Revelation

Well, good morning, Saylorville! You know, they say that days like this are… these cold, blustery days like this are the kind of days where only the old and decrepit can make it out in church. Think about that for a little while.

If you brought a copy of scripture with you this morning, we continue in our series, The Unveiling, and we would invite you to find Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12.

I’ve been doing these Baby Dedications for so long. There are many of these babies. I get pop-ups. You ever get those pop-ups on your phone from 10 years ago or 15 years ago? — and I’m getting pop-ups of these kids that are now in high school and there were… and many of them are walking with Jesus, and there’s a genuine reflection that this dedication was meaningful and fruitful, and to you parents out there that just dedicated yourselves and your children to the Lord remember that, because those pop-ups are gonna be, those pop-ups of this moment are gonna be taking place in the years to come, and may these kids become real champions for Jesus. Amen everyone?

Revelation chapter 12. You know, one of the most colorful and charismatic and controversial figures of World War II was none other than the great general, George Patton. His enemy counterpart in Germany was Erwin Rommel, another great general. And he was known as the Desert Fox because of his exploits… in North Africa, that is. But if you saw the great movie in 1970, which was… maybe you didn’t see it in 1970, but Patton… there’s a famous scene. It’s a little urban legend because he wouldn’t have actually seen Rommel, but in the movie he sees Rommel in his binoculars and he is a… Patton was a student of history, a great student of history and he had studied Rommel. Rommel had written a book on tactics from World War I, and he’s laughing as he looks through the binoculars. He says, “Ha ha, Rommel, you blankety  blank!” He didn’t say ‘blankety  blank’. He said, “I read your book!”

While our enemy has not written a book, he’s, you know, he’s inspired a few, but our God has written a book, and you’re holding it in your hands or should be, and from it we can learn how to stand against our enemy. And we do have an enemy of our souls, amen?

So we’re in Revelation chapter 12, and I’m going to read these first six verses and sort of do a running commentary on them. This is pregnant (no pun intended) with symbolism. These first six verses, we’ll tackle them best we can. All right? So John sees in a vision. He says,

Revelation 12:1-6

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

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

3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.

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.

5 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,

6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.” (or three and a half years, ish.)

So there’s a lot of symbolism here, right? The sun, the moon, and the stars referred to in verse one harken us back to Joseph’s dream in Genesis chapter 37. And he has this dream, and clearly the stars, the moon, and the sun, these 12’s are a reflection of the nation of Israel. They’re actually his… the 12 sons there, which would become the seed for the 12 tribes of Israel.

And now in verse two, you have this birth referred to. Now some would look at this as Mary. You can certainly see Mary in this passage, can’t you? — giving birth to Jesus. But again, if Israel is the focus in the book of Revelation, that is God’s preparing them for salvation, and I think it is… then I think we have to be consistent here. And I think this is also talking about Israel because in a sense Israel birthed Jesus. And from his entrance into the world, Satan has been against Him, right? — and against his people. And you see this in the passage, always opposed, right from His birth.

In verse three, this dragon which is referred to, this red dragon… has seven heads, 10 horns. He’s got seven diadems. These are all reflected… so the heads would appeal to his intelligence. And I think of second Corinthians chapter two [verse 11] which tells us that we should not be unaware of his devices. The horns referred to, horns in the Bible, always referred to power. And so this would have to do with his power. Ephesians 6 [:6-20] tells us how we deal with this. We don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers against the ruling authorities and celestial places. And then the diadems, which are crowns, would refer to his authority. And if you remember, there is a… in Isaiah, Isaiah 14 gives us what looks like the fall of Satan. This is where he says,

Isaiah 14:[13-14] 

[13 “You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”]

Five times; ‘I will be, I will ascend, I will do, I will, I will.’ And then he says, “I will be like the most high God.” This is interesting because Satan could never envision himself, could never envision anyone being more than God because God is God. So he just wanted to be like Him, which is a reflection of what he is. He’s always trying to mirror the things of God. That’s why he’s called the, his man, it’s called the Antichrist. The word Antichrist doesn’t just mean “against.” It means “instead of.”

