Unraveling Revelation: The Promise of Eternal Communion

But we're in Revelation chapter 11, verse 19 is where we're picking up tonight.

Revelation 11:19

And it's really, we're looking at the promise of communion. I told y'all last

week, this is where we pick up tonight, Revelation 11, 19.

And it says, And the temple of God, which is in heaven, was opened,

and the ark of his covenant appeared in his temple.

And there were flashes of lightning

and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

Well, bound up in the seventh trumpet is the promise to believers of unbroken fellowship with God.

For how long? Forever, right? Forever.

That fellowship is symbolized by the imagery here of verse 19,

the opening, if you look there, of the temple of God, which is in heaven, right?

The place where his presence dwells. In fact, revealed the ark of his covenant.

The ark there symbolizes that

the covenant God has promised to men is now available in its fullness.

So in the midst of the fury of his judgment and unbelievers at this time,

God, as it were, throws open, if you will, the holy of holies where the ark was located.

And he draws believers into his presence. And that would have been unthinkable,

y'all, in the Old Testament temple, right?

When only the high priest, if you remember, entered the Holy of Holies once

a year. That's in Hebrews 9, verse 7.

Hebrews 9:7

And the ark symbolizes God's communion with the redeemed. That's us.

That's those who know the Lord because it was there that blood sacrifices were

offered, if you remember, to atone for man's sin. We find that in Leviticus

16. Hebrews 9 talks about it.

And also it was from above the ark that God spoke to Moses, right?

Numbers 7, verse 89 talks about that. The ark of the covenant is called in Scripture.

Numbers 7:89

Does anybody know the other name?

You got it. The Ark of Testimony. And that's in Exodus 25, verse 22.

Exodus 25:22

It's also called something else. It's called the Ark of God.

That's in 1 Samuel 3 and the Ark of God's strength, believe it or not, in Psalm 132, verse 8.

Psalms 132:8

Inside it was a golden jar holding the manna and Aaron's rod,

if you remember, which budded, by the way, right?

And what else was in there? And the tablets, right?

The tablets there, the tables of the covenant, Hebrews 9, verse 4,

Hebrews 9:4

all that symbolized that God would supply his people, was sovereign over his people.

He was the sovereign. He gave his law, as it shows in there,

to his people and entered into an eternal saving covenant with his people.

As you know, the whole point, and I have to stop here just a moment,

the whole point of the sacrificial system, right?

You know, and we kind of alluded to that tonight and it's shown us in this verse

that the blood of bulls and goats and all that could never take away man's sin, right?

And we know in scripture without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin.

But all of this was pointing, and you guys know this, ultimately to Jesus,

the spotless Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world and his sacrifice.

And that literally would be a once for all sacrifice.

It didn't have to happen, you know, every year or on a certain schedule, right?

It was once and for all. But along with the ark and the heavenly temple here,

there were, what else in that verse?

What else is happening? There were flashes of what?

Lightning, sounds and peals of thunder, it says, and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

I mean, wow. I mean, this is serious stuff going on.

I mean, similar events here are associated with God's majestic,

glorious, heavenly throne. If you remember, we've covered some of this,

chapter 4, verse 5, chapter 8, and 16 that we're going to see in the future.

They're associated with judgment.

That's the judgment of God coming. And heaven is the source of vengeance on unbelievers.

Now, I don't know if we think about that sometimes that way, but that's true.

In fact, a while back as we studied the attributes of God, who was it that we

saw that is actually carrying out justice in hell on the lost? Who is it?

Who? It's Jesus, the Lamb.

And so as we see here in this verse, Heaven is the source of vengeance on unbelievers

as well as covenant blessings for the redeemed.

That's us, right, if we know the Lord. So the message of the seventh trumpet

really here is that Jesus Christ is the sovereign king of kings,

sovereign Lord of lords, right?

He will one day take the rule of the earth away from who?

Satan and from earth's petty human rulers as well.

And history is just moving toward its culmination in Christ's earthly reign.

That's the direction we're going.

Christ has the deed to the earth, right? We see that. We've seen that over these weeks.

And when he returns, he will bring covenant blessings to the redeemed,

but also, as we see, eternal judgment to those who actually reject him.

