Conquering the Dragon

Good morning, everyone. It's good to be back with you.

Missed you guys last week while we were in Seattle.

And it's such a joy to worship God together.

If you are here and you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.

We'd love to give you a Bible that you can use.

We are in Revelation this morning for our sermon.

We've been in the book of Revelation, been going through it from the beginning to the end.

We're about halfway through.

And we're in chapter 12.

We just passed the kind of climactic midpoint of Revelation.

And now the rest of Revelation is going to explain in greater depth, with greater specificity,

what the first 11 chapters basically, Revelation, meant.

And so that's kind of where we are at the start of that, Revelation 12.

A lot of people consider this kind of the interpretive key to the entire book.

Because if you understand this passage rightly, you can understand a lot of other things in the book of Revelation.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Father, glorify your name and the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, this morning, through the reading and preaching of your Word.

Lord, remind us of your salvation and authority and glory and power.

Remind us of the great mercy and grace in which you have covered us, forgiven us by the blood of the Lamb.

Amen.

Assure us of our place in your kingdom, of the way you see us in Christ.

Fill our hearts this morning with faith, with hope, with love as we live out this world that is full of tribulation.

Strengthen us to be faithful to you, to be faithful even unto death.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Revelation 12, 1 through 17.

If you would please stand and then I will read Revelation 12, 1 through 17.

And a great sign appeared in heaven.

A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

She was pregnant and was crying out in earth pains and the agony of giving birth.

And another sign appeared in heaven.

Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadons.

His tail swept down a third the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.

She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon.

And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated.

And there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.

He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,

Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.

For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

For they loved not their lives, even unto death.

Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them.

But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.

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.

But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness,

to the place where she is to be nourished for a time and times and half a time.

The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the flood.

But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river and the dragon that the dragon had poured from his mouth.

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on 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.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

May be seated this time.

I noticed that over the last week or so, a couple weeks, there was a long, entertaining debate recently on our church's Off Topic channel.

And about whether dragons are actually dinosaurs.

John Buckley, Nina's I think in labor, so you have to pray for her.

John Buckley cited an article that claimed that until the word dinosaur was coined by Richard Owen in 1842,

most cultures throughout the world refer to ancient dinosaur fossils as dragons or terrible lizards.

And apparently, as recently as 2007, some villagers in central China have been digging up dinosaur bones,

believing that it's dragon bones and using it in traditional medicine.

And Susan Wang chimed in, noting that the Chinese word for dragon is actually in the Chinese word for dinosaur,

which is literally terrible dragon or fearsome dragon.

That's what the word dinosaur is in Chinese.

A BBC article from a couple weeks ago showcased a remarkably complete fossil that looks just like a dragon,

an aquatic reptile that has been dubbed a dragon because of its long neck that matches the popular conceptions of dragons in various cultures.

Whether dragons are actually dinosaurs is a tickling possibility that, as Lauren Miller noted, ultimately doesn't matter.

But I do want to settle once and for all that dragons are real.

As Kendall Fowler wisely noted, if there are dragons in the Bible, that's good enough for me, y'all.

And here it is.

Verse 3.

Revelation 12 is the story of epic proportions, if there ever was one.

But aren't dragons the stuff of mints?

What is it doing here in the Bible?

Well, yes, they are the stuff of mints.

But that's why C.S. Lewis once described Christianity as, quote, myth become fact.

And he defines myth in his book, Miracles, as at its best a real, though unfocused gleam of divine truth falling upon human imagination.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not only a propositional truth to arrest our reason,

but it's a story, a drama to capture our imagination.

It's not only something to assent to, but something to delight in.

The story of God's redemption of his people in and through his son, Jesus Christ, is the best story of all.

It's the original voice of which all good stories are just a faint echo.

It's the original fountain that's bubbling over, of which all other good stories in the world are,

but a small, narrow, little bit flowing from it.

Revelation 12 is complete with a great red dragon, a star-studded, pregnant woman,

who gives birth to the chosen one, the Messiah, the promised king.

And it teaches us that we are the heirs of that king, the offspring of that woman,

and that we must conquer the dragon by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.

That's my main point this morning.

We're going to go through this passage and talk about the dragon and the woman and the king and the heirs,

and I'm going to spend more time on the first two points to build a case for the latter two points.

First, let's talk about the dragon.

Isaiah 27.1 prophesied, we read this in our cult worship,

of the Lord's day of redemption,

and that in that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword

will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent,

and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

Revelation 12 is a fulfillment of this prophecy.

Prophecy.

We don't know what the creature's precise genus and species are,

but dragons are in the Bible sea monsters.

The sea is often a symbol of cosmic chaos throughout scripture,

and one of the things that ancient people feared more than anything else was the sea.

Why?

Because you can't measure its end, you can't plumb its depth,

you can't predict it, you can't control it,

and many people died in the seas.

And so at the end of chapter 12, this dragon is standing on the sand of the sea,

it's coming out of his abyss in the seas to come in and wreak havoc upon the earth.

