Turn with me to Revelation chapter 12. This particular
chapter, along with the next two or three, speaks, and we are reminded again,
of the Lord's gracious blessing in the keeping of His people
while she is in this world. In the sixth verse of Revelation
12, the Lord had already ascended, and the woman, it said, fled
into the wilderness where she had a place. Now, this
wilderness, as we looked at last week, was set forth as this world. We are in a wilderness. This
earth, this world is not our home. We are pilgrims. But this place is a place, a
wilderness that the Scripture says is a place prepared of God
that they should be fed 1203 score days. And then the Scripture
says that being in that wilderness, there was a war in heaven. And we looked at that word heaven,
realizing that it's not in the celestial place that we think
of when we say heaven, but heaven is the place where God has set
His throne. The Lord has been pleased to
reside within His people. We are, the Scripture says, the
temple of God Himself. And then the Scripture says that
this war was fought between Michael and his angels. Michael is not
an angel of a higher order than other angels are, but Michael
here is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Michael means one who
is God. Michael, the archangel, the first
of the angels. Christ Himself is who is spoken
of and His angels. You remember we looked at the
Lord speaking and saying of the angels of the seven churches,
the preachers. So this battle is actually being
waged between the Lord Jesus Christ, the sending forth of
preachers that set forth the gospel of free grace and the
dragon, Satan himself and his angels. There are men that are
standing in pulpits this morning that's preaching that which is
absolutely false. And there's a battle that's going
on. I know it's very hard for us
to realize. We think, well, there's not really a battle going on
here. But I'm going to tell you something. I hope this is not
too simplistic of an illustration, but just for our minds, because
if we all are honest about it, we all have simple minds. When
you have a battle, that is being raging around, a physical battle. You know, it's not hard for us
to understand that, you know, someone fires a cannon, you know,
and that projectile goes off and explodes, and these cannons
are being fired, and there's a war that's actually being raged. Well, I'm going to tell you something.
The Word of God is the cannon. This is the weapon of our warfare,
the Word of God itself. And again, I hope that that's
not too simplistic, but I'm telling you, the Lord has promised concerning
His Word, His Word is going to go forth in power and it's going
to accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. But thanks
be to God that as this war is being raged, in this life, heaven
itself, heaven on earth, where the Lord is on His throne. The
Scripture says that Satan prevailed not. In verse 8, neither was
there place found anymore in heaven. That place that Satan
was stripped of as being the captor of God's people. The Lord Jesus Christ said was
anointed to preach the gospel, to preach deliverance to the
captive, those whom the Lord has everlastingly loved, that
He had set His affection on, Christ came into this world and
preached or revealed deliverance for them. And then the Scripture
says the great dragon, verse 9, was cast out. that old serpent,
the devil, Satan, which deceived the whole world, was cast out
into the earth and his angels, they were removed from that position
that he held as the captor and the blinder of God's people. In verse 10, I heard a loud voice,
a great voice saying in heaven, right now in the hearts of God's
people, this loud voice is being heard for within your heart,
you that believe. There is a loud voice heard in
heaven and this is what you say. Now is come salvation and strength. God's people are saved. They're being saved and they
shall be saved. Now is come salvation and strength
and the kingdom of our God. The Lord spoke and said, My kingdom
is not of this world. The kingdom of God, the people
of God, and the power of His Christ for the accuser of our
brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day
and night. And they overcame Him, how? By the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not
their lives unto the death. God's people are kept, and they
remain. They that endure to the end shall
be saved, all of God's people are going to endure to the end
because the Lord keeps them. Therefore, rejoice, verse 12,
ye heavens, ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants
of the earth and the sea, for the devil is come down unto you,
having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short
time. Rejoice, who? You that believe,
but also woe unto you that believe." Why? Not because God will not
keep you, because He shall. But woe to you because the devil
has come down unto you having great wrath because he knows
that his time is short. And so now we find ourselves
in verse 13, and this is really where we stopped, when the dragon
saw that he was cast unto the earth." When he was removed,
when the Lord held him captive, led captivity captive by the
blood of his substitutionary death, when the dragon saw that
he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted or pursued the woman
which brought forth the man-child. And we know that that was the
Lord Jesus Christ through whom God had sent our blessed Redeemer. And verse 14 says, And to the
woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might
fly into the wilderness into her place, where she is nourished
for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent. Now, there is a place, according
to verse 6, where the woman fled into the wilderness. a place
prepared of God. Now, no doubt, we see here in
this 14th verse the reason for the bride's protection. She cannot
protect herself. So the Scripture says, they were
given two wings of a great eagle. They were bestowed. They were
delivered. She received these two wings. Why? That she might fly or outstrip
the pursuer. And she flew into the wilderness.
