All right, well, please turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 12 is where we are in our feasting upon God's word. It's wonderful as a congregation to be able to have a book of the Bible, a part of Scripture that we're all focused on during a time together during the week. I hope that's your practice in your homes with your immediate family. And it's wonderful as an extended family in the Lord to be able to have a part of Scripture that we're all thinking about, that is in our hearts and minds, and that we can discuss with one another, we can encourage one another with. And along that same line, I'd like to encourage and exhort you, if you can, to come to Lord's Night tonight. And Lord's Night is one of those opportunities where we give a great chance for all members of the congregation to share a word of encouragement, a word of exhortation, that not everybody gets to stand in front of the church on a Sunday morning, but on Sunday evening, the last Sunday of each month, if you have a word that you would like to bring to the congregation, that's a great opportunity to do so. Be thinking about that today, whether or not God would put something on your heart to share with His family this evening. One final word before we dig into the Scriptures together. The sign-up, as Jerry said, for the Poor Man's Conference is on the back table, and I want give another plug for that conference. We call it the Poor Man's Conference because it doesn't cost you anything. You don't have to travel to another state. You don't have to put yourself up in a hotel room. Just come here on a Saturday morning and we have some great teaching because of the wonders of technology. We can bring in wonderful conference speakers to our little building here, and then have great discussion as we enjoy brunch and listen to those good speakers. And this coming Saturday, our subject is going to be on spiritual gifts, and in particular, whether or not the miraculous gifts of the New Testament, such as prophecy, apostleship, the speaking in tongues, and the healing of the sick, whether or not those gifts are still active in the church today. And it's a very important subject for the church. And during these Poor Man's Conferences, we try to do one during the year on practical leadership and spiritual development of men in the church. And then the other one, we focus more on doctrinal issues and concerns that we want the men in the church to be well grounded on so that we can stay on course with God's word and God's truth and his plan for our work together as a church. So that's coming up this Saturday, and please do make time for it and sign up so I can know how much food to bring. Oh, and one other great thing about this coming Poor Man's Conference is some of the folks, some of the men from the Living Life Church are also going to be joining us, and so that'll be a great time to meet some of the other saints who are in our community and to have fellowship with them. So sign up and come here on Saturday if at all possible. All right, with that final message, then let's go ahead and dig into God's word together today. Revelation chapter 12 is where we left off. And we began then to look into the drama of the portrayal of Satan and his activity during the final period before the return of Jesus Christ. As we said, the book of Revelation and the whole Bible is filled with stories, it's filled with drama, it's filled with action. It's not just a book of doctrine, it's not just a book that engages our intellect, although it does do that very well. It's also a book that engages our imagination and engages our emotions. And that's one thing that we see here very powerfully in Revelation chapter 12, strong emotions, not only from those who are on God's side in heaven, but also strong emotions from the enemy of God, the adversary of Christians, the devil, as he is filled with frustration and fury as his plans are coming to fail and he recognizes that his time is short. So we're going to read the first nine verses as a review. That's what we covered last week. just to get us caught up and remind us where we are. And then we're going to cover the second half of the book in verses 10 through 17 this morning. And as we look into the first nine verses, I'll throw the slide up from last week. It's about Satan's fears, his frustrations, and his fury. And the first nine verses really focus on those fears and frustrations, and then the part that we're gonna cover today is more of the fury that is coming at the end of the age when Satan knows that his time is short. So follow along in your Bibles, and I'll read for us Revelation chapter 12, verses one through nine. And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns, and on his head seven diadems, His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished for 1260 days. Now, war arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. We'll stop there for now. So as we look into Revelation 12, a review of what we looked at last week, the woman, the dragon, and the male child are the actors on the stage of this drama. The scene is in heaven, like these constellations of the sky are coming to life. And you've got this woman with the crown of 12 stars, the moon under her feet, and clothed with the sun. And that's a representation, as we said, of the people of Israel. drawing from the imagery in Joseph's dream back in Genesis chapter 37. Of course, the great red dragon is identified very clearly in the text there as the devil, Satan, the ancient serpent, the deceiver of the whole world. And then the male child is no wonder to who that is. That is the Christ child, the one who is destined to rule the nations with the rod of iron, as is described in Psalm 2, verse nine, and in many, many places in the Old Testament. And so the dragon, Satan, he fears the child. He knows about the destiny of this one who is going