Revelation Lesson 5

All right. Here's our Series. This is a chart of the Book of Revelation that I want to put on the screen. I don't expect you to Copy all this down, or understand it, but what I my main, my main point is there are different ways to approach, understanding The Book of Revelation and I'm in the preaching that we're having here on Sunday mornings were doing Bible studies were having sermons do in the sermons. I'm following a particular way of understanding The Book of Revelation that I that I like, that makes sense, that I think is faithful to the message of the text. But there are a few ways that people approached the book. So I wanted to share with you the way I'm taking us. And I just thought while I was at it, I would share with you kind of some of my resources so this book probably looks kind of old because it is kind of old. This book was published in 1945, but it's an awesome Classic on the Book of Revelation is More than conquerors by William Hendrickson. And the reason that that graphic is kind of old-fashioned e looking is because it's a picture from one of the pages in this book. Here's a couple of more contemporary books that I really like this little book by Richard bauckham, Richard bauckham is the kind of Theologian that if you write something, I want to read it. And he wrote this little book on the Theology of the Book of Revelation. This, this wouldn't be a book that you would say. I want to know what 12:3 means and open it up. It's more. What's the? Yeah, what's the Book of Revelation about how is it organized? And how do we read it and understand it? And then this is a commentary, this should be a book that you could open to and look for what does 12:3 mean. This is Craig, koester Revelation in the end of all things. So these are there other new books and old books that could be used but these are three that I've gone after to find and heard about and amusing. So In Hendrickson's book, he understands that the Book of Revelation keeps traveling the distance, from the first coming of Jesus to the second coming of Jesus from different perspectives and included in the second coming of Jesus would be the final judgment and then it ushers in the new Heaven and the new Earth. And he sees 7 parallel Journeys across that timeline from the first coming to the second coming of Jesus, in The Book of Revelation. The first one in each one has kind of a symbol connected to it. So the first one is the lamp stands and that's the seven churches that we studied in chapters 1 through 3. The second one is the seals and their he sent about the church suffering trial and persecution in chapters 4 through 7. And then the third one, we just completed is the trumpets and he says, those are about the church Avenged protected and Victorious. And Terry says, those first three are about the church in the world. And then the second for he has in Darker because the kind of the spiritual

Warfare intensifies in the second parts of the intensity increases as you go along. So we're starting today to think about a dragon and the church and that's in a section and then plow my doing that.

What am I touching this stand?

Oh, with the wire. Okay, thank you. And then after that, there are going to be bowls that get poured out and they're going to there's going to be a few chapters on Babylon. There's going to be the final chapters on God. Consummating, this whole intention of bringing a new Heaven and a new Earth that he's been telling us about. What I like about this is it helps us to get at the main idea and the main idea of the Book of Revelation is Jesus was and he is right now, he's raining right now and he is to come that that's how he described himself. In chapter one was is is to come. And the most important thing in your life is that you live. As if God the Father God the son, God the Holy Spirit was is and is to come. Remember that and live your life as if it's true, if you have to give something up, if you have to endure some suffering for that, it's a good deal. Don't let anybody talk you into neglecting the reality that Jesus was and is and is to come. That's what the Book of Revelation is all about. But let me also say there are other ways of understanding it. So I was talking to Jeff Coyle about ways of understanding The Book of Revelation that he's experienced in church, that he's been a part of, and he sent me this graphic and this you don't need to try to understand this, but this is an end times chart and it has Revelation material along the bottom to seal Two Trumpets, the Bulls the battle of Armageddon. The second coming of Jesus, there's a Rapture in which Christians are taken out before a time of tribulation. There's a literal Millennium. Of a thousand years. This is usually called dispensational premillennial. so, they're all these names for, for the different approaches and we're not trying to understand either of these two Graphics in detail. So let me just take you back to the one that I'm using. I think no matter which approach you take and no matter how you would sketch out what you think the end times are going to be like, according to the Bible that we all end up at the same place, we all end up with the same message. Jesus was Jesus, is Jesus his to come live your life as if that's reality. That is the most important thing for you to know about how you live your life today he was he is he is to come I want another thing. My dad had a joke, I guess it was a joke.

People would ask what approach to to the end times. Do you take in the usual choices? Are premillennial? Post millennial a millennial. So what are you? Premillennial Millennial. My dad's standard answer was. I am paying Millennium and Millennia. What does that mean? I'm waiting to see what pans out.

I like the humbleness of that. If I'm wrong, I'm good. Because it's getting the main message, right? That's the important thing. Okay, that's enough. Today we are reading chapter 12 in Sam. Niemeier is our reader today. So Sam, come on up. and, Can I give us today's Bible passage please.

