Bible Study - Revelation TWELVE

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Thanks for listening, and we pray this message encourages you today.

But this is also for art.

Which is why I'm also keeping it on the podcast.

So maybe he'll listen to this.

I had a complete brain meltdown last week.

And thankfully it was brought to my attention, and I completely forgot about this.

Um I and I'm going to own it because I just, it never once came to my mind.

When we were talking about the two witnesses, you know, we were talking about the possibility of Moses and Enoch, Moses and Elijah, or Elijah and Enoch.

And then of course we joked and said, well, it's probably going to be Enoch and uh Moses instead of Moses and Elijah or whatever.

And um we talked about how a lot of times people feel like it's Moses and Elijah based on the characteristics of what was happening.

And then people think it's Moses and Enoch, I mean Elijah and Enoch based on the fact that they've not died yet.

And so when we got into QA, you remember Art was, you know, his point of view, and it's great.

I'm not saying it's wrong or right.

I'm not saying I'm wrong or right.

Um, but there is one other thing about Enoch that's very interesting.

And uh thankfully Tracy brought this back to my attention and I I just blanked on it.

But Jude, uh, there's just one chapter in Jude, but in verse 14, I'll read this out of the New Living Translation because I like the way that it reads.

Enoch, who lived in the seventh generation after Adam, prophesied about these people.

He said, Listen, the Lord is coming with countless thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on the people of the world.

He will convict every person of all the ungodly things that they have done, and for all the insults that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

These people are the grumblers and complainers living only to satisfy their desire.

They brag loudly about themselves and they flatter others to get what they want.

So it's kind of interesting because in Jude, Enoch is mentioned specifically about prophesying about scoffers and those at ridicule, which also is potentially what one of the two witnesses uh is doing in that.

So that's just something to remember, and I apologize that I did not get that in there.

Total brain melt on mine, uh, on my end right there.

I'd love to tell y'all, I could quote the Bible from Genesis to the maps.

Uh, but there's just some days it's it's it's it's more challenging than there are others.

So uh and sometimes do y'all ever have that moment when you when you know where a book is and and and somebody says, turn to the book of just say judges, and then you know where it's at, and you start thumbing through, and your Bible doesn't have it, and you start to panic because you're like, I know where judges is at, and you keep thumbing up through it and you can't find it, and then you just fake it till you make it and just stop and act like you're there.

Y'all have never done that, have you?

Uh I I will tell you a true story real quick.

I was I was pastor at church and I I was I was kind of getting frustrated because I couldn't get people to open this is long before cell phones, uh I couldn't get people to open up their Bibles just to read the Word of God.

And so one day I I got a mom to stand up and and I said, I want you to put a Bible in your hand.

They got the Bible in the hand.

I said, I need you to turn to the book of Oahadiah.

And the people started flipping, and I mean they're looking through and this and that, and I'm just standing there watching, and I could see people and they're looking, and then you would see them go to the front to scan down and look, and they're confused.

But then there's those ones that stop and go.

As if there was a book called Oahadiah.

There's not one.

So Revelation chapter 12.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

This chapter provides one of the most important panoramic views that we're going to get concerning spiritual warfare throughout all of Scripture.

Up to this point, Revelation has largely focused on seal judgments, trumpet judgments, and specific events that are unfolding on the earth because of those judgments.

Now, in chapter 12, we're going to get this kind of pulling back of the curtain, and we're going to see how there's this spiritual conflict that's been operating throughout human history.

Now, before we dive into this, we should already kind of be aware of this to a degree.

We know that there is a realm that is around us that we cannot see at all times.

There are angels that are active, and there are demonic presence and spirits and so on and so forth that are active.

We just don't always see them.

We know scripture where it tells about stories where those things have been revealed, and obviously, even people before us in our day and time now, and even those that are after us will get glimpsed into a supernatural realm.

But this one is a little bit, a little bit even more pulling behind the curtain.

This chapter is going to bring a little bit of clarity of why Satan hates Israel and why Jesus came into the world.

And it's not going to answer it, but it's going to give some clarity to why spiritual warfare exists.

Now, for all those that are anti-spiritual warfare, this is one of those chapters that they conveniently skip over.

And I'd love to tell you that there is no spiritual warfare, but that's obviously you've not experienced life or people.

And people are not the enemy, but let's be honest, demons love to habitat within people.

There's also why persecution is going to increase during this period, and how believers overcome the enemy.

So instead of moving in a chronological order, Revelation 12 is going to offer this spiritual perspective that is kind of giving you behind the glimpse on what has been happening the whole time.

So you remember in Revelation 11, we're at this point, and then all of a sudden, halfway through the chapter, we like speed through to the end.