to rule all of the nations. And he knows that means an end to his rule. Satan is the one who deceives all the nations. Satan is the one, as he said to Jesus during his temptation, that I can give you all the kingdoms of this world if you will fall down and worship me. And the book of Revelation is all about how the Christ child, who's no longer a baby, but now he is the exalted God-man at the right hand of God, how he is going to come and receive the kingdom and the power and the glory, taking it away from Satan and his followers, men who are in rebellion against God Most High, and to give the kingdom over to the saints of the Most High. That's the coming of the mediatorial kingdom prophesied in the book of Daniel, prophesied through all the prophets, and now all of those streams of prophecy are flowing together into the book of Revelation to give us the final portrait, the final picture of this great conflict and the resolution of the eternal conflict, not eternal, but the conflict of the ages between the forces of evil and God and his Christ. So the woman, the dragon, and the male child is setting the stage for us for what happens next, that we get context on the people of Israel, recognizing that Jerusalem and the people of Israel are the focal point of all prophecy both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. The book of Revelation has this grand worldwide scope, and yet the center of that scope, the focal point of this great panoramic of global catastrophe and God's judgments on his wrath coming upon the earth is what God is doing with Jerusalem, with the two prophets ministering there in the holy city, with 144,000 Jews, who are chosen from Israel during this time, that time and again, throughout the book, John brings us back to the focal point, even as he is unfolding these global cataclysms. So the woman, the dragon, and the male child there in verses one through six, and then that brings us to the exaltation of Christ in Psalm 110 verse 1. Because you look in the text and you see that as the dragon had hoped to devour the child when he was born, to destroy him before he has a chance to fulfill the prophecies that God has made concerning him, that God was protecting Christ, and that the outcome of this conflict between the woman, the dragon, and the child at Christ's first coming is the exaltation of Christ. Drawing upon the imagery of Psalm 110, verse one, the most quoted verse in the New Testament of an Old Testament verse, Psalm 110, verse one, is for us the most important prophecy for the time and place that we live in. because it tells us where we are now in God's prophetic plan. Isaiah 53 is awesome to go back and look at what happened then when Christ died for our sins and rose again 2,000 years ago, but Psalm 110 verse one is awesome because it tells us what Christ is doing now. What prophecy is being fulfilled right now? Well, it's this one that told us that Christ was going to take his session at the right hand of God until God then makes his enemies his footstool, which is what the book of Revelation is about, how God is going to make the enemies of Christ his subjects. And so this is such a great verse for us. Now, I want to show you one example of the significance of the doctrine of the ascension, which is prophesied in Psalm 110 verse 1 from the book of Acts. Turn with me from Revelation 12 for a moment and go back to Acts chapter 2. I am studying the book of Acts with the children here on Wednesday evening. and also with the leaders and leaders in training. And we are looking into the book of Acts because we want to see the origin of the church. How is it that God's work in the world through his church got started? That's the story of the book of Acts. And as we go through that origin story of the church, we discover that the church was founded upon the preaching of the gospel. that on the very first day, the day of Pentecost, as we have here in Acts chapter two, 4,000 people were added to the church on the birthday of the church, how? By the preaching of the gospel. That's how the work of God is accomplished in the book of Acts, and that sets a good example for us to follow in our time. How are we going to accomplish the work that God has given to us to do? How are we going to build the church? By preaching the gospel. And preaching the gospel is a more rich and is a more powerful. expectation that most of us understand. When I say we're gonna build the church by preaching the gospel, you might just think, well, that just means you go and you tell people that Christ died for our sins and he rose again and you need to believe in Christ and you'll have eternal life and that's the gospel. And that is the gospel. But that's not the whole gospel. That's an important foundational part of the gospel. But as you go through and you read the book of Acts, you find out that the ascension of Christ is a very important part of the gospel that gets preached and focused on in all of the gospel presentations. Maybe I'm overstating. Almost all, if not all, of the gospel presentations in the book of Acts. And that's why I want you to see here in Acts chapter 2, we're going to pick up just at the end of the preaching here. Peter started preaching back in verse 14. And now we're coming to the end of the short record. He actually preached much longer than what is recorded here. Luke tells us he's condensing the message that Peter gave. And this is the end of that summary of Peter's preaching, starting in verse 33. Peter preaching to the Jewish people on the birthday of the church, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, ended with these words. being therefore exalted at the right hand of God. You see that? Exalted at the right hand of God, the ascension of Christ. And having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucify. The ascension of Jesus Christ, his exaltation at the right