Revelation chapter 12. Revelation
chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12. I'd like
to read these 17 verses, make a couple of comments as we go
through, and then spend some time on the first verse. Revelation
chapter 12, verse 1 through 17. 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 12 stars. And she, being with
child, cried, travailing in birth and paying to be delivered. And
there appeared another wonder in heaven. And behold, a great
red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns
upon his heads. 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. And she brought
forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of
iron. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman did flee into the
wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God. I just enjoy and appreciate the
way that the Holy Spirit led John to write these things of
encouragement to the church that there was great tribulation and
it might be tomorrow. We may be tribulated tomorrow.
in some manner, but as it says there, where she hath a place
prepared of God. God has promised, one of a very
interesting verse of scriptures found in Matthew chapter 16,
upon this rock I'll build my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. What a comfort to God's people
to know that even if there is persecution, even if there is
this great red dragon, prepared for persecution, that God has
a place prepared for his people. Now, many people have passed
through the portals of life as a result of persecution. It has
been the doorway. But even those that are left,
there's a place prepared that they should feed for their, feed
her there 1,203 score days. And there was war in heaven.
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon
fought and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was there a place
found any more in heaven. The great red dragon was cast
out." I like that. One more statement about the
victory that we have in Christ. that even this, this created
being that has wrecked so much havoc is cast out. And it says the great red dragon
was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which
deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth
and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation. I like that. Now has come salvation and strength. the kingdom of our God and the
power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast
down, which accuseth them before our God day and night. Then cast
down, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the
word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto
death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, And ye that dwell in
them, woe to the inhabiters of the earth and to the sea, for
the devil is come down unto you having great wrath, because he
knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw
that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman which
brought forth the man-child. And to the woman there was 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 I'll go on record right here
to say that that's not Petra. The church is not fleeing to
Petra or Petra over there in those stone buildings. that are
outside of jerusalem this is far more spiritual than that
and that's what's commonly taught among uh... among uh... religionist
people that uh... that israel is going to flee
to that place well it's as accessible if they're in there it's as accessible
as any place on earth with what the technology we have to remove
them so that's not where they're going and this is not the israel
this is the church 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. 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. One more time, the Lord washed
out for his people and the earth was used at this time to do this
deliverance. And then it says in verse 17,
and the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war
with the remnant of her seed. Now notice the remnant of her
seed. This is really the key to the whole chapter, which keep
the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now that's the remnant of this
woman's seed. Her seed is those who keep the
commandments of God, not the Old Testament, but the word of
God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now, this verse
17 gives us much insight concerning the meaning and significance
of this passage of scripture, that the children of this woman
have this quality about them. They keep the commandments of
God, they love the word of God, They love God's word to their
heart and they have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Not only do
they testify of Jesus Christ, but Christ testifies with regard
to them that they are his, they are mine. Now, this is the woman,
we have the dragon, we have the woman, we have the war, we have
the remnant, and we have the testimony with regard to what
this group of people, the remnant, what they keep, and that's the
commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now, I'd like
to back up just to the last chapter, chapter 11, for just a moment,
verse 8. We read this last week, but this
is a very valuable verse of scripture when it comes to our review of
this book. What are we looking for? What
are we looking for? When we come to this book, what
are we looking for? Well, Lord, help us to keep this
out of the realm of literal. Lord, stop our eyes when we start
looking at this as just literal interpretation. We're going to
have tanks and we're going to have submarines and we're going
to have all those things. But if we look at this verse,
their dead body shall lie in the street of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt. Now, those words with
regard to Sodom and Egypt, which is speaking about where the Lord
was crucified, This is speaking about spiritually. Now, that's
a way we need to look at this book. What is the spiritual? What is it telling us? We don't
want to look at the literal. We want to look at the spiritual.
How can we benefit spiritually from this book? Now, we have,
by looking at Revelation chapter 1 and verse 1, the revelation
of Jesus Christ. If we're going to be blessed
by the Lord Jesus Christ, it's going to be spiritually. Now,
all these other things then will be added unto us. It tells us
that seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
then our food and drink and our clothing and those things will
be added unto us. They're minuscule compared to
the spiritual blessings that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This chapter reminds us so much of an incident that took place
in the Gospels. Now, I don't believe that it
is the account of the birth of the Lord Jesus, but there are
many similarities here about that. And we will find out, just
as we heard in the Bible class this morning, if the world persecuted
me, it will persecute you. If the world persecuted Christ,
it will persecute the church. So here's some similarities in
this passage of scripture with regard to the birth of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but it's not speaking about his birth. We find in the
birth of the Lord Jesus that he was, uh, there was attempts
to destroy the lineage and line of the Lord Jesus Christ long
before he was born. There were nations that come
up against Israel and against Judah with the intent of destroying
them. God did not, would not, and it
wasn't his purpose to allow Israel or Judah to be completely destroyed. There is a tribe that must be
present in at the changing from B.C. to A.D., there must be the
tribe of Judah, and there must be descendants of David at that
time, because that's what the prophecy said. Now, it wasn't
long after the birth of the Lord Jesus that there was some magi
that came from the east, and they brought word, revealed to
them, Where is he that's born King of the Jews? And they brought
this message to Herod. And from that point on, he made
an effort to destroy the Lord Jesus, much like we see here.
