Well we come this week to the
start of Revelation chapter 12. So we're moving on in this study,
several weeks we've been here, but we come to chapter 12 and
verse 1 this week. Now let me remind you again that
Revelation was given so that God's servants might know what
will happen as God recovers his usurped kingdom from Satan. Satan
stole that kingdom, which is rightly God's. He stole it in
the Garden of Eden when he deceived Eve and for the love of his wife,
Adam, disobeyed God. Adam disbelieved God. Adam knew
what he was doing. Adam was not deceived. He knew
what he was doing. But the sin that was committed
was the sin of unbelief. And the sin of unbelief is the
root of all sin. You know, as we live in this
flesh, it's hard for us sometimes to appreciate the extreme sinfulness
of sin, how evil it is in the eyes of God, how divine justice
is utterly offended by it and must bring retribution to bear
upon it. And it's because we are by nature
unbelievers, by nature we doubt God, by nature we disbelieve
God, we deny what his word says, we do not trust him. But that
is the fundamental sin, the sin of unbelief. I've put an article
in the bulletin about it this week. So Satan usurped the kingdom
of God and at the root of that taking of the kingdom of God,
was saying to Eve, has God said? Has God really said that? Of
course he knew God had said it, but he's casting doubt. It's
doubting God. Sin of course, the sin of unbelief,
is calling God a liar. You say, well, you might call
me a liar and I might be offended, but this is calling God a liar. God who cannot lie. God who is
above and over everything. God who is the supreme sovereign
of the universe. God who is infinitely holy. God from whose face the pure
angels, the cherubim and seraphim, they hide their faces and cry,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord. to call Him a liar. Do you see,
do you start to feel something of what it is to be a sinner?
Oh, that the Holy Ghost might teach us, might show us what
we are as sinners, and how much in need we are of the redemption
that has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ in His
shed blood on the cross of Calvary. So anyway, we see what God has
told us will happen down history, we see it unfolding. We see what
He decreed and what He has revealed in this book of Revelation unfolding
exactly as He has said. And what does that do? For the
child of God, that builds trust. It causes us to trust Him more.
It gives confidence that everything He has said is true and everything
He will say is true. And it gives assurance that His
promises of eternal life and of the mansions He's preparing
in the heavens, and the place He's preparing for us. It gives
us assurance that it's true, that though this world will be
judged in the most terrible and just judgments, yet we will be
taken out of it. The believing people of God will
be taken out of it, into that realm of God's kingdom, without
sin, in a state of bliss and perfect happiness and peace.
because the righteousness of God is established, his kingdom
is triumphant, all that opposed it has been cast down and destroyed. Believing is the key. We often
think of this verse in John's Gospel towards the end, chapter
20 and verses 30 and 31. Let me read these verses to you.
John 20 and verse 30. Many other signs truly did Jesus
in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this
book. But these, these signs, are written. Remember that Revelation
is signs. He signified it, he gave signs.
These signs are written that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God. All right, well, so what? Ah,
look at the end of the verse. And that believing ye might have
life through his name. It's a matter of life and death. This is a matter of life and
death. Believing God is a matter of eternal life and eternal death. So, Can I trust God regarding
the issues of life and death? Can I trust God? You say, I'm
not sure whether I can trust God. What has he said? Does it
prove to be true? Compare it with what we hear
our own authorities in society say, the government, the scientific
experts so-called, the academics. Most, if not all, prove to be
outright liars, don't they? Have they not proven in the last
few years, especially recent years? They're just liars. They
just do not tell the truth. But God's word never fails. God's word always proves to be
true. You know, you think of the evidence
that God is true. It's not as if we debate these
things with rational arguments, but you know, The people of God
down the centuries, you look at history, you know, it must
be true, mustn't it? Such a range of humanity. They
believe God and the comfort that they have from that. You know,
the blessings that derive from that. People say, well, what
if it isn't true? Well, if it isn't true, and it
is, but if it isn't true, what comfort it gives to his people
anyway, compared with those who disbelieve. No. No. For our day,
there's no better demonstration of God's truthfulness than this
book of Revelation. Hear what it says. Test it against
the unfolding of history and of experience. Is it true? Is
it true? Evidently, manifestly, this book
is true. So why? Let me ask you this question. Why will you not believe God? Why will you not believe God
when it's so evidently true? It's your own sinful heart that
stops you believing. Let me give you a very brief
recap. The book of Revelation consists of seven separate visions
of the kingdom of God triumphing over Satan's rebellion. They're
seven different perspectives. The one thing is that the kingdom
of God will triumph. That's absolutely without doubt. But there are seven different
perspectives of the kingdom of God triumphing over Satan's rebellion. And it's the recovery of that
usurped kingdom by the disruption of Satan's objectives. His objectives? Satan's objectives? To build
a world-wide kingdom. He's the original globalist.
