An Apocalyptic Christmas Story
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Please turn to Revelation 12:1-6 as we consider An Apocalyptic Christmas Story.
For many folks, Christmas is their favorite time of year. They love to decorate their homes, and join in with others to share the joy of this season. Many of these very same folks do not celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. They are focused on Santa Claus coming to town accompanied by Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. Even though they miss out on the true meaning of Christmas, they still celebrate the joy of giving.
For other folks, Christmas is a stressful time. The stress may come from various directions. They may be financially stressed, wishing they could provided a “better Christmas” for their family. And by better Christmas they mean purchasing more toys! Or stress may come from the workplace that wants their employees to work through Christmas, and ignore their families. Or stress may come from extended families — that one relative who always gets on their nerves.
For other folks, Christmas is a lonely time. On my mom’s side of the family, we always had a big Christmas Eve party with all of my mom’s siblings, her mother, and all of the cousins. And often we would get together with at least one of her siblings and their families for dinner on Christmas day as well. I really miss those big family get togethers. This year will mark the first time in which none of our adult children will be coming home for Christmas. So, it will just be the three of us, and we will probably have Gail’s dad over as well.
Christmas is not about our giving gifts to others. It is not about the things which might stress us out. It is not about family gatherings.
If it is not about these things, then what is it about? It is about the demonstration of God’s love to helpless sinners.
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
I guess you could say that Christmas is about gift giving — but God is the One who is giving the gift. And it is a singular gift. It is the gift of redemption from sin for those who embrace the babe who was born in the manger. The One who lived a sinless life, and became sin, though He never sinned, He became sin so that sinners could become righteous in Him.
This morning’s text may seem like a surprising text for Christmas Sunday. And frankly, I am surprised that I picked this text — or better put, that our exposition of Revelation brought us to the point in which this text would be studied on Christmas Sunday.
Last week I gave you a homework assignment, to read this text and see how it might be a fitting Christmas text. I will not ask for a show of hands as to who completed this assignment or not. But I will tell you why this text is appropriate for today. This text references the birth of our Savior in an apocalyptic sort of way.
Let’s read our text together.
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.
And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Let’s begin by looking at
The Overview
The Overview
Last week I mentioned that beginning with our text this morning, there is a shift in the narrative of this passage. This passage does not follow last week’s passage chronologically. Chapters 12-14 go back through the Tribulation era from a different point of view. Chapters 4-11 focus on Christ reclaiming what is rightfully His. And chapters 12-14 focus on Satan’s attempts to keep Christ from reclaiming what rightfully belong to Christ.
Note that,
While the Birth of Christ is Mentioned in our Text, the Focus of this Text is on the Satanic Opposition to God’s Predetermined Plan
Let’s move on to look at
The Identification of the Characters
The Identification of the Characters
Our first character in this divine drama is first mentioned in verses. 1-2.
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
While the identity of the other two characters who are a part of this divine narrative is pretty easy to solve, the identity of this woman is not so easy. There are three major views as to who this woman is.
The first view is that she is Mary, the mother of Jesus. The main reason for this view is that the child whom she gives birth to, which we will look at in a few moments, is definitely Jesus Christ. So, mystery solved correct? It is not so easy as that. First of all, the description of her being clothed in the sun and wearing a crown does not seem to picture Mary who was a peasant girl by most accounts. We will see later on in the text that this woman fled to the wilderness to hide from the dragon who was seeking to harm her child. Catholic theologians use this passage to support their veneration of Mary. But this passage just doesn’t fit Mary. Toward the end of this chapter the dragon spews out water like a river hoping to drown her in a flood, but the earth opens its mouth and swallows up the water to protect her. Again, there is nothing in Scripture which points to anything like this happening to Mary.
The second view is that this woman is symbolic for the church. Again, many Catholic scholars, as well as many Protestant scholars hold this view. But the problem with this view is that the church is pictured as the Bride of Christ and not as the mother of Christ. The church did not give birth to Christ. Christ gave birth to the church.
