The Dragon Pursuing God's People

it talks all about the reason for the great war that we talked about last week.

And basically it was saying the whole reason for this war in the first place is that this woman

gave birth to a son who was to rule the nations. And we said the woman is God's covenant people

through all times and the son is Jesus. And so this war breaks out because Jesus was born to rule.

Then the second section of this chapter it covers the war itself. It's all about God's army

defeating Satan and casting him down to the earth. And then this third and final section

beginning in verse 13 it tells us what the enemy does with his defeat. And as we're going to read

he doesn't take his defeat well. He doesn't just say well God won I'm gonna concede everything

and just you know throw me into hell now. That's not it. Instead the Bible tells us that he is

enraged and he is seeking to wage war on all of God's people. And it's going to use very

fantastical language right. It's going to describe Satan as this great dragon who is pursuing this

woman in the wilderness. And when we read stuff like that it's easy to kind of be like oh well

that's pretty fantastical language. We don't really see anything like that today. It actually

reminded me I don't know if you've read the Pilgrim's Progress. If not you should. That's a great

work by John Bunyan. Highly recommend it. But in the Pilgrim's Progress the main character

Christian is in a valley called the Valley of Humiliation. It's a wilderness type place. And he

meets the great dragon Apollyon. And he is confronted by that great dragon Apollyon there.

And they wage war. They engage in war. And he's having to fight against the great dragon. And

Christian is greatly wounded but he's able to overcome the dragon by the word of God. And by

the sword of the word. And by the power of God. And that's another great story where you're reading

about this dragon and this person. And it seems like something out of a fantasy novel. Does it

not? Like we can all just agree on that. Dragons and people fighting against them. It seems like a

fantasy novel. But I think what we fail to understand is that this is actually going on

right now. The Bible is telling us here that the dragon is right now pursuing God's covenant people

in the wilderness. So we read that and we hear that. But the problem is we disconnect from it

because it doesn't look like how we expected to look. Right. Like when we read this we go okay well

I've gone outside and I've never seen a dragon before right. Like I've never been pursued by a

dragon in a wilderness. So how is this going on now. And the way it's going on is very subtly. I

mean that's how Satan works. He's a very subtle being who often works in that way. And we typically

think that unless we see something fantastical it's not actually happening here. This it reminded

me there's a pastor and he made friends. There's a pastor in America and he made friends with a

pastor in Africa and they met together many times over the course of their friendship. And at one

point the pastor in America was talking to his friend his pastor buddy from Africa and he said

you know what amazes me about where you are is that when I go to visit you demonic influence is so

prevalent there. He's like you see it everywhere and people are hiding it and people are calling on

demons and people are actually wanting to be possessed by demons and you see demonic presence

everywhere. He said you just don't see that in America. And the African pastor started to laugh

and he said brother that's because in your country the demons wear three-piece suits.

And that's not a joke that's a true story that actually happened. And the African pastor was

trying to get him to understand that just because you don't see the same thing that we see doesn't

mean that you don't have demonic presence in your country. It's just a lot more subtle where you are.

You can appear in great fantastical ways to a tribe that's in a village somewhere that doesn't

have access to all sorts of technology but in America the best way to influence an entire generation

is to influence the people who are in leadership. To influence people who are teaching in schools

and what's on media and what's being reported. There's all sorts of demonic activity going on

today. The dragon is still pursuing the woman in the wilderness. It just doesn't look how we expected

it to look. And so this passage is going to tell us what this work, this pursuing of the woman actually

looks like in our world today. I want you to look at verse 13. This is going to set the stage for

everything. It says, and 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. And so this sets the stage for everything that's going

to unfold. And after Jesus' victory on earth God cast Satan down to earth. He's in a fit of a rage

and so he makes war on God's covenant community. But notice this, look at verse 14. Before God's

people can even despair God gives us encouragement. Verse 14 he says, but the woman was given two wings

of the great evil so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place

where she is to be nourished for a time and times and half a time. All right, so real quick there's

a lot of symbolism going on here, right? I mean there's a woman who's not actually a singular

woman but a whole covenant community and she's given two wings on which she can fly into the

wilderness. So what does that mean? Like does the church actually have wings? So why the two wings?

What significance would that draw to our mind? Anybody think of any other stories in the Bible?

Okay, anything involving wings there? I was this close to giving you theologian of the night,

I mean you were right there. So yeah, this is actually an illusion to God's rescue of the

Israelites from Egypt. So basically what happens is in the Bible God refers to Egypt as a serpent

or a dragon and you read about that in Jeremiah 46-22 and I want you to also remember that the

Pharaoh of Egypt he wore a diadem and what was on the very center of that diadem we've talked about

at a bunch? A serpent, right? So in the Bible Egypt is called a serpent and a dragon and the

Pharaoh had a serpent and so you have in the Old Testament a dragon or a serpent pursuing a covenant

community in the wilderness and this is what the Bible says in Exodus 19-4, you yourselves have seen

what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on what? Eagles wings and brought you to myself.

