Good to welcome each of you to our Wednesday evening service on this eve of Thanksgiving. I'm sure we all have a great deal to be thankful for. One of the major things is the Word of God. We want to turn to it, if you have your Bibles, to Revelation 12, the 12th chapter of Revelation, and we want to begin reading at the 7th verse. Revelation 12, verse 7. 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 there a 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 inhabiters 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 the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Let's ask the Lord's blessing on his Word. Our Father in heaven, as we come to thee tonight We come with hearts that are especially thankful as we approach this season of the year that we observe as a time of thanksgiving. We realize, Lord, that we can never thank you enough for the blessings that you've given us, the opportunities of a place to worship, a place where we can educate our children, a place where we can proclaim freely the gospel of free grace to all who will listen. We're thankful especially tonight also for the health and the strength that you have given us that we might be able to attend this service. We realize, Lord, that there are many around the world tonight who are on beds of affliction, who are unable to even move because of the physical infirmities that they face in this hour. Lord, how unthankful we are as we go about day by day, never taking time to praise thee and to glorify thy great name for the simple blessings of daily life. We do thank you indeed for the food that you have given us to eat, for the fact that we are living in a land of prosperity and blessing when so many around the world go to bed hungry every night. We are thankful, Lord, for the clothes that you have provided us, that while many tonight are cold and suffering because of their exposure to the elements, that you have provided for us these necessary things. We are grateful indeed especially also that you have seen fit to give us friends and family those who love us and are concerned about us, that we can rejoice in these great blessings not only for time, but for all eternity to come, if we know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. This is, indeed, the crown of our thanksgiving tonight. We can only come to thee with the words of the Apostle Paul, and say thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. We praise you tonight for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has made all good things possible, the one who is the light of our life, the one who is our salvation and our only hope. And we're just grateful that tonight in the light of the sacrifice of Calvary that we can gather in this meeting and we can know, Lord, that no matter what happens here in this world, what we have or don't have, that we will spend eternity with thee if we put our faith and trust in the Savior. We ask now that you'll open our minds and hearts to understand the truth that is revealed here within the pages of thy word. We do praise you once again for the fact that this is indeed truth sent down from heaven that we can hold in our hands this night. And as we consider these things together, we just ask that you will open our hearts to receive them, that we might understand as we are taught by the Spirit of God, and that we might go forth from this place to live in the light of this blessed knowledge that we have. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Tonight we come to a very unique narrative in the 12th chapter of the Revelation concerning war and heaven. It's a strange title, indeed, to give to a message, were it not for the fact that it's revealed to us right here within these verses that we've read this evening. We've noted how this chapter is a strange interwoven grouping of symbol and fact designed to cause each one of us to be diligent when we come to this portion of the word of God. But we might search these things out and compare scripture with scripture to see a great panorama of events unfolding in connection with God's earthly purposes for the nation of Israel. We must realize each time that we come to these studies that when we're talking about the tribulation, when we're talking about these final things as we find them revealed in this book, we're talking also about the 70th week of Daniel, we're talking about the final week of years, the final 7-year period in which God is going to be dealing with his earthly people, the nation of Israel. And one of the major emphases that is to be found here is that of judgment upon this nation to speak to their hearts, to cause them to realize that the one that they rejected as their Messiah and their Redeemer is indeed the one who was anointed and promised in the Old Testament scriptures. But as we see it here, the scene in this passage shifts to heaven. And it does that to give us an inside view into a major change and a great battle that has always been taking place. least as far as we're concerned. Again, let me say to those of you who may be visiting with us this evening, or to those who have been saved only a short time, that you may have some difficulty in following not only this message, but these Wednesday night messages, especially as we're dealing here in the latter half of the book of the Revelation. My problem is in presenting these things that I don't really know what can be done about it. For example, if we were talking here tonight about politics and the Cold War. We could speak of the things that have been taking place recently in connection with America's dealings with Russia and Red China. We could talk about the new government of Chile. We could talk about the war in Israel, the things that are happening in the world today. But in order to see the gravity of these things and to see how they relate and to see how they fit together, It would be necessary to know something about past history. We would need to know about the