And then later in chapter 13, the beast that the dragon uses to do his bidding

also rises up out of the sea.

So this sea is a symbol, a sign of that chaotic force in rebellion against God.

This is why at the end, after God's final judgment in Revelation 21.1,

when God brings about a new heaven and a new earth,

he says that the sea was no more.

So throughout Old Testament, dragons are associated with the sea,

and also dragons are often used as symbols that represent evil kingdoms

that war against God and his people.

Ezekiel 29.3 calls Pharaoh the great dragon.

And Psalm 74.13-14 dramatically describes how God split the Red Sea

and delivered Israel from Egypt and from the great dragon and Pharaoh in this way.

He says,

You divided the sea by your might.

You broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.

You crushed the heads of Leviathan.

You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

So in a similar vein, Revelation 12 uses the dragon as the symbol for the devil, for Satan,

because it is the most fearsome creature known to the human imagination.

And this is no ordinary dragon either.

It's not the run-of-the-mill dragon.

This is the great dragon,

suggested of its massive power and size.

Most of us, I think, would be frightened if just like a tiny bat flew in.

And it's hovering around our faces.

But imagine a terrifying creature who in verse 4 says,

With his tail sweeps down a third of the stars of heaven and casts them down to the earth.

This is a Godzilla-scale dragon.

But the great red dragon of Revelation 12 is even scarier because it's real.

We know that this dragon and the woman in verses 1 to 2 are signs.

They're called signs, which tips us off to the fact that they're symbols.

They're figurative and representative.

But the fact that they are figurative representations of spiritual realities does not mean that they are less real.

Actually, the Bible considers the things of the spirit, things that are unseen,

to be just as real, if not more, than physical realities that are all around us.

It is described as red, likely because of the color's association with blood.

Later in Revelation 17, the great prostitute that seduces and leads God's people into immorality,

the city of Babylon, a symbol of Babylon, is seen wearing scarlet.

And that color is explained there as because she's drunk with the blood of the saints,

the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

And unlike Jesus, the Lamb of God, who sheds his own blood to redeem the people of God,

his people for himself, this dragon terrorizes and sheds the blood of others for his gain.

Earlier in Revelation 6-4, the rider on the red horse also symbolized war.

Not surprisingly, red, because it's associated with blood, is also associated with war.

It's the color of the Greek god of war, Ares, and the Roman god of war, Mars.

And this dragon has seven heads and ten horns, and on its head, seven diamonds.

I'll talk more detail about what these seven heads and ten horns mean next week

when we are formally introduced to the beast.

The dragon's beast also has seven heads and ten horns.

But for now, it suffices to say that this is an allusion to the fourth beast in the visions of Daniel,

in Daniel chapter 7.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

This beast represents worldly powers that are in rebellion against God,

that oppose God and persecute his people.

And in the Bible, it's associated with Egypt, Babylon, Rome.

I think, in our modern day, it would include states like North Korea, China, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and others,

where there is severe, widespread, state-sanctioned persecution of Christians

and systemic oppression of believers.

There are many others.

We are told explicitly in Revelation 79 and 1712, respectively,

that the seven heads represent seven mountains or hills,

and that the ten horns represent ten kings.

We'll learn that one of the nicknames for the city of Rome was City on Seven Hills.

So then Revelation 12 here is teaching us that the great dragon,

this ancient serpent with seven heads and ten horns,

has been behind these sinful world powers and empires all throughout human history.

It's the dragon that lies behind the beast.

It's the dragon that lies behind the false prophet.

It's the dragon that lies behind the great prostitute.

All three of them will be introduced to in the coming chapters.

They all do the dragon's bidding.

This dragon that we see here is our greatest enemy,

and he is the fiend behind all fiends.

And the description of the dragon in verse 3 suggests that this dragon is contending for the throne of Christ.

Jesus has been described, already in Revelation 5-6,

as the lamb with seven horns,

referring to the completeness and the perfection of his authority and power.

And this dragon tries to do him one better.

He's only a pretendent.

He has ten horns, it says.

Jesus is described later on in Revelation 19-12 as wearing many diadems on his head.

And here the dragon, too, is wearing seven diadems on his seven heads.

This dragon is the one that Scripture veerously calls the ruler of this world.

He is still under the ultimate authority and sovereignty of God,

but he has nonetheless been given,

quote,

the kingdoms of the world and their glory, as it says in the Gospels.

This is the one that 2 Corinthians 4-4 calls the God of this world,

who has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,

to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,

who is the image of God.

He is the one that, in Ephesians 2-2,

calls the prince of the power of the air,

the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

So, all that you see that is sinful and broken in the world,

of course, in part, it has to do with our own sinful flesh,

our own sinful nature.

But the demon, the devil, the dragon is also behind much of what is going on.

This dragon is an illegitimate claimant to the throne

that rightly belongs to Christ the King.

And that's why he is hell-bent on destroying the woman's male child,

which is Jesus.

