I'm going to preach to you this
morning beginning at verse 13 of Revelation 12. It may seem
like a strange place to begin, but I don't have time to go into
for one message to do the whole chapter, but I'll be referring
back to some of it. The title of the message is Satan's
Pursuits Defeated. Satan's Pursuits Defeated. Now, you don't need me to tell
you that Revelation is a highly symbolic book. It's full of symbols
and metaphors, types, and pictures that mostly have their, well,
that all really have their roots in truths that were brought out
in the Old Testament. I think the biggest mistake that
people make when they try to read and interpret the book of
Revelation is that their guide for interpretation is more the
local newspaper or newscast than it is the Bible itself. And so
they try to look at things that are happening in our current
events and try to interpret symbols and metaphors of revelation by
them. You can't do that. Now we can
certainly see things happening in our society that's predicted
and prophesied by God in the Bible. There's no doubt about
that. But we have to interpret what we see going on around us
by the scriptures and not the other way around, because we'll
get confused. But many times these things will
have historical applications, but they also have eternal and
spiritual applications. For example, look at verse 13.
It says, and when the dragon, now who's the dragon? Well, that's
Satan. Look back up at verse nine. It says, the great dragon
was cast out, that old serpent, Where do you hear of the serpent
in the scripture? Well, he goes all the way back
to Genesis. In the fall of man, Satan appeared to Adam and Eve
in the form of a serpent. And he says he's called the devil.
Devil means the opposer, he's the enemy. And he's called Satan,
that means the adversary or the accuser, the accuser of the brethren,
scripture calls him, which deceiveth the whole world. That's one of
those phrases where the whole world, I don't know of anybody
who will say, well, that means every individual without exception
there. Well, we know it doesn't because we're going to see that
Satan, even though he can for a time deceive God's people,
the church, because we're all born in sin and naturally deceived,
natural darkness. We're all born dead. Spiritually
speaking, we don't have ears to hear and eyes to see. But
God, by the Spirit through Christ, brings us to spiritual life where
we see the glory of Christ, the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. And so we're not deceived in that sense. And so Satan deceives
the whole world. He's talking about the world
in opposition to Christ. He says he was cast out into
the earth. Back here in verse 13, when the
dragon saw that he was cast out unto the earth, Up here in verse
9 it says, he was cast out unto the earth and his angels, his
messengers, were cast out with him. Now, what's going on here
is Satan is defeated. He's been cast out unto the earth.
And I think a lot of the problems that people have on this passage
like this is they think in terms of geography. We think of in
terms of Satan being cast out, we think in terms of Satan being
up here, now he's down here. And it's not location. Satan
didn't change locations in this casting out. This casting out
means to be separated. It means to be thrown out all
over the earth. That's what it's talking about.
Now, when was Satan cast out? Back there in verse 9, the great
dragon was cast out. Well, a lot of people will go
back to the time before the creation of the world when Satan, known
as Lucifer, as recorded in Isaiah 14, fell. And a third part of the angels
fell with him. But that's not what this is talking
about. I want you to turn to John chapter 12 with me. I want
you to see what this means. Satan being cast out. John chapter
12. And in this chapter, the book
of John, the Lord himself is speaking here. And he's talking
about his death on the cross. That's the subject. He says in
verse 23 of John chapter 12. Now listen to this. He says,
and Jesus answered them saying, the hour has come that the son
of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say to you,
except a corn or a seed of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. And then he says, he that loveth
his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto eternal life. If any man serve me, let
him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be.
If any man serve me, him will my father honor. Now skip down
to verse 31. You can read the whole chapter
in the context. It bears it up. Now he says in verse 31, now
is the judgment of this world. Now shall the Prince of this
world. Who's that? That's Satan, his
usurped authority allowed by God for a short period of time
for the purpose of God's glory and the salvation of his people
and the damnation of this world who won't turn to Christ. And
he says, now shall the Prince of this world be cast out. Same word. in Revelation 12.9
and Revelation 12.13, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all, literally all, unto me. Who are the all there?
All for whom he dies. It says in verse 33, this he
said signifying what death he should die. So when was Satan
cast out? When was Satan totally cut off
and alienated from all things in his workings? When Christ
died on the cross. That's what this is talking about.
