Book of Revelation EPS 6

Chase: Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Point Church Podcast. I'm here with Pastor Sam as we are drip diving into a big one. Yes. chapter twelve of Revelations. you know, I've heard this described as the theological center, right, of Revelation. Would you describe it in that way? Yeah, I would say so because Revelation twelve is because Revelation translates, you know, reveal. Yeah. The big the Apocalypse translates to reveal. Yeah. So this is revealing what's going on behind the scenes in our world. Chapter twelve is helping us understand why the world is the way that it is, why there's brokenness, why there's pain, why there's evil. So yeah. Okay. All right. So if you want to follow along with us today, again we're in Revelation chapter twelve. I'll be reading it and asking questions as we go. So we're gonna be starting here in verse one. it says, 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. So I want to pause there real quick. Who is this woman? Yeah, who is this person? Yes. Yes. So the woman is it could mean a few different things. I think the most helpful way to understand it is the interpretation that this is. the Messiah. This is the bringer of new life. Yeah. So this is representative Bible project says like this is the the one who has come to give new life to people. Yeah. Thus the great enemy of the great enemy. This is the enemy of the devil. So coming to bring new life to the world. Okay. in verse two it says she was pregnant. Mm-hmm. And was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns on his head and seven diums. What does yours say? Where was that at? seven crowns on its head. Yeah. No, mine just says seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns on its head. Okay, so mine has a different word for crowns. Yep. There it is. But that dragon. probably diadem. Diadem. Yeah. There he goes. Mm hmm. that dragon. Yes. So now we got a a woman. We have a woman and a dragon. A woman with birthing pains and a dragon. We basically have the house of dragon on HBO right here. Yes, there it is. But what is that dragon? The dragon is again symbolic representing the devil. Think back to the Garden of Eden. The devil shows up as a serpent, as a snake. So, you know, the deceiver, the enemy of God's people. So this is the the dragon. Same slightly different creature, but same vibes, as the kids say. Yeah. Okay. verse four it says, His tail swept down a third of 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. She gave birth to a male child. One who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she was placed she was she has a place prepared by God in which she has been nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days. So two questions. Right there. Yeah. Why attack this child? Mm-hmm. And then what is happening in heaven? Yeah. This is on its face a very confusing passage. Cause you're like, what in the world is happening? Dragons, we got And again, how has HBO not made a show out of this? You know, it's it's crazy. Again, you have to understand the Old Testament that everything is referencing something else, but it's all being blended together. So the first thing we'll start with, because it just happened first, was he said his tail swept down one third of the stars to the earth. This is to be understood as the great rebellion that Satan led in heaven, which they're gonna talk about in a minute, you know, really unpacking it. But that when Satan decided to rebel against God, there were some angels that followed him in that rebellion. So thus they lost their place and they're cast down into the earth to be what we know as demons today. Angelic, eternal beings. Who are now twisted and broken by sin and they are following the dragon, who is the great enemy of God. It's not that God made the devil to be evil, but he made angels with free will, just as he made us with free will. And so they decide to take that free will and rebel. Now he's attacking the woman and her child because he's God's great enemy. And he wants to prevent. our Jesus storybook Bible that we read to Hannah just last night was saying, you know, the Satan or the the serpent wanted to harm God's children. He wanted to hurt God. So he went after Adam and Eve, just as he goes after all of humanity. So he's gonna go after the Messiah first and foremost, and he's also gonna go after all of those who are being birthed. In the new world, in the spirit, those who are coming to life in Jesus, that's who he's going to attack, 'cause now they are a part of the enemy's camp. