Church, can we show our appreciation to the praise team?
Can we do that? They blessed us, even though it
might have been a little awkward to see a few faces just kind of
staring into the to the space. But technology has its
advantages, but it often times betrays us.
And that's why I'm a huge advocate of physical things,
like a physical Bible. I never have to worry if this
Bible is going to die in terms of the battery.
I never have to worry if I'm going to be interrupted by
notification. And so I champion a real copy of
God's Word in your hands. And I would.
You can get excited about that, too.
Yeah, sure. And so I, I really hope and I
know we are a church that loves the Bible, and I pray that we
would also hold to the tradition of keeping the physical copy of
God's Word accessible and at our disposal.
It's a gift from him. And so if you have a Bible with
you, let's go together to Revelation chapter 12.
The Kingdom of the world has
become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall
reign forever and ever. That is the message that the 7th
trumpet in the Book of Revelation announces.
And we looked at that together at the end of Revelation Chapter
11. It really is a declaration of
the coronation and the triumphant return of the Lord
Jesus Christ who will come back to rule and reign over all
things. And that is something a true
Christian believes in and more than just believes in longs for.
Now here's what's so interesting.
What follows this electric, electrifying vision in
Revelation 11, surprisingly, are not the judgments that are
connected to it. In other words, the final set of
judgments, which are known as the bowls of God's wrath, will
not be interacted with. What will not be something that
we see right away? Those set of judgments will be
poured out to pave the way for the second coming of Christ, but
they don't appear until Revelation chapter 15 and said
What we have in Revelation 12 through 14 is a description of
the struggle between the Kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of
God, especially during the Tribulation period.
It's as though the Holy Spirit is reminding and informing us of
crucial details related to this ancient battle.
And as we come to this new chapter, God is going to give us
a different perspective on it. One that centers on and relays
relies heavenly upon listen Satan's experience.
The purpose of this section, when we come to the end of it,
is that despite all his efforts to thwart the promises of God,
the evil one will fail and Christ will win.
That is the impression that we're going to be left with as
we explore these verses in the coming weeks, and it will all
begin with a very curious vision.
I have to say that when I realize what we'll be looking at
this Sunday, I became even more excited, especially when we're
considering the Christmas season that we're in.
Revelation is not frequently referenced this time of the year
in churches. However, I think we're going to
be pleasantly surprised to discover just how relevant
John's vision here is to the truths many are being prepared
to celebrate. And so I invite you to come to
Revelation 12. Look at verse one, and let's
read down through verse 6 together.
Revelation 12, verse one reads. 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 12 stars.
She was pregnant 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 7
heads and 10 horns, and on his heads 7 diadems.
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. 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 has a place repaired
by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1260 days.
Let's pray together, Lord, we know that these truths already,
just by reading them, declare your victory, Your victory over
all things, including Satan. And we pray that as we look at
these passages, You would be exalted in our hearts, that you
would draw out of us greater affection and adoration.
And that, Lord, ultimately you would be blessed by the
faithfulness of our obedience to Your Word.
And as we come now, Lord, we pray that you would be our
teacher and that you would help us understand everything that we
will look at now. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Seems quite cryptic, doesn't it?
Planets, Dragons, numbers. Well, the best thing that we can
do to properly interpret this portrait of Scripture is by
underscoring what John says. Right from the beginning.
John tells us that these are signs.
Look again at verse one and a great sign appeared in heaven.
Similar language is found in verse 3 and another sign
appeared in heaven. So it's clear that what we are
presented in this section is not meant to be taken completely
literally. Instead, there are many symbolic
representations that point to literal realities.
And so once that's established, then we can begin to identify
certain things. And right away what we can
acknowledge is that there are at least two major signs, two major
pictures here. The first is this woman, and the
second is this dragon. Now, there are other details
that we will examine, but these are the main characters before
us. And of the two, the most hotly
debated is the woman. Who is she?
Who does she represent? Why is she being presented here?