hand of God, that is the proof that God has made Jesus Christ Lord, that he is Lord of all. And you know, the New Testament identifies the most basic confession of Christianity in these simple words. Jesus is Lord. That's what the ascension doctrine says. And so you see how Psalm 110 verse one, the truth of the ascension, which is being referenced again in Revelation chapter 12, as he does this very brief summary of the first coming of Jesus Christ. He doesn't talk about his death. He doesn't talk about his resurrection. Those things are understood, but he does specifically mention his exaltation. Because the exaltation of Jesus Christ is where we are now. And it's what has set up our expectation for what is coming next. The book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is predicated on the ascension of Jesus Christ, the exaltation of Jesus Christ, the fact that Jesus is Lord, and he will stay at the right hand of God until the time that God has set in order to subject every enemy to his lordship and his rule. Very awesome, very fascinating. We don't often think of the book of Revelation as part of the gospel. but the second coming of Jesus Christ is part of the gospel. Everything Jesus has done, everything that Jesus is going to do is the good news about Jesus. And the good news about Jesus is the good news about the kingdom, because he's the king, and he's the one who's coming to set up the mediatorial kingdom. And so all of this is a part of our proclamation. All of this is a part of our message. All of it is important, and we want to share with people that truth. Not only did Jesus Christ die, not only did Jesus rise from the dead, but we want to go and tell the world, Jesus of Nazareth is sitting at the right hand of God. He has all rule and all authority given over to him. He is Lord, whether you recognize it or not. And you need to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord so that you can be saved. That's the heart of the gospel message as well as the substitutionary atonement. All right, so having then done that matter of review, let's go on then to the flight of the woman in chapter 12, verse six. So as you go back in time here, the book of Revelation is drawing us all the way back from what we've been examining concerning the final days before Christ's return. And now this next sign in chapter 12, as we focus in on the devil, It takes us all the way back to his frustration and fear at the first coming of Christ. And then as the child, at the end of verse five, is caught up to God and to his throne, what's the next thing that happens in this vision? and the symbolism in the stars of the sky is that the woman flees into the wilderness. So as the dragon is not able to get at the child, he's frustrated. So what's he gonna do? He's going to attack the woman that gave birth to the child. I can't get the child. Here's the woman. I'm mad. I'm gonna vent my fury upon her. Now, John skips over what we now know is at least 2,000 years of history, when he moves from the exaltation of Jesus Christ, which happened in maybe 30 or 33 AD, and we're getting close to 2030 or 2033, almost 2,000 years, that John skips forward to this final three and a half years before Christ's second coming, when the woman flees into the wilderness for these 1260 days. that this is going all past the church age because Christ didn't tell us how long the church age was going to be and Christ then tells us that the next major thing that's going to happen that has been prophesied is that final period of tribulation, and then the coming of Christ. You can read about it in the Olivet Discourse, you can read about it in the book of Daniel, that God tells us about certain big events that are going to take place, and during this time, we're just waiting for the next big event. And while we're waiting for the next big event, as Jesus told his disciples in the book of Acts, what are we supposed to be doing? We're supposed to be making disciples of all the nations. We're supposed to be his witnesses to all the peoples around the world. It's not for us to know the times and the epics that the father is fixed by his own authority. We just do what he's told us to do while we anticipate and wait for God to do what he said he's going to do next. So this is where we are, in the time of the church, this in between the first coming and the second coming of Christ. But the book of Revelation, which is focusing on the second coming, then skips ahead from the ascension of Christ to this future persecution of Israel and God's protection of her in the wilderness for this three and a half years, the 1260 days that are specified at the end of verse six. All right, so that is a great review. And we are ready then to talk about the war in heaven. The woman's flight, oh, we'll skip past that. We're moving on to the war in heaven, all right? So the war in heaven, as we read in verses seven through nine, is a war between Michael and his angels, and the dragon and his angels. This is not the first time that Michael and Satan have had a confrontation with one another. You can read about one of those confrontations in the book of Jude, Jude verse nine, if you wanna read that. But also, this reference to the archangel Michael is another pointer back to the book of Daniel. In Daniel chapter 10, We have Michael identified as one of the chief princes. And princes here means like angel prince. He's one of the rulers of the angels, and he's called one of the chief princes. And then a little bit later, he's called your prince. And so speaking of Israel, and that they have an angel, they have a guardian angel who's in charge of protecting and preserving Israel. And that's Michael's role, that he is the angel for the people of Israel, according to Daniel chapter 10 and Daniel chapter 12. And in Daniel chapter 12, you see Michael rising up at the end of the age, before