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. And so now diving into that in verse seven it says, 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 him in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down. That the that ancient serpent who is called the devil and and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him. It's right there. Yeah. Deceiver, accuser. Yeah. It's also a little confusing because the typically the way that we tell stories in English is Da du da du da chronologically. This happened, then this happened, then this happened, then this happened. In scripture, a lot of times it's telling the same story, different angles. And we've talked about that. Yeah. So it's the same story, different angles. So it's like they talked about broad strokes, the struggle between good and evil. Now it's talking about more specific. Okay, here's the battle that broke out. Yeah. So it's kind of. That's where it can be a little confusing that you think it's this and then this happened. You're like, wait, I thought this that already happened. No, it's telling it from a different angle. So, so that is describing evil and he's used that language of the accuser. Mm-hmm. the one who you know, hurls accusations at the people of God. Another translation is the hostile one. Yeah. because Satan is not the name of that's a title. Yes. It translates to the accuser. Yes. the Satan is actually how you would read it in Hebrew. The Satan. His name would be closer to Lucifer. Yes. But it's the accuser. The accuser. So that is his main weapon. Yeah. Is words and accusations. That's very helpful for people to know as we unpack this spiritual warfare. His main weapon is words. Yeah. And he uses those words to speak lies. That's why Jesus says he is the father of lies. Yeah. His main weapon isn't fire or pitchforks or you know what I mean, earthquakes. His main weapon is words spoken aloud or in your head. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Speaking lies to you. Yeah. Yeah. Again, thus accusing you, lying to you, deceiving you, breaking you, any way he can. Because if the enemy can get inside your head, how do you combat that? You know what I mean? Like versus if they come at you with a sword, you just pick up a shield. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that's why they're trying to get us to understand he's the accuser. And going into that accuser part in verse ten it says, And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power in the kingdom of our God And the authority of his Christ has 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 love 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. So right there they use three. Yeah. Yeah. There's also something I do want to mention even before we get to those three, is it says like, Woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has gone down to you. So what Satan does, the Satan, the devil does when he's tempting Jesus in the wilderness. Mm-hmm. Which we just talked about briefly. If if you're listening closely, he says, went out to the wilderness. The woman did. Yeah. Went out to the wilderness and was provided for. Yeah. That refers back to Exodus, wandering the wilderness. There's a story of Elijah when he is like completely done and just spiritually burnt out. He's being, you know, chased for his life. The angels come and minister to him. But also the most famous is Jesus being tempted in the wilderness and then he Endures the temptation and then angels come and minister to him, you know, and provide for his needs. So it's it's all that, like in the most unlikely ways God provides. But in that accusation scene, at one point, the devil says, If you bow down and worship me, I will give you all the kingdoms of the earth, implying, I own this place. Yeah, I own this earth. And so That's why they're also saying it here, woe to the earth and sea, because the devil has gone down to you. It's almost affirming that. Like this world is broken and under the rule and dominion of a rebellious and former angelic being. Yeah. And that's heartbreaking. Yeah. So he has wrath with coming. He has wrath with all that. Now they overcome this evil. Mm-hmm. Not again with swords, fighting fire with fire, or speaking lies back to the devil. Instead, they share truth to combat lives. Yes. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, and the truth will set you free. So that's the first one. Speak the truth in love. Mm-hmm. John's introduction to Jesus, he came full of grace and Truth. So he's defeated through the truth, through the word of God. Yeah. That's how you combat a liar, the liar is with the truth. Also, he is overcome through that, but also through Jesus willingly giving up his life. Yeah. The blood of the Lamb. Jesus said, Mm-hmm, I lay my life down willingly, no one makes me, and therefore I will take it back on my own. And they're saying the same thing. Those who follow Jesus who share their testimony of the truth, they did not love their love their lives so much as to shrink from death. That we are willing to die for the truth. We're willing to love our enemies even to the point of death. That evil can't do anything against that. A liar can't do anything against that. so you remain faithful in your testimonies and you tell the truth, you lay down your life, and ultimately you pledge your allegiance