You know, we hear a bit about globalism in these days. There
are those with power and money who very much support globalism,
so that they can have a key say in how that global Society is
managed and controlled. Yet, Satan was the original globalist. He wants a worldwide kingdom,
but, you say, oh well that's a good idea, but without the
justice and righteousness of God. And that cannot be. We cannot
have a kingdom without the justice and righteousness of God maintained.
But he gives us regular assurances. In the book of Revelation we
get regular assurances for the people of God as we see the wickedness
of the kingdom of Satan. We get regular assurances in
chapter 7 of Revelation and in chapter 10. It looks terrible. The picture painted is really
dreadful of the judgments coming upon this world. But you people
of God, fear not. God is in complete control. Christ is sovereign over sea
and land, chapter 10, verse one. His people arrive, a multitude
that no man can number in eternal glory. They are immune from harm.
They might be touched by it physically in this world as they progress
to heaven, but they're immune from spiritual harm. So we get
reassurances of God's omnipotent sovereign rule and his people's
safety. the fact that he has thoughts
towards his people Jeremiah 29 11 I know the thoughts that I
think of you says God to his believing people he says thoughts
of peace and he says to give you an expected end this is assurance
that we're going to heaven that we're going out of this world
as Peter was praying out of this world out of this sin-cursed
world into that bliss of the sinlessness of God in his kingdom. And then in chapter 11, we saw
a picture of the true church identified from the false. The
true church was the inner temple to be measured. and the outer
court was that which looks like the church, tries to make out
it's the church, but it isn't the true church because it isn't
based on the principles of the Ark of God, which is the gospel
of His grace in the inner temple. And then you've got the wider
Jerusalem, which is trodden underfoot by the Gentiles six times seven,
42 months, falling short always of the kingdom of God, falling
short of God's perfection. So The true church is identified
in chapter 11, and we see it as it's portrayed by two witnesses.
The ministers who preach the gospel, and the people who bear
that testimony in their daily lives. And we see the power that
they have, which is the fire of the word of God. It's not
thy word like a fire, says the word of God in Jeremiah. And
they preach, and they kill the arguments of their enemies, those
who don't believe. And then the Antichrist, the
beast of Satan, rises up from the abyss and kills them, and
overcomes them, and crushes them. And as I said last week, in this
country, and in most of Europe, and in many other parts of the
world, it looks like the true Church of God is, for all intents
and purposes, lying dead in the streets. But it's only temporary.
It's just for three and a half days. It's just for a short time
killed by Antichrist. But then the Spirit of God comes
upon them, and they recover, and they stand on their feet,
and great fear falls upon all, and they're taken up to heaven,
out of this world, before the seventh trumpet, the final, final
judgment of this world, the final end, which opens the seven vials
of judgments, before that falls. And they're rewarded. The people
of God are rewarded. and the people on earth are appalled
that they're rewarded. Why? It's not fair, they were
sinners too. Ah, but what's displayed in heaven at the end of chapter
11? It's the ark in heaven, and that's the gospel. It's symbolical
of the gospel. It's symbolical of the redeeming
blood which has satisfied offended justice. As I said in that article,
all sin must receive its exact balancing retribution. It is
either balanced in the doing and dying of Christ for his people
on the cross of Calvary, or It is balanced by the fall of judgment
on sinners and their sin in this eternal wrath. In both cases,
Jesus said, it is finished. In Revelation chapter 16 and
verse 17, it says, it is done. Same idea. The judgment, the
offended justice of God is balanced. So God is true. God is true. Believe him to the saving of
your soul. Now so far, all of this is fairly
high level, but as we progress from chapter 12 onwards, we see
greater detail opened up. So now I want you to see, in
these first six verses of chapter 12, a pregnant woman and a monstrous
dragon. Look there, 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
twelve stars. And she, being with child, cried,
travailing in birth, and pained 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 it
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 unto God and to his throne. And the woman fled
into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God,
that they should feed her there. Here it is again, 1263 days. So, what's the significance of
all of this? An exalted woman, but a woman
in distress, a woman expecting motherhood. Those of you that
Our mothers, and have been through this, will have a stronger feeling
for what's being said here than any of the men of us can possibly
have. You know, that expectation of
motherhood. You know, oh, we just need to
go down to the shops. I don't think so, not at the moment.
