00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
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.
War In Heaven
Series Studies In Revelation
| Sermon ID | 915112030509 |
| Duration | 56:06 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Revelation 12:7-17 |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.