All right, thank you for sharing. You have revelation twelve turn
back to Luke chapter nine. You may remember maybe don't. Several weeks ago our last study
in the Luke nine. And. This. Recalling this to your
attention because this is what. Instigated this message this
is where it led to revelation twelve but Luke nine verse one
you remember this. He called his twelve disciples
together and gave them power and authority over all the devil. Now turn over Luke ten. Luke
ten. This is a story where the Lord
sent out seven the other man. seventy other men. And it says in verse seventeen
and eighteen they came back from preaching and so forth and verse
seventeen to seventy returned again with joy saying Lord even
the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said
unto them I beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven. And then he went on to say some
other things there. All right, now keep your place
there. Just mark that with something
and go to Revelation 12 now. Well, Revelation 1. Revelation
1. Revelation 12 will be our text. I hope you're with me tonight.
This is one of those that you have to be there from the beginning
or you'll be lost. You'll be wrong on the beginning.
In Genesis, you'll be wrong in Revelation. Now, there's no book of Scripture
that has been more wildly speculated upon In the book of Revelation. No book more misused abused misinterpreted
misapplied. In no book. I know there these false
prophets are wrong. They're wrong on all of it. You
remember looking at Jeremiah 23 where that verse said they
shall not profit this people at all. Remember that verse?
Quite a revelation to me. That just confirmed to me that
God doesn't save people through false profit. He said they won't
profit them at all. Now, if men don't know what the
gospel is in the rest of the Bible, They certainly don't know
what symbolism is in Revelation. God doesn't suddenly give them
insight into the Revelation. So just dismiss everything you've
ever heard from all these so-called prophets about the Revelation.
All right? Verse 1 in Revelation 1, what
is the Revelation about? Verse 1, the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Verse 9, John said, I was in
the isle, it was called Patmos. I, John, was in the isle called
Patmos 4, the last line of verse 9. I was there for the Word of
God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Testimony of Jesus Christ is
the spirit of prophecy. That's what it says over in the
other another chapter in Revelation 19 verse 10. The testimony of
Jesus Christ is the spirit is the essence is the meaning is
the purpose of all prophecy. What's the testimony of Jesus
Christ? It's the gospel. The revelation is just another
book of the gospel. We're going to see that. We may
start studying it. I don't know. I promise me we'll
study it tonight. This book is no different than
the rest of God's Word. It speaks of Christ, his person,
his work. The gospel is throughout Revelation. one of the brethren that God
didn't write sixty five books on the gospel then change subject. In the last book. Then start
talking about things that have no relation. To the revelation. And now listen to it. We have been in the last days
for two thousand years. Since Christ came It's been the
last day. Most of the property of revelation
have been fulfilled. And are right now being fulfilled. These guys have missed it. They're
talking about a thousand years in the future and so forth. They've
missed it. They've missed it. We studied
Matthew 24. That's been a couple of years
ago, the Lord told and retold the same story in Matthew 24.
And people that are confused think that that's just several
different chronologies, when it's not, it's the same story.
We're going to see that here in Revelation 12. He tells the
same story three times. Now that's significant. The mouth
of two or three witnesses. God's going to tell us the same
story in the Revelation. And you know several things that
just keep running through everybody's mind when it concerns the revelation.
And I'm not trying to sound like I know all the revelation. I
know the revelation. I have had, you have had, the
gospel revealed. That's what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians
2 when he said, David is spiritual, discerneth all things. You have
a basic working knowledge of all things. If you know Christ,
whom to know is wisdom, who is made unto you wisdom, in whom
are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, then you've got
a good grasp of all the treasures. You got that? So these things
are not great mysteries, per se. It's the mystery of the gospel. And people are digging and searching
for things in the It's like I was telling the brother,
too, that they're ignorant of Genesis. How in the world are they going
to understand revolution? They're ignorant of Genesis. They don't
know what happened in the garden, Joe. How are they going to know what's
happening in the end? They don't. They missed it with
what happened in the garden. Flat missed it. Plumb ignorant.
