Well, in recent weeks, as we've
been going through the book of Revelation, we've seen how all
of the things in this world are all at God's behest, and they're
all for the purpose of frustrating Satan's purpose. People think
things are out of control. They're not. God's doing it.
God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is opening the seals of the book.
He's doing it. He's doing it. The angels are
blowing the trumpets at His behest. So all these things that happen
are happening because God is doing it, and he's doing it to
frustrate the purposes of Satan. What's his purpose? The purpose
of Satan is to establish his unrivaled sovereignty over this
created world. He said to the Lord Jesus Christ,
even, in the Temptation, if you will only bow down and worship
me, I'll give you all of these things. He presumed that he ruled
over everything. He presumed it, and he battles
constantly. But what did the Lord Jesus Christ
teach his disciples to pray? Thy kingdom come. God's kingdom
will come. God's kingdom of absolute unrivaled
sovereignty will come. And we saw last time, in chapter
11, what I called an overview of the end of all things. An
overview of it. And it came, it ended up with
a kingdom of unchallenged sovereignty, and the following chapters, chapters
12 to 19 or thereabouts, provide the detail. Remember what Revelation
1 verse 1 said. It said this, it's the revelation
of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants
things which must shortly come to pass, and he sent and signified
it. That's why it's in signs and
symbols, he signified It's symbols, symbolic language. He signified
it by his angel unto his servant John. Now, when we come to chapter
12 we start the fourth vision. Remember I told you right at
the start there are seven visions throughout this book. They're
of God's dealings throughout the history of creation and the
fourth vision starts in chapter twelve and runs through to the
end of chapter fourteen and it focuses, see they're from a slightly
different perspective, they're the same thing but a different
perspective and this one focuses on the animosity the warfare
that there is between, on the one hand, Christ and his church,
and on the other hand, Satan and the world, and world government,
and false religion. This book, remember, this book
was written 1,900 years ago. As we've been looking through
it, I've been, I don't know about you, I knew it, I've read it
several times, but just as we've been delving into it deeply,
I've been staggered as how relevant it is to today, to what we see
today, written all that time ago. It's for our, like all the
scriptures, they're written for our learning and for our comfort. And we know the end result of
all things. Now in chapter 12, God, remember,
remember what I said, I've always said this. What's the purpose
of the scriptures? It's God telling his people about
salvation. That's what it is. It's not God
teaching the world how to live, not at all. The Bible isn't God
telling the world how to live, though definitely in the Bible
is the law of God writ clear and large, so that the world
is left without excuse, but the primary purpose of the scriptures
is God telling his people how he accomplishes salvation. And
chapter 12 shows his people, God shows his people the conflict
that there is, all the way from the fall in the Garden of Eden
to the final judgment between God and Satan, and the war is
about unrivaled supremacy over the kingdom that God created. If you pay attention to these
words, with the Holy Spirit's enabling, you'll see what has
been going on, and you'll learn to trust God more, because everything
he says is so obviously true. an overview of chapter twelve
first of all it's in three parts chapter twelve is in three parts
just look at it with me verses one to six is one part this is
this is the great wonders in heaven and it finishes up with
the woman fleeing into the wilderness then we've got verses seven to
twelve which is the war in heaven and then verses thirteen to the
end is the persecution of the woman We're going to just do
the first two of those this week, verses 1 to 12, that's all we've
got time for, and even then we might have a bit of a struggle.
But that's what we're going to look at this week. In a way,
do you know how novels or movies you sometimes don't quite know
where you are because what they're doing is they're showing you
a scene from that perspective and then there's a flashback
so you see a scene and then there's a flashback to what it was like
30 or 40 years ago which led to and then it comes back to
it you know it's that kind of thing chapter 12 is different
perspectives on the same thing What we see is Lucifer's, Lucifer? Satan, the devil. Lucifer's uprising,
challenging God's rule and sovereignty, seeking to take over God's creation,
seeking to enthrall and bring in subjection God's viceroy,
told you what viceroy means, vice king, from the French, le
roi, the king, viceroy, vice king, right? He's trying to enthrall him.
And who was God's viceroy over creation in the Garden of Eden?
