1 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,119 This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark 2 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:12,240 Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, 3 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:16,400 County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he 4 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:18,720 continues teaching through God's Word. 5 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,040 A weapon so odd, you see, how he did this, or what he did here, 6 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,760 or how he treated his wife, or how he was ignorant and, you 7 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,760 know, with his kids, or how he was slothful in his job, or how 8 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,120 he had a lustful thorough or an unforgiving heart or a bitter 9 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,400 attitude. All these things that we still 10 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,920 struggle with as human beings that we asked the Lord to free 11 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,040 us from so that we can walk closer to Him and be more holy 12 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,720 and pure as He's holy. But we all still fail, don't we? 13 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:07,800 And that's why we continually live in repentance that we say 14 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,640 to the Lord, Lord, please forgive me, I don't want to be 15 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:12,480 like that. I don't want to act like that. 16 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:14,800 I don't want to do that. And the Lord is faithful to help 17 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:18,440 us and grow us and mature us. It seems that some Christians 18 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:20,920 have a wrong understanding of repentance. 19 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,640 They think that repentance is something that you do once and 20 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,880 then you have your golden ticket into heaven. 21 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,240 As we just heard from Pastor Clark, repentance is a heart 22 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,080 position. It's an ongoing way of living. 23 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,000 As a follower of Jesus, you should be consistently asking 24 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,560 God to reveal the areas of your life that are not pleasing to 25 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,240 Him. And when He reveals them, you 26 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,880 confess, repent, and then walk in the holiness provided by the 27 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:51,600 cross. Now here's Pastor Clark in 28 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,920 Revelation Chapter 12 with today's edition of Living Waters 29 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:59,000 of Grace. Revelation chapter 12, Verse 30 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,480 one. Now a great sign appeared in 31 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,240 heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her 32 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,360 feet, and on her head a Garland of 12 stars. 33 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:13,240 Then being with child, she cried out in labour and and in pain to 34 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,040 give birth. And another sign appeared in 35 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:17,960 heaven. Behold, a great fiery red 36 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,920 dragon, having 7 heads and 10 horns and seven diadems on his 37 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:24,760 head. His tail drew a third of the 38 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:26,880 stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. 39 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,400 And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give 40 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:34,440 birth to devour her child. As soon as it was born she bore 41 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,880 a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and 42 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,400 her child was caught up to God in his throne. 43 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:45,760 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place 44 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:50,920 prepared by God that they should feed her there at 1260 days. 45 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:54,520 As we study this Book of Revelation, it is a very, very 46 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:58,960 difficult book to to teach on because there's so much imagery 47 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,160 and so much allegory. And yet at the same time, 48 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,400 there's literal things that we have to be aware of that are 49 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:06,600 going to eventually come to pass. 50 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,400 And I think the danger whenever you teach prophecy and you're 51 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,640 involved with teaching things that are futuristic, we all have 52 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:16,320 a tendency to sometimes just like be interested in 53 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,520 information and gather perspective and think about 54 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,600 times and seasons and that kind of stuff. 55 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,880 But my heart as as a pastor is it that this word is not this 56 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,320 information that somehow today in the midst of this study, 57 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,760 you're going to encounter the Lord yourself in a deeper way. 58 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,120 Christ is going to become more real to you that he's going to 59 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,240 speak to you independent of even what I say is the thoughts go 60 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:41,560 out in your mind as you hear these scriptures. 61 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,000 You begin to think about the greatness of our God as we sang 62 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,880 in that worship song worthy is the lamb. 63 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:50,080 It was slain before the foundation of the earth. 64 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,640 So we'll go through this slowly this morning. 65 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,320 I looking at this chapter 12. We have a little bit extra time 66 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:56,840 today because of the agape lunch. 