And the most prominent views that you will hear concerning
this woman are that she might represent the Virgin Mary.
That is a view that is proposed by the Roman Catholic Church
called Mary gave Birth to Jesus. And not only that, they would go
beyond such an observation and say the fact that she is exalted
in the cosmos speaks of her heavenly exaltation.
And there are others who say, no, this can't be the Virgin
Mary. It in fact speaks of the Church
of Jesus Christ who has been persecuted and harassed by the
devil since her beginnings. Well, I I want to take the time
to address those two main alternative views and hopefully
clarify how none of it holds water.
None of these actually makes sense when we consider the
context carefully. And so let me first, by
explaining the details here, show why this cannot #1 be about
the Virgin Mary or Mary. There's some observations here
that are inconsistent with the Marian dogma of the Roman
Catholic Church. First, if you consider how the
Roman Catholic Church teaches about the Immaculate Conception
of Mary, that Mary herself was born without a sin nature, then
you run into a problem right away because it would seem
strange for John here to describe Mary suffering pain in
labor. Look again in verse 3 it says,
hear what? That she was pregnant in verse 2
rather and was crying out in birth pains in the agony of
giving birth. Now why is that an issue?
Well, because according to Genesis 316, these kind of
agonizing pains are considered a curse, a curse that comes from
sin entering into the world. And the Roman Catholics believe
that even when Mary did give birth, there was no pain because
she was immaculately conceived. And so some Catholics would
usually deny this, referring to physical pain, and would instead
say that this is actually just a metaphor of spiritual struggles,
the difficulties that Mary experienced before and leading
up to the birth of Christ and even afterwards.
However, this is just one of many interpretive challenges.
A second observation that can be made is later in this chapter.
Scroll down to Revelation 12/17 and it says here that the dragon
became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the
rest of her offspring. Highlight that the rest of her
offspring and those who keep the commandments of God and hold to
the testimony of Jesus and he stood on the sand of the sea.
So even if you're vaguely familiar with the basic
doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church considering Mary, here's
what you have to ask. If Mary is a perpetual virgin,
then why is she described as having other offspring in this
verse? It's there, isn't it?
She has other offspring. And usually the answer you'll
receive is that this is not Speaking of literal children.
This is a spiritual seed. Mary being what?
The mother of all believers. That's what's often proposed.
So you can see how there can be debates back and forth around
these issues. But if you want to just not have
any lengthy conversations, you can skip to the main thought
that I believe dismisses Mary from being the candidate, at
least the primary one in this vision.
Look back at Revelation 12, verse 5.
She gave birth to a male child who is to rule all the nations
with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and
to His throne. Look at verse 6 now and the
woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared
by God in which she is to be nourished for 1260 days.
Verse 5 undeniably speaks of who?
Christ. No debate.
How do you make sense of verse 6 though when it comes to Mary's
role in all of this? Even with the wide scope of
beliefs from the Catholics about Mary, there is no way to
accommodate this description in verse 6 with her.
There is no hint historically. There is no vague impression
biblically that Mary at some point fled into the wilderness
for 3 1/2 years. That did not happen after the
birth of Christ. That didn't happen at the
ascension of Christ. This alone suffices to show that
she cannot be considered a candidate for the interpretation
of this woman. It just doesn't fit, and that's
why some believe instead that this woman in Revelation 12
typifies the Church. You'll find that opinion among
Church fathers, and even a minority among a minority of
modern interpreters today. But there's one obvious detail
that even disqualifies the Church from being the woman
here. Look again at verse 5.
She gave birth to a male child who is to rule all the nations
with a rod of iron, But her child was caught up to God and
to His throne. This woman gives birth to the
child who is undeniably Christ. Scripture clearly teaches us
that it is Christ who gives birth to the church and not the
other way around. The church doesn't give birth to
Christ. Nowhere in the Bible do we find
the church bringing the Incarnate Son of God into the
world. And that alone should end the
debate. And so if it's not Mary, and if
it's not the church, then we're only really left with 1 credible
answer, that the woman speaks of the nation of Israel.