When God plain said, dead, you'll die, they missed that. How in
the world are they going to know what the seven heads and ten
horns are? They don't know dead's dead. You see? Well, several things
go through people's minds. You talk about the reign of Satan
on earth, and boy, there's been more argument, I'm telling you,
between the pre-post and the obolents. Repo are what are you and what
you know what you are. Barnard said. He said. He said I. I'm a pan. He said we will all pan out someday. He said I've been right at one
point because I was all three at one point in time. That has
to do with the so-called thousand-year reign of Satan on the earth.
Let me give you a clue, or rather, the Lord Jesus Christ gave us
this clue. He said Christ called him, called
Satan, the god of this world. Two thousand years ago. Sound like a reign to me on this
earth, doesn't it to you? And we're going to see that here.
What about the Antichrist? by thinking about the Antichrist,
looking for the Antichrist. Did you know what John said about
the Antichrist? He said even now he's already
at work. He said even now there are many
Antichrists. That spirit doesn't already now
work. He said that was 2,000 years
ago. You see, compare spiritual things with spiritual things.
These aren't new revelations. the revelation. All right? What about the mark of the beast?
Everybody's concerned about having the mark of the beast in their
forehead, you know. You can't buy things, you know. The mark of the beast in the
forehead is a false gospel in the minds of people. number of a man, it's the gospel
of man. Gospel of man. Mark of the Beast
is the false gospel in the mind. All right? Those are just a few
things, and there's much more. The plagues, the plagues. My, my, this world has been plagued
with all the plagues mentioned from the beginning. All right,
as stated. The Revelation is another book
which tells the Gospel. You're going to see it clearly
as we look at this. The telling and retelling of the Gospel of
Christ. Just like the Old Testament, you know, is symbolic, types
and pictures of the Gospel, so is the Revelation. It was symbolic
to John because it wasn't fulfilled yet. God gave John all these symbols
and so forth, because it was not yet fulfilled in his time
yet, but it soon would be. You remember Paul said to the
Thessalonians, he said, don't be troubled or shaken in your
mind if these things will soon come to pass. No, not soon. There
must come a falling away for it. Well, two thousand years
later, it has happened. These things, most everything
in the Revelation has already taken place. reign of satan? Christ said he's been reigning.
He's been reigning. The antichrist? He's been at
work a long time. Most of the old wise Puritans
and faithful gospel preachers, they attribute this beast or
this antichrist to a head in religion. Right. That fell in Rome. And
the scripture talks about Babylon and Rome all the way through. Old Testament Babylon, New Testament
Rome. It still has meaning. All right? All right. Revelation 12 now.
Go over there. Revelation 12. This is a retelling
of the same thing three times. Revelation 12, line upon line,
line upon line, retelling of the same thing three times, like
Matthew 24. OK, look at verse 1. There appeared
a great wonder in heaven, a sign in heaven, a woman clothed with
the sun. Now, John, as I said, John saw
this sign or this symbol. These were like types and shadows
of the Old Testament. They were symbols. And what John
saw was a woman clothed with the sun. Did he actually see
a woman? Is this some kind of woman that's
going to be on this earth and she's got this big halo over
her head? Well, lots of people think so.
There's a channel on TV, 24 hour a day channel devoted to Catholicism. And they
have a there's a program on there every day called the woman clothed
with the sun. Now who do you think they're
talking about? Mary. That's not Mary. That's not Mary. This is talking
about the church. The church of Christ, his bride,
who is clothed with the sun. Are they not the sun of righteousness? And she says the moon's under
her feet. And we don't have time to turn
over to Psalm of Solomon chapter six, but The bride there is spoken
of as being beautiful as the moon. Why is that? Because we
reflect the glory of the sun. Right? What is the moon but the
reflected light of the sun? All right, read on. And it says,
upon her head a crown of twelve stars. Do I need to tell you what that
is? How did God use twelve apostles to build his church, crowned
with glory and honor? Verse two, she being with child,
crying, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. This
is twofold, it's fivefold. The church has been waiting the
birth of the Christ child from the beginning. As church has
been in travail, waiting for the Christ child from the very
outset, prevailing in pain until Christ is born. And also, this
is the fruitfulness of the church. Let me show you that, all right?