67 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,000 So the sermon sermon normally is about, you know, 3540 minutes a 68 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:02,600 day. It'll probably be about 5 hours. 69 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:07,280 So I hope you can have this kid. I see some of our visitors 70 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:08,640 saying, well, it was nice seeing you guys. 71 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,240 We're out of here. But anyway, verse one, the woman 72 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,520 is described in heavenly images. Now some people as they study 73 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,680 this would think that this woman is Mary, the Virgin Mary, but 74 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,080 that isn't the case and we'll get into why that is not the 75 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,480 proper interpretation of what this is all about. 76 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:29,800 Whenever the Scriptures are teaching in Revelation these 77 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:34,880 wild scenes in heaven, we have to keep in mind that many times 78 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:38,880 these are allegories. And allegory is something that 79 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:43,480 gives us a picture of a sign that will one day come to pass. 80 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:47,920 Not the literal fixture, excuse me, picture of a dragon with 10 81 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,320 horns or 7 crowns, that kind of stuff. 82 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,840 And so we're going to think about this from a historical 83 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:57,040 perspective, especially what's been lined, laid out for us in 84 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,920 the book of Daniel. But this is a first of seven 85 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:06,120 signs, this first verse that John relates to describing the, 86 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,600 the, the great sign. And the first sign is, is the 87 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:12,720 greatest sign because it's referring to the nation of 88 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:17,360 Israel and also the Messiah. But as we look at chapter 12 89 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,880 today and eventually 13 and 14, the main figures of this great 90 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:24,680 tribulation will be described. And the great sign introduces 91 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:26,400 the first of the seven this morning. 92 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:31,200 And verse one, the woman who represents Israel #2 The second 93 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:35,280 sign is the dragon that represents Satan #3 the manchild 94 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:38,400 represents Jesus #4 the Angel Michael. 95 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,320 Michael the Archangel head of the angelic army. 96 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,880 The 5th sign is the offspring of the woman which will be the 97 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:48,440 Gentiles who come to faith in the tribulation Number six. 98 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,600 The beast out of the sea represents the Antichrist #7 The 99 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:55,760 beast out of the earth represents the false prophet who 100 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,800 will promote the Antichrist. Basically the PR agent who's 101 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,480 going to go around and really advertise the signs and wonders 102 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:06,240 of of Antichrist. Now we see that this woman is 103 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:11,720 clothed with the sun. And as I said, the Bible uses 104 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:15,240 these allegories and allegories communicate a message by means 105 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,920 of symbolic figures. So there's no literal appearance 106 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,440 of of this woman in a feminine form. 107 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:25,120 But in the Scriptures, women often represent religious 108 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,120 systems. In Revelation and other books of 109 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,480 the Bible, we're told in Revelation chapter 220 about 110 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,920 Jezebel, that's the system of the false teaching that the 111 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:37,440 Christ is warning the church about in the last days. 112 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:40,960 Revelation 17 two talks about the great harlot who's 113 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,840 associated with false religion. In Revelation 19, seven through 114 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:49,320 8, it refers to the bride of Christ associated with us, the 115 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:51,760 church. So the woman's clothes with the 116 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:57,120 sun and has this interesting picture of a of a moon under her 117 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,880 feet and on her head a Garland of 12 stars. 118 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:05,360 Now Genesis chapter 37 talks about the dream that Joseph had 119 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:10,000 and Joseph obviously descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 120 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:14,680 God said that through the those guys, their seed, the nations of 121 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:16,320 the earth would one day be blessed. 122 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:20,520 So the sun represents in this particular section of revelation 123 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,440 the the person of Jacob. The moon represents Joseph's 124 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:30,280 mother, Rachel, and the 11 stars represent the sons of Israel, 125 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:32,440 which bow down to Joseph in the dream. 126 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,320 In this particular sign of revelation, Joseph is now among 127 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:38,480 the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel. 128 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,840 And so we see in the Old Testament passages regarding 129 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:47,120 Israel referred to as Zion. Jerusalem is often represented 130 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:48,600 as a woman. And we don't have time to go 131 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:50,520 into all the verses. You can check them out later. 