two world wars and Korea. We would need to know about the Bolshevik revolution. We would need to know how Chairman Mao got into power in China, because all these things are very important background if we were speaking tonight on the Cold War situation in the world as we see it today. Now, there is just no way to go back and start at the beginning. and give all the background that's necessary in every message as we come here to the book of the Revelation. If we did, we'd never have time to get to the current subject. Our problem here is that we're talking about a Cold War, so to speak, although I'm sure it's much hotter than we might imagine. It's between God and Satan, and it's been going on now for almost 6,000 years. This war was officially declared in Genesis 3, verse 15. lay back in the Garden of Eden. We see there the enmity that began officially declared between the seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the seed of the serpent, as we've just been reading about him here in the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation. It's humanly impossible in a 45-minute sermon to cover all the history. But the more you know, the more you're going to see the significance of our subject this and the more you're going to be able to understand how all these various parts tie together to help us understand just what's happening here in these verses we've read. This particular reference here in Revelation 12, verse 7, to war in heaven, marks for us a tactical shift in the battlefield that's of major proportion. As I say, God and the devil have been fighting now for 6,000 years, as far as man's history is concerned. But we are coming here to see a great change that is taking place in the way this battle has been fought down through the ages past. One of the most important facts in any war is the location of the enemy. I was reading recently, in connection with the current war in Israel, that observers believe that the reason the Arabs were so much more successful This time, and they were in the Six-Day War of 1967, was because of poor intelligence work on the part of Israel. The Arabs attacked at both ends of the nation. They attacked at the lower end at the Suez Canal, and they attacked at the upper end at the Golan Heights. And the troop buildup in both these places went almost unnoticed, or at least unheeded, by the observers. There are many people who are deceived today about the location of the enemy of our souls. The average person thinks of the devil's headquarters as being in hell. Of course, this is very far from the truth. The Bible calls him the God of this world. It calls him the Prince of the Power of the Air. At the present time he is attacking on these two fronts. He is at work here in the world. And he is also the Prince of the Power of the Air. He is working in Heaven. We read in 2 Peter 2, verse 4, that some of the fallen angels of Satan are chained in the abyss, wherever that is. But Satan and many of his angels that sinned are right at this moment at work in Heaven and in the world, seeking to thwart the purposes of God. and to do everything possible in this great battle that's been raging for all these hundreds of years. I might be well to point out here that the Bible speaks to us of three heavens. It speaks of the atmospheric heavens, that's the one directly above the earth where the birds fly around. It speaks of the starry heavens, what we generally call today outer space. And it speaks of the third heaven, which is the dwelling place of God, somewhere in the sides of the North, the Bible says. So when the devil is called the Prince of the Power of the Air, in Ephesians 2, verse 2, this no doubt has reference to both the atmospheric heavens and to the starry heavens. The devil being a spirit being and his angels the same, this would be an ideal view of operation. Our consideration here is that the devil also, in a very limited sense, according to the permissive will of God, has access to the third heaven. He has access to the very presence of God where his throne is in this hour. This is very important. It is the very reason why the Lord Jesus Christ must be our advocate with the Father. It is the reason that now in this dispensation he is sitting at the right hand of God. making intercession for us. Here again let me explain to you the terminology that I'm using. When I speak of the third heaven as the dwelling place of God, I'm speaking of the place of what Bible scholars call the Shekinah glory of God. God is omnipresent, as we've studied many times in recent messages. That is, he's everywhere at one time. But the problem with us is that our understanding is limited. We can't understand what it means to be everywhere at one time. So God gives us here in the Bible another symbol, the symbolism of a cloud. The components of clouds are everywhere. They are all around us. They are omnipresent. But when a cloud comes to earth and settles itself and visibly manifests itself, we call And we can see this cloud and we can know that the presence of that cloud is here around us. The Old Testament prophets called this cloud of God's presence the Shekinah glory. It filled the Holy of Holies and the temple. It was there as a mark, a visible mark to man of the presence of God himself. God's presence was outside the Holy of Holies, outside the tabernacle, outside everything. because he is everywhere at one time. But in a very special way, this cloud of the fullness of the Shekinah glory was in the temple and in this place called the holiest of all. And to enter into that place, because of this manifest presence of God, was to die. In Ezekiel 11 and 12, he saw a vision of this Shekinah glory. He saw it in the closing days of God's dealings with the nation of Israel here upon this earth. Israel was in final apostasy and God was displeased. Ezekiel saw this cloud of Shekinah glory as it moved to the threshold of the Holy of Holies. With the sound of the rushing wings of the