We are in Revelation chapter 12. The book began with this picture of the risen, glorious, victorious Christ and with his letters to seven churches. Five of them calling them to repentance in one way or another. Two of them commending their faithfulness. We see the throne room of heaven in chapter 4. And then we have in chapter 5 the seven seals beginning. And the seven seals sort of parallel what we see beginning in chapter 8. and nine, these seven trumpets. All of this difficulty, all of these trials that humanity goes through, they flow from the fall and they take one of the following forms. They're either part of the judgment of God for sin, either on those who oppose Him, or in some cases, remedial judgments to help to bring His people to repentance. And in some cases, what we're seeing here are pictures of persecution of the church. In chapter 10 and 11, though, we have the angel and the little book. And this little book, John is given. He eats the book. In his mouth, it tastes sweet as honey. In his stomach, it gives him a stomach ache. And most likely, what we're looking at here is the gospel, which is salvation to some. It's an aroma unto life for some, and it's an aroma unto death for others. I believe what we're looking at in chapter 11, verses 1 through 14, is the period of the church age and the witness of the church. And we see a down period for the church in chapter 11. There's the death of the two witnesses in 11.7. And then they come back in 11.15. Seventh angel sounds. There are loud voices in heaven. And here are these glorious words. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. And then we see worship in heaven. And we see judgment coming again. So it's a second picture of judgment. It's not two judgments. It's simply another picture of judgment as we saw back in chapter 6, in verse 17. The great day of the wrath has come, and who's able to stand? Now when we get to chapter 12, It's kind of a new beginning of the book. It's a new beginning of the whole second half of the book. And it's also a new beginning, as we saw, of a section that runs from 12.1 through chapter 15, verse 4. Chapter 12 is about the conflict of the serpent with the woman and her seed. The woman represents initially Israel and eventually the church. Now in chapter 12, we're introduced to a dragon. That's Satan. In chapter 13, we're introduced to a beast who's not Satan, but it's a beast from the sea. Chapter 13, 11, the third part, it's persecution by a beast from the land. Chapter 14 is the fourth section. Chapter 15, verses 2 through 4, the saints' victory over the beast of the sea. And they're in victory song. We're back to victory again by the time we get to the beginning of chapter 15. Now what's happening here is, in chapter 12, it reveals that it's the devil himself who is the source of all of this evil. Chapter 12 uncovers the great dragon. Satan himself shows up. And he is the grand initiator of all of the persecutions and trials of the saints. He unleashes these beasts that we're about to see. The wilderness here, I believe, is the fallen world. And the church is in it. And here we are in the church, in this wilderness, this fallen world. So the wilderness is the place where first the fall left to all of mankind. But then Israel goes into the wilderness after her deliverance. Now the church is in this wilderness. Yet she is nourished and cared for and provided for by God. He provides for us. The church hasn't died in all this 2,000 years. But look at Revelation 12, 6. And this seems to be the clearest indication that this is a symbolic period. And that's this verse. The woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days. Well, how long has the church been nourished by God? It's not just a three-and-a-half-year thing. That period runs from the time that Christ ascended into heaven until He returns. Verse 9, the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. So the dragon, serpent, devil, Satan is all the same. Beast is not Satan. Dragon is Satan. Now in chapter 13, beginning in verse 1, we're going to have a beast from the sea. The beast from the sea looks very much like the dragon. But you see the difference? What's the difference? Ten crowns and the crowns are not on his heads. They're on the horns. Okay, now then we get to a third creature. It's a second beast. And this is a beast from the land. That's a different kind of beast. This is the one who was the spokesman. Because a lot of people call him false prophet. But this is a two-horned like a lamb. But he spoke as a dragon. So there's the second beast, the dragon plus two beasts. And then in chapter 17, and we also saw this beast introduced in chapter 11, there's a beast from the abyss. Notice, it also has seven heads and ten horns. No mention of any crowns. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them... This is the church, the witnesses of the church. ...and overcome them and kill them. Beast that comes up from the abyss. And I probably should have put the word scarlet beast from the abyss up there. This is the scarlet beast from the abyss. And there's going to be great destruction come from this one. So those are the beasts. And now many believe, as I say, that this scarlet beast from the abyss is the same as the sea beast. In Daniel 7, Daniel has a vision. And the vision is not of one beast that's got a lion, a leopard, and a bear characteristics like we have here in Revelation. But we have four separate beasts. One who looks like a lion, one who looks like a bear, and one who looks like a leopard. And the fourth one is different. The fourth one is more terrifying. They are symbols of four kingdoms. And they're the kingdom that exists at the time, Babylon, the Medo-Persians who succeed Babylon. And the Medo-Persians take over while the Jews are still in exile. Alexander the Great and Greece, somewhere between 334 and 331 B.C., take over the kingdom of the world. Alexander travels the whole world taking the Greek language with him and spreads Hellenism. What's going on in the middle of all this Between Medo-Persia and Greece is a guy named Socrates, a philosopher. He has a student named Plato. Plato has a student named Aristotle. And these guys are coming up with this Greek philosophy, this Hellenism. Alexander is taught by Aristotle. Alexander becomes the victorious general. And he becomes the ruler in Greece. He doesn't live long. But he goes all the way to India with the kingdom. When he dies, the kingdom is split four ways. We have the Ptolemies in Egypt. We have the Seleucids. Two groups of Seleucids are Syrians. And we have a Macedonian or Greek group. Out of those Seleucids come the people, Antiochus Epiphanes, who come in and persecute the Jews in Jerusalem. Then there's a Jewish revolt beginning around 170 BC. And they win. They've got no guns. They've got no anything. They've got no army. The Maccabees. And God wins the victory for them. Antiochus Epiphanes is such a bad guy. He goes in and he commits the abomination of desolation. And 1st Maccabees calls it that. See, we see abomination of desolation. It doesn't have to only happen once. It can happen more than once. And it happened there. He burns a pig on the altar. But they throw him out and regain their religious privileges somehow. In the middle of that arose a group called the Pharisees. They wanted to preserve the purity of Judaism. And they got carried away so that by the time of Christ, they were the hypocrites. 63 BC, a general named Pompey, Rome. And the Romans are ruling at the time Christ comes into this world. That's why we have a Roman pilot. We have Herod ruling under Roman authority. Daniel told about all of this three different times in the book of Daniel. That's why we have to look at this to get an understanding, a better understanding at least, of what these beasts are all about. So we're going to look at those four beasts And obviously John is drawing from the description of those four beasts when we get to this beast in chapter 13. Look at 13 too. This is the beast that comes up out of the sea. The beast I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like those of a bear. His mouth was like those of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. We saw Satan, remember, through Cain killing Abel. Through Pharaoh trying to drown the male children of the Hebrews. Saul trying to kill David. Haman in Persia having an edict from the king to murder all of the Jewish boys. And then of course, Herod sending out the death squads around Bethlehem. Satan tried and tried and tried. So when it says he's there waiting for the birth of the child, he wants to kill the child. Now verse 7, there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war. They weren't strong enough. There was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down. The serpent of old, who was called the devil and Satan. Dragon, serpent, devil, Satan. All the same character. Beast, different character. Antichrist, different character. Man of lawlessness, different character. Could antichrist and man of lawlessness be the same? That's possible. And he's called one who deceives the whole world. Now that becomes important when we see him bound in chapter 20. Who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. Now I thought when I read this, that this was talking about the fall of Satan. It's not. Here's a picture of spiritual warfare. Warfare in the spiritual realm. Those obedient to God, those who rebelled against Him, are at war. Now remember, this is not a chronology. When we read apocalyptic literature, sometimes we read a series of four events. Sometimes those four events are all happening at the same time. Now people take this, and this is where I think the futurists go completely off the rails on this. They think they're reading an orderly chronology of future events. They're not. Apocalyptic literature by its nature is not chronological. But when we look at the rest of Scripture, we can piece these events together. Here's an account of the events leading to Satan and his rebellious angels being thrown down to the earth. The dragon and his angels are still, at least Satan, is going before God after the fall. We see it with Job. Sons of God, we have the angels going in front of God and Satan comes along with them. And remember what