132 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:56,520 Isaiah 54, one through 6. Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 20, 133 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:02,240 Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 8 through 14, and Hosea chapter 2 134 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,200 verses 19 and 20. If you look those verses up, 135 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:10,480 you'll find it amazing that the scriptures utilize the feminine 136 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,320 person as the as the nation of Israel. 137 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,880 And so we see in verse 2 that this woman is with child and she 138 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:20,720 cries out in labor and pain to give birth. 139 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:23,880 And these are signs of the coming of the Lord when the 140 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:28,240 earth begins to have this sense of uneasiness and and pain and 141 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:30,880 and difficulty. It's giving us the indication 142 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:35,400 that the Messiah is on his way to draw us out of this world for 143 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:37,919 the rapture of the church and eventually at the end of the 144 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:39,880 tribulation, the second coming of Christ. 145 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:44,240 So we believe as a church and as an evangelical body in the world 146 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:47,760 these days that we are in the last days and the birth pangs 147 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:50,520 are already being made Evan evident, especially what's 148 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:53,640 happening in the nation of Israel right now and the Mideast 149 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:55,480 nations wanting to destroy Israel. 150 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:59,280 Every day you look on the on the Internet and you can see some 151 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:03,840 rogue nation, it's speaking and violently against the 152 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,360 destruction of the nation of Israel. 153 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:09,880 And so the woman gives birth. And if we compare this with 154 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:14,040 verse 5, it says she bore a male child who was to rule all 155 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,880 nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up to God 156 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,720 and his throne. So it helps us to see very, very 157 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:23,880 clearly that this is referring to Jesus. 158 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:27,000 It says during the millennial Kingdom he will roll the earth 159 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,680 for 1000 years with a rod of iron, meaning that everything 160 00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:33,560 will be under his authority. Like right now, even though God 161 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:37,200 reigns and he's in charge and mankind still has this desire to 162 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:39,680 be evil and to do evil and corrupt things, and horrible 163 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:42,160 things happen every day because of sin. 164 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,360 But when Christ comes and rules that thousand a year, everything 165 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:47,800 will be under control. There won't be all these 166 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,080 horrible things happening in a daily basis because Christ will 167 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:54,000 be rolling and reigning from his throne in Jerusalem for that 168 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,320 1000 years. So we see through this prophecy 169 00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:02,080 in verse 5 and this statement that the apostle John makes that 170 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:05,920 this is clear that this is Jesus, the Christ is the Son of 171 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:09,440 the living God. And the labor pain that Israel 172 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:13,040 is experiencing describes the trials that Israel is currently 173 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:16,960 going through and also will go through in greater degree in the 174 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:19,160 last days. Think about what Israel went 175 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:22,040 through during Christ's birth under the oppression of the 176 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:25,920 ungodly nation of Rome. Jews since the beginning of time 177 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,640 have been the most hated race on the face of the earth. 178 00:10:28,680 --> 00:10:31,360 Why is that? Well, the Bible declares the 179 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:34,360 Jews to be God's chosen race, His chosen nation. 180 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:39,160 Paul says in Romans the common is well the Jews didn't receive 181 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,720 Messiah and so Christ had to bring the gospel to the 182 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:45,240 Gentiles. And so many of us as Gentiles 183 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:48,720 have been born into the Kingdom of God over the last 2000 years 184 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,120 where the majority of the Jewish nation is still Pagan. 185 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,640 Although there's a resurgence of many Jews coming to recognize 186 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:59,120 Christ getting saved and and of course restored to their 187 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:02,360 homeland in 1948 as a a literal nation. 188 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:05,560 I mean a lot of exciting things have happened over the last 60 189 00:11:05,560 --> 00:11:08,720 years, but the power of the Holy Spirit being poured out in that 190 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,720 nation will begin to really be experienced in a great degree 191 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:16,840 during the last 3 1/2 years of that tribulation where many Jews 192 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:18,800 will recognize that Christ is a Messiah. 