"The Christmas Battle"

Intro:

Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot But the Grinch who lived just North of Whoville did not! The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right. But I think that the most likely reason of all May have been that his heart was two sizes too small. But, whatever the reason, his heart or his shoes, He stood there on Christmas Eve hating the Whos…

This of course is the beginning of Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”…

What is Christmas about? For many people Christmas is a depressing time of year...

Tis the season of divorce, the season of… suicide

Christmas is marked by greater emotional stress… for some have lost loved ones and maybe this year is there first Christmas without that loved one…

For others Christmas is frenzied, frazzled shopping… Buying more, spending more, getting more and having less . . .

So we run around trying to buy happiness, peace, joy and good will towards all men, while fighting with someone wearing pajama’s at Walmart…

Hopefully that is not our first thought as we come into this Christmas season…

What are the thoughts that come to your mind when you think of Christmas? …

• peace and tranquillity.

• shepherds on a hill being serenaded by an angelic choir.

• Magi crossing the desert on a quiet night as they make the long journey to Bethlehem.

• a child wrapped in a blanket and hugged by a young mother with delight in her eyes… …

Maybe its time spent with family

The Christmas Ham on the table

Presents under the tree

Watching your children and grandchildren as they anticipate what might be in those presents.

I am sure that these are the sort of images we have when we think about Christmas.

For the next few weeks, we are going to take a break from our regular study through 1 Peter… And this morning I want to look at another side to the whole Christmas event that is not so obvious.

It is a side which is much more brutal. This side involves a multi-headed dragon that wants to eat an infant. This side is the side where mighty heavenly beings are doing battle. It is a side which focuses on war, anger, frustration and enemy fighting enemy. We don’t often think of Christmas in these terms, but it is a reality.

Before we get to our main passage this morning, let me say this… I picked this main passage for the imagery that it has and want to point out an overlying lesson of it. But I do not intend to fully pick apart this passage this morning, as I normally would if we were doing a full study on it…

and even though I would consider this first passage as our main passage… We are going to get a bit of a workout this morning at we look at several different accounts…

Meat:

That being said… please turn in your Bible’s to Revelation 12 …

(Read vv. 1-6)

And just so we are clear as to who this “Dragon” is… (Read vv. 7-9)…

I know I said that I wasn’t going to pick this passage apart… and I’m not… But I do want to share with you some of the imagery within the first 6 verses…

Imagery:

1. Woman = Israel

Rev. 12:1 “1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.”

Some try to interpret the woman as being the Church, but the 12 stars would represent the 12 tribes of Israel… There are other symbols with the sun and moon references, but we can leave that for another time.

2. The Dragon = Satan

Rev. 12:3-4 “3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.”

Again, just in case this isn’t clear enough…

Rev. 12:9 “9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Yes, there are many symbols surrounding this dragon, the heads, the horns, the diadems, the stars of heaven… But our focus today is who that Dragon is… Satan… and what he is doing… “… stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.”

Which leads us to our 3rd image…

3. The Child = Jesus

Rev. 12:5 “5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.”

We have symbolized here the birth of Christ and His victorious ascension, but nothing is said about either His life or His death.

When you step back and think about what is going on here… and stop trying to wrap your head around all the different symbols that are mentioned… which are extremely important, please don’t think that I am trying to down play this in the least bit…

But just take a breath, look at what is happening and you will see exactly what is going here… The Birth of Christ is about to happen… Christmas is coming… and Satan is trying to prevent it… … He “… stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.”

Satan was in a battle to stop Christmas from the very beginning…

And just like any battle… he had specific targets that he tried to destroy in an attempt to stop Christmas from ever happening…

Satan’s Targets:

1. The Human Race

Like I said… a little Bible workout today… Turn to Genesis 3… and we will see his first tactical move… (Read v.1)

When God created humanity, He made them according to His image and likeness. Adam and Eve were created perfect, and placed in a perfect environment. Yet Satan tempted them to sin…

He questions and twists God’s word… and we know the failure that followed… Adam and Eve both ate the fruit, Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent and all three recieved punishment…

Look at vv. 14-15 (Read)…

From then on, the human race was Satan’s main target… The race that was created perfect would now have to be judged. Sin continued to have its way. Satan attempted to corrupt the human race to the point where God would destroy everything that He had made… and he almost succeeded…

Look at Genesis 6:5-6… (Read)…

Because of that grief… God sent a Flood to destroy the entire world… seemingly walking right into Satan’s trap…

Except God spared eight people. The human race was spared through Noah and his sons… and Satan's attempt to destroy the human race had failed…

Next Target…

2. The Nation of Israel

Four thousand years ago God gave a man named Abram a number of promises.

Look at Genesis 12:1-3… (Read)...

Among other things, God promised that the descendants of Abraham would exist forever and in Genesis 49:10, We see that the Messiah will come out of the line of Judah… it says...

“10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.”

So, in Satan’s mind… If the nation that came from Abraham's descendants, Israel, were ever annihilated as a nation, then…

1. The Word of God would be untrue.

2. And the Messiah would never be born…

It is for this reason that Satan has paid special attention to Abraham's descendants.

In the Book of Esther we have an example of the attempted destruction of the entire nation… Look at Esther 3:8-15… (Read) (King Ahasuerus (A-has-u-air-us))…

This was Satan’s attempt, through Haman, to kill all of the Jews in one day… But Queen Esther stepped in… Even though it could’ve cost her her life, she said, in Chapter 4:16 “... I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!””