Now, this chapter is not speeding through necessarily, but it's going way back to show you some things, even though it's talking about at the same time of some things.

So that's where it can get a little bit dicey in some situations.

But behind these events, throughout history and the spiritual conflicts or warfare, you're going to see God's purpose and Satan's rebellion.

Even though Satan is rebellious and people are anti-the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and they're definitely pro-the enemy, none of this is going to stop God's plan.

None of it.

That's hard for us to do if we're honest about it.

Because the truth is we'd love to live as long as we we can.

But, you know, you look forward to a lengthy life.

The biggest picture of it all is Christ not only is going to be triumphant, it's already declared he is triumphant.

And it's why we have to keep that focus on there.

Revelation 12, verse 1.

Revelation 12:1

And 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 twelve stars.

It's an interesting picture.

So John literally sees this woman.

He sees the image that's described there, but this is given to a great sign.

You know, some translations would even say, uh, oh gosh, what's the word?

I just went blank.

Sorry.

Um it means that do what?

Wonders.

Yes.

Sorry, I just my brain clicked off.

I couldn't get wonder in my head.

But John is seeing something that is significant and yet it is definitely symbolic.

How do we know it's symbolic?

Well, think about it just for a second.

There's a woman clothed with the sun.

How's that even possible?

So he's he's using these terms again to describe something.

So if she's clothed with the sun, S-U-N, what does it kind of really say about her?

Her clothing is radiating.

It's it's bright, it's, you know, it's it's everything that we would see in that.

Well, then it says that the moon's under her feet and the her head is a crown of twelve stars.

So let's talk about who this woman is.

There are interpretations that have been suggested, as some will claim that it's Mary.

Guess which group claims it's Mary?

Catholicism, right?

So there are those that will say that it's the church.

Guess which group's gonna jump into that bandwagon.

Anybody got a guess?

A lot of Protestant churches, evangelical, you know, that's then there are those that's gonna say it's a religious system.

And we can guess which group that's going to be.

Scripture is actually gonna give us a pretty good answer right here.

First of all, I want us to go back to Genesis 37.

So if you can quickly go back to Genesis 37, I want you to look at this.

Verses 9 through 11.

Genesis 37, 9 through 11.

Genesis 37, verse 9.

Genesis 37:9

Now he had still another dream.

This is Joseph, and related it to his brothers, and said, Lo, I have had still another dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.

That's interesting, right off the gate, right?

Verse 10.

And 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 ourselves down before you to the ground?

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

Now, this is fascinating because this same thing here John is describing is almost to a T to Joseph's dream, except we don't get necessarily the woman, and we don't get twelve stars, we get eleven stars.

So let's break this down a little bit here.

The sun in Joseph's dream is representing Jacob.

The moon is representing Rachel.

The stars are representing the tribes of Israel.

Why is there only eleven?

Think real hard, but don't overthink it.

Why is there only eleven stars?

Tribe left out of Revelation.

What?

All the tribes but Levi.

Eleven tribes bowing down to one tribe.

This is very, very important.

So let's keep moving forward just a little bit.

Although it is nearly identical, the woman here is best to be understood as Israel.

Okay?

Now, someone might say, well, how do you automatically get that it's Israel?

Well, we're going to read, continue reading because we're not going to build theology off of one verse.

Okay?

But throughout the Old Testament, Israel is frequently mentioned or not mentioned, portrayed as a woman.

Example, Isaiah 54, Jeremiah 3, Ezekiel 16, and Hosea chapter 2.

Hosea 2 · chapter mention

Which I know in our damn time, boy, we're hung up on genders now.

But let's just let's take ourselves out of the picture just for a second and let's really think about this.

We as males are sons, right?

We would say females or daughters.

Scripturally, both sons and daughters are technically, scripturally, sons.

However, the Bible says that those that are in Christ are actually the bride of Christ.

So it's interesting that a son is to be a bride, but if you also know what the scripture says, there is neither male nor female, Greek nor Jew.

It's not that there's counseling out of things, there's purpose in how it is being identified.

And we have to look at both ends of the spectrum to know what the whole picture is.

If we don't, we can easily again take one aspect and try to build an entire eschatology out of it or a theological idea out of it.

And even today, the reason I'm saying that is we got people, I just heard of a video just last week of a guy that got up and said that he believed that Jesus was bisexual.

Because it doesn't mention that he was married to a woman or a man, so that meant he was bisexual.

And I'm just like, man, we we're we're eating a bowl full of nuts, flakes, and fruits.

If that's how we're coming up with stuff.

But the scary thing is, that is how people are coming up with stuff.

Revelation 12 reminds us that Israel remains the central purpose of God's prophecy.

Through Israel, God brought forth the Messiah.

Through Israel, God preserved his promises.