Now, we looked at this. Turn back though to Isaiah 40
and I'll just pick up, Lord willing, with some depth to what is actually
being set forth as the bride's protection. We're in this world. We're in a wilderness. Now, you
know that. Where do we go? How do we flee? How do we escape? Well, the Scripture
sets forth back here in Revelation that two wings of a great eagle. Isaiah 40, verse 31, they that
wait, they that rest, they that look to upon the Lord shall renew
their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk. and not faint. Now, Isaiah 40, 31 gives us some
insight into our safety, how we're kept on these great wings
of these eagles, those that wait with knowledge and reverence. They wait on the Lord. They rest
in Him. They wait with constancy. Now, I realize, and you do too,
That if we wait, if we're able to wait, in a heart, you know,
waiting sometimes is the hardest thing in the world I can do.
I'm the most impatient thing. And I'm telling you, whenever
time is to be, it's, you know, whatever, whenever it's time
to go, whenever it's time, you know, Some of you that have to
deal with me, I know you may think, well, I don't know, Marvin,
you know, you've been late and stuff like that. But it's not
because it's not tearing me up inside. You know, I'm just, Glenda
tells me what I see you snickering there. Glenda tells me, she said,
Marvin, you're like a cage line when it, you know, time is, you
know. All right, let's say that way. Because there's times that
the Lord does not make His good will and His providence known
to us right now. And it's the hardest thing to
just wait. Watch. All things, I know, work
together for good. But there's times when things
providentially are falling out, and I think to myself, and I
could make a phone call right here, I could handle this. I could get this taken care of.
Somebody says something to one of my kids or does something
to one of my children, and boy, I'm telling you, it's Marvin. They that wait,
wait on the Lord, shall renew their strength. They shall be
caused to revive and flourish again just like a dead tree that
has life imparted to it again. They shall renew their strength. They'll mount up. Mount up in
their affection heavenly is what that means. And the Scripture
says they'll mount up as the wings of eagles. That is with the power of the
Lord Jesus Christ who is set forth. as the eagle that we looked
at in the cherubim. Now, let me show you something.
Turn back. Here is the deliverance of the
bride. Turn back to Revelation 4. You
remember we looked a while back at this cherubim. In Revelation 4, verses 6 and
7, John saw in the vision, he said, before the throne, there
was a sea of glass likened to crystal. And in the midst of
the throne and round about the throne were four beasts full
of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like
a lion, the second beast like a calf, the third beast had the
face as a man, and the fourth beast was like an eagle." Now
we looked and we realized that this cherubim is actually It
is a heavenly manifestation or type that John saw, a glorious
type, that set forth the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember we
talked about there's types in this world. We see types. When
Noah went into the ark, the ark was a type of Christ. You say, that's not Christ. It
was a type of Christ. It set forth. God's people are
secure in the ark. The brazen serpent. The Lord
told Moses, snakes are biting the people. I want you to take
some brass and make a snake out of that brass. And I want you
to raise up that snake on a pole. And all of them that look on
that brazen serpent, when they just look on him, they'll be
healed. That which was biting the people,
snakes, was a picture of sin. When Moses made that brazen serpent,
what that was setting forth was Christ was made to be what was
biting them. He was made sin. And they looked. Someone said one time, you mean
all it took was just a look and they were healed? That's right.
But when you consider that man by nature is blind, if God has
given a man eyes to see, that's a glorious picture. That they
looked to faith and they lived. So there were types in pictures.