And I want to tell you why. There are two things that we
have to highlight about this woman.
Number one, her clothing and #2 her condition, her clothing.
Look at the raiment. It's exalted, right?
The sun, moon, and stars. We see it in verse one.
What will those pictures merged together is strongly alluded to
in Scripture. This motif of these celestial
elements together are found in one other place in all of the
Bible. And John by the Spirit expects
us as we've come to the end of the Bible to remember since
we've been faithful reading the rest of it and say, OK, I've
seen this before. And the only other place where
you'll find sun, moon and 12 stars mentioned together is back
in Genesis. Genesis 37 verse 9 to 10, where
Joseph explains his second dream to his brothers and he tells
them, I saw the sun and I saw the moon and I saw eleven stars
bowing before me. Now why 11 stars and not 12 like
what we see here in Revelation 12?
Because Joseph would be counted as a 12.
Now Jacob, the father of Joseph, upon hearing this is a little
upset and he interprets the dream himself.
Jacob understands. He represents the son, his wife.
Joseph's mother Rachel represents the moon, and his
sons speak of the stars and would later become the tribes of
Israel. And he rebukes Joseph.
It's amazing how the Holy Spirit takes that image and brings it
to this vision because he wants to make the connection.
If you read Genesis 37 and understood how Jacob interprets
it, then you would know that those things together symbolize
the early stages of the nation of Israel.
Now it's resurfacing here because it's intended to convey
the similar truth. What we have here with all of
these things in the early stages of Revelation 12 is the history
and the people of Israel pictured as a woman.
It doesn't end there though. You have more here.
Israel as a nation is frequently brought to our attention in the
Scriptures depicted as a woman, as a woman, and I believe we are
acquainted enough with the Old Testament to understand that.
But where we might be unfamiliar is how the Bible even shows
Israel as a woman in labor in some instances, especially in
times of distress and discipline.
So these are two scriptures worth turning to and writing
down in your notes. Consider Isaiah 27 or 26.
Excuse me, Isaiah 26 verse 15. But you have increased the
nation, O Lord, you have increased the nation.
You are glorified. You have enlarged all the
borders of the land. Oh Lord, in distress they sought
you. They poured out a whispered
prayer when your discipline was upon them.
Like a pregnant woman who rise and cries out in her pangs when
she is near to giving birth, so were we.
Because of you. Oh Lord, you see it?
Well, there's an end there. Consider Jeremiah.
Jeremiah chapter 4 and look at verse 31.
Jeremiah 431 reads for I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,
anguish as one, giving birth to her first child.
The cry of the daughter of Zion, gasping for breath, stretching
out her hands. Woe is me, I am fainting before
murderers. So shouldn't be strange to us
then, that John now is describing Israel in a familiar
fashion. But what's the larger message?
Why is that being presented here?
Well, again, look at the context in Revelation 12.
She's in pain for a reason. And the reason is because she's
ready to give birth. She's ready to go into labor and
bring into the world a male child.
And so when you take all these features, all these ingredients
and put them together, the message is undeniably clear.
What John is seeing here with the clothing of the woman and
the condition of the woman speaks of the distress of the
nation of Israel that they've known throughout the ages, as
they have been long, longly waiting and anticipating the
arrival of the Messiah. All the sin, all the evil, all
the wars, all the chastisement, all the promises as they become
more and more clear throughout redemptive history, yet not
being realized, contribute to the angst and the turmoil and
the challenges. When will he come?
When will he arrive? When will the son of David make
everything right? And as soon as we get acquainted
or reacquainted with this picture, we are suddenly
introduced to a new character and the second major one in this
vision, the great red dragon. Now let's look at the great red
dragon. It's not difficult to understand
who he represents, but just in case there's any confusion, look
at verse 9 of Revelation 12. We are told exactly who the
dragon is. And the great dragon was thrown
down, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan,
the deceiver of the whole world, this is Satan.
