Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of the Revelation, chapter 12. John, in our last study, saw
in the last verse of the 11th chapter, the temple of God opened
in heaven. And there he beheld the final
victorious place of rest of the Lord's church. And the great reason for her
rest, he saw there the Ark of His Testament, the Lord Jesus
Christ pictured in that ark as being the satisfaction of God's
law, God's justice. And there John, with all of the
redeemed, beheld and we behold again this morning the freshness
of the glorious truth of God's promise to be merciful and compassionate
to His people. Well, in chapter 12, and I want
to say before we go into this chapter, this chapter holds some
great revelation of truth that we truly desire to enter into. We have seen these trumpets being
blown. These are the trumpets of God's
justice. The sixth trumpet had sounded,
the seventh sounded, and we expected, as I said a time or two ago,
to enter right in to the great white throne judgment, the final
judgment of God. And the Spirit of God was pleased
to again remind us of the great hope and peace that we have in
our blessed Savior. And this twelfth chapter and
the thirteenth chapter tell us again and remind us again, though
this world is seeing great judgment in not only men believing a lie,
but also God withdrawing and making the hearing of the gospel
to be a famine in this world. And you know that is so. But as a remembrance, a reminder,
this twelfth chapter, before we get into in that The great
white throne, we are going to get into chapters 19. I will
tell you this until we actually see that actually happen. But
these next few chapters are going to show us the blessed place
that we have in this world. Verse 1 of chapter 12, And there
appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun
and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars." Now, without a doubt, this woman that is spoken of
is the Church. It is the Bride of the Lord Jesus
Christ. John says that this was a great
wonder. That word is a sign. Here is an amazing thing to behold. Here was a woman that is actually
viewed in heaven. That's what it says. There appeared
a great wonder in heaven. And this vision that John has
gives reference to this woman's position, her state of being. Her state of being is a position
of rest. Now this is where the church
is right now. You say, well, I'll tell you
this, we're looking around and seeing some tough positions that
the church is in. There's a battle and we're getting
ready to find out in just the next few verses that there really
is a battle that's going on. Let me ask you that believe.
Are not you at rest this morning, no matter what's going on, no
matter what the situation is? Really, are we not at rest in
the person of our blessed Savior? Believers, though they are physically
in this earth, in the purpose of Almighty God and the Lord
Jesus Christ, right now we are seated in the heavenlies. At this point, right now, without
a doubt, we are in this world physically, but we are with Him. And this woman is described like
this. She is clothed with the Now,
is that hard for us to understand? We know what that is. Here is
the brilliance of her garment. She is clothed with Christ Himself,
the Son of Righteousness, who, according to Ephesians 5, verse
14, shall give thee light, not only in understanding of the
Scriptures, but also the light of His glory, being robed in
His righteousness. This clothing that the bride
is said to be clothed with sets forth the covering that the believer
has in establishing his justification before God, robed in Christ's
righteousness. There is no condemnation. Perfect. And the Scripture says also of
this woman that the moon is under her feet. Now, if we'll just
stop for a minute and think about what is being said about this
woman, we'll understand something of what the meaning of the moon
under her feet actually is. The moon, we know, is symbolic
as being the reflection of the sun. The moon is the light of
the night, all right? The way we know that there is
a sun at night is because we see the moon. In Isaiah 30, 26,
let me just read this to you. It says, Moreover, the light
of the moon shall be as the light of the sun. And the light of
the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days in the
day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and
healeth the stroke of their wounds." So when we see the moon, we are
reminded of the glory of the sun, a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. Now this woman is said to have
the moon, or the light of Christ Himself, to be under her feet. What's actually being said here
is really two things. Number one, this is the way that
the bride walks in this world, by faith in Him, by the faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. But also, Matthew 5.14 says that
she is the light of the world. of Christ is displayed by the
bride herself. Now, Song of Solomon 610, when
we were studying back a few months ago, Song of Solomon 610 says,
in describing the bride, she's fair as the moon. That means that the beauty of
the bride is actually the light of her husband, the Lord Jesus
Christ, in whom she walks. Colossians 2.6. Turn over there
with me. We're going to turn to a few
passages because there's so much that when we read something,
let's look at some Scriptures that backs it up. Colossians
2.6. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. The moon in Revelation
12.1 is under the feet of the bride. It doesn't mean she tramples
on it. That's not what it's talking
about. It's the way that she walks. It's the way that she's
going through this world. But also, I said there was two
things. Also, the moon under her feet may refer also to her
being kept and upheld by the moon. Psalm 119, 105, David says, The reflection of the Son Himself
is a lamp unto my feet. It's a light unto my path. In
Job 4, verse 4, it says, Thy words have upholden Him that
was fallen, and Thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. So here is
this bride. She is described by John. Here she is. She's found to be
a great wonder, a great sign in heaven. She's clothed with
the sun, and the moon is under her feet. And upon her head,
a crown of twelve stars. Now, a crown in the Scriptures
speaks of, in this sense, because here again I want to make this
perfectly clear, in just a few minutes we're going to find out
that there was the red dragon and he also had a crown on his
head that he had. But in this sense, this bride,
