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INTRODUCTION
Last week we wrapped up the 3rd of 7 cycles in the book of Revelation.
As we arrive at the 4th cycle in chapter 12, we have the opportunity to stop and review.
In Cycle 1, we saw a picture of Christ and then we saw Jesus write to seven churches in Asia Minor and give them a message that was not just for them, but for all churches throughout the church age.
The churches have plenty of challenges and problems.
Some have sin to deal with, some have suffering to deal with and some have both.
But all of them are promised victory in Christ, if they faithful to Him.
Their faithfulness will be proof of their eternal salvation and they will receive the victor’s crown when He returns.
In Cycle 2, we got a glimpse into this amazing worship scene in heaven, and then Jesus opens a scroll with all of history written on it.
It is completely sealed with seven seals.
Each time He opens a seal, humanity and nature experience judgment
The church is sealed by God.
They serve Him on earth until they worship Him in heaven.
But in the world, there is conquest, war, famine and death.
The world martyrs Christians and the martyrs cry out for justice
Then Christ returns as an answer to their prayer and brings final judgment to the world and ultimate redemption to the church
In Cycle 3, our attention turned to the trumpets.
Similar to the 7 seals, the 7 trumpets show us God’s judgments on humanity and the earth until Christ returns.
In the first four trumpets, we saw how God’s are judgments active in nature until Jesus returns
Then we saw three woes pronounced with each of the final three trumpets.
With the 5th, Satan and his demons are tormenting the unbelieving world
With the 6th, Satan and his demons are causing all sorts of war in the world
But as all of this is going on, we got an explanation of what will happen with the Lord’s church
God will measure her in devotion and worship and send her out as a witness
But the world will seek to kill and leave her bodies in the streets
But in the end, the Lord will return, the dead in Christ will be raised
And then final judgment will come down upon those who dwell on the earth, while the age of glory begins for the people of God
That brings us to chapter 12 and the beginning of Cycle 4.
This Cycle is crucial because in some ways, it is the centerpiece of the book of Revelation.
It is right in the middle.
Cycles 1, 2 and 3 on one side
Cycles 5, 6 and 7 on the other
And it tells the story of history and the story of God’s redemption of His people really clearly using really identifiable images from the Old Testament
All of the cycles are important, but the book is set up to draw attention to this epic battle in the middle between the Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The people who dwell on the earth side with the Dragon.
The people of God side with One Seated on the Throne and the Lamb
See—the church was in a war.
They had members being killed by the government
They had members being persecuted by the synagogues
They had members being seduced by sin
And the 4th Cycle is the Lord pulling back the curtain to show them the bigger war that is at hand
The war behind the war
And that is what makes chapter 12 a bit of a turning point.
In 1-11, John shows us the church suffering in the world—being persecuted for their Gospel witness
In 12-22, we are seeing war in heaven—the spiritual realities behind the physical history
Tonight we look at just the first 6 verses of the chapter and we get introduced to the main characters
There will be other characters who come along like the Beast and the False Prophet, but our main characters are here in 12:1-6.
THE STORY OF YOUR WORLD
Let me tell you what you have in front of you in Revelation 12:1-6 in a nutshell.
It is the history of creation up until February 22nd, 2023.
This is redemption history up to the present.
And it is being explained to us with new moving pictures.
We are not dealing with seals or trumpets anymore
We will deal with bowls in the next cycle, but it’s not those yet, either
Our new pictures are characters locked in an epic battle for eternal glory
THE WOMAN
The first character we meet is a woman who is clothed with the sun and has the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
She is pregnant and crying out as if she is labor.
Now, this is not a literal woman.
She is symbolic of something.
We know that because she appears as a great sign in heaven.
That is a massive clue to the fact that we are not dealing with a literal adult female who is pregnant.
It is also not the Virgin Mary, which is was many Catholics say and what you will see if you look at medieval art
The biggest clue we get as to who we are dealing with comes in the twelve-starred crown.
Let’s look at Genesis 37:9-10
Jacob clearly understood his son’s dream.
He is the sun.
His wife is the moon.
The stars are his other eleven sons.
And so the stars here a reference to that.
The twelve stars clue us into the fact that this is woman represents the people of God, since the people of God sprang from the 12 sons who serve as the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel.
This is a good time to remind ourselves that in the genre of Jewish apocalyptic literature, which Revelation is, twelve is a number that symbolizes completeness in humanity.
And in Revelation, and in the Bible in general, twelve is number associated with God’s people.
God brings forth a nation from Abraham and how many tribes are there?
Twelve.
Fast-forward to the New Testament.
Jesus calls disciples who will be the patriarchs of a New Covenant community.
They will build His church.
How many of them does He call?
Twelve.
That was not on accident.
Judas turns heel and dies and what do they do?
They replace him.
Why?
Because you need 12 to be complete.
At that point, they understood exactly what they were being called to build.
So this woman represents the people of God.
She is clothed with the sun and she has the moon under her feet.
This accomplishes two things.
On one hand, the sun and moon next to the 12 stars helps you connect this to Genesis 39.
The Lord doesn’t want us to miss that, so He is leaving the breadcrumbs.
But on the other hand, the sun and moon tell us something about this woman.
She is clothed with the sun.
This depicts beauty of the people of God.
She is arrayed in burning brightness.
She reflects the brilliance of her majestic God.
She has the moon under her feet like sandals.
This displays the authority of the people of God.
Our Lord has the nations as His footstool.
That is His inheritance.
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