He made an effort and he did destroy every baby boy that was
in and around Bethlehem from birth to two years old, but the
Lord had already warned, God had already warned Mary and Joseph
to escape down into Egypt. Now that's the fulfillment of
prophecy too, that my son might be called out of Egypt. So there
are some similarities just as there will be similarities between
the persecution of the Lord Jesus Christ. I say that in the sense
that he's never going to be persecuted like the church will be because
he came with a purpose of taking all of this. But there are some
similarities there, and we'll see some similarities, but we
notice here, looking at this chapter 12 and verse 1, as we
spend a little time there, there appeared a great wonder in heaven. Now, when we get down to verse
3, there appeared another wonder in heaven, but it's not a great
wonder. Grace is a great wonder. When we talk about the church,
It's a great wonder God had an interest in the people before
the world began. It is a great wonder that there's
a church, that God would leave a people chosen by himself, redeemed
by the Lord Jesus Christ, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit
upon this earth. It is a great wonder. Grace is
a great wonder. If you've ever seen grace, it's
a great wonder. Not everyone will ever see grace. The angels will not see grace.
Those who lost their first estate, they're bound in chains, waiting
in darkness for that day of judgment. There's never going to be an
opportunity for them. Once they left, stepped over
the line in the sand, there'll never be an opportunity for them
to ever hear anything about grace. Judgment fell when they stepped
over the line. I'm thankful that in God's purpose
with regard to human beings, that his judgment did not fall
upon Adam like it fell on the angels. There would be no hope. We would too be bound in chains
waiting for that day of judgment. But grace is a great wonder. It is such a statement about
Almighty God that he would demonstrate grace towards anyone and everyone
that is in the church of the living God is acquainted with
grace. That's how they got there. Now,
there's a whole bunch of people that call themselves in the church.
I forget what terms I used to hear about the spiritual body
of Christ and the physical body. All I know is there's only one
church, and that's the body of Christ, and that's who he has
caused to be born again. And there's a bunch of hangers-on
and resemblers-of, but they don't have what God gives. And he gives
us, he gives the church, a reality about his person that it is gracious
to know him. It is not gracious from us to
know him, it's gracious from him to us that we know him. So
there's a great wonder in heaven, and it's a woman. Now, we find
out throughout the Old Testament as well as into the New Testament,
when we look at the bride of Christ, it's always the bride
of Christ. We have this woman referred to,
Song of Solomon. Isaiah refers to this. Other
Old Testament prophets wrote concerning this body that believers
call, it's with a feminine term, and it's a her, it's a woman
clothed with the sun. Now, what a glorious sight, the
church clothed with her husband's righteousness. That's what this
sight is. It's a great wonder, the church
clothed with her husband's righteousness. He has provided, we have none
of our own. The scripture speaks so clearly throughout the Old
Testament and the New that our righteousness is as filthy rags
and it's said in a thousand different ways. That's pretty clear, though,
what it said there in the book of Isaiah. Our righteousness
is as filthy rags. But other statements make it
just as clear and just as plain that our ability to stand before
God is not there on our own. We don't have it. It's as filthy
rags. We cannot approach God in our
own righteousness. It's not the righteousness which
comes by the law. It's the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ and this great wonder, gracious wonder. It's a wonder resulting in God's
free and sovereign grace. This great wonder is clothed
with the Son or the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn
with me, if you would, over to the book of 2 Samuel chapter
23. Now, these are the last words
of David, but some of these words I haven't paid a lot of attention
to. I've jumped ahead too far. Would you go back there with
me, 2 Samuel 23. 2 Samuel chapter 23. And I want to look at verse 1
through 4, 2 Samuel chapter 23, verses 1 through 4. It speaks
of the last words of David. David is approaching the end
of his life. He knows it. God gives him some grace to write
these words and leave for us, to leave for his children, to
leave for his grandchildren, to leave for us. It says in 2
Samuel chapter 23 verse 1, now these are the last words of David.
David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up
on high and anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist
of Israel said, the spirit of the Lord spake by me and his
word was in my tongue. He admitted that all his writing
was not his writing. He admitted that all the writing
he ever did was by the Holy Spirit. And that's what we call inspiration.
