For a scripture reading, turn
with me to the book of Revelation. The Revelation of Jesus Christ,
chapter 12. If you will, you can put a marker
there. I'll come back to this chapter
in just a little bit. Revelation, chapter 12, verse
1. And there appeared a great wonder
in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon upon her
feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she, being
with child, cried, prevailing 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 head. 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 hath a place prepared of God. And they should feed her there
a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon and the dragon fought in his angels and prevailed
not. Neither was their place found
anymore in heaven, that is for him. And 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. And 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. For the accuser of our
brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day
and night. And they overcame him by the
blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. and
they love not their lives unto death. Therefore rejoice, ye
heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants
of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto
you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a
short time. When the dragon saw that he was
cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth
the man-child. And to the woman were given two
wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness,
into her place, where she's nourished for a time and times and half
a time from the face of the surface. And the serpent cast out of his
mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause
her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the
woman. And the earth opened her mouth
and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
And the dragon was wroth with the woman. And he went to make
war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of
God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. I invite you this morning to
turn back to that passage that I read to you in Revelation chapter
12. The book of Revelation gives
us seven visions of the person and work of Christ in this gospel
age. Every one of these seven visions
begins with the birth of Christ and it ends with His second coming
and His complete victory. And in these seven visions, the
Holy Ghost reveals to His church what He has done. Everything
that he's doing in this gospel age is the result of what he
has done in eternity past. He's showing us in this book
what he has done, what he is doing. Right now. Sometimes we're
so unaware of it, but the Lord has an active work going on every
day. Every day. How do I know that? Because when he's done, our days
will end. Time shall be no more. He reveals
to us what he has done, what he is doing, and what he yet
shall do. And the reason for this inspired
book is to assure God's people of the ultimate conquest of Christ
over this world and this flesh and Satan himself. It is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. And by way of the revelation
of Christ, we're brought to look to Him with confident faith.
When we look to Christ, we're not just talking about another
option or another form of security like the insurance we carry on
our homes and cars. We look to Him with confident
faith. We look to Him completely for
all things. We're brought to look to Him
with confident faith and to make us more than conquerors through
Him that loves us. Conquerors through Him. May the
Lord be pleased to use His Word, His means, and His power to do
this very thing for us today. Now as I open this book, I find
a sweet prospect in the beginning chapter of Revelation. John said,
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. You know what today is? The Lord's day. John said, I
was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. A day set apart for the
gathering of His saints to hear from Him who loved us, to worship
Him To learn of Him and to offer thanks unto our great God and
Father. What a day! This is the first
day of the week, the resurrection day. This is the day of victory, victorious
over death, hell, and the grave. And John said, I was in the Spirit.
Now he's on the Isle of Patmos. being exiled from all society
out on this island in the middle. And here he is, he's out here
on the Isle of Patmos. I know without even thinking
about it, that in that day, that was a hard place to be. Hard place to be. And here he
is. But it don't keep him from worshiping.
He said, I was in the Spirit. on the Lord's day. How is it that one might be in
the Spirit? Now, I've heard Pentecostals
talk about it, and when they start their gibberish, they talk
about being in the Spirit. Or one of them will come up with
some who knows what, and he'll call that being in the Spirit.
Or we'll go to church and a group will stand up and sing and we'll
come home and talk about being in the Spirit. What is it? What
did John mean when he said, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day? Well, the Spirit of God has taken
up His abode in the hearts of God's children. I'm going to
quote you something here out of Galatians. He said, because
they are sons. How did they get to be sons?
God chose them in Christ, predestinated them unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ Himself. Because they are sons, God has
sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. And the primary effect of the
Spirit of Christ is the revelation of Christ. John was thinking
of Christ on the first day. Now the only way you can think of
Christ is in the Spirit, isn't it? Because I have not seen or
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things that
God hath prepared for them that love him, but God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit. You can't even contemplate in
truth the promises of Christ apart from His Spirit. Apart
from His Spirit, you're dead in the water. He was in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day. And the primary effect of the
Spirit of Christ is the revelation of Christ. He'll take of the
things of mine, Christ said. When He comes, He's not going
to speak of Himself. His presence is not
about manifesting His presence. His presence is about taking
of the things of Christ and showing them unto us. That's revelation. Revelation. He'll take the things
of mine and show them unto you. And a person might be said to
be in the Spirit as he's reading the Word of God and being enlightened
by it. Can you read the Word of God
and understand? Looking at your faces, and some
of you got this strange look on your face when I read this
passage out of Revelation. I used to get that way all the
time. I'd read it and I'd go, what on earth is he talking about?
