Cosmic Conflict, Part 2 | Rev 12:7-17

I’m not exactly a connoisseur of the WNBA, but here in Indiana there is a women’s basketball team called the Indiana Fever. On the Indiana Fever there is a player by the name of Caitlin Clark.

Women’s basketball doesn’t usually come across my radar pretty much ever, but this year I became aware of stories surrounding Clark because her entrance into the WNBA last season caused a stir that it is estimated that she was single handedly responsible for over 25% of the the WNBA entire economic activity. The WNBA has been a struggling league for many years, and with the emergence of Clark, who has been playing at a very high level, won the Rookie of the Year award last year while finishing 4th in MVP voting, suddenly there is interest in league and many are tuning in to watch her play.

And yet. Clark is not without her detractors. Despite her success and the benefit this has on the league overall, there are several players who have made it their personal mission to ruin Clark. It’s hard to imagine a motive other than jealousy, but every time Caitlin Clark steps on the court, she is treated viciously by opposing players. They foul her harder than anyone else, they grab her, they push her, they hit her.

Clark faces relentless adversity. She has adversaries on the court and off, and everywhere she turns she is attacked.

Maybe you aren’t basketball fan. I’m certainly not much of one. But you have watched people face relentless adversity, or maybe you’ve been on the receiving end it.

One of the names that Scripture gives to the Devil is Satan, which is the Hebrew word that means Adversary. He is God’s adversary, seeking to oppose the work of God as we saw last week. But he is also our adversary, he is the adversary of the saints as he works against us and works to accuse us before the Lord.

Just as Clark faces dirty play, slanderous remarks, and all kinds of verbal abuse from her relentless adversaries, so too the saints of God face the relentless adversary of the Devil himself and all his henchmen as he tries to do everything in his power to steal, kill, and destroy.

We are going to see some of this work of Satan during in our text today.

Admittedly there will be some overlap of application and points of discussion from last week, as this entire chapter really has one unifying theme. I think we can all agree that 90 minutes is just too much for a sermon.

Revelation 12:7–17 LSB

And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 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. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witness, and they did not love their life even to death. “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the witness of Jesus.

Be Conscious of the Conflict

War between Satan and the holy angels

Daniel 12:1 LSB

“Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will stand. And there will be a time of distress such as never happened since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.

I take all this to take place at the mid point of the tribulation. the 3.5 year timeline from verses 6 and 14, along with details from Dan 9 and 12 help establish this.

Satan, perhaps puffed with pride about his rule on earth for the first 3.5 years, or perhaps in an act of desperation, makes a full on assault on heaven.

Satan has access to heaven normally. Job 1, Dan 10

Satan not strong enough. Imagine that. Cast down.

Names of Satan

Great Dragon.

Serpent - Gen 3

The Devil - Slanderer

Satan - The Adversary (God’s and yours)

Deceiver of the world

vs 10 Accuser of our brothers

We talked last week of the need to be aware of the present activity of Satan. Not only is he active through his demons on earth to tempt and lead astray, but here it says he accuses us before God night and day.

Dan 10 speaks of Michael fighting the prince of Persia. Some kind of territorial evil spirit.

Ephesians 6:12 LSB

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Somewhere between “there’s a devil behind every bush” and a practical anti-supernatural worldview is the truth that we live with the reality of spiritual warfare every day.

We must be conscious of the conflict. We have to be aware that this is happening even now! Right now Satan stands before God and accuses you of all the sins that you probably really are committing!

Have you ever been accused of something you didn’t do?

Or worse. Been accused of something you know you did do, but thought no one else did?

Unless you have Jesus Christ as your advocate, you will stand condemned in your sins.

This is the conflict that we face. This is battle. Not just that we are tempted by the devil, but then when you sin, he takes that before the Lord and says “DID YOU SEE WHAT HE DID!” How will you stand?

Unless you stand having been washed clean by the blood of the lamb, you will not stand. But if you have trusted in the finished work of Christ upon the cross and his risen life, you can be confident in the conqueror.

Be Confident in the Conqueror

Satan doesn’t win! Even during the tribulation, saints and martyers will be accused by Satan, and yet they will overcome!

Announcement of victory in vs 10. similar to the announcement in chapter 11. With the casting down the Satan, the beginning of the end has come!

There is constant and relentless attack against the saints from the enemy, how could any of us have possibly survived the onslaught?

Because of the blood of the lamb.

There is no survival outside of Christ.

Christ has overcome! He has conquered! Be confident in him as your advocate today! ! 1 John 2:1

1 John 2:1 LSB

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

Because of the word of their witness

They have remained faithful witnesses.

