We'll stay right there in Revelation
chapter 12 for the message today concerning wonders in heaven. I had Brother Mike read the whole
chapter just to give you some context. And I realized that
as you read through a chapter like this, there's so much symbolic
language that it can be confusing unless you understand what these
symbols really refer to. basically three characters in
this chapter that will show you who they are, and that helps
your understanding. And I realize, you know, sometimes
you can get into the numbers concerning the pattern of Revelation. It gets kind of confusing a little
bit. For example, as we started out,
you know, the book of Revelation, it's the Revelation of Jesus
Christ, meaning that it's in two ways. It's a revelation that
Christ himself gave to the apostle John. So it's his revelation
that he gave to John of things that would take place in the
last age, the new covenant age, which covers the span of time
between his first advent, his first coming, and his second
coming. And that's what the book of Revelation
is. And basically that revelation involves, number one, what Christ
has already done, and of course that revolves around the finished
work of Christ, of putting away the sins of his people on the
cross, redeeming them unto glory, preserving them, saving them.
We see that, for example, in passages like Revelation 12,
11. They overcame him, that is the
devil, by the blood of the Lamb. Well, what is the blood of the
Lamb? That's the death of Christ to
put away the sins of God's people, given to him before the foundation
of the world, their sins having been imputed, charged, accounted
to him, And he came to earth, sent of the Father, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law. Well, that's what he's already done. He finished the work. By
one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
And that's what this means. And so another part of this revelation
is what Christ is doing in the present age. Again, that age
that spans from His first coming to His second coming. What's
He doing today on this earth? Well, we have to look at it not
from the viewpoint of the modern newscast. We have to look at
it from the viewpoint of God's Word. And so don't interpret
revelation according to what you see on TV. or in the movies,
all right? We look at the revelation as
he reveals it in his word, and then we view all things in that
light. And then it also involves what
he will do during this age. We still have a future. Now it
may be for another hour, it may be for another hundred years,
I don't know. I don't know when Christ is coming again. But he
shows us here what he will do up until that time, that he comes
again to gather his church unto himself and judge the world in
righteousness. Well, and then another thing
about it, it's not only the revelation of Christ that he gave to John,
it's the revelation of Christ himself. And so that's what he
has done, what he is doing, what he will do. All of that, showing
us the assured victory of his church because of him. And we're
gonna see that in Revelation 12. I'm not gonna deal with the
whole chapter today, obviously. I'm just really gonna deal with
the first few verses concerning wonders in heaven. But what happens,
you remember when we started the book of Revelation, I told
you that the Revelation consists of seven parts, seven sections,
where in each section, we have a panoramic view from different
angles, of this last age. Each section, each revelation,
each part of it, section of revelation gives us
the whole span of time of this revelation from the first coming
of Christ to his second coming and it's represented in the symbol
of a number, the three and a half years And that's really talking
about the whole span of time. Now I'm not gonna go into all
that, I've already done that. So I'm not gonna take time to
explain all of that, but I'll just show you. If you wanna hear
about it, get the other messages on Revelation and study them. But each one, now here in chapter
12, we begin the fourth section of Revelation. This is of the
New Covenant age. The fourth view, you might say,
and the fourth revelation. And this begins with this. Look here in verse one. Well,
what this section is dealing with, it portrays that during
this time of these three and a half years symbolizing the
whole time period, there's a great warfare between Christ and Satan,
and as it develops in these last days, And this warfare has been
going on from the beginning. Genesis 3.15, you know, he put
enmity between thee and the woman, the serpent. That's Satan appearing
as a serpent. But the outcome, and this is
where we rest, we who believe in Christ, the outcome of this
conflict or this warfare has always been assured by the power
and grace of God in Christ. Satan cannot win. Christ is and
will always be victorious. And that's the message of revelation
to the people of God. You're going to have some trouble.
Remember, he told his disciples in John 16, he said, in the world,
you'll have tribulation. This book knows nothing of just
seven year period of tribulation for some of the believers or
anything like that. We're all going to be in tribulation. But Christ said, but be of good
cheer, for I have overcome the world. And he has. And though we may hurt here on
earth, we are sure, if we're in Christ, if we're washed in
his blood from all our sins, which means that Satan's attacks
upon us, though they may hurt for a time, but they cannot condemn
us. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Think about it. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies.
Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea rather
He's risen again. Seated at the right hand of the
Father, ever living to make intercession for us. So Satan, he can plague
us, he can attack us, he can make us hurt for a while, and
that's only by God's permission. But it's just a reminder to the
people of God that this world is not our home. This world is
not our hope. Our hope lies in Christ, who's
in glory, and we're there with him. So understand that. Well,
look here, there appeared a great wonder in heaven. Now that word
wonder means a sign, something that points us to something that's
real and subsistent and great, the sign itself is not the reality. What the sign points to is the
reality. I've told you the story about
when Debbie and I would take Aaron and Nathan, our two sons,
and we'd go back up to Kentucky to visit relatives. And we had,
like, different legs of the trip. And they would always ask, what
leg are we on now, Dad? I'd say, well, we're on the fourth leg.
And then when we'd get on I-64 headed toward Ashland, Kentucky,
we'd see that sign that said Ashland so many miles. Well,
that's the sign. We didn't stop there and camp
at the sign. We went home. And that's what
these are. These signs are not the reality.
They point to the reality. They point us to Christ and the
victory that he's won over the devil and the victory he is winning
and ultimately will win in the finality of it. And he says,
there appeared a great sign and the first one is a woman clothed
with the sun and the moon under her feet and under her head a
crown of 12 stars upon her head, a crown of 12
stars, and she being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and
pained to be delivered. Now, who is this woman? Well,
there's a lot of different answers to this. Some say that it's Mary,
the mother of Christ. And they take that and turn it
into idolatry, where they pray through Mary, as if they call
her the queen of heaven. She's not the queen of heaven.
There is no queen of heaven. And Mary is not to be prayed
to. She's not a mediator. Mary was a great woman. She was
blessed of God. The Bible says she was blessed
among women. Doesn't say she was blessed above
women. Thank God for Mary. She's the
human mother of the humanity of Christ. But you know what
Mary was when it's all over but the shouting? She was a sinner
saved by grace. She even called Jesus her savior. Why would she call him her savior
if she wasn't a sinner? The only ones who need a savior
is a sinner. He shall save his people from
their sin. This woman's not Mary. Some say
that this woman was the nation Israel. No, I'm sorry. There's nothing in the context
of scripture that would say this is the nation Israel. Well, who
is this woman? I'll tell you who it is. It's
the church, known as the Bride of Christ. That's who it is. Made up of the elect of God,
chosen before the foundation of the world, whose names were
written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the world began.
Given to Christ. having all the responsibility
of her salvation put upon His shoulders, justified in Him. What does that mean? It means
they're forgiven of all their sins by the blood of Jesus Christ. It means they are righteous before
God, not because of their own good works or their wills, but
because of what Christ accomplished on the cross. to satisfy the
justice of God and bring forth an everlasting righteousness
whereby God could be just to justify them. It says here she's
clothed with the sun. You remember in Malachi? I believe
it's chapter three or four, I can't remember. But where Christ is
called the sun, S-U-N, of righteousness. Coming with eagle's wings, with
healing in his wings. Christ is the son of righteousness.
This woman, just like individual believers who make up the church,
collectively the bride of Christ. We are clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. What does that mean? That means
as our sins were charged to his account, the debt laid upon him,
and he paid that debt, his righteousness is charged to our account. Paul
wrote in Romans 4 and verse 6, the blessedness of the man to
whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. That's who she
is. Clothed with the sun. Bible says,
and the moon under her feet. You know what the moon does?
The moon shines in darkness with the reflective light of the sun. Isn't that right? The moon has
no light of itself. When you see the bright moon,
that's the sun shining on that moon and the moon's reflecting
it. Well, that's what this woman does. We shine forth in a dark
world with the reflective light of Christ. You're the light of
the world, he said. He said, let your light so shine
before men that they may see your good works and glorify not
you, not me, but our father, which is in heaven. If our good
works that men and women see do not point to God as the source
and the cause and the receiver of those works in Christ, what
good are they? It says upon her head was 12
stars. The crown, a crown of 12 stars.
The crown speaks of her victory in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.
The 12 stars are ministers preaching the word of God. Notice the crown
is upon her head. And who is the head of the church?
Christ is. He's the head, we're the body. So this crown is actually upon
his head. And he's the crown of the church.
And these 12 stars, 12 is the number of completeness. You know
what that means? That means this, that this woman
represents the complete number of all whom God chose and gave
to Christ whom he redeemed. Not one will be missing. There'll
be no sinners in hell for whom Christ died. Mark it down. Read
your Bibles. He said, all that the Father
giveth unto me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. He said, this is the will of
him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose what? Nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. He shall save his people from
their sins. That's the first wonder in heaven
that's shown here, this woman. And verse two says she was with
child, she was pregnant. Travailing in birth and pain
to be delivered. Well, what does that refer to?
