Well, come back with me to Revelation
chapter 12, which we started looking at last week, and I want
to conclude that this week. The title of the message is The
Woman in the Wilderness, because we see that a couple of times
in this chapter. In eternity, Satan rebelled against
God. To talk about when that was in
terms of time is rather illogical because it was in eternity, so
it's outside of time. But in eternity, Satan rebelled
against God. Satan was created by God a magnificent
creature, Lucifer, Lucifer, a magnificent creature, but he rebelled against
God. He exalted himself. He saw God's
kingdom plan. This is what I think might have
happened. I cannot prove it conclusively,
but it seems to fit with what Scripture teaches. Satan saw
God's plan for people, human beings, made in the image of
God, to be exalted to rule with the Son of God, united with the
Son in eternity, exalted to rule with Him, and He couldn't stand
the prospect of that. He, this magnificent creature,
couldn't stand the prospect of God making people co-heirs with
the Lord Jesus Christ, to reign with Him. I imagine him saying, God can't
elevate people above angels, above Himself, above Satan himself,
And so, he rebelled. We read elsewhere in Scripture,
he sought to elevate himself to the throne of God, higher
than the throne of God. And he brought in deception,
and lies, and sin, and death. But God regenerated Adam and
Eve. As soon as they'd fallen, in
Genesis chapter 3, as soon as they'd fallen for the deception
of Satan into sin, God regenerated them. We know that because of
the animal skins that He used to clothe them. It's all symbolical
of the regeneration that God accomplished for them. And we
see from there onwards, Genesis 3, two seeds, the seed of the
woman and the seed of the serpent. And there is enmity between them.
The seed of the woman is the godly line from which Christ
comes, and He is the seed, capital S, the seed, out of the many
seeds that are the seeds of the woman. And the seed of Satan
is everybody else in unbelief, with the same unbelief as Satan. The seed of the woman Christ
would come and would bruise Satan's head. That's a mortal wound in
Satan's head. In the process, Satan would bruise
the woman's seed's heel. That's a painful thing. He went
to the cross. And in going to the cross, the
seed of the woman would accomplish redemption from the curse of
sin, for the people that God would have reigning with Him
in eternal glory, they're sinners, and therefore they cannot be
there in heaven, because they're sinners, and God's nature, and
God's law, and God's edict and God's principles must bar them
from that place. Nothing that defiles, we read
in Revelation chapter 20 and 21, but nothing that defiles
shall enter in. But he, by his redeeming death
and his shed blood, which has paid the law's demands, the soul
that sins, it shall die. And he died. And how do we know
he died? He shed his blood. The life is
in the blood. And he qualified That multitude
of human sinners that He loved from before the beginning of
time, He qualified them for entry into the kingdom of God. And
so the Bible reveals God's plan for triumph of His kingdom. the
plan for the crushing of Satan's rebellion. Satan elevated himself,
tried to elevate himself to the throne of God, tried to usurp
God. He usurped God's viceroy, Adam,
in the Garden of Eden. He took over this creation, this
created world. This book reveals that enmity,
reveals that history of the enmity between the seed of the woman
and the seed of the serpent, the seed of the devil, the seed
of Satan. And these chapters that we're
looking at now, chapters 12 to 14 of Revelation, they constitute
the fourth of the seven visions of the whole book. And what they
picture, remember I said that all of these visions, to an extent,
Talk about this recovery of God's kingdom from the power and clutches
of Satan, the recovery of his people, the triumph of his kingdom,
thy kingdom shall come, this is it, this is how. There's seven
visions with seven different perspectives of basically the
same thing. And this fourth vision of the
seven visions, why seven? Seven is God's number where which
he perfectly completes his plan. The fourth of these seven is
the people of God in this world of Satan. The people of God living
in this world of Satan. That's why it's so relevant to
us in the days in which we live. It's never been more clear and
relevant than it is to us in these days. The people of God,
those who believe him, living in a world which fundamentally
rejects him and disbelieves him. I'm not going to argue again
what I did last week, if you want to see it. go back and look on Sermon Audio,
you'll find it there. But the woman is a picture, symbolical
of the Old Testament church. The believers of God, right the
way down from Adam and Eve and Seth and Abel and Noah and Abram
and Isaac and Jacob and right the way down David and all the
way down through history of Israel in the Old Testament. It's the
church of God, the people of God, from which the promised
seed of the woman, Christ, would come. The Messiah would come
from those people. He wouldn't come from anybody
else in this world. He would come from those people.