And then the third of the stars in verse four that are cast down by the dragon’s tail. Theologians have postulated that this is a reflection of the fall of Satan referred to in Isaiah 14, and his angels are demons. And we know that Satan is a fallen being. We know that. Whether or not he’s an actual, was an angel, I guess. But that he leads the demonic realm of fallen angels is clear because Jesus told us in… the Olivet Discourse… in Matthew chapter 25, he says,

Matthew 25:[41] ‘Those on his left, He said, ‘Depart from me, into everlasting fire,’ (watch this) ‘prepared for the devil and his angels.’

Have you ever read that? So this is speaking of His authority over that realm of the fallen.

Now in verse five, you have this… I’ll look at… we’ll read verse five.

Revelation 12:5, “She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron…”

… clearly referring to Jesus. In fact, it tells us in Psalm 2 verse 9, it says this,

Psalm 2:9, “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

This is a Messianic Psalm referring to Jesus. ‘And the she gave birth.’ I think that’s still referring to Israel, but you can picture, as you probably do, Mary here. But again, there’s no exultation of her whatsoever in this passage. And the woman, again, I think the woman is a reflection of verse 6 of Israel and the protection that God may afford Israel during the final days of the tribulation, because God tells us, (and there’s a lot of scripture that’s coming to my mind. I’m compositing it) In Romans chapter 11, we’re told that there will come a day where all Israel will be saved. I mean, so something’s gonna happen here, and I think there’s gonna have to be some protective elements. But again, you have Jesus who will one day rule with a rod of iron. as [C.S.] Lewis said,

‘Jesus is not a… He’s the Lamb, but He’s also the Lion. He’s not a tame Lion.’ C. S. Lewis

So I wanna make a bee-line to verses seven and following, because as you look at the preponderance of this entire chapter, the real subject is Satan. The real subject is the devil. The real subject is our enemy, your enemy, my enemy. And we are told that we are to pray against him every single day. If you use the Lord’s Prayer as I do as a template for prayer, you are to pray, you know, “… lead me not into temptation,” that’s personal, “and deliver me from the evil one.”

So I wanna spend the balance of our time this morning in the passage of verses 7 through 17. So follow with me if you will.

Revelation 12:7-17

7 “Now war arose (or broke out) in heaven, Michael (the archangel) and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,

8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. (All God’s people said, ‘Amen!’ Yeah, but that just means he’s coming down here which the text tells us.)

9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman (this would be Israel) who had given birth to the male child.

14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. (or three and a half years)

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

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

17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring…” [on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.”]

Here’s some things I want you to make note about your enemy. Your enemy, who is the subject of this chapter, has access to God. I just want that to sink in for a moment. The very first verse, seven, ‘Now war arose in heaven and Michael, the Archangel, fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated. There was no longer (a what?) That’s a jurisdiction, “a place.” That’s a jurisdiction. That’s an area. There’s no longer a place in heaven, which means that there (what?) that there was a place. So while hell is Satan’s destiny, heaven’s been his frequency. You remember in Job, chapter one and two, you had that fascinating account where Job, this incredibly righteous man, Satan comes before God and dialogues with God over him! — over his life, over his goods, over everything he has. And God actually gives him permission! Now he doesn’t get any of it without the release from God himself. It’s in a fascinating account! But it’s there. And we’re told in verse, the middle of [Job 1] verse 10 in this passage that he accuses God’s people day and night. So he’s like a prosecuting attorney pointing out the things that you’re guilty of. How exactly opposite of Jesus is this fiend? We’re told in 1 John chapter two,

[1 John 2:1, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”]

‘…and now I write these things to you, little children, that you might not sin. But if you do sin, we have an advocate.’ We have an attorney. We have a defense attorney with God, Jesus Christ, the righteous.’ Amen! So they are so opposite of one another. You know, somebody that said, ‘When Satan reminds you of your past, you should remind him of his future.’ That’s a pretty good line. But I’ll tell you something, I wouldn’t get in the habit of talking to the devil. That’s not a smart thing. I mean, you read Jude, you read Jude, well, any chapter, you can choose any chapter you want in Jude. But if you read Jude nine, it says that

Jude 1:9, “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

‘… even as a Michael, the archangel referred to here, contended over the body of Moses who died on the mountain, he contended with Satan. And he would not bring a railing accusation against him.’

Have you ever heard that? He said, “The Lord, Rebuke you.” Until then, our enemy accuses.

There is a scene… we’ve pointed out in days gone by in Zechariah…it’s fascinating! Zechariah has this scene of… well, let’s look at it. Here it is.