And it says, look back at Revelation 12 now. It says, and when the
dragon saw that he was cast out, you see, Satan is not omniscient. He does not know everything.
He's powerful now. And a lot of people, they'll
talk like Satan is omnipresent. He's everywhere. Satan is not
everywhere. You see, he's not the evil counterpart
to God. Satan is not an equal evil character. God's on this side and Satan's
on this side. Now he's opposed to God. He's against God. But he's still a created angel.
He's a fallen angel. He's an evil being, you see.
But he's limited. Now again, he's more powerful
than you and me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying
he's weak and we don't have to worry about him and all that,
don't have to deal with him, we do. But he's not the evil counterpart.
And what it's saying here, when he saw that he was cast under
the earth, when it came to his mind, upon the death of Christ,
that he was totally defeated, see, then what did he do? It says in verse 13, he persecuted
the woman which brought forth the man-child. Now, who is this
woman that brought forth the man-child? She appears first
in the beginning of Revelation 12, And the historical reference
there is to Mary, the Virgin Mary, who was the human mother
of the humanity of Christ. He was conceived in the womb
of a virgin by the Holy Spirit. And it's not that we should take
that and elevate Mary to the queen of heaven or anything like
that, or pray through her. Listen, Mary was a sinner saved
by the grace of God, just like us. The Bible says she was blessed
among women. It doesn't say she was blessed
above women. There's a difference. So there
is a historical reference there, and you remember the events surrounding
the birth of Christ, how Satan inspired Herod to kill him, and
they had to, Mary and Joseph had to take the child and flee
to Egypt into the wilderness. So there is a historical reference,
but here's what's important for the book of Revelation for us
today. There's a symbolic application to this. There's an eternal spiritual
application. The woman here represents the
church. the church of the living God,
who is sometimes referred to as the bride of Christ. Sometimes
in the Old Testament, Israel was represented in that way as
a symbol of the church. But that's what this woman is,
it's the church. And the church is said to have
brought forth the man-child in the sense that Christ was made
like unto his brethren, Hebrews chapter two. Because his brethren
were human. He had to be made in the likeness
of sinful flesh without sin in order to die for the sins of
his people. He redeemed his church with his
own blood, the scripture says. And so the church brought forth
the man-child in the sense that Christ came out for the church. That's why he was born, that's
why he lived, that's why he died on the cross. The church is represented
as the bride of Christ, the family of God, the house of God, the
sheep of the pastor. Christ said in John chapter 10,
I give my life for the sheep. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. You see, his death was an effectual,
powerful redemption by which he bought his people and brings
them unto himself. He died for our sins, you see. And in dying for our sins, Satan
was cast out. Now, what is Satan? Well, back
in verse nine, look up there. He says, the great 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. Verse 10, I heard a
loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation. Salvation
has been accomplished in time. The salvation that God purposed
from eternity and gave to us, according to the Bible, in Christ
Jesus before the world began, has now been accomplished in
time. You see, God's eternal purpose
does not deny the necessity of the working out of these things
in time. In fact, God's eternal purpose demands that they be
worked out in time. And so it says, now has come
salvation, now has come strength, that's the power of God to save
his people in Christ, and the kingdom of our God, that's the
establishment of the kingdom, the church, in time. And the
power of his Christ, there's the foundation of the church.
Remember Christ told Peter and the apostles, he said, upon this
rock I will build my church. He wouldn't talk, Peter wasn't
the rock. Christ himself crucified and risen again. That's the rock.
His blood, his righteousness is the foundation of our salvation. Now look at the next line, verse
10. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down. That's Satan. He's
cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
And look at verse 11. And they overcame him by the
blood of the lamb. That's how you defeat Satan.
It's not by calling out an exorcist. It's not by genuflecting or throwing
holy water. It's by pleading the blood, the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ freely imputed and received
by faith. Because you see, based upon the
blood of Christ, which put away our sins, and satisfied the just
demands of God's law and paid our sin debt in full and established
the righteousness whereby God could be just and justifier?
Satan's accusations cannot stick to a child of God. 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
and is seated at the right hand of the Father. So he says, they
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their
testimony. What is the word of our testimony?