and he would come to mortally wound Satan's rebellion. He would
come to mortally harm Satan's rebellion. And Satan tries to stop, he strives
to stop, to kill that seed, to stop him from coming in the first
place. So he disrupts the Israel of God in the Old Testament.
He does everything he can to subsume them into his world empires,
the empires of Egypt and Assyria and Babylonia, Chaldea and Medo-Persia
and Greece and Rome and all of them. He tries to subsume the
people of God, Israel, into those empires, and unite them with
his globalist idea of a godless kingdom. And he and his fallen
angels strive for that. You know, we read, he drags a
third of the stars of heaven. That's a picture of him and the
angels that fell with him. You know, his rebellion, he rose
up, he looked for supporters, and a third of the angels went
with him, so it says. But the child succeeds in his
mission. He comes. He is born of the woman. Verse 5, she, the woman, the
church, the Old Testament church, brought forth a man-child. This
is Christ, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Clearly
that's Christ. Psalm 2 says he rules with a
rod of iron, and various other places. This is Christ who came.
And he accomplished his purpose, and her child was caught up unto
God and to his throw. And then the woman flees. The
woman, the church, the believing people of God fled into the wilderness,
where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed
her there a thousand, two hundred, and threescore days. Interesting. Verse six, the woman fled into
the wilderness. Having accomplished the purpose
of redemption for the recovery of his kingdom from Satan's clutches,
for the triumph of his kingdom over the kingdom of Satan, the
woman, the people of God in the world, are not taken out of the
world, but they flee into the wilderness. The wilderness, what
is this wilderness? The wilderness This is all spiritual. This isn't literal. The people
of God do not live like in the outback of Australia, or in the
scrubland of the Sahara Desert. No, that's not what it means.
It's symbolical. All of this is symbolical. The
wilderness is somewhere away from society. It's somewhere
where you couldn't live. There's not the water, there's
not the resources, there's not the food, there's not the shelter,
there's not the things that you need. It's a place away from
society. A wilderness is lacking what
society desires for its life. There's nothing in this wilderness
to satisfy carnal senses. You know what fleshly senses
love to look upon? Things that are of a sinful nature,
generally. That's what it means. But this
is where God has prepared for his people to be. Spiritually,
not literally. This is where he's prepared for
his people to live in the world. Stephen read for us, John 17
verse 15, I pray not, said Jesus, that you take these people of
mine out of this world. He's going to accomplish redemption
the very next morning. John 17, he's going next morning
to the cross to accomplish redemption. And he will be taken back up
to heaven in a few weeks time. But he says, I pray not that
you take them out of the world, but that while they're in the
world, you keep them from evil. And they're in the world for
a limited time. God provides spiritual resources
to feed his people in this barren land, in this land of non-worldliness,
for a time that is limited, it says there in verse 6, a thousand
two hundred and three score days, 1260 days, we've seen before. That's 42 months of 30 days. That's three and a half years.
That's a time, times, and half a time. One time, two times,
and a half time. Three and a half. Three and a
half is half of God's perfect number of seven. The number for
the completion of his kingdom. From when Christ came and accomplished
redemption, for a period of three and a half, symbolical times,
They're to stay in this world. But God will keep them from the
evil. They may be touched by the things
that will happen to overcome this kingdom of Satan, to disrupt
it and to destroy it. They may be touched by it. Wars
will come. They may be touched by wars.