Through Israel, God will complete his prophetic plan.

So, contrary to what we might would hope or think, the woman is not Mary, the woman is not the church, the woman is representing Israel.

God's covenant purposes for Israel continue throughout the entire book of Revelation.

It's why we have said from Revelation chapter 1, this is about the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

Who needs that revelation?

Israel.

And if we could always, and I keep saying it, and I'll always keep saying it, it's why we don't have to fear.

Will bad things happen?

Yes, but we don't walk in fear because we understand what the big picture is.

The big picture is he is calling forth those that he has a covenant relationship with.

That ought to really, not kind of, that's a bad word.

That ought to encourage us and remind us that if God cares that much about Israel, imagine how much he cares about those that are in covenant with him now.

The woman representing Israel, obviously, a nation in whom God is going to bring the Messiah through, or has and will that revelation be.

But also, as we mentioned a little bit last week, we'll even mention it further down the road, we're not only talking about people, we're also talking about land.

Verse 2.

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

Well, here's an interesting thing right here.

How do we know that this woman's representing Israel?

She's with child, she's going to experience labor, pain, travailing.

What does that pain possibly represent?

Well, if we look back, it kind of points to Israel's suffering.

Right?

At the first, at Jesus' first coming, Israel was under Roman occupation.

When Jesus arrives on the scene, Rome is the dominant force.

Political oppression is not centralized, it's pretty widespread.

And obviously, there's spiritual corruption that's existing.

Even Jesus dealt with this with the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

We see this.

Moses didn't first appear as a deliverer.

Moses appeared to a way that the people recognized him to be a part of something that was not a part of them.

But eventually, he got the revelation of who he was.

They became to understand that he was the deliverer, but he didn't first just come on the scene as, I'm one of the Hebrews and I'm going to take you out of the way.

He was put into a place that others would not recognize him until he was to be recognized.

That already is a prophetic picture of Israel itself.

Now, for century, Israel has anticipated a Messiah.

Now, one thing that we have a hard time remembering is when Jesus is on the scene, when he is there, one of the things that is historically documented that we really don't get a whole lot of insight in the scripture, although there's a couple of verses that kind of alludes to it, doesn't kind of, it does allude to it.

There were many people before Jesus, during Jesus, and after Jesus who professed to be the Messiah.

So it's not like Jesus is.

Just on the scene, and everybody's like, oh my gosh, he truly is the Messiah.

There was other people actually acknowledging it, which is why it's so important to understand the scripture says that Jesus would tell people, tell no one that I am the Messiah.

Part of that is because those that were professing to be it, they were exposing themselves as fakes or phonies, whatever.

Jesus was doing it by the demonstration of who he was in representation of the Father.

So these are one of the things that we have to remember, but just because Jesus is on the scene still doesn't mean that people were getting that he's the Messiah.

It went over an overwhelming majority of them's heads.

Were there people in the day of Jesus that truly were Jewish that really saw him as the Messiah?

I believe so.

We just don't have a whole lot of documentation for it.

But it would just be hard not to think that somebody didn't.

I mean, Bartimaeus is on the road and he's blind and Jesus walks by and he has enough ability to see that that's the Messiah.

And he's blind.

You know what I'm, you get what I'm saying when I say that?

There's something that can be that you may look at in your natural eyes and have nothing to say, but something inside of you is awakening you and saying, there's something there.

I may not know what it is, but I'm going to follow.

It's why the scripture gives us another understanding of two blind men who followed after Jesus, and they actually went into a house that he walked in uninvited.

And the two blind men come in there, and Jesus tells them, What do you want me to do?

And Jesus, the two blind men said, We want to see, and he heals them.

How does blind men follow anyone anywhere?

There's something about the presence that awakens us that is significantly different than just words alone.

So every promise from Abraham, from Abraham to John the Baptist, is pointing to Christ.

Every one of them.

The labor pains symbolize that there has been this long expectation that is going to result in his arrival.

Here's the thing that's hard to swallow sometimes.

The promises of God may take generations to unfold, but they always come to pass.

I think today, how so many people put a demand on the prophetic words that are spoken.

I I think, okay, this is my opinion.

I'm going to say this.

I think we're in error to put a demand on it, but we're also in an error error not to test and discern it.

So there's two sides of that that I'm very clear when I say, but we would have labeled Isaiah a false prophet so quickly because of the things that he prophesied about the Messiah, and Isaiah never lived to see it.

Hundreds of years go by before the lamb that he saw on the cross being shed, shed in his blood, came to pass.

We would have immediately said, Well, he's a false prophet because what he said didn't come to pass.

Well, first of all, we'd probably laid him in a false prophet because it didn't sound very encouraging.

The lamb being led to the slaughter.

But David's the same way.