Zechariah [3:1-2]

1 “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to (what?) accuse him.” (…because that’s what he does.

He’s a prosecuting attorney accusing him, that is, accusing Joshua, the High Priest.

2 And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, (which is exactly what Michael said to him, right?) O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?”

And if you’re a Christian, that’s all you are! You are “a brand plucked from the fire!” Hallelujah! But what a contrast, again, what a contrast, Satan is to our Lord Jesus Christ, who the bible tells us in Hebrews chapter [7], in verse 25b, I’m quoting, “He ever lives to make intercession.” Have you ever read that? (Oh, this has got up. I was going to wait for it, but here it is.) As Jesus always lives to make intercession, notice what Satan always lives to do, make accusation. [Zechariah 3:1] And I just want you to let that sink in for a moment, because this becomes very personal. Around here, we say, our motto is “More people, (what?) more like Jesus.” So how does that happen? It can happen in this very realm. Aren’t we supposed to be intercessors? Are we supposed to be accusers? Our enemy is a constant accuser. And there are times when accusation has to be leveled, but it should not be something anyone is known for. This is what Satan is known for.

When I was at the first church that I pastored as a younger guy, lead a gal to Christ. She, as a brand new Christian, she had faced lots of accusations. Some of them true, but they just never seemed to cease from her own personal enemies. And she was an artist, and she actually… (I wish I still had it, I don’t.) — She actually, contemplating the intercessory work of Jesus, the constant, ongoing, ever lives to make intercession for you and me, work of Jesus. As she was contemplating that and the accusatory work of the devil, she drew a picture. It was like a split screen for me, and she presented it to me. And underneath, she had a caption underneath it, which is what it was. The picture was cool, I guess, but it was the caption that that I was grabbed by. The caption was, “Are you an accuser or an intercessor?” And I think that, you know, we’re learning about our enemy here, but don’t be like him! Are you an accuser or an intercessor?

So the first point is that Satan has access to God in his accusing ministry. Let that sink in, Christian. If you’re a Christian, by the way, you have access too, just entirely for different reasons, right? We were told, again, the writer of Hebrews,

[Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.“]

Therefore, because we have a relationship with Him, we can come boldly to the throne of grace! Why do we come there… to make accusations… right? No! To find mercy and to find grace when we need it. And we can pray to that end for others.

The second thing I want you to know about our enemy is he will be thrown out of heaven. And you saw that, but not without a battle. There it is in [Revelation 12:] verse 8, a fight breaks out. This is just amazing! This is an invisible war that takes place. There’s some kind of pitched battle. It’s amazing! And it might mark the beginning of the second half of the tribulation. And [Revelation 12:] verse [9] is that he gets thrown out. And we go, ‘Yay! He’s out!’ There’s all this celebration in heaven! ‘We don’t have to see him anymore!’ But the earth, woe to you! — because the devil’s coming down with great wrath! He knows he’s only got a couple of clicks to get after it. So he’s gonna be thrown out of heaven. Hallelujah for that.

And thirdly, I want you to note he has several designations and five of them are right here. This is important because designations, designations tell us about someone. So, I mean, how many of you have a name? Raise your hand if you have a name. Everybody has a name. How many of you have more than one name? Raise your hand. How many of you have lots of nicknames? Raise your hand. You have lots of nicknames? I’ve had like two or three. Not many of us are given lots of nicknames. We might be given one or two. But look at these designations. You see them there. There’s the devil. That’s in there. That’s the Greek word “diabolos.” It means “to slander.” So it’s really closely akin to “accuser,” to slander somebody, “to speak words of evil.” He’s called the dragon, which speaks of his destructive and his evil nature. He’s called the accuser in this past, we’ve already addressed it. He’s called the deceiver. Now, the deceiver, we can deceive ourselves. We don’t need the devil to be deceived, but when you throw him on top of it, it exacerbates everything. The deceiver.. What he does is… as a deceiver, Satan deliberately tricks you and me into believing things that are not true. And he has so much fodder in this world for that. False teaching abounds… in churches! It abounds certainly out there. It abounds on the internet. So many of you fall for the biggest garbage in the world. You just believe anything. You’re just naive as I’ll get out. Don’t be that way! Because you just become fodder for your enemy. That’s why you need to be lovers of truth. You don’t have to become theologians and pastors and experts in the Bible, but you should love your Bible, because… I just thought of this. David said,

[Psalm 119:104] “Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.”