the coming of Christ, which connects and ties this verse here, Revelation 12, seven, back with Daniel once more. and the result of this war is that satan loses and he's cast out of heaven this leads to great joy in heaven but a pronouncement of woe upon the earth as we shall see now last week we identified that this war in heaven It signifies a future war. This is not something that has happened in the past, this is not something that was accomplished by Christ's first coming, but this is what is heralding the second coming of Christ and is a marker that Satan's time to act against God and against God's people is almost over. And Satan knows that. And so when he loses this war and is cast out, he has great fury. Now, I want to show you two verses that will help drive home that main point that we started to establish last week, and I want to really show it to you again clearly this week. And the first one is in Hebrews chapter two, verses eight through 15. So turn back to the book of Hebrews with me. As we look at the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Jesus Christ, Hebrews chapter two, we see that Satan suffered a tremendous defeat at the coming of Christ 2,000 years ago. And yet, there is more for Christ to do in order to overcome his enemies that he's going to accomplish at his second coming. Hebrews 2, verses eight through 15 does an excellent job of showing us the victory that Christ accomplished over the enemy at his first coming. So let's begin there, Hebrews 2, verse eight, You see that God is putting everything in subjection to him, that's Christ, and so God left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not see everything in subjection to him. So Christ is exalted, Psalm 110 verse 1, he's at the right hand of God, he's got all authority in heaven and on earth, and yet, He hasn't yet utilized that authority in order to subject everything to himself. See, this is what the scripture is teaching. This is not an invention of dispensationalists. This is what the scripture says. Not yet everything in subjection to him. But, verse nine, we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, in his incarnation he was humbled and brought lower than the angels, namely Jesus, but now he's crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. Psalm 110 verse one, his exaltation, the crowning with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Notice verse 14. Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise, in his first coming, partook of the same things. And he still has flesh and blood, resurrected, glorified flesh and blood, but he's still our man in glory. that through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death. Notice the crushing defeat that Satan took when Christ died. It was through his death that he destroyed the devil because the devil had the power of death. And when Christ died, what did he do? Verse 15, he delivered all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. So boom, Satan had the power of death, Christ destroyed that power, we now have eternal life, victory. That's what we're talking about here, the victory that Christ accomplished at his first coming. But then, turn over to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. So Satan has been defeated, and Satan will be defeated. It's important for us to understand this. Satan has been defeated, but Satan will be defeated. Both are true. 2 Corinthians 15, verses 20 to 28, points out the future defeat of Satan and all of Christ's enemies. Pick it up there in verse 20. 1 Corinthians 15. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then it is coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be defeated is death. For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is accepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him, God the Father, who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. So the end comes when Christ has defeated every enemy. And the last enemy that he's going to defeat is death. We're focusing in Revelation chapter 12 on the defeat of Satan. Satan was defeated by Christ at his first coming. But that wasn't the final defeat. Then Satan is defeated again when he is cast out of heaven when Michael and his angels make war against the dragon and his angels. That's his next defeat. But he's going to suffer further defeat in the book of Revelation. However, before his final end, he still has a lot of fury to vent. And God is going to allow Satan to vent his final fury as a part of this great drama. at the end of the age. All of the world is a stage, as Shakespeare said, and each one has his own part to play. And God has a villain on the stage who is going to play his part, and he's going to play it very well. The end of that villain is certain, just as in every man-made play. In God's play, you have the greatest enemy, the greatest fury, the greatest wrath, and the greatest defeat. It is truly the greatest story ever told, and that's why we enjoy reading the book of Revelation. It is so inspirational, and it's so powerful in our spirits, this experience of these things by faith before they occur. We can have now that victory, that sense of triumph by reading about it that we will experience in history as the stage will play what God has written in its time. All right, so let's go on then from the first 10 verses and let's move into the second half of the book. I didn't leave myself a lot of time. This might be a longer sermon this morning. Verse 10. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. For they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short. Let's examine these verses this morning. Maybe we'll save the rest for next week. We'll see how it goes. So, the decisive defeat of Satan at his first coming, and then in the future, he's defeated when he's cast out of heaven, and the response of that is recorded for us in verses 10 through 12. That's what we're looking at here. The ramifications of the war in heaven are spelled out in the second half of the book with particular emphasis here in the first few verses on the rejoicing that is now, in the future, experienced in heaven when these things happen, when Satan is cast out. So let's take a look at heaven's triumphant joy at the casting out of Satan in that future time. There's this loud voice, as it says at the beginning of verse 10. Now, the book of Revelation is the book of loud voices. You get loud voices all the way through it. And so, if I preach loud, then I'm just doing my job, because this is the book of loud voices, so you'd expect some loud preaching on it. And as the loud voices are joined together, whether this is some kind of chorus or song or whether it's just a verbal chant, they are saying in unison, now, the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. See, what this is talking about is that the casting out of Satan from heaven is a signal that the end is nigh. Now, as we see from this chapter, there's still three and a half years left because Satan is going to vent his fury of being cast out of heaven upon the people of Israel and upon the other servants of God throughout the world for this 1260 days, the time, the times, and the half a time, as it says here in the chapter as well. So we know that it's not now now, when they're saying now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God have come, but this is an anticipatory now, that this act marks the beginning of the end of Satan's activity, and heaven knows it, and Satan knows it as well. partly because it's written here, but also partly because it seems like heaven knows some things that haven't always been revealed to us. Maybe some of these things have been known in heaven for a while, and we just get some of it here written for us in the book of Revelation. I say that because there's an interesting verse on this subject in the Gospel of Matthew, that you can write down the reference, we don't have time to go there, but in Matthew 8, 29, Jesus is there and he's going to cast some demons out of a man, and the demons, they are complaining about the situation, and they're saying, don't torment us before the time. And so that little reference before the time indicates that the demons know that God has established a time when their activity on earth is going to be brought to an end. When they're no longer able to deceive people, when they're no longer able to destroy people, when they're no longer able to torment people, that time, they know there's a coming time where that's gonna end. And so, Satan also knows that God has prophesied, that God has laid out his plan, that their time is limited. And Satan knows, and heaven knows, that when this battle is fought and the dragon loses, that marks just a short time, just 1,260 days. until he is going to be bound in the abyss and no longer able to deceive the nations, no longer able to persecute God's saints, no longer able to accuse them or tempt them or do any of the activities that he has freedom to do right now by God's lease. But that all is only for a time. Remember that. And when that time is up, then what is it? Then you have the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ. Now here the word salvation, it's used in more of that Old Testament sense that Isaiah uses of victory, of triumph, of deliverance, that we're in this big spiritual battle, not against political opponents, but against spiritual opponents. And we're fighting not so that we can have the laws that we want to have, which would be great, I'm not opposed to having good laws, but the spiritual battle that we're in is for the heart of mankind. Mankind is the mission field. Our political opponents are not our opponents. They're our mission field. And we're trying to reach them with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so make sure you keep your focus during this election season. Yes, do go vote. Great. Be a good citizen. I want you to do that. Be wise. Don't be a fool. Don't believe lies. Okay. But More important than that, share the good news of Jesus with others. That's our mission. If you're gonna talk about something, talk about Jesus as Lord. Did you know that Christ is at the right hand of God? Did you know that God is working out everything according to his plan? Do you know that Christ is coming back and you're gonna have to give an account to him for your sins? Do you know that Christ died so that you could be saved from the penalty of your sins? That's what we're here, the mission field. And so we're in this great spiritual battle, And got a little bit off track, I gotta remind myself, where was I going? We're in this great spiritual battle, and Satan knows that he only has a short amount of time to do his activities. And when the salvation comes, that's the deliverance, that's the end of the enemy's activity. So we're not talking here about personal salvation, personal forgiveness of sins, we're talking about the salvation of the whole world. the redemption of all of creation, the removal of the curse and the establishing of God's blessing upon this planet and God's people taking up the kingdom. That's the salvation that's being focused on here in this great praise in verse 10. The salvation, the power, the kingdom of our God, the authority of his Christ have come. This is something that I think properly interpreted. Again, I'll say it's in the future and we're looking forward to it and we're anticipating it and we're excited about it. It's going to happen. that the accuser of the brethren, who accuses them day and night before our God, is going to be cast out of heaven. I believe that Satan is still accusing us now. I believe that Satan still has access to heaven. And just like he accused Job, just like he would go before God and he would say, you know, Job, he