War in Heaven

Brothers and sisters, Lord, just to praise your name, God, and just to spend some time in your word this evening, God, we just ask that you bless this time and bless the kids at the other end of the hall, Lord. We ask these things in your precious and holy name. Amen.

The best thing you can do, my child, is see my truth.

Answer all the questions your truth will hold. You'll get me through my truth, my truth.

Safe to show, safe to show. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like.

Until I lay of a goodness like this night, you are close like no other.

This is running after, it's running after me.

It's running with my life so insane. Of a God, one more time. Of a goodness, of a goodness in God. Lord God, you are so good to us, Lord. With every breath that we have, Lord, just help us just to return your praise, God, and sing how good you truly are to us, Father God. And faithful, and so,

with every blessing of your goodness, oh God.

Because he that can face tomorrow,

God sent his son,

life's fine.

Lord, it's because you live today, God, I can't face tomorrow, Lord God. Because you live that I have had, I just thank you for your son, Jesus, for what he's done for us on the cross, and for the new life that we have in his resurrection, Lord God.

Sing that chorus with me one more time. Because he that can face tomorrow, Father God, I just thank you for your son, Jesus. God, I just thank you for allowing us to be here tonight, God. I pray that as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, I just pray that you would speak mightily through him, God. God, let your word go out, and let it not return void, God, but accomplish the purpose for which you sent it, God.

Father, we love you. We praise you and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Good evening. If you could open up in your Bibles to the book of Revelation, chapter 12. I don't know if you've picked up on this or not, but we're having technical difficulties tonight. If you haven't picked up on it yet, well, today's your day. So bear with them. They're working very hard back there to get things fixed. Because I don't know if you know this or not,

but the devil dwells in technology. And he really likes to use those things against us. So you know what? I bet we can still have a Bible study without it, don't you think? I think we probably can. So tonight, we come to the book of Revelation, chapter 12. Now, we've made it through the seal judgments. We've made it through the trumpet judgments. And then we have a little bit of an interlude

that took a couple of chapters. We saw in the last chapter, we saw the two witnesses that God sent to witness for those three and a half years of the things of God. And of course, those witnesses were put to death. But then three and a half days later, were restored. Raised from the dead and they ascended into heaven. And then we saw that seventh trumpet, the seventh trumpet that ultimately brings the reign of Christ

that is forecasting the reign of Christ that is to come. But now as we come to chapter 12 of Revelation, we're going to see a war play out. And it's a war that takes place in heaven. The kind of fascinating thing about chapter 12 is it reminds us that there is a spiritual war that is taking place. I think one of the things that we don't, we don't always think about as Christians

and especially in today's culture is the spiritual war that's happening all around us. We take note of the material things that are happening around us, but we forget that there's a spiritual warfare that's going on. And I say this mildly tongue in cheek, although not totally, even the things when we have technology issues here, I really do believe that's a certain amount of spiritual warfare that goes on because the enemy would love to distract any way that he possibly can. And he even uses things like that to distract us.

And so what we see in chapter 12 is we see some of this spiritual warfare take place only it finds its culmination in this time during the tribulational period. And so before we get into the actual war that takes place in heaven, first of all, some key players are going to be identified for us. And the first three key players that we're going to see identified for us are the woman, the child, and the dragon. So we pick up in chapter 12, verse one, and this is what it says.

It says, A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head, a crown of 12 stars. And she was with child. She cried out being in labor and in pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and on his heads were seven diadems and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.

So the first three key players that we see identified for us are first of all, for dramatic effect only, the woman, right? Attacks from the enemy, I'm telling you. No, that was probably a teenager. So the first one that we see identified is the woman. And the first thing that we want to take note of though, it says that in chapter 12, verse one, a great sign appeared in heaven.

Now that should indicate something to us. Now we have talked about the fact that we really feel like Revelation is a literal book that can literally be translated. This is not all symbolic language. I believe that there's a literal antichrist and there's literal witnesses and it's an actual seven year time period that takes place. However, there are points in time

where symbolic language is used. But God is so good to point out that symbolic language to us. And this is one of those moments where we see this. It says there was a great sign in heaven indicating to us that what we're about to see described is somewhat symbolic in nature. I don't think there was actually a woman who was wearing the sun as a dress, right?

