Satan's Relentless Pursuit: Revelation's Three Attacks

This passage that we're looking at tonight, and I said this as we closed last

week, describes three attacks that Satan's forces will mount against Israel

during the tribulation.

And so we're going to start with attack one. We're in Revelation chapter 12,

Revelation 12:13

verses 13 and 14 to start with. Revelation 12, 13 and 14.

And it says, And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth,

he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.

But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman so that she could

fly into the wilderness to her place where she was nourished for a time and

times and half a time from the presence of the serpent.

And the reason is now given for Israel's flight because you remember who is the woman?

Israel, right? And so, which was first mentioned back in verse six of chapter

12, But following his defeat by Michael and the holy angels,

the dragon, who is Satan, right, was thrown down to the earth,

it says, and frustrated and enraged by his ejection from heaven, if you will, desperate,

knowing, as it says in verse 12, that he only has how long? A short time, right?

He only has a short time that's left to oppose God's plans before he is incarcerated

in the abyss, as we see in Revelation chapter 20, as we're going to see down the road here.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

But the devil, he furiously persecuted the woman.

Again, the woman is Israel, right?

Furiously persecuting, who gave birth through Israel to the male child, which is Christ, right?

And the Greek verb here translated persecuted, dioko, it means to pursue or to chase or to hunt.

And it's used in the New Testament of pursuit with hostile intent.

And thus by implication can mean to persecute even, right?

And here it describes Satan's hostile pursuit and persecution,

again, of the Jews as they flee into the wilderness.

And the flight of the Jews from Satan's forces really should come as no surprise.

The sermon on the end times that he preached, Jesus warned the Jewish people

of the desperate danger that they will face.

So let's revisit that just for a moment. He says, therefore,

when you see the abomination of desolation,

which was spoken of through Daniel, the prophet, standing in the holy place,

let the reader understand, then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house.

Whoever's in the field must not turn back to get his cloak, but woe to those

who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days.

But pray, it says here, that your flight will not be in the winter or on a Sabbath,

for then there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the

beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

Unless those days have been cut short, no life would have been saved,

but for the sake of the elect, these days will be cut short.

That's Matthew 24, verses 15 through 22.

Matthew 24:15–22

And as you know, the elect are God's chosen people. You know the Lord, that's you.

So the only appropriate response to the imminent danger will be immediate flight.

In other words, there's going to be no time even to return home to gather belongings.

Pregnant women and those nursing infants will be especially vulnerable,

the scripture says, since it'll be difficult for them to flee quickly, right?

So severe will that peril be that God will intervene for the sake of the elect.

That's both the Jews and the Gentiles who have been chosen in Christ.

And so those days will be cut short because of that.

And were it not for that intervention, even the elect would perish.

So Israel's situation, when the storm of Antichrist persecution,

all of it breaks loose upon them during the tribulation, it's going to be terrifying.

And it's going to be tragic. And

the Jews will be in desperate need of any assistance that they can get.

And in God's providence, there will be some people who will help them.

God's planned it out, right? Listen to this verse here. He says,

but when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him,

that he will sit on his glorious throne.

All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them from one

another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. and he will put

the sheep on his right hand, the goats on his left hand.

Then the king will come to those on his right.

Come, you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you

from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.

I was a stranger and you invited me in naked and you clothed me.

I was sick and you visited me.

I was in prison and you came to me. then the righteous will answer him,

Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink?

And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothe you?

When did we see you sick or in prison or come to you?

The king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that

you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them. You did it to me.

Again, that's Matthew chapter 25, verses 31 through 40.

Matthew 25:31–40

So in the Jews' time of peril and flight, I want y'all to get this tonight,

they will receive help from individual Gentiles.

That's people like us, right? Those Gentiles will demonstrate the genuineness

of their faith in Christ by their willingness to help the persecuted Jews,

listen to this church, even at the risk of their own lives.

Not only will God providentially use believing Gentiles to aid the Jewish people,

but he'll also intervene directly on their behalf.

And John saw in his vision, look back at it,

that the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman or to Israel so

that she could fly into the wilderness to her place where she was nourished

for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent.

And that, as y'all know, is figurative language that symbolically depicts Israel's

escape from Satan's assault.

And the striking imagery, though, of the two wings of the great eagle is actually

taken from Exodus chapter 19 and verse four,

Exodus 19 · chapter mention

where it says, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how

I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

Wow. God will bring Israel to safety. In other words, he's going to supernaturally do this.

And just as he delivered the nation from bondage in Egypt, and wings in scripture,

by the way, symbolize strength.

It talks about that in Isaiah 40, 31. I know you're probably familiar with that

verse. And also not only strength, but speed.

And most commonly wings speak of, what do you think? What else?