cherubim, it moved out into the outer court. He watched as this Shekinah glory cloud moved out the eastern gate, rising higher and higher to the tops of the mountains. The glory of the Lord had departed from Israel, never to return again. and this dispensation in which we are living. The eastern gate is sealed today with solid stone, the wall of Jerusalem. But you know the wonderful thing about it is that this is not the end of the story. In Ezekiel 43, he had a vision of the Millennial temple, the temple that is going to be erected during the thousand-year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the earth. And he saw this same cloud of the Shekinah glory of God descending from heaven, entering back through the eastern gate, and coming once again to fill the Holy of Holies. And he said, Behold, the glory of the Lord fill the house, as God's presence once again returns to the nation of Israel. The tabernacle of God will be with men in that hour, just as it was in the days when Israel was wandering through the wilderness. So when I speak to you of the third heaven, as being the dwelling place of God, I'm speaking of this place of his Shekinah glory, in Heaven at this moment in time, where his manifest presence is. Now let's turn, if you will, to Zechariah, chapter 4, next to the last book in the Old When we were studying the two witnesses of Revelation 11, we were looking at this 4th chapter of Zechariah. We noted a verse, the last verse, the 14th verse of this chapter. Then said he, these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. We saw that although this prophetically is looking on to Revelation 11. The immediate context refers to two individuals, one being Zerubbabel as we see him here in this 4th chapter, the other being Joshua as we see him in chapter 3. We are talking here about two individuals seen in a vision by Zechariah standing by the Lord of the whole earth. Notice what we read in Zechariah 3 and verse And he showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with a change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments, and the angel of the Lord stood by." So here we see a picture of salvation. Joshua clothed with filthy garments. even as we all were in God's sight, because we had sinned and come short of his glory. But we see the magnificent work of God here. I will clothe thee with change of raiment, taking the filthy garments from thee. Before we are saved, we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. But when the Lord Jesus comes into our hearts, he clothes us with a robe of righteousness. He gives us the garments of salvation as a free gift. And by faith we become a brand plucked out of the fire, saved from the eternal destiny of the lake of fire by the saving power of the Angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. But we see that the work here of Satan, his function, is to resist the crowning of Joshua. He is the accuser of the He's standing here before the Lord of the whole earth waiting to do this foul work that he's doing on the battlefront of heaven, to speak against those who put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We see the same thing again if you'll turn to Job 1. just before the book of Psalms, Job 1. Notice what we read in Job 1 and verse 6. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." Now, I noted last week, Job 38.7, and we saw how this points us to these sons of God as the angels, and Satan here as we see him coming among them into the presence of the Lord. We see in verse 7 that the Lord said unto Satan, whence camest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." So here he is in these two battle fronts that we've just been talking about. He's here in heaven now as the accuser of the Brethren, and he's just come from his work on earth, going to and fro in the earth, walking up and down in it, doing his wicked work among the children of men. And in verse 8, the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Now, here God is bragging on one of his servants. This man Job is a mature servant of God, an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth So then the devil goes to work in verse 9. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy You see, this is the work of the devil on the battlefront of heaven. He says to God, all you have to do is put forth your hand and touch all these earthly goods that Job has got, he'll curse you to your face. The only reason he's serving you is because of what he's getting at. And he's there again, as we saw him in Zechariah 4, doing this work as the accuser of the Brethren. we can better understand the significance of the things way back over here in Revelation, chapter 12. Let's go back over there. The 12th chapter of Revelation, and notice what we read in the 7th verse. The opening phrase of verse 7 says, and there was war in heaven. This word war in the Greek signifies to us a series of conflicts. Personally, I believe that this is a series of conflicts that is going to begin at the rapture and is going to continue until the judgment seat of Christ, where believers are going to be judged, is finished. We'll see the reasoning for this in just a few minutes. But here we see war in heaven, a series of conflicts, Michael and his angels. fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels." So here we see Michael, the archangel, and we see the dragon, the devil. And we see them in conflict in the heavenly realm. I turn for just a moment, if you will, to Daniel, chapter 12. We'll get a little more light on what we're talking about. The 12th chapter of Daniel, and the first verse. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble. such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Now, we learn several things here. We learn, first of all, that this is another encounter with Michael and Daniel 12, the same one that we've just seen in Revelation 12. He's called here the Great Prince. And we see also that he has a special relationship to the nation of Israel, the Great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people. This is the people of Israel. We notice also that his standing up, this time when Michael shall stand up, is connected with two things. It's connected with the tribulation period, the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And it's connected with the resurrection, the resurrection of believers, specifically, as we noted in this context. Now let's turn to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians 4, we want to read the 13th verse. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, those who have died, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent or precede them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." Here we see a scene almost exactly parallel to the one that we just noted in Daniel 12. Again, we see here the voice of the archangel. Now, there is only one so designated in the Word of God, and that is Michael. Michael is the only one called an archangel in the Bible. We see also that when the archangel's voice is heard, it is going to be connected directly with the rapture of the with the time when the Lord's people are caught away to meet him in the air. We see also that his appearance is connected with the same two things that we saw there in Daniel 12. The tribulation period, this time when sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and also with the resurrection of believers living and dead. Now, Michael comes around in the scripture whenever the devil is trying to hinder something that God is doing. We see that Daniel is talking about the rapture, the beginning of the tribulation period. We see that Paul is writing here to the church at Thessalonica about the same thing, about this time when Michael the archangel, the warrior, the captain of God's host, is going to stand up. He's going to speak, and there's going to be this rapture, this catching away suddenly of all the Lord's people, living and dead, to meet him in the air. Now let's turn for just a moment, if you will, to Deuteronomy, chapter 34, because we want to see a little something about the problems that have taken place in the past between Michael and the Here in Deuteronomy 34, we want to read the 5th verse. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth Peor. But no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day. Now here we see the strange circumstances surrounding the death of Moses. Moses, as we see it in the following verses, was not sick. He was in fine shape physically. His eye was not dim or his natural force abated. But God got ready for him to die. And whenever God gets ready for you to die, that's when you want to die. So Moses died there in the land of Moab. on Mount Nebuchadnezzar, and God took his body and conducted the funeral himself. He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day. But that was not the end of the story. Let's turn, if you will, to Jude, the little book of Jude, and the 9th verse. Only one chapter to it, the last book before the Revelation. Jude 9. Yet Michael, the archangel, same one, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, does not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. We're not told much, but we're told a little bit. We're told that the devil and Michael had been fighting before. They were fighting over the body of Moses. God was going to conduct this funeral, and the devil didn't want to see it done. Michael, the archangel, was in this contention, he was in this dispute concerning the body of Moses. Even in this dispute as we see it here, He didn't bring against the devil a railing accusation. He realized the power of that old serpent, the devil and Satan, which is a lot more than can be said for men. So often we tend to make fun of the devil. We tend to downgrade him and pretend like there is nothing to him. But Michael the Archangel, the commander-in-chief of the armies of God, didn't take that kind He didn't even personally make any attempt to rebuke him or to bring against him any kind of a railing accusation. He knew that it had to be done in the power of the Lord. He said, the Lord rebuke thee. Now, why the devil would have wanted the body of Moses is something that you can ponder over for the next two or three days or the next two or three hundred years, maybe, because you might never know. It could have been that he wanted it for the purpose of idolatry. That's what most commentators seem to believe. A lot of bones and relics have been used in the past in this manner. Whenever the serpent of brass that was used in the wilderness fell into disuse, it became an object of idolatry. It could have been the same way with the bones of Moses. But be that as it may, here we see a situation where the devil is trying to hinder something God is doing. And Michael the archangel The Commander-in-Chief steps in to engage in this battle. Daniel 9, and notice what we read at the 20th verse. And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God, for the holy mountain of my God, yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved. Therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision." So here Daniel is praying. He's contacted during this prayer by the angel Gabriel, the one that announced the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the message from God. All right, now look at Daniel chapter 10 and verse 2. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hittikel, then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, a certain man, clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Euphas." Now look at verse 11. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright. For unto thee am I now sinned. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia, apparently one of the devil's angels, withstood me one and twenty days. But lo, one of the chief princes, or the first of the princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia." Notice verse 18, "...and came again, and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, and said, O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my Lord speak, for thou hast strengthened Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? And now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia. And when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grisha shall come. But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth. And there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince." So here we see these continual references to Michael, the Archangel, the Commander-in-Chief of the army of God. We are told here about the Prince of Persia, the Prince of Gretia, apparently some of the devil's angels who are the commanders over the principalities and the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, the wicked spirits in heavenly places that Paul wrote to the Church at Ephesus about. Daniel is praying, a work for God is going on, and we see here the devil seeking to hinder. We see Michael the Archangel coming to the rescue. All right, now turn, if you will, to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, and the first verse. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. So here we see this reference to the devil as the prince of the power of the air. Look at Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, or wicked spirits in heavenly places, as that could well be translated. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God. that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." So you see, both of these passages refer to the fact that the devil's home office is in the air. This is the place of his operation, the place of his mediation between heaven and earth. Now, when Michael stands up, could be at any moment, he stands up and speaks, we'll go to meet the Lord Jesus in the air. the devil's stomping ground, the devil's home country. And you can imagine how angry Satan is going to get when he sees us passing through his home country in resurrection power to meet the Lord Jesus in the air. He's not going to like that too much, I'm sure. He's going to fight all the way to the throne of God, all the way to the judgment seat of and rebellion against this last great work that God is trying to do in your life and mine. As we saw there in Zechariah 3 and Job 1, he now has access to the presence of God. And his function there is as the slanderer, the accuser of the brethren. Now let's look, if you will, once again at Revelation 12. Here in this 9th verse of Revelation 12, we read, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan. Now, all those names are not there by accident. There is no such thing as vain repetition in the Word of God. They all relate to something. The dragon, as we noted last week, speaks of the relationship of the devil, of Satan, to the empires of the world. The figure of that old serpent relates to the Garden of Eden and the work that he did there. Satan is the Hebrew word for adversary, as we've been seeing him resisting Michael the Archangel and resisting God. But devil is that Greek word diabolos. We saw it not too many weeks ago, but it's the same word used to tell us what the deacons' wives are not to be. It's translated not slanderers. here in our New Testament, because that's what the devil means, to be a slanderer. And this is the work of the devil, as we've seen him doing it to Joshua the high priest, as we've seen him doing it to Job, and as he no doubt is doing it right now in the presence of God about some of us. This is his function, to slander the brethren. And right through the finished work of the judgment seat of Christ, he's going to keep right on doing it. He's going to continue to slander the brethren before the throne of God in heaven until this thing is settled. But once it is settled, notice what we read about happening here in Revelation 12, verse 7. 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 there a place found any more in heaven." See, there's coming a time when that access is going to be cut off. Verse 9, "...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." Cast to the earth, refused access to the throne of God. No more slandering of the brethren once the work of the judgment seat of Christ is done. Notice verse 10, 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. You see, that stuff is going to come to an end. And the judgment seat settles it all when there is final victory for the overcomers, the devil and his angels. are going to be cast out of this heavenly battlefront. They're going to be removed from that sphere of operation and cast down into the earth. Notice how we're going to overcome there in the 11th verse. 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 dead. You see, that's the word that's going forth at the judgment seat of Christ. The devil is a defeated foe. It will do him no good to be the accuser of the brethren, because we can overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. If we have a testimony that our faith and trust is in the cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing the devil can say against that, because this is exactly what God requires for us to be cleansed from sin and to be He can say a lot of things about us that are true. But the one thing that he cannot say, if we have put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, and if we have that testimony, is that we are still in our sins. Because the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. That's how we are going to overcome him. By the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony. So we see in verse 12, 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." So here we see heaven is going to be glad in that hour. No more will the devil and his angels have access there. Heaven is going to be glad, but earth is going to be sad. 