You can't do anything like that while this is going on. See,
there's an expectation of motherhood. But this pregnant woman is watched
with evil intent by a dragon. Now then, This is not literal. It says clearly, signs. A great
sign. A great wonder. The word wonder
is really sign. A great sign in heaven. And then
another great sign in heaven. So I've called this two symbolical
signs in heaven. An exalted woman in distress,
expecting motherhood, watched by a dragon. This isn't literal. Like it says in Revelation 1
verse 1, it's symbolical. It's symbolical of eternal spiritual
reality. You know, we need to realise
what God's Word tells us, and God cannot lie, so this is the
truth. He tells us that the things that we look at that we think
are solid, like this, you know, we think it's solid, but it's
just temporary. It says in 2 Corinthians 4.18,
we look not at the things which are seen, these things, but at
the things which are not seen. the things of the world of the
Spirit. For the things which are seen are temporary, temporal. But the things which are not
seen, that this book's speaking about, these things are eternal. So we see here, what do we see
here? We see the working out of Genesis
chapter three and verse 15. Now I know I often refer to it,
but just turn there. This is in the Garden of Eden.
This is immediately after the fall, where the serpent has deceived
Eve, and then Adam, knowing what he was doing, took the fruit
and ate it, and they had sinned and they had lost that first
state, and God comes and pronounces judgment on them. And on the
serpent, he says in verse 14, he said to the serpent, this
is the devil, This is Satan. He said, Because thou hast done
this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast
of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt
thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity,
conflict, tension between thee and the woman and between thy
seed and her seed it her seed the seed of the woman it shall
bruise thy head that's a fatal bruise and thou shalt bruise
his heel that's the curse pronounced, that is the conflict pronounced,
that is the fact that in this kingdom that Satan has usurped
from now on there will be conflict between a line from the woman
which will bring forth a seed which will crush the serpent's
head And all the rest, the seed of the serpent, the seed of the
devil, there will be enmity between them, there will be conflict.
And so what do we conclude about this woman in Revelation 12?
This woman is the church. This woman is the believing people
of God. This woman is the body of Christ. The church is the body of Christ.
This woman is those that are redeemed by Christ. This woman
is the elect of God, united with Christ before the foundation
of the world. This woman is the one from whom the seed comes,
which is Christ. Christ comes from the church,
from the Old Testament church, from the line of the believing
people of God. These are the redeemed people
of God, justified in the slain lamb, in the blood of the lamb. And these are justified, why?
So that they will be qualified to populate the kingdom of God. It says in Colossians, God has
made his people meet qualified, justified to populate his kingdom. The dragon is Satan. Look at
verse 9 of chapter 12. And the great dragon was cast
out. Well, who are we talking about?
Well, it tells us, that old serpent. the serpent of Genesis 3, 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. This is Satan, who
is at war with the woman and her seed. The seed of the woman
is all those that constitute the body of Christ, but especially
the one who is the federal head of that seed, the second Adam,
the new Adam, Christ, her seed. It says in Galatians, he says,
not as of seeds, as of many, but unto thy seed of one. And that seed, Galatians 3.16,
thy seed which is Christ, which is Christ. Christ came from the
woman, which was the church. Now, yes, I know, people say,
no, surely it's talking about Mary, the mother of Jesus. Surely
it is, and the Catholics make Mary the queen of heaven and
the crown on her head and all of these things. No, that is
not true. Mary was a highly favoured woman by God. She said, I am
highly favoured. Thy lowly handmaid, I am highly
favoured. Because God, that's what the
angel said to her. You are highly favoured amongst
women because you are the one, Mary, by whom God, who is spirit,
God who is Spirit does not have flesh and bones. God who is Spirit
must partake of human flesh so that He can die in the place
of people, His people, with flesh and bones and blood. He must
shed blood. The life is in the blood. He
must give His life as the substitute for His people, as the payment
of the sin debt for His people. That's why He was born. That's
why God was born of Mary. You know, the Catholics, again,
love to say that Mary is the mother of God. No. No. Mary is the mother of
Jesus, the man. Jesus is the God-man. She's the
mother of the human man, Jesus, who is also God. Two persons
in one body. Two persons in one being. He
is God and man, perfectly. And he partook of human flesh
that he might redeem his people from the curse of the law. But
Mary Mary, the mother of Jesus, she's just one element of this
woman that we see in chapter 12 and verse 1. She's just one
element of that Old Testament church, because this woman we
see here is waiting to be delivered of a child who would be the redeemer,
the seed of the woman. It's clearly the Old Testament
church. That's who it is. You see, The