These cherubims were heavenly types. John saw this and he saw
this cherubim, this glorious symbol of the glory of Christ,
and in that look, That beast was like a lion, set forth the
strength of the Lord Jesus Christ. The beast was like a calf, the
substitution, the sacrifice. Third beast, as a man, He who
was incarnate, made flesh. And the fourth, like a flying
eagle, the deliverer of His people. Turn to Exodus 19. Exodus chapter
19. This is what the Lord said. concerning deliverance. Exodus
19, verse 3. The Scripture says, Exodus 19,
3, And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him
out of the mountains, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house
of Jacob, And tell the children of Israel, Ye have seen what
I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles' wings,
and brought you unto Myself. Now, therefore, if ye will obey
My voice, indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a
peculiar treasure unto Me above all people, for unto all the
earth is Mine." Now, here's the only requirement for God to bear
His people on the wings of eagles. and to keep them and protect
them and bring them to Himself. All they must do is obey His
voice and keep His covenant. That's all they've got to do. And all God's people do. All
of them. All they have to do is keep His
commandments. And they've kept every one of
them. Never broken one of them. Never in the person of their
substance. in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. With His righteousness imputed
to them, God's people have obeyed perfectly the law of Almighty
God. And the Lord says, I'll deliver
you. I'll bring you to Myself. Look
at Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32,
verse 7. Oh, and I say, We don't even want to talk about
that, do we? How consistent have we been in ourselves? Well, let's
don't go there. Oh, but in him, Deuteronomy 32,
7, remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he'll show
thee. Thy elders, they'll tell thee. When the Most High divided
to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of
Adam. He set the bounds of the people according to the number
of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is his
people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land,
in the waste, howling wilderness. He led him about, he instructed
him, kept him as the apple of his eye, as an eagle stirreth
up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her
wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone
did lead him, and there was no strange God with him." Now back
in Revelation chapter 12, what's the deliverance of God's church? What's the deliverance? The Scripture
says in verse 14, were given two wings of a great eagle that
she might fly into the wilderness, into her place where she is nourished
for time, times, and half a time from the face of the serpent."
These are those that the Scripture says they run back in Isaiah
40. They run with affection for the
Lord, for His way, for His Word, and they are not weary. They
don't toil. They are not in toil spiritually. They are not exhausted spiritually. I heard Brother Henry say one
time, he said, I understand perfectly. He said, especially for a pastor,
he said, growing weary in the gospel, but never of it. Never. God's people, they are not weary,
and they shall walk leaning upon Christ, trusting Him and not
faint. That is, they won't sink under
the burden. Why? Because God keeps them.
The Scripture says she flew because she was given two wings of a
great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness. And she
was nourished. The Lord says, I will send you. In Jeremiah 3.15, I'll send you,
pastors, after My heart. Why? And they'll feed you. They'll
feed you with knowledge. What did the Lord tell Peter? And the Lord saw him on the shore
there. He said, Peter, lovest thou me
more than these? More than these things? There's been a lot of debate
what the Lord was actually talking about. I don't know. The point
is, the Lord asked Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know. He said, feed my sheep. God is
going to feed His people. And this bride, she's kept in
that place, delivered on the wings of the eagle of the Lord
Jesus Christ. She's nourished time, times,
and a half a time. And she's done all this from
the face of the serpent. Now, when it says the face, it
is not as though Satan is not aware. that God's people are
in this world. Well, you know He knows that.
It's not that they're hidden and He just can't find them.
When it says they're kept, hidden, delivered, nourished from the
face of the serpent, it actually means this, away from Satan's
most direct and deadly attack. They're kept from his face whenever
men shall stand before God, and they shall see Him as He is in
His face. It is saying that He knows them
and He shall deal with them in absolute righteousness and judgment. But here, Satan, he knows that
God's people are here. The bride is in this wilderness
three and a half years, three and a half times the time of
God's appointment. And I believe that this time,
time, times and half a time, where Satan himself, that we're
kept from his most direct and deadly attacks, we're in the
thousand year millennium right now. The Scripture is going to
set forth, and we're going to deal with this a little bit later
in Revelation 20, where the Scripture says that Satan is bound for,
it says a thousand years, but that word thousand is plural.
Here again, I don't want to get into chapter 20 because I want
to stay and finish chapter 12, Lord willing, this morning. But
the word thousand is actually thousands. It's plural. Thousands
of years. He is bound. Scripture says he's
bound in a bottomless pit. Here again, it is not a hole
in the ground. So don't think that the bottomless
pit. The bottomless pit is actually
that false religion, that pit that that smoke came out of and
belched out into this world. False religion. And this is what
it's saying. There is no depth to false religion. There's no bottom to it. It never
gets to that place where you can say, well, there's the end
of it. It is a bottomless pit. There's no depth to the rebellion
before God against those that know Him not. This church, this
woman, the bride, she is actually protected by the Lord during
her stay in this wilderness. She's nourished by the Lord.
She's cherished. hampered and she's kept from
the face of the serpent. Well, during this time, Satan
is said to be bound. And actually, all that saying
is this, he's not able to do that which he would like to do.