It's the gospel, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed.
And it says, and they loved not their lives unto death. Remember
what Christ said over in John 12? He that loveth his own life. What he's talking about there
is repentance, and it may lead to martyrdom. We don't know.
It could lead to physical death. We don't know. I hope not. It
has in many cases. Every one of the apostles were
physically murdered except for John. But either way, we who
know Christ, we reject everything in our life that we think by
nature would recommend us unto God and we plead nothing but
Christ and Him crucified, His blood and righteousness alone.
Now, look back at verse 13. Here's Satan, now he's allowed,
he's defeated, he's cast out, his accusations cannot stick,
but it says he persecuted the woman which brought forth the
man-child. Now that word persecuted, when
you think about persecution, You think about martyrs, don't
you? I know I do. I think about the Fox's Book
of Martyrs and the devout men and women who were murdered by
Rome and by the Jews and later on by the Catholic Church, you
know, how they suffered because they would not deny Christ. In
the early church, many were murdered because they wouldn't say Caesar
is Lord. And that certainly is included
here, but this word persecuted literally means to follow after. In fact, it's the same word that
the Lord used in, or that Paul wrote in Romans chapter 14 and
verse 19, when he said this, he wrote this, let us therefore
follow after the things which make for peace. Let us follow
after things that make for peace. There's a positive rendition
of it, isn't it? It's the same word that's persecuted
here. In other words, believers, they're
to follow after the things that make for peace. Now Satan, he's
following after something too, but not things that make for
peace. He's following after something that is evil. But it's also the
same word that the Lord used in Matthew 511 when he said,
blessed are you when men shall revile and persecute you. The
point is this. He's not saying that Satan is
allowed to murder true believers all the time. Now, it does come
to that sometimes. You know, just like I tell our
folks all the time, I thank God that we live in this country
where we have a constitution that enables us and allows us
to worship here without threat from the government. And that
freedom of worship that way, I do. I thank God every day for
it. I'm so glad we live in our day and age and in our country
for that reason. That's one of the reasons. But
that still doesn't mean that Satan is not following after
us. That Satan is not persecuting us. Satan will not always be
allowed to physically torture and harm and kill believers,
as those who were martyred before, but he will pursue us. He will
follow after us. God's people here on earth will
be subject to Satan's constant harassment. That's what this
means. It means harass. He'll harass
you. He'll hound you. He'll accuse you. He'll slander
you. He'll try to divide you. Now
we've all experienced all these things, haven't we? He'll try
to divide you and any other means he can use. to follow after,
to persecute the church. God has allowed him that freedom
for a little while, for a little while. Somebody may ask the question,
well, why has God done that? Well, I don't have time to go
into all the scriptures, but I'll give you one good reason
is that this is one of God's ways to reveal who his true children
are as opposed to false professors. Now, Satan means it for evil.
But God overrules evil. And if you don't believe that,
don't ever quote Romans 8, 28 ever again. You don't believe
that part of the Bible if you don't believe God overrules it.
All things work together for good for them to love God. So
you see, Satan is allowed to harass us. But now look at verse
14. Now what you have there is salvation
established even though Satan is persecuting and accusing and
all that. But look at verse 14. Here's
the preservation of the church. And it says in verse 14, and
to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might
fly into the wilderness into her place, you see that, where
she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the
face of the serpent. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the protection of the church by Christ under
his power, under his providence, Even though Satan pursues her,
she cannot be defeated. She cannot be starved. She's
put into a place that God has determined for her. It's her
place, it's called, into her place. What is her place? In
Christ. That's our place. We're in Christ. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Satan cannot take
that away, no matter what he does. He can accuse you now.
He can harass you. He can pursue you. He can hound
you. And sometimes he can divide you
for a little while, but he cannot bring about condemnation. He
cannot remove the blessings because we're in our place. We're in
Christ. We're washed in his blood and
clothed in his righteousness and Satan cannot do anything
about it. Who is this great eagle or the two wings of a great eagle?