devil is standing there, waiting, because he's seeking to destroy
that seed. Why is he seeking to destroy
the seed? Because of what we read in Genesis 3.15, that seed
is coming to crush your head, Satan, to bruise your head. So,
that's what we have. The woman is Christ's church. This woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars. This is the church, the Old Testament
church. The Song of Solomon pictures
God and his people, Christ and his church. It's pictured by
Solomon and the Shulamite, the woman, the one who is beloved
by by him who is the prince, the king. And in Song of Solomon
chapter 6 and verse 10, it asks this question of the bride, of
the church, of the woman. Who is she that looketh forth
as the morning, fair as the moon? Oh look, there it is, chapter
12 verse 1. Clear as the sun. You know that
marriage between men and women, and I stand absolutely... You
can accuse me of hate speech all you like. They can try to
silence us for this, all they like. There are men... God created
men and women. A marriage is a union of a man
and a woman, and that's it. You can twist it all you like,
it makes absolutely no difference. Biology is fixed, it's created
by God. So marriage, true marriage, pictures
Christ and the church. That's why all other forms of
marriage that our societies increasingly vote to have is a complete denial
of the truth of God. You know, go and report it if
you want to, but that's the fact, that's the fact. God has said
this, and in Ephesians 5, he talks about husbands, love your
wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might redeem it, that he might make it a perfect church. Husbands,
love your wives, and then at the end of it, Paul says, I'm
not speaking about marriage as such, I'm speaking about Christ
and his church. This woman is the church of God,
loved by her husband, who is Christ, who is God. This woman
wears a crown with 12 stars. That's symbolical, isn't it,
of the Old Testament church in the world, just as the 12 apostles
symbolise the New Testament church in the world. And the 24 elders
in heaven are the 12 of the old and the 12 of the new combined.
It's the elect of God. Pregnant, weak, Vulnerable, bringing
a child into the world. Who is the child? Turn with me
to Psalm 2. Turn with me back to Psalm 2.
We looked at this last week. But in verse two of Psalm 2,
the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed, against God and
the anointed of God. Who is the anointed of God? It's
the Christ of God. It's the Messiah of God. Verse
six. God says, you know, they struggle
and they huff and they puff. Yet, says God, I have set my
King upon my holy hill of Zion. When we get to Revelation 14
verse 1, we will see God's King, who is Christ, the Lamb of God,
on his holy hill of Zion with his 144,000 symbolically redeemed
people in this world. Verse 7, I will declare the decree,
the Lord hath said unto me, this is Christ speaking, I will declare
the decree, the Lord, God, hath said unto me, the Son, thou art
my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I will give
thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. Look at Revelation 2. Revelation
2 and verse 27, I think it is. Revelation 2 and verse 27, speaking
of Christ. he shall rule them with a rod
of iron. As the vessels of a potter shall
they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my father. Is
that not what the psalm said? Exactly that. And in chapter
19 of Revelation, chapter 19 and verse 15, It says this, out of his mouth
goeth, this is Christ, out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,
that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule
them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of
the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. This is surely the Christ
of God. This is the child who is brought
forth, is the Christ of God. The scriptures make it clear.
He is the Christ of God. So the pregnant woman with child
is bearing Christ into the world. This is the spiritual line, this
seed from Eve is the spiritual line from Abel through Seth. through Enoch, through Noah,
and the dragon watches for opportunity to prevent Christ from coming
and to destroy him when he comes. So then who is the dragon? Let's
be clear. Verse 9 makes it clear. It's the devil and Satan, the
old serpent. This is who he is. He is fierce. He is a red dragon. He is a murderer,
but he's limited. He is limited. Verse 3, There
appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon,
having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head.
God created the devil. God created the devil, not as
the devil, but God created Lucifer. God created Lucifer, and from
what we can derive, he created a magnificent, beautiful, probably
the highest created being. But this one rebelled. He rebelled. He exalted himself. In Isaiah
chapter 14, there's like an allegory of it. Referring to the king
of Babylon, it's written as an allegory of Satan rebelling in
heaven. And verse 12 of Isaiah 14 says
of the king of Babylon, but clearly it's referring to the devil,
to Lucifer, to Satan. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst weaken the nations? He weakened them by
deception. In Luke chapter 10 and verse 18, Jesus said this. What a claim. He said this, he
said, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Jesus said,
I saw this happen. He that was created by God, beautiful
and magnificent, he rebelled. He exalted himself. He sought to climb up to the
peak of heaven. He challenged God's supremacy.