It was Adam, the first man, the man God created. And he's fighting,
Satan is fighting to stop God's redeemer. the one who alone qualifies. You see, a kingdom is not a kingdom
if it doesn't have citizens. Is that right? The only reason
Britain is a kingdom is because it's got citizens. The only reason
France is a kingdom is because it's got citizens. Germany, and
likewise. No, God's kingdom is only a kingdom
because it has citizens. Who are its citizens? Well, there's
all the angels, but there's the people, the men and women that
God has chosen in Christ to redeem. But he can't have them in his
kingdom unless they are perfect, unless they are absolutely pure. And we're not, for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. So how can he do it? He
must redeem them. He must pay the price. He must
pay the sin debt for their sins to qualify them to be citizens.
And Satan's purpose is to stop that one from coming. To stop
him accomplishing his purposes. Satan at the same time is challenging
the legality of the glorification of Old Testament saints. You
know when Enoch lived and walked, was Enoch a sinner? Yes, of course
he was. Enoch was a sinner. Abel was
a sinner, murdered by his brother Cain. When he died, where did
Abel go? God took him to heaven. Where
did Enoch go? God took him to heaven without
dying. Where did Noah go? God took him to heaven. Where
did Abraham go? God took him to heaven. and Satan's
going, they shouldn't be there. They've got no right to be there.
They're sinners. Look, look, you talk, you call
for absolute, they're not, they are not fit to be there. And
he accuses the brethren, he accuses the Old Testament saints that
they shouldn't be in heaven because they're sinners. And he persecutes
the New Testament church, striving to wash it The church is in a
wilderness. In a sense, we're in a wilderness,
aren't we? We're in a wilderness, a wilderness that is separate
from the world. Satan strives to wash. We've seen these tremendous floods
in the north of England. You see that water, how it washed
that building away over that river. Satan is trying to wash
the church, the true church, into conformity with the world
around it. So that's an overview. Now then,
let's look. First six verses. The woman and
the dragon. 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. the woman and
the dragon. A wonder, the better word, is
a sign. I saw a sign in heaven. A sign. And the woman, without developing
the argument and proving it from every angle, I'm just going to
tell you, the woman is the church. The woman in this vision, the
woman symbolizes the church of God, the people of God, the elect
of God in the world. The woman is the church. The
woman is the, what's the church? It's the body of Christ. He is
the head and the church is the body. It's the body of Christ. The bride of Christ. The church
is the bride of Christ. The church is the kingdom of
God on earth. Song of Solomon chapter 6 verse
10. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon,
clear as the sun? He's talking about the Shulamite
in the Song of Solomon, the bride of the Beloved. It's the church,
it's the church. And all sorts of references,
you can look them up for yourself, Isaiah 50 verse 1, Isaiah 54
verse 1, they're all talking about a woman, a woman, and it's
speaking of the people of God. And the one that really seals
it is Ephesians chapter 5. You know when Paul is talking
in Ephesians chapter 5 about husbands love your wives, even
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, to redeem
it, to purify it. and wives, obey your husbands
in all things. When Paul is talking about that,
he says at the end, but I speak of Christ and the church. The
marriage union, husband and wife, is a picture of Christ and his
church, and his bride, husbands and wives. And look what she's
got on her head. Upon her head, in verse 1, a
crown of twelve stars. Twelve? is the number of the
church in this world. Remember twelve apostles, twelve
Old Testament patriarchs? The two of them together make
twenty-four elders around the throne in glory, but on the earth,
twelve of them. It's The Church. The woman is the Church. The
Church in the world. The elect of God. But look in
verse 2. She's weak. She's in a weak,
vulnerable position. I think all of the ladies here
have had babies at one time or another, right? And you would
be able to tell us better than anybody else that in the moment
when you knew that your baby was going to be born in the next
few days, you felt pretty vulnerable. You felt pretty helpless. You
felt like, oh, if something happens now, there's nothing I can do
about it because this situation, this baby's going to be born.
This woman, in this vision, is pregnant. She's with child. And
she's crying. And her birth pains, her contractions
are there. She's travailing in birth. And
she's pained to be delivered. She's going to be delivered.
She's weak, and she's vulnerable. And she's bringing a child into
the world. She's bringing a child into the
world. Look, verse 5. She brought forth a man-child. She brought forth a man. Who
is this man-child that she's bringing forth? Who is it? Who's
the baby she's bringing forth? Look, it says, he is to rule
all nations with a rod of iron. I'll tell you who it is. Psalm
2, verse 9, speaking of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. He will
rule with a rod of iron. Revelation 2.27 talks about Christ
ruling with a rod of iron. Here in this chapter, verse 1,
He rules with a rod of iron. In chapter 19 of Revelation,
verse 15, He rules with a rod of iron. This child that the
woman is bringing forth is Christ. Christ is coming from the people
of God in the world. That's where Christ came from.