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the crown speaks of the
bride's victorious stand in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 8,
37 says, Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. When you see a crown, on this
woman, it speaks of her victory. 2 Corinthians 2.14, Now thanks
be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and
maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every
place. But, you know, when we start
looking and we say, well, that's the crown that's on top of the
bride's head. Well, let's look again one more
time before we leave this point at truly her victory. It says upon her head there was
a crown of twelve stars. Now, the woman, the bride, the
church truly has a head. It says upon her head she has
a head. But let me ask you this. Who
is the head? of the bride. I mean, we're looking
at, you know, it's so easy for us to see this and we think,
you know, well, that's the crown on our heads, you know. And just
for a fleeting moment, did we not think disrespectfully and
think, well, it's on our head? Well, it is our head as long
as we realize who our head is. It's Christ. Colossians 118 says,
and He is the head of the body. the church. So the crown actually
is upon Him because He is the crown of the bride. That's according to Isaiah 28.
Now, the Scripture says upon her head, the Lord Jesus, there's
a crown and it has in that crown twelve stars. When we start looking
at this symbolism. There's so many things that we
can start to look at. And as we've looked at this study,
one of the things that I've tried very hard to do is not get into
speculation. That's that to me is just when
you start getting off somewhere into speculation, you're starting
to say, well, that's what you think. That's what I think. Well,
let's be very careful. But there are some things that
we do know about these Scriptures that set forth the glory of Christ. Concerning this crown, it said
it had 12 stars in it. Well, I know this. There is one
thing that I do know that the Lord spoke of in Revelation 1.20,
speaking of stars. That crown is on the head of
the bride, the Lord Jesus Christ. So if there are stars on that
crown, And that crowns on Christ Himself. I know these stars are
honorable stars. The Lord Jesus Christ said in
Revelation 1.20, He was speaking of the angels that were at each
of the seven churches, the gospel preachers. The number 12, as
I began to look into the Scriptures, I realized distinguished some
very important things. Number one, there were 12 tribes
of Israel. I know that. I know that there
were 12 apostles. Have you ever noticed how the
number 12 kept coming up? But this number 12 here, I don't
believe that it speaks specifically of either the 12 tribes of Israel
or the twelve apostles in particular, but it speaks of the basis or
the foundation of what was preached by these twelve. Turn over to
John 11, 9. John chapter 11. And it was talking about, in
this 12, it's talking about the foundation of what they preached. And it's an allotted time. Now,
let me show you why, because I'm going to look in Ephesians
2 in just a minute. But in John 11, verse 9, the Scripture says
Jesus... Well, let's just look at verse
8. John 11, 8, and His disciples
saying to Him, The Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest
thou thither again? And Jesus answered, Are there
not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he
stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world." Now,
the Lord told them there's twelve hours in a day. Now, He wasn't
trying to give them information. Or just let them know there happens
to be. That was an allotted time that
was to be spoken of right there. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19. Ephesians 2, 19. Now therefore you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but your fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the
chief cornerstone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together,
groweth into an holy temple of the Lord, in whom ye also are
built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. So here's what I'm saying. Back in Revelation 12, verse
1, there was a bride, a woman, a great sign in heaven. And the description of this woman
set forth that she was robed with the Son. She had the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. She had the moon under her feet. She walked in the light of the
gospel. And this was the crown that was
upon her head, the foundation of the preaching of the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. So this woman that John saw in
verse 1 obtained her righteousness from Christ, her beauty as the
moon under her feet, and her crowning glory was her Savior,
the Lord Jesus. And verse 2 says that this woman,
she being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained
to be delivered. Now, this particular woman that's
talked about is a woman that obviously is a mother. She's
a pregnant woman. Now, Galatians 4.26 says, But
Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. Now, this particular woman is
getting ready to deliver a child. I had in my notes a couple of
thoughts to show where this woman was not. This was not talking
about bringing forth the church, the bride, as far as being the
mother of us all, and so I scratched all those notes two pages of
notes and I thought let's just get down to the heart of what
is this woman being talked about as far as being a mother. Over
in Matthew chapter 12, Matthew 12, the Lord Jesus Christ was in
a situation where He was told that His mother had said something
to Him. Matthew 12. Now this is Christ. talking here in Matthew 12, 46,
while he yet talked to the people. Who is my mother? And who are
my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand
toward his disciples and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren. Whosoever shall do the will of
my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, my sister,
and my mother." Now, what the Lord Jesus Christ said is this. There is a spiritual birthing
of Christ Himself. Who is my mother? He said, you see, these that
do the will of my Father, they are my brethren, my mother, my
brother. This imminent birth in Revelation
12 is actually, spiritually speaking, the bringing forth of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You say, well, I thought the
Lord was brought forth back in Bethlehem through a woman back
in a stable. He came into this world through
a woman. There's no doubt about that.