And again, this is a symbolic picture, but we're given the
description, we're given the interpretation of who he is.
But where things get a little cloudy are the details about
this great dragon. What are they?
Look again at verse 3. Behold the great red dragon in
the middle of the verse with 7 heads and 10 horns, and on his
heads 7 diadems, which are crowns.
Now if you're just left with this, we're in trouble.
This can mean 1000 different things, but what do we do?
We interpret Scripture with Scripture.
And so just like we did with the woman and the sun, moon and
stars, we have to try to investigate and evaluate the
rest of the Bible and ask where else have we seen these things
mentioned together? And we don't actually have to go
very far. We could go to the book of
Daniel, but we just have to stay in Revelation actually, because
clarity is provided later on. Now, I don't want to overwhelm
you, but we have to do this. Here's what's going to happen,
John. And Revelation 17 is going to
see yet another vision. He's going to see many of them.
And in this vision, though, he's going to see a beast, not a
dragon. And with this beast, he's going
to find the same details given to him, not the dragon, but a
beast with these same number of horns and the same number of
crowns and heads. And here's a short explanation.
The reason why it's going to be found on the beast is because at
some point the dragon, who is Satan, is going to hand these
things over to the beast. That's the simple explanation.
But as John is looking at this, he's actually given the
understanding of these things. This is where we have to turn
now. Look at Revelation 17, verse 9.
Here's our answer. Revelation 17, verse 9.
This calls for a mind with wisdom.
The seven heads are 7 mountains on which the woman is seated.
There are also 7 kings. Highlight that five of them whom
have fallen. One is, the other has not yet
come, and when he does come, he must remain only a little while.
As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it
belongs to the seven, and goes to destruction.
Verse 12 and the horns that you saw are 10 kings who have not
yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as
kings for one hour together with the beast.
A lot of detail. I know it's a mouthful.
Just take a breath with me. All you and I need to understand
at this point is that these heads and these horns on this
dragon refer and represent political leaders and their
empires. That's all you need to know for
now. And the reason why they are
associated and even attached to this dragon is because we are to
understand that Satan ultimately has dominion over these empires
and leaders. He's the one who's really at
work. He's the puppet master over what
the whole world really and Satan's control, the whole earth
has been a reality ever since the fall and it will continue to
remain so until the return of Christ and we learn how the evil
1 is able to govern this vast planet with such amazing
influence. Go back to Revelation 12.
What do we see here in verse 4 after reading that?
He has these heads and these horns that speak of nations and
speak of confederacy of governments under his control.
Look what we read here in verse 4.
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. This tale we're told sweeps not
something on the earth, but something in the heavenlies.
Now, is this speaking about Satan wishing down 1/3 of the
stars in in space as they come crashing to the the earth?
That can't be. We've seen many stars, actual
stars falling on the Earth up to this point in Revelation.
But the context doesn't suggest that.
You know this very well, that in certain passages stars can can
symbolize angels. And that's what seems to be
proposed here. Let me show you why.
Look at verse 7 of Revelation 12.
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against
the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
Look at verse 9. And the great dragon was thrown
down, that ancient serpent who was 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.
This is fascinating. We're told that Satan has his
own angels. How can I be when he himself is
a created heavenly creature? Well, we're giving the
explanation of verse four, that in his original rebellion he
took down with him a third of the angels.
You see that his tail swept down a third of the stars which speak
of these angels who joined them in his defiance against the true
and living God, and they've been working for him ever since.
Now some might be curious to to wonder, well, how many angels
exactly followed Satan. We don't have an exact number,
but we know, if you remember our study of the trumpet judgments,
that one of the final judgments in that set is that there will
be hundreds of millions of demons who will assist for
leading demons and destroying 1/3 of the human population.