It was not the original sundress. This is symbolic of what's going on. Man, I just came up with that one on the fly until I felt really good about it. And so we know that there's somewhat symbolic language being used here. And so it says a great sign appeared in heaven. There was a woman and this is how she's described. She's clothed with the sun. She has the moon under her feet

and on her head, a crown of 12 stars. So there's a couple of questions you should ask yourself right now. Number one, who's the woman? Number two, what do these symbols mean for us? Well, hopefully when you think of the sun, the moon and the stars, your mind jogs all the way back to the book of Genesis chapter 37. Because you see in Genesis chapter 37, you might jot down Genesis 37 verses nine and 10

in the margin of your Bible. Because in Genesis chapter 37, Joseph began, having dreams. Remember Joseph, the guy that ended up getting sold into slavery by his brothers. Well, the first dream that he had was about all of his brother's sheaves of wheat, all bowing down to his. Well, there was a second dream that Joseph had. Joseph was one of the stars and the sun and the moon

and 11 stars all bowed down to him. Jacob interpreted that dream for him when he said, so are you telling me that your brothers and myself, your father and your mother, are all going to bow down to you? Now, the Joseph story is not the point. The point is, what does this tell us? Well, we understand that since revelation ties all of the Bible together, that when this woman is described

as being clothed with the sun, standing on the moon and having stars all around her, we understand that this woman is actually the nation of Israel. Because that's what's being described. And we picked that up because of what it says in Genesis chapter 37, describing Jacob as the sun, Rachel as the moon and the brothers as the stars. So this woman that we see is actually the nation of Israel that's presented to us here.

One of the players is the nation of Israel. And we're going to see towards the end of the chapter why that's important for us to pay attention to. Now, she, meaning this woman, the nation of Israel, was with child and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Now, we'll describe the child in just a minute, but just keep that in the background.

Back of your mind, this woman, the nation of Israel is going to give birth to a child. The second player that we see pointed out to us is the dragon. Notice what it says. Then another sign, in other words, there's symbolic language being used here, appeared in heaven. And behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and on his heads were seven diadems.

Now, the next question you should ask yourself is, how does that work, right? I want to know what this actually looks like. I want to see some artist's renditions of this. I haven't seen it just yet, but I can't wait for someone to draw this and see exactly what it looks like. But we see this dragon, it's a red dragon. And this red dragon has seven heads and 10 horns

and there's crowns on the heads. Now, this dragon is none other than Satan himself. And the reason why I know that for sure is because if you were to jump down to verse nine, which you should do with me real quick, it says, and the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. That's called allowing the Bible to interpret itself.

And so we know that this dragon is Satan, but you may have also picked up on the symbolism that's used because it's really important symbolism, the seven heads with the 10 horns, all wearing crowns. Hopefully your mind started thinking a little bit towards Daniel. And again, in the margin of your Bible, you might have a little bit of a doubt. You might write Daniel chapter seven, because in Daniel chapter seven, Daniel describes a scene where there are 10 horns that are presented.

So this dragon we're gonna see, it's gonna be the one that empowers the antichrist that is pictured in Daniel chapter seven. But I wanna talk for just a couple of minutes about this dragon, because I want you to notice what it says in verse four. It says, his tail swept away a third, a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Now, again, we know that this dragon is Satan because John will later identify him as such.

And this dragon is gonna sweep away a third of the stars of heaven with his tail. So what does that mean? Well, it's speaking of the fall of Satan. Now, a lot of people know about the fall of Satan, but I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I always started to think, where does it actually talk about that in the Bible? Well, there's actually, there's actually two different places

that talk about the fall of Satan. And I would like for us to look at those scriptures really quickly. The first one that we find is in the book of Isaiah chapter 14. So hold your finger here, put your bookmark here and go back to the book of Isaiah chapter 14. And we're gonna look at verses 12 through 15.

Isaiah chapter 14, verses 12 through 15. And this is what it says. How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn. You have been cut down to the earth. You have weakened, you who have weakened the nations, but you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. And I will sit on the mount of the assembly

in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. Nevertheless, you will be thrust down to Sheol. To the recesses of the pit. And so we see here that this star of the morning is none other than Satan himself because Satan himself was actually an angel. One of the most beautiful angels ever created.