He made himself, that beautifully created being of God, he made
himself into the devil. He has seven heads pictured here. This is symbolical, not literal.
tries to mimic the perfection of God, which is symbolized by
the number seven. He has ten horns, which pictures
earthly power. Horns picture power. Ten is the
number of completeness in this earth. He He claimed, he imagined
complete earthly power, which is why in the temptation of Jesus,
in Matthew chapter 4, he says to him, I will give you all of
these nations if you will just bow down and worship me. Of course
they weren't his to give, but he assumed that they were because
he had usurped the kingdom from God. And crowns were symbolizing
his rule. as it says in Ephesians 2 verse
2, the prince of the power of the air. And in verse 4, his
tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and it cast
them to the earth. These are the fallen angels who
rebelled with Satan. A third of them. They rebelled
with him. It says in verse 9, when he was
cast out, his angels were cast out with him. His evil spirits,
those that rebelled, were cast out with him. This is Satan,
God's sworn enemy. He heard the promise of the seed,
Christ, to crush his head, Satan's head, and he didn't know how,
but he must stop that seed from coming. or at least kill the
seed as soon as he came. Hence he waits before the woman
who is with child, travailing in birth, to be delivered, that
he might devour the child as soon as it's born. That's his
desire, is to devour the child. Verse 4, the end of it, to devour
her child as soon as it's born, watching waiting, scheming the
destruction of the seed. Let's look for a minute at the
history of the enmity. God said, I will put enmity between
you, Satan, and the woman, the church, the people of God. Eve,
when she bore her first son, who was Cain, she said, I have
acquired a man. I have gotten a man. Eve thought
that Cain was the promised seed, but he turned out to be godless
and unbelieving. And Satan, watching and standing
before the woman, when his brother Abel is born, Abel who follows
God, who believes the truth of God, who abides by the acceptable
sacrifice of God and is accepted by God, Satan prompts Cain to
kill Abel, thinking that Abel was the promised seed. Ah, this
way we'll get rid of the promised seed. Satan tries to compromise
the line of true believers down through Seth and Enoch and so
on down to Noah. He tries to compromise the line
by those who were of that line, called the sons of God in the
early chapters of Genesis, marrying the daughters of men, the daughters
of the godless, the daughters of the unbelievers, the daughters
of the likes of Cain, the descendants of Cain. He tried to compromise
that true line, the seed of the woman, by getting them to marry
the daughters of men, the daughters of the unbelievers, to subsume
the godly line into conformity with his world, his world of
lies and of deception. until it came to the point where
God sent the flood. Why did God send the flood? Why
did God send the flood? You say, oh, well, it was to
punish sin. Well, no doubt it was. But do
you know something? I'll tell you what it primarily was. It
was God preventing Satan's schemes from succeeding. His world was
nearly complete. His globalist, godless agenda
was nearly successful. So God sent the flood and destroyed
them all. He saved the seed of the woman
in Noah's family, in the ark. And then, doesn't take long,
does it? But at the Tower of Babel, Satan tries to strengthen
his kingdom against the seed of the woman. They build a tower,
symbolical, of trying to reach up to heaven without the justice
of God. And then we get to the stage, and God confounded the
languages and sent forth the red horse of war that we saw
in earlier chapters. And then we come to Abraham who
appears to be alone in the world, probably was. Did Abraham think
when, you know, years and years and years he was promised a son,
a seed, he was promised a seed and they went against God's will
and Ishmael was born and he was the physical genetic son of Abraham
but he wasn't He wasn't the promised line, no. In Isaac shall your
seed be called was what God said. His only, not his only son, I
think it says his only Isaac. His only Isaac was the seed. Did Satan think that when Abraham
took Isaac to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him there, to kill
him there, did he think that that would extinguish the promised
seed of God? Probably he did. The godly line
continued through Jacob and then through Joseph down into Egypt. Despite the sin of the brothers
of Joseph and despite the fact that they formed the patriarchs,
you know, this is the sinfulness of sin. Satanic oppression and
destruction of the male infants in Egypt, again with Satan's
ploy to try to wipe them out. You know when Pharaoh pronounced
that all the male children should be destroyed? It's Satan trying
to get this seed, this promised seed of God, destroyed. And in
the desert, wilderness wanderings, he brings them to apostasy, to
almost walking out on God. And God afflicts them with enemies,
and their idolatry causes all sorts of problems, and eventually
leads to their captivity in Babylon. And then they come back from
there. And then another one in the plan of Satan arises, a certain
Antiochus Epiphanes, who stopped the daily sacrifice and killed