Well, boy, if you ever read any modern-day commentaries on Revelation,
you'll get a lot of wild speculation on that. I read one a couple
years ago who said that the two wings of the great eagle were
the United States and Britain. And I thought, well, is that
in the Old Testament? I don't think so. If we went
back to the Bible and do what the Bible tells us to do under
the rules of scriptural interpretation, and that's another thing, I could
preach several messages on that issue, what would we find in
the Bible about this eagle who carries the woman, or who's given
the two wings of an eagle, who takes this woman and flies into
the wilderness where she's safe? What would we say? If you look
back in the book of Exodus, you don't have to turn there if you
want to, or you can write this down. This symbol of the two
wings of a great eagle is taken directly from the Old Testament.
In Exodus chapter 19 and verse 4, the Lord said to Israel, listen
to this, he says, you have seen what I did unto the Egyptians
and how I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you unto myself. What's he talking about? He's
talking about their deliverance from Egypt. I bear you on eagles' wings,
he said. How many wings does an eagle
have? Two. He said, I bear you. When I brought
you out of Egypt, I bear you on eagles' wings. Now, if you
go back and read the Exodus account of the deliverance of Israel
from Egypt, they weren't literally born on a literal eagle, were
they? No, Moses went down and led them
out by the power of God. And there were no nations that
helped them. Whether it's the United States
or Britain or anything, there were no nations that helped them
at all come out of Egypt. They had one way of getting out
of Egypt and that was the power of God, period. Isaiah used the,
and I could go over several passages of scripture in the Old Testament,
but Isaiah used the same symbol in Isaiah chapter 40 in verse
31. It says, but they that wait upon the Lord, what does that
mean? That means believe in Christ,
shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as
eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk
and not faint. What's he talking about? Well,
those who believe in Christ shall be preserved and safe and secure
and be at peace and walk, not in their own power, but in power
from above, the power of God. What is this two wings and an
eagle? It's simply talking about that the church is brought to
safety, they're saved, justified, sanctified, regenerated, converted,
brought to safety, fed, nourished, preserved, and secured, not by
their own power, not by their own righteousness, not by their
own works, but by the power and goodness and grace and righteousness
of God. That's what it means. And she's
nourished. How's she nourished? With the
word of God. What is the nourishment of the
church? the milk of the word, the meat of the word. We feed
upon the word of God that leads us to Christ and the glory of
God in him. That's how we're fed. That's
our nourishment, you see. And how long? It says for a time
and times and half a time. Now, I don't have time to go
into all the symbols there. But this phrase, a time and times
and half a time, it's used several times in the book of Revelation,
it's used in the book of Daniel. And most commentators, and I
agree with this, they equate it with what they call a three
and a half year period that separates the 70th week of Daniel. Now,
rather than getting into all this, what that's simply talking
about is that the 70th week of Daniel is represented between the time that Christ
began his earthly ministry, when he was baptized, and from there,
and that's split into three and a half, into two ways, three
and a half years and three and a half years, seven years, and
when Christ began his earthly ministry, up until the time of
his crucifixion was how long? It was three and a half years.
All right, that's the foundation of salvation, the obedience unto
death, unto the death of Christ, all right? Now from his crucifixion
and resurrection and ascension up into the time that Stephen
was martyred, and you'll notice in the book of Acts, Acts chapter
7, 8, and 9, that when Stephen was martyred, how the church
was cast forth into the world from Jerusalem, spreading and
preaching the word wherever they went. That's when the church,
that's when the gospel was catapulted out into the Gentiles. That was
three and a half years. In that three and a half years
from the crucifixion to the death of Stephen, there was a hard,
severe persecution of the church in Judea. And what that represents,
that three and a half years, which I believe is represented
here by this short period of time, that time period was symbolic
of the persecution that the church would go through in varying degrees
all throughout the last days. And so what this represents is
the whole time period between Christ's first coming and second
coming in which the church, having fled into the wilderness, and
the wilderness there represents the world, the lost, fallen world. You see, we're in the world,
but we're not of the world. Just like Israel, when they came
out of Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years,
didn't they? Well, we're in the wilderness now, but we're kept
safe. We're in the world, but we're not out, and in that time
period between Christ's first coming and second coming, there's
gonna be persecution. Satan's gonna, he's gonna follow
after us. But he says we're protected from
the face of the serpent. Now look at verse 15. And it
said, 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. Now this is Satan's methods right
here. He's enraged because his defeat,
his impending doom is sealed and he realizes it. He's frustrated
by his inability to overcome Christ and his church. So what
does he do? He opens his mouth and he spews
forth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause
her to be carried away of the flood. What's that talking about? That's talking about Satan's
methods and doctrine of deception. That's the flood that comes out
of his mouth because it's symbolic of words. It's symbolic of lies. Let me show you some scripture.