Do you think that Satan would like to do more to God's people
than he's able? to do. He's bound during this
time. He's kept because God is keeping
him from her, protecting her. Bound during this thousands years. Bound. That word bound. He's
bound. It's the same word that is bind
in Mark 3.27. Turn over to Mark. Mark 3.27. Mark 3, verse 27. No man can enter into a strong
man's house and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the
strong man, and then he will spoil his house. Now listen,
when Adam fell in the garden, all mankind fell in him. And all mankind rebelled against
Almighty God. All men died spiritually by one
man's disobedience. Death reigned. Bound in death,
spiritual death, trespasses and sins. And the Lord says no man
can enter into a strong man's house. Adam's race was bound,
the house of Satan. Remember when the Lord told the
Pharisees, you are of your father the devil. That's where you live.
That's your house. No man can bind a strong man's
house and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man. So when Satan was bound, how
was he bound? He was bound by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how he was captive, captivated. and then he'll spoil his house. So this thousand-year reign,
and I can already tell you that I've already spilled over into
chapter 20, so I'll stop right there. Let's just say that the
Lord is keeping His people from Satan's most vicious attacks. Bam! And the Lord Jesus Christ
triumphed over him and bound him in the wilderness of temptation. The Lord Jesus Christ was there
Satan told him, he said, if you'll bow down and worship me, I'll
give you all these. He bound him. It is written.
It's said. The Lord Jesus Christ is delivering
His people. Verse 15 says, "...and the serpent
cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that
he might cause her to be carried away of the flood." while we
are in this wilderness, while we are being kept and delivered
on the great wings of our Eagle, the Lord Jesus Christ, while
we are being fed and nourished in this place during the time,
times and a half a time, while we are being kept from the most
vicious and deadly attacks because the Lord has bound Satan that
he could not do what he truly desires to do. The Scripture
says, while the serpent is cast out, he casts out of his mouth
water as a flood because of Satan's hatred of the woman. He spews out of his mouth heresy
and lies and deception through false preachers. You remember
when the Lord said of His people, out of your belly will flow rivers
of living water. Living water. That's lively water. Water that is alive. The water
of the world. The living water. Well, the Scripture
says here that Satan, he couldn't do what he wanted to do. He's
bound, he's kept, God is nourishing, he's delivering, keeping his
church in this wilderness. While she is here during this
time, Satan is casting out of his mouth water. Not living water,
dead water. False doctrine. And what he's
wanting to do, he wants to carry that woman away. with that flood. That's what he's desiring. He's
desiring to carry away through the flood of deception to cause
her to be overwhelmed by the lie. But the Scripture says in
verse 16, and the earth helped the woman. And the earth opened
her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out
of his mouth. Now, I'm going to be real honest
with you. This has got to be one of the most amazing truths
that we perceive. There are many truths that we
understand concerning Him who is the truth. I was telling Brother
Gary this morning, there are some things that are set forth
in this that except the Lord would teach us what is going
on in this world right now, we would never know. We would never
perceive. It is not hard for me to understand
that there is false doctrine being preached. I understand
that. I mean, I turn on the television,
and I mean just about every channel that you flip. Every one of them
is liars. They are all liars. I don't,
there's not many that I've seen. There's some that I have, but
not many. There's some that I know that
is absolutely, well, all of them are sincere. But I'm telling
you, they're sincerely wrong. How do you know? Well, just listen
to them. They come to you in sheep's clothing. They're wolves. They're spewing lies. They're the angels of Satan himself. And while this church, while
this battle is going on, while God is keeping His people, Satan
has one purpose. He can't get to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's ascended. But he's after
his bride. He's after her because of her
association with him. And what he's doing, he's spewing
out, verse 15, this flood, this false deception that he might
cause her. That's his purpose. But the earth, and I looked up
that word, earth, and it's this word, the world. The world. It's the same word that we read
says love, not the world. Neither of the things in the
world. If the love of the world is in you, the love of the Father
is not. The world. the earth. It helped the woman. And that word helped means aided
or relieved. Now, there's one thing that I'm
absolutely convinced of. Whatever this verse means, it
means this, that when Satan spewed out this false doctrine, and
he is that because of the Lord's infinite wisdom and power, He
has caused whatever Satan is doing and has done, and if the
Lord tarry, shall do, He's going to cause and is causing the earth
or the world to help the woman. Now, I thought to myself, how
does the world help or aid The woman, the earth, the world,
the reprobate of this earth, all those left to themselves,