Satan says. Did I put this in the Scripture sheet? Job chapter 1. Verse 6, There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came along with them. The Lord said to Satan, From where do you come? Satan answered the Lord and said, From roaming about the earth and walking on it. So he may have been thrown down to the earth at the fall, but he still could come before God. He's saying, how about my servant Job? And Satan says, well haven't you made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has on every side? That's verse 10. You've blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land. But you put forth your hand now and touch all he has and he will curse you to your face. What would we call what Satan is making against Job here? An accusation. Satan is accusing He'll surely curse you. He's accusing. Then the Lord says, okay, all he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him. You can't kill him. But Satan, you see, he's thrown down to the earth, yes, but he still has access to God. We see it again in Zechariah 3.1 regarding Joshua the high priest after Israel had returned from the exile in Babylon. He showed me Joshua the high priest, Zechariah says, of this vision, standing before the angel of the Lord. And Satan standing at his right hand to do what? To accuse him. See, Satan, what's he accusing the children of God of? What are the wages of sin? What do we all deserve? Satan's standing in front of God and saying he deserves death. He sinned against you. You said in the day that you read of that tree, you will surely die. The wages of sin is death. You said all of this. Why aren't you killing him? Satan has something of a case there. And he's listening to this. But now the son of God, the son of this woman, has been caught up to the throne of God in verse five. And now there's war in heaven and Satan is thrown down. Why? Because he can't accuse anymore. because the Lord's reigning on the throne. That's what's going on. He can no longer accuse the brethren. That's what it says right here. Let's read on. I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, verse 10 of Revelation 12, 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. Christ is seated on the throne. The accuser of the brethren is thrown down. And He who accuses them before our God day and night. It's a ceaseless accusation by Satan. Satan knows if he makes Adam and Eve sin, they deserve death. And he's up there pleading his case. Not when Christ comes. And then it says, And they overcame Him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony. There it is. What Christ did and because of our profession of faith. It's got to be a real profession of faith though, evidenced by how we live. And they did not love their life even when faced with death. That all martyrs or is it all saints? I think it's all the saints. Some might argue that's just referring to martyrs but I don't think so. Now look what happens here. We just learned about the beasts, right? ...For this reason, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to what? The earth and the sea. Because why? The devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing he has only a short time. Now this short time, Remember what we saw when the locusts came out of the bottomless pit? They were only allowed to torment for five months. Satan, in Revelation 20, verse 3, is going to be released for a short time. There's going to be something at the end of all of this. We had the two witnesses, the witness of the church. They were dead for three and a half days. Not three and a half years, three and a half days. I think it's possible all of these represent the same time period. They are in the future. There's a period in the future that we don't know exactly what it is. But Satan's released for a short time. But here's our picture of Christ in victory. It's before judgment. It's not judgment. But it's not only Christ who we see as victorious. See, this overcoming Him, His church is also victorious because He is. We see the saints again. Two things are cited as contributing to the victory. His blood and their testimony. And chapter 12, verse 10, shows us that when Christ ascended into heaven, His rule began. Even though the final consummation awaits until His return. But His rule has begun. God permitted the devil to accuse His people of sin. He did. And his argument was based upon the fact that the proper judgment for sin is spiritual death. And until Christ's death and ascension, he had a good argument. You know, the Supreme Court, when they hear a case, you file the case, you don't automatically get to go. They only hear a few cases every year. And you apply for what they call certiorari. And they either grant or deny certiorari. And that means they're willing to hear the case if they grant it. Well, Satan was getting his case heard. But now, once this happens, and what we're reading about here is, now he can't get a hearing. Not as to the brethren anyway. The penalty that he wanted, the death penalty, was exacted on the cross. And he was behind that. Satan entered into Judas. And off he went to the authorities. He thought he got