So based on that insight, we know that there are at least
hundreds of millions of demons who are working for the Kingdom
of Darkness, and we're being reminded of that here.
They have been tormenting and deceiving humanity since the
beginning of time, and one of the strongest displays of
Satan's dominance over this world was seen at the birth of
Christ. You see how now this is going to
tie into the Christmas message. It's not the only Christmas
message, so don't worry. What do we read in the rest of
verse four? That after we heard about these
stars that fall down with Satan, the dragon stood before the
woman who was about to give birth, so when she bore her
child, he might devour it. We're just a few days away from
Christmas. Did you know that there's a
dragon in the Christmas story? That's what Revelation says.
And you might object and say, well, I I've read the Gospel
accounts. I haven't found a dragon
anywhere. Actually, you have.
You just didn't notice it. Remember, if this dragon has
seven heads and 10 horns that speak of governments and rulers
and Princess and politicians, then you know exactly what
happened near the birth of Christ that relates this truth
to that point. Did we see any rise of
governmental powers at the birth of Christ?
Of course, Herod. Herod, that evil man who
commanded that children under the age of 2, especially male
children in Bethlehem and around the region, would be slaughtered
in his attempt to snuff out this prophecy of the King of the
Jews. So you see a man with his ego
trying to do something vile and despicable, and now you come to
Revelation. You realize, oh, there's a
spirit behind that operation. The Herod was just a human
vessel, but there's a great dragon behind such efforts, and
it's a reminder to all of us that there are evil spirits,
evil forces that stand behind agendas and crimes at the
highest levels. It didn't just happen when
Christ came into this world. It happens all the time, even
today, and it's been happening since Genesis.
But here's the encouraging truth.
No matter what kind of sway Satan has, he failed to destroy
the long expected Jesus. He was right there ready to
devour the child and he was hoping to extinguish God's
faithfulness and he failed. He failed.
That's what we find in verse 5 that she gave birth to a male
child and one who has to rule all the nations that that's his
destiny. But we also learned that he did
what he was caught up to God and to his throne.
The speaks of what the the ascension of Christ, the
exaltation of Christ. Satan couldn't Vanquish it.
Satan could not stop it. That's really one of the
messages of Christmas. Satan was defeated.
He thought that he could succeed.
He's so arrogant, so filled with pride and hatred.
He actually thought that he can overcome God's redemption for
the world, and he didn't. And we might think that this is
a good place for the scene to end, but it doesn't.
Something interesting happens between verse 5 and verse 6.
So in verse 5 it's clear we have here a description of the birth
of Christ, and not just the birth of Christ, but his
ascension and his exaltation. He is now sitting at the right
hand of God, and he is to come to rule all the nations with a
rod of iron. But then you look at verse 6 and
something, something doesn't seem right, at least when you
consider the timeline verse 6 says.
And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place
prepared by God in which she used to be nourished for 1260
days. What is that have to do with
everything that we just heard? Up to this point?
We've been hearing about Israel and the promised Messiah and
Satan trying to stop the first Advent and he failed.
And all of a sudden we're we're back to the woman and her
running into the wilderness where God's going to take care
of her for 3 1/2 years. God is so gracious to us because
He has not left us in the dark. He's given us a very strong clue
in verse 6. And that is the timing.
That is the duration. That is that number there again,
1260 days. Have we seen that before?
Yes, you have. We have.
Go back to Chapter 11. Look at verse 2, Revelation 11,
verse 2 do not measure the court outside the temple.
Leave that out for it is given over to the nations and they
will trample the holy city for 42 months and I will grant
authority to my 2 witnesses and they will prophecy for 1260 days
clothed in sackcloth. Remember, Revelation 11/1 to
three describe and prophecy key events that are connected to the
people of Israel for 42 months. Jerusalem will be severely
oppressed for that same amount of time, God will raise up two
powerful prophets that will preach to them and to the rest
of the world. So what we have here again is a
description of what's to come in this particular period of time,
which really described the final years of the Tribulation period.