But a person might be said to be in the Spirit if he can read
the Word of God and he's being enlightened by it. Or meditating
on the promises of God in Christ and being comforted or even in prayer giving thanks
to God for all His provisions, both spiritual and physical.
To be in the Spirit is to be under the active, effectual influence
of the Spirit. The Spirit produces fruit. Does He not? How do I know if
the Spirit of God dwells in me? I bear fruit. I bear fruit. He didn't say fruits,
he said fruit. What is that fruit? Love, joy,
peace. Am I in the Spirit? John was. To be in the Spirit is to be
under the active and effectual influence of the Spirit. Now
I'm going to read you some things out of Romans 8. Now Paul said to be carnally
minded is death. If God just leaves you alone,
you'll self-destruct. There's nothing in you but sin.
If God doesn't create a change in you, there's not going to
be a change. You're not going to evolve into a Christian. It's
not going to happen. And he said to be carnally minded
is death because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's rebellious
to God. It don't care what God says.
It don't want to hear what God says. It wants to read some book
of philosophy and get something out of it and try to do something
for itself. That's what it does. You're not in the flesh, Paul
says. But in the Spirit, that's what
we want to know, what it is to be in the Spirit. You're not
in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell
in you. Now if any man had not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of his. I don't care how religious he
is, I don't care how well dressed and how mannerly or anything
else. If he don't have the Spirit of Christ in him, he's none of
his. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because
of righteousness. Now watch this. But if the spirit
of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren,
we're not debtors to the flesh to live after the flesh. If you
live after the flesh, you'll die. But if you, through the
Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.
You shall live. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Something led John to
worship. Something led I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day. Why? Because the Lord led him
to it. The Spirit led him to it. This
is God's means. This is one of those things that
he tells us in 2 Corinthians 14 that the natural man receiveth
not. He doesn't receive the things
of the Spirit of God. He's not being led by the Spirit
of God. He's not partaker of the means. of the Spirit of God. Or what was the result of it?
He was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. What a sweet prospect that
is. To have some sense of who you
are and who He is. To be led of the Spirit, to be
here for God to have set forth His providence in such a way
to arrange for you to be here. Or what was the result of being
in the Spirit on the Lord's day? He heard a great voice. He heard
a great voice. I tell you, when you gather here,
this is what I pray for. That you don't hear me, you hear
Him. If you don't hear Him, whatever
I've got to say ain't going to amount to nothing. I pray that
you hear that voice, you hear Him. You hear Him. When we are in the Spirit on
the Lord's Day and we gather here to worship, oh, God be pleased
to let you hear from Him. I heard a great voice, the voice
of the resurrected Christ, the King of glory, Alpha and Omega. He looked at Him and He saw Him
in His glory. Oh, if God will give us His Spirit
this morning and cause us to be in His Spirit, you'll see
Him in His glory. And seeing Him any other way
is not going to do you any good. God speaks to us by His Son. And the Spirit of Christ carried
this beloved apostle into glory. He caused him to see and to know
what was to come. The revelation of Christ always
carries his saints into glory. There's nothing worth seeing
down here. But we see the Grand Canyon, we're in awe of it for
the rest of our lives. That wouldn't be nothing but
a dirty speck on the floor of glory. That's all it had to be. The revelation of Christ carries
His saints into glory. Heaven is where God dwells, or
maybe I should say that heaven dwells in Him. Heaven is where
the throne of God is set, and from which all things are governed,
and from which all blessings descend. Heaven is where our
resurrected Savior and Lord sits at the right hand of our God
and Father. And it's the place where all
His blessings are purposed and dispensed. The Scripture said
God blessed us with all spiritual blessings, now listen, in heavenly
places in Christ. And James said, ever good and
perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of
lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow or turning. Heaven
is where the angels dwell and stand always before our Father
to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. Oh, what
a place heaven must be. Must be. And you can't see it. Natural man can't see it. I have
not seen, ears not heard, and yet it's there, and it's a reality. And in the Spirit of God, he
carried John. John was in the Spirit on the
Lord's Day. What about you and I? This is the Lord's Day. We've
read the Word of God, we've prayed and given thanks to God for all
His provisions, and hopefully we've thought about, or at least
are thinking about, all His great and precious promises to us.