193 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:21,960 Many of them will be spared and protected the wrath of the 194 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:25,120 Antichrist during that time as they're going to be hid in a 195 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,280 special place. Many of them won't recognize 196 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:31,320 that Jesus is truly the Messiah until he descends. 197 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:33,040 And it says every eye will see him. 198 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:36,520 And it says of those folks at that time who are alive, they'll 199 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:40,120 look up and see him whom they've pierced and recognize that he's 200 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,040 the Savior and they'll become believers at that very, very 201 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:47,000 point in time. So we we see this, this labor 202 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,680 pain that is beginning to be experienced a greater degree 203 00:11:50,680 --> 00:11:54,600 even in our own time today. And in verse 3, it says another 204 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:57,920 sign appeared in heaven. And this is a really interesting 205 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:00,880 creature, gives a lot to your imagination. 206 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:05,080 And this is a fearful dragon that appears again, a sign, an 207 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:08,160 allegory. The dragon represents the nature 208 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:11,080 of this individual. He's one who has fierce power. 209 00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:15,200 He has a murderous nature. And this is the picture of the 210 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:19,360 epitome or fullness of evil. The seven heads, the crown's 211 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:22,120 represent him claiming royal authority. 212 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:24,240 We know in the middle of the tribulation he's going to set 213 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:29,560 himself up in the rebuilt Tabernacle and set himself up 214 00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:33,680 with audacity and claim that he is God and that he is demanded 215 00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:35,960 to be worshipped. And many people will be deceived 216 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:37,880 thinking that he's he's the Messiah. 217 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:39,520 He's the one that they were waiting for. 218 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:42,760 The 10 horns represent the 10 kingdoms that will come into 219 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,560 power at this time. There will be 10 nation 220 00:12:45,560 --> 00:12:47,600 confederacy. Some people believe this is the 221 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,800 precursor of the European Union that's in place right now. 222 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:55,520 Years ago, we used to think this is the revived Roman Empire. 223 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:59,280 But as time goes on and we get a more of a picture as to what's 224 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:02,320 happening on world events, we're much more aware now that this 225 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:06,240 possibly might be this Mideast confederation made-up of 226 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:10,800 countries like Iraq and Iran, Afghanistan, Northern Africa. 227 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:15,320 It's just all those who truly are haters presently of Israel. 228 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:18,040 So we'll have to wait and see how that all developed. 229 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:22,800 But the parallel to this verse that we're looking at in verse 3 230 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:26,000 comes from Daniel Chapter 7 verse 7 and 8. 231 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:28,360 And that's something, again, in your own time you can look at. 232 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:32,720 But it talks about these 10 nation confederacy or this 233 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:35,640 influential power that will support the leadership of the 234 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:40,120 Antichrist will be subdued by the little horn. 235 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:44,600 The little horn is referred to in Daniel 7 Chapter 7 verse 8 as 236 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:48,480 Antichrist and he's identified as the world roller of the great 237 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:52,760 Tribulation who will reign over this 10 nation power block. 238 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:57,120 In verse 4 we see the dragon looking to earth. 239 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:00,800 He drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the 240 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,760 earth. We see at this time that even 241 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:08,720 though we studied a few weeks ago about the original upset of 242 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,240 Lucifer in the throne room of God, he was the highest created 243 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,640 Angel to reflect the glory of God. 244 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,640 He became proud, wanted people to worship him. 245 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:20,720 He wanted to set himself up as God. 246 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:24,880 And of course he was cast from the heaven at that time with 247 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:28,840 many of the angels. But we also see the interesting 248 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:32,200 aspect though, that the fulfillment of the completeness 249 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:36,280 of this event really doesn't come to pass until this middle 250 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:38,800 of the tribulation. Because right now the Bible 251 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,640 tells us that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood in 252 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:45,840 Ephesians chapter 6, but principalities and powers, the 253 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:48,400 rulers of darkness who are at work in this present world. 254 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:52,680 So we have this celestial battle that's going on even as we 255 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:56,240 speak, even today as a word of God is being preached around the 256 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,080 world in Bible teaching churches. 