David mentions in Psalm 22, we talk about Isaiah 53, which is wonderful.

I'm not negating that.

David mentions the actual crucifixion scene in Psalm 22, and the scene that David describes is talking about the demonic spirits that are tormenting Jesus while he's on the cross.

If people would have really understood what David was saying, they would have ridiculed him the same way.

When it truly is something, the promises of God are yes and amen.

The trouble is, our time gets in the way.

When's this going to come to pass?

Which is why we are where we are today.

My grandfather thought the Lord was coming back, didn't happen.

My parents thought the Lord was coming back, didn't happen.

That's why it's never going to happen.

Well, that is poor theology.

Verse 3.

And another sign appeared in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.

Now, the great red dragon, seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns.

Later in the scripture, this dragon is going to be directly identified as Satan or the devil or the serpent of old.

Now, we we know Satan, the terminology of Satan is because that's what we know.

Once he was no longer Lucifer, Lucifer, he was an angel in heaven.

Jesus saw Lucifer cast down from heaven like a lightning bolt, and God cast him down.

He's no longer Lucifer.

He takes the name Satan.

We know him also as the devil, but why is it also linked to the serpent of old?

Is it strictly because it is the representation of a dragon?

There's a lot of people that's going to say that, but I also believe, and I think there's definitely truth to that, so I'm not negating that.

But I think there's also the realization that this goes all the way back to the garden.

Why does it go all the way back to the garden?

Because you got to see where we're going going forward.

This all has a plan in this, and we fail to remember again that when Eve and Adam partook of the fruit, God said to both of them, you know, they they have the sacrifice, they got to cover up sin, this and that.

Then he says to the man, you'll work the ground, there'll be thorns and thistles, the sweat of your brow.

He says to the woman, the curse will be that you'll feel the pain of labor.

But then he says to the serpent, the seed of the woman, the heel will crush your head.

Well, we're all adults here.

We understand women don't have seed.

Men are seed carriers.

So this is something that is such a prophetic picture that is being reconnected.

It goes back to whatever God sets in order, there will always be that pattern to what God keeps in line.

When that happens, we're seeing this manifest in its there, in its fullness.

So scripture's going to give us understanding.

We're not going to have a hard time guessing who the dragon is representing.

But again, why the dragon?

Is it simply because a dragon is reptilian or uh what does the dragon mean in the sense of dominance or whatever?

Well, actually, you can look at scripture because this is not the first time a dragon's mentioned in scripture.

You can understand that what they represent is destruction, violence, um, opposition to God, and even extreme levels of cruelty.

Now, one would say, what does the seven heads and the ten horns represent?

This is why, again, it's so important to remember the book of Daniel.

We know this.

They represent power, authority, and influence.

This is not something new.

This was actually mentioned all the way back in Daniel.

And we go through this in that process.

The crowns reveal Satan's desires or Satan's desire to claim rulership that belongs to Christ.

Why does Satan claim to have rulership of Christ?

Why not God?

He already tried that one.

That's how he got kicked out of heaven to begin with.

He went to God, looked at him, and said, I'm to be greater than you, I'm to be put higher than you, and God said, Okay, I'll make you lower than me.

And now, here's Satan now gonna try.

Well, I'll go after the seed of the woman.

And we see this pattern throughout scripture and all this, but the good news is, and we know this, we just have to remind us, he's an overcomer.

And we're made overcomers because him.

We're made more than conquerors because of him.

Satan attempts to imitate God.

We see this throughout in scripture, through worship, through authority, dominion.

Yet everything that Satan does is counterfeit.

Jesus is the one true King.

It's interesting.

Again, this is one of those things.

It's there if we'll pay attention to it.

We know Jesus as the Christ, the anointed one.

But we know that upon the earth there is a spirit of anti-Christ.

Then we also know that there will be an anti-Christ.

We shouldn't be surprised when the enemy does what he does because the playbook is whatever God does, whatever he does through the Son and the Holy Spirit, the enemy is going to try to manipulate it, make it its own, but it's going to perverse it in a way that we are to be able to go, oh, this is not real.

This is the enemy.

It's why, unless you know what the word of God says, you will fall for deception every single time.

You have to know what the word of God says.

Not what a pastor says on Sunday, not what an evangelist says at a tent revival, not just what a TV evangelist says.

You got to know what it says in your own heart, not simply just what you hear in a sermon or in a class or whatever, so on and so forth.

That's part of this whole thing about giving and creating these notes for you.

At the end of this, you may not fully recognize it now, but at the end of this, you're going to have a whole notebook of be able to information that you may still not fully understand revelation, but you're going to have a point of reference to go back to and at least find something that can give you insight on it and allow the Holy Spirit to be the revelatory of that for you.

Now, Satan seeks the throne, but it's Christ.

Verse 4.

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.

Now, time out.

Let's not overthink this.

The dragon took its tail and swept one third of the stars.

What does that mean?

How many angels went with Satan?

A third of the angels.

Remember, this is a common theme.

Every time John says stars, that's the trouble.

It can represent angels, and it can represent a star and it can represent something that just looks like a star and it could be actually something else.

But this is one of those things that we could say, well, what does he mean by stars?

Well, that one-third is a very important number.

If we know scripture again, he got a third of the angels to go.

So that ought to tell us a little bit of something about that.

Two-thirds, though.

Two-thirds remain faithful.

It means faithful angels always greatly outnumber the fallen.

So, just a little side note, why is it that we fear a minority when we're in the majority?

And I'm not talking about fear and the demonic.

I'm talking about this whole thing, this whole book.

Why is it that we fear when we're on team majority?

When we're on team overcomer, when we're on team more than conquerors, when we're on the one that has already been destined, he that overcome before the foundations of the world.

This is one of those things.

I get the tactic that people try to use, but I keep, I want to shake people up and go, this is not to be feared.

This is to rejoice.

We win.

How do we know we won't win?

Well, it's already been wrote that we won.

When it was prophesied that we won, it meant we win.

I love this book, even though that probably puts me in the category of strangely peculiar.

Now the dragon waits to devour her child.

What is that about?

She's pregnant with a child.

The woman represents Israel.

Who's the child?

Jesus, right?

Because we have to remember, Jesus was not white-haired, blue-eyed, white-haired, blonde hair, blue-eyed, lily white-skinned.

As great as it is to be from the south in the Appalachian Mountains in that range, Jesus wasn't a honky.

He wasn't a redneck.

He's a lot more dark-skinned.

He was Middle Eastern Jew.

Now that that makes a lot of people upset, but it's just the reality of it.

He came to the Jews first.

They rejected him.

I hate that they rejected him, but thank God it made a way for us.

You know what I'm saying?

Now I'm in, so now I'm pulling for you to come back, you know, because you actually made a way for me, so now I'm going to cheer you on.

Come on, let's get it.

But the dragon is trying to take out Jesus.

Well, how's that even possible?

Well, Pharaoh tried to slaughter a whole generation of Hebrew children.

Herod did the same thing at the time that Jesus was born.

Satan tried to infiltrate the bloodline through Nephilim, who became the giant race, Goliath and his brothers.

If Goliath and his brothers would have been victorious, it could have got into the bloodline, which would have tainted everything.

There has always been a strategy.

Imagine this.

Let's put it this way the curse is the seed of the woman's going to crush its head with its heel.

So how do we overcome that?

Make sure the seed is never born.

We see this theme throughout the whole thing.

This has been an attack, been a strategy the whole time.

And thank thank the good Lord that there has always been a way that He is the way.

Verse 5.

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 caught up to God and to his throne.

Well, that's interesting, isn't it?

It sort of, it sort of, it doesn't sort of, it gives us the understanding, first of all, who's called to rule all the nations?

Well, scripture tells us clearly who He is, and that's Jesus.

I mean, it is this language in this one verse right here is Psalm chapter 2.

Psalms 2 · chapter mention

It's the very language of Psalm chapter 2.

Psalms 2 · chapter mention

It it is if if you ever had a Christmas gift that didn't have your name on it, but you knew it was yours because of the way that it was shaped.

If you ask for a guitar and it's wrapped in the shade of a guitar, you don't have to ask, is that my gift?

You kind of know that that's the thing.

When you read the scripture, you don't have to shake it and figure out who it is.

It's Jesus.

I mean, it's clearly who Jesus is, but not only that, when it rules with the description, again, this is mentioned in Daniel chapter Daniel in the book of Daniel 10.

Daniel 10.

Then it mentions something very peculiar here when it says he was caught up.

Now here's that word everybody gets been out of shape over.

What is that word?

Raptesio, which means Jesus was raptured.

Well, when was Jesus raptured?

Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

The disciples are with Jesus in Acts chapter 1, and all of a sudden he's caught up with a cloud of witnesses with him.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Again, there's always these bookends that we've got to pay attention in scripture.

That God is never going to leave something open-ended.

There's always going to be this, this, I'll say it this way.

Let me back up.

God is known as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

Because he is the beginning of the end.

The scripture also says he knows the end from the beginning and knows the beginning from the end, which gives us the understanding that it is a never-ending cycle or it is in an affinity cycle of how he sees and how he prophesies.

Because that is the case.

There is nothing throughout the entire scripture that is left open-ended.

There is always a beginning and an end.

And the crazy thing is, when we get to the end, it looks just like the beginning.