Maybe God the Spirit will carry us for just a little while out
of this cursed world and allow us to peek into glory. Wouldn't you like to see John did. John did. The Spirit of God enabled this
man, John, to see what no eye can see, to know what no mind
could ever comprehend. He said, I looked, and behold,
a door was opened in heaven. Who's that door? That's Christ,
isn't it? Christ is that open door. He
stood there and he saw a door open. A door into what? Into glory. Into that place of
blessing, into that indescribable place, John saw an open door
and he looked right into glory. He said, I looked and the door
was open and I heard a voice. What happens when you hear that
voice? It happens every time. Every time a man hears that voice
of God, it says one thing, come up hither. There's nothing down there. There's
nothing out there. Come up hither. This is where
the glory is. This is where the Savior sits.
This is where life everlasting is. This is the throne of judgment. This is the glory of God. Come
up hither. Come up. Oh my soul, come up hither. I don't know if He'll enable
you to do so, but if He does, He'll set before you an open
door through which you can see into heaven itself. This man
John was carried up in the Spirit. That's the only way we can go,
isn't it? I can't physically go. A man tried that and was
cursed for it in Babylon. You can't build a tower up in
the heaven. You can't do it by your works
and you can't do it physically in a building. You can't do it.
The only way you can go up there and look or go up there and dwell
is by the Spirit of the living God. He was carried up in the
Spirit and an open door was set before him. And through Him we
can see all things, nothing here, but He needs permission and the
voice says, come on. Come on. What about you? You want to look into glory?
Or you just want to fulfill another obligation? Oh my soul, think
about what this means. What's happening with Him. God
the Spirit has carried Him up, opened that door. which is Christ,
and through Him he could see all things. Nothing hid. He that
hath seen me, he said, hath seen the Father. He called to look into heaven.
And he says, what did he say? Come up here, I'm going to show
you something. Alright, here's John. He's in the Spirit. The
Lord carries him out, and Lord, he looks right into glory itself. What did he say? What does He show us? If we get
an opportunity to look into glory, what's He going to show us? A
wonder. A wonder. Read with me in verse 1 what
He saw. He saw a woman. What? Well, I thought He'd come back
talking about angels and... No. He saw a woman. A woman clothed with the sun,
and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars. Who is this mysterious woman? Who is this woman who stands
as a wonder before the holy angels? Angels examining her, looking
at her with wondering eyes. things the angels desire to look
into. Well, she's the church. That's
who she is. She's the church, the bride of
Christ, the mother of all that believe. She's not seen here
as she's seen in the earth by depraved men, but she's seen
here in the spirit. She's seen here as she really
is. She's seen here as God has made
her. and purposed her to be. All they
saw in the church on the earth was harlots and publicans and
sinners, made them sick to even think about it. Go down there,
a man hadn't washed in years, and here he is, an old beggar.
And I can't imagine the stench. And here's Christ ministering
to him. All they saw was a band of sick folks and lepers and
beggars and such. All they saw was a crowd gathered
to hear some preacher talk about an invisible hope out of an ancient
manuscript. A man talking about creation
who was born long after creation. Invisible things. Oh my friend,
here's reality. Here's how she is. Here's how
she's always been in the eyes of God. Here is the church as
God has predestinated her to be. She's clothed with the Son. Clothed with Christ, Malachi
4.2, the S-U-N of righteousness. The light of the righteousness
of Christ. She's clothed with it. The day
star having arised in her heart, she's clothed with the light
of the glory of God in Christ. She shines as the sun. She's clothed with it. And the
moon's under her feet. Now remember, this is a heavenly
view of the church. This is the church as she is
in reality and the purpose of God. And this is the church eternal
as she appeared before the foundation of the world. And she's clothed
with the sun and the moon is under her feet. I don't know. I know these are
strange visions and things, but here's what I believe that means.