And God used Queen Esther to, once again, providentially intervene and saved the nation from annihilation… again, if Satan would have been able to destroy the nation of Israel, then the promises of God would not be true… and Jesus would’ve never been born.

While Satan was trying to destroy the entire nation of Israel, he was also trying to snuff out a specific family line… That is the next target that I want you to see…

3. The Lineage of Christ

Genesis 22:18 is another promise that God had given to Abraham… it says… “18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.””

In explaining that verse… the Apostle Paul in…

Galatians 3:16 says… “16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.”

The lineage of Christ could be traced back to Abraham… actually it could get traced back to Adam and his son Seth… Satan thought the lineage would come through Abel and that is why Satan influenced Cain to kill Abel…

But lets pick up the lineage with Abraham…

Abraham and Sarah would need to have children… but Sarah’s womb is closed… she is barren… But God miraculously intervened and Sarah conceived and bore Isaac.

Isaac married Rebecca and she was also barren… I do not know if Satan has the ability to cause a woman to be barren, but there are some who believe that he can… either way… “Greater is He that is living inside of us, than he who is in the world...”

Genesis 25:21 says… “21 Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.”

Jacob and Esau were born to Rebecca and Isaac.  Jacob was the one through whom the Messiah would come.  Later we see Esau attempt to kill Jacob… Another one of Satan’s failed efforts…

At one point in Israel's history, Satan was successful in killing “all the seed royal of the house of Judah.”… What line carries the Lineage of Christ??… The line of Judah… Look at 2 Chronicles 22:10-12… (Read)…

One boy was hidden in the temple for six years during this awful threat… Joash was spared and he was the only person on the earth, at that time, through whom the Messiah could come.

Throughout Scripture, the dragon continued his attempt… King Saul and his ruthless pursuit of David… Why?? Because David is part of the lineage of Christ...

Every attempt Satan made to stop that first Christmas, by destroying the promised family lineage… was unsuccessful...

And then the Angel Gabriel, came to Earth… Satan’s domain… and he came with a message…

Look at Luke Chapter 1 (Read vv. 26-33)…

I am certain that Satan was well aware of Gabriel’s visit and I am certain that he was aware of the message that he brought… The Dragon’s search was over… he no longer needed to kill off the whole family line… he just needed to get rid of one little Baby…

That was his next target…

4. Jesus

A little bit of speculation here, and I know that it was prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem… but could it be that Satan inspired Caesar Augustus to make a decree for the entire world to be taxed in their own city where they were born??

As a result of that decree… Mary had to make a very difficult and dangerous, 100 mile, journey through mountainous country to reach Bethlehem.

 Again, this is a little speculation on my part… But... this could have been another attempt of Satan to prevent the birth of the Messiah…   

There were robbers and thieves along the highways in those days that would often kill or leave for dead their victims…

Wild animals in the region that could attack at any moment…

They didn’t take a Cadillac with air ride suspension… Mary couldn’t lie down in the back seat and relax…

maybe this donkey ride would induce early labor in the wilderness… maybe the donkey would stumble causing Mary to fall off and cause a miscarriage…

That didn’t work either… they made it to Bethlehem…

and Luke 2:6-7 “6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Jesus is born… Christmas is here!

But that didn’t stop the Dragon… Remember, Rev. 12:4 said.. “… And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.”

One of the most ruthless attempts of Satan to stop the mission of Christ was the edict of Herod to kill all of the babies two years old and younger in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas…

But again, God intervened and made sure that Mary, Joseph and Jesus were able to get away from the area safely.

But Satan continued on… he tried to tempt Jesus, because if he could get Jesus to sin, even once… Satan knew the God’s plan would be compromised… but that didn’t work either…

There were numerous attempts to kill Christ during His earthly ministry.  Finally Satan used Judas Iscariot to betray Christ which led to the cross.  

Satan must have thought he had the victory over his enemy the Lord Jesus Christ.  Little did Satan realize that Christ's death set the whole human race free from the penalty of sin and death.  Also, that death could not hold Christ in the grave.

Rev. 1:18 Christ said “18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen… ”

Closing:

As we get ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Our Living Hope, Jesus Christ…

May we not take it for granted…

May we remember that Satan spent 4000 years trying to prevent it…

And because of God’s love for us, He didn’t allow Satan to succeed.

I opened this message with the beginning of the poem “How the Grinch stole Christmas”… I will skip the middle of it and pick it up towards the end…

Every Who Down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, was singing! Without any presents at all!

He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming at all!

It came without ribbons! It came without tags!

It came without packages, boxes or bags!

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!

Maybe Christmas, He thought, doesn’t come from a store.

Maybe Christmas...Perhaps...means a little bit more!

If we just take the time to step back, breathe and observe… We will see that Christmas is the fulfillment of of God’s promises, it is an outpouring of God’s love and it is also an example of God’s power over Satan and his evil plans.

Yes, there was a battle for Christmas… and God won!…

Luke 2:13-14 “13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!””

This is what Christmas is about!

God’s provision for us is found in God’s free gift of salvation . . .

We who were once far away have been brought near - We who were lost have now been found

We who were endanger of the fires of hell, have been promised heaven… and we who deserved nothing, have been given everything in Christ.

Christmas is about giving, but only because of the great gift that was given to us… And it is about God giving His very best for us, the giving of Himself…

This, my beloved brothers and sisters, is the true spirit of Christmas.

Prayer: