? Can I ask you a question? Did the devil try to kill Jesus when He was born? He did, didn't he? Remember the slaying of the old Herod? He killed every, in Judea, he killed every little two-year-old baby, and under. Well, who was he trying to get? Trying to get the Messiah. He tried to kill him. And we see that, we see that, of course, in the New Testament. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 2. Man, I've got to pick up the pace. I'm getting old, Hollis, and I go off task sometimes. You're supposed to went, no, you're not. Book of Matthew chapter 2. Matthew chapter 2. Now here's an example of what we just read about. It's given in figurative language in Revelation, but here you see when it's actually happened. He tried to kill Jesus. He wanted to stop him. from being born, he wanted to kill him, he didn't want him, where did the devil not want him to go? He didn't want him to go to Calvary, he didn't want him to pay your sin debt, he didn't want none of these kinds of things. Verse 2, now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, what's the word Bethlehem mean? House of bread, and that's where the bread of life was born, isn't that something? In the days of Herod the king, behold, he came the wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? We have seen his star in the east. Come to worship him. When Herod the king heard it, Herod killed one of his sons. It was better to be Herod's dog than Herod's son because he killed his son. He was a butcher. He was nuts. He really was. He was a horrible, horrible man. I mean you think slaying every two-year-old in his area and under. Think how horrible a man he was. And when the king heard these things, he was troubled in all Jerusalem. And when he gathered all the chief priests and scribes and people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus saith the prophets. And Bethlehem, the land of Judah, which are least among the princes of Judah. For out of these shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. And Herod, when he privately called the wise men, inquired diligently what time the star came. And he sent them to Bethlehem under the guise so that he could come and worship him too. He wouldn't have come there and killed him. So there's the example of what you're seeing here in Revelations happened in the book of Matthew. All God's people say it. Everybody got it? He tried to kill the Messiah. He also tried to do so in the Old Testament too. He tried to destroy Israel because Jesus came through what nation? He came through the nation of Israel. Of course we see that in the days of Esther. Queen Esther, remember Queen Esther? Read the book of Esther when you go home. Haman got them to pass a law and they were going to kill all, basically kill all the Jews. Kill all the Jews. And of course Esther the Queen, she was a what? She was a Jew and they were going to exterminate all the Jews. Why was the devil doing it? He was trying to destroy the nation Israel. Why was he trying to destroy Israel? Because the Messiah was coming through him. So all of this is things that he sought to do in order to destroy the nation. In the book of Kings, I'll let you look this one up, but in the book of Kings there was actually a daughter of Ahab that ended up sitting on the throne of Judah. Athaliah was her name, and you know what she did in the book of Kings? She killed all the king royal, all the kids, all the children of the royal line. Think about that. You read that when you go home. Look up Athaliah. It's in, I think it's 2 Kings 3, but I may be wrong. She literally ended up being sitting on the throne of David, and then she sought And she killed all the line, sought to kill all the line of David. And she, guess what, one little boy, one little boy, one little boy. And what happened is the high priest's wife kind of was raised or was one of the ones in charge of the children. She took him out of the king's house, took him to the priest, and they kept him in the temple, hid him, until he was eight years old. and then they brought him out and then they killed her. But what am I saying that for? They was trying to cut the line. They was trying to keep the Messiah from being born. All God's people did. Tried to destroy Israel, tried to destroy Israel, then tried to destroy the kingly line. So what you're seeing in Revelation, that's just what it's telling you. Here you have this man child going to be born that's going to rule all the nations with a rod and iron. It's a picture of who? It's a picture of Jesus. But he's showing you that he's tried to devour him all the way. Since he was prophesied, he tried to devour him all the way down to keep him from being born. All God's people said. Okay. That's what he tried to do. You see in the book of Exodus they slayed all the little Hebrew boys. Remember that? Remember in the book of Exodus chapter 1 they tried to slay all the little Hebrew boys? The Egyptians did that. You see it in Esther and you see it in the book of 2 Kings. 