only serves you for what he can get out of it. So he does the same thing for us. He goes and he says, you know, rich, he doesn't really love you, God. He only serves you because it suits his purposes, because Satan doesn't love God and Satan can't understand why anyone else would love God. And so he looks at your life and he says, no, you don't really love God. You're just in it for yourself. And God says, okay, Satan, you can try to prove that. And the adversary tries to prove it. He brings trials into your life. He brings sickness. He brings persecution. He brings difficulty to test you, to see, do you really love God or are you really just in it for yourself? And as you survive those tests, as your faith goes through being protected by the power of God, then it is shown that there is such a thing as real love in the world. there is such a thing as genuine faith. And that's what God is demonstrating and proving right now. And the adversary has his role to play, to show and to test the genuineness of your faith. But he's the accuser, and that's what he's doing. And then he'll come into your life and tempt you to not love God, to lose your faith in God. But God protects you, just like he protected Peter. God told Peter, Jesus told him, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And Peter is an example for you as well. Satan wants to sift you like wheat and Jesus prays for you. He is our intercessor at the right hand of God so that your faith doesn't fail. You are protected by the power of God for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Praise God, hallelujah, amen? Amen. Now, as we then look at the accuser being cast out, this brings great joy in heaven. It's like, finally, we shut that guy up. And he's had his time to test the saints, he's had his time to accuse God's people, and he's failed because God has protected his people and their faith has endured, they've overcome him. Now, he's done. Cast him out. He had his time, he had his chance, it's over. And now he's on earth. And what's he going to do with the three and a half years that he has left? He no longer has the opportunity to accuse the saints in heaven, so what's he gonna do? Well, he's going to attack God's people, and he starts with Israel. That's what you see there at the end. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, in verse 12, and you who dwell in them, but woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short. He has great fury, he is going to flail, he is going to attack God's people on earth in the most intense way that he has ever attacked them. And yet, God is going to protect his people. Notice, let's do it. Verse 13, let's go on. When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. He's gotta vent his frustrations on somebody, let's go after Israel again. But the woman, Israel, was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she was to be nourished for how long? A time, and times, and half a time, corresponding to the 1260 days in verse six, which is referenced in the book of Daniel, And so we know this is the 42 months that is also talked about in Revelation and Daniel, the three and a half years. So Satan wants to pursue. He wants to attack. That word pursue is the word for persecute, the woman. And yet God protects her. Note it doesn't say specifically that God does it. It says the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle. This is something that the book of Revelation does throughout the whole book is it uses these divine passives. that God's activity is kind of covert. God's actions are clandestine. He's not as obvious in his actions as Satan, as the kings on the earth, and even as all of the angels and the actors who are bringing God's purposes to pass. But God is always active. God is always in control. And you see that here with the divine passive, the woman was given these two wings of the great eagle. Now, the two wings of the great eagle that were given to the woman, this is a reference. We'll get to that. We'll get to that. This is a reference to Exodus chapter 19, verse four. As we read from Exodus 15 in our scripture reading, God had delivered the people of Israel from slavery, from those who were trying to not only enslave them, but destroy them. Remember how Pharaoh had given the order to kill all the male children, the male child? He didn't know when Christ was gonna be born. Well, let's get started early. Let's kill the male children in Egypt. And so he wants to kill all the Israel male children that he can kill because maybe I'll get lucky and one of them will be the one that was promised. But God delivered Israel from Egypt. And this is the language that God used to describe his deliverance from those who oppressed them, those who hated them, those who persecuted them in the days of Moses. You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. So this is symbolic language. It's metaphoric language. that is now transported into the future persecution of Israel, here in Revelation chapter 12, that just as Pharaoh and his chariots pursued after Israel to destroy them, God protected them. God saved them from the fury of the enemy. He's going to do the same thing in the future. The dragon is going to pursue the woman, she's going to flee, and God is going to give her salvation, pictured by these two wings of the great eagle. And she flies with those wings from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, times, and half a time. Then notice verse 15. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. This is highly symbolic language. We don't know exactly what the symbolism points to. We have good guesses, but we won't know for certain until it happens. Just like you could read this verse in Exodus 19.4, and if this was a prophecy, you wouldn't know how this was fulfilled. You wouldn't know that God had poured out ten plagues upon the people of Egypt. to get Pharaoh to let the people go, and that God had opened up the Red Sea and then closed the waters back over the Egyptians in order to save them from the army that was pursuing them. Just from reading this, you wouldn't know that if it wasn't written after the fact. So here's prophecy history written before the fact using the same language, so we don't know. Is it going to be the same type of thing? Is there going to be an army like a flood that the serpent sends after the woman to try to destroy her? In this future time period, very likely, I think that's probably what I would lean to, there's gonna be a future army that is pursuing Israel, particularly those in Jerusalem, who are fleeing from Satan's wrath, and that somehow, in a similar way to what God did when he protected Israel from the army of the Egyptians, God is going to protect Israel from this future attack as well. And you see Satan is the one who's behind it. He's the power behind the powers. He's the one who's pulling the strings of the kings and the rulers of this world. That'll become even more clear as we move into chapter 13 and we see the beast, who is Satan's man, carrying out Satan's actions that are talked about symbolically here in chapter 12. And we'll learn a little bit more about the specific historical actors that are being used by Satan in chapters 13 and 14, all right? If it's a literal flood, it's possible. Then there could be like an earthquake and an opening of the ground that swallows those floodwaters. But I'd say more likely we're talking here about a army that is pictured as a flood that Satan is pouring out after the people of Israel. And this language of an invading army or an attacking army coming in like a flood is one that is used in the Old Testament prophets, particularly in the book of Isaiah of the Assyrian invasion of the land of Israel. So I think we have good ground to stand on there as saying this is an army that Satan sends after them. But as powerful as Satan is, God is sovereign and he can thwart Satan's attack. So Satan has already experienced the failure at the first coming of Christ. Christ is exalted despite all that he tried to do to kill him and stop him. Now he's experienced failure in his war in heaven and he's cast out. He's got just a short time left and he wants to vent his fury on the people of Israel. And even there he's frustrated. Like, I send this army after the people of Israel, and God protects them and destroys the army. He's got to be so frustrated. Everything he does is failing. And it's great. You'll love it. Because he's so evil, and he's so full of hate and malice, and he's so powerful. And yet, God is more powerful. And the grace of God, the providence of God, the mercy of God, the protection of God is shown time and time again for God, for his people, and that's what brings honor and glory to God. Satan has a role to play. God has him under control. Gotta remember that. Don't fear the devil. Fear God and keep his commandments. That's what is the outcome here. Now, the devil, the slanderer, the persecutor, the attacker of God's people, how does this end? Verse 17, after his frustration, he's not able to get the woman, couldn't get the child, can't get the woman, what's he gonna do? He became furious, as it says in verse 17, with the woman, and he went off to make war on the rest of her offspring. Who's that? Those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. There's differences in opinion among Bible interpreters as to who the rest of this offspring are. Who is the other offspring of Israel that Satan, not being able to get her in her land, is gonna go after now for the rest of the time that he has before Christ comes and binds him in the pit. That's believers. Now, not us believers, because us believers are gonna be raptured and we'll be with God in heaven, but there will be other believers on the earth during this time, people who become believers after the rapture, and Satan is going to attack them. He's going to persecute them during his final years on the earth before Christ's second coming, and that's the reference here. Now, believers are the offspring of Israel, Because God's seed is in us through Jesus Christ. It's through Jesus Christ that we as Gentile believers have our in, have our connection with Israel. Salvation is from the Jews, particularly one Jew, Jesus. And because of your identity with Jesus Christ, when you are spiritually baptized, by the Holy Spirit into Christ, you become a part of God's people. You become a child of Abraham by faith, as it says in Galatians chapter three. I'd love to go there and look at Galatians three with you and prove this point that we are children of Abraham. It was something I did when I studied through the book of Galatians and that sermon is still on the website. So I'll just point you back to the website and you go look at Galatians three, 26 to 29 and that sermon to prove that we are in fact children of Abraham, that we are children of Israel because of our faith in God. Some dispensationalists don't like that terminology, they think it sounds too much like replacement theology, but that's just what the scripture says, if I understand Galatians 3 correctly. Alright, so notice that the rest of her offspring are described as those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. That is a great way to describe believers. A believer is somebody who keeps the commandments of God and holds to the testimony of Jesus. This is very Johannine, this is language that is very typical of the Apostle John. You can read through 1 John, and John uses this language to describe believers. 