Turn to John chapter 8. Look at this. And this is where people... Listen,
I'll tell you. So many people are deceived concerning
the issue of Satan. And in being deceived concerning
Satan himself, they end up being deceived by Satan. And what do
you think of when you think of Satan? I graduated from a high
school up in Kentucky called Russell High School, and our
mascot was a red devil, Russell Red Devils. And we had a big
old wooden devil, they called it. A guy up there, he was all
red and had horns and fangs and a pitchfork and a pointed tail.
And usually that's what most people think of when they think
of the devil. That's the symbol, you know.
First of all, I'll tell you something. If something like that walked
in here, I don't think any of you all would be deceived, would
you? I mean, you wouldn't. That's not how the devil is described
in the Bible. That's mythology. That's what
that is. It actually came from Roman and
Greek mythology. That's what it comes from. But
it's not biblical. And then most people, they think
of Satan as the one who's trying to get everybody down at the
local bars drunk or the local drug dens and stuff like that.
Well, let me tell you something. That's evil. It's sinful. Those who are engaged in such
behavior to the point that they have no repentance, they're lost. Now, there's no doubt about it,
there's no, but let me tell you something, that's just fallen
human nature. That's all that is. Some of y'all
may remember Flip Wilson, he always said, the devil made me
do it. No, he didn't. You just did what you wanted
to do. That's it. You just want somebody to blame.
So the devil made me do it. No. But what does the Bible say? Well, look at John chapter eight
and verse 44. Now, first of all, realize who Christ is talking
to here. He's talking to religious people.
the Pharisees, the most respected, followed after men of their generation. That's who he's talking to. Who
claimed to be children of Abraham, who were circumcised and claimed
to be keepers of the law. In fact, who were doing their
best to keep the law in order to be saved. And look what he
says in verse 44. He says, you are of your father,
the devil. and the lust of your father you
will do." Now, what is that lust? It's an unlawful desire. Well,
what were they doing? You know what they were doing?
They were going about trying to establish a righteousness
of their own. That's what they taught. That
was their doctrine. That was their religion. Going
about, trying to establish a righteousness of their own, making themselves
good enough, righteous enough, holy enough to be accepted before
God. That's an unlawful desire, my
friend. God forbids it. It dishonors him. It denies Christ. It exalts the proud sinner. And
he said he was a murderer from the beginning. Now, what is the
beginning there? That's back in the garden. Well
now, did Satan take out a gun and shoot anybody back then?
Did he take out a knife and cut anybody? No. What did he do? Look at the next line. He was
a murder from the beginning and abode not in the truth. He didn't abide in the truth.
What was the truth? Adam, in the day that you eat
thereof, you shall surely die. What was Satan's message? Thou
shalt not surely die. It's just like us, we tell sinners
today, without Christ, you shall surely die. Without being submitted
to his righteousness and his blood alone as the only ground
of your salvation, you shall surely die. What do false preachers
come by and say? No, you're not gonna die, you're
saved, you're a Christian. You see, without Christ, without
the true Christ, without the proper ground of salvation, what
are they doing? They're preaching Satan's message. And he says, because there was
no truth in him. Truth wasn't in him by nature.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own. In other words, when
he speaks a lie, he's talking about what comes naturally to
him. Just like people today, the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness to him, he
cannot know them, they're spiritually discerned. When he preaches salvation
by works, he's only saying what's natural to him. You see, salvation
by God's free and sovereign grace in Christ totally is not natural
to man. And I know it's not. It's not
natural to you, it's not natural to me. That's a gift from God. That's revelation from God. And
so when a false preacher preaches salvation by the works or by
the will of man, he's only saying what's natural, just like Satan
did, speaking on his own, for he's a liar and the father of
it. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter four. Look at this. I'll hurry here. Listen, 2 Corinthians
chapter four. You can see why the Bible, in
its reality, is such an offensive book to the natural man. And read these passages. Look
at 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 3. It starts off telling
you Satan's go. Here's Satan's go. But if our
gospel be hid, the gospel of God's grace in Christ, the gospel
wherein the righteousness of God is revealed, that Christ
and Him crucified and risen again, His righteousness imputed. You
see, any gospel that tells you to try to establish one of your
own in order to be saved or to stay saved is a false gospel.