But listen to what I'm telling you. The church is constantly
bringing forth Christ. When He said, you see these that
do the will of My Father, this is My Mother. They bring. Here,
this woman, the Scripture says in verse 2, being with child,
she cried travailing in birth and pained to be delivered. Now this labor that is spoken
of in this particular verse is the struggle that the bride goes
through as Christ is faithfully brought forth in a picture of
birth by the faithful witness of His church. In Acts chapter
14, Acts 14, verse 19, Acts 14, 19, the Scripture says, And there
came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded
the people and having stoned Paul, threw him out of the city,
supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood
round about him, he rose up, came into the city, and the next
day departed with Barnabas to Derbe. And when they had preached
the gospel to that city and taught many, they returned again to
Lystra, to Iconium, Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples
and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must,
through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God." This
travailing is associated with the corruption of our own souls. I'll be honest with you. As I
got here this morning and began to go over these notes and to
look, I looked at the great symbolism that's set here. John said this
is a great sign in heaven. This is a wonderful sign. Here's
a woman that is clothed with the sun, the moon is under her
feet, upon her head is a crown of stars. I know this. Twelve
stars. And I know this. This is a wonderful
picture, a beautiful picture. But the Scripture says that she
being with child cried. I know it's the church. I know
it's the bride. And here she is travailing in
birth, pained to be delivered. Not speaking of Bethlehem when
the Lord Jesus Christ entered. But I'm telling you, we travail
in birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, setting Him forth daily. It's hard. It's tough. Brother
Scott was reading the 23rd Psalm and I was going through my mind.
I was thinking, oh, I need so much help. Lord, help me. These Scriptures are so wonderful. I know they are. But would You
bless this Word? Would You cause me so I know
there's a travailing associated with the corruption of my own
heart? Let me ask you that belief. As you, even now, spiritually
speaking, by faith you believe Him. But even do you not see
within your own heart even right now the travailing and the struggle
of your own heart to even hear and perceive and grasp hold in
the setting forth of the Lord Jesus Christ? As a travailing
from the temptations of the devil, from the revilings and the insults
of men, I know false religion preaches a road that's easy all
the way to heaven lined with wealth and health But the Scripture
sets forth something different. This woman, being with child,
cries travail in birth, pain to be delivered. The Lord said
in John 16, 33, these things, I have spoken unto you that in
Me, He says, you will have peace. But in this world, He said, you
will have tribulation. Be of good cheer. I have overcome
the world. But let's just look now at the
source of this tribulation. It says in verse 3 and 4, And
there appeared another wonder in heaven. And behold, a great
red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns
upon his head and his tail, drew the third part of the stars of
heaven and did cast them to the earth, and the dragon stood before
the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her
child as soon as it was born." Scripture says there is another
wonder or sign. You know, I noticed something
is said concerning the bride. And the first verse says there
was a great wonder. A great wonder. This one right
here says there is just another one, just another wonder. It says there was a dragon in
this wonder in heaven, a large fabulous serpent is what that
word means, a dragon. Revelation 20 verse 2 tells us
who this dragon is. Just turn over there and just
look. We'll just settle this thing. You know who it was. Revelation
20, verse 2, ìAnd he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent,
which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.î
Now, I don't think that we're going to get into it this morning.
talking about the Satan being bound for a thousand years in
the millennium, a thousand years. I'll tell you this, I am absolutely
convinced we're in it right now. But we won't deal with that.