Death will come. They're definitely touched by
death like all others. But the people of God are spiritually
immune from harm. They cannot be harmed. They cannot
be harmed. They're taken to eternal glory.
Are you a true Christian? We saw a couple of weeks ago,
looking at the first couple of verses of Revelation 11, the
measuring of the temple. Are you what is symbolized there
by the inner temple, which has the Ark of the Covenant and the
candlesticks and the Holy of Holies? And all of those things,
the altar of showbread and so on, within the veil, that holy
place, that all pictures the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That all pictures the redemption
accomplished by Him. This is the true people of God.
And we saw, what are the true people of God? We are the true
circumcision, says Paul, who worship God in the Spirit, truly
worship God. Those said Jesus to the Samaritan
woman. those that worship Him to worship
in spirit and in truth. His people worship in that right
way. They worship God in the spirit.
They rejoice in Christ Jesus, for Christ Jesus has accomplished
redemption from the curse of the law, from the curse of sin.
and they have no confidence. Religious folk have immense confidence
in their flesh. They have immense confidence
in their buildings, their churches, their icons, their shrines, their
pilgrimages, all of these physical things. They have all that confidence
in their flesh, but the true people of God The inner temple
have no confidence, not a little, no confidence in the flesh. Well
if you're amongst the true people of God, the true Christians,
the inner temple of God, you are in now God's prepared wilderness
place. Note it was a wilderness place
which sounds harsh. and unappealing, but it's a place
prepared of God. There in verse six, she, the
woman, the church, the people of God, the believers, has a
place prepared of God. And that place is in this wilderness. And there, he will feed her there
for that 1260 days. Fed until, 1260 days until Christ
comes back. Kept in this world, fed with what? Fed with what? Well, yes, He
provides all our physical needs. You know, He gives us this day
our daily bread, He provides all our physical needs, but man
shall not live by bread alone. Man shall live, it says, by every
word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That's what man truly
lives by. The spiritual man truly lives
by the Word of God. That's the manna which comes
down from heaven. That's the manna pictured in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That manna which fed the Israelites
in their wilderness wanderings from Egypt to the Promised Land. That manna was picturing Christ.
It's that bread from heaven which comes down. It's the food that
God provides to feed His people in this world. And so you look
at this world, which is the kingdom of Satan. And you wonder how
God can be in control when you look at how bad things really
are and how much worse they become and the powers that this evil
world is taking to itself. But you know something? He gave
us this book to show us things that must happen so that we might
know, so that we might have confidence in God. It's exactly as he has
told us, isn't it? Isn't it? Since we've been looking
at it again over the last few weeks and months. The world we
live in is not out of control, it's exactly as God has told
us it would be, and He is redeeming His people out of that world,
to justly take them to eternal glory. You see, there is something else
here. There's something behind this
animosity, this alienation that we feel in this world. And it's
there in verse 7. In verse 7 we read, there was
war in heaven. There was war in heaven. Michael
and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought
with his angels and prevailed not. Neither was their place
found anymore in heaven. Michael versus the dragon. Who and what is this? Who is
it talking about? There are many who say that Michael
is Christ, and you know, they're very, very significant theologians
and commentators, and who am I to dare to question that? But I do question it actually,
and I question it for these reasons. In Daniel chapter 10, And in
a passage here, the Lord Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ,
has revealed himself to Daniel. He's with some people and in
verse 5 of chapter 10, he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold
a certain man clothed in linen. whose loins were girded with
fine gold of Uphaz, his body was like blah blah blah and so
on. It's Christ, it's Christ. This is God manifest to Daniel
and he speaks to him and he tells him about things and then in
verse 13 he said, the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood
me one and twenty days. But lo, Michael, one of the chief
princes, came to help me. And I remained there with the
kings." Michael is one of the archangels of God. Michael is
one of the archangels of God. He's one of the chief princes
who helped Christ. In Jude and verse 9, it says,
Michael, the archangel, contested with the devil about the body
of Moses. I think it's exactly the same
thing. He's contesting with the devil about the body of Moses.
The body of Moses is the law. The body of Moses is the law
which brings us all in as sinners under that law. And he contested
with him. It's Michael the archangel. He's
lower than the Lord. Nevertheless, listen, nevertheless,
there's not a conflict here between me and those who think that Michael
is Christ, because actually, Michael's victory blow, what's
Michael's victory blow? How does Michael and his angels
succeed? It's not in their own strength.
Their victory blow is the work of Christ, as we'll see shortly. Their victory blow is entirely
that which Christ has accomplished. So, there is no contest here. There is no contention. This
is perfectly reasonable. So, this isn't a war with physical
weapons, but spiritual weapons. I remind you again of that verse
of Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 3. He says, though
we walk in the flesh, we live in the flesh, we're in physical
bodies, we do not war after the flesh. You know, Jesus said,
my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would
take up weapons and fight, but they don't because it isn't.
The weapons of our warfare, says Paul, the weapons of our spiritual
warfare, the weapons of this war in heaven between Michael
and his angels and the devil and his angels, the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God, to
the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God." That's Satan, isn't it? He's that high thing that
exalted himself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. That's what This is
what the Spirit of God does for us. I might tell you that I was invited
to join a discussion group in the area in the last few days,
and I went once to see what it was like, but I said to them,
I think you're going to find that you will not like me or
the things that I say, because everything I'm going to say in
response to your discussion points will be based on this book, the
Bible. and the doctrines of the Christian faith. And you might
find that I am constantly throwing a spanner in the works of your
discussions, as it were. And they agreed, and they preferred
not to have me there for that very reason. Because the weapons
of our warfare are not physical, but spiritual weapons, and they're
based on this book. What was the point of the contention
that caused this war in heaven between Michael and between the
dragon? Michael and his angels, the dragon
and his angels. Look at verses 10 and 11. We
know that the dragon is verse 9, the dragon that was cast out,
that old serpent, it was the serpent that came and deceived
Eve. That was Satan in that manifestation of evil, the 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. Now this
is the cause of the contention, verse 10. I heard a loud voice
saying in heaven, now is come salvation and strength, and the
kingdom of our God, thy kingdom come, and the power of his Christ. Why is that successful? For the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before
our God day and night. But how did they win? They overcame
him by the blood of the Lamb. and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives unto death. The cause of contention
was the qualification of the Old Testament church, the Old
Testament saints that had lived and died, and they're in heaven.
They're in heaven. They're justified to be in heaven.
And Satan is arguing with Michael that they're not qualified to
be there because they're sinners. He wants them to be his, so that
the kingdom of God comes to nothing. How can he allow God to have
any people in heaven? They're sinners. How can he allow
this? He wants to triumph. He wants to overcome. He wants
to be elevated to the throne of God. The argument was about
the Old Testament church's qualification to be in heaven. He'd insisted,
verse 9, that sinners were disqualified. He'd insisted that they were
disqualified. He accused them night and day.
And Michael, the archangel, countered, as it says in Revelation 13,
verse 8, almost incidentally there, it says there, talking
about those whose names are written in the Book of Life of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. The Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Why was the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world? In eternity, in the justice of
God. Christ, the Son of God, the manifestation
of God, as a Lamb of God, had His blood shed for the sins of
His people, that all the elect of God were justified from all
eternity in Him. And Satan was arguing, no, no,
it needs to happen in time. He needs to come in time. And
so in time, not because he argued that, but in response to that,
he came, verse five, he came into time as the Lamb of God,
as John the Baptist said to his disciples, seeing Jesus, the
man walking this earth, no comeliness that we should desire him, but
there he is, behold, the Lamb of God. that takes away the sin
of the world. That isn't universalism, that's
the sin of people of all sorts, every tribe and tongue and kindred.