In verse 5, he's the one who is to rule all the nations with the rod of iron.

And, of course, this dragon doesn't want anything to do with that.

So he makes war on the woman and makes war on the rest of her offspring,

in verse 7 here.

He says in verse 4 that his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven

and cast them to the earth,

and the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth

so that when she bore her child, he might devour it.

Some people think that the dragon sweeping down the third of the stars of heaven

and casting them to earth with his tail

is referring to the same event as verses 8 and 9,

where the dragon and his angels are defeated by Michael and his angels

and then cast down from heaven down to earth.

I do not think that's the case,

because here it's the dragon himself who is doing the casting down to earth.

But later in verse 8 and 9, the dragon is cast down by others.

And I also don't think that, as some people think,

that this verse is referring to the primordial fall of Satan and his angels.

We know that there are fallen angels that have been rebelled,

and they're recorded as being incarcerated in Tartarus in 2 Peter 2.4

and inbound in eternal chains under gloomy darkness in Jude 6.

I don't think this is referring to that fall of angels,

because they're not thrown down to earth, but they're thrown down to Tartarus.

I think this is referring to a different event in history.

I think it's best to understand the sweeping down of the stars of heaven

as an allusion to Daniel 8, 9-10, which uses that exact language.

Daniel 8, 9-10 is a prophecy about Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus IV,

who persecutes and kills God's people in the 2nd century BC.

And so Daniel uses the language of sweeping down the stars of heaven

to refer to this earthly ruler killing God's people, persecuting God's people.

So I think this refers, this woman represents the people of God.

And I'm going to demonstrate that more shortly.

On her head, crown of 12 stars.

So this fits the Revelation context really well,

because she has these 12 stars on her head.

And we saw earlier in Revelation 1,

that the seven stars that Jesus holds in his right hand

represent the seven angels who are representatives of the seven churches.

And so I think this Satan sweeping down the 3rd of the stars

refers to how he is persecuting and killing God's people.

The 3rd is probably an approximate figure, a symbolic figure,

but a sizable chunk of God's people.

And the people that are being persecuted here

are people who have their citizenship in heaven,

and that's why they're a heavenly figure,

and yet they are here on earth.

That's why the stars are swept down.

The dragon also tries to devour the woman's son as soon as he's born.

This probably includes Herod's murder of the innocents,

we see in Matthew 2, 16 to 18,

when he orders all male babies, age two and under,

in the Bethlehem region, killed,

because he wants to make sure that Jesus doesn't survive,

because he is the prophesied Messiah.

This likely also includes the numerous times throughout the Gospels

when people, animated in part by this dragon,

tries to kill Jesus either by pushing him off the cliff

or stoning him to death.

Happens many times throughout the Gospels.

So this is the dragon trying to kill the male child,

the prophesied prince as soon as he is born.

But the dragon fails to destroy this chosen one, the Messiah.

The woman successfully gives birth to her,

and then this child is subsequently caught up to God and to his throne.

So Satan loses his bid for the throne.

Jesus still ascends to the heavens to occupy his right place

at the right hand of the Father to rule forever.

And Satan's earthly defeat at the hand of Jesus

then is enforced and executed in heaven by Michael and his angels

who defeat the dragon and his angels and cast them down to earth.

He says in verse 9,

The great dragon was thrown down,

that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan,

the deceiver of the whole world.

Now, but that doesn't mean that the dragon is done.

Now, it says in verse 13,

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.

Having failed in his attempt to kill the prince,

he now goes after the mother and the rest of her offspring.

The word pursue here is the same Greek word

that's often translated in the New Testament to mean persecute,

especially in the book of Acts.

Persecuting God's people,

and I think that's exactly what this is meaning here.

The woman representing the people of God being persecuted.

But the woman is also protected by God.

So it says in verse 17,

Then the dragon became furious with the woman

and went off to make war on her rest of her offspring,

on those who keep the commandments of God

and hold the testimony of Jesus.

I'll explain more shortly what it means

if the woman is protected,

but her offspring are not in some way.

But right now, I just want to focus on this reality

of the dragon and the spiritual war.

Right now, there is a great red dragon

who is pursuing us and champing at the bits to destroy us.

Oh, how differently we would live

if we actually believe that?

Ephesians 6, 12-13 exhorts us,

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against the rulers,

against the authorities,

against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,

against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God

that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,

and having done all, to stand firm.

In one of his podcasts,

I don't actually listen to his podcast,

but I just came across it in an article,

Jocko Willink, former commander of the U.S. Navy SEALs,

was asked how when he was out in the field in war,

he managed to wake up at 4.30 in the morning every day

to exercise and work out and train for the battlefield.

And his response was very simple.

I know that somewhere out there,

another man is also preparing,

and that man is the enemy.

If you know that you have an enemy out there

who's trying to kill you,

you bet that you're going to train hard.

But our enemy is so much more than a soldier with a gun.

He is the great red dragon

who's prowling like a roaring lion

seeking someone to devour,

1 Peter 5.80.

He's out there, right now.