Do you know why it was so important for the Old Testament line of
faith to be preserved? How God did so much to preserve
the Old Testament line of faith. You know, Abel, Seth, right the
way down, Enoch, Noah, I'm missing lots out, Noah, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, David, all the way down through the genera. Why was it
so important? Of which line did Jesus come?
Born of the line of David, wasn't he? The line of the tribe of
Judah. Born in Bethlehem. He had to
come, didn't he? In the town of David. He was
born in the city of David. It's all there because he had
to come from the people of God. The line of true faith. That's
where he had to come from. So this is picturing the Old
Testament church. The woman is not just the church,
but specifically, in these six verses, it's picturing the Old
Testament church. The Old Testament church, which
is bringing forth the Christ child, who in the Old Testament
hadn't yet come. It's the spiritual line. You
know, when Cain murdered Abel, then Eve bore again, and she
bore a son called Seth, and in him was the godly line perpetuated. And so it went on. The promised
seed of the woman would come to crush Satan's head. You know,
when the fall came, God said in Genesis 3.15, He said to the
woman and to Satan, He said that she would bear a seed, and that
that seed would crush the head of the serpent. that in the process
the serpent would bruise the seed's heel. What's he talking
about? Christ, coming of the woman.
Then in verses three and four, we see the red dragon. The red
dragon. There appeared a wonder in heaven,
great red dragons, seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns. You
know, people that completely miss the point of this, they
try and draw pictures of it. They try and make works of art
of it. Nobody's ever succeeded with this. You look at it, seven
heads and ten horns. Maybe one of the heads has got
three horns on it and the others have only got one. Oh, hold on,
how many crowns? Seven crowns! And you know, he
gets so confused. What's it talking about? It's
talking about seven as perfection, but ten is an earthly, a created
view of completeness, of perfection. So it's the devil's view of perfection. Someone who thinks he's perfect
in his own right, and he's warlike. He's a red dragon. Do you remember
the red horse? The red horse was the horse of war. The horse
that was bringing human conflict. He's warlike. He's got seven
heads. His idea of perfection. He's
got ten horns. Complete earthly power. Horns,
in scripture, are power. Horns are symbols of power. And
crowns, symbolising his rule in this earth. He's called the
Prince of the Power of the Air, Ephesians 2 verse 2. Paul calls
him the Prince of the Power of the Air. And as he comes down
out of heaven, his tale, verse 4, draws a third part of the
stars of heaven. That's not talking about literal
stars, that's talking about his fall In rebellion against God,
dragging down a third, symbolical, not exact, a third of the angels
of heaven became demonic beings, subject to Satan, with his rebellion. This is Satan. How do we know
it's him? Look at verse 9. The great dragon was cast out.
Who is it? Who is it? 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." He heard the promise
of the seed. He was there. He heard God say,
the seed will come and crush your head but you'll bruise his
heel he heard that promise of the seed coming he didn't know
how but he must stop that seed from coming or at least he must
kill the seed as soon as he came and he stands before the woman
look at that verse four and the dragon second half of verse four
the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered
you imagine this woman in a situation of great vulnerability, and there's
a horrible great big red dragon standing before her, and his
objective is to devour, to kill, to destroy this baby that she's
bearing. Why? Because he doesn't want
that seed to come. Because if that seed comes, he
knows that that seed will ruin him, will crush his head. So
he's watching and waiting and scheming the destruction of the
seed. Eve, When Eve bore the first man, who was it? It was
Cain. That was her firstborn, was Cain. She called him acquired. That's what Cain means. I have
got a man from the Lord. God said I'll send you a seed,
and she bore a son. And she called him the son that
God gave me. I've got a seed from God. Acquired
man. But as he grew, Adam and Eve
saw that he was a godless man. That he didn't know God. And
Satan then prompted Cain to kill his brother, who was a godly
seed. For Abel brought a sacrifice,
brought an offering to God. What did Abel's offering speak
of? It spoke of Christ, and God smelt a sweet-smelling savour.
And God was happy, and God was pleased, because it satisfied
his justice. And on the basis of that, Cain,
in envy and anger, killed his brother. And the blood of Abel
cried out from the ground for justice. So Satan prompted Cain
to kill Abel. And Satan tries then, after that,
to do all sorts of things to stop the seed coming. You know
what it says before the flood? It says, the sons of God married
the daughters of men. Do you know what that means?