the woman's seed, the true believers, on a large scale. And so it went
on, always trying, always trying to destroy the line from which
the promised seed of the woman would come to crush his, Satan's,
head. Those who were true looked for
the coming of this child, looked for the coming of God because
the scriptures foretold it. So we have Simeon in the temple
waiting for Him to come. Then in verse 5, she brought
forth a man-child, who was to rule the nations with a rod of
iron, and her child was caught up unto God to his throne. The
woman's seed is born. When the fullness of the time
was come, says Galatians 4 verse 4, God sent forth his Son made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem those who were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons whereby
we cry, Abba, Father. When the fullness of the time
was come, in the middle of time, They cried, glory to God in the
highest. God was fulfilling his promises. The promises of Isaiah 14, you
know, a virgin shall be with child and bear a son and call
his name Immanuel. What does Immanuel mean? God
with us. God will come amongst us. In
Isaiah 9 verse 6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Micah chapter 5 verse
2, let's even get geographical. Micah chapter 5 verse 2, but
thou Bethlehem Ephrata in Judah, Though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee, Bethlehem, shall come forth
unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, the seed of the woman,
the seed, singular, which is Christ, whose goings forth have
been from of old, from everlasting. This is our God. Come to redeem
his people from the curse of the law. But even then, Satan
tries via Herod. You know Herod? ordered that
all of the male children under two years old be put to death,
be killed. And there was that great lamentation
of Rachel weeping for her children. And then by the Pharisees and
their persecution. And then via Roman rule to kill
the Christ of God. And he thinks he succeeded at
the cross. And you know what happened at
the cross? Yes, Satan's triumphant. The seed of the woman has been
destroyed. He's nailed to a Roman cross. Satan has succeeded. But as Peter said some weeks
later on the day of Pentecost, Him, Christ, being delivered,
not by you, but by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken. and by wicked hands have crucified
and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of
death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it."
You see how he says quite clearly there, it seemed as if Satan
and you were the instruments in Satan's hands. Crucifying
the Lord of glory, such a wicked act, yet all according to the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, to accomplish God's purposes
of salvation, to make satisfaction to the law of God, to the offended
justice of God, that he might be just in punishing sin and
justifier in bringing his people, who are sinners, justly to eternal
glory. The elect qualified for citizenship,
made meat to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. The strong man of the house,
who was Satan, the one who usurped the kingdom of God, he is bound
that his goods might be plundered. That's what Jesus said in Matthew
12, 29. If you want to take the strong man's goods, you have
to first bind the strong man. And he bound the strong man,
he tied him up, he disarmed the strong man. so that he no longer
can accuse. Look at verse 10 of Revelation
12. I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation
and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his
Christ. Listen, for the accuser of our
brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and
night. He said they're sinners, they're not justified to be in
heaven. But he's He's cast down. Why is he cast down? Because
Christ has died. Romans 8, 33 and 34, who shall
bring any charge to God's elect? Who shall bring any charge? that
they're sinners at the bar of God's justice. That charge cannot
stick. Why can it not stick? For Christ
has died and paid the penalty and all salvation is accomplished. And Revelation 12 verse 5, he
is caught up unto God and to his throne. The child, the Christ,
is caught up to God and his throne and Satan's head is effectively
crushed. He cannot win. It's just like
Hitler. In 1944, following D-Day, he
was effectively defeated there. But he kept trying for another
11 months until the surrender was signed. And so that's the
phase that we're in. He's defeated, but he keeps trying. Now, I'm close. I've gone over.
But so what? Does that ring true? Read it. Think about it. Meditate upon
it. What about this world's narrative? You know, because it's completely
different to this. You know, the world's narrative is that
there is no God, there is no sin, there's no judgment, there's
no righteousness, there's no eternity. We'll get to this lovely
thing where we've cured all diseases and we're all at peace with one
another. That's Satan's kingdom, my friend. That's Satan's kingdom
without the justice of God. Like the signs of John's Gospel,
these signs are written that you might believe the Word of
God concerning his Gospel, concerning his Christ, and that, as John
said, that believing you might have life through his name. Oh, that you would believe him,
that you would trust him. Amen.