So notice the similarities there. Just as God led the Israelites into the wilderness away from the

Egyptian serpent by bearing them on his wings so too God also leads the church, the covenant community

of faithful believers into the wilderness away from Satan the serpent and the wilderness is a

place of refuge for God's people and it doesn't mean that we're going to be entirely unharmed by

the serpent while we're in the wilderness but it does mean that God will always preserve his people,

they will not suffer a final defeat but the other thing about the wilderness is the wilderness in

the Bible is always a place of what? What happens to people in the wilderness? It is there that they are

starts with a T. Tested, all right there you go, tested. It's always in the wilderness

that people are tested right? I mean think back to the Israelites in the wilderness, they're there

for 40 years and they were tested while in the wilderness and the thing is about that while

they're in the wilderness they're facing temptations by the devil himself, they are lured away by sin

and they had all of God's resources at their disposal, they had Moses leading them, they had

God leading them as a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud and they had God's word at hand where

they could rely on the word of God, they had everything they needed because God had equipped

them and yet they fell, they gave in to sin and they fell away. Who else was tested in the wilderness?

Jesus right? And so what's really interesting is in the in the Old Testament God said of Israel

you are my son and then they go into the wilderness where they're tested and in the New Testament

the father speaks right after Jesus' baptism and he says you are my beloved son with whom I am well

pleased and then it says the spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness like and the the word used

there is funny in Mark's gospel because it's like how they would normally drive a horse with a whip so

it wasn't like you know this nice pleasant thing like I'm just going to lead you out here like

Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be tested and what's interesting is while he's in the

wilderness for 40 days just as the Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years, Satan tries to

tempt Jesus, tries to get him to disobey the father and Jesus quoted verses from Deuteronomy

while the Israelites were still in the wilderness the very words they were getting are the words

that Jesus used to overcome it's like Jesus is saying see you could have done this like these are

the same words you had but Jesus by his obedience proves himself to be the faithful son of God

whereas Israel failed Jesus succeeded he is the true Israel and so the Bible is telling us here in

Revelation that as we are going throughout this life we are in the wilderness and we are going

to be tested here and we're going to face all sorts of temptations but the question is are we going

to be like Israel who fell or are we going to be like Jesus who was obedient to what God said to do

even in the midst of sin and temptation and this issue is not just theological it is incredibly

practical as well because I want you to just think about the overwhelming presence of sin and

temptation in this world I mean is it not absolutely abundant in our world today we're

surrounded by all sorts of temptations we're surrounded by all sorts of advertisements that

you never wanted to see you're surrounded by all sorts of inappropriate posts on social media

in on tv these days just the ads they can run on tv that would have never flown back in my day

which is weird to say I'm I guess I'm old now I'm saying back in my day so that's weird but

things that would have never been allowed on tv years ago we're now just on mainstream tv and

every single vice known to man is around us all the time and so the Bible is saying here

this is the world you live in this is the wilderness everything is around you all of this sin all of

this temptation and you have to decide are you going to be like the Israelites or are you going

to by God's grace rely on the spirit of God and be obedient like Jesus and this starts at a young

age in our world too I mean I wasn't exposed to this stuff until I was a teen but it's starting

younger and younger and younger is it not I mean we're in June so you know what that means for

the world everybody's celebrating a certain sin that God said is an absolute abomination but here

our world is celebrating it and I saw just this past week I was reading an article that there was a

gay pride festival and at this festival it was billed as a a gay pride parade and festival

that was family friendly and so they were encouraging bring all your children bring your

youngest kids this is going to be family friendly and while they were there they were singing songs

about how great it was to be gay and trans and they were encouraging kids to before you leave

here consider whether you're gay or whether you're trans just just feeding that into them

not only that but they had a grown man who was teaching boys how to do a quote gay dance so

those aren't my words he the dancer actually said I'm going to teach young boys how to do this gay

dance and young male children were getting up there and doing that and then they had an adult

male transgender person who was dancing inappropriately and ended up taking dollar bills from small

children and this is what was being billed as family friendly bring your children here this

is something they need to see that's the kind of world that we're living in where temptation

and sin is all around us and and it's presented as being something that's good in our world wants you

to not question it they want to say this is good for you this is something that you should accept

in your life and let me just ask you is that not just a new way of asking satan's old question

did god really say that's what he does right did god really say that that

that you are not allowed to be in a loving monogamous homosexual relationship did god really say that