Chuck Smith has a philosophy, a theory that I thought was kind of interesting. His theory is that there were three main angels that were the heads of all of the other angels that were created because the only other two that are named are Michael the archangel and Gabriel. And so perhaps Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer were actually the three main angels that were created. And Lucifer found that he wanted to lift himself up above God and cause some sort of a rebellion that took place in heaven.

Well, there's one other place that talks about the fall of Satan and that's in the book of Ezekiel. So go over to Ezekiel chapter 28, Ezekiel 28. And I want you to look at verses 14 through 16 because it tells us a little bit more about this dragon that started off much better than that. Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 14 says this. You were the anointed cherub who covers

and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade, you were internally filled with violence and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you as prey, profane from the mountain of God.

And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. So from these two places, we know that at some point in time, historically speaking, Satan fell from this lofty position that he was given as one of the main angels that God had created. And when he fell, we learned from Revelation here that he took a third of the angels with him. That was why Chuck had that philosophy that those were the three main angels and that when Lucifer fell, he took a third of those angels that he was in charge of with him.

Because it says back in Revelation 12, verse four, it says, his tail swept away a third of the stars and threw them to the earth. Those stars, those angelic beings that he took with him in his rebellion are what we refer to as demons today. Many of the things that we see take place in the world that just seems so horrific in nature, I believe are actually demonic in nature. I actually believe that, a great deal of the multiple personality things that we see are actually demonic possession.

I think that some of these people that commit some of these horrific crimes where everybody looks and says, you know, something really started to change about that person. And we saw there was some kind of a difference in them. I actually think there was something very demonic about them. And that's who I think is in charge of that. Now, before we all get a little bit freaked out

and think, oh my gosh, a third of the angels have fallen. Listen, good angels still outnumber the bad angels two to one. So greater. It's he who's in us than he who's in the world. And so we see that his tail swept away a third of the angelic realm with him. And then notice what happens. Remember, we said that the woman was about to give birth. She was in pain and was about to give birth.

And notice what, how the dragon responds to the birth. Verse four, it says, and the dragon stood before the woman who is about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour the child. Now, again, that's going to leave us with a little bit of a question, right? Who is this child that he's about to devour? And how does he go about that? Well, that brings us to the next section

of him identifying the next player. And that's the child. It says that she gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there she would be nourished for 1,200 years. In 60 days, it says she gave birth to a son,

a male child who is to rule over all the nations. Now, I hope you've picked up on who this is by now because this is none other than Jesus because if the woman is Israel, and I wholeheartedly believe that it is, then the entire reason why God called the nation of Israel was not only to be his own special people, but to bring forth the Messiah. After all, God said to Abraham, through you, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. And we've talked about this in Galatians on Sunday morning, that the, the promise is Jesus, that he is the promised one that was sent.

He was the one through whom all the earth shall be blessed. And so she gives birth to a child. But did you take note of what the dragon tried to do to the child? Tried to devour the child. Well, when did that take place? I want you to think back. I know it's not Christmas time right now, but I want you to think back when Jesus was born, right? And the wise men were coming.

They were coming to see Jesus because they'd seen his star in the east. And when they showed up, there was Herod. They showed up to where they thought a king would be born. They showed up in Jerusalem and they said, where is he who's born king of the Jews? And Herod went, there's only one king of the Jews. And that's me. Who is this king of the Jews that they're talking about?

So he calls all the religious leaders together. He says, where's the king of the Jews supposed to be born? Of course he knew from Micah chapter four. They knew from Micah chapter four that he was to be born in Bethlehem. And so they come back and like, yeah, the Messiah is supposed to be born. He's born in Bethlehem. That's where the king of the Jews is supposed to be born.

So Herod says, once you find him, come back and tell me so that I may worship him too, right? And so they, of course, departed a different way because God warned them. And instead of Herod being able to choose just one child to be killed, an entire group of young boys was killed. That was Herod trying to devour the child, which was ultimately Satan trying to devour the child.