Revelations 12:1 through 17. and a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon, under her feet and on her head, a crown of twelve Stars, she was pregnant, it was crying on birth pains and the agony of giving birth Another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads, and ten horns, and on his head, 7 diadem's, his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth and the dragon, stood before the woman and was about to give birth so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne and the woman fled Into the Wilderness where she asked has a place prepared by God and which she has to be nursed for 1260 days. Now, War Rose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon, and his angels fought back, but he was defeated. And there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The Great Dragon was thrown down the agents agent ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the Earth and his angels were thrown down with him and I heard a loud voice and having saying, now, the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the ins and the authority of his of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down Who accuses them day and night before God and they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony for they loved not their lives, even unto death. Therefore Rejoice O heavens and you who dwell in them, but woe to you all Earth and sea. For the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short. When the dragon saw, they have been thrown down to the Earth, to pursue the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the Great Eagle so that she might fly from the serpent Into the Wilderness, to the place where she is for the nurse for a time and times, and half the time, the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with a flood. But the Earth came to help the war, came to the help of the woman and the Earth, open his mouth and swallow the river. That's Ragan had four from his mouth, then the dragon became furious with a woman. It went off, did make war on the rest of her Offspring on those who keep the Commandments of God, and hold to the testimony of Jesus and he stood on the sand of the sea.

Hey Sam. What version of the Bible were you just reading?

ESV which stands for English Standard Version. So, the original of the Book of Revelation was written in Greek and therefore, we have translations from Greek into English and that's why they're slightly different wording. And so what was on the screen is new or International Version? What time is reading is ESV, English Standard Version story, and meaning it's about the fight between good and evil. And so, let's just treat it like a fight story, and let's start with asking the question. Who are the characters in this fight? So there are three of them. And the first one is this woman and she's described as closed with the Sun, the Moon is under her feet. She has a crown of twelve stars on her head and in addition to that she's pregnant and not only is she pregnant but she's having the baby. She's crying out in the Pains of childbirth. So she's one of the characters. Then there's a dragon, the dragon subscribed us enormous and has seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns. There might be other ways to configure this, but I'm picturing that every head has a horn except for three, that have two horns. So seven heads, and ten horns. Three crowns, his tail sweeps. A third of the stars out of the sky and maybe that's about the fact that in chapter one, the stars that are mentioned are the Angels of the of the seven churches of The province of Asia. So Stars angels, in that case, maybe this dragon Whooping, a bunch of stars out of the sky is about Satan. Recruiting, I guess angels to, to be with him. And then the worst part of this story is the dragon is poised in front of the woman who is giving birth expecting to Devour the child, the moment it's born. And then the third character is the child. And what we read about the child is that this child has an iron scepter and that little phrase we've heard before in the Book of Revelation, it it's referring back to Revelation 2:9 and it it's a picture, it's an Old Testament picture, that's pointing ahead to the Messiah. So let's just go there and take a look at that. This is chapter 2 Psalm 2 verses 7 through 9 in the Lord's. Decree he said to me, you are my son today. I have become your father, this is in the Old Testament, a song that the the people of Israel came to understand as being about someone who's coming about this one. God is going to send you will? I skip verse 8? Sorry, ask me and I will make them Nations your inheritance, the ends of the Earth, your possession, you will break them with a rod of iron. You will Dash them to pieces. Like Pottery another way of Translating that verse that first line is you will rule them with an iron scepter. And that's the way it's quoted in what we read. There's this the child is born, and the child is the one who will rule them with an iron scepter. So those are the characters in this fight story. And then the next part in any fight, story is the action. So, let's get into the action. There is enmity between the dragon and the woman and the child, the woman and the child are a team and they're fighting against the dragon. But interesting. Lee the the woman and the end of the child aren't described as the ones who are doing the fighting the fighting that's described is Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon and his angels and

Michael. And his angels are able to be Victorious and the dragon, and his angels are not strong enough. That's the description. And so they are curled down-to-earth. So, there is this there's Heaven the Heavenly Realms with the authority in the power that are associated there and there's Earth with its limited Authority and power. And this is devil has been cast down to earth. the dragon is hurled to the Earth and he

he's got some limitation of his strength and Authority by virtue of being on the earth. He's lost the fight is what it's about. So this is a good time to just stop and say okay let's figure out who these characters are that we introduced that are in the fight who's this woman?