he didn't mean when he says homosexual the bottom he doesn't mean it that way he means

peteresty and taking advantage of small children but if you're in a loving monogamous homosexual

like well that's totally fine right did god really say that you have to be the gender that

you're born with did he really say that i mean did god really say that that that that that sexual

intercourse is meant to be between one man and one woman who are together in holy matrimony

and and no one else did god really say that you should wait until you are married to live together

did god really say that did god really say that you should never use drugs under any circumstance

even if it is to take away pain or for medicinal purposes did god really say you can't use any drugs

it's a subtle tactic is it not you see our world in christians today we like to believe

that satan's main goal is to get people to just to throw the bible out that's not his main goal

his main goal is just to get you to question what god has already written it's the same thing he

said to adam and even the guardian did god really say you can't eat of that tree satan loves to put

a question mark where god put a period and he wants you to question everything that god has

clearly revealed in his word because if he can get you to do that he can get you to do anything

and that's the kind of temptations that we face in our world today and the worst news for us is

not just that he tempts us but but the bible says here that this dragon is pursuing the woman in the

wilderness meaning that as christians today we're going to face not just temptations but persecution

as well and it's coming and it's already here i mean think about this it was only one year ago

early last year where a transgender person walked into a christian school and opened fire and killed

christians in cold blood now this was not a typical school shooting where someone just goes in and

they just shoot up any old school right this was a targeted attack this person left a manifesto

talking about how much this person hated christians and what this school was teaching this person had

even been there at some point this was a targeted attack against the believing community seeking to

put them to death for their faith and it wasn't in nigeria it wasn't in iran it wasn't in afghanistan

it was in nashville in america so we can't believe this lie that oh christians are completely safe

in this country that's what our world tells us all the time but you don't have to face persecution

here no one's persecuting christians here we love christians no you don't we have a target on our back

at all times and don't think that just because we live in the south and in the deep south and in the

bible belt that we are exempt from this because the dragon pursues us we have a target on our backs

at all times persecution is going to come but i want you to remember the encouragement that god

gives us here he says he will protect his people he will bear us up on his wings and that doesn't

mean that every single christian is going to be exempt from suffering or even death i wish it meant

that i wish i wish that this meant as christians we don't have to suffer or face persecution

but that's not what this means for god to protect his people in the wilderness and bear them up on

his wings it simply means that god is going to ensure that his people never suffer a final defeat

that his church will continue to exist no matter what so the enemy may cast its flaming arrows at us

they may pursue us they may target us they may condemn us they may persecute us but the bible

is saying here jesus is going to ensure his church is always going to be around he said in the gospel

of matthew upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it

that doesn't mean that satan and his demons are not going to wage war against it it means they will

not prevail against it jesus will have the victory and by god's grace and his mercy we get to share

in that victory and that's good news for us i want you to notice there verse 15 through 16 notice

what it says it says the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep

her away with a 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 so i don't have time to reference

all the old testament passages i was going to but if you want to understand what this symbolism means

in the old testament waters were typically associated with persecution from an enemy

enemies they would say like a torrent surrounds me i'm engulfed in in a torrent of destruction and so

so water was associated with persecution and opposition from the enemy and and the bible

is portraying that here is something that christians are experiencing that they're saying that the dragon

is pouring forth destruction like a river upon god's covenant people and that's how it feels sometimes

right when we're experiencing slander and lies when we're experiencing opposition

and falsehoods persecution doesn't it feel like we're drowning in a river of persecution and

destruction doesn't it seem like we're in a flood of evil in this world and what the bible says

here is is actually pretty interesting it's it's actually recalling the exodus once again god is

constantly trying to draw our attention back to that event to say hey look i did it here i was faithful

my people here i was strong enough to rescue them here you can trust that i'm strong enough to rescue

you and be with you because just think about it like this right after god led the israelites out of

egypt where did they have to pass through the waters of the red sea right so water surround me

there's a tornado around me but the israelites are able to pass through the waters without harm

but who was swallowed up and the bible literally says swallowed up in that passage who swallowed up

pharaoh in the egyptians aka the serpent the waters swallowed up the serpent and then what's

actually really interesting here is in this passage it says that the earth comes to the

help of the woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon poured

from his mouth this is actually another reference back to the old testament if you can get this

reference you certainly win theologian of the night what is this illusion to there's an illusion

here to an old testament past i see you in your study bible lisa jav looking at the you trying to

find the answer in your study bible okay i don't know if a study bible even have this in there

anybody know the reference a cool reference in the old testament

anybody remember the destruction of kora the book of numbers

you're all trying to ask for a number sermon series i'll give you one okay we need to go back

and add that to our bible reading plan but you remember that there was kora and a bunch of families