all that the potter created to be vessels of dishonor, opened
her mouth, opened their mouth, the scripture said, and swallowed
up. and drank down and devoured the
flood." God Almighty, in His mercy and
grace and power, knowing that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose, this Scripture sets forth that while Satan tries
to destroy God's church, His bride, His beloved, and He is
keeping her and protecting her, and all the while, while Satan
is spewing out the flood of deception, the world helped the woman by
opening her mouth and taking it in and drinking it down. And the Lord gave them exactly
what they wanted because they would not believe the truth. The Scripture says, the Lord
God will send them strong delusion. You say, but I thought it was
that the serpent cast out of his mouth. He did. He did. But you remember who is all-powerful. You remember who is God Almighty. This is God's devil. And God
Almighty is giving men exactly what they want. Men want to hear
a lie by nature. And the Scripture says that Satan
is preaching in every preacher that's standing in a pulpit this
morning. We think, well, it's just staying in that same building,
right? It's not really going anywhere. Don't you think for
one second that it is. Let me ask you this is what you're
hearing this morning. Does it ever stay in this one
building? No. I mean, you tell other people
it leaves with you. It goes out. It just there are
men standing in pulpits this morning that spewing out lies
on God Almighty. And when you trace it right back,
I'll tell you where the source of it is. It's coming through
the means of the devil himself, his angel. that's sending forth
this flood out of His mouth that He might cause the woman, verse
15, to be carried away with the flood of deception and lies and
the earth, the world. Those left to themselves are
helping the woman this morning. And the world hates that and
despises her. Why? Because they hate God and
they despise Him. And their mind is enmity against
Him. And the wrath of man is going
to praise Him. All things are working together. They work together for good to
them that love God. The Lord is delivering His people
by causing those that have a desire to hear it to hear a lie. They
just open their mouth. They just take it in. And they
are convinced in their heart that they're right, that the
bride is a liar and a deceptor. And they look at her as if she's
someone that's trying to shut out God. Oh, they say. You're trying to limit God to
say that only the Lord will save His elect. And we want salvation
to be to everybody. We love everybody. We hate what
you're saying. What they're saying is we hate
the God that you're preaching because He's He rules and reigns. And they're helping the church
by taking in this deception. And they're getting just what
they want. And God's going to judge them for it. And God's
delivering His people by it. And the dragon, verse 17, was
wroth with the woman. He hated her. He was despising
toward her. And he went to make war with
the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God
and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Satan, though bound in
his ability to eternally harm God's people, he is always angry
with her. He hates her. He is wroth because
he hates God. He is bent on making war with
her for one reason. She is the one who keeps the
commandments of God and has the testimony of Jesus Christ because
the Lord has set His seal upon her. The Lord has set His affection
on her because the Lord is keeping her, because the Lord has promised
her, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. And she
hates him. She hates him. By grace and mercy
from our God, They have a watch, the bride does. They keep an
eye. They watch. Toward His Word,
I know they don't keep it by their own power, but they hold
fast their profession because the Lord holds them fast by His
grace. This is what it says, The dragon
was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant
of her seed, those that keep the commandments of God and have
the testimony of Jesus Christ. They possess it. They have it.
The Lord has given it to them. And they shall possess it because
the Lord has promised. He said, I am your rock. I will keep you. I want you to just stop and think So many times we say and we believe
that the Lord is keeping us. Do you have any idea, and I do
understand, how man by nature would hear that one verse of
Scripture where it says, "...and the earth helped the woman, took
the flood, the water that came out of the mouth of the dragon
himself. And you know that there's nothing
going to come out of his mouth but that which is resentful and
rebellious before Almighty God. But it says the earth swallowed
it up, drank it down, and loved it. Stop for a moment and realize
the indescribable grace of God that keeps His people, that is
delivering His people right now as this flood of rebellion, this
deluge of lies that's going around. God is causing the world to swallow
it, hook, line, and sinker. Why? Because they will not receive
the love of the truth. They will not. And He's giving
them exactly what they want. They want a lie. And God will
give it to them. He's going to give just exactly
what they want. God's going to give His people
what they want. They want Christ because He's given them a heart. And the day of His power made
them willing after Christ. You think about how God has delivered
you or me this morning and caused these that believe a lie to believe
it willingly. And He's helped you, delivered
you. Thank you.