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." Now, the devil believes the Bible. Whenever this happens to him, he's going to remember how he used to study the twelfth chapter of the Revelation. He's going to say, uh-oh, this is just exactly what God said was going to happen. He knows that he has but a short time when he comes to this point in time. And he's going to pour out his wrath in an unusual way, as we're going to be seeing in the next few weeks here in the book of the Revelation, because he knows that he has but a short time. Now isn't it strange how much more the devil knows than we know so often? He knows that he has but a short time. We don't believe that, do we? We're expecting that tomorrow we're going to gain about ten pounds by trying to eat up most of the turkey in the world. Or we think that we're going to see our family, or we think that we're going to rejoice in Christmas coming up in a few weeks. Beloved, I'll tell you something. We have no promise of tomorrow. There is not one indication in this book that there is any reason to suppose that the Lord Jesus will come one week from today. There is no reason to suppose that it will not be tonight, under any sign, under any circumstance given here in this work. The devil knows a lot about these things. He is not ignorant of the signs of the times. He is well aware of the truth of the Word of God. When Jesus said, Behold, I come quickly, that's exactly what he meant. Not quickly in relationship of one time to another as far as man is concerned, but in an unexpected time, in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man coming. Now, if you think that the Son of Man is coming two years from now, I guarantee you it won't be then, because in such an hour as you think not, that's when he's coming, when you're not expecting him as a thief in the night. Now, you see, the world as a whole today doesn't even believe in the second coming of Jesus. But all these things are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are coming. God has given us these signs. that we might understand. Paul said to the people there at Thessalonica, he said, brethren, you're not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. There's no need for you not to understand the signs of the times. And so we come and we study these things together and we consider the things that are happening around us in the world today and we know that he's near even at the doors. We know that at any moment, in a moment, the Lord Jesus could come. to catch us away, to be with himself. I hope you are ready tonight. And there is only one way to be ready. The devil, as we have seen it tonight, is the second most powerful being in the universe, second only to God himself. Even the commander-in-chief of the host of heaven is very careful about the way he deals in this warfare with the devil. He wouldn't even try to rebuke him in his own power. And you see, we're not going to be able to stand against a foe like that. What we need in order to overcome is the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Loving not our lives, even unto the death. Jesus said, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Loving not our lives unto the death, we give our life to the Lord Jesus. And our testimony from that day forward is that we have no hope in our own righteousness. We have no confidence in the flesh. But we are standing upon the power and the authority of the blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. For as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things, as of silver and gold, from the vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's what you need tonight. That's the only reason you've got a reason to be thankful, to offer any thanksgiving, is if you have the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, or if you are rejoicing in the fact that he has given you one more day, when you can live and understand these things and turn from your sins and give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't cost a thing. But it's going to cost you something if you don't do it. It's going to cost you your soul forever. And in the final days, as we're going to be studying in a few weeks, when the devil is cast into the lake of fire, we read, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now, the only way your name is in the book of life tonight is if you have this testimony that you put your faith and trust in the blood of the Lord Jesus to cleanse you from sin. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, we know that as we have considered these things together, we have come to them with limited understanding. And yet we are grateful for the opportunity to compare scripture with scripture, to study these things together, to see how they all fit together in a beautiful picture of the things that you are doing. in the past and in the present and in the days that are yet future. But, fathers, we study these things, we pray that our minds might not be distracted from the one great central issue, from the fact that one day we are going to stand before God and the accuser is going to accuse us. The sin that separates us from thee is going to be our barrier to eternal life. unless we have put our confidence, our trust, unless we have given our life to the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Father, how we do pray that as we close this service tonight, that if there is even one here who has never done this, that right now in the quietness of this place, upon the occasion of the proclamation of this truth, that they might come with the faith of a little child to look at Calvary's cross, to see the Lord Jesus kneel there for their I ask thee for forgiveness to call upon the Lord Jesus to come into their heart by faith. Father, we know you'll hear this prayer as you've done it in our life, the lives of so many here tonight. And we're just asking you to continue to do it in the days ahead until the Lord Jesus comes. We pray these things in his name, amen.