Overcoming the Enemy

The Wonders in Heaven — (Vs. 1-6)

The Woman — (Vs. 1-2)

Who is this woman?

Some believe it is Mary and although she was the earthly mother of our Lord she is not who it is referencing here.

Some believe it’s the Church, the Bride of Christ. But this cannot be either because the Church was born of Christ, not Christ born of the Church. So that is also misnomer.

Jesus told Peter in Matthew 16:18 “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

The Church belongs to Christ not the other way around. So who is this woman the Bible is speaking of here?

In order to get the answer, we have to go all the way back to the Book of Genesis and revisit a dream had by a fellow named Joseph the son of Jacob whose name had been changed to Israel. The Bible says in...

Gen. 37:9-10 — And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

Do you see any resemblances here? Sun, moon, stars. The woman we see here is none other than the Nation of Israel. She, being the Nation, was clothed with the Sun (Jacob), the moon (Rachel) and the crown of twelve stars represents the 12 children or tribes of Israel.

So the wonder woman the Bible is speaking of here is the Nation of Israel. And the Bible says that she being with child cried, travailing in birth and pained to be delivered.

I believe what the Bible is speaking of here is the attitude of the Nation of Israel just before Jesus came on the scene. They were being oppressed by the Romans in every direction. There was a huge divide between the people of Israel and the spiritual leaders of Israel. The Pharisees and the Sadducees had placed themselves on pedestals and acted as if they were better than everyone around them. They took no time to reach or teach the common people of the ways of God. They worried only about themselves and their advancement and not upon the things of others.

For the everyday Jew it seemed as if all hope was lost. The spiritual light of Israel had all but gone out and the people were crying out to God for a deliverer! That’s why when John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, come on the scene and began preaching repentance, he had such a large following. The people were looking for the Messiah! They were crying out as a woman in birth pangs looking for someone to deliver them from this drag of death that had become such a reality! They were looking for their Savior!

Now that we know who the wonder woman is, next lets look at the second wonder that appeared in heaven. The great red dragon.

The Great Red Dragon — (Vs. 3-6)

When the Bible references here the “great red dragon” I would like to think we all understand who it speaking of which is the devil, right?

But what you don’t need to think is that this description is speaking of his physical appearance.

When the Bible refers to him as “great” we need to understand that Satan does have great authority and power on this side of eternity. The Bible actually refers to him as...

“God of this world”

2 Corinthians 4:4 — In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

“Prince of this world”

John 12:31 — Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out:

John 14:30 — Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

John 16:11 — Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

“Prince of the Power of the air”

Ephes. 2:2 — Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

“King of a Kingdom”

Matthew 12:26 — And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

Matthew 4:8-9 — Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

We need to understand this morning Church that the devil is a mighty foe but praise be to God he’s not almighty, Amen! That title is reserved for one and that’s our God Jehovah! Amen!

Not only does it refer to him as “great” but then it refers to him as “red.”

Everyone has this idea in their mind that the devil is this red looking creature with horns and a pitchfork and that’s simply not the case. In my opinion there probably couldn’t be a further misrepresentation from the truth than that!

When it speaks of his “redness”, it speaks of Satan’s ruthlessness and thirst for blood. The Bible says of Satan in...

John 8:44 — Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

The devil is evil beyond compare! Jesus came to give life and give it more abundantly while Satan resides to steal, kill and destroy! Thus his redness refers to the evil that resides with him!

Then we have the description of a dragon. Now I remember as a kid seeing a picture of this great big snake/dragon with horns and an angel fighting him. And I can’t remember if it was in a Bible or what but undoubtedly that description came from these verses right here. But what you need to know is that Satan, or Lucifer, as the Bible calls him also, was just like the rest of the angels in heaven! The Bible says in...

Isaiah 14:12-15 — How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

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

Ezekiel 28:11-19 — Moreover the word of the lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

Lucifer, the bright and shining morning star was greatest creation God ever made! Beautiful in every way. Even an anointed cherub the Bible says. God had special plans for Lucifer until pride settled in his heart and he decided he was greater than God!

That little seed of pride was the beginning of the end for Satan and ever since then he has been falling and will continue to fall until one day he is cast in to the lake of fire and brimstone which is where he will reside for all eternity!

But the Bible says here that the dragon or Satan drew a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to earth. The stars are representative of angels. When Lucifer rebelled against God, somehow he talked 1/3 of the other angels to join him!

And they were all cast down to the earth! Yes there are angles among us! Some good, some bad!

Now look at what it says next here and the dragon stood before the woman to devour her child as soon as it was born!

Satan was scared of who this child was and who he would become and so he plans to kill him as soon as he’s born so that he will be no threat to him!

Now if you haven’t figured out the narrative yet, the child the Bible is speaking of here is Jesus! And if you will think back, didn’t someone try to kill Jesus before he was born? King Herod maybe? Everyone remember that?

But what happened? If you will remember, an angel appeared to Joseph and told him to take the child and Mary and flee to Egypt, right?

And what did Herod do? He killed every male child in Bethlehem and the surrounding coasts two years old and under! Now who do you think was behind this? If you guessed Satan, you’d be right!

But the great part about this story is this…Satan may be the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the king of this earthly kingdom but he’s not Omniscient and our God is!

God new every move Satan was going to make before he made it and thus delivered His Son through Satan’s snares as if maneuvering Him through a minefield in WWII!

Satan may be a great red dragon but he’s not greater than our God! Amen!

Now that we’ve looked at the Wonders in Heaven, next let’s look at the War in Heaven that follows.

The War in Heaven — (Vs. 7-10)

Now, this war here that it’s speaking of is near the very end of time. And the Bible says here that Michael and his angels fight with Satan and his angels and defeat them and there was found no more place for them in heaven.