Have you put on the whole armor of God?

We're supposed to take up the sword of the Spirit,

which is the Word of God,

by praying at all times in the Spirit

with all prayer and supplications.

But I think it's quite fitting.

I think our women's ministry had a social gathering yesterday,

and they did a fun activity called sword drills,

where they, I think, are supposed to find something

in the Bible quickly.

I guess it's a sword drill

because this is the sword of the Spirit.

I like it, yeah.

And do you have your sword at the ready?

Does the Word of God reside in your mind and in your heart?

Are you fitting yourself with God's armor through prayer?

Because that dragon is out there.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2.11,

we must not be outwitted by Satan

or be ignorant of his designs.

We can't just saunter out into the battlefield

and just hoping that we're going to be lucky.

We need to be aware of the schemes of the enemy

and how does our enemy work.

His names give us a clue as to how this dragon works.

He's called the ancient serpent,

according to Genesis 3,

the deceiver of the whole world in verse 9.

One of the main weapons of this great dragon is deception.

The title ancient serpent,

referring to Genesis 3,

where at the Garden of Eden,

the serpent deceives Adam and Eve

to eat the forbidden fruit

from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

He impugns the character of God,

slanders God's character and says,

God is withholding this good thing from you

which will make you more like him

and open your eyes.

He slanders God and accuses God

and then he lies and sells poison.

death that seems to rest to humanity

and all creation.

That ancient serpent, that's his strategy.

2 Corinthians 11 speaks to how Satan

spreads a different gospel

and imparts to people a different spirit

just as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning.

He uses, as 2 Thessalonians 2 tells us,

false signs and wonders

and all wicked deception.

He is a liar

and a father of lies,

as Jesus called him,

John 8, 3, 4.

The enemy will lie to you

about God's character

and he will lie to you

about God's word.

He will lie to you

saying that God is not good,

that he is not sovereign,

that he is not loving.

He will lie to you

saying that God's word is not true,

that it's in your best interest

to live according to your own will,

not according to the word of God.

Beware of the great dragon's lies.

The dragon is also called the devil

and Satan.

And he's described in verse 10

as the accuser of our brothers

who accuses them day and night

before our God.

These titles, devil is a Greek word,

Satan is a Hebrew word.

They both refer to this meaning

of slanderer or accuser.

That's what the devil is.

That's what Satan is.

He accuses.

Remember in the book of Job

how he slithers into the court of heaven

and then accuses Job before God?

He doesn't love you.

He doesn't want to obey you.

He's only doing that

because you've given him

all these good gifts.

Take them away.

Take his children away.

Take his wealth away.

Take his health away.

And he will defy you

and blaspheme you to your face.

That's what Satan does.

He accuses the saints of God.

You see that in the book of Job.

He does it again in Zechariah 3

when he accuses before God's heavenly court

that Joshua, the high priest,

not any just Israelite,

a high priest,

the holiest person really

in that community

and says he is unclean,

unfit to be a high priest.

That's his MO,

accusing the people of God.

Even though, as we'll see,

he has been overthrown

from the heavenly court,

he's not stopped accusing us

to be in our midst.

He accuses our brothers and sisters to us

and he accuses us.

Have you ever had

just a sinister accusatory thought

about a Christian brother or sister

in the church

just starkly sneaking into your mind?

That's how he sows dissension.

And be wary also

of condemning accusations

that are leveled directly against you.

The Holy Spirit does, yes,

convict us of sin,

but the Holy Spirit

never condemns

the people of God.

If you have already

repented of your sins

and you have put your faith

in Jesus Christ

but you are still feeling

this nagging accusations,

condemnation,

and dejection from God,

that is not

the voice of the Lamb.

That's the voice of the dragon.

Beware of the dragon's schemes.

Our battle is not

against flesh and blood.

Now that's the dragon.

Let's look more closely

at the woman.

It says in verses 1 to 2,

And a great sign

appeared in heaven,

a woman clothed with the sun,

with the moon under her feet,

and on her head

a crowd of 12 stars.

She was pregnant

and was crying out

in birth pains

at the agony

of giving birth.

Now at first glance,

we might begin to think

that this woman is married,

since she is,

after all,

the woman who gave birth

to Jesus, the Messiah.

However, there are several

decisive clues here

that point us

in a different direction.

First,

we know that this is not

a liberal woman,

but a figurative woman

because she was called

a sign in verse 1,

a symbol.

Second,

later on in verse 6,

this woman flees

into the wilderness

where she has a place

prepared by God,

and we don't ever see

Mary do this

in the Gospels

after giving birth

to Jesus.

Third,

in verse 17,

we are told that the dragon

became furious

with the woman

and went off to make war

on the rest of her offspring.

And who are the rest

of her offspring?

On those who keep

the commandments of God

and hold to the testimony

of Jesus.

If the woman is Mary,

then the rest

of her offspring

would be Jesus'

half-brothers,

James,

Joseph,

Judas,

and Simon,

and Jesus' sisters

who are mentioned

in Mark 6, 3.