And in light of that really sobering thought, as we think about it tonight,

Peter actually says this in 2 Peter 3.11.

Some of you may remember this. He said, what sort of people ought you to be

in holy conduct and godliness? As we transition here into chapter 12,

is it okay if I go a little bit in there?

We got time tonight. Chapter 12, we're going to look at verses 1 through 6.

I don't know how far I get, but we'll try.

Y'all, we come upon the war of the ages, the war of the ages here.

And so that's where we're going to be resting. It says, A great sign appeared

in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet,

and on her head a crown of 12 stars.

And she was with child and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

Then another sign appeared in heaven and behold, a great red dragon having seven

heads and 10 horns and on his heads were seven diadems and his tail swept away

a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when

she gave birth, he might devour her child.

And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

And her child was called up to God and to his throne.

Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God

so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.

And that's chapter 12, verses 1 through 6. Now, some of that passage probably

triggered some stuff that you've heard before that we just got through talking

about not long ago over these last few weeks and about what God did for Israel

here in the place that he prepared for them.

But, you know, the Bible warns that pride goes before destruction and a haughty

spirit before stumbling or before a fall, right? That's in Proverbs 16, 18.

And really the most notorious and tragic illustration, I think,

of that principle, the one with the most far-reaching consequences,

as you could probably think about it, was Satan's prideful rebellion against God, right?

I mean, by it, Lucifer, having fallen from heaven like lightning,

it talks about even in Luke chapter 10, right, verse 18, was cast down from

Luke 10 · chapter mention

his exalted position as the anointed cherub who covers.

It says that in Ezekiel 28. I don't know if you've thought about this.

Satan before his fall, the anointed cherub who covers, I mean, he was beautiful.

I mean, he forfeited his place at the highest created being and became to be

the supreme enemy of God.

Satan's rebellion actually just, you know, touched off a cosmic war.

You can't say it any other way throughout the universe and a war that really

dwarfs any other war, any human war, any of that. And Satan's war against God

is really a two-front war, if you will.

By leading a mutiny against God among the angels, if you remember,

Satan attempted unsuccessfully, by the way, to destroy the paradise of heaven, first of all.

And by leading a mutiny against God among men, among us, right,

Satan destroyed the earthly paradise of God, or the Garden of Eden, I should say.

The earthly paradise of the Garden of Eden, and he plunged the whole human race.

We talked about this in Sunday school even this morning when we talked about

what went wrong, but he plunged the whole human race into decay,

corruption, and he actually usurped, or temporarily he did, the role of the ruler of this world.

In John 12, it talks about that in John 16. So the opening campaign here of

Satan's war of the ages took place where?

Where did it take place, the opening one? Heaven.

That's where it took place. When he rebelled, it tells us that story in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28.

How many of the angels foolishly and wickedly cast their lives with him?

A third. That's right. One-third of the angels foolishly and wickedly cast their

lots with Satan, and none of them could have known what the eternal consequences

of their choice would be.

Wanting to be like God, they became as much unlike him as possible in their rebellion.

And these fallen angels, or the Bible, and we call them demons,

right, became Satan's, if you will, stormtroopers.

Those of you that are Star Wars fans, right?

And doing their bidding or doing the bidding of the evil one,

the evil commander, so to speak, the fight against divine purpose,

making war with the holy angels and the human race and have been ever since, right?

And so when Adam and Eve, if you remember, they plummeted into corruption by

choosing to listen to Satan's lies and disobey God.

The human race became just part of this cosmic war of the ages.

And in fact, since the fall, the earth has been the primary theater,

if you think about it, in which that war has been fought, really.

And so, though already fallen here, every member of the human race,

all of us, think about it for a minute, faces the same choice as the angels

did in eternity past, right?

The same choice they did in eternity past, either to fight on God's side or whose?

Satan's. That's why I always love that old Negro spiritual, who's on the Lord's side?

It's not a matter of, are you on my side or their side? But who's on the Lord's

side? Because that's the winning side, right?

Who's on the Lord's side? And so as we look at this tonight and we see that, that's our choice.