And he accomplished redemption. You know, cursed is everyone. Galatians 3 verse 10 quotes this,
quoting from Deuteronomy, cursed is everyone that continues not
in all things written in the book of the law to do them. If
you're going to live by law for being right with God, you know
when Job asks how should a man be just with God, if you're going
to say well I'm going to keep the law of God perfectly, you
have to do it. It says cursed is everyone that
continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them continually without ever failing and if you fail
as James says in one point you're guilty of all but it says in
verse 13 of Galatians 3, having said that we're completely lost
in that, it said, but Christ has redeemed us, has paid our
recovery price, has paid our liberty price from the curse
of the law. How has he done it? By being
made a curse for us. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we, his people, might be made the righteousness of
God in him. In verse 11, it's by the blood
of the Lamb that they overcame him. It's by the blood of the
Lamb that Michael and his angels won the argument, the spiritual
argument. The weapons of their warfare
were these things, these spiritual arguments, these spiritual contentions.
It was the blood of God that had saved his people justly from
their sins. It was the blood of God that
had made a people that Satan was convinced were lost and were
his, and his kingdom, and enthralled by him. God, by his own blood,
made those sinners the righteousness of God in Christ, and thereby
justified to reign with Him in His kingdom, in eternal glory,
and so the kingdom of God is triumphant. That's why we read
in Acts chapter 20 verse 28, Paul talking to the elders of
Ephesus on the beach at Miletus, he talks about, you look after
the church of God, the church of God, which God has purchased
with his own blood. How did God, who is spirit, purchase
his church with his own blood? He doesn't have blood as God. He's not a human body. Ah, God
became man. When Christ was born of Mary,
God became man. He became that which he wasn't
before. He became a man that he might
stand as a substitute in the place of his people. And thus,
God's people, in Christ, God's people have received a double
for their sins. You know what Isaiah 40 verse
2 says? It says, to God's preachers,
it says, speak comfortably to Jerusalem. calmingly, comfortingly
to my people and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished.
The warfare because of sin and separation from God, it's accomplished. That her iniquity is pardoned.
What? It just doesn't matter? No, God
cannot say it doesn't matter. She has received of the Lord's
hand double for her sins. Every sin has been matched by
what Christ suffered on the cross of Calvary. The soul that sins,
it shall die, and the life is in the blood, and He shed His
blood as substitute for the people that were placed in union with
Him before the beginning of time. He made their sin His sin, that
they might have His righteousness. He died satisfying divine justice,
paying the sin debt and receiving double, so they died in Him.
And so now, verse 10, what does it say? Now is come salvation
and strength. Satan is disarmed. He's disarmed. What is he? He's the accuser
of the brethren. His accusations are blunted,
are rendered baseless, as we keep reading in Romans chapter
8. Who shall bring any charge to God's elect? Christ has died. He's died. His accusations are
rendered without any basis whatsoever. He says they're sinners, they're
not just, oh no, Christ has died. Christ has died and risen again.
He was lifted up for our transgressions and raised again for our justification. He, the devil, Satan, the strong
man of his palace, we haven't time to read it, but Luke 11,
20 to 22, says the same thing as Matthew 12, 29. The strong
man of his palace, which is the fallen human heart, is overcome
and robbed of his bond slaves. And the word of their testimony,
it says there in verse 11, the word of their testimony upholds
the reality of it. And so therefore, verse 12, rejoice
ye heavens, rejoice, salvation from the curse is accomplished.
God's kingdom is justly and rightly justified, populated with justified
sinners. And so Satan is cast out into
the earth. At this stage, we've got nearly
30 minutes gone, and I've got an awful lot left, so I might
find a way of cutting this short. I'm sorry to do this, but I just
find this so enthralling, this passage. So Satan is cast out
into the earth. Verse 9, at the end of it, he,
the devil, and his angels were cast out with him into the earth. The principalities and powers,
you know, he is the prince, of the spirits of the air, the evil
spirits of the air. And verse 12 says, woe to the
inhabitants of the earth and the sea. Woe, because why, why? Woe to the inhabitants, for the
devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he
knoweth that he hath but a short time. He knows he is defeated. He knows he has a limited time.