But nowhere in the Gospels

do we see Satan

specifically targeting

Jesus' biological siblings.

Rather,

verse 17 identifies

the rest of her offspring

as the people of God,

those who hold

to the testimony

of Jesus,

the church,

the gathering

of Christians.

So this woman

is not Mary,

but she's a figure

for the covenant

people of God,

of whose stream

the New Testament church

is also a part.

Mary is a special member

of the people of God.

Remember,

Angel Gabriel

called her

O favored one.

The Lord is with you.

She is a special member

of the church of God.

She's included

in this woman,

but we cannot equate

Mary with this woman.

That the woman

stands for the people

of God is confirmed

by the description

in verse 1.

She is clothed

with the sun,

with the moon

under her feet,

and on her head

a crown of 12 stars.

This recalls

Genesis 37

where Joseph

tells his father,

Jacob,

the dream

that he just had.

And in the dream,

the sun,

the moon,

and the 11 stars

come and bow down

to Joseph.

And Jacob

immediately interprets

this as

sun representing him,

the moon representing

his wife,

Joseph's mother,

Rachel,

and then 11 stars

representing the rest

of his sons,

11 sons,

coming back to bow down

to the 12 star,

which is Joseph.

Joseph.

And so there's

already this connection

that these images

represent the people

of God

because Jacob,

renamed later Israel,

is the one from whom

the 12 tribes

of Israel come.

His 12 sons

make up the 12 tribes.

So,

and this is why

Jesus says,

specifically in John 4,

22,

that salvation

is from the Jews.

This is the covenant

people of God

connected to the old covenant.

Now,

the authors of scripture

also frequently

describe God's people

figuratively as a woman,

even as God's wife

in several places.

And citing the prophecy

of Isaiah 54,

1,

Paul writes in Galatians

4, 26 to 27,

but the Jerusalem

above is free.

He's talking about

heavenly Jerusalem,

a heavenly people of God.

Jerusalem above is free

and she is our mother,

he says.

For it is written,

rejoice,

O bear the one

who does not bear.

Break forth and cry aloud,

you who are not in labor.

For the children

of the desolate one

will be more than those

of the one

who has a husband.

The old covenant

people of God

were like a barren woman

who has failed

to be fruitful

and bear children.

However,

this prophecy

predicts a time

when she will no longer

be the desolate one,

but whether she will be

a fruitful one

and have many children

and that prophecy

is fulfilled

by the coming of Jesus

and all those

who follow him thereafter.

So,

this woman

that Paul calls

our mother,

Jerusalem,

represents the people

of God

and this woman

now also includes

the covenant,

the new covenant

people of God,

the church,

since the church

is part of that same stream

of God's people

and this woman

continues to live

after Jesus' ascension

to his heavenly throne.

This is why

in 2 John 1,

John addresses

the church figuratively

as the elect lady

and her children.

This is a common

biblical image.

But this raises

a question.

If both the woman

and the rest

of her offspring

refer to God's people,

how can it be

that the woman

is protected

and nourished

in the wilderness

while the dragon

makes war

on the rest

of her offspring?

Notice how verse 6

says that the woman

flees to the wilderness

to a place

prepared by God

which she is to be nourished

for 1,260 days.

This is talking

about the same thing

as verse 14

where the woman

was given

the two wings

of the great eagle

so that she might fly

from the serpent

into the wilderness

to the place

where she is to be nourished

for a time

and times

and half a time.

Now we're getting

into heady territory again.

A lot of you guys

are with me

for Revelation 11.

If you want more details

you can go listen

to that sermon.

But this is a time,

times and half a time

is a year,

two years

and half a year.

So it's three and a half years

half of a seven year period

which refers to

a complete

perfect period of time.

This is an allusion

to Daniel 12.7

which prophesied

that the end of the world

would be preceded

by a time

times

and half a time.

And that's the same time frame

as 1,260 days.

If you count 30 days

to a month

and that's how many days

there are

in three and a half years

1,260.

But while this woman

is immune

to the dragon's attack

verse 17 tells us

that the dragon

became furious

with the woman

and went off

to make war

on the rest of her offspring

and on those

who keep the comets

of God

and hold to the testimony

of Jesus.

Later in Revelation 13.5-7

we're told that

the dragon's beast

is given authority

for 42 months

to blaspheme

the name of God

and to persecute

God's people

and to conquer

the saints

to make war

on the saints

and to conquer them.

So Satan is able

to make war

on the saints

and conquer them

and he does this

for the exact

same time period

42 months

which is

1,260 days

which is

a time

times and half

a time

three and a half years.

What's going on here

in chapters 12-13

parallel

what we saw

in chapter 11

verses 1-14

where the holy city

which represents

God's people

is trampled

for 42 months

but the two witnesses

which also represent

the church

are protected

and given authority

to prophesy

for 1,260 days.