Remaining neutral is not an option. And we've heard that theme before the last

couple of weeks on Wednesday night.

Neutrality is just a myth. There's no neutral ground in this. And so people.

In Matthew chapter 12, verse 20, Jesus actually declared this.

Matthew 12:20

He said, he who is not with me is what?

Against me. And he who does not gather with me, what does he do? He scatters.

That's it. And so the final battle here of Satan's long war against God,

you know, are yet to be fought here.

It will take place in the future, right? During that last half of the seven-year

tribulation period, which is called the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24.

And at that time, Satan here, aided by the absence of the raptured church,

because we're gone if we know Jesus, right? We're already gone.

And the presence of these increased demon hordes that we've been seeing over

these past weeks in chapter 9 through 11, or chapter 9, verses 1 through 11,

that really goes into that.

He's going to mount his most desperate assaults here at this time against God's

purposes and his people.

You say, well, brother Judd, I don't think it could get any worse than it is

today. Oh, he's going to, he's going to.

And so, but despite the, the, the savage fury with which all those assaults

are going to be carried out, they will not succeed.

The Lord Jesus Christ will effortlessly, what?

He's going to crush Satan, crush Satan and his forces.

And we'll see that. I know y'all are excited to get there. Chapter 19,

verses 11 through 21, when we get there.

And he's going to send him to the abyss for the duration of the millennial kingdom, actually.

And it tells us that in chapter 20. We'll look at that as well.

But after leading that final rebellion at the close of the millennium.

Satan will be consigned to eternal punishment where?

In the lake of fire in chapter 20.

And so the sounding of the seventh trumpet here, I want y'all to see this tonight,

will proclaim the triumphant victory of the Lord Jesus Christ over him, over Satan.

And look what it says here again. It says, then the seventh angel sounded and

there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdom of the world has become

the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.

We saw that the other week in verse 15 of chapter 11.

So there will be joy in heaven. Why?

Because Christ has defeated Satan. He's established his eternal kingdom.

So the outcome of the war between Satan and God, it's not in doubt.

I want you all to know that tonight. I think sometimes, you know,

we look around and if we get our eyes off of God's word and we get our eyes

on circumstances or happenings, whatever you want to call it,

and we think, man, you know, I don't know.

It looks pretty bleak, but I want you to know God wins.

Jesus wins. He wins the battle.

And so it's not in doubt. Christ's ultimate triumph is certain. It's certain.

In 3 chapter 11 that we studied, it records, remember, the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

Its effects that it produces are not described, though, really,

until chapters 15 through 18, which we're getting there, but we haven't got there yet.

So the seventh trumpet will sound near the end of the tribulation, right?

It's launching that brief but final and devastating bowl judgments that's going

to happen just before Christ's return in power and glory.

And then, if you remember, chapter 6 through 11, which we just covered,

describe the events of the tribulation up to the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

And now, where we're at right now, chapters 12 through 14,

are going to actually, we're going to kind of recount that same period describing

the events from Satan's vantage point, looking at it from Satan's point of view here.

In addition, the later section that we're going to look at takes us all the

way back to the original rebellion of Satan.

And that'll be in verses 3 and 4 of chapter 12 that we read there already.

But the chronological narrative, I want you all to get that tonight,

of the tribulation events that it actually picks back up in chapter 15 as far as that order.

But the tribulation will feature both unprecedented judgments that we've talked

about and God's end times wrath, if you will,

eschatological wrath, and the desperate fury of Satan's forces in the all-out

effort to thwart God's purposes.

And so that deadly combination there will make the tribulation the most devastating

period in human history.

You don't want to be here then. You don't want to be here.

Matthew talks about it, Matthew 24. During that time, as we've studied,

horrifying events will take place caused by both God's judgments and by who?

Satan's fury. Both of it going on.

You're not just getting it from one side, right? Is Satan's fury against God

is going to cause, wreak havoc against God's people and against other people?

But also God's judgments. And before describing that, that final war.

The inspired Apostle John here, he first introduces the main characters involved in this war.

Who do we have first there listed in chapter 12? We have the woman.

And I want us to note, it probably triggered, like I said earlier,

your thinking on what we talked about the last few weeks, but the woman here is Israel.