God’s Word gives you understanding and allows you to discern the deceptions that are coming your way. Because there’s enough deceptions out there without Satan doing anything! — But he just exacerbates them. (Boy, I hope I remember this in the next sermon ’cause I don’t have any of this written down!) He’s called the ancient serpent here. And that is a historical marker. That brings us right back to the Garden of Eden where it all started, right? Why is this important? I think it’s because for every designation, (that’s why I ask the question because I think most of you are lying to say you have a whole bunch of. I’m kidding, I’m not saying you’re — but a lot of them? — I mean how many names are you known by?) — because every name that somebody has says something about them.

But there’s a person in our church that calls me “the Hammer.” I’m not sure I really like that. I think they mean it as a compliment. I know they mean it as a compliment. But ‘Hey, what’s your nickname?’ ‘Well, I’m Hammer.’ — But that says something about me. That says something about my ministry. It says something about the exhortive element of my ministry. I’m the guy in your face. I’m the guy confronting you. But I do it “in love.” That was supposed to be funny! Go ahead and laugh. I really do do it in love. But the reason this is important, because you have five designations of your enemy in this one chapter. But there are so many more. For instance, in addition, Satan is known as “Lucifer,” “Abaddon,” which means “destroyer,” “adversary,” “angel of light,” “angel of the bottommost pit” we saw that last week, Apollyon, which means “destroyer,” Beelzebub, “the Lord of the Flies,” “Prince of the demons,” “Belial,” “enemy,” “evil one,”  “Father of lies,” “murderer,” “Prince of the power of the air,” “ruler of this world,” “fallen star,” “tempter,” “thief,” “wicked one,” and above all, “liar.” That’s how Jesus designated him along with many other things. I think Spurgeon put it best when he said,

“Satan has many tools, but the lie is the handle that fits them all.” C. H. Spurgeon

We must overcome him! You must overcome him! And the good news, if you’re a Christian, you’re already an overcomer! Hallelujah! We are more than conquerors… Nike. We get a word, “Nike,” from that word. “…we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” [Romans 8:37b] Say, ‘Amen!’ — If you’re a Christian.

All right… the balance of our time now goes to how to overcome Him. And the good news is, we don’t have to focus on all the heavy symbolism of this passage. We can focus on one verse. You should memorize it. It’s the 11th verse. Look at it. Here’s what it says,

[Revelation 12:]11, “And they have conquered him (overcome him) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

It’s a little clunky, but it’s powerful! Real quick, three ways to overcome your enemy. One, by the blood of the Lamb. Amen? Have you experienced the blood of the Lamb? Would you be free from your burden of sin? There’s power in the blood! Power in the blood! If you have been cleaned, Paul says in

Ephesians 1:7 [“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace…”]

We have redemption through his blood. And this is referring to the death, to the slaughtering of your Savior who died on your behalf. But that’s an ongoing thing. This is why John tells us

[1 John 1:10] ‘he who says he doesn’t have any sins, that’s a liar. The truth isn’t in him.’

So all of us are sinners. [Romans 3:23] Can we get an ‘amen’ on that? So he says,

[1 John 1:9] “… but if you confess your sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” And just two verses, one verse earlier, it says,

[1 John 1:7b “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and] the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Amen! So, and he does it through ongoing confession. And to confess means you’re agreeing that you’re agreeing with the conviction of the Spirit of God upon your heart and on your mind about that thought that you had, that word that you said, that attitude that you copped, that deed that you did that was wrong. And you overcome the devil who wants to exacerbate all this stuff by the blood of the Lamb. You make confession. You don’t make excuses. I’m telling you, I tire of Christians who are constantly making excuses for their sins. I know because I get tired of it in my own life. The lawyer? I have a lawyer living in me! Every time I get confronted with a sin by God or someone else, my thought is, ‘Oh, well, I’ll get my defense attorney out here!’ … rather than just admitting it; Admitting that pride, admitting that jealousy, admitting that covetousness, admitting that lust, admitting that evil thought, whatever it may be, and you do it, you overcome them by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ through a confession.

Secondly, by the strength of your testimony.