who rebelled against moses and his leadership and basically they were trying to to overhaul the whole

operation there of the israelites and the wilderness and and so moses takes kora and all the families

that had disobeyed and were were rebelling and they moses put them before all the israelites and

he basically said this he said okay if all these people die in natural death of natural

causes are of old age like most people do then i'm not sent from god and god's not sovereign

over all this but he said if the earth will open up its mouth and swallow all these people right

here and put it into their lives then you will know that god has sent me and he rules over all

guess what happened the earth opened up its mouth and swallowed all of them up and they

perished right there and so god is saying hey do you remember that event do you remember that

event from the old testament from the wilderness he's saying i'm not going to be in the wilderness

i was able to protect my people then i'm able to protect you now i know that you're still surrounded

by many waters and there's all sorts of evil and rebellion against you but you need to trust that

i am able to take care of the evil that is in your presence and then very quickly the final

verse there in verse 17 the bible says the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make

war with the rest of her offspring on those who keep the commandments of god and hold to the

testimony of jesus and he stood on the sand of the sea now here's the most important thing for

you to know about this verse when it says that the dragon is standing on the edge of the sea

you have to remember that in hebrew thought the sea was associated with evil and chaos okay

they believed it was the place or the origin of evil and chaos it was the sea which is why we

read about in revelation 21 1 the bible says then i saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first

heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more first time i ever read that

verse i was really bummed out because i was like man i love the ocean i love the surf that's going

to be not fun at all if we don't get it but that's that's not what the bible's saying there the bible's

not saying there's going to be no oceans in the new heaven in the new earth the bible's saying

there's going to be no more evil and chaos it's saying the sea because the sea was the place of

evil and chaos which is also another cool reference back to the throne of god because remember earlier

in revelation chapter four when we got that vision of the throne room of god it says that before the

throne of god there's a sea of glass that's like crystal do you remember that the the crystal sea

of glass what is that a picture of if you have a sea but it's as clear as glass it means that

there's no chaos right it's still waters and so in god's feet is the very promise that in my presence

there will be peace there will be calmness there is no evil or chaos but you have the dragon here

standing on the edge of the sea looking out towards the sea meaning he is standing in the

midst of chaos and evil and it makes sense what we're going to read next time in revelation 13

where it says that he's going to look out into the sea and he's going to call out for himself

an ally a beast who's going to arise out of the sea and join him in this attack on god's people so

so that's what you need to understand about all that symbolism there it's just saying

that it's associated with evil and chaos but more than anything what i want you to understand is

this passage is a call for the church to persevere the god is saying to us i know that you're in a

hard world it's a fallen world right we our world has been corrupted by sin god says i know that's

what the world is like jesus says i've experienced it firsthand i know what it's like to face temptation

i know what it's like to be weak and surrounded by evil all the time and trying to obey the father

in the midst he's like i know what it's like i've been there but the call is to persevere

because even though we're going to face temptation even though we're going to face evil even though

we're going to be persecuted god promises he will preserve his people nothing will ever bring an end

to his covenant people the church will stand forever and even if you die you will live again

no matter what there is nothing the enemy can do to us to separate us from the love of god or

take away the victory that is ours in christ jesus so it's a call for boldness it's a call for

perseverance and it's a call to faithfulness because i want you to notice god he clearly laid

out the guidelines for his covenant community here he said of his covenant community they are those

who keep the commandments of god and hold to the testimony of jesus you know it's never easier to

deny god than when you're in the face of opposition and temptation right when the world is against

you i mean just again look at this month look at june you post any bible verse that says god gave

people over to what was unnatural after their their sin and and their lust had warred within them

and risen up god gave them you post that bible verse on facebook tonight and watch how many people

come against you you see people celebrating gay pride you say one thing about what god lays out

is his good and perfect design for humanity and see how people come against you it is never easier

to deny god than in that moment and say why didn't really mean it like that now i'm for you i'm with

you i'm i'm an advocate i'm an ally like it's never easier to deny god than when you're being

persecuted when you're being opposed when you're facing temptation and listen to me i know this

firsthand when you stand on the word of god and you say i'm going to preach the word and i will

not sugarcoat it i will not water it down i will give the explicit word of god because the bible

tells us the word of god is the power of god i have no words of power the word itself is the

double-edged sword that is sharp enough to the pierce and separate bone and marrow soul and spirit

it's the word of god we have no power and when you give people what the bible says

and they come against you it's very easy to be timid and say well i want you to like me

so i take back everything i said i'll change my view on this the call for god's people is to be bold

to persevere and be faithful to what god says the bible says let god be true and every man a liar

so if you have to stand alone with no one else with your bible so be it it is better to stand

with god than to stand with the world amen all right michael you give us the word of wisdom for tonight