That's who she represents as Israel. and the dragon is Satan,

and the male child, you probably guessed it, is Jesus Christ.

And so let's talk about these. And I'm going to kind of break the woman down first.

We may not get to all these tonight, but we'll go until I think we're at a good

stopping point. But the woman, look at it again, verses 1 and 2 of chapter 12.

A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under

her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.

And she was with child and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

The first thing, in other words here, John saw in this vision was a great sign.

And the first of seven signs, by the way, in the last half of Revelation.

Mega or great appears repeatedly in this vision.

Everything John saw here seemed to be huge, either in size or significance, one way or the other.

It was huge. And so this sign here describes that symbol that points,

obviously, to a reality.

But the literal approach here to interpreting Scripture is.

It does allow for the use of this kind of language, you know,

this symbolic language here.

But we understand that it points to a literal reality. I want y'all to get that.

It points to a literal reality.

In fact, in this case, the description plainly shows us that the woman John

saw was not an actual woman.

Now, there are some people, and I've heard it, there are some people who have

the mistaken idea that this woman is Mary.

And no, that's just, it's not. and I'll explain why that is,

and you probably already see.

It's not pointing to an actual woman. This is Israel.

And also the reference to the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments

of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus, that's verse 17, shows that this

woman is a symbolic mother, if you will.

The woman is the second of the four symbolic women that's identified in Revelation.

And so the first one, though an actual woman, if you remember,

had the symbolic name. Do you remember her name?

It started with a J, Jezebel, right, Jezebel.

And that was all the way back in chapter 2.

She was a false teacher, if you remember, and she symbolized paganism.

Another symbolic woman, depicted as a harlot, will appear down the road here in chapter 17.

She represents the apostate church. And then the fourth woman,

described in chapter 19, which we're going to get to, verses 7 and 8, as the bride of the Lamb.

And who does that represent?

The church. And so some argue, again, that the woman present in this present

vision represents the church.

You know, some people argue that. But as the context, I believe,

makes clear, she represents Israel.

The Old Testament also pictures Israel as a woman. Did you know that?

The adulterous wife of the Lord, if you remember, Jeremiah 3,

Jeremiah 3:1

verses 1 and 20, and Ezekiel 16, also Hosea 2,

Hosea 2:2

verse 2, and whom God, by the way, will eventually restore to himself in Isaiah 50, right?

And so in a reference to the Ark of the Covenant that we saw as we closed out,

you know, chapter 11 in verse 19,

that also adds here further support for identifying this woman as Israel.

And so that Israel will play a key role here, church, in the end time drama.

It isn't surprising, is it?

It shouldn't surprise us at all. In fact, the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy,

the tribulation, will primarily concern who?

Israel, just as the first 69 did, Daniel 9.

I mean, Israel's presence, church, in the end times here is consistent with

God's promises of her continued existence as a nation.

Let me read you a passage here. It says, Thus says the Lord,

who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and stars

for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar.

The Lord of hosts is his name.

If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord,

then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.

Thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations

of the earth stretched out below, then I will cast off all the offspring of

Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord.

That's in Jeremiah and Amos. So basically, what's that passage telling us?

Israel's going to be here. She's not going anywhere, right? Not going anywhere.

And so further, Israel's presence during this 70th week of Daniel's prophecy

here in keeping with God's promises to her of a kingdom.

If you remember, in Isaiah 65 and Ezekiel, we're going to the Old Testament,

all those prophecies that have pointed towards this, and national salvation, right?

Often as an instrument of God's judgment, Satan has persecuted the Jewish people.

How long? Throughout their history, right? And he knows to destroy Israel,

that to destroy them would make it impossible.

I want y'all to think about this for a minute. It would make it impossible if

he could destroy them for God to fulfill his promises to the Jewish people.

Do you really think that's going to happen? No, right?

God will not allow him to do that. But he will use Satan to chasten Israel.

It comes as no surprise, y'all, that the devil will intensify his persecution

here of Israel as the establishment of the millennial kingdom draws near as we see that happen.

And as we talked about before, the seventh trumpet will sound near the end of the tribulation.