257 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:01,040 There's the force of the darkness that would want to come 258 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:04,800 and divide into prevent the word from going forth. 259 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:09,000 But then God's angels stand there with the sword defending 260 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,840 the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the Church of Jesus 261 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,120 Christ, so that the work can be done. 262 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:17,640 And that's why Jesus says I will build my church and the gates of 263 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:18,920 hell will not prevail against it. 264 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:22,480 That gives us great confidence, doesn't it, to know that the 265 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:26,400 Lord is able and faithful to accomplish his will regardless 266 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:29,680 of the attacks that come against his Kingdom. 267 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,280 And so we, we see that at this particular point in time, 268 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:38,080 though, there's this, if you may, parenthetical moment of 269 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:43,040 separation between 2 events here and the dragon referring to 270 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:48,400 Satan will literally be cast out of the acts having access to the 271 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:52,200 heavenly throne of God. You know, and Job, Satan has 272 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:54,040 access to the throne. It's a mystery. 273 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,320 And he goes, what about your servant Job? 274 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:58,000 You know, you, you've protected him. 275 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,680 How about if I hassle him and bring us some trials into his 276 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:05,120 life, he'll end up rejecting you and cursing you and and God, God 277 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:08,560 gives him permission to deal with with Job. 278 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:13,080 Of course Job didn't deny deny God and he stayed faithful. 279 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:17,720 But it's interesting though, that even as we speak, Satan is 280 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:19,720 described as the accuser of the brethren, right? 281 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:22,120 He goes before the throne of God. 282 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:26,280 The Bible says night and day, accusing you and me as God's 283 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:29,920 children for all the things that we've messed up in a weapon. 284 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:32,520 So odd. You see how he did this or what 285 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:36,520 he did here or how he treated his wife or how he was ignorant 286 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:39,440 and you know, with his kids, or how he was slothful in his job, 287 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,600 or how he had a lustful thought or an unforgiving heart or a 288 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,160 bitter attitude. All these things that we still 289 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:48,680 struggle with as human beings that we ask the Lord to free us 290 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:52,440 from so that we can walk closer to him and be more holy and pure 291 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,160 as he's holy. But we all still fail, don't we? 292 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:59,080 And that's why we continually live in repentance that we say, 293 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:00,880 the Lord Lord, please forgive me. 294 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:03,600 I don't want to be like that. I don't want to act like that. 295 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:05,800 I don't want to do that. And the Lord is faithful to help 296 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:09,040 us and grow us and mature us. But nonetheless, the enemy has 297 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:14,040 this access and the angelic dominion of evil enemies of God 298 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:16,240 are working in this heavenly realm. 299 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:19,800 Well, at this particular event in verse 4, this is when the 300 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,440 enemy will be cast out of of that capacity, won't have this 301 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:28,480 access anymore, and 1/3 of the angelic hosts will be with him. 302 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:33,480 And it's good to realize that in spite of all this occurring, 2/3 303 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:37,040 of the angelic beings are there to do the bidding and the will 304 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:40,680 of God. And those two third angels are 305 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:44,600 also assigned to you and me. All of us, as I said a few weeks 306 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:46,520 ago, have a guardian Angel, don't we? 307 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,240 We have a Angel that has been assigned to us, The Bible says 308 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:54,640 in Hebrews aren't a ministering spirit sent forth to minister to 309 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:56,360 them who are the heirs of salvation. 310 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,960 And so, you know, it's an awesome thing to think about the 311 00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:04,640 fact that the Lord watches over me and you and yet he also has 312 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,720 an emissary, an agent working from his throne room to be with 313 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:12,160 us personally. And so a lot of us will have to 314 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:15,080 give that Angel a hug, won't we someday in heaven and say, boy, 315 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:17,000 you really had to put up with a lot with me. 316 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,400 You know, thank you for for hanging in there. 317 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:26,200 But anyway, we see that the enemy in verse for his whole 318 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:31,680 desire was to devour obviously the nation of Israel, but also 319 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:33,360 the child, the Lord Jesus Christ. 