Well, if you look at the church in the Old Testament, believers
in the Old Testament, what were they anticipating? The coming
of the man-child, the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll talk about him
more later. Because he came through Mary, that human mother, And
so in essence, he was born of his church in his humanity. He's
God manifest in the flesh. That's who he is. And she pained
to be delivered. Look at the trials, the sufferings
that the church in the Old Testament went through. And then look at
the trials and the suffering that the church in the New Testament's
going through, preaching the gospel, seeking his sheep. And they're born of us. She agonized
and suffered for centuries longing for the Messiah to come in the
Old Testament. And as the nation Israel itself
had a false idea of the Messiah, the true Israel, the true church,
true believers, Sees him in all his glory and all his majesty,
travailing in birth. Think about it. You remember
what Paul said in Galatians 4, 19? He said, my little children
of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. Oh my, it is a travail, isn't
it? Well, look at verse three. It said, there appeared another
wonder, another sign in heaven. Now, notice the difference. In
verse one, this woman that appeared, she's a great wonder. But this
next wonder, it doesn't say it's a great wonder, it says just
a wonder, another wonder. And behold, this is a great,
now this revelation is coming from heaven. And it's a, behold,
a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven
crowns upon his head. Now, who's this speaking of?
Well, he tells us who this great, the great red dragon is a symbol
of Satan himself. Look over at verse nine of this
chapter. We'll be getting to this later
on. But it says in verse nine, and the great dragon was cast
out that old serpent, remember Satan appeared to Eve in the
form of a serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth
the whole world. Those who are of the world. You
see, God's elect are chosen out of the world. But Satan deceives
the whole world, those who are tied to the world. All of those. And he says, he was cast out
into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. We'll
look back at verse three. This red dragon appeared and
behold this great red dragon having seven heads, 10 horns,
seven crowns upon his head. And it says that his tail, verse
four, drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast
them to the earth. Most commentators, and I agree
with this, believe that that's the angels that fell with Satan.
And it says, 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 think about this. This great red dragon. Red because
that's a symbol of sin. Remember in Isaiah 1.18, though
your sins be as scarlet, they'll be as white as snow, though they
be red like crimson, they'll be as wool. Satan brought sin
into the world when he caused Eve and Adam to fall. Red is
a symbol for sin. It says red is also the symbol
of anger and war and murder, everything that's connected with
Satan. But understand now, He's not
like a literal red dragon. Satan is a deceiver. Said he
deceived the whole world. And how does he deceive the whole
world? The main way he deceives the whole world is with false
religion. Remember Christ told the Pharisees in John 8, 44,
you're of your father, the devil. You do the works of your father.
He was a liar from the beginning. He's talking to religious men
there. He's talking to men who were trying to inspire people
to keep the law to be saved. That is satanic. And so when
you look around the world and you see all the disasters and
these, we're talking about like, for example, the seven trumpets
of judgment that declare the judgment of God against sin.
Understand that Satan is used of God as a judgment. A judgment
of deception. God's not the author of sin now.
But I'll tell you one thing, if you believe the Bible, you
know that God's in control. And everybody says that. But
how many people really believe it? That God's in control? Well, that means he's in control
of everything. How else could we say all things work together
for good to them that love God? You know why all things work
together for good? That's the good of his people now. That's
not the good of everybody. Some will live and die in unbelief
and die in their sins and perish. And that's not good. But for
God's people, to them that love God, who are the called according
to his purpose, all things work together for good. Now you wanna
know why it works together for good? Because God is the one
who's working them. If we were working it, it'd be
a mess. And you look at the world and you say, well, the world's
in a mess. Not according to God's purpose. Not according to God's
plan. He knows the end from the beginning.
He declares it. This serpent had seven heads. That could refer to Rome. You
know, back then in the context of Revelation, the Roman Empire
was in full swing. The seven hills of Rome, that
could refer to that. And what it's talking about is
ungodly governments. are in control of Satan. 10 horns
could symbolize how Rome was divided into 10 separate kingdoms,
all according to God's purpose. In other words, it's talking
about something that's evil that is standing against the church.
So my point is this, whether you agree with me on the specifics,
you'll have to agree with this. This is a powerful being who
is declaring war against Christ and his church. That's what the
symbol is all about. Seven crowns. One commentator
says this speaks of the succession of Roman emperors, and that could
be. But I know this. Again, it represents
the world's opposition against Christ and his church. And his
tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast
them to earth. The angels that fell with Satan,
they're mentioned in Jude 6, mentioned back over in Isaiah.