to Jesus. And it it's almost like a jujitsu master taking all the force that was thrown at him that he's able to catapult it back, like boomerang it back on the enemy. Yeah. This is like how we understand how the evil is defeated. Yeah. That it doesn't require a battle. It's over. It's over. He can take the best hits and that's that's all he can do. Yeah. You already you already won. Exactly. So it defines victory as faithfulness. Yeah. Even if it costs you your life, you have eternal life. Yeah. Yeah. And so I I've got some more questions, but I want to finish this Yeah, let's finish this chapter. Yeah, always good to have more scripture in our lives. in verse thirteen it says, And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he 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 a flood. But the earth came to help of to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured out. From the mouth 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. So with that I know it's a lot. It's a lot. But I think the question that arises, 'cause we can read that last part about the war on the offsprings. Yep. And that word that we use nowadays is spiritual warfare. Warfare. Yes. And so 'Cause the devil's not waging war against the offspring of the woman. This is how again how we understand the Messiah implies the Messiah is we are, you know. But it's not like the devil is going to break into our church with again horns and on fire and start burning us alive. Like that's not how we understand what he but he is attacking us. Yes. That we do understand to be true. So that's why it's called spiritual warfare. He's attacking us in the spiritual realm. Yeah. Yeah. And so how should Christians think about spiritual warfare? Because I think, you know, there is a ne especially nowadays, there I mean, even back then, like there's all these different forms that you see. I'm not gonna call anything out, but there's all these different things. So many extremes. Extremes. Yep. There's people who don't even believe in it but say it's that's one of the extremes, yeah. Yeah. And so that is an extreme on that side if you're thinking that way. but how should Christians think about spiritual warfare in this? Yeah. there's a movie called usual suspects and Kaiser Sose who is the the bad guy who's referred to the whole time in the movie that but no one's ever seen him. Yeah. turns out to be Kevin Spacey's character, which is quite ironic. Just that everything's come out about Kevin Spacey since then, but it's like he just acts like this meek and mild person, but you don't know he's the same one who's the devil and he's just telling lies, lies, lies. And the ending scene of the movie is he's the whole time he's pretending he has a limp and he's feeble and he's broken and he's nothing. And then he walks out of the police station and puts sunglasses on and, you know, walks straight, gets into a sports car and away he goes and the cops realize too late that their main guy got away. But as he's walking out of the police station, he says, you know, he has a little monologue, but the key phrase that echoes from the movie is the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. Mm-hmm. Which is, you know, what the villain was trying to do. So that's one extreme. Yeah. There's no devil. Are you kidding me? You you need you know what I mean? Like your problem is that you you need more money. Your problem is you just need better medication. Your problem is you need a vacation. Your problem is, you know, you need whatever. You're living by the earth. Earthly, you need earthly solutions. Yeah. And sometimes, yes. Like you might not have enough money to buy food. That's not spiritual warfare. That's a reality that you have a stomach that requires food. Maybe you and your spouse are in so many arguments, not because the devil, but because you're spending too much time at work. Or you have a sharp tongue. Whatever. Like you need there are practical things that you need to do, but that's not spiritual warfare. Yeah. So we shouldn't be quick to dismiss everything and say, devil, are you kidding me? No way. Yeah. No, no how. And then we don't even look at spiritual solutions at all. Yeah. So we only focus on the physical. Now the other extreme that people I think are trend that used to be more of a nineties. Yeah. 80s, 90s, 2000s. solution to problems and then the devil could really, you know, pull the strings and no one was looking. Yeah. Now we've flipped to another extreme, especially on the other side with like kind of the newest generation that's coming to faith. Mm-hmm. and I'm not even saying it's bad or wrong, but it's I I I would say it's sometimes too far where everything is the devil. Mm-hmm. Everything is the devil. y y you can't watch that T V now there's some T V shows, yeah, you shouldn't, but it's like it it's got a evil energy around it, or the devil's hiding behind every bush. The reason I was late is because the devil held me up