He knows he's defeated because the promise of Genesis 3.15 has
been accomplished. Christ has come and has bruised
the serpent's head. He's got no means of keeping
God's triumphant kingdom from happening. The sinners that he
thought were his eternally are redeemed from the curse of the
law and made the righteousness of God in him and will reign
with him in his kingdom. And so he persecutes the woman. Verse 13, when the dragon saw
that he was cast onto the earth, he persecuted the woman which
brought forth the child. He persecuted the believing people
of God. And didn't he just? Look at the
first century church. Look at the Look at the venom
that there was of evil against the believers of God. Even from
one who became their own, you know, Saul of Tarsus, who was
venomous in the devil's clutches against the believing people
until Christ stepped in. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus,
whom you persecute. Lord, what would you have me
to do? You see, I just find that one of the most... We don't believe
the truth because of human logic, but if you want a rational argument,
I can't find anything stronger than that. The Apostle Paul,
in a moment, from Saul of Tarsus to Paul the Apostle, and he persecuted
the woman, and The Pharisees and the Jews persecuted the people
of God. And the Roman Empire persecuted
the people of God. And it was all Satan trying to
crush them. Why was he trying to crush them?
He was trying to crush them because he didn't want any more children
to be born into the kingdom of God. He didn't want any more
children being born of the Spirit of God. He didn't want to see
any more success for God's kingdom. He didn't want to see any more
of those he regarded as his plucked as brands from the burning, as
we read in Scripture, to reign with God. So Satan makes it difficult
for the woman in this world. And he persecutes the woman with
false religion. You know the outer court and
the wider Jerusalem that we were looking at in Revelation 11,
1 and 2, that which carries the name of Christianity but is just
Christendom, it's false. It's false, it's not the truth,
it's not the inner court, it doesn't believe the gospel, it
doesn't preach Christ. It uses the names, but it totally
denies the truth and the power of the doctrine of Christ. False
Christianity, worldly, globalist, Big Brother-type power that's
all around us today, persecutes the woman. tries to silence the
preaching, and we'll see more of this in chapter 13. Why do
we not here, I know it's different from our brethren in the United
States at the moment, but it's heading this way, but here, why
do we not have a building in which to preach? Answer? because
they'll let anybody and everybody hire a hall to have their LGBT
whatever it is conference and anything like that they'll positively
promote it they'll give them a discount but anything that
suggests you might be preaching the gospel of salvation in the
Lord Jesus Christ they will not have it they will not do it so
that's why we do this and we thank God that he's put us in
a wilderness situation and It's a place prepared of God. Don't
think there's something wrong with this. You out there on the
internet, on your own, don't think there's something wrong
with this, that you're not in a church building. Please don't
think that. The Word of God's saying that
you're in wilderness separation in the place prepared of God
for you. Why? To feed you there. You won't
get food if you go to this building that looks like such an edifice
of Christianity, when it's nothing of the sort. You won't be fed
there. God is not going to feed you
there. He feeds his people in wilderness separation. So then,
Wilderness safety again. Let's see if we've got time to
finish this. Verse 14, to the woman were given, see she's in
this world and Satan's down in this world and he's furious because
he's been cast out of heaven and he's furious and he's going
to persecute the woman, but to the woman were given two wings
of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into
her place, that's the place God's prepared for her, where she is
nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face
of the serpent. Where can the woman be safe from
the wrath of the dragon? It's the same as that in verse
6, fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of
God that they should feed her there. 1260 days, and now it's
for the same time, a time, times and half a time, three and a
half. Three and a half years, three and a half years of 12
months of 30 days, it's 1260, it comes to the same thing. This is a wilderness separation
from Satan's world. This is the place prepared of
God for her. The place where God feeds her
for 1260 days. What's that? It's the time from
his ascension back to glory until he returns to take her to heaven.