Lord willing, we'll deal with it tonight. But this dragon,
it says, Greg Red Dragon. He was said to be a great dragon,
strong, terrible, and mighty, but only to the extent that Christ
allows his greatness. He said he is great. He said
to be red. That's indicative of his murderous
and lying nature. He was a great red dragon. The Lord said in John 8, 44,
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye
will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar
and the father of it." Now this great red dragon we saw in Revelation
20 is Satan himself. Now this dragon is described
as having seven heads and seven crowns on his head. Now this
seven heads And seven crowns, I can tell you, is indicative
of this world's dominion, the rebellion against the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. Now, these crowns that's on Him,
they're not crowns of victory, but they're crowns of authority
that has been seized without right. This dragon was described,
and we're going to turn over to Revelation 17 in just a second,
and we'll just hear again. We'll get an understanding of
exactly what these heads and crowns are. It says this dragon
is said to have ten horns. Horns indicate power. You remember when we were studying
back in Leviticus and it says that on the altar there were
four horns on each corner of the brazen altar? Those horns
are indicative of power and strength. And obviously, the text of a
Scripture will indicate exactly what type of power is being spoken
of. But right here, these horns are
speaking of strength that actually has been allowed Satan to have. You remember we looked in Job,
and I won't go back for the sake of time. because our time is
about up now. But the horns that Satan has,
the power that Satan has, is given him by the Lord. Without the Lord Jesus Christ
allowing, and toward the end of this chapter, we are going
to see something that is absolutely amazing about how God allows
Satan to do what he does and actually brings honor to himself
and the good of his people through Satan going through all of his
power that has been distributed to him. But these ten horns are
actually kingdoms or countries that have been or now and shall
be raised up for God's purpose and God's glory. This seven-headed
dragon with crowns on each of his head with ten horns represents
the persecuting power of Satan that operates through all the
nations of this world and their governments. Let me just show
you that. Revelation 17. You know, the best way when you
start, like I said, the best way to understand what Scripture
is talking about is just Let the Scripture explain it. Revelation
17, verse 9. John says, And there is the mind
which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains
on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings, five
are fallen, one is, the other is not yet to come. And when
he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was,
and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven that goeth
into perdition. And the ten horns which thou
sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but
receive power as kings one hour, and with the beast. And these
have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto
the beast. And these shall make war with
the Lamb. And the Lamb shall overcome them,
for He is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that
are with Him are called and chosen and faithful." Now, back in Revelation
12, whenever John saw there was another wonder in heaven. He
was a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven
crowns on his heads. Now, this dragon, is said, according to Revelation
17, to have some countries that are at his disposal. Now, speculation
as to the exact revelation of who those kingdoms were, whether
it be the Egyptians that persecuted the people of God, whether it
be, and I am without doubt, that the Roman Catholic Church is
greatly the, I mean, the core of this head and these crowns
and these horns, I am no doubt in my mind. But whether it be
the Assyrian kingdoms or the kingdoms of Constantine, whoever,
whoever they are, the Scripture doesn't reveal exactly who they
were. But I can tell you this. Based
on Revelation 17, these heads and crowns and horns, we see
that history has revealed that at least some of the governments
of this country, this world, have been led by kings who joyfully
spilled the blood of God's elect. And all of these kingdoms, are
revealed here to be instruments of Satan's influence and power. Who are they? Who are they exactly? I don't know. I can tell you
who I think they are, but here again I get into speculation,
you know. I know this, as I said, and I'm
convinced the Roman Catholic Church is the very heart and
core of it, but that's my thought. I can tell you this, based on
this Scripture right here, there is a great sign. Here is a woman
clothed with the righteousness of Christ that walks by faith
in Him. Upon her head is the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the foundation of what she knows and rests in is
the foundation that was preached by the apostles, the gospel of
free grace. This woman in verse 2 with a
child she travailed in birth and pained to be delivered."