The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me, he that
ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God. Now
notice verse four. And he shall be as the light
of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds
as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. What wonderful poetic language
to explain the position that the church has in the Lord Jesus
Christ. As he is the son of righteousness,
so is the church. He shall be as a light of the
morning. Now, we would be, if we were
able to physically see the sight that we read about in Revelation
chapter 12, this woman, a great wonder, this woman clothed with
the sun, we would be in the same position that Peter, James, and
John were in when they saw the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount
of Transfiguration. we would be as awestruck and
just as blinded if we could actually see the spiritual righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, which clothes the bride of Christ,
which we make up. If we could see that, we would
see the glory of the Son of God, and it would be as white as the
light, and our clothes would shine as clothes that no fuller,
no bleach could make it that white. The description we see
about Christ is the description we'd see about the bride of Christ,
the church, and here's a reflection of that. It's like the sun at
sunrise. It is a glory that we are unable
to comprehend. It is a glory. Turn with me,
if you would, to the book of Malachi, last book of the Old
Testament. Malachi. Last chapter, last six verses of the Old Testament. Malachi chapter four. Now here it speaks about the
S-U-N of righteousness, which also could be spelled S-O-N of
righteousness. And that's the brightness of
this great wonder, a woman clothed with the sun. It is the righteousness
of Christ. It is bright beyond our imagination. The righteousness of Christ is
out of our league. We're caught and captivated by
a world. And Lord, help us to just see
something spiritually. But the righteousness of Christ
is so bright. We'll only be able to appreciate
it to its fullest extent when we sit in his presence. But right
now, the church is clothed in his righteousness, and his righteousness
is like the sun. It is bright beyond compare.
We have nothing in our Realm in our earth in our solar
system that could just even compare to the brightness of the Sun.
I Saw a pair of sunglasses the
other day or something I forget what it was And it was you know,
they got to put all these warnings on it. Do not look at the Sun
with these Now who would want to I don't
know but what was it I A scope, yes. Do not look at
the sun with this. There's a red dot scope. That's
right. Do not look at the sun. Well, probably someone did, and
they had to write in, and they sued somebody. The sun is so
bright. And for any of us that have taken
the time to stare at it for a little bit, we've got a red dot that
we carry for quite a while. And this is a comparative of
the righteousness of Christ between us and his. Now notice here in
the book of Malachi chapter 4, for behold, the day cometh that
shall burn as an oven and all the proud, yea, all that do wickedly
shall be stubble. This is almost like the book
of Revelation chapter 11. And the day that cometh shall
burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave
them neither root nor branch. But verse two, but. Unto you
that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing
in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of
the stall, and ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall
be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall
do this, saith the Lord of hosts. Remember ye the law of Moses,
my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel
with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I'll send you Elijah
the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day
of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of
the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to
their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
Well, this is a prophetic statement with regard to John. He came
to prepare the way of the Lord. But notice there in verse two,
but unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness
arise." The glory compared. It's a spiritual statement about
Compare yourself to the sun, and that's how much greater he
is. Compare yourself to the sun. We think it's great. We have
no light in ourselves. That's a bright, glowing globe
out there in the universe, 93 million miles away. We just don't
thank God enough for not being any closer or any farther away.
We're at the optimum point. Any closer we'd burn up, any
farther away we'd freeze to death. We're at the optimum point, but
this is a picture, a type, a shadow of the glory of his righteousness
that he has clothed the church with. This is the only thing
that makes the church accepted in his presence, is this glory
that he gives to it. And we call it, is like the sun. It's so glorious. Turn with me,
if you would, to Psalm 67. Psalm 67. So we think about this
righteousness and how glorious it is. This is a picture of the
church, clothed with the righteousness of Christ. It's like the sun.
It is so bright. There's no mar in it. There's
no air in it. It is just perfect. It's just
perfect, the righteousness of Christ. Psalm 67 and verse one. Psalm 67 verse one, it says here,
God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine
upon us. Well, what is that about? Let His righteousness be ours. Let the glory of God be ours. Let the holiness of God be ours. Let every characteristic and
attribute of God be ours. Let Him get in our face with
it. There's no hope outside of it.
He is our righteousness. God be merciful to us and bless
us and cause his face to shine upon us. The glory of his righteousness,
the glory of his holiness is the only righteousness and the
only holiness that we will ever be able to have before God. And
it must come from him. We're moons. He's the sun. We have no light in ourself.