And I put what I think are the sensible options on the screen. Maybe this woman is Mary, the mother of Jesus, that would make sense because she's giving birth to this child. This child is described as that Messiah figure from the Old Testament. The problem with Mary is she's described very grandly clothed with the sun and moon under her feet, 12 stars on her head. And yeah that just seems a little grander than this. That's really wonderful, human being Mary. So maybe maybe there's somebody else in mind. Second option would be Eve. And the reason that Eve makes pretty good sense is because in Genesis 3:15, when God is talking to Eve and the serpent after the serpent tempted, Adam and Eve to eat the from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. God says to the serpent in Genesis 3 verse 15. I will put enmity between you and the woman in between your Offspring, The Serpent's Offspring and hers. The woman's Offspring. The woman's Offspring will crush your head. in other words, God saying to the serpent. The woman's Offspring is going to finish you off and you will strike his heel. You're going to hurt his foot. He's going to crush your head. God says, that at the very beginning,

After the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden. So maybe this woman is like the mother of all Humanity. That seems like a sensible possibility.

Other students of the Book of Revelation have suggested this third possibility, which is somehow this woman is personifying, the people of God, the so close. That the Sun out that there's this kind of grand part, but the 12 stars on her head, the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 disciples of Jesus. If we go to verse 17 they are described as

Those who keep God's commands and holdfast their testimony about Jesus. So, this wouldn't be just the Old Testament people of God, this would be the followers of Jesus to maybe the woman is a personification of all, the people of God across time, the Old Testament and the New Testament, people of God, I like that. It makes some sense of, I don't know that we have to know the exact answer. A representative to be sure. Who's the dragon? The Dragon Gets identified for us. The dragon is Satan and I have a riddle for you. How do you know when Satan is lying? Yes, when he talks, when he opens his mouth, I was going to say when his lips are moving. It's Satan doing Satan's. Natural thing is, he's deceiving the world. away from God and toward his plans, which Are not going anywhere because he's lost in his time is short. Who's the child? He's not identified as Jesus but he's identified as the one who will rule with an iron scepter. He's the child of this woman took her thinking about the woman as the the people of God personified. Then you could see that. Jesus comes from the people of God. Matthew describes him as the son of Abraham, the son of David,

Again, I don't think it matters if you get it all figured out, it's it's quite obvious that Jesus is the child in this story. Okay, so we're talking about the actions. Oh, sorry, I got ahead of myself after The. Dragon is hurled to Earth. There was this song that gets some Then I heard a loud voice in heaven. Say so maybe it's not a song, maybe it's a speech. Now, I've come to Salvation in the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before, our God day and night has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from Death. Here's a fascinating thing. I thought it was Michael and his angels fought against the Dragon. but Michael and his angels wouldn't be described as

covered by the blood of the Lamb. Or described by the word of their testimony. That would describe the followers of Jesus, who received the Forgiveness of Jesus through his blood, who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Those are those are a couple of descriptions that we've had in the Book of Revelation. So there's a spiritual battle call is is can be described as being fought by Michael and his angels or could be described as being fought by you. If you're a follower of Jesus, And how is it that they win this battle? They win the followers of Jesus win this battle through the blood of Jesus. So what Jesus did for his people as it as God having become a person himself. And then by their faithful, testimony to who Jesus is a testimony that so faithful. That if, if they have to submit themselves to something that takes away from their life or even takes away their life altogether, there are willing to do it because they're sold out to the reality that Jesus was and is and is to come.

Oh, and then I worried about the the Dragon Rejoice, you Heavens but woe to the Earth because the devil has gone down to you. He's filled with fury because he knows that his time is short. Some furious people are aggressive and see themselves as winning. But some furious people, some dangerous, people are in a corner and they're afraid. And that Satan he's backed into a corner and he's afraid. Have you ever cornered an animal?