And clearly God is not finished telling us more about what's to
take place during that same time frame.
Yes, the Holy City will be trampled upon.
Yes, there will be two preachers who will be preaching for that
same duration of time. And as we come to chapter 12, we
realize there's more. This woman, clearly, who speaks
of Israel will be fleeing into the wilderness.
How do we make sense of this? Here's what it means.
We see that this woman will be so oppressed that she will
actually have to escape for a season.
And when we read the rest of Revelation 12, we'll see exactly
who's the one oppressing her. It will be the dragon.
He will actually chase her. So hold on, let's step back for
a moment. How do we make sense all?
Here's how we make sense of it. Since Satan failed in his
attempt to thwart God's promises concerning the first coming of
Christ, he will seek to stop the 2nd.
And one of the ways he will try to do this is by destroying the
Jewish people, a people whom the Lord promised to pour His spirit
upon in the last days to be saved living in a land of the
Lord said he would physically rule from forever and ever upon
his return. And the devil and his great
pride will do everything he can to make sure that none of that
happens. And so history also has shown us
that the great dragon has been trying to do exactly that for
centuries, but to no avail. So the great dragon turns his
attention away from the child, the male child, and will now
pursue the woman. And what's interesting is from
verse 5 to verse 6, we were talking about the birth and
ministry of Christ. And we skip over to the last
days, nothing in between. Why?
Because in our understanding of Revelation and the rest of
Scripture concerning the end times, Israel plays a major
role. And when we look at it from
Satan's perspective, he understands what some people
don't even believe, that there is a connection between the
Jewish people and how Christ will come back again.
And so this woman will flee into the wilderness for a period of
time. And this is where we're going to
end. We have to consider this final
thought. It could very well be that some
of these Jews will flee at this point of the Tribulation.
Do so in obedience to the words of Jesus Christ.
Do you remember what Christ taught in the Olivet Discourse?
Let me remind you, in our final passage this afternoon in
Matthew 2415 to 21, we read Jesus saying, so when you see
the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel
standing in the holy place, let the reader understand.
Pause for a moment. Matthew 2415, Jesus says, let
the reader understand. You know what that tells me?
Understanding the last days is possible.
Don't let other people tell you otherwise.
There are some people who will never touch the Book of
Revelation because they think that it's not understandable.
It's too cryptic, it's too mysterious, it's too
overwhelming, it's too symbolic. And yet here's my Jesus saying,
let the reader understand, understand what this concept
called the abomination of desolation.
So it's knowable. We just have to do the work.
And that's what we've been doing, flipping from passage to
passage. This is what will make us mature
Christians. What do we read later?
We saw it early in the passage. Revelation 17.
This calls for wisdom. So there is an effort on our
part to know these things. And I think the one of the
reasons why people don't know them is because they don't want
to put in the work. We're going to put in the work.
So Jesus says when you see the abomination of desolation spoken
of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let
me remind you, the abomination of desolation speaks of an
individual who will come into the physical temple in Jerusalem
and desecrate it. How will he desecrate it?
He will claim himself to be God. He will demand worship.
He will sit in that place and expect the world to honor him
and to deify him. And Jesus says, listen, when you
see that, then he gives these instructions here, what's fast?
Here's what's fascinating. He localizes these instructions.
Up to this point in Matthew 24, He's been giving insight to the
whole world about the world. But then when you come to this,
it's a turning point. Listen to what he says in verse
16. Then let those who are aware in
Chicago, in Judea, let those who are in Judea do what?
Flee. Flee to the mountains.
Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take
what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not
turn back to take his cloak. And alas, for women who are
pregnant, for those who are nursing infants in those days,
pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath, for
then there will be great tribulation, since has not been
from the beginning of the world until now.
No and never will be. What you saw in Revelation 12,
verse 6, the woman fleeing into the wilderness, is an expansion
of what Jesus taught here. And it could be again, it could
be that some of these Jews who will run, remember Jesus's words
are doing so in accordance with what Christ commanded.