We need his light. It must be his light. And let
his face shine upon us. Here is a great wonder in heaven. Grace personified. Grace pictured. Grace spoke of. A great wonder,
the church clothed with the righteousness of Christ, the glory of God in
Christ Jesus. All that he is and ever has been
and ever shall be is what he clothes us with. It's a great
wonder. There's not anyone in the church
that does not realize, I'm here by grace and grace alone. i'm
not here by works of righteousness which i have done but according
to his mercy he saved me i'm here by his righteousness and
any glory there is it's his glory any brightness there is it's
his brightness any holiness that there is is his holiness and
this is this great wonder that we see well there's many verses
i turn with me to isaiah 60 isaiah 60 There's a few thoughts here
in Isaiah 60 and 61 that just go hand in glove with that passage
over there in the book of Revelation. Here it shares with us that the
righteousness, this robe of righteousness that God extends to us, it's
not a thing, it's a person. The robe of righteousness, it's
not a bathrobe. It's a person that covers us.
It's a person that's our defense. It's a person who is our shield.
It's a person who is our high tower. It's a person who is our
buckler. It's a person who is our savior.
It's not a bathrobe. Oh, I think a lot of people have
the idea that righteousness is just something that we're enclosed
with. No, we're placed in a person
and we are permitted to stand in his righteousness. It's not a bathrobe, it's a person. He's a person. Isaiah chapter
60, verse 1, 2, and 3. Prophet Isaiah was led to write
this. Arise, shine, for thy light has
come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. For behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people. But the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall
be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to
thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Now, to some it's
a repulsing, but to many it's a drawing. Ah, come to the light. And then in that same chapter,
verse 19 and 20, it says, the sun shall be no more thy light
by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto
thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and
thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down,
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be
thy everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be
ended. Prophet Isaiah wrote this 700
years before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if it's
hand in glove with what we read in the book of Revelation about
the church, he is the church's light. He is the church's righteousness. And then in chapter 61 and verse
10, Chapter 61 and verse 10, it says, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered
me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. Now whatever happens later in
this chapter or later in this book with this woman, This woman
is still clothed with the righteousness of Christ. If she goes through
persecution, she still has the righteousness of Christ. If there
is a wall of water, spiritually speaking, a great device by religion
against the church, she still has this brightness of the righteousness
of Christ. Even if That great serpent is
prepared to destroy everyone that is born by the preaching
of the word that the church gives. She still has her righteousness
and that old serpent will not be able to destroy any of the
seed of this woman. They are protected by grace and
they're protected by this robe of righteousness. Now, this thought
we read when we started the book of Revelation. Apocalypse found
in the book of Luke chapter two, a light to lighten the Gentiles. He's the light, it's his righteousness
that we depend on. This woman is clothed. All right,
our time is about up, but let's go back to the book of Revelation
and for just a moment, chapter 12. There's a couple other things
here that we want to look at just in reference so we have
something to think about. I like getting under the old
apple tree and chewing the cud. Ruminate. Let's give some things
here. All right. Revelation chapter
12, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet. Now, when we went through that
earlier, we found over in the book of Genesis that there was
a man by the name of Joseph that presented a dream to his father.
And that dream was that the sun and the moon and 11 stars bowed
down and worshiped him or did obeisance to him. And you know
what his father said and his brothers? Are you telling us
that we're going to bow down before you? He made reference
about the sun and the moon and 11 stars. And they understood. Now, I just see in this so clearly
where it says, a woman clothed with sun and the moon under her
feet. that this shows us, and we're
going to spend some time on this, the superiority of the gospel
over Judaism. She stood on it. It's under her
feet. That gospel that she is so dependent
upon is so far superior over the blood of bulls and goats
What's it say there? Says that the sun, she's close
to the sun, and the moon under her feet. There's not even comparison. That moon so often is symbolic
of Israel, symbolic of the legalistic system. And here it can't hold
a candle. to the righteousness of Christ.
And then upon her head a crown of 12 stars. I just look at that
and I think we can look at scripture and find out that this is just
gospel preachers typified by the 12 apostles. Gospel preachers. The light that goes out from
them, the stars that go out, we find that in the first few
chapters of this book of Revelation. So that is, that's the ministry
of the church, preaching the gospel. And as a result, there
will be, what's it say in the last verse of that 17th verse? It says, make war with the remnant
of her seed. There will be success. in these
stars preaching the gospel. And there's no mixing in of the
Old Testament legal system or the blood of bulls and goats.
It is under the feet. Trample it down. Keep it down. People want to bring it up, keep
it down. Keep it down. The church has ever kept that
down. They will not go along with it.
Paul spent his entire ministry as a gracious member of the body
of Christ, keeping, putting down the old legalistic system of
the Judaizers, which came along and said, oh yeah, this grace
is good, but unless you're circumcised, you can't be saved. So he kept
it down. He put his foot right on it.
And with that, we'll stop and ask Mike to lead us in closing.