The third view, and in my opinion the best view, is that the woman symbolizes the nation of Israel. Look again at the description of this woman in verse 1. Revelation 12:1 “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;”
Compare this with one of the dreams of Jacob’s eleventh son, Joseph, as recorded in
Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
In this dream the sun referred to his father, Jacob (also known as Israel). The moon referred to his mother (or perhaps stepmother, Leah, since his birth mom, Rachel, had probably already died by this time). And the eleven stars bowing down referred to his brothers. This dream was fulfilled several years later when Joseph was second in all of the land of Egypt.
Any Jewish reader of Revelation, which was written by a Jewish prophet, would automatically connect this passage to the nation of Israel. Yes, Jesus’ mother, Mary, did give birth to Him. But so did the nation of Israel since Jesus was born as a Jewish male, and heir to the throne of David.
So,
The First Character in this Divine Narrative Symbolizes the Nation of Israel
Let’s look now at the second character. Look at verse 3.
Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.
This character is much easier to identify since the text does it for us in verse 9.
And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Note that,
The Red Dragon Symbolizes Satan
Look again at verse 3.
Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.
There is a similarity between this dragon and Daniel’s vision of the fourth beast in chapter seven of his prophecy. Speaking of the red dragon, MacArthur noted, “The seven heads with their seven diadems (diadema; royal crowns symbolizing power and authority) represent seven consecutive world empires running their course under Satan’s dominion: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Antichrist’s future empire (17:9–10).” (John F. MacArthur Jr., Revelation 12–22, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 2000), 7.)
MacArthur went on to say, “The final kingdom, ruled by Antichrist, will be a ten-nation confederacy; the ten horns represent the kings who will rule under Antichrist (17:12; cf. 13:1; Dan. 7:23–25).” (John F. MacArthur Jr., Revelation 12–22, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 2000), 7.)
Let’s now consider the third character of this Divine Narrative. Look at verse 5.
And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
Note that,
This Male Child is Jesus Christ
Though His name is not mentioned in the text, or any of the names by which He has been referred in Revelation, such as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, or the Lamb, it is very clear that this is none other than Jesus the Son of David. Why is it so clear? Because of the statement that He is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. This phrase is used three times of Christ in the Book of Revelation. It stems from a prophecy regarding Messiah from
‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’ ”
Look at verse 5 again.
And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
Not much is said about Christ’s life on earth in this text. There is nothing about His stunning teaching. There is nothing about the signs and wonders which He performed. There is nothing about His sinless life. There is nothing about His substitutionary death which purchased the redemption of His people. John has a lot to say about these things in his gospel account and his first epistle, but not here. We go straight from His birth to His ascension to heaven following His death and resurrection. Why do you think that is?
It is because the focus of this passage is on Satan’s desire is to devour the Christ-child so that God’s plan of redemption will not come to fulfillment. But nothing can thwart God’s plan.
Let’s move from the identification of the characters to
The Efforts of Satan
The Efforts of Satan
Note that,
Satan will Never Stop Attempting to Thwart the Plans of God
Look at verse 4.
And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
When we looked at the fifth trumpet, in chapter 9, we noted that the star from heaven which fell to the earth was a fallen angel. Here again, fallen angels are pictured by the third of the stars of heaven being thrown to the earth. In eternity past, when Satan sought to usurp the throne of God in heaven, he led a third of the angels in rebellion with him. So, this text might be looking back at that. Although, being that this text is an overview of things to come, it is more likely that it is a reference to what we will look at next week regarding the dragon being cast out of heaven (see verse 13).
Notice the dragon’s location. He was standing before the woman who was about to give birth. I would think that if he wanted to get rid of the child he would attack the woman while still pregnant and kill both mother and child. Robert L. Thomas wrote, “The dragon’s struggle is primarily with the woman’s child, not with her, so he stands before her waiting for the birth to take place.” (Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1995), 124–125.)
This is not to say that he doesn’t make war with the woman as well. Later in this chapter we will see that since he couldn’t kill the Christ-child he would make war on the woman. But the woman was divinely protected by God so that he was not able to overcome her with his great power.