It means this, the godly line of those who had faith in Christ
and looked to his coming were getting mingled with the daughters
of people like Cain, who were godless. And in that mingling,
there was a dilution of the truth, and there was a compromise of
the truth, as there always is, as there always will be. This
is why God tells his people, don't be unequally yoked with
unbelievers. He tried to intermingle them. Satan always tries to intermingle
the church with the world. You look what's happening in
the church today. The so-called church. What's its problem? Places
that even 40 years ago stood firm and solid for the truth
of God and his grace, are today compromised with the thinking
of the world. Why? Because Satan has deluded
them. He's washed them. from the wilderness
into mixing with the world, because, you know, we'll get more people
in. And if we get more people in, we'll have more money, and
we'll be able to pay our pastor, and we'll be able to do all these
other things. And oh, won't that be a good thing? Isn't that what
God wants us to do? No, it's not. God wants us to preach the
truth, and stick to the truth. Even if we're the last one left,
we stick to the truth, and we don't compromise it. So it goes
on, the flood comes. Why? Because God sent the flood
to sweep away that generation that was mingled and he saved
one man and his family, Noah and his family. Eight of them
in all. How many of us are here this morning? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 10 of us. Do you know in Noah's
Ark Without you two boys here, that's all the people that there
were in Noah's Ark. That's it. That's all there was.
Eight. Just eight. Noah just had his
eight. You know, oh we must have a much
bigger church. I once heard a poem, a really good poem, do you remember?
I remember Gary Shepherd reading it out years ago. And it was
about all these super churches and how wonderful they are. But
he just kept coming back. But Noah just had his eight.
Just had his eight. That was all that was left. Yeah.
So then the flood comes and the Tower of Babel comes, and at
the Tower of Babel Satan tries to strengthen his kingdom against
the seed of the woman. And then Abraham comes along.
Did Abraham think his only Isaac? You know, it doesn't say his
only son Isaac, son is in italics, it's his only Isaac. It's the
one he was expecting. In Isaac shall your seed be called. In Isaac. Did he think his only
Isaac was the seed who would come to redeem? I think he did,
because when God told him to take him to Mount Moriah and
sacrifice him, Abraham thought, this is it. This is it. He's
going to do it here. He's going to redeem his people
here. Of course, Isaac was only a picture. Isaac was only a picture. Don't
touch the lad. God will provide himself a sacrifice. And then
Jacob and Joseph, and they were taken down into Egypt. And in
Egypt, Satan oppressed them. The people of God, Satan oppressed
them in Egypt, mingled with the world of Egypt. He oppressed
them and tried to destroy them. Do you remember when Pharaoh
commanded that all the young boys from the Israelites would
be killed. Why did Pharaoh do that? Do you
see now why he did? It was Satan trying to kill the
seed that would come from the woman. That's why he did it.
In the desert, in their wanderings when they leave Egypt, Satan
leads the people into apostasy. and idolatry so that they start
worshipping a golden calf and he afflicts them with enemies
and all sorts of things to try and stop them from their purpose
of returning to the promised land where the seed of the woman
would come and crush his head and right through the, all the
way through the Old Testament history up to the captivity and
then we only read about him in Daniel, in the prophet Daniel,
Antiochus Epiphanes and even then we don't have his name we
have to look at the history books to see an utterly wicked man,
about three or four hundred years before Christ came, and his persecution
of the then church, you know, the true Israel, was absolutely
horrendous. It was awful. The numbers that
he killed. He stopped the daily sacrifice
in the temple. He killed the woman's seed on
a large scale. But the woman's seed is born. And you know I said we don't
make a fuss about Christmas, well we don't, unless the doctrine,
unless the scripture is relevant, and it is. Because Galatians
4 verse 4 says this, when the fullness of the time was come,
when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his
son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those who
are under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Do you know we keep reading of
three and a half times? A time, times, and half a time. Three and a half times. Or, same
thing, three and a half years, or same thing, 42 months, or
same thing, 1260 days. When you keep reading these,
it's all talking about the same thing, all talking about the
same thing. 3 1/2 and 3 1/2, now this is where
those who struggle slightly with figures start to go googly-eyed,
but this isn't hard. 3 1/2 and 3 1/2 makes seven. Seven is God's perfection. Seven
is the time from when God created all things to when God's going
to finish all things. Before Christ came, 3 1/2. From
Christ to the end, three and a half. Does that mean it's exactly
the same number of years? No it doesn't, but it does mean
this. It's all precisely determined by our God and exactly according
to his purpose. When the fullness of the time
would come, despite the dragon standing there to devour him,
in Bethlehem, in Judea, of a virgin, the promise was fulfilled. A
virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son. and shall call
his name Immanuel. What does that mean? God with
us. Isaiah 9, 6, 4. Unto us a child,
listen, unto us a child, a human being, a baby, unto us a child
is born, but unto us a son is given. You know what I hate?