them. And of course, the joke was on him. Now this overcoming, we saw it in every one of the seven letters. To those who overcome, to those who overcome, He will grant. Woe to the earth and the sea, the devil has come down to you. Scripture refers to Satan as what? The god of this world, the ruler of this age. When Adam and Eve were created, God showed them all these animals and said, I give you, what's the word? Dominion over all of these. When they sinned, they lost it. How do we know? Here's the devil telling the truth for once. He led Jesus up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Luke 4, 6, And the devil said to Him, I will give You all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me. Now listen to this, And I give it to whomever I wish. That's what these beasts are representing. Satan is a deceiver. He's come down to the earth and the sea because He's come down to you. Woe to the earth and the sea. He has great wrath. He knows He only has a short time, it says. He's a deceiver and He seeks to destroy. That's Satan. Well when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to earth, verse 13, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. Once he lost, now I'm out and I can't do this. And he's attacking Christ and all of that. Now he's left to persecute the church. And that's what he's doing. But God is protecting His church in the wilderness and nourishing the church. Everything that we're reading about here has already begun to happen. It's happening and it will continue to happen until that short time period that's out there somewhere. But look what happens, 14. But two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman. What's that symbolic of in Scripture? Well, so she could fly into the wilderness to her place where she was nourished. And here comes Daniel again. For a time, and times, and half a time from the presence of the serpent. Here's the eagle's wings. Exodus 19, verse 4. And this shows us what this means. It's God's protection and care of His people. You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians... That's Exodus 19, 4. ...and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Deuteronomy 32, 11. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them. Isaiah 40, 31. Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary. We have a couple more verses though. The serpent, verse 15, poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman. Look, this is the persecution. And how does Satan persecute the church? What is the main thing he tries to do still? They see, this is the great thing about the binding. This is why I believe that that's what the binding in chapter 20 is about, because he can't do it. He can try. He's trying to deceive every one of us. But you know what? God is not letting him. It's not because we're smarter or we're more resistant or we're stronger. It's because God's not letting him. He is limited in what he can do to you. He cannot take your faith from you. He has some rule in the earth. He has only what God gives him. He does not have control. God lets him control Hitler. He has control over Hitler. If God doesn't let him have control over Hitler, he doesn't have control over him. He has whatever God gives him. And he uses the kingdoms of the world. God says, go ahead. He lets him go. But you see, he's bound in terms of the gospel going forth to his children. He's not out of business by any stretch of the imagination. This flooding in the water, this is all just part of Satan's persecution. It's symbolic of that. Now, Revelation 12, I want you to just look at your Bibles, Revelation, where you are, and look at these verses because this is about his defeat. Yes, he still has some power, but God's in control. But look at what we have just here in chapter 12. His defeat is highlighted by being cast down five different times here, just in this chapter. 12-5, the devil attempted to devour the male child but God snatched him up to his throne. Defeat number one. 12-9, Satan fought against Michael and his angels but he lost. Two. 12-6 and 14, the dragon pursued the woman, the church, but God prepared a place for her in the desert. 12, 15, and 16, the serpent wanted the woman to drown in the torrent, but the earth swallowed the river. He lost again. And 12, 17, Satan lost when he waged war against the woman's offspring who kept on obeying God's commands and holding on to the testimony of the gospel. Five-time loser he is here. And throughout Revelation 12, that's the story. That's what Satan is portrayed as, a five-time loser, while Christ and His church reign in victory. book is about the victory of Christ. It's the assurance of the victory. And so let us give thanks. Father, this is a glorious series of truths You've revealed to us. We thank You that You have defeated evil, that You have defeated sin and death. And we thank You that You have made us Your children. Thank you for opening our eyes. Thank you for the gift of faith. Lord, please strengthen us for the battle and give us wisdom. Give us your spirit that we might be useful servants, taking the gospel to the lost among us and around us. In Christ's name.