Isaiah 66. Very quickly, you've got to turn
quickly if I want to. Well, I'm not promising anything
tonight, folks. Thirty minutes, I'm trying to
keep it thirty minutes, but I just can't promise it tonight. I can
promise you a blessing if you'll stay with me. Isaiah 66, look
at this, and this is just one scripture among many that talks
about birth and a woman. Isaiah 66, got it? Verse 9, Shall
I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? the Lord
shall I cause to bring forth and shut the wounds say if I
God no rejoice with Jerusalem be glad with her all you that
love her and we know Jerusalem Zion all picture of the church
and her the bride rejoice for joy with her all you that mourn
for her that you may suck and be satisfied with the breast
of her consolation. that you may milk out and be
delighted with the abundance of her glory, rightness of her
glory. You see that? This is the church in whom Christ
is glorified, in whom Christ came from right in the midst
of it. Thus saith the Lord, read on. Thus saith the Lord, I will
extend peace to her like a river, the glory of the Gentiles like
a flowing stream. Shall you suck you should be
born upon her side to be dandled upon her knee as one whom his
mother comforted. So will I comfort you. You should
be comforted in Jerusalem. Where did you hear the gospel?
Where were you born again by the word of God? In Christ's
church. It's his body. All right? It's
his temple. Now, you know, we're not we don't
give the church doesn't give birth to believe, you know that.
But that's that's where Christ is. That's his body. And that's
where we emanate from. All right. All right, back to
Revelation 12. So that's very clear and clear
to them that understand it. It's right to them that find
knowledge. All right, verse Now there appeared
another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having
seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head."
A great red dragon. Again, this is symbolism. Red
is always blood. We'll say a little bit he plainly
says this is a. Bloody man who has devoured or
rather. then had a hand in the slaughter
of many of God's people, but not without God's will and permission. Red dragon having seven heads
and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head. And we're not
going to be bogged down in all of this either, because frankly,
these things are not perfectly clear. Old Dr. Gill, and I'm inclined
to believe him, there's much in Rome that speaks of seven
this and seven that and ten. There's seven kingdoms in Rome
with ten emperors that reigned. And let me just give you this
much. Rome is still ruling. It's still
ruling. There's still an emperor. He
has millions of followers. Yes, he does. And do you understand
what I'm saying? That he that heareth understanding,
he that readeth understanding. All right? Verse 4. Now, it says,
His tail, the red dragon's tail, drew the third part of the stars
of and it cast them to the earth. Back to Jude six, the book right
before the revelation. Jude, verse six, says his tale,
the dragon's tale, drew the third part of the stars of heaven and
cast them to the earth. What's that? Verse six, Jude
six, it says, the angels which kept not their first estate but
left their own habitation, that is, heaven, he hath reserved
in everlasting chains under darkness, under the judgment of the great
day. And if you want to read later on from Isaiah 14, just
mark it down, don't turn there now. Isaiah 14 is a story where
it says, Lo, Lucifer, thou art out there fall and how did he
drag the angels with him and they were cast in this earth.
And this is where they've been this is where their kingdom so
to speak has been and this is where their reign and rule has
been from the beginning. All right that's clear and we're
going to see that he's going to tell it again in a minute.
With a little more detail all right. All right, back to Revelation
12, verse 4, and it says, And the dragon stood before the woman,
which was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as
it was molded. Satan has withstood the church
from the very beginning. But old Martin Luther, still
our ancient foe, doesn't seek to work us well. He still, you remember back Satan doesn't
know who the Christ, he didn't know who the Christ child was.