I hate about One thing I particularly hate
about Catholic doctrine is the idea that Mary is the mother
of God. That's not true. Mary is the
mother of the man Christ Jesus, because the man was born of a
woman, but the son of God was given by God. He's the son of
God. Yes, Mary was his human mother. Mary was the one by whom he became
a man. But Mary is not the mother of
God. And this woman is not Mary, with
a crown on her head, as the Catholics would have us believe. It's the
church. The church is the mother of Christ, in the flesh, from
whom Christ came. Okay, right. So then, the woman's
seed is born, and he fulfills all of God's promises. All of
God's promises. Where was he born? In Bethlehem,
of Judea. Micah, chapter 5, verse... everything
that was said about him. And Satan tries to destroy him.
How does he try? Via Herod. Do you remember what
Herod did when the wise men came? The wise men came when Jesus
was about two years old. You know, I think they came from
the country where Daniel, from the Middle East, from the Babylonian
area, where in the libraries of the Chaldeans, they will have
seen the records of the scriptures that Daniel and others left behind.
And they will have seen, it must be about now, because there's
all the prophecies of the weeks, and they saw his star while they
were in the East, and they came. and Herod inquired of them at
what time the star had appeared. It must have been two years before
because you know what Herod did? He had every little boy under
two years old killed. Can you imagine that? And who
was it that did that? Satan. Why? He's trying to destroy
the seed. He's trying to destroy it. The
Pharisees persecuted him and tried to kill him. Roman rule
tried to kill him, tried to kill the Christ of God. And Satan
thinks he's finally succeeded. At the cross, when the Romans
nailed him to the cross, at the behest of the Jews, and lifted
him up, you know what it says in Acts chapter 2, what Peter
said? in his sermon, he says this to
them, Him, Christ, being delivered 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
beholden of it. All in accordance with God's
purposes of salvation. He satisfied justice. He is Because
of what Christ came and did, God is just and justifier. He's just because he never, ever
lets sin go unpunished. But in Christ, he punished it.
So he's just and justifier. He's a just God and a saviour. Just God and a saviour. And he
qualifies, has qualified, he's elect for citizenship. Made us
meet to be partakers of the heavenly inheritance. the strongman of
the house, as Christ put it in Matthew 12, 29 Satan, the strongman,
he's bound him, he's tied him up and plundered his goods Satan's
been disarmed and look in verse 10 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." He's the accuser of the brethren. And what do
we say in response to the accuser of the brethren? Romans 8 verse
33. It says Satan accuses the people
of God before God, day and night. This is Old Testament I'm talking
about. In the Old Testament, before Christ came, Satan was
there, before the throne of God accusing the people who've taken
to heaven, Abraham and all those Old Testament saints, of not
being fit to be there because they're sinners. But now, listen,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Satan
tried in the Old Testament, but it's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather
that he's risen again, and is even at the right hand of God
who also makes intercession for us. Do you see, in what Christ
has done, Satan's accusation of the brethren, of you and me
if we're believers, has got no basis. he cannot bring an accusation
he's bound, he's dethroned his weapons are blunted he cannot
do anything and in verse five Christ having accomplished his
purposes is caught up to God and his throne and Satan's head
is effectively crushed so what's the next bit, the heavenly war,
what's all that all about? well in verses seven to twelve
let me try and summarize this quickly Since the fall in Eden,
there has been war in heaven. Satan has been constantly accusing
the Old Testament saints of being unqualified for heaven. He's
been bringing their sin before God's justice. Oh, Abraham was
a good man, he didn't sin. I guarantee you Satan accused
Abraham of being a liar before God. Because he did. He lied
about Sarah not being his wife and being his sister. He, I guarantee
you, he accused Lot before God of living in an evil place, surrounded
by sin. I guarantee you he did. He accused
the brethren. He brought the sin before God's
justice and he screamed for their eviction from heaven. And Michael,
it says, in verse seven there was war in heaven michael and
his angels fought against the dragon michael and his angels
michael now i know there are men that i greatly respect who
think that every time we see michael it's christ I'm afraid,