And so from that, not only do we see that that was fulfilled in him trying to destroy the child, but we also learn something really interesting from that. And that's that behind many of these world leaders is actually very demonic forces that are at work. As a matter of fact, that section in the book of, I think it's the one in Ezekiel, is actually a proclamation against the king of Tyre, who's actually being driven by Satan himself. And so we see, we see that there's demonic things at work in the world.

And so this child is not only sought to be devoured through what Herod did, but also the crucifixion was Satan's desire to devour Jesus. And of course he didn't realize he was playing right into the hands of God because what seemed like the greatest defeat ended up becoming ultimately the greatest victory. The time when he thought he was going to bruise his heel, the seed actually crushed his head. And so, it says, then this child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, which is what we have not seen yet, her child was caught up to God and to his throne.

And of course that catching up to God was the ascension of Jesus Christ. And then between verses five and six, we jump forward in history a little over 2000 years. Prophecy is kind of an interesting thing. Somebody put it best when they said, looking at prophecy is like looking across mountaintops and you don't always see the prophecy. You don't always see the valleys in between.

You can only see all of the tops, which is why you can jump from the ascension, which took place in 33 AD to the time that's being referred to here, which is still yet future. And we're a little over 2000 years past that. And so, as we look at this, we go, whoa, there's a lot of time that took place because it says in verse six, then the woman, which we know is the nation of Israel, fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there, she would be known, nourished for 1,260 days. Now, when is this supposed to take place?

Well, if you remember when Jesus's disciples came to him and they pointed out the temple, they said, look at this amazing temple. And Jesus said, I want you to know, not one stone of that temple is gonna be left upon another. And they said, well, when will these things take place? And what will be the sign of your coming? And what's gonna be the sign of the end of the age?

And Jesus starts giving them all the signs to look for. Then he gives them one particular sign. He says, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, it's time to hit the road, Jack, right? That's my own language that I use there. He says, you need to flee into the wilderness. Matter of fact, it's gonna be a real bummer if you're pregnant during this time

because it's gonna be really hard to run. Don't go back and grab extra clothes because once you see the abomination establish himself, get out of Dodge. And there's gonna be a place that's prepared for you. Matter of fact, the rock city of Petra is one of the places that's prepared for you. It's one of the places that's prepared for you. It's one of those places that they're gonna go.

And it says, he had a place, there was a place prepared by God so that she would be nourished for 1,260 days. Now that should sound familiar to you because do you remember how long the witnesses were gonna do their job? About the same amount of time. We're looking at three and a half years here. I believe that's the last three and a half years of the tribulation because I think that

the antichrist will establish himself as the abomination of desolation halfway through that tribulational period. Kind of crazy how the Bible, all ties together with this one book, isn't it? And so, so now that we have seen those things identified, we now see the war that takes place in heaven. Verse seven, and there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon.

The dragon and his angels waged war and they were not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down. The serpent, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,

now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down. He who accuses them before God day and night and they overcame him. Because of the blood of the lamb and because of the word of their testimony and they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, oh heavens, you who dwell in them, woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.

Now there's one of the character that we weren't introduced to in the first section, but we've been introduced to him before and that's Michael the archangel. Anytime there's a battle taking place, Michael the archangel seems to be involved. He seems to be the warrior of the angels. Gabriel's the messenger of the angels and Michael's the warrior of the angels.

Matter of fact, we read about him also in the book of Ezekiel, or excuse me, in the book of Daniel when we read that he was waging war with Satan over the body of Moses. And so Michael begins to wage war with Satan. Satan and his angels. There was war in heaven and they were waging war with the dragon and the dragon and his angels waged war. Now I have a question at this point in time.

What's a war look like between angels, right? I'm picturing the most epic, like Marvel movie you've ever seen, right? Like bodies just going everywhere, only they can't quite defeat each other because, you know, they're all angels and whatnot. And so I just picture this Marvel movie of everything. If buildings can come down, down in heaven, buildings are coming down, right?