Here's what this means. As you and I continue in
Revelation, we are witnessing the Jewish people coming closer
and closer to putting their trust in Messiah, to putting
their trust in Jesus of Nazareth as their savior.
Now, this woman fleeing into the wilderness for this period of
time is going to be expanded on in the rest of Revelation 12,
but for now, I'll end here. Does this description of God
supernaturally providing for his own in a wilderness for this
same period of time sound familiar to you?
It should. Do you remember a man named
Elijah? Elijah was one of the greatest
prophets in Israel's history. And Elijah confronted an
apostate nation and he, through his prayers, caused a drought to
take place in Israel. For how long again?
3 1/2 years according to James. But what you read in First Kings
17 is that when Elijah pronounces this judgement, God
tells him to do what? Flee.
Flee to the brook, Careth. And there I will take care of
you. I've commanded Ravens to feed
you. And by faith, God was taking
care of his servant. And at the right time, he says,
now go to a widow, she's going to take care of you.
A widow, really. Yes, go.
And he did. And God took care of him and at
the right time, according to James.
Again, after 3 1/2 years, he appears once more and he
continues his ministry. I was meditating on this last
night, and here's what I thought.
This God who governs the nation's, this God who according
to Revelation 12, will take special care of Israel.
Why? Because he promised to save
them, is the same God who cares about the One.
He took care of Elijah in the same way that he takes care of
this entire country. And I'm here to tell you today
that he cares about you. This one who is supreme over all
things, who will rule all the nations with a rod of iron, has
his eye on you. You.
Yes, you. You say, well, I'm not a
prophet. I can understand God taking care
of Elijah, but who am I? Well, let me remind you what
else James said. Elijah was a man like us.
He has the same nature. He had a St. the same
temptation, same discouragement. Elijah actually barely made it
in ministry. He submitted his resignation to
God because I'm I'm done, Lord, and Lord said, no, I'm not going
to accept it. You still have some things for
me to do through you. God looks at you.
God looks at me. That's what I thought of.
Oh, Lord, you're taking care of this woman who is exalted in
your sight, but you're also, as I remember the Old Testament,
willing to shepherd the one. Brothers and sisters, why is
this important? Because how we interpret this
ultimately determines how we view God.
And here's the Christmas message at this point.
Satan lost. Satan lost, Christ came in.
He's exalted. He's ready to return, but he is
so foolish he thinks he can still win.
And here's what Revelation tells us.
He's actually going to lose again.
He's going to lose again. We have already won.
We're a victorious people. We're just waiting to see it
happen. And so you and I can know, we
know the end of the story. We are going to be redeemed.
Christ is going to conquer and we will be with him forever and
ever and ever. Merry Christmas to you, Lord, we
thank you. How even Revelation 12 can
actually speak to us at this time of the year.
It's amazing, Lord, how if we just go through Your word, it's
timely. And Lord, we just want to
rejoice in Your presence because You've given us that much more
light that You've used this church family with the hunger
for Your Word to bring us that much closer into our
understanding of who You are and Your ways.
And so, Lord, we just pray that You would always keep us in the
truth that no matter what popular opinions are out there,
that we would always say, thus says the Lord, that no matter
what kind of opposing views may come our way, we would say, but
it is written. So Lord, we pray your blessing
over Maranatha Bible Church to remain and every other church
that's represented here, that we would be people of the book,
that we would always go to Scripture, that we would always
understand your mind through these verses, and that we would
always submit to what your word says.
So Lord, we do thank you today. We thank you that you've shown
us in this text that Satan, even though he might have convinced
hundreds of millions of angels to obey him, and though he has
seven heads and though he has 10 horns, though he does hold sway
over this entire world, he will never win.
He lost 2000 years ago and he will lose again in the days to
come. And for this we say thank you
because we belong to you and to you alone.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Let's stand church.