Protection. You know, in Deuteronomy 32, verses 9 through 11,

Deuteronomy 32:9–11

Moses actually exalted.

He says, For the Lord's portion is his people.

Jacob is the allotment of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land and

in the howling waste of a wilderness.

He encircled him. He cared for

him. He guarded him as the pupil of his inheritance. Listen to this part.

On his pinions. The Psalms actually repeatedly use the imagery of wings to describe

God's protection of his people.

Psalm 17 verse 8 says, keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings.

Psalms 17:8

How precious is your loving kindness, O God, and the children of men take refuge

in the shadow of your wings. That's Psalm 36, 7.

Psalm 57, verse 1, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge until destruction passes.

Psalms 57:1

So you see that imagery there of God protecting his chosen people.

And so also Psalm 61, four, I'll read you a few more. Let me dwell in your tent forever.

Let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

Psalm 63, verse seven, for you have been my help. And in the shadow of your

wings, I will sing for joy.

He will cover you in his pinions under his wings. You may seek refuge.

It says in Psalm 91, verse four. So eagle, these large birds with enormous wingspans,

in other words, that's a point, serve as a fitting symbol for God's protection

and his sheltering of Israel.

Those large wings, right? And so it's not, of course, a reference to an actual

eagle with literal wings.

Rather, it's a picturesque language here depicting God's miraculous assistance

of the woman, to the woman, right?

Israel so that she could fly swiftly into the wilderness to her place of shelter

and to her place of safety.

And the location, by the way, of the place to which the Jews will flee is not revealed.

Some have suggested that fortress-like

city of Petra. It's approachable only through a narrow gorge.

And Petra was easy to defend in ancient times, by the way.

And that term wilderness there doesn't reveal the exact location of Israel's place of refuge.

Since that term is just general, it often refers to a desolate area east of Jerusalem.

And so Jesus' warning to flee to the mountains in Matthew 24 that we read suggests

that the place of refuge will not be in the coastal plain to the west of Jerusalem

or to that relatively flat Negev desert region to the south,

but most likely it'll be in the mountain, the mountain region east of Jerusalem.

We don't know for sure, but Daniel 11 verse 41 provides a little bit more evidence

Daniel 11:41

for that view, by the way,

because Antichrist, it says, will also enter the beautiful land and many countries

will fall, but these will be rescued out of his hand.

And he lists them, Edom, Moab, and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.

Maybe God will spare Edom, Moab, and Ammon, ancient countries to the east of

Israel to provide a refuge for his people. I don't know.

But in her place of safety and refuge, here's the point again.

Israel will be supernaturally nourished or fed by God, cut off from the world

system, unable in any case to buy and sell.

Talks about, we're going to see in chapter 13, verse 17 here coming up,

the Jews will need outside help. This is the picture to survive.

And God's going to provide it. Again, supernaturally and through believing Gentiles

like us that are there at that time, right?

And so as we look at that, he's going to provide and supply them the food just

as he did by providing their ancestors, if you remember, with manna and quail

in the wilderness, and Elijah with food at the brook of Cherith, right?

God will miraculously provide provisions for his people.

I mean, that is amazing. He's going to do this, but certainly it's not like

he hasn't done it before, right?

He has done this over and over again. He has provided for his people.

And so the duration, though, of Israel's hiding and God's provision is defined this way.

Y'all remember this language? He says as a time and times and half a time, right?

And that phrase, again, it's drawn from Daniel chapter 7 and chapter 12.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

Again, it refers to the second half of the tribulation, right?

How long is that? Somebody help me.

Three and a half years, because the entire tribulation is seven years, right?

And so the three and a half year period, Jesus called the great tribulation,

that second half, he called it that in Matthew 24, 21.

And it's the same period defined in chapter 12, verse six, as 1,260 days.

And in chapter 13, as we're going to see, verse 5, as 42 months.

And this period, initiated by the setting up of the abomination of desolation,

talked about in Daniel, Matthew, Thessalonians, all of it,

will mark, church, the visibility, overtly evil career, if you will, of Antichrist.

And so during that time, God will protect Israel from the presence of the serpent.

Although Satan may know where the Jews are hiding, he'll be unable,

even if he does, be unable to get at them because of this divine protection.

And frustrated by his defeat.

From his first assault, you know, at this time on the Jewish people,

at this start of this second half of the tribulation, the devil's going to actually

say, well, I'm going to launch another attack. I'm going to have a second attack.

One's not enough, right? He's got to launch another one. And so listen to this

in verses 15 and 16, what he says, he said, and the serpent poured water like

a river out of his mouth after the woman,

so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood, but the earth helped the woman,

and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.