That's just wild to me.

I love it.

So let's, let's, before we keep going, it's interesting to note that Revelation never mentions, or it does it not never mentions, it doesn't focus on the crucifixion.

It doesn't focus on his resurrection or his earthly ministry.

You know what Revelation really focuses on?

Jesus wins, Jesus ascends, and Jesus reigns.

How can you not get excited about that?

How can you not look at Revelation and go, this is awesome, instead of, oh dear, do I have to read this?

Now you kind of get an understanding of why Revelation starts out.

Those who read this will be blessed.

Verse 6.

And I gotta hurry.

And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there she might be nourished for 1,260 days.

The woman flees into the wilderness.

Hello, land.

Again, we go back, we see the history of all this.

God prepared a place for her.

Now, the 1,260 days, what's interesting about this is it is you remember last week?

42 months or three and a half, one half years.

Which again, this is the tail end of what we know is Daniel's 70th week.

Again, this is mentioned in the Daniel or the latter half of the three and a half years of the tribulation period.

Now, notice though, the place is prepared by God, which means it's not an accident.

Which means that there is provision that is already being prepared for those who are being persecuted.

God has this strange thing called taking care of his own.

God's provision will always precede the need.

Before Israel arrives, the place is prepared.

Before the persecution begins, protection is established.

God never reacts to the events that He prepares for them.

It's why He's not shocked.

Like, oh no, what are we going to do?

Jesus says, it is finished on the cross, Satan and the demon's chair, and it's not like God, I Can I just a personal pet peeve?

I please don't say this in front of my presence.

Everybody gets a heads up.

I despise when somebody says, When God the Father saw Jesus on the cross, he shed a tear and turned his way because he couldn't look.

You don't know what the scripture says.

The scripture says he saw it and it brought great joy.

How can a father see something like that and see great joy?

Because he's not seeing the moment, he's seeing the story.

That's what it's about.

I'll put this in a real life term.

How many fathers of daughters?

Anybody got daughters, fathers of daughters right here?

When your daughter got married and she you see her the first time in the dress, every father just about has the same flashback.

The woman you see all of a sudden becomes the little girl playing dress up.

You see her in that moment, but you see her from another time.

That's what that is.

Jesus is on the cross.

God is not, oh no, my son, what am I going to do?

I don't, we don't get that God laughed, but it kind of you kind of feel like God would when Satan's like, we won.

He's like, oh.

Now I know the day's not right, but I'm gonna put it this way Sunday's coming.

You know, and I know the counter's off.

Don't go with me on that.

Send your emails for to somebody else.

I don't know.

Grow up and mature, is what I say.

Verse 7 through 9.

And there was a war in heaven, and Michael and his angels waging war with a dragon, and the dragon and his angel wage war, and they were not strong enough, and they were there was no longer a place found for them in heaven, and the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil, and Satan who deceived the whole world, he is thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Well, somebody let the cat out of the bag.

There you go.

How did we know when we started this chapter that the dragon was Satan?

What did I say earlier?

It's going to say exactly what it's going to say.

But what does it describe here?

Now keep in mind, we're right in the middle of this period that we've been in, and all of a sudden we're having a throwback all the way to the beginning.

This is behind the scenes of how this whole thing began and why it is playing out the way that it is playing out.

It's important, even though chapter 12 feels so out of place, because it's like, why do we have to have a flashback to the beginning?

Because what John is getting in this moment that he is giving to us is, as Paul Harvey would say, this is the rest of the story.

You're getting to understand what this has always been about.

This has always been about the very beginning before mankind was ever created.

This has always been about.

And it seems strange.

Well, why do we, why didn't we get this in Revelation chapter 1?

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

Because the reason you're getting it here is because it's going to help you make sense of where we're going from here.

And it's important.

It's not a, oh, John just threw it out there and it just haphazardly landed here.

No, it's strategically here for a reason.

So, Michael, remember, the archangel, he battles, there's a battle happening, but then all of a sudden we get, he's thrown down to the earth.

The third of the angels go with them, right?

So we get we remember all that.

The first fall is mentioned in Ezekiel 28 when we're talking about Satan.

There in Scripture, there are uh descriptions, four saws of Satan, uh four falls of Satan, not four saws, four falls.

First one, Exodus 28, mentions it.

Revelation 12 mentions it.

Revelation 20 is going to mention another one.

And also in Revelation 20, it's going to mention another one.

So we're going to get a third and a fourth eventually.

Verse 10 through 12.

Now 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 the brethren, has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.

And they overcome him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.

For this reason, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them, woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.

There's three keys that we get out of this from overcoming Satan.

Number one, the blood of the Lamb.

The sacrifice of Christ is the answer to every single accusation from the enemy.