And that wonder that great dragon that had seven heads and ten
horns and seven crowns on his head, that one in verse 4, then
it says, "...his tail that drew the third part of the stars of
heaven and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before
the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her
child as soon as it was born." Now, no doubt, We are reminded
of the influence of Satan over the angels of heaven, first of
all, that fell. We are told here how many fell,
a third of them. Now these angels, the tale that
drew the third part of the stars of heaven, these angels were
referred to As stars, his tale drew the third part of the stars. In Job 38 it says in verse 6
and 7, Whereupon are the foundations thereon fastened? Or who laid
the cornerstone thereof? This passage of Scripture that
I'm reading from right now was when Job, oh, he kind of questioned
God's providence. You go back and read the 38th
chapter of Job, and that's when the Lord told him, He said, you
gird up your loins. I'm going to talk to you. That's
when he told me, he said, where were you when I laid the foundation? Where were you? Why don't you
explain to me the mystery of the snow? Why don't you? Who
do you think you are? But he was telling him, he said,
speaking, I said, Lord, whereupon are the foundations fastened?
Or who laid the cornerstones when the morning stars sang together? These stars were actually the
angels. that fell, that were drawn away
with Satan's tail. In Jude, just turning back a
few pages to Jude just before the book of the Revelation, look
at verse 6 of Jude. It talks about the angels which
kept not their first estate but left their own habitation. And this dragon back in Revelation
12 stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered to
devour her child as soon as it was born." Now how true we see
the Word of Almighty God to Satan back in Genesis 3.15 fulfilled
right here. The Lord God Himself said, and
I speak unto Satan, He said, I will put enmity between thee
and the woman And between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The Scripture is setting
forth. Here is this woman ready to be delivered constantly, constantly,
constantly. And here is this dragon, this
great red dragon, Satan himself, as we've seen, that stands before
the woman that was ready to be delivered, ready to devour her
child, as soon as it's born. This never changes. As the gospel
is set forth, you remember, I'm going to stop right here, but
I've got to tell you this, but you remember the Lord said a
parable. It was a sower that went forth
to sow. He said that some of that seed
fell by the wayside. And as soon as it fell by the
wayside, what happened? The birds came and plucked it
up. Gone. As the Lord gave an understanding
of that parable, He said the birds there represent the devil,
Satan. There may be some that's here
this morning. And even now, as we travail and
struggle within our own selves, with enough sin that is so present
with us, an unbelief that just would prevail in setting forth
Christ. Thanks be unto Him that by His
grace and mercy, He's not dependent on us to be able to. He will accomplish. But as we
set forth this Word, if this Word falls on places by the wayside,
Satan is ever ready, standing before the woman, ever ready
to take that word and just snatch it away and devour. The only
one that heard anything was that ground where the Lord had prepared
it. That seed fell in it and it came
forth and produced. Right here, Satan standing always
ready to devour her child and the preaching of the child. As
soon as he's born, As soon as he sets it forth, the Old Testament
is just filled with the failed attempts of Satan to destroy
the lineage of the promised Messiah, the seed of the woman. God had
told Abraham and Sarah, He said, I'm going to give you a son. He told Abraham, He said, from
your lineage, the Messiah would come. As soon as God had told
Abraham that, don't think for a second that Satan is unaware
of what God had told him. Satan had come to Abraham and
Sarah and said, let me tell you probably what God meant. It's
like him talking to Eve, you know. What did God say? I'll
tell you the way to accomplish God's purpose. Why don't you
have Abraham go into Hagar? You know, ready to devour, ready
to devour. Well, God gave a son of promise. When God told Abraham, you take
your son, your only son, the one I gave you. The Jews, when
they were freed out of Egypt, now there's the people of God
through which God's going to send the Messiah. Come out of
Egypt, hemmed up in the Red Sea. Oh, Satan's ready to destroy
them right here. God opens up the Red Sea. There's
a picture. The Red Sea is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Rent. The veil Himself by which
God delivered His people through the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He drowned the Egyptians. The lineage of Christ is going
to come through David. Satan always trying to get Saul.
Get Him. Get Him. Get Him. God delivered
Him even to the birth of the Messiah. The wise men come and
tell Herod, you know, we've seen a star in the east. We're going
to go worship Him. Herod said, oh, won't you come
back and tell me so I can go worship Him too. And the angel
of the Lord came and told the men, said, don't go back. Go
another way. Always that attempt on Satan. When it comes to Judas, Satan
entered his heart, betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ, and in so
doing, God Almighty accomplished his purpose. Satan is always
ready to devour as soon as that child is set forth, as soon as
the gospel is preached. Well, let's stop right there. The Lord willing, we'll pick
it up.