How to set in Colorado Springs with three other pastors. We were having a little Retreat together and we went for a hike one day. So we're hiking over the hills, I'm second in line, we're walking single file on this skinny. Pat Nate visker is in front of me and I rock along and all the sudden Nate. I don't know how he did it. He's an athletic guy. He just he's going the other direction before I even New. What happened. So I'm like stopping like this. And there is a rattlesnake right there. Shaking its tail. Its head poised. Ready to strike not because it was out hunting for some people to eat. Let's go get some people for lunch. It was Under a, under a little shrub, in the shade on a hot day and we cornered it in its spot. So fortunately we just backed up and took a big wide path around because we needed it to go that way that that's what comes to my mind when I think of cornering, a wild animal. Have you ever cornered one? They're dangerous. But not because they're winning, they're dangerous because they they don't have any other options. And that's who Satan is. On Earth, the dragon is Raging because he's vulnerable on Earth, the woman and her offspring are protected for the whole time that Satan is fighting them. That seems to be what the message of chapter 12 is. And there's a set of numbers that all seemed to add up to the same thing that are coming up here. One of them is in verse 6, the woman is escapes to the Wilderness for 1260 days. How many years is 1260 days of Proxima, B, three and a half. Probably exactly three and a half. If we just kind of figured out how, how many days should we cuz we live in the twenty-first century, how many days would they have put in a month? Anyhow, about three and a half years. Another number that comes up is a time times and a half a time. So one time times, how many is that? That's just For argument's A, to B at least 2 cuz it has enhanced its its plural time times and a half the time. So if it's 21 x, + 2 x, that's three times plus a half the time that's three and a half something. Well, it's interesting that 1260 days and three and a half years match each other and there's one other set of numbers. It's in chapter 11 when the temple is described as being attacked of four. It's it's attacked for 42 months. How many years is 42 months? Three and a half. So there seems to be this three-and-a-half thing going on. Three and a half weeks at least is 1/2 of seven. The Book of Revelation loves the number 7 as a complete list, completeness. Number Here. It's the. Of it's the length of time that the woman is protected from the serpent. So maybe the three and a half years is is a picture of a limited, a lengthy, but limited. Of time. Maybe it's the whole. Between the first and the second coming of Jesus, where the followers of Jesus are living in a world that involves pain and suffering and the light and God is protecting his people in all of it, the woman's described as being given Eagle's Wings and she flies into the wilderness. The Israelites were protected in the wilderness in Deuteronomy when God's reflecting on that he says, I lifted You Up On Eagle's Wings and cared for you. So here's This personification of the people of God, being given Eagle's Wings and a place that she's protected is in the wilderness.

So summarizing, I think the big picture of chapter 12, Satan doesn't have a place in heaven anymore.

Jesus is raining in heaven. The child was

What's the word I'm captured up to heaven. Jesus is in heaven, with his father. And this isn't here in this chapter, but this is in the New Testament, the people of God are often described. As being with Jesus, your citizenship is in heaven with Jesus. So, Ephesians chapter one says that you, if you're a follower of Jesus are seated in the Heavenly Realms with him, Satan has no access to Heaven anymore. You, if you're a follower of Jesus, have a place in heaven, and there's something about the authority in the power of Heaven. That is important. All right. It seems like one piece and we're trying to understand. But we also want every time we're reading it to say, what's God telling me today. So here are some things that I sense. God is telling us from Revelation, chapter 12 The wilderness. The Wilderness is a place of hardship but it's also a place of powerful moving by God. The Israelites we're in the wilderness but it's in the wilderness that there was a column of smoke by day and Fire by night. That was the presence of God with them. God providing them water out of rocks, he provided them Mana. Keep protected them from their enemies. It was in the wilderness where God took care of them. This woman goes into the Wilderness. Jesus went off into the Wilderness where he fasted and God took care of him, so you might find yourself in the wilderness, Rob, Gerwig. He's finding himself in the wilderness of dealing with this illness right now. Nobody wants to be in the wilderness, but if you are in the wilderness, it's often a powerful place of the presence of God and the provision of God.

Second Satan is scared and cornered. Don't underestimate him, but don't overestimate him either. Satan's time is short. And he's yeah, he's going down but he's angry. So since he knows he hasn't one and he can't win. He seems just because that's that's who he is. He seems content to settle for a while. I'm going to take as many of these prized human beings that God made with me. So what he wants to convince you of there is no God. There is no Jesus who was and is and who is to come. So just choose me. And of course, choosing the loser, who is going down is bad, choosing the one, who is, who was and who is and who is to come? Is where life is so things like that? Rattlesnake don't underestimate the rattlesnake, but don't under don't overestimate him either. What we needed to do was back away slowly and take a wide swath and get back on the path and, and it wasn't a thing.

The way Jesus followers win. We do not win by our testimony. I just the Temptation is to say they won, they won the fight by their testimony. That's just be clear. That's not what it says. They won the fight by the blood of the lamb. And by their testimony, the blood of the Lamb is is where your righteousness comes from. And a testimony is just pointing to Jesus, who was, who is and who is to come? they they they hang on to that even if it requires

some persistence from them. Okay. We're going to end with the song. So how about if you guys come up and get set up so we can roll right into it.

This has two things have me thinking about music one, there's this song right in the middle of this chapter. The other is I was in here last week because there was in California visiting, my mother who is 98 years old. She does not remember people. Well, so the first day we walked in, she had no idea who I was. Some guys grabbing her wheelchair and Wheeling her off into a side room saying we're going to have a conversation and she's looking at me like who are you by the third day? She I walked into said hey mom and your son Jonathan here and she said my son, Jonathan so she kind of if you have enough repetition, she gets it. She can't really complete a.