Like Michael's throwing one of the angels at the building and goes through like three buildings at a time and buildings are collapsing. But I want you to take note of something. The devil and his angels, the dragon and his angels, they were not strong enough. I think that's important for us to take note of. We're told in one of the books of Peter, he says, be sober and be vigilant

because your adversary, the devil, walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Now I want you to notice the words that Peter uses there. He says, be sober and be vigilant. In other words, be aware and be alert because your adversary, the devil, walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Notice that no point in time does he tell us

we should be scared. He doesn't say you should live in fear. He just says you should be aware because once again, greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. And I want you to notice who they're waging war with. They're not waging war with God because that's not a war. Oftentimes we view Satan as being God's equal or being God's opponent. Listen, Satan was created by God.

He's not God's equal counterpart that he's just at war with. He's one of his created beings. He's no match for God. The war actually took place between Michael and his angels and the devil and his angels. But Michael and his angels were too strong. Once you notice what they do, it says in verse eight, they were not strong enough for them and there was no, no longer a place found for them in heaven.

And that again should cause a question to come into your mind. Has there ever been a place found for them in heaven? I want you to think about something. Go all the way back to the book of Job. Remember how the book of Job starts? The book of Job starts by describing what an amazing man Job is. But then after it describes what an amazing man Job is, it says that Satan came

and presented himself before God with the understanding that that's what he was. What he always did. And what does God say to Satan? Have you heard about Job? Dude's on it, right? And of course, Satan goes, well, of course he's on it. I mean, you give him everything, right? You've spoiled him. Let me take some things away and see what he does. From that, we gain an understanding that there is,

I'll be in an interesting place, a place where the devil comes to heaven and comes directly before the throne room of God. And we're going to be told in just a minute what he does. He accuses us. But once this war is over, there's no more place for him in heaven. There's no more place for him there. And notice what happens. The great dragon was thrown down.

And then he describes him. That serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. I would like to make my first quick point. About the work of Satan in the world today. He has deceived the world. How angry have you all been at some of the sinful things you've seen go on in the world here lately, right?

We get a little bit angry about it, right? But you know what we always have to hold on to? We always have to hold on to the understanding that the people that appear to be our biggest enemies are not. They have been deceived by our only enemy. And we need to understand. Because we're told that we battle not against flesh and blood. And I'm afraid too often as believers in Jesus Christ,

we spend all of our time battling against flesh and blood. We battle against principalities and powers in heavenly places. The world has been deceived. So the next time you get angry at something that somebody does, that's really sinful, you need to remind yourself of two things. Number one, they've been deceived. Number two, I was at one time too. And that should hopefully cause a little bit more compassion on our part.

I'm not saying we don't call out sin. We absolutely call out sin because that's what we're supposed to do. But we remember who our real enemy is. And our real enemy is Satan who has deceived the world. He says that old, the devil, Satan, the dragon of old who deceives the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.

Again, I always have a card. I have an opportune view of things. And I picture, it's a Wile E. Coyote moment for me. I can't help it. That's how I picture that happening. Absolutely probably not how that happens. That's what I see. I hope there's TNT. He steps on too. Anyway, then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now, you know who this loud voice was?

Me neither. Now, salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of Christ have come. For the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down. He who accuses them before our God day and night. There's this great rejoicing in heaven. There's this loud voice that cries out, probably the same loud voice that we've heard cry out things, other things in the past.

He cries out, salvation belongs to God. Praises God for his salvation. Why? Because the accuser of the brethren has been cast out. The one who accuses us day and night. That brings me to the second thing that we know that Satan does. Satan is constantly accusing you. Because that's his role is to accuse all of us as believers in Jesus Christ. I want you to take note of the fact that it's not that he's accusing all of the people of the world.

He's accusing us as believers in Jesus Christ. Now, there's a question. There's a couple of things that we need to know about the accusations that the devil hurls at us. Number one, he's right.

And there's great freedom in coming to the place of realizing that when the enemy accuses me, he's right. But there's a second thing that we need to know about the accusations that the devil hurls at us. They've already been taken care of by our Savior. That's why we have an advocate with the Father. That's why it is so important. That's why it's so amazing that Jesus is alive.

Because we know, according to the book of Hebrews, that he ever lives to make intercession for us. He's our defense lawyer. And as Satan stands before the Father and accuses you and I, the best thing that we can do is look at our lawyer and say, what do I say? He goes, just plead guilty. And we're like, guilty. And he's like, but I've already got him covered.