Thomas wrote, “The dragon’s evil intentions toward the woman’s unborn child evidenced themselves throughout OT history. Instances of his hostility surfaced in Cain’s murder of Abel (Gen. 4:8), the corrupting of the line of Seth (Gen. 6:1–12), attempted rapes of Sarah (Gen. 12:10–20; 20:1–18) and Rebekah (Gen. 26:1–18), Rebekah’s plan to cheat Esau out of his birthright and the consequent enmity of Esau against Jacob (Gen. 27), the murder of the male children in Egypt (Ex. 1:15–22), attempted murders of David (e.g., 1 Sam. 18:10–11), Queen Athaliah’s attempt to destroy the royal seed (2 Chron. 22:10), Haman’s attempt to slaughter the Jews (Esther 3–9), and consistent attempts of the Israelites to murder their own children for sacrificial purposes (cf. Lev. 18:21; 2 Kings 16:3; 2 Chron. 28:3; Ps. 106:37–38; Ezek. 16:20).” (Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1995), 125.)
In Matthew 2 we learn about Satan enticing Herod the Great to kill the infant Jesus. After giving the Magi from the east the general location of the Christ-child, he instructed them to inform him of His exact location. He claimed that he too wanted to go and worship the Child. But his intention was to murder the child so that no one would take away his throne. After he figured out that he had been duped by the Magi he went into a murderous rage. We read in
Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.
Next week, Lord willing, we will see that since Satan could not destroy this special child that was born in a manger of hay, he began to make war on the people of Jewish descent. He incited Titus to destroy Jerusalem in 70 AD in an attempt to make war on the Jews. He incited the Muslims to conquer the land of Palastine and do horrendous things to the Jews who were still living there. He incited some of the people during the Crusades to make war, not only on the Turks who were occupying the Holy Land, but to make war on the Jews as well.
Satan has not given up his attempts to annihilate the Jewish race. More recently he incited Hitler and Stalin to try to eradicate the Jewish race. Just last year Satan incited Hamas terrorists to do horrendous things to the Jews living in Israel. But no matter how hard Satan tries to thwart God’s plans, God cannot be thwarted.
Let’s turn from Satan’s efforts to
The Protection of God
The Protection of God
Rather than Satan thwarting God’s plan, God thwarted Satan’s plan. After the Magi visited Joseph, Mary, and Jesus in Bethlehem, God warned Joseph in a dream to get up and flea Judea and go to Egypt. There the child was protected from the reach of Herod until after the King’s death.
Verse 6 pictures what will happen during the Tribulation regarding the nation of Israel.
Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
As I have said before, during the first three and a half years of the Tribulation, the nation of Israel will be protected by the Antichrist by means of a peace treaty. But midway through the Tribulation, Satan will incite the Antichrist against Israel, and he will break his peace treaty, and commit the abomination of desolation. Then the worst holocaust against the Jews which the world has ever known will begin.
But God has a plan for that as well. The holy remnant of the nation, described by Paul as true Israel, will flee into an undisclosed location in the wilderness. And there God will protect and provide for them for three and a half years. Though we don’t know for sure, some believe that it will be in the region east of the Jordan river, and south of the Dead Sea, in the areas occupied in Bible times by Moab, Ammon, and Edom. This is pieced together based on a vision given to Daniel about the Antichrist.
“At the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through. He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.
God has a protection plan for His people. And no one can thwart His protection plan.
Even now, God has a protection for His people which is operating in the world as we speak. The protection plan involves a complete deliverance from the domain of darkness which is ruled by Satan. And a transfer into the kingdom of Christ. This plan was put into action through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
This babe, who the woman gave birth to, grew to be a man. He lived a sinless life. He died a cruel death. He rose again from the grave claiming victory over sin and death. And all who embrace Jesus as their Savior are eternally forgiven for their sins and offenses against God. They are adopted into the family of God, and they become joint heirs with Jesus Christ.
If you have not done so, won’t you embrace Jesus today?
Let’s pray.
Holy Father in Heaven,
Hallowed by Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our transgressions as we forgive those who transgress against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Yours in the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
Father, I further pray for any here who are not believers in Jesus, that this would be the day that Your Holy Spirit awakens them out of spiritual slumber, and breaths the breath of spiritual life into their nostrils, and they become alive in Christ.
I pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.