320 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:37,160 And we know way back in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, when the 321 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:41,520 first prophetic verse was given to let the whole world know that 322 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:47,240 in spite of us falling into sin, that God had chosen Messiah, the 323 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:52,280 sea that would come one day, that would damage the impact of 324 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:55,400 the evil 1 and thwart his purposes and His will. 325 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:59,240 But the devil never gives up. You know, the Bible declares 326 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,840 that he's the enemy till the end, till he's cast into the 327 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:04,840 lake of fire. Someone reminds me all the time, 328 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:07,480 no matter how things are going in your spiritual life or the 329 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,320 church body or family, the devil's never sleeping. 330 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:13,480 He's always trying to mess things up. 331 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:16,760 He comes to steal and to rob and to kill and to destroy. 332 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:20,680 That's his modus operandi 24/7. He is relentless. 333 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,440 Even though he knows his day one day will be over, that's not 334 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:28,400 stopping him for doing everything he can to try to 335 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,000 destroy people's lives. And we know in the in the days 336 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,200 of Christ's birth, what did he do with Herod? 337 00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:40,360 Herod was a very evil ruler and he had such an ego that he heard 338 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:44,040 the prophecy about a king coming and he said I'm the king. 339 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,000 He's worried about a baby. Chances are obviously wouldn't 340 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,360 even be alive when the baby became a full adult to take over 341 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:53,080 the kingship. And he was so paranoid and it 342 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:57,320 really influenced by demonic activity and Satan that he sent 343 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:00,720 the edict out that all the children, the first born males 344 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:03,520 too would be killed and destroyed. 345 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,440 Of course Christ was spared. We also know that he was rubbing 346 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:11,200 his hands together whenever Judas was exposed as the one who 347 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:13,960 would betray Christ. And when he went up and, you 348 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,200 know, betrayed Christ for 40 pieces of silver, and Christ 349 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:20,800 being taken to the cross, Satan thought he had won the victory, 350 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:23,840 didn't he? But we know that the cross was 351 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:27,800 not a place of defeat, was it? The cross was a place of the 352 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,800 enemy actually having all his powers spoiled. 353 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,760 It says in our Colossians that Christ spoiled and disconnected, 354 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:40,480 so to speak, the satanic dominion of the enemy on the 355 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,240 hearts and souls of human beings. 356 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,360 Because once Christ rose again from the dead, he said it's 357 00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:46,800 finished. He conquered all these 358 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,840 influences, and so it isn't the same now. 359 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,360 And you need to remember that. I think sometimes people get 360 00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:57,000 very paranoid about the devil. Some churches have more focus on 361 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,600 the devil than they do the Lord. They're always talking about 362 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,320 rebuking the devil or casting the demons out or doing this and 363 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,160 that. And Paul never said that. 364 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:07,720 He said, what do we do? Look unto Jesus, the author and 365 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:11,280 finisher of our faith, right for the joy that was set down before 366 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:13,240 him. Despise the cross, yet endured 367 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:15,560 the shame. You know we're more than 368 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:19,360 conquerors right in Christ Jesus, so we don't have to worry 369 00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:23,160 about the evil. 1 The Bible says resist the devil and he will 370 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:26,480 what, flee from you. I don't have to do battle with 371 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:28,360 him. It's interesting that the 372 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:34,200 Archangel Michael in Jude verse nine said whenever a lot of 373 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,640 things are going on they were disputing about the whereabouts 374 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:40,080 of Moses body and all the false teachings that Jude talks about. 