Sermon Tone Analysis

Service Notes

Bible Reading to Kids

Read Matthew 2:1-12 to the kids

Have them raise hands when they hear the word star

Call to Worship

To all who are spiritually weary and seek rest;

to all who mourn and long for comfort;

to all who struggle and desire victory;

to all who sin and need a Savior;

to all who are strangers and want fellowship;

to all who hunger and thirst after righteousness;

this church opens wide her doors and offers her welcome in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Bible Reading

The Christmas story occupies approximately 31 verses in Matthew whereas Luke’s devotes 74 verses.

Because of these verses people have constructed pageants and plays and have composed carols and cards.

Here is a picture of the Nativity Scene at my parents home.

[SLIDE]

Today we look at Revelation 12

This is not the nativity story we grew up with, but is it the nativity story all the same.

Three characters in this vision given to John while on the Isle of Patmos; Woman, Child, and a Dragon

This is why I rearranged my parents nativity scene to the Nativity (un)Scene: [SLIDE]

Tinsley: Dad, please do not make Christmas about a dragon.

Easter is not about unicorns and Christmas is not about dragons.

You know Jesus was hated and sought too be destroyed.

Do you know you are as well.

The same enemy.

Families were left in mourning as Herod sought to find and kill the new born messiah.

At Christmas we rejoice in the incarnation; God becoming flesh.

The birth of Christ.

Christ is the substitutionary atonement for our sins.

Luke 19:10 “10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Christ comes to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8 “8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

Revelation 12:1–5 (KJV)

1 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:

2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

3 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.

4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did 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.

5 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.

Pastoral Prayer

Nativity (un) Scene

John is given a vision of Christmas past

These are wonder.

These are signs.

It is symbolic of something else.

Driving through KY we saw a sign for Elizabethtown.

Was that the city?

No, the sign is simply identifying something else that is.

It is a symbol.

It is a way to point you to the reality.

Woman, Child, and a Dragon

The Expectant Woman

Rev 12:1-2 “1 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: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”

Several women mentioned in Revelation

Jezebel in ch 2; represents pagan immorality.

Woman in ch 17; represents the apostate church

Woman who represents the bride of Christ, the church, in ch 19

Who is this woman?

Catholic view would be Mary; understandable but not correct.

Reformed view would be the church; exciting but misleading.

This is Israel.

Often in Scripture we see her travail and expecting that the Messiah will come from her. Isaiah 26:17-18; 54:1; 66:7-12; Hosea 13:13; Micah 4:10; 5:2-3; Matthew 24:8

Almost identical description given in Gen 37 by Joseph about his brothers

We learn that the promise to fulfill Genesis 3:15 “15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

will come through the family of Abraham.

This family, this nation, is the woman we are reading about.

All very fascinating and important.

We have two LifeGroups studying Revelation, you should get involved in them.

Vs 6 speaks of a 3.5 year period during the tribulation.

Transitional statement: If the dragon could destroy Israel, he could wipe out God’s entire plan.

He could make God a liar who couldn’t fulfill His promise.

So a special object of Satan’s hatred and a special target for his destructive attack has been Israel, the Jews.

The Defeated Dragon

Revelation 12:3-4 “3 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.

4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did 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.”

The serpent we met in the garden

So, when this dragon saw that the High King had fashioned mankind in his own image, that he made them with rule over the earth, he was enraged.

He burned with bitter hatred and longed to shatter these images of the One he hated most.

So the serpent in the garden is the devil (which means slanderer), and Satan (which means accuser), and the deceiver of the whole world.

Jesus calls him “the wicked one,” “the prince of this world be cast out”

The Pharisees call him “Beelzebub the prince of the devils.”

Paul calls him “the god of this world” and “the prince of the power of the air”

Satan the ruler of the evil system, but he’s not alone.

1/3 of the angels from Heaven.

The dragon would enjoy one great triumph: he would succeed in stealing the King’s glory by defacing the King’s image, woven into the very flesh and bone of these feeble humans.

Before the garden

Jesus speaks of seeing Satan being cast out of heaven.

Luke 10:18 “18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”

Satan’s fall must have occurred somewhere after the time the angels were created and before he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

For, you see, the dragon too was a creature, having been fashioned by the King at creation, though not as a dragon, but as a magnificent prince.

Satan was attentive in the garden.

He did not overlook what was said in Genesis 3:15 “15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

The dragons attempt to stop the one who has come to destroy his works

Satan has sought to prevent this male child from coming.

He moved Cain to kill Abel (1 John 3:12).

He moved Pharaoh to kill Hebrew baby boys (Exodus 1-2).

He moved Saul to kill David (1 Samuel 18:10-11).

He moved wicked Athaliah to destroy all the royal heirs of the house of Judah (2 Chronicles 22:10).

He moved Haman to plot genocide against the Jews (Esther).

He moved Herod to kill Jesus (Matthew 2).