When the accuser of the brethren accuses you, your answer to that first and foremost is by the blood of the Lamb.

I plead a bloodline.

How can I do that?

Ha!

He's in me.

It's why it doesn't even make sense.

He that is in the world is greater than.

No.

What does it say?

He that is in me is greater than.

Sometimes we think the world is more dominant than who we're supposed to be, and we fail to remember we are because of the blood, and because of that, we're not of this world.

Scripture says we're in this world, but not of this world, and even though we're in this world, we're seated in heavenly places.

Number two, the word of their testimony.

Believers will stand firm when they believe in what God did and it made their testimony.

Nobody can talk you out of something.

Listen, I know how I started out in my walk.

I know when I was facing open heart surgery and I know I was healed, and I've had people that would say, well, and I go, Well, I know what he did.

You can't talk me out of that.

I know what I was before.

I know what happened in that.

It's why when I had to convince the doctors, you got we got to run more testing in.

They're like, and well, I know because I know that I know.

You cannot convince someone that has had, and you can't change someone's mind who has an encounter with the presence of God.

Number three, they did not love their lives.

Faithfulness must become greater than self-preservation.

You ever, and I'm not pointing any fingers at anybody, I'm just let's hypothetically think about this just really quick.

You ever known someone that the reason they can't be faithful to the Lord is because they're worried more about their character and their reputation?

When you're more worried about what people think about you, you will always change what your faith is.

But when you really could not care less about what people think about you, because the one who has already identified you, known you, and called you and purposed you and destined you, you are more faithful to the one than you are to the multitude.

And it's why that's so important to understand in that, and it's it's we see this big picture, but so many of us get hung up because it sounds good, but you don't know what I've been through.

You don't know, listen, I know what this scripture says right here.

We've heard it before, and I and get me.

I and and I promise I'm hurrying, but this is one of those things I hear people say, well, the devil's been on my back all week long.

You're not that special.

I know we I know mama told you was, or you were, proper English.

Your mama told you you were, but you're not.

Why?

Because we know that Satan doesn't show up to your house every single day, every single week, because he's too busy accusing everybody.

Yes, he calls your name out.

Yes, he does.

I'm not discrediting that.

And yes, there are many times if you walk with the Lord long enough, you will pray a prayer.

God, my name is Ryan, not Job.

Stop sharing it.

You will have that prayer.

If that is, if if you've read the book of Job long enough, you'll be like, God, quit telling my name.

Because you feel like you're being put up as an offering sometimes, if you're just being real about it.

But the truth in all that is he made a way that you could not do for yourself.

So when the accuser of the brethren accuses, all you have to do, and all I have to do, I'm not saying it's easy, but I'm saying it's always possible, is remind the accuser who he is in you.

Therefore, he is a son, you are a son, you are a bride, you are ecclesia.

You have the ability to use the words that is the word.

Verse 13 through 16.

When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he was per he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child, and the two wings of the great eagles were given to the woman in order that she might fly into the wilderness to place to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent, and from 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.

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

Just out of curiosity, anybody know what we're talking about right here?

What?

What'd you say?

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you.

Euphrates River, okay?

We're talking about two timelines here, but let's go back to a further timeline.

A flood.

What are we talking about here?

What happens here?

The earth floods, and then what happens?

It swallows up the waters.

So again, we're getting another picture of what God had done in the beginning.

Now, why do we know that this is not a flood like Noah's flood?

Because the promise is he'll never flood the earth again.

Now, to throw a wrench into the system, there was not only Noah's flood, but there's also in Scripture what is known as Lucifer's flood.

Now that's a whole other story in a whole other time, but here's the thing the scripture talks about the earth, and we have to remember we have we have the earth before God separated the waters and the land.

When we go to the creation of time, when we get to the creation story, there are things that God creates and there are things that he permits.

When he creates something, he said, Let it be.

But when he permits, it was already there and it was already in existence.

When the earth, when Satan was cast down to the earth, the earth was water.

Then what happens?

He spoke to it, and the land emerged from it.

So there's this crazy thing, but here's the crazy thing about it is there was a time when the earth was nothing but water, and we're not talking about Noah's flood.

We're talking about a time that predates that.

So that's interesting in all this because what happens is God has given us glimpses of what happens, even though Satan's heir, he's always been defeated, and man has always been redeemed.

That's the beautiful picture of all this.

Now, verse um, hang on, let me get to the wings of the great eagle.

I'm sorry.

The woman receives the two wings of the great eagle.

This is a reminder of Exodus 19 and 4, where God carried Israel on eagle's wings.

The energy here gives us the understanding of deliverance in this.

Now, verse 17, and if you can get that one picture up there, we'll go ahead and get that.