Only weeks or perhaps a few months at most will remain after it sounds,

by the way, until the return of Jesus Christ.

And with his time running out, though, you can imagine Jewish people will become

the special target of Satan's hatred and his destructive attacks.

You see, John saw, look at the scripture again here as we wrap up for tonight.

John saw that the woman was clothed with what? With a son. You see that in the passage?

And had the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of how many stars?

Twelve stars. Twelve stars.

You know, that fascinating description, it reminds me, it really reflects Joseph's

dream recorded in Genesis chapter 37.

Genesis 37 · chapter mention

Let's look at that real quick. Verses 9 through 11 says, now he had still another

dream and related it to his brothers and said, lo, I have had still another

dream and behold, the sun and the moon and 11 stars were bowing down to me.

He related it to his father and to his brothers and his father rebuked him and

said to him, what is this dream that you have had?

Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow down ourselves

down before you to the ground?

His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

You see, in the imagery there of Joseph's dream, the son represents Jacob.

And the moon, Rachel, in this instance. And the 11 stars were Joseph's brothers, right?

And so that illusion there in that passage, the illusion to Joseph's dream,

I should say, to this passage here, is fitting, I think, because it parallels life.

His life, I should say, actually parallels Israel's history.

Because both, if you think about it for a minute, Both endured the indignity

of captivity in Gentile nations, both Joseph and Israel, right?

Yet they were in the end delivered and exalted to a place of prominence in a

kingdom. That's going to take place for Israel.

And it says here that the woman was clothed with the sun in this passage.

It just reflects, again, the redeemed, Israel's redeemed, unique glory that

God has for them, that brilliance, that dignity because of her exalted status as God's what?

His chosen nation, his chosen people.

You see, you're not, hey, you know, Israel's, nobody's going to be able to destroy Israel.

It ain't happening. I mean, God's already stated it in his word.

If you can measure the heavens, you know, I'll cut them off. Who can do that?

None of it. It's impossible, right? And so here, though, it also links her with

Jacob, the son in Joseph's dream, because he's an heir of that Abrahamic covenant,

Israel's continued existence as a nation.

And that reflects the ongoing fulfillment of that covenant, right?

And so that reference to the moon under her feet, that might be a further description

of Israel's exalted status. It could also possibly include the concept of God's

covenantal relationship with Israel, right?

Since the moon, if you think about it, was part of the cycle of Israel's required

times of worship. Remember that from the Old Testament?

It talks about in Numbers and Nehemiah and various places in the Old Testament.

And the crown, that Stephanos, the crown associated with triumph in the midst

of suffering and struggle of 12 stars, right?

We saw that 12 stars, Joseph being the 12th.

Yeah. Joseph being the 12th. On the woman's head refers to the 12, what?

Tribes of Israel. You got it. Y'all see that there? I mean, having described

the woman's attire here, John noted her condition. What was it?

She was with child. She was with child. And that also is familiar Old Testament

imagery describing Israel.

And that the woman is pregnant now.

That just confirms her identity as Israel because the church here cannot be

a mother since she is not yet married, right?

And so being pregnant, the woman cried out, being in labor, look at it here

quickly, and in pain to give birth.

Just like a pregnant woman in labor feels pain, so the nation of Israel here

was in pain, waiting for who to come?

Messiah to come forth. And the cause of some of the pain, again,

I have to remind us, is persecution by Satan, who attempts to destroy the mother.

But the nation was in pain when the Messiah came the first time.

So will it be at his second coming, church?

Ever since the first promise of a Redeemer who would actually come to destroy

him, Satan, right? All the way back in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15,

Genesis 3:15

Satan has attacked Israel.

And for centuries, Israel has agonized.

They've suffered. They're longing for the child who would come to destroy Satan's

sin and death and establish that promised kingdom.

And no nation, I want you all to get this, no nation in history has suffered

as long or as severely as Israel has.

Both from God's chastening and also from Satan's fury and his furious efforts

to destroy the nation through whom the Messiah would come.

And so having described here the woman's agonizing labor pains in this particular

passage we just read, John introduces the cause of her suffering, the dragon.