He's not omniscient. He didn't know. He may have thought
Abel was. You ever thought about that? It appears that he thought Moses
might be. Tried to kill Moses, didn't he? God hit him in the
bull rushes. He certainly tried to kill Christ
when he came. Yes, he did. He's withstood the
church from the very beginning. Accuser of the brethren, tried
to kill the child who was to emanate
from her. All right, back to verse 5. It says, She finally brought
forth a man-child, a man-child, who was to rule
nation. Unto us a child is born, but
the man, the son is given. He was to rule all nations with
a rod of iron. Yes, the rod of Jesse. That's
who he is. And he did. Now the government
was upon his shoulders. Psalm 2. I'd love to have time
to go back there and read that. Speaks of Christ bashing in the
piece of the rod of his iron as a rod. His rod and staff,
they comfort us. That's his word. But it sure
breaks, it sure breaks his enemies. And it says, and her child was
caught up unto God to the throne. Christ ascended back to glory
after he took the rod and ruled and defeated all our foes. Then
he went back to the throne of heaven where he ever lives to
make intercession for us. And in verse six, verse six,
and it says, And a woman fled into the wilderness. What is
this? Peter told us by some scattered
strangers, didn't they? This was an early church that
was persecuted and scattered, fleeing into the wilderness called
this world. They fled into the wilderness of this world where
she had the place prepared of God. It's the place that God
had chosen to put His name back, that they should feed her. That's
where they're going to feed her, on the mountaintops. They're
going to eat fat things and wine on the leaves. thousand two hundred
and three scored a hell of a greater. I don't know. I don't have a
problem. It's not for us to know. Christ
knows good enough. All right, now he's going to
tell it again. He's going to tell the whole
story again, in case you didn't hear it the first time. Verse
seven, now there was war in heaven. He didn't tell us about this.
There was a war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon. This is not a future war. It's
already happened. It's the same story. All right?
It was a war in heaven. Michael and his archangels fought
against the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angel prevailed
not. Neither was there a place found any more in heaven. And
the great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil. You see, he's giving us, he's
just repeating and giving us more detail. The devil and Satan,
which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth
and his angels were cast out with him. It's the same thing
in more detail that we read back in verse 4. All right? And it
says, verse 10, now look at this. This is wonderful. Oh, the gospel
here. I heard a loud voice saying in
heaven, now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom
of our God, the power of his Christ. The accuser of our brethren
is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
See, this is none other than the gospel proclamation, which
took place at Christ's birth. Christ is our salvation, isn't
He, who's come. Christ is our strength. Christ
is the kingdom of our God. The kingdom of God is among you. Christ is the power of God, who
came here to defeat our foes. Did He do it? He sure did. It sounds like this was past
tense here, doesn't it? Well, it was. It always has been.
It always has been a sure thing. This was known unto God are all
his works from the beginning. Satan was defeated before he
even started fighting. You see, there was a lamb slain
before there was ever a sinner. There was the woman's seed thought
of, purposed in God's mind to crush the serpent's head long
before there was a serpent. You see? And before he started
accusing, we were, he was defeated by the blood of the Lamb. Look
at this, verse 11. And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb. The early church, how did they
fight? How did they resist the devil?
James said, resist the devil and flee. Whom resists steadfast
in the faith. Well, Christ hadn't come yet.
Oh yes, he's the Lamb's flame before the fire. They resisted
the same way, through the blood of the Lamb. to the blood of the Lamb. And
by the word of their testimony, that is belief in God's word,
the gospel, they love not their lives unto the death. That's
just a short summation of Hebrews 11 right there. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens,
and ye that dwell in them. They are, they are. Woe to the
inhabitants of the earth of the sea, and that's us. Isaiah said, woe is unto you,
woe, woe, woe. The devil's come down on you,
having great wrath, but he's got just a short time, a little
season, a little season. I like this. When he said, in
verse 10, he said, the accuser of our brethren is cast down. You know what our Lord said right
before he went to the cross he told his disciples he said this. Now is the prince of this world
cast out. That's what he said. Even before
he went to the cross he said now is the prince of this world
cast out. The accuser of the brethren is
cast down, cast out by Christ crucified. All right, verse 11.