So John is using

these two different

time expressions

42 months

and 1,260 days

to refer to

the same time period

in order to express

this tension

between the two

dueling realities

that on the one hand

church bears witness

but on the other hand

the devil blasphemes.

On the one hand

God protects

the church spiritually

but on the other hand

Satan persecutes

the church

and destroys

the church physically.

The church

bears witness

to Jesus

for 1,060 days

Satan blasphemes

for 42 months.

The church

is protected

in the wilderness

for 1,060 days

but the beast

makes war

against the saints

and conquers them

for 42 months.

So they're just

same time period

but referring to

the two dueling realities

in tension.

This is why

we as people

of God

are afflicted

but not crushed

perplexed

but not driven

to despair

persecuted

but not forsaken

struck down

but not destroyed.

We carry in

our physical bodies

the death

of Jesus

so that the

life of Jesus

the spiritual

life of Jesus

may be manifest

through us.

Our outer self

is wasting away

like the outer temple

in chapter 11

that's trampled.

However,

the inner self

is protected

and measured

by God

and has been

renewed

day by day.

So speaking of

the woman

represents the

redeemed

people of God

we are

even now

Ephesians 2,6

tells us

reigning with Christ

spiritually

participating

in his reign

in the heavenly

places

because we are

in Christ

and Christ

is at the

right hand

of the Father.

So then this

woman represents

this idealized

heavenly

spiritual reality

of the

redeemed

people of God.

That's why

she's clothed

with the sun,

moon,

and the crown

with 12 stars.

But even

though the

physical reality

of the woman

the church

on earth

which is

represented

by her

offspring

is persecuted

and vulnerable

this heavenly

spiritual reality

is protected

and invulnerable.

This is an

amazing truth.

We're protected.

We're nourished

by God.

Despite all

the fury

of the dragon

we are protected

and nourished

by God

in the wilderness

in the same way

the Israelites

were protected

and nourished

in the wilderness

after God

crushed the

dragon

the great

dragon

Pharaoh

and delivered

them through

the Leviathan

in the Red Sea

and then brought

them into the wilderness.

That's what we're

seeing here.

The end time

exodus

happening again.

God nourishes

people with

manna in the wilderness

so likewise

will be nourished

spiritually by the

bread of God

which is Jesus Christ.

This also

follows the pattern

we see in the

life of Moses

and Elijah.

I mentioned to you

that the two

witnesses in

Revelation 11

are patterned

after prophet

Elijah and Moses

and Elijah and

Moses both had

periods in their

life where they

fled a king

that was trying

to kill them.

Moses was fleeing

from Pharaoh.

Elijah was fleeing

from Queen Jezebel

and they both flee

into the wilderness

and there they are

nourished and

protected by God.

That's what's

going to happen

to us.

It says in

verse 14

the woman was

given the two

wings of the

great eagle

so that she

might fly

from the

serpent

into the

wilderness.

That's again

Exodus imagery.

Exodus 19

4

God says to

the Israelites

you yourselves

have seen

what I did

to the

Egyptians

and how I

bore you

on eagle's

wings

and brought

you to

myself.

It's a

beautiful

image.

A few

years ago

while we

were visiting

my parents

in Washington

State

we took a

family trip

to Kamano

Island State

Park.

Whenever we

go to

state parks

or national

parks we

like to

go birding

because we

like birds.

We like to

watch birds.

On one of

those trips we

got to see a

bald eagle

and a bald

eagle that

was just

flying in

these

continuous

spirals

like circles

just higher

and higher

and higher.

That's what

people call

riding thermals.

Birds

riding the

updrafts of

warm air

by circling

around like

this so

it can

hover to

very high

altitudes

without

expanding too

much of

its energy.

That's what

that eagle

was doing.

It's the

first time

I've ever

seen that.

This eagle

was doing

that and

we just

stared on

for minutes

and it

just went

higher and

higher and

higher until

it was just

a speck in

the sky and

I couldn't

see anything

anymore.

I'd never

seen a bird

fly that high

before.

that eagle

is untouchable.

Like what are

you going to

do?

You're going to

try to shoot

that eagle?

Nothing can

touch that

eagle.

And that's

the reality

of the people

of God

given the

great wings

of the eagle

to fly away

to be protected

and nourished

in the wilderness.

Who's going

to touch

us?

This great

dragon can

do nothing

to harm us.

Look at how

lopsided this

picture is.

On the one

hand, you've

got a pregnant

woman.

Imagine a

pregnant woman.

How vulnerable

is she?

She can't

run.

She certainly

can't fight.

And then you

got this

dragon on the

other hand.

She's just

waiting for

the baby to

be born and

he's just

going to

devour that

baby.

I imagine

him like a

bull just

like piling

the ground

and just

getting ready

to charge

as soon as

the baby is

born.

And yet he

can do

nothing to

stop the

destiny of

this king,

this child

king.

He can do

nothing to

harm this

woman who

is spiritually

invulnerable.

Why?