Right? That's all we can do. Lord, he's right. I'm guilty. But you already took care of it. He's one of mine. He may be guilty, but he's one of mine. And God says, done. No problem. I'll see him through those rose-colored glasses, through those blood-colored glasses. And I'll always see him as covered in the blood. Because we always have that advocate before the Father.

And his name is Jesus. He says, that accuser of the brethren has been thrown down. He who accuses him before our God day and night. But the next thing we do is come to verse 11. And I covered this. It's just a little bit. Because I got excited. It says, They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their life even when faced with death.

So how do we overcome the work of the enemy in our life? Well, he gives us actually three keys right there to overcoming the work of the enemy in our life. First of all, by the blood of the Savior. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. What does that mean? Well, I just continue to claim the blood of Jesus Christ on everything that I've ever done. I continue to claim the power of the blood of Jesus Christ in my life.

Because listen, brothers and sisters, there really is power in the blood. There's power in that sacrifice that Jesus made for us. One of my favorite bands at one time, although I think they've gone off the rocker. And it makes me really sad because they wrote some amazing songs at one point in time. It is the band Jars of Clay. And they came out with a CD called Who We Are Instead.

And I really, really liked that. It's a great CD. And one of the songs on there was just called Jesus Blood. And I read the story behind the song. And they said that there was a homeless man that they came across who, though he had nothing, had the strongest faith they'd ever seen. And he just continually sang the same chorus over and over again. Jesus Blood never failed me yet.

Jesus Blood never failed me yet. And so they added a few lyrics to it. And they put it to a pretty neat little tune. It goes like this. Jesus Blood never failed me yet. This one thing I know, is that he loves me so. How do we overcome the work of the enemy in our life? We keep going back to the same place that we started. We keep going back to the fact that Jesus Blood has never failed me yet.

This one thing I know, is that he loves me so. But not only is it with the blood of the Lamb, but it's with the word of our testimony. You ever just remind yourself of what Jesus has brought you out of? You ever just remind yourself and the enemy of how far he's brought you from where you are? This is why I'm a big fan of people journaling their life story.

Journaling your faith journey. Because you can look back and you can go, Wow, look how far I've come. I was an idiot when I first started. You know how I know that? Because I look at the journals that I started when I was in Bible college. And I'm like, I was an idiot when I first started. Here's the fun thing about being a pastor. Most of my idiocy is all recorded.

And so it's on tape for me to go back and listen to. And I can go back and go, I don't agree. I don't agree with me 20 years ago. But that word of the testimony is so amazing. Because when the enemy comes in and wants to accuse us, we say, But that's not who I am anymore. So I think the greatest thing he wants us to do is live in who we were. Continue to remind ourselves of who we were.

But that's not who we are. That's who we were. We overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. And by the word of our testimony. He gives us a third way to overcome him. Because they did not love. Their life. Even to death. You know, the Greek word that's used for love. There is agape, sacrificial love. They did not sacrificially love their lives. To the point of death.

I think sometimes we hold on a little too tightly to the lives we have on top side of planet Earth. Because we think that this is our end. The world has told us over and over again that what you have here is the most important thing. That you can hold on to. And you know, it just isn't. And. And the more that we can come to a place where we say, for me to live is Christ.

But to die is gain. Well, you can't hurt somebody like that. Right? If you, if you come at somebody and be like, I'm going to kill you. No problem. I'm going to go see him. Jesus. Right? Come on now. I asked my students this morning. I always ask question of the day. My question of the day this morning was, would you rather be stuck on a boat out in the middle of the ocean?

Or would you rather be lost in space? And I said, I'd rather be lost in space. Because you know what? I'm not going to last that long anyway. And then I'm home to be with Jesus. Right? And it doesn't matter. Because at that point in time, I'm home with my savior now. And I'm like, hey, I'm either going to keep plugging away here on earth. Or I'm going to be plugging away with Jesus in heaven.

Either way, I got him. If we become those people, then you can't hurt us anymore. It doesn't matter if you don't like what I have to say. It doesn't matter if you don't like the Jesus that I worship. Because you can't hurt me anymore. They overcame him by the blood of the lamb. And by the word of their testimony. Because they did not love their lives. Even to the death.