1 John 2, verse 3, in particular, if you're taking notes, write down 1 John 2, 3. If you're not taking notes, why aren't you taking notes? You can't remember all this. You gotta write things down. I have to write things down. I can't remember everything. I got my notes right here. So 1 John 2, 3 is a great verse to show how believers are those who keep the commandments of God. And this is something we brought up in our Sunday school, that people think, well, we're under grace, we're not under the law. The law was those who had to keep the commandments of God, but now that we're under grace, we don't have to keep the commandments of God. And like, eh, wrong, you misunderstood grace. Grace isn't there so that we can do whatever we want. Grace is there so that now we can keep the commandments of God from the heart. That's the whole point of the book of 1 John is to show that God has caused us to be born again and has given us a desire, a heart that wants to. and is able to keep the commandments of God, not perfectly, we're all going to sin, 1 John makes that very clear, but the general pattern of your life is increasing sanctification, increasing obedience to God, not begrudgingly. but joyfully, because God's commandments are good, and our hearts now recognize that, and with God's Holy Spirit, we can keep his commandments. And I point this out here because John does, right? But also because this is a good opportunity to remind ourselves of what the whole book of Revelation does from the beginning to the end, is highlight how practical this book is. how important it is to your daily practice as a Christian that you know and understand and believe the words of this prophecy. A lot of Christians have looked at the... Conflict, the disagreement among Christian teachers and Christian churches as to what the book of Revelation means. Is it talking about the past? Is it talking about the present? Is it talking about the future? And they say, well, it must not be important, otherwise everybody would agree on it. Wrong. Something can be important without everybody agreeing on it. And the book of Revelation is incredibly practical. It's incredibly important. But let me say this also. Martin Luther did not read the book of Revelation the way that I did, the way that I do. But Martin Luther still understood our adversary. He still understood Satan and his work, and he understood how we overcome Satan and his work. And I've been thinking about Martin Luther's hymn all week, these last two weeks, and we're gonna sing it tonight at Lord's Night. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. So even among Christians who disagree about how to interpret the prophecies of the book of Revelation, still, This truth is powerful, and it teaches us, and it encourages us, and it builds us up in our faith. The idea that all Christians know, whether they interpret the book of Revelation the way I do or not, is that God wins. and that we need to persevere in the present time that we are living in, despite the persecution, despite the difficulties, despite the hardship, because God wins and we will enjoy his triumph. And this book is especially meaningful to those who are going through difficulties, those who are suffering persecution, those whose faith is being tested in many different ways. And even if we're not suffering the same persecution that Christians in Madagascar are, we are being tested. We are being tempted. We are being tried. And we need the encouragements of this book. We need to be able to learn how to do what it says there. Look again, back at the verse, verse 11. How do we conquer? How do we have victory? How do we overcome the enemy, Satan? It's by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. for they love not their lives even unto death. The blood of the lamb is the death of Christ on the cross. It atones for your sin so that when Satan accuses you before God and he says, you sinned and you deserve death, you plead the blood of the lamb and you do it throughout your whole life preaching the gospel to yourself. That's how you overcome the accuser. But how do you overcome the persecutor, the one who wants to test you and try you and sift you like wheat, who wants to destroy your faith? It's because you don't love your life to the point of death. And how can someone not love their life to the point of death? It's only because we believe that Jesus died and that Jesus rose again. The death of Christ covers our sins. We overcome Satan by trusting in the death of Christ. The resurrection of Christ assures us that no matter what Satan does to us, we are going to live. We are going to live in the resurrection. We are going to live in the resurrection in the kingdom of God and nothing and no one can change that and so we are fearless and we are undefeated by our faith in the resurrection. And I might add, the ascension, the exaltation. Christ's death, his resurrection, his ascension. It's our union with Christ. It's our faith in Christ. That's how we overcome him. And Satan can't do anything to those who have victory through faith. Let's close with a word of prayer. Father, help us to remember Jesus Christ. to remember him as the dying lamb who takes away our sin. Help us to rejoice in that, to triumph in that. And Lord, help us to remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead, that though Satan accused him, though Satan condemned him, though he used evil men to crucify him, that Satan was not able to defeat Christ. but that Christ rose in victory. And so, Lord, help us to walk in the same faith, the same path, doing your will, trusting in your promise, knowing that if we suffer for a little while, it won't be long, and Satan will be cast into the abyss, and then he will be sentenced to eternal hell in the lake of fire, and that we will live with you by your promise, by your grace, for all of the ages of the ages to come. Now let us be strong in that faith in this hour of testing so that we can continue to bear witness to Jesus Christ in a world that hates his name. Let us bear the suffering. Let us endure the pain the way Jesus Christ did as we fix our eyes on him. Amen.