Let’s start unwinding this by looking at who’s leading the charge on the winning side.

Michael

Michael is one of only two angels in the Bible. The other being Gabriel the great messenger angel. Now, Michael is said to be the archangel in...

Jude 1:9 — Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

The word “archangel” means “chief of the angels.” This titling helps us to understand why the Bible would record here that he is the one sort of leading the charge against Satan and his angels.

Not only is Michael chief of all the other angels but the Bible also records in the Book of Daniel that Michael is the great prince which stands for the people of Israel.

Daniel 12:1 — And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Daniel 10:13 — But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

Preacher what do you mean he watches over the Nation of Israel? Listen friend, we humans are so naive! We see what’s right in front of us and that’s it. But what we don’t see is that there is a spiritual battle raging all around us!

That third part of angels that fell with Satan, yeah remember those guys, they are waging war on the children of God, night and day, day in and day out!

At every turn they are opposing the children of God but God doesn’t leave His children alone, Amen! He has set principalities and powers of His own to watch over His children and to fight on our behalf!

Listen friend, I hate to tell you this this morning but we as mere humans are no match for that great red dragon! He is mightier than we are, smarter than we are, more cunning than we are and in our own conceits, we will falter and fail at his every snare!

And God knows this so He sends us some help! The Bible says in...

Hebrews 1:13-14 (NIV2011) — 13 To which of the angels did God ever say, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? 14  Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

So God send us some help to fight the battles we can’t see going on all around us! And I don’t know about you but I sure am thankful for those guardian angels, Amen!

Now that we’ve taken a look at the one leading the charge on the winning side and we’ve already taken a look at the dragon, let’s see what the outcome of the war is!

The Bible says that the dragon and his angels prevailed not and that there was found no more place for them in heaven.

Now, this can get a little confusing so just hang in here with me for a second while I explain to the best of my ability.

When Satan rebelled against God, he was cast down from his lofty position in heaven but now, even today, he still has access to heaven and God. And we can know this by looking in the Book of...

Job 1:6-7 — 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. 7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Now, God really opened my eyes this week to some things that I had never seen before. Look at the following verse, verse 9.

Look at how the great red dragon is described here.

Serpent — takes us all the way back to Genesis Chapter 3 in the Garden of Eden and helps us to understand his subtilty, cunning, and beguiling ways.

Devil — Greek (diabolos) — slanderous, gossip, malicious talk

Zechariah 3:1 (NIV2011) — Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.

Satan — Greek (Satanas) — Adversary — one who opposes another

One who deceives the whole world!

Do you see how the great dragon is described here? You won’t find a better explanation in all the Bible of the devil than you will right here!

He subtly deceives us by opposing us and slandering us before God! Now go back and let me try to tie this all together for you...

In Job we’re told that Satan has still has access to God and then in Zechariah we see why…so he can slander us before God right?

Every sin we commit he’s standing there saying to God, “see that one there, that ole Brother Bobby Lee Hale from New Home! Did you see what he just did? Did you see that mistake he just made? That sin he just committed? That’s guys a slime ball I tell ya! There’s no way you can allow piece of garbage into heaven! He’s way worse than I ever was and you kicked me out! He deserves an eternity in hell!

And now here’s where my eyes were opened this week...

About the time he finishes saying, “he deserves an eternity in hell!” Jesus my advocate, my personal lawyer, my savior, steps in and says, “yes Father, he does indeed deserve hell for all those sins he’s committed but you need not look any further than these nail scarred hands for I paid for those sins. I laid down my life for him and he has believed in me and therefore his sins are covered by the precious perfect lamb you provided!”

Oh, praise God isn’t it wonderful to know that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous!

Satan may be my adversary and oppose me at every turn; he can drag my name through the mud and slander me before the Father but praise be to God I have an advocate this morning named Jesus Christ who has already pleaded my case before the Father and set me free from the penalty of sin that I should have bore!

I’ll tell you what friend, that ought to make every true born again child of God sitting here this morning shout Hallelujah!

Satan may be able to trip me up and deceive me but Jesus came to set me free, Amen!

And He’ll set you free this morning if you’ll put your trust in Him!

So we see the outcome of the war…one day when the whole thing begins to come to a climactic end, there will be a battle and Satan and his minions will be utterly cast down from heaven forever more!

I hope you see the trend here for Satan! He started out in Heaven, cast down to the earth but still had access to Heaven and the Father and drawing toward the end of time during the tribulation period he will lose even that privilege and be cast out of heaven forever!

So we’ve seen the Wonders in Heaven and the War in Heaven. Now let’s look at The Winning Combination for Overcoming the Enemy.

The Winning Combination for Overcoming the Enemy — (Vs. 11)

The Blood of the Lamb

Not just any blood but the perfect blood of the one and only Son of God; without spot and without blemish! The perfect lamb was the only sacrifice that could atone for a sin stained people such as ourselves!

And I’m here to tell you this morning friend, the blood of bulls and goats wouldn’t cut it then and it won’t cut it now. If you try getting to Heaven any other way than through the blood of the Lamb, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, you’ll come up short and spend an eternity in a place called hell prepared for the devil and his angels.

Do you really want to spend eternity with the one who has slandered you and mocked you and opposed you at every turn? Without the blood of Jesus you’ll have no choice! If the blood is not applied, then in hell you’ll lift your eyes!

The Bearing of our Testimony

Mark 8:38 — Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

2 Corinthians 4:8-18 — 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; 14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The Benevolence of Boldness

Matthew 16:25 — For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Luke 9:23 — And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.