The moon is the lesser light, isn't it? Well, those old prophets
when they spoke, he tells you that in Hebrews chapter 1. They
spoke through types and symbols. They spoke through shadows. The
law having a shadow of good things to come, but not that very image.
It was a light, but it was like the light of the moon. Well,
what do I know about the light of the moon? I know it has no
light of its own. Light had to shine, didn't it?
Whatever light the moon has, it gets from the sun. And yet, it's the foundation.
It's under her feet. It's the very thing she walks
on. And what is it? It's talking about these Old
Testament prophets. And like the moon, you know,
this just occurred to me just now. The moon has phases. You don't always see a whole
moon. Yvonne told me the other night, she said, boy, we're getting
close to getting a full moon. But you don't always get a full
moon. Sometimes you just get a little bit of light. Just a
little bit of light. And then some time will go on
and then you get a little bit more light. And then a little
bit more time goes on and you get a little bit more light.
And all of a sudden the sun comes up and the moon disappears. Ain't
that exactly what happened in the Old Testament? Huh? Oh, the moon's under her feet. It's under her feet as a vital
part of the foundation of faith. And upon her head was a crown
of twelve stars. Stars are symbolic of preachers,
he tells you that right off the bat in Revelations. And most
believe they represent the twelve apostles whose testimony completed
the full canon of Scripture. I believe that's a good interpretation
there. This is the crown upon the head
of the woman. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
set before men in the spirit of the living God. But that's
not all the wonder yet. Here's this woman clothed with
the sun, the moon below. She's totally surrounded by light. She has light under her feet.
She is clothed with light and she has light on her head. She's
got light everywhere. She's totally enveloped in light. But that's not all the wonder
yet. We're looking at the church eternal. Here she is. Oh, what
a sight she must have been for the angels to fold their wings
and look. And she being with child. Oh, my son. There's a woman in
glory and she's pregnant. She's pregnant. She's in labor. John looking into glory and there
he sees the church and she's in labor. The precious seed has grown in
her womb and ready to be manifest. Listen to this scripture in light
of what I just said. When the fullness of the time
was come. God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under
the law. Oh, wonder, wonders. Here's where her being is learned.
And with every fiber of her body, she struggles to bring forth
the Son of Man. Listen to this, Revelation 12,
5. Look down there at our text,
verse 5. And she brought forth a man-child. She didn't try to bring him forth,
she brought him forth. Why? Because God purposed it.
She brought him 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. Now here's the wonder of it all.
This woman carries in her womb the Son of God in union with
the soul and body of a man. This is salvation incarnate. This is God coming into the flesh. The church being one with God
brings forth out of her womb the promised Redeemer. Read the
genealogies. All of the pains of the Old Testament
church, all that she suffered was to bring forth a man-child. That's what it was all about. I've been to meetings and all
of a sudden I see them turn over here and take that big piece
of paper and then, oh, here's a big graph. And I just want
to go home. That's not what the Old Testament's
about. The Old Testament's about testifying
of the Son of God who was to come. It's a hymn book. H-I-M. And all of the pains and sufferings
and all of the things that those old saints went through, they
were struggling, struggling, struggling. They were labor pains. The church was pregnant and the
church was going to produce this man child. Oh, John said, there appeared
a great wonder in heaven. What is this wonder? It is the
incarnation of God. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. How? As a representative man. No other reason for him coming
into the flesh is. He took not on him the nature
of angels. He didn't come down here to represent
angels. He came down here, the seed of Abraham, the promised
seed. bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh, deity entering
into a perfect union with the flesh, the eternal Son of God
assuming a real human soul and body. And when he cometh into
the world, he sayeth, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not,
but a body thou hast prepared me. A sacrificial body, a representative
body, a substitutionary body. And he said, lo, I come. Now
listen, in the volume of the book, what book? Genesis through
Malachi. In the volume of the book, it's
written of me, I come to do thy will, O God. By the which will
we're sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ, once for all. You, Paul said, that were sometime
alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath
he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present
you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. And here is a heavenly
wonder, one which the angels desire to look into. Here is
an eternal wonder, a woman. clothed with the sun and the
moon under her feet, wearing a crown of stars, stands pregnant,
ready to bring forth a man-child, the man, Christ Jesus. And to
add to this, another wonder. Another wonder. As if this weren't
wonder enough, here's another wonder. Here's another something
that should just almost shock us to our shoes. Verse 3 of our
text, a great red dragon. One cast out of glory over the
sight of this first wonder. That's why he left. The Lord
was telling. He was telling. He was revealing
what he was going to do with his son. And Satan said, Oh no! No! I will ascend. I'll do this. I'll do that. Now,
you're history. You're history. He was cast out
of glory over the sight of the first wonder and now in the earth
he stands before the woman ready to devour her child as soon as
she be born. But the woman had a place, verse
6, prepared of God to feed and nourish her. And it says she brought forth
this man child and her child was caught up to God and to his
throne. There was a war. What war? There was a war between Christ
and the devil. Oh, now wait a minute, preacher.