375 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,840 He said he would not bring a railing accusation against the 376 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:47,000 devil right himself. And he's in charge of the 377 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,160 angelic host in the sense of under the authority of Jesus 378 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:54,080 Christ, Michael the Archangel, he said the Lord rebuke you and 379 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,240 I. I'm very fearful when I hear 380 00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:59,680 people standing out there and shaking their hand at the devil 381 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:04,880 and thinking that they somehow have the influence to in their 382 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,320 own power and their own name and by their own faith make the 383 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:10,000 devil run. And the devil, you know, he'll 384 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:12,640 laugh, he'll say, like you said in the book of the Acts, you 385 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:14,760 know Peter, I know, Paul, I know. 386 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,800 But who are you? You don't want to mess with that 387 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:21,760 stuff, right? You want to pray and resist the 388 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:23,680 devil. And the Bible's clear that 389 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,880 that's our responsibility and the evil one will flee from us. 390 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:33,360 So we see in verse 5 that this male child who was to rule all 391 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:37,000 nations, as I said earlier, is the one who will roll with a rod 392 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:38,680 of iron during the millennial Kingdom. 393 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:41,840 And this is interesting. And her child was caught up to 394 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:45,880 to God and his throne. So again, the parenthetical time 395 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,680 period of of the future and at the same time the past when 396 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,040 Christ ascended and the book of the Acts is sit at the right 397 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:55,880 hand of the father where he ever lives to make intercession for 398 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:58,280 us before the throne of God night and day. 399 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,760 In verse 6, it talks about the the woman fleeing into the 400 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,240 wilderness. You know, in Matthew chapter 25, 401 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,000 it gives the warning when this time comes to pass. 402 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,440 It says, you know, don't be with child. 403 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:13,680 I trust your journey won't be in the winter because this will be 404 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:19,000 the worst time that any kind of event has ever occurred against 405 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:20,960 the nation of Israel to destroy them. 406 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:26,840 And so we see this group spoken about in verse 6 is the remnant 407 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:28,960 of Israel. These are the ones that are 408 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,120 elect by God's grace that don't even know at this particular 409 00:23:32,120 --> 00:23:35,080 point in time, many of them that they'll be part of the body of 410 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:37,240 the bride of Christ. They don't understand the 411 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:39,080 concept yet. They still don't know who 412 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:40,600 Messiah is, many of these people. 413 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:44,680 But God's going to spare many people and also those who come 414 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,360 to Christ during that time and and Gentiles as well. 415 00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:52,000 In the Book of Revelation, Pastor Clark is taking us 416 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,800 through all kinds of events and happenings that are predicted 417 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,480 for the future. But for those who believe and 418 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:02,440 follow Jesus, there's much to look forward to in heaven with 419 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:05,440 Jesus. However, for those who are here 420 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,720 on earth during the Tribulation, there's all kinds of chaos that 421 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,680 will unfold. The Bible talks about an 422 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:18,000 Antichrist, false prophet, and of course that evil enemy Satan. 423 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,840 Do you see how there are such clever attempts for the enemy to 424 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:25,040 disguise himself as God and even the Trinity? 425 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:29,560 The true Savior of the world is God and how he comes to rescue 426 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:34,880 through his triune nature God the Father, Jesus the Son, and 427 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:39,120 God the Holy Spirit. Just like Satan tried to take 428 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:43,680 over for God in heaven was cast out, Satan will try to convince 429 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:47,600 people on earth that he is the triune God to be worshipped 430 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:50,280 instead of the legitimate God in heaven. 431 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,440 It's an attempt, and although he will capture plenty in his 432 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:59,400 schemes, he will not win. The true God wins, and 433 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:03,200 Revelation unpacks how that will all happen in detail. 434 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:07,640 Be encouraged because there's a way out for all of this madness 435 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:11,320 that will ensue on this earth. But you don't want to wait 436 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,600 indefinitely to make that decision about Jesus. 437 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,880 We don't know when the church will be raptured, and you want 438 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:22,960 to be ready to be with Jesus. To learn more about this, head 439 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:28,200 over to calvarychapelonline.com. We're so glad you've been with 440 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,320 us today. And if you'd like to connect 441 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,640 further with this ministry, find us on Facebook or YouTube. 442 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:38,840 You can also download our mobile app at calvarychapelonline.com. 443 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:44,480 Be sure to join us for weekly services at 400 E Pittsburgh St. 444 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:53,040 Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601. This has been living waters of 445 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:53,600 grace.