Described as stars because they shine forth with a light, they
shine forth in Satan's service, is what they do. And the third
part just simply means it's a great number. So cast them down to
earth. The dragon stood before the woman
which was ready to be delivered for to devour her as soon as
it was born. Do you remember at the birth
of Christ or his early years, up to two years old, that Satan
entered into King Herod to kill all the children two years and
before? He wanted to stop that birth. Now he couldn't stop it,
but he didn't know that. I got news for you, Satan is
not omniscient. He doesn't know everything. He
knows this much, he knows that his doom is impending, that it's
coming. And he's trying to destroy and
get as many as he can with him. But when realizing that the Messiah
would be born, he did everything he could through Herod to stop
it. Well, right now, he's been loosed
to deceive the whole world. False gospels are abounding.
Later on in Revelation 12, it's called a flood. False gospels,
false messages, idolatrous religions flooding this earth. Satan seeking
to stop the birth, the new birth of God's children and it's not
going to work because Satan is going to be defeated. Well look
at verse 5 it says, this woman she brought forth a man-child.
Now who's the man-child? That's Christ, the God-man, the
mediator. The one mediator between God
and men who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Now how does
he rule all nations with a rod of iron? Turn over to Romans
chapter two with me. Whenever the Bible speaks of
the coming judgment, like for example in the book of Isaiah
it speaks of that. You know what it's talking about?
It's talking about the gospel. The gospel brings judgment. right
judgment into the world. How? Well, look at verse 14. Well, look at verse 13 of Romans
chapter two. He says here, for not the hearers
of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall
be justified. Now what he means there, if you
believe salvation by the works of the law, you have it all to
do. One, listen, to break one of
God's laws is to break them all. It's not good enough for you
to just hear the law. The children of Israel heard
the law. It's not good enough for you to admire the law. It's not good enough for you
to put the law on your walls. If you believe salvation by works,
You are responsible to keep it perfectly. Every jot and tittle. Well, you can't do that. By deeds
of law shall no flesh be justified before God. So it's not the hearers,
but it's the doers. Verse 14, for when the Gentiles,
which have not the law, that is, they didn't have the Ten
Commandments and the law of Moses, do by nature the things contained
in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves.
The Gentiles, they didn't have back then the Ten Commandments
and the law of ceremony and sacrifice, but they were not without law.
Well, what does he mean? Verse 15, which show the work
of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing
witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing
one another. The Gentiles had laws, their
societies, they had laws against murder, against stealing, and
all of that, even though they didn't have the law from Sinai.
Well, look at verse 16. In the days when God shall judge
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Now,
what does that mean? Well, what does the gospel say?
The gospel tells us that we are a sinful people who deserve nothing
but death and hell, and that the only way of salvation is
to be found in the righteousness of another, the Lord Jesus Christ,
which is the perfection of the righteousness of the law that
can only be found in Him." How in the world can a sinner like
me come before God and be declared righteous in His sight? I haven't kept the law and I
still don't. You say, well, you should try.
Yes, I should try to be the best person I can be, but that's not
going to make me righteous. I'm always gonna fall short of
the perfection of righteousness that the law demands. So what's
my only hope? Well, Paul said it in Philippians
3, oh, that I may know him and be found in him not having mine
own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith or the faithfulness of Christ. What did he write
in Romans 10 and verse four? For Christ is the end, the fulfillment,
the perfection, the finishing of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. So how is he going to rule the
nations with a rod of iron? He's gonna show the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in Him. And here's the
reality of it. His judgment is such that in
a verse that I quote all the time, Acts 17 31, God has appointed
a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom He hath ordained, in that He hath given assurance
unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead. That's
Christ. And it says, her child, verse
five, was caught up unto God and to His throne. The death,
the burial, the resurrection, the ascension of Christ. That's
the man child. He's the man child. He's the
righteousness of His people. He's the salvation of His people.
There is no other. There's no other way. And people
talk about, well, we're going to defeat Satan. Well, how are
you going to defeat him? Remember over there in verse
9, it said, they overcame him. How? By trying to be good people? Well, you ought to try to be
good people, but that's not going to defeat Satan. They overcame
him by the blood of the Lamb. That's how you defeat Satan.
Plead the blood of Christ. Plead his righteousness alone.
There's no other way. No other way, all right.