It says Michael. It says Michael. Well, you need
to look up that word Michael. It signifies one with God. One with God. That's Jesus Christ,
isn't it? And he alone could wear that
name, Michael. Oh, but you say he's an angel.
Yeah, Christ is. He's the angel of the covenant. Michael and his angels. Angels don't have angels. But
Christ has. He has angels. They're his angels. They're elect angels. And they
fought with Satan and his angels. Where did they fight? Right here.
right here in this world. He came here. He's our salvation. And He came here to accomplish
that redemption of God. And there was a warfare. Satan
wasn't going to have it. He wasn't going to let it be.
He did everything in His power. My soul, how many babies were
killed hoping to kill the Christ? And having done What He came
into this world to do, our Lord was caught up unto God and His
throne. And sitting at the right hand
of God, a heavenly voice says, verse 10 of our text, look at
it. Now, now is come salvation. Oh, you mean salvation is in
a man? That's exactly what I mean. Be
man. The man child. The promised son. Now has come salvation and strength
and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ. For the accuser of our brethren
is cast down which accused them before our God night and day. And they overcame him. Watch
this now. by the blood of the lamb and
by the word of their testimony. And I tell you, when a man sees Christ,
this will be true also, they love not their lives unto death. Verse 13. When the dragon saw that he was
cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth
the man-child. And to the woman were given two
wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness,
into her place, where she is nourished for a time, times,
and half a time. And if you look that phrase up
as it appears in Scripture, it's talking about the whole gospel
age clear to the end. That's what it's talking about. She has a place in the wilderness.
It's a place prepared of God for her, a refuge, a place where
she is nourished to find rest and relief to be comforted and
cared for. And what is that place but the
local church? That's what it is. That's exactly
what he's saying. He made a place. There's a place
in this world where God's saints are gathered together. He caused
it to be there. God prepared that place. You
can't start a church or end a church or do anything about the church. The church belongs to Him. If
there's going to be a church, He's going to put it there. He
prepared a place for her and she could go there. And it was
to help preserve her, to help her to grow, to nourish her,
to comfort her if she had problems. Oh, how'd she get there? She'd
given two wings of a great eagle. She did what nobody else could
do. What nobody else could do. God's
providence lifted her and took her to this place. Oh, it's a place prepared of
God for her. My friend, the church is not
a common, ordinary place. It's a place prepared of God.
It's prepared of God. Places to gather, to flee to,
to find comfort in. And the old hymn writer said
this. He said, when I think that God His Son not sparing. Send Him to die, I scarce can
take it in. Can you? God's Son, the glory of heaven,
I scarce can take it in. That on the cross my burden gladly
bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Do you understand what I preached
here this morning? If you do, you'll sing this last
verse. Then sings my soul. Oh, my soul. Then sings my soul, my Savior,
God, to thee. How great Thou art. How great
Thou art. May the Lord reveal these things
to us for Christ's sake.