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their
testimony. They loved not their lives unto death. Do you rejoice,
ye in the heavens? He has but a short time. All
right, now, verses 13 through 17, he's going to tell it again. All right, look at verse thirteen
again. All right, when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the
earth, he persecuted the woman, which brought forth the man-child. Persecution. The police prophecy people. Like to talk about tribulation
period they believe that there's going to be a. Tribulation period
as if I get straight. I don't have it straight, because
they're confused. But they believe there's going
to be a secret rapture. A secret rapture. They take that
from Matthew 24, where it's just two women going to be in the
field, and all of a sudden, one of them, you know, one of them
is going to be driving a chariot, and if this chariot has no driver,
in case of rapture, you know, this chariot may be unmanned. You've seen that stuff, haven't
you? No secret rapture. Scripture doesn't speak about
a secret rapture. It says every eye shall behold him when he
comes. It says there's a lightning from
the east to the west. They're all going to see him. No secret
rapture. But tribulation period. You must, through, can you quote
the rest of it? How are you going to enter the
kingdom of heaven? Christ said this 2,000 years ago, you must,
through much tribulation, enter the kingdom of heaven. And in
the Revelation it talks about them who have come through much
tribulation and have washed their robes. Tribulation. We've been in it, people. The
Church has been in the tribulation from the beginning, from the
beginning. The dragon has persecuted the woman from the beginning
and still does persecute us, our ancient foe. All right, verse
fourteen. And so the woman, and to the
woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might
fly into the wilderness. into her place and you've got
to turn to see this. Deuteronomy 32, Stan's favorite
chapter in all the Bible. Deuteronomy 32, you've got to
see this. You see, we're not just, we're
not going to mouth up on weak people. We already are, right
now. Look at it. Deuteronomy been
given two wings, it says that she might fly into the wilderness. She flies into the wilderness,
not into heaven, but she's just born up, and she flies into her
place. Look at this, Deuteronomy 32,
verse 11. As an eagle stirreth up her nest,
fluttereth over her young, readeth abroad her wings, and taketh
them, and bareth them on her wings. So the Lord did lead them."
What are these wings? No mystery. These are those arms. We're underneath the everlasting
arms. He doth hold us up. Christ as a mother hen, as a
great eagle. The eagle is symbolic, right? and soar into the heavens. That's
our Lord who doth bear us up in His arm. Two wings fly. He doth bear us up, carries us
all the way. They're not two sets of footprints.
There's one set of cloths. And read on. It said where she's
nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face
of the serpent. How long is that? I don't know. I don't know. You find out, you
let me know. But we're being nourished at this time, aren't
we? From the face of the serpent.
All right, look at verse fifteen. And it says, The serpent cast
out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman. Who's the actor?
The church. And it says, He cast out his
venom A flood of ungodliness. Do you remember what Martin Luther
wrote? A flood of mortal ills prevailing, it seems, sin. A flood, this world is overflowed,
isn't it? Just flooded with ungodliness
and wickedness and temptation and sin. Who's he after? Us. He wants to drown us. But oh, we've got an ark. We've
got an ark. He's not going to drown her.
He's not going to drown her. Look at this. It says in verse
16, the earth helped the woman. How in the world is the earth
going to help her? Well, the earth opened up her
mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon cast out of
his mouth. This world just takes it all in, doesn't it? That's
one way we know something's wrong when everybody believes it. Right, Joe? Right, John? One way we know not to go someplace
if that's where everybody's going. One way we know that something's
wrong is if everybody believes it. Everybody receives it. Everybody's
after it. Everybody's going that way. If
everybody's headed that way, we know that's the broad way
that leads to destruction. We turn the opposite way. It
helps us. Everybody taking this all in.