Now, he goes on from there to say, For this reason rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Heaven is rejoicing because Satan is kicked out. But woe to the earth and the sea. Because the devil has come down to you. Having great wrath. Listen. Knowing that he has only a short time. No. I believe what happens next is that this is the point in time when the abomination of desolation sets himself up in the temple.

Because his time is short. Listen, we see it now in our world. I believe that the satanic things we see happening in our world right now are because the devil knows his time is short. I can't imagine what it's going to be like in those last three and a half years. When he really knows his time is short. Right? It's a caged animal that feels like he's about to die.

And he's just going to go nuts. And I believe that this is that. Halfway point of the tribulation. When Jesus says, And there will come a time where there is a great tribulation unlike anything that has ever been seen before or will ever be seen again. It's so great that if the days were not shortened, even the elect would not survive. And so, he says, And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth,

he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place where she was nourished for a time, times and half a time from the presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured out like a river, water like a river out of his mouth after the woman so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped the woman and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river.

Which the dragon poured out of his mouth. So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus. Now, the last thing that we see is a great persecution that takes place here on earth. Once Satan is cast to the earth, he and all of his angels, he points his attacks on none other than the nation of Israel.

And as he points his attacks on the nation of Israel, I want you to see why he does so. Because notice what it says. When the dragon saw that he was thrown down, verse 13, to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. Because he wants to destroy anything that has to do with Jesus. And then something interesting takes place as he begins to persecute the nation of Israel.

It says that two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, the nation of Israel, so that she could fly into the wilderness. Now, what does that mean? It's interesting because, there are some commentators who say that probably means that there will be an air force that comes in and lifts a good number of them out. I don't see why not. I mean, that potential is there.

Are there actual eagle wings? I hope so. I hope that we can look down from heaven and there's just this huge eagle just, right, just hauling people out. Probably means that there's going to be some way made in a miraculous sort of way for anybody that understands the signs of the times, which is why Jesus, gave everything that he gave in the book of Matthew.

Everybody that understands the signs of the times to get out. And then it says that that dragon will pour out water, like water from a river to try to overwhelm the nation. And again, I've asked myself this question. I've not gotten a good answer from any commentary that I've read. There's been two main thoughts. One is that there's actually going to be some massive flood,

some sort of cataclysmic event of a flood that flows forth. But we're told that the earth opens itself up and drinks up the water. Hey, listen, if God can part seas, if God can make all of it, he can do whatever he wants to do. If he wants to go and suck up water, that's totally up to him. I lean a little bit more towards this other thing. I think when it says that he sends forth water,

like a great river, I actually think he's talking about an army that comes against him. I could be wrong. I could be all wet. That's a terrible joke. It could actually be water. I lean toward it being an army, but I don't think it's going to be water. I don't think it's going to be water. I don't think it's going to be water. I don't think it's going to be water.

But I do still hold to the fact that I think that the earth will open itself up and swallow them up. And the reason why I think that is because if you go all the way back to the book of Numbers, there's a rebellion that takes place. So people come against Moses and Aaron and say, you've taken way too much on yourself. You've taken way too much authority. Don't we have the spirit of God too?

So Moses says, all right, well, let's all show up and see what's really going on. And when he does so, God says, back away from this world. Back away from their tents. And the earth actually opens up and swallows up all of those who had rebelled against Moses. That's why I think whether it's a flood of water or an enemy army that Satan sends against the nation of Israel,

the earth will actually open up. Again, could I be wrong on that? Absolutely. That's just what I think. Either way, God will miraculously protect the children of Israel. It says, so the dragon, verse 17, was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children who keep the commandment of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And so that's where we end for tonight.

Next week, we'll get into chapter 13 and we'll look at the beast, the one that comes from the earth and the one that comes from the sea. Crazy things going on in the book of Revelation, aren't there? It's a good thing. God told us all these things were coming so that we would know when we start seeing some of these signs of the times unfold, we can trust that there is a God that has a plan.

Amen. Father, we come to you now and we thank you for the things that we have studied here in the book of Revelation. And Lord, I pray that we too would be able to overcome all of those attacks of the enemy, all of those accusations of the enemy, of the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, and that we would love our eternal life. More than we love our temporary life on this earth.

Father, we thank you and we praise you for who you are. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.