Just as Israel was separated from Egyptian world power and
worldly comforts, in a wilderness. You know, they wandered through
a wilderness. That was literal, physical. This is symbolical
of that. But while they were there in their wilderness, they
were fed with heavenly manna. God provided quails to give them
flesh to eat. It's a wilderness where the woman
is nourished, fed with God's heavenly bread for a time, times
and half a time. But how does she get into the
wilderness? It's not a physical move. We
don't have to go somewhere physically. How does she get into the wilderness? What is it that carries the church
into God's prepared place of separation from the world? It's
two wings of a great eagle to fly there. two wings of a great
eagle to fly there. Exodus 19 verse 4, the children
of Israel have come out of Egypt and God says to them, ye have
seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagles'
wings and brought you unto myself. What are these eagle's wings?
What do they represent? They represent faith, the faith
of God's elect, that carries the woman into a place in the
world, but not of the world. If you're a true believer, born
again of God's Spirit, regenerated to hear the voice of God, to
see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, you fly into this place. What is flight? Flight is high-speed, effortless
travel. I mean, so long as you leave
out the airports at either end of it. But flight is high-speed. You get up at 30-odd thousand
feet, and you're doing five to six hundred miles an hour across
the ground. It's high-speed, effortless travel. Faith gets you into this wilderness. quickly, speedily into this wilderness. A soul satisfied with God's nourishment
there in the wilderness. Oh, there's none of the things
that Satan finds desirable. That's why we're safe from Satan,
because there's nothing in this wilderness, this spiritual wilderness,
that appeals to Satan. He can find nothing there to
feed his desires. It's this world of sin that feeds
his desires and that he stimulates so that his people stay in the
thrall of it. No. This nourishment of God,
this wilderness place, separation from this sinful world, the divine
food is all repulsive to Satan and this world. And if you want
to see an example then we won't look at it now, but Hebrews 11,
the faith gallery, all those of the Old Testament, who, what
they saw, by faith they did this and that, and by the sight that
they saw, the sight of the soul that they saw. Right, I'll go
on one more minute. So the serpent, verse 15, cast
out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might
cause her not to drown, but to be carried away of the flood.
But the earth helped the woman, and opened her mouth, and swallowed
the flood. And the dragon was wroth. with the woman and went
to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments
of God and have the testimony of Jesus. He didn't produce a
flood to drown the woman or to kill the woman, but to sweep
the woman off her feet. Have you ever stood in a very
strong river or a very strong tidal current in a channel. I
have once or twice, where I lived on the edge of Morecambe Bay,
as the tide came in it was very dangerous. It's amazing that
none of us were drowned. But we used to play around in
the channels as the tide came in and the force of the water
was unbelievable. This is the idea, is to sweep
you off your feet. He's trying to sweep the woman
off her feet. so that she's no longer in the
wilderness, but she's swept back into conformity with this world.
And it seems as if he's successful. And a lot of Christianity, which
has proven to be the outer court and wider Jerusalem, looks like
it has conformed to the world completely, but not the inner
temple. The earth helps and swallows
the flood. So how are we left? God makes
it so that the earth helps us. That flood doesn't sweep his
people back into worldly conformity. How is it left? Enmity. War on
earth. War with the woman. The devil
makes war against the woman's seed. Who are they? They keep
God's commandments. What are God's commandments?
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What must we do that we do the
will of God? This is the will of God, that you believe on him
whom he has sent, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So
then, none of this, none of the world in which we live, the things
we see, is any surprise. It's exactly as God has told
us. And what are we to do? As people
of God, as the children of God, hold fast to this testimony,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, feed on God's heavenly bread,
and patiently wait, because it's not an unlimited time, it's just
for a time, times and half a time, and surely the day is hasting
on. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.