But this gospel, our gospel, if it's hid, it's hid to them
that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the
minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. That's Satan's goal, to keep sinners from seeing the
glory of God in Christ. And my friend, if he can get
you in a false church under a false feeling of peace and security
by your works or your will, that's exactly where he would love to
have you. That's right, proud of what you've
accomplished, what you've done, or what you think God's enabled
you to do. But Paul says in verse five, for we preach not ourselves,
But Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for
Jesus' sake, for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
back in the beginning, hath shined in our hearts, that's revelation
from God, not natural to us, but it's revelation from God,
hath shined in our hearts to give unto us the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
how God is just to justify the ungodly. One more passage, turn over to
2 Corinthians chapter 11. This church was being plagued,
the Corinthian church was being plagued by false apostles, claiming
to be apostles of Christ. And they were preaching another
Jesus, another gospel by another spirit. And he says in verse
13 of 2 Corinthians 11, for such are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
That's the tense of that word there is a temporary transformation. In other words, they can say
the right things at certain times. And he says, and no marvel. That
means don't be amazed at that. For Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.
And I believe they can preach Christ's righteousness for a
while, but what they cannot do is stay with it because their
heart's not there. whose end shall be according
to their works. Now go back to Revelation 12
and let me conclude. At the beginning of Revelation,
John saw Christ in his glorified appearance, and out of his mouth
came a sharp two-edged sword. That's the word of God, it cuts
both ways. It's a word of conviction, It's
a word of grace. It brings sinners to see our
sin and our deservingness of damnation based on our best efforts
to keep the law and drives us to Christ and Him alone for salvation,
for forgiveness, for righteousness, for eternal life and glory. Satan,
what comes out of his mouth? This flood. Look at verse 16. It says, 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. That's the sovereignty
of God over all things to protect his church and defeat Satan.
Remember it happened in Israel when they came up on the Red
Sea. God opened the Red Sea, didn't he? The earth helped him.
That was God. That wasn't just a natural disaster,
as men say. But how did the earth help them?
Because God is king of the earth. He controls the earth. He opened
the Red Sea and they went over dry shod. And when Pharaoh and
his army came across, the Red Sea engulfed them and they drowned. In the wilderness, they were
hungry, so he gave them manna from heaven. They were thirsty,
he brought them a rock. I don't know how that appeared
to rock, but it did. And they got water from the rock. When
enemies came against them, God used the elements. to help them.
The earth swallowed up their enemies. We know that when Christ
died on the cross there was an earthquake. The graves opened
and many were resurrected the same as like Lazarus was. All
of this. God is sovereign and he's going
to use this world against his enemies. And then look at verse
17, and the dragon was wroth. He was angry with the woman and
went to make war with the remnant of her seed. That's her children.
Who is that? That's believers. We who believe
in Christ, we're the remnant of her seed. That's the seed
of Christ. I don't have time to turn there,
but turn and read Psalm 22. I think it's verses 30 and 31.
That's his generation. That's the seed of Christ. The
fruit of his death is the salvation of his people. And he says, who
are the remnant of his? They keep the commandments of
God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now, what is it
to keep the commandments of God? Well, that means they keep the
Ten Commandments. No, that's not what it means. Here's what
it means. It means they believe in and
they follow Christ by the grace of God. God never commanded anybody
to try to keep the law in order to be saved. In fact, he forbid
that. But to keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ is to believe in Christ as he's identified and distinguished
in this book and to follow him as a disciple. Not to be saved,
but because you already are. Not to be accepted, but because
of grace and gratitude and love. That's what it is, to keep his
commandments and to follow after him. All right.