[Revelation 12:11, “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”]

You see it there? It says by the word of his testimony. That’s the word “logos.” You’re familiar with this word, right?

John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word (logos), and (you know) the Word (logos) was with God, and the Word (logos) was God.“

That’s Jesus, right? But now we apply the word to you and me. I don’t know who actually said it first, but someone said,

“Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.” Anonymous

But I would say to that person words are necessary. God saves people through words.

[Romans 10:17] ‘Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.’

But this word, “logos” here, means more than words. The word “logos” here carries the idea of “giving of an account,” of the giving of an account. So you should write that down somewhere. It’s what our lives are constantly doing, right? They’re constantly giving an account. I know it sounds cheesy, but I remember memorizing years ago,

You’re preaching the gospel, a chapter each day

By the deeds that you do, and the words that you say.

Men read what you write, whether faithless or true,

So what is the gospel according to you?

So the strength of your testimony is how you are going to overcome the evil one. He says it right here.

And then thirdly, are you ready for this? — By your willingness to die. I’m just gonna go ahead and say it… By your willingness to die for what you believe.

In her book, A Chance to Die, Elisabeth Elliot wrote a commentary or biography really of Amy Carmichael, the great missionary to the orphans in India. And basically the premise of her book was living and dying for a cause that’s really greater than yourself. So Elisabeth Elliot was the wife of Jim Elliot. He’s one of my heroes. I have a short list of heroes… Spurgeon being one. Jim Elliot… I just devoured everything that he wrote from his journals when I became a Christian. And he never intended the journals he wrote to go public. He would never have dreamt that to happen. His wife did all of that. But in fact, he was such a preacher… You can get some of his messages… He preached with a lot of fervor. But when he was on his way down to South America to be a missionary, they begged him here in the States to stay! ‘Stay here! Stay stateside and stir up the church!’ And his reply was,

“Their condemnation is written in their bank books and in the dust on the covers of their bibles.” Jim Elliot

Now, Elliot is best known for his famous quote that he wrote in a journal,

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot

Great quote! Worth memorizing. True. I can almost hear him preaching it! But I tell you that because my favorite quote of his is not that one. It’s a great quote. My favorite quote is not one that he would have meant to go over a pulpit. My favorite quote is something he preached to himself. He wrote himself to himself. He was reading in the book of Hebrews, where it describes angels as ministering spirits. They’re called a “flame of fire,” and he applied it to himself as a minister. And he wrote… these are his words. He said,

“Am I ignitable? God, deliver me from the dread asbestos of ‘other things.’ Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame. But flame is transient, often, short lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul— (He’s, he’s, he’s preaching to himself here! Canst thou bear this my soul?) short life? In me dwells the Spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God’s house consumed Him. ‘Make me Thy Fuel, Flame of God.”

And then he wrote,

“I seek not a long life, but a full one like you, Lord Jesus.” Jim Elliot

Why is that so powerful? — because he was speared to death just a couple of years after he wrote those words for bringing the gospel to an indigenous people.

Tonight, Saylorville Church, you’re gonna hear the story from one who knows well this idea of living the spirit of Jim Elliot. You’re going to hear a testimony. My question to you is simply this. How full is your life? How full is your life? Again, he said, ‘I don’t desire a long life. Just a full one, like yours, Lord Jesus.’ I’m guessing all of your lives are full. The only question is, what are they full of? Let’s pray.

Our Father, thank You. Thank You for giving us instruction how to overcome our enemy, and what a contrast he is to our beautiful Savior, our Lord Jesus, our ever intercessor, ever living to make intercession for us. Thank you, Lord Jesus! Thank You! Thank You for being there for me. Thank You for being my advocate, my lawyer, my friend. Help me against the prosecutor, the ever accuser, because I feel it, Lord. And I pray, Lord, that You’ll protect us all who know You and love You. And we would find safety in the blood of the Lord Jesus. And those who are here who’ve never experienced the cleansing power of salvation through Jesus, place Your faith in him. He loved you. He died for you! [MUSIC] And then Lord, please, please, please establish our testimonies that they would be strong. They become, they become an armor in and of  themselves against evil. And give us a willingness, if necessary, to die for You, because we’re all going to die. Lord, all of us are full. Our lives are full. So many things to fill us up. What are they full of? Good question. Help us to that end, in Jesus’ name. Amen.