in traffic and I need to pray the blood of Jesus or whatever. Yeah. No, sometimes traffic just happens or you get a flat tire. You say I mean so like you shouldn't go either extreme where everything's the devil or nothing's the devil. And the likelihood that your car didn't start this morning with spiritual warfare is probably very slim. But the likeliness that you were being distracted during a time of prayer. Mm-hmm. There's a good chance that it could have been spiritual warfare. Yeah. And we'll talk about that in a moment. But it also depends on so it's like that's where wisdom and discernment is needed. Yeah. Yeah. And but I think a question arises like, especially when we're talking about the devil and like all this stuff. Like and we talked about the victory of Jesus and you brought it up about how he gave his life willingly and then he rose again and he defeated and then we hear about Saint Michael like defeating the devil and and this big glorious fight. Yeah. So if he is defeated then then what is his strategy still? 'Cause he knows he's lost. Right. But what is his strategy to get out there? His strategy again is accusations, lies, distraction, and division and temptation. And honestly, like I I said that part of this on Sunday, like counterfeit worship, like he doesn't care how he brings you away from God. No. For Adam and Eve it was fruit, it was forbidden fruit. Yeah. But how many people in scriptures it was sex, money, and power. Over and over and over again. Like sex, money, and power. Those seem to be the big three. Yeah. So it's like the temptation to worship. Something above God or alongside God. Yeah. Like, I just won't give this one thing up to him. So Yeah. Yeah. I would say that would be the way to understand it. Is he's going to tempt you, he's going to cause you to want to use your free will. Yeah. To gratify yourself in not trusting God's timing or God's ways. Yeah. So I think another question arises with that though is, you know, if he has been defeated in the you know he has these strategies, but why is he still active if he's been defeated? Right. Like why? All right. It's not scripture, but it's pretty close. Lord of the Rings. just I've I don't think we've ever got talked about this part. I know you've seen the movies. Have you read the books? yeah. Okay. Yeah. It was the only books like in school that I would read. Awesome. That are his history books. Like Civil War. Nice. I was one of those kids. so the book obviously the movies deviate a little bit here and there, some of the details. But one of the bigger ones they deviate from the books is there's a character in Lord of the Rings called Sauron, the White. Yep. And he has a lackey named Worm Tongue. Yep. In the movie, at the beginning of Return of the King, they're killed. By you know, being on top of their tower after the battle with the Ents, and they just fall to their death, and that's that, and they're no more. But that's not how it goes in the books. In the books, it's actually Tolkien is trying to help the reader understand how evil works in our world today. That's why he included that. Come on, Peter Jackson, but whatever. He hasn't responded to my fan mail yet. In the book, they keep Sauruman, who's like the great human like wizard and human villain of the story. They keep them in their tower and they go and destroy the ring. Sauron falls and is defeated, but they get out of the tower. They escape. They they're able to get away. I don't really remember how, but they do. And where do they go? They go to the Shire, which is where the hobbits are from. The really their motivation in so many ways is like we have to preserve, we have to protect these innocent people. So they go and attack the home of these hobbits who completely upended everything on them. Yeah. While the four hobbits are getting closer, with Gandalf, they hear word that things are not going well in the Shire and that there is a new mayor and his lackey who have twisted the Shire, have empowered bad hobbits to harm people, tax them. And basically enslaved them. Yeah. Until even though the battle's over, the ring's been destroyed. The war's over. But it says news has not yet reached them that the war is over. Yeah. So the hobbits come back and they lead the rebellion and they drive out evil from the Shire. And that, in many ways, is Tolkien's way of explaining why. evil still can persist for a time. That key word for a time. For a time. Yes. That's how he's describing. We don't know that time. Wish we did. Nope. But we do know that evil has lost. Yep. Some just don't know it yet. Yep. Like people especially who are in legion with doing the will of the dragon. Yep. Hey man, you don't know that Jesus is is Lord, Jesus is King, that this battle's over, but you need to flip over to the right side, thus like the the rebellious hobbits, who then, you know, some repent, some don't. But also we know that the king is coming. Because the hobbits come on behalf of the