2 Kings 11, 1 through 3, trying to cut that line. What's he doing that for, beloved? Trying to keep the Messiah from being born. Let me ask you a question. When did Satan get his death blow? Has Satan already had his death blow? Let me ask you, when did he get it? Calvary, buddy. Calvary was a battle. The greatest victory, the greatest battle ever fought was the battle of Calvary. And when Jesus died and rose again, beloved, here's what he did. You remember the Old Testament prophesied one that would be born that would bruise the head of the what? And you know when he got his head bruised, Rick? When Jesus died and rose again. And the victory's ours. You know what? He already knows it's done. The Bible says He knows that He has but a short time. Because, beloved, He's done being whipped. And who whipped Him is our Messiah. Lord Jesus all God's people say That's a glorious thing getting happy y'all Let's go ahead and this read on I want to get this done. Just just this first part. What we looking at this evening We're looking at the battle of Christ's birth. And what I'm showing you is I showed you in the Old Testament I showed you when he was born that Satan tried to kill him try to stop him from being born. Could he stop it? No, he couldn't stop his first coming and he can't stop his second coming either He's a created, some of y'all, I'll have to probably come back and explain this later, he's a created being, he's an angel. He's an angel, but he's not as strong as God, there's no comparison between those two. Alright, let's read on. So verse 4, his tail drew the third part, that's a picture of the fall, stars in heaven, they cast him to the earth. The devil is active in the earth. The Bible calls him the prince in power of the air. Is he active today? Still yet is. Will still continue to be until he comes and gets his people out and then he'll DESTROY THIS PLACE. And he'll judge the devil and all of his angels too and cast them into hell along with all those who have never trusted the Messiah, the Lord Jesus as their Savior. Horrible place to be. You want to have victory over those kinds of things. Hey, do y'all believe what I'm saying? Now, if you're here tonight and a lost person and you believe what I said, what in the world are you waiting on? Every day of your life's a gamble with your soul. Why would you want to make such a gamble as that? And if you say, well, I've got to give up a lot, you've got to give up hell! YOU GOT TO GIVE UP BEING READY AT ALL TIMES. I MEAN WE'RE READY TO GO, AIN'T WE? I DON'T WORRY ABOUT HELL ANYMORE. THERE'S NO CONDEMNATION TO THOSE THAT ARE IN CHRIST JESUS. I KNOW ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE BELIEVE IN HELL AND HEAVEN AND JUST SIT THERE AND NEVER DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. I KNOW MEN ARE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS, BUT THINK ABOUT IT. YOU SAY, WELL, I'M GOING TO POSTPONE MY DECISION. LOOK UP HERE AT ME. THAT'S NO. YOU DON'T POSTPONE NOTHING, YOU'RE JUST SAYING NO. YOU NEED TO HAVE THIS VICTORY OVER THESE THINGS THAT THIS TEXT IS TALKING ABOUT. VERSE 5, HE BROUGHT FORTH A MAN, CHILD, WHO WAS THE RULE OF ALL NATIONS, THAT'S OUR MASTER. It's going to be on a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. There won't be sin on it. No sickness on it. No sadness on it. No sorrow on it. No death on it. No graveyards. No funeral homes. Put Lee out of business. No funeral homes. There won't be anything like that there. Can you imagine? Do you all believe this? Why don't we think more about that? We're too, I don't know, what old-timers used to call earthbound. to earthbound, not heavenly minded as we should be. We should be thinking about these things. I already feel happy and we just talked about it here just a little bit. We should think more about these things. Man, we've got a great future ahead of us. We're going to spend forever together. We're friends here now, but my, my, we're going to spend forever together. Well, we'll sit down and I mean just think we'll sit down in the kingdom with Abraham Isaac and Jacob King David and all the but I want to see Jesus Ain't it gonna be a glorious time? These things are fateful and true and real we just don't think about them enough Have I read verse 5 and he