So thwarted in his initial attempt to massacre the Jewish people and unable

directly to assault them in their hiding place, they got it provided for them,

Satan is going to resort, if you will, to long-range tactics.

Since the serpent is not an actual snake, obviously, but a symbolic representation of Satan.

The water that he spews like a river out of his mouth is likely symbolic as well.

That imagery, once again, derives from the Old Testament, by the way,

where floods symbolize trouble in general.

When you're talking about that flood, there's a number of passages that talk about that.

Second Samuel, Job, Psalm, and it's like an invading, destroying army,

a flood coming in, right?

And Satan's attacking force, in other words, will sweep toward the Jews that

are hiding, you know, they're hiding in their hiding place like a great flood

is going to come against them, so to speak.

And the devil will seek to cause Israel to be swept away with that flood,

with that attack, with that assault, to be drowned by it and to be consumed and totally destroyed.

That's his goal, right? That's what he's after.

But just as he sheltered Israel, church, from Satan's initial onslaught here,

so also God is going to defeat, I know you guessed this already.

You've already read it, I'm sure, the second assault.

Because in dramatic fashion, Eastwood, the earth, it says here in Scripture,

look at it again, the earth helped the woman.

It opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of its

mouth. So that imagery, I don't know if you caught this, but it's really...

Remiss it of Moses's description of God's destruction of Pharaoh's army in Exodus chapter 15.

Exodus 15 · chapter mention

Listen to what he said there. He said, you stretched out your right hand,

the earth swallowed them.

Another Old Testament parallel, if you will, is that dramatic story of Korah, Dathan, and.

Abiram, whose rebellion against Moses was actually crushed, if you remember,

by God in a very shocking, dramatic fashion.

In fact, listen to this passage here to bring it back to you if you don't know it already.

Moses said, by this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these

deeds, for this is not my doing.

If these men die the death of all men or if they suffer the fate of all men,

then the Lord has not sent me.

But if the Lord brings out an entirely new thing and the ground opens up its

mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs and they descend alive into

Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord.

Then it came about, listen to this, then it came about as he finished speaking all these words,

that the ground was under them split open, and the earth opened its mouth and

swallowed them up, and their households and all the men who belonged to Korah

with their possessions.

So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol,

and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

That's in Numbers chapter 16.

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

So God is still at defending his people, right?

He's still defending Israel. And it may be that one of the frequent earthquakes

during the tribulation, it may be one of those take care of this assault.

It's going to cause the ground to split open and swallow Satan's forces.

We just don't know for sure. It could be, though.

Whatever this symbolic language pictures, though, it marks the destruction of the attacking army.

And guess what? It's going to end Satan's second assault.

Well, let's try for number three. You think we can get it? I think so.

Verse 17. So the dragon was chilling. Is that what it says?

No, it says, so the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war

with the rest of her children who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Now, Satan is ticked off, right? By now, thoroughly frustrated and enraged by

his inability to destroy the woman, which is again Israel, the dragon Satan

will turn his fury toward new targets.

Some have identified the rest of her children here with whom Satan will make war as the 144,000.

Others see them as believing Gentiles or those tribulation saints,

right, who are the sons of Abraham by faith.

But I don't know. It seems best to take this as an all-inclusive phrase,

I think, referring to all those who name the name of Jesus Christ.

They are further described as those here in this passage, if you look again,

who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Right? Those commandments. In fact, in a word used frequently in John's writing

here, it refers to New Testament commands.

The testimony of Jesus, in other words, it's not testimony about him,

but the testimony he gave, the truths that he taught that are revealed in the New Testament.

These persecuted believers, in other words, will actually give further evidence

that their salvation is real by their obedience to the truth of Scripture.

You know, that's with us today too, by the way. Like his first two attacks directed

against Israel, y'all, Satan's third attack on God's people will also fail.

And at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, loud voices in heaven will proclaim,

the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,

and he will reign forever and ever, it says back in chapter 11, verse 15, right?

So all of Satan's efforts, just get it tonight, all of them,

to prevent Christ's kingdom, guess what?

From being established, they are doomed.

Doomed. The Lord Jesus Christ, in other words, and we know this,

he's going to triumph. He will triumph.

He will reign on earth and their surviving tribulation saints,

both Jews and Gentiles, will enter his earthly kingdom.

For those people who have been patient, those long-suffering people of Israel,

the darkest hour lies ahead, but it will be followed, y'all, by a glorious dawn.

The elect, the remnant of Israel, having survived the most savage persecution

in the nation's long history, will be saved, and they will enjoy,

Scripture says, the bliss of the millennial kingdom.

And listen to this in Romans 11, 26, and so all Israel will be saved, just as it is written.

When our God makes a promise, You can count on it. He keeps His word and He

will shelter. He will take care of His children.

He will take care of His chosen ones.