Because even

if the devil

can kill our

bodies, he

can never

kill our

souls or

threaten our

eternal life

because as

Colossians 3,

3 says,

our life is

hidden with

Christ in

God.

The dragon

might steal

or destroy

our possessions,

he might take

away everything

that we have,

but he cannot

touch our

inheritance that

is imperishable

and undefiled

and unfading,

kept in

heaven for

us, 1 Peter

1, 4.

This gives

us great

confidence to

bear witness to

Jesus, even in

the midst of

persecution,

because we

honestly have

nothing to

us.

This picture

of the woman

also reveals

just how God

sees us and

cherishes us.

There's a

family resemblance

between this

woman and

Jesus.

In John's

vision of

Jesus in

chapter 1,

verse 16,

Jesus held

seven stars

and his face

was like the

sun shining

in full strength.

So there's a

family resemblance

with this woman

who is clothed

with the sun

and has a

crown of 12

stars on her

head.

Well, that's

because she is

related to

Jesus.

She is the

bride of the

Lamb who

will be

introduced to

us formally

in Revelation

21, the

wife of the

Lamb in all

her dazzling

splendor.

And isn't it

wonderful that

this is the

way Jesus

sees his

people, the

church?

Imagine a

woman clothed

with the

sun.

A bride in

her clean

white wedding

gown looks

beautiful, but

it's nothing

like the sun.

the

radiance, the

brilliance, the

glory of

sun, the

purity of

its shining

forth.

Wow, that's

what this

woman is

like.

She has a

crown of

12 stars.

I imagine

that these

stars are far

bigger and

brighter than

the most costly

and precious

diamonds known

to man.

This woman is

beautiful, pure,

she has unhindered

brilliance all

around.

Sometimes I

think we as

Christians think

of ourselves as

the church of

Christ, we

think of the

church as

this lowly,

shabby whore

with raggedy

soiled clothes.

And we ask

ourselves, why

would Jesus

ever want to be

our husband?

what would

Jesus want

anything to do

with me?

Well, that's

true, but

only partly

true.

That's what we

all once

were.

Because we

had sinned

against God,

because we

had rebelled

against Him,

because we

had gone

after idols

and worshipped,

instead of

worshipping God

our Creator,

we had worshipped

creatures, we

had worshipped

ourselves and

lived for

ourselves instead

of living for

God.

So we were

like prostitutes

or unfaithful

wife that

had gone

after strangers.

And yet,

Jesus, the

Son of God,

came to

redeem His

bride for

Himself.

And He

accomplished

that by the

blood of the

Lamb, by His

own blood, as

it says in

verse 11.

Because Christ

loved the

church, and

He gave

Himself for

her, for

His bride, as

it says in

Ephesians 5,

25 to 27,

that He

might sanctify

her, having

cleansed her

by the

washing of

water with

the Word, so

He might

present the

church to

Himself in

splendor, without

spot or wrinkle or

any such thing,

that she might be

holy and without

blemish.

Don't ever

forget the

splendid glory of

the church of

Christ that has

been justified and

sanctified by the

blood of Christ.

That's who we

are.

That is our

destiny.

That's how God

sees us in

Christ.

That brings me to

my third point,

the king.

The entire earthly

life of Jesus is

telescoped into this

single verse, verse

five.

She gave birth to a

male child, one

is to rule all the

nations with the

rod of iron, but

her child was

caught up to God

and to His throne, so

that the dragon

could not devour

Him.

The destiny of

this Christ child

was already

prophesied in Psalm

2, 7 to 9, which

said that the

Messiah, whom God

calls my son, will

rule over the

nations with a rod

of iron.

But

prophecy concerning

this chosen one

goes even further

back to the very

beginning, to

Genesis 3, right

after the fall of

humanity, after

they sinned, deceived

by the serpent, by

the dragon, and took

the fruit that they

weren't supposed to

take, this is God's

judgment that He

pronounces over the

serpent in Genesis

3, 15.

I will put enmity

between you and the

woman, and between

your offspring and

her offspring.

He shall bruise your

head, and you shall

bruise His heel.

This is what pastors

and theologians call

the proto-evangelion,

the first gospel, the

very first glimmer of

God's redemptive

plan.

We see the enmity

clearly between the

woman and the

dragon, and we

also see how Jesus

is going, He

inflicts a fatal

blow to the ancient

serpent, the dragon,

by bruising His

head, but He also

will suffer, because

His heel will be

bruised.

This is fulfilled in

Jesus' death on the

cross, yet as a

sacrificial Lamb of

God, He takes our

place, bears the

punishment and the

wrath that we

deserve on the

cross.

And it's because of

His sacrifice that by

the blood of the Lamb

that we are cleansed

and we are redeemed,

and after redeeming us

in that way, Jesus

resurrects on the

third day, He is

caught up to heaven

to reign with God at

the right hand of the

Father, and that's

what verse 5 is

referring to, He's

caught up to heaven,

to His throne.