shall Bob just keeps reading the first verse and getting excited and she brought forth a man child That's Jesus. That's the man child is who shall rule all nations with a rod iron. I He'll be in complete charge, and that's just perfect for me. And when He rules, all those who don't know Him will be judged for their sin and casted into Gehenna. And her child, now look at verse 5, in case you're wondering, Her child, the child that came through the woman, which is who again? Israel. That child was caught up to the what? To the throne. And that's a picture of Acts 1, the ascension. Once Jesus came, He was born under the law. He had to be born under the law so He could pay your sin. Everybody got it? He had to be born under the law. He had to be born of woman to be born under the law so He could pay for your sin. That's what he was doing. So he was born. He had to live a perfect life, Stewie, or he couldn't pay for our sin. He was 100% perfect, the only man that ever was. He kept the law 100%. Then what did he do? He went to the cross of Calvary, and then on the cross of Calvary, he paid your what? He paid your price. All of your sin was charged to Him, not half of it. We don't sing Jesus paid it half. All of it was charged to Him and He paid that account in full. What Jacob buy me right here, telestia, what does it mean? Paid in full. He paid that price in full. He paid it in full. Aren't you glad? I don't have to wonder about things. Did he miss one? No, not a one, not a single one. That's why I don't worry about it. I've talked to people all the time that don't know that blessed truth. They say, well, I'm trying to keep myself saved. I confess every day. Well, I confess every day. I do that to keep me in close fellowship with my Lord. But I'm going to tell you something, beloved. You're going to miss one. But His blood won't miss one. You ain't on a pay-as-you-go plan, Rick. Ain't nothing makes me madder than to say I need to get confessed up so I can get caught up. Confessed up to get caught up. That ain't salvation, that's probation. I ain't a bit worried about going to heaven or not. I ain't a bit worried about missing one either. Because Jesus' blood paid that price. It is finished in full. All God's people see it. We confess our sins and stay close. Have I read verse 5 yet, Bertha? I'm just teasing you. And woman fled into the wilderness, once the man-child was born, and then the man-child gets caught up to the what? To his throne. You say, that's all picture of who? See, this is past. This is past. The man-child was Jesus. He paid our debt, and he got caught up to the throne. See, we're in the little open book. See, this world treated his Messiah horribly, didn't it? And the woman fled into the wilderness. This is a wilderness journey where she had a place prepared of God that they should feed her a thousand two hundred and three score days. There's that time frame that we looked at last week. And are we in our wilderness journey now? I'm just asking. Yeah, we ain't home yet. We ain't home yet. We're here. We're on the earth. We're pilgrims and strangers here. One of these days, one of these days, we're going to enter our wilderness. Listen, one of these days our wilderness journey will be over. And we'll go to the promised land. And it ain't the land of Canaan. It's New Jerusalem. That's our home. Beloved, ain't it great tonight to have a home in the Father's house? Ain't it great to know that at the end of your days you're going... How could you ever be happy without the knowledge of that? People live for all of these things. Talk about all these things. But what is life without heaven at the end of your days? What is it? You remember this, don't you, Stewie? People come up on the dock and they'd ask me how I was doing. And I'd say, I'm another day closer to paradise. That's the way I look at it. Every day of our life, I'm just getting closer, closer, closer. All of us is getting closer to this morning again. Isn't that great? What kind of life would this be without the expectation of going to heaven at the end of your days? Well, this message titled tonight was The Battle of Christ's Birth. WHAT I SHOWED YOU TONIGHT IS HOW HE TRIED TO KEEP HIM FROM BEING BORN. AFTER HE'S BORN HE TRIED TO KILL HIM BEFORE HE'S TAMMED, SO TO SPEAK. HE TRIED TO DO EVERYTHING TO KEEP HIM FROM COMING ON THIS EARTH AND DOING WHAT HIS JOB WAS TO DO. THE WHOLE TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES, THE SACRIFICE SYSTEM ALL POINTED TO JESUS. THEY ALL POINTED TO HIM. AND HE TRIED TO KEEP HIM FROM BEING BORN. So that's why it's called the battle of Christ's birth. All God's people say it.