You see that? And she wasn't drowned. The woman
wasn't drowned. And last verse, it says, the
dragon was wroth with the woman. Wroth. Went to make war with
the remnant of her seed. Went to make war. And her seed, this is her seed. Aren't we the seed? Aren't we
Christ's seed? Yes, we are her seed. We are they which keep the commandments
of God, the Word of God. We believe it. Now, Brother Fred
Woods last night asked this question. I said, does one have to believe
the election to be saved? Everybody stopped me. There's a phrase that, like you
are right now, you phrase it regularly. Well, of course you
do. Of course you do. God said it,
didn't He? Whatever God says, you have to
believe it to be saved. Don't have to understand it,
but you have to believe it, don't you? Isn't that what it means
to be a believer? What can't you not believe and be saved?
We are they which keep or believe the commandment, the word of
God. We believe all of it, the whole counsel of God. We love it, love it. And I've
made this statement. You know, you have to be elect
to believe election. Well, all right, he says, we
keep the commandments of God and have, this is it, the last
line, sums it up. We have the testimony, the revelation,
the mind of Jesus Christ. What's this book about? It's
the testimony, the revelation. Now, back to that, I told you
to keep Luke 10, didn't I? I'm going to close in reading
this in Luke 10. Well, those disciples, those
seventy, came back from, you know, casting out devils. And
they were, and the disciples, remember, the disciples were
excited about it, too, because they had a little bit of power. And, well, they came back. and rejoicing
that devils were cast out. Well, look at what our Lord said
in conclusion here. He said in verse 18, He said,
Now I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Past tense,
Revelation 12. Past tense, Isaiah 14. Past tense. It's already happened. All right? Behold, I give unto you power
to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the
enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you, notwithstanding
in this rejoicing hour, that the spirits or devils are subject
unto you, but rather rejoice. Here's something to rejoice in.
Here's something to be taken up with. Here it is. Your names
are written in heaven. And in that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that thou hast hid these things. What things? Revelation
12, the revelation. From the wise and prudent has
revealed them unto me, even so, Father, for so it seemed good
in thy sight, all things. And some say that he turned to
his disciples and said, All things are delivered to me of my Father. No man knoweth who the Son is,
but the Father, who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom
the Son will reveal. Him. Him. Old Brother Joe Terrell wisely
one time said this. Think about this. He said, the
Antichrist is leading the search for the Antichrist. That's like
a thief come back to the scene of the crime and said, let's
go get him, boys. And nobody has a clue. Let's
go over here. Here he is, I think. Chasing rabbits. Antichrist. There's a lot of wisdom in that
stuff. It's leading the search for the
Antichrist. And the revelation, oh, it's
wildly speculated, isn't it? It's the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. All right, let's stand. Our Father, we thank You for
these red leaves. Thank You for revealing Christ
not only to us, but in us, in our lives. Thank You, Lord, for
giving us Christ, for warming us, and an evil upon your people. And you've got to carry us to
this place, in the wilderness. You've got to carry us to St.
Paul's, St. Paul's. And you've got to stay
with us for time and time and time, however long that may be,
because we know that you are thankful. We are thankful that
you have revealed yourself to God. Thank you, Lord. We know the heart of the Christian
heart. He said it more. He said it more than all of you. He wanted to know more about
you, the person you were. And he asked, he would continue
to break this bread of life unto us. And if you're alive in this
house, come to us. And we shall, thus, now trouble
and confuse the people of this world that live in the flood of hypocrisy. But now be worthy,
God, that now break them with the pieces of glory and comfort,
that the gods and satan do what they have come to do. It's not
equal. It's not. It is your right to
know what we've done, our revolution, by your right, and it's not equal. May we meet again
in Christ's name. Amen.