Verse 17.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring who kept, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Now you kind of understand what this whole thing's been about.

Now, I got this to try to give some kind of understanding, and I know this is going to be dark on this end here because of the lights and all this, but you have, according to what the scripture says, you have literally this woman with the crown holding a child.

That's what John gives us in that description.

Then he describes these archangels and Michael being one of them waging war against the dragon.

And we see the dragon with the multiple heads.

But here's what I want us to remember about this.

What this tells us about these things right here is where was those things happening?

Not on the earth.

They were in the heavens.

This was talking about, all this was talking about what was happening in a realm that we cannot see.

Even though this thing was cast down to the earth, a third of the angels is cast down to earth, eventually the woman is on the earth, eventually the child is on the earth, but it all starts in a spiritual realm that we could not see.

This has always been a spiritual warfare magnitude that we can't fully comprehend all the time.

And it's still the reason, even though people will lie to you and hear my heart when I say that, they'll lie to you and say spiritual warfare is not real.

They have not read the word of God.

If you have somebody that tells you, and listen to me when I'm saying this, you can take this with a grain of salt or reject it.

I really, I'm not trying to convince you of something.

I'm just trying to tell you what scripture says.

When someone says the only reason you're having spiritual warfare is because you're not close enough to God, they are in dangerous waters of being heretics.

It is not a lack of being close to God.

Judas is carriot was as close to Jesus as you could possibly be, and he still betrayed him, still stole from him.

Yes, your proximity means something to him, but if you're not right in your heart, proximity alone will never save you.

If proximity alone was the answer, Lucifer should have never been kicked out because he was close to God.

The problem was that seven-headed dragon had thoughts that were impure and thought he was greater than God and thought he deserved to be bigger than God.

And God showed him you ain't that big.

This whole thing, even though the Candace Owens and the Tucker Carlsons, and they try to connect this to a little bitty plot of land, and they say, it's really Palestine and all that, they don't understand that they are pawns on the chessboard of a spiritual warfare, but they're on the demonic side of it because they're trying to tell you that it has nothing to do with it.

Everything began in a spiritual realm, and then when it's kicked down to the earth, everything is the result of how this whole thing began, and everything on the earth will result on how this thing not ends but rebegins.

We keep thinking of eschatology as the end times of end times.

It's the end time of this time, but there will be a time that will.

And that blows our mind.

Any questions?

This is a loaded chapter, I know.

Hey, we do have our microphone tonight.

And I still didn't get to get to a whole lot of stuff, but this stuff is fun.

Everybody good.

I I know let me say this.

I again, if you read anything out of context, like for example, if you only read about this this serpent right here, yes, it's going to sound terrifying.

And if you read that the serpent has seven heads and all these crowns, and it's it's this and that, yes, it's going to be terrifying.

And I know it don't sound like a big deal because the woman's holding a baby, a child.

But if you don't think that that baby, that child was a big deal, go back and read how many times throughout the history, not just what the word of God says, stay with me just for a moment.

And I'm not saying it's greater than the word of God, word of God's the greatest.

But research history, how many times different kings, kingdoms put out a decoration to kill firstborn males.

And it's the craziest thing because in each of one of those cases where that happened, we have it recorded in the Bible, but I promise you there's a lot of historical references in other places that they did it.

It was always a threat that the king was going to be replaced because another king was to be born.

The prophecy of the Messiah, yes, it's always been what it is according to the word of God, but it's like anything else.

When people take it and manipulate it and put it into their own traditional ideas, it becomes something that it shouldn't ever been.

Which is why it is so fascinating what Daniel really did.

When Daniel is placed where he is, eventually, if we remember this, Daniel, it was Daniel who fought.

We got to keep this in mind.

The king got so mad because all of his magicians, his soothsayers, and his uh uh uh fortune tellers were all missing it, but Daniel was getting it right.

And the king put out the word, kill every single one of them.

But what did Daniel do?

He fought that they would live.

Why in the world would Daniel save their lives?

Why wouldn't he just say, Let them be killed, because they're a thorn in my flesh?

No, he didn't.

He protected their lives, and then what he asked is, put me in charge over them.

And when he got put in charge over them, he began to train them to be able to read the signs, to look for the one that was coming to be the Messiah.

Then when we fast forward to the birth of Christ, and there's a story of Bethlehem, we know that story.

We know that the Magi, the wise men, guess where they come from?

All the way back to Daniel, they had for hundreds of years been looking for the sign of the one who was to come.

And when they go looking for Jesus, it was because Daniel had raised them and trained them, even though they couldn't even figure it out.

That's the madness of all this.

That the world's like, oh, it's just a bunch of stuff on paper.

Yeah, right.

This is how we know we win, and it's why it's really encouraging.