And as a result of

these events on

earth, the

corresponding event

happens in heaven,

where Satan and

his angels are then

expelled, cast down

from heaven to earth,

as we saw earlier in

verses 7 to 9.

This is referring to

what Jesus has done.

That's why it says in

verse 10, which

interprets that,

now the salvation and

the power and the

kingdom of our God

and the authority of

His Christ have come.

For the accuser of

our brothers has been

thrown down, who

accuses them day and

night before our God.

Jesus, by His life,

death, resurrection,

ascension, inaugurates

the kingdom of God,

ushers in the kingdom

of God, and He pays

for our sin with the

blood of the Lamb, and

then His salvation comes

through Him so that the

accuser is thrown down.

This is an amazing

truth.

In Colossians 2, Paul

describes it as our

record of debt being

erased so that these

authorities in the

heavenly places, these

satanic powers and

angelic authorities have

no claim over us

anymore because our

sins have been nailed

to the cross and our

record of debt has been

erased.

It has been canceled.

This is why there is

now, therefore, no

condemnation for those

who are in Christ Jesus.

Jesus said by His

death, being lifted up

on the cross, John 12,

31, that the ruler of

this world will be cast

out, and that's precisely

what has happened, and

Satan has lost his place

in heaven.

Do you remember what I

talked earlier about how

he went to the court of

heaven to accuse Job

before God's face?

He went to the court of

heaven to accuse Joshua

the high priest before God's

face.

Well, he's not there

anymore.

He's lost access because

he has been cast down from

the court of heaven because

of his lies and because of

his deception, because of his

defeat at the hand of Jesus.

So imagine Satan being like a

lawyer that's been disbarred.

His legal license has been

revoked.

And he's been debarred, excluded,

expelled permanently from that

court.

He has no claim over God's

people.

So who shall bring any charge

against God's elect?

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died

more than that was raised, who is

at the right hand of God, who

indeed is interceding for us.

Instead of having this accuser

before God's face day and

night, now we have the faithful

intercessor Jesus Christ before

God day and night.

That's our glorious reality.

So church, I know there's some of

you here who struggle with

accusations from the enemy,

condemnation of the enemy.

Don't listen to him.

He's been disbarred.

He's been discredited.

He's a liar.

We, the rest of the woman's

offspring, are nothing less than

co-heirs with Christ the King

because Christ is the first

fruits.

And we are the rest of God's

harvest.

Our victory is assured.

Look at verse 12.

The devil has come down to you

in great wrath because he knows

that his time is short.

That's the reason why he makes

war against us with such

desperation.

The devil makes war against us

and conquers us physically, not

because he's so powerful and we're

so weak, not because he's so

assured of his own victory, but

because he knows he's losing.

Because he knows that his time is

short.

He's like, I think everybody's

still aware of this, knows this.

You guys know who Mike Tyson is?

Yeah, okay.

So, I mean, it's like the devil is like

Mike Tyson trying to bite off

Evander Holyfield's ear.

After he's been pummeled and

realizes there's no way he can win the

bout, and instead of being knocked out

with, you know, graciously, he decides

to bite the guy's ear off.

That's what this devil is like.

This is an act of desperation.

He knows that his time is short.

You may know this already, but because

a serpent, a snake is a cold-blooded

animal, he doesn't require that much

oxygen to function.

So, even after you, like, cut off its

head, the head actually can still move

and bite.

Do you guys know this?

And so, you can actually find YouTube

videos of a decapitated snake head, and

you'll take, like, a snake.

Don't look it up now.

I know you've got some of those on your

phone.

But you can take a stick to the mouth

and you don't keep biting.

Like, you don't do this.

Like, I think there was a man in Texas

some years ago who was bitten by a,

like, decapitated head of a snake.

And so, that's kind of like what this is

like.

Jesus has decisively defeated Satan on

the cross.

He's done.

He knows his time is short.

He's surely going to be vanquished, and

the time is going to come, as Romans 16,

20 presses, when the God of peace will

crush Satan underneath our feet.

We will one day crush that head

completely.

But right now, even though it's decapitated,

it's still doing this.

Because it's desperate.

It knows his time is short.

And that gives us hope for endurance.

When the enemy, in his fury, comes

against us and persecutes us, know that

his time is short.

Know that his defeat is assured.

That's why he's so desperate.

And that's why we, instead of fearing

death, we are faithful even unto death.

We love our lives not unto death.

We give our lives, we willingly, for

Christ.

Because that's how he triumphed.

That's how he conquered.

By dying on the cross in our place,

and raised and ascended to heaven.

And if we follow him, and follow that

power, and are faithful unto death, we too

will be raised with him forever.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the victory we have

in Jesus.

Thank you that he has all authority in

heaven and on earth.

Thank you that he is our great hero,

the chosen one, the king who has

vanquished our enemy.

The nemesis that was too much for us,

you conquered him.

By your blood.

And so now, help us, God, to endure

and to grab hold of the testimony of Jesus

so that we too might triumph by the word

of our testimony.

By your name, Lord.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.