king. And they're like, hey, the king and his army will come and settle this. Yeah. And that'll be that. Thus, this is what happens when Jesus comes back. That yeah, any area that doesn't get dealt with by a us under the influence of the king. Yeah. The king himself will show up and make right. And you best believe he's not gonna leave any stone unturned when it comes to evil or the influence of the dragon, the demons, and their servants. Mm-hmm. That was again. I don't know if anyone knew that they were gonna hear Lord of the Rings today, but it's a perfect explanation. Anytime, man. It is, it is. But you know, spiritual warfare is a lot of times described as just the devil. And it's demons, right? Yeah, right. But sometimes it isn't. Right. Just demons. Right. Well, and you know, with what does scripture do you think emphasizes on that? Yeah. First Peter describes the devil, I think it's first Peter, is as a roaring lion, mm-hmm, like looking for someone to devour. But like he he's just wandering looking for someone to devour. But What the devil came at Jesus with wasn't a stick, wasn't a sword, wasn't, you know, a machine gun. It was with lies and temptations to take power for ourselves to gratify our own desires instead of God. So a lot of times the devil or demons will mess with people through lies, accusations. I just I came up with a list. False teaching, twisting of the scriptures, that's a big one right now. Did God really say? Mm-hmm. That's the first lie. Yep. Read Genesis three. And you know, yes he did. So false teaching. He'll try and twist the word of God. He did it to Jesus. Idolatry, especially idolatry that gets normalized in a culture. Yep. temptation, pride. Yeah. Thinking you're better than someone else or worse than someone else. That's the other side of the coin when it comes to pride. Yeah. C.S. Lewis says it's not about thinking of yourself less, it's or thinking less of yourself is thinking of yourself less. Like don't even think about yourself. Don't don't play that comparison game. Yep. he'll come at you with bitterness and unforgiveness. Mm-hmm. They hurt me, they wronged me, which is just the fruit of pride. Yeah. sexual immorality. Yep. Deception. You know what I mean? Just like he will come at you so many different ways. So that's the main way he'll come at you. but I think one for our day and age today is distraction. Yeah. Like he wants you fixated on something other than your calling. Yeah. And other than God. Yeah. Like when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we are asking for dependence on God. That he like we're acknowledging we need him. We're acknowledging we need daily bread to forgive us. You know what I mean? Like forgive our enemies as you we've been forgiven, but also like for his kingdom come, his will to be done. When we're distracted by politics, our job, the worries of this world, or anything like that, our hearts change. Yeah. And we're trying to fix it. We're trying to be. our own version of God. Yeah. And so that that's the other thing is like if the devil can't make you if he can't get you to fall, he'll make you busy and he'll make you distracted. Yeah, very much so. And I think I want to clear up like my question which you answered correctly 'cause you got my question. But my question wasn't saying like, you know, it's not just devil or demon, but it was like it was like the way that we sometimes can think of devil and demons. but you got it. You got it. Talking about like The bitterness and all that, like sometimes we don't look at that as being like the spiritual attack. Like we're like, you know, that's just the human, but it's well, it's like we we don't give the devil credit for being as clever as he is. Yeah. He's very clever. there are so many lies. John Mark Homer book that I highly recommend is called Live No Lies. Yep. Where he describes the strategy of where maybe it's almost like tracing back. A worry or a stress, because we know that doesn't come from the spirit. No. So that's producing fruit in us that's different than the spirit's fruit. So he's like, take that and walk it back. So let's say you're someone who worries about money. Yeah. Okay. Pretty common one. I don't think anyone would be like, repent and get to the altar right now because you worry about money. But he's saying there's something behind that. So pull that thread. So like let's say hypothetically you're worried about money. You're worried about money, why? Well, because I I need to buy a house and okay, like why do you need to buy a house? Well, I need shelter. Okay, why do you need shelter? Because it's it's up to me to provide the shelter. Okay. And then you start pulling that thread back. Yeah. Realizing you're the one trying to be God and say, It's not enough that I have what I have. Yeah. I need to be the one to provide a bigger house, better meals, a better car, because I care about the way people look at me. Why do you care about the like image? That's