I'm not going to fall out with anybody about it, I certainly
am not, but I do not believe that that is the case. I really
don't. There are archangels, there are chiefs among the angels
of God. Gabriel was not Christ, but he
was a chief angel sent by God to Mary. to announce the birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ. No, I believe that Michael, and
the reason why I believe this is if you look in Daniel chapter
10 and verse 13, what is clearly, the vision of the man that Daniel
saw who is clearly the Lord Jesus Christ, talks to Daniel and says,
Michael came to help me in my battle. Michael, see, so that's
why I don't, but as I say, I'm not gonna fight with anybody,
but I don't, I believe Michael is an archangel. And his angels
are fighting with Satan and his fallen angels. And Michael is
arguing, Revelation 13, eight, as we'll see next time or the
time after, that Christ is the lamb slain. Yes, they're sinners,
but Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
He's coming to redeem them. You cannot bring an accusation
against them. He's arguing Christ is the Lamb slain for their justification,
though he hasn't as yet, in the Old Testament, come in time and
died for his people. But as soon as Christ has died,
and satisfied justice, and risen again, and ascended to glory,
and to his throne, Satan's place is found no more. The case? Satan comes into the court of
God, and it's an open and shut case. Do you know what an open
and shut case is? It doesn't go on very long. The argument
is not very long. What's your case? This. Irrelevant,
Christ has died. Accusation, irrelevant, Christ
has died. You cannot bring an accusation
against the people of God. So, he's cast out of heaven.
Salvation is come. This is what it says in verse
10. Salvation is come. Believer, I talk to all of us,
including me. This is what we stand in the
good of. Satan is mortally defeated. And what has accomplished the
triumph? Verse 11. Look what it is. They overcame
him, Satan, by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their
testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. The blood
of the Lamb has done it. The faith of the saints in that
blood and their testimony. Hebrews 11. What's that about? All the Old Testament saints.
By faith. By faith. By faith, Noah built
an ark. By faith, Abraham. By faith,
Moses, they were looking forward to what Christ would certainly
accomplish, and on that basis they knew that they were fitted
for heaven. By faith, the Old Testament saints,
though accused by Satan, were vindicated. Christ's blood redeemed
them too. And where does that leave us?
Verse 12. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens,
and ye that dwell in them. Rejoicing in heaven. Rejoice. Salvation is accomplished. Eternal
safety and bliss for the redeemed who have gone there. But woe
to the earth. Satan is banished there, to the earth. And in his
fury, he knows his doom is certain and his time is limited. Now,
some of you ladies will remember the 1940s. you will remember
Adolf Hitler and the Second World War and you will remember that
well really as soon as America joined the war on the side of
Britain The defeat of Hitler was certain. It was. It was certain. Anybody would tell you. History
says there was what Churchill called nothing other than blood,
toil, tears and sweat to come, but the victory was absolutely
guaranteed. guaranteed. And then after D-Day,
when the Allies had invaded Normandy and were sweeping through France,
Hitler's end was absolutely certain, but that evil man continued to
prolong the war for another eight months. and thousands and thousands
of people were needlessly killed because of the stubborn persistence
of Adolf Hitler. Well in a way it's a bit like
that with Satan. His defeat is written clear, absolutely certain,
but he will not give in. He will fight on until God finally
comes and takes it all from him. there's going to be earthly persecution
the final bit that we'll look at next week is the persecution
of the woman and her place in the wilderness, we'll do all
about that next week but now understand this, and I'm finishing
with this, don't worry The battle for supremacy and unchallenged
sovereignty over God's creation is won. It is won. It is won. It's just a matter
of time. Or should I say, a time, times,
and half a time. Three and a half times. Just
as Churchill knew when the might and wealth of the USA was on
our side in World War II, Hitler's defeat was writ large. The path
ahead, and this applies to us as believers in this world, and
it always has done, the path ahead in this life might be,
remember that speech, you've heard it many times, of Churchill,
all I have to offer you is blood, toil, tears, and sweat, but the
outcome is certain, absolute victory. Rejoice, rejoice.