This is how we overcome the lies of the devil - with truth!

When attacked do you counter with truth? Are you wearing the armor of God? do you remind yourself of truth like Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” ?

You have born witness to the truth of the saving power of God! Cling to that! Let Christ be your confidence!

Because they did not love their life to death.

Jesus was more joyous than a mere earthly existence

Christ more cherished than cheap

The Lord’s love was preferred over the present populace.

for this reason, rejoice! Be Cofidence in the Conqueror.

This was the response of the martyrs in heaven at the casting out of Satan. No more to accuse the brothers. No more to more to war against heaven. This was not the end of Satan’s activity, however. For those who dwell on the earth, things are about to get heavy. For those who remain and must endure the wrath of the enemy, they must

Be Courageous in the Crisis

Declaration of woe.

Cast down, great wrath.

Not the same kind of wrath as the Lord’s. God’s wrath = rational. disposition toward sin. Devil’s wrath = emotional. Like our wrath, times a million.

He has but a short time.

This explains his fury upon the earth, such that it’s not just God’s judgment on those in rebellion, but saints are heavily persecuted in the last 3.5 years. Likely the reason why 3.5 years in he makes offerings cease and breaks the covenant, according to Dan 9:27.

Satan behaves like a man who knows he’s about to be fired so he does whatever he can to sabotage the company and wreck havoc on his way out.

He persecuted the woman. He hates Israel and wants her destroyed.

God protects her. The wings remind us of

Exodus 19:4 LSB

‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I lifted you up on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.

Deuteronomy 32:11–12 LSB

“Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them; He carried them on His pinions. “Yahweh alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.

These texts speak of God’s care for his people. And he does so again in the tribulation.

Times time, and have a time. notice the consistent 3.5 year language we saw in Daniel. We have now seen the same timeframe given in weeks, months, days, and now “times”, in both Daniel and here in Revelation. It baffles me that people still try to downplay the literal fulfillment of the this time period.

God is going to providentially protect Israel from the wild fury of the Devil.

Water like a flood. Impossible to say with certainty what this will be. I’ve wondered if this is the demonic armies described back in chapter 9 with the 5th and 6th trumpets. No way to know that, but it fits how the Bible uses the flood language to speak of armies. In any case, it’s a massive attack on Israel, yet thwarted by God.

Further enraged by this, the dragon goes after “the rest of her seed”

These are defined as those who keep the commandments of God and have the witness of Jesus.

Lots of discussion about the identification of these individuals.

Some say the woman represents a Israel as a whole, while the remnent is the 144k sealed for witness

Some say the woman is the 144k, and the rest of the offspring are believeing Jews who will suffer and die as martyrs.

Some say the offspring are gentile saints.

It’s all over the place. I believe the woman is

The point of this section is two fold: Satan hates the saints and when he see his time is short, we will unleash a fury never before seen on the face of the earth.

Daniel 12:1 LSB

“Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will stand. And there will be a time of distress such as never happened since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.

Second, despite the Devil’s very best efforts. He loses! He cannot invade heaven. He cannot kill the woman.

Beloved, we don’t believe us as the church will live through this time. But there is so much to learn and this text ought to affect how we live.

We see the nature of Satan and his fury. We see the character of God. We see the conquering power of Christ!

Consider Col 2:13-15

Colossians 2:13–15 LSB

And you being dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions. Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us which was hostile to us, He also has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them in Him.

Church, the cosmic conflict rages. It will find its ultimate form and peak during the tribulation, but even now Satan rages against the saints. He attacks. He accuses. He would love nothing more than to cause you to make shipwreck of your faith.

But when Jesus died and rose again, he didn’t just provide the covering for your sin, but he crushed the serpent’s head!

He disarmed the rulers and authorities. Every accusation, every firey dart, every demonic scheme, all of it is ultimately futile because Christ has declared victory over it all!

You will feel the effects of the enemy’s activity in your life. Perhaps you feel it even now. Do you feel the temptation of the evil one? Do you feel as though your failure are insurmountable? Hear this: Christ has already won the day!

Be conscious of the conflict. Know what you are up against.

But be confident in the conqueror. There is no condemnation for you, dear saint. You are loved of God and even though the word of your testimony may cost you your very life, you can rest in knowing you that are secure in Christ. Secure today, tomorrow, and for all eternity.

Knowing this ought to make you courageous in any crisis that the enemy throws your way.

Stand for truth. Proclaim the Gospel! No matter what the earthly consequences might be, you can rest assured that Christ has already won the victory.