a big one. Let's talk about that's a probably even cleaner one. I care about what people think about me. Why? Yeah. Well, I want I want to look a certain way. Why do you want to look a certain way? Because then people will maybe approve of me more or like me more. They'll respect me. Well, why do you care about the fact that they approve of you, respect you, or like you more? Because I don't think I'm enough. Why do you not think you're enough? Yeah. Because without that, then who am I? Yeah. That reveals not in a shameful way, not to be like, how dare you, but that reveals a pitfall where you're like, the identity of being son or daughter of God is not sufficient in that area for you. Yeah. So you are trying to cover that area up with a lie or a fig leaf saying it doesn't you like what we should say is it doesn't really matter. what people think about me. Yeah. Or if they think about me at all. Whether I'm cool or relevant or attractive, you know, whatever, successful, it doesn't really it bounces off me because I am first and foremost a son or a daughter of God. Yeah. So the good and the bad that gets hurled at me bounces off. Yeah. Versus the good or the bad that gets hurled at me if I don't have that foundation, yeah. Can rock me. Yeah. Yeah. So that's where he's saying like Pull those threads like and see what's underneath. And you can do it within just a few seconds, especially if it's one. But to learn the alternative can take time. It that's why you need the word to speak truth to you. And you need a community reminding you, hey, Chase, you are a son of God. Not you are not the identity of your greatest success, your greatest failure, the compliment you just got or the insult you just got. Yeah. I heard it was community he's a Christian, but he said, If you wanna know your knowledge or your self worth, wait till your kids start asking why. Yeah. 'Cause it's that why. Like well, we love Jesus. Why? Well this, this and that, he died for us, blah, blah. Why? Yeah. And then you start and or if it's a personal one, the why, which if you have kids, you know that game. yeah. Why? I mean, they'll test your like knowledge on everything, on cars, on trees, on everything. But But it's very helpful when they push you on things like Jesus. Then you're like, 'Cause he not only died for me, but he loves me and yeah, calls me his own and saved me. Yeah. Like he s in in sometimes I think like we play down as Protestants, and probably just most in general, but I just see it a lot in the evangelical world. It's like he saved me for a later time. Like in heaven I won't burn. But in some ways you can even say he saved me from the world. Yeah. Like he saved me from being enslaved to the opinions of other people. Of course, yeah. He insl he saved me from thinking I need to keep up with the Joneses with the best XYZ. He saved me from thinking I'm only a success if I'm married, have so many kids, this like he saved me from that. Because that stuff can be very enslaving because that's your identity. It can be. And it can be lost. It can be. I'm gonna wrap these two questions together. we have been talking about how Revelations, like you can go back into the Bible and and see it throughout of it. Yeah. So that first one is where in Revelations where does it connect to the old testament? Mm-hmm. That second one is what is the message of this Revelation chapter twelve? Yeah. Of this one. Yes. I'm just finding a key passage I wanted to look at. So it I mean, it goes all the way back. The crazy thing is this story tells about It's telling the story of scripture from the very beginning, even before Adam and Eve, because the first sin happened in heaven with the rebellion of Satan and the angels who became demons. That's why he was in the garden to tempt Adam and Eve. Yeah. He'd already fallen. He'd already been cast down. So it's going all the way back to that. And then it goes from Genesis three and it goes into Genesis thirty seven is what I was looking for. That's the story of Joseph and being sold. By his brothers really comes to mind because they're all jealous of Joseph, they're very like hard hearted towards him. So they already had a bent towards not liking him, that lack of forgiveness. And so when they see him, it's like they're filled with rage. They literally say, they're plotting how to kill him. And then they say, Here comes that dreamer. They said to each other, come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. And we'll see what comes of his dreams. So they do something wicked. Yeah. Yes, their father was not a good dad by playing favorites. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. You know, he would he set them up for failure. Yep. But Joseph, they don't kill him. He rises to power in Egypt and he's second in command after only Pharaoh. And then when there's a famine in the land, all of the brothers come and they don't recognize him. And there's this great reconciliation moment. And Joseph says this line He says, What you all meant for evil, God used for good. Yeah. Yeah. For the salvation of our people. Yeah. And there's this repentance and forgiveness among the brothers. This is a picture of the kingdom of God. That, yes, there was a bad, broken situation, that their father played favorites, but that bitterness crept into their hearts was prompted in many ways, I think, by the devil to say, stay hard-hearted. Kill him. You know what I mean? Like, but it was over and over and over time. That's why unforgiveness and anger is so toxic, because it allows for an opening in that way. Yeah. But then You would be tempted to think, well, they're evil and God should smite these brothers. But then at the end of the story, they're reconciled together. Mm-hmm. And so you're like, okay. And then you go to Exodus, where there's a a Pharaoh who's hard hearted against God. He was or God's people. He's already hard-hearted. Yeah. But it says God hardened his heart. Like he allowed him to stay hard-hearted, and all these plagues come in, it just wipes out the people. So it's like then you see it in. Daniel chapter seven, where he prophesies about a son of man and these beasts that are described in later chapters. You see this in Zechariah 3. And John's just bringing all these prophecies together to say it's all the same enemy, it's all the same being, it's all the same lies and temptations over and over and over. They're just wearing different disguises. And if we can just be like Scooby-Doo and say, now who's behind the mask? It's the same villain every time, but we're so tempted to think the villain is someone else. Cause that's the greatest trick that ever overpulled. Is like we there's a problem, but we're pointing fingers at all the wrong people or institu it's like, no, it's it's him. He's the one who's corrupting people. He's the one who's corrupting institutions. He's the one who's trying to wreak havoc on our world. Point the finger at him. Yeah. You know what I mean? And like that that's what you've a thousand places. Correct. It's been happening in the Old Testament. Yep. That's what the New Testament's revealed to us. And that's what we're trul called to live out. Yeah. And so I think it brings us to our final question here. If great if if Satan's greatest weapon, I think we've talked about today is deception. Yeah. I think that could be wrapped up. Yep. Then what's the greatest defense against it? Yeah. the spiritual practices. are the greatest offense. What a spiritual practice is, is if he's attacking you spiritually, how do you stay strong spiritually? Yeah. You have to be in the word. Yep. It's truth. Yep. Let that shape you. Mm-hmm. God says to forgive my enemies, okay. I don't like it. But I have to. But I have I I if I want to stay spiritually strong, I should start doing that. God told me To serve my community, okay, might not like it at first, but I gotta do it. God told me, be in community, yeah, okay, might not like it, but I gotta do it. You know what I mean? Like allow the scriptures to dictate the course of your life. Yes. Some of the ways it will dictate the course of your life is in prayer. Yep. Staying connected to God. If you were on a battlefield and you had a walkie-talkie and you're under fire. You're gonna use that walkie-talkie to say, What do you need me to do? How do I get out of this? Very much so. Yeah. You're gonna use that. I've never been in combat, but I've seen some movies. So that's in many ways what prayer is. Yeah. One aspect of it. Be in community with other believers. Mm-hmm. Then when you find you're being tempted, you're under attack, or you're you feel like you're in a situation that could lead to that. Yeah. You just found the news and you're you're devastated, you're angry, you're heartbroken. Confess it to one another. Mm-hmm. Like get it out so that the devil doesn't get in. That's the beauty of being in a small group of Christian community. worship, coming to church on Sunday, listening to music in your car. This again reorients your heart to say, You're good, you're God, you're in charge of the world, you've got this. I might not understand the timing, I might not understand the details, but I trust you and I worship you. Like that does something to you psychologically and in your heart. Yeah. And just like keeping your eyes on Jesus in all things. So like I'd say it's worship, it's reading the scriptures, it's prayer, and it's community. If you can do that, the devil's gonna have a really hard time keeping you in the dark and keeping you in secret and attacking you. If you're openly praying to God, yeah, staying in the word, lifting him high, and confessing your sins to others, yeah. That's that's how you combat lies. That's how you combat those attacks. Yeah. Amen. Amen. And so with that we're gonna be closing out today. we're so thankful wherever you're tuning in at and getting to listen to us. we can't wait for next week and we'll be back with another episode.