Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Revelation. We'll look at Revelation chapter 12, a passage that we have looked at in the past, a passage that shows us the triumph and the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, but that that triumph and victory of our Lord Jesus Christ does not mean or translate into heaven on earth. In other words, after these things, after the dragon is defeated, he turns his anger and his rage against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think this chapter does capture what our Lord says in the upper room when he says, you in this world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world. Also, this chapter, I think, illustrates for us or fleshes out the implications of Genesis 315. So let's look at Revelation 12, beginning in verse one. Now a great sign appeared in heaven.

A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of 12 stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads and 10 horns and seven diadems on his heads.

His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God in his throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1,260 days. and war broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down.

And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them, Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows that he has a short time. Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray. Father, thank You for the written Word of the living and true God. Thank You for this passage of Holy Scripture and the great triumph it shows us concerning the Christ. May you bless and encourage our hearts now.

May you strengthen us. May you cause us to meditate upon such truths as these. And may they be that help in our Christian walk. We ask that you would forgive us for our sins and our transgressions.

We ask that you would supply us with the aid of the Holy Spirit, that he would guide us now, that he would lead us now, that he would illumine our minds and our hearts to receive your word. And we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.

Introduction

Well, the book of Revelation, as we see here, is a book that's charged with vision and image and metaphor and symbolism. In fact, if you look at chapter 1, there's a bit of a sort of an indicator on how we ought to approach the book of Revelation. Revelation 1, verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. And he sent, and notice this word, and signified it by his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw.

Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near. You see that there is straight prose, there's straight narrative, there's reporting of certain facts and data, but there's things that are signified, there are things that are represented, there are visions conveyed that teach truth. And Revelation 12 is one of those visions, and the truth behind it is that Christ is victor. Christ is triumphant, and the devil ultimately is a miserable loser.

The defeat of the devil is underscored in four places in Revelation chapter 12. Now, there might be those here that have been taught that Revelation is a scary book. I think what's really scary is that people have been taught that Revelation is a scary book. Revelation is not a scary book.

Revelation is a most encouraging book for the people of God. It's about the kingly office of Jesus Christ. In fact, notice going a bit further in Revelation chapter 1, this sort of opening statement to the seven churches which are in Asia Minor. Verse 4, Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne.

That's a reference to the Holy Spirit and his completeness and his fullness. And from Jesus Christ. Now notice, we talk about Christ as prophet, priest, and king. That's because John does.

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. There's his prophetic ministry. We see the firstborn from the dead. There's his priestly ministry.

And then notice, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. That's the kingly office of Jesus Christ. John says we're not waiting for Jesus to be over the kings of the earth. John says this is a present reality.

And I would suggest that that would have encouraged the people of God that were suffering at this particular time. They needed to understand that though there is a beast or, you know, a beast from the land, a beast from the sea that we'll see, or at least refer to in Revelation 13, it's as if John is saying, God's over all this. Jesus has this. He has the power.

He has the authority. He is going to sustain you. He is going to see you through it. It's not going to be pleasant at times.

There's going to be trial. There's going to be difficulty. There is going to be faithful martyrs like Antipas, but there's going to be conquest from Christ for His people because it's already occurred at the cross. So

Sermon Overview and Outline

go back to chapter 12. I want to look first at the incarnation of the sun in verses 1 to 6. Secondly, the defeat of the dragon in verses 7 to 12. And then thirdly, the persecution of the woman in verses 13 to 17.

I doubt I'm going to successfully answer every question that you may have as a result of our study in Revelation 12. I'm going to just kind of do a broad overview and fly over it and spend time where I think John would have us to spend time. But note first the incarnation of the woman.

The Incarnation of the Son (vv. 1–6)

We have to identify these three sort of entities. There's this woman, there's this dragon, and then there's this male child. And some have suggested that the woman is Mary. In fact, if you look there at verse 2, then being with child, she cried out in labor, and in pain to give birth.

So Roman Catholics obviously would favor the interpretation that demands that the woman here is Mary. I don't believe that's what John is suggesting to us. I think the woman here, in language reminiscent of, say, Jacob's vision or Jacob's dream, is the Old Testament people of God. It's from the Old Testament people of God that Messiah comes.

It's from the Old Testament people of God that Jesus comes. Later on this woman is going to be identified in verse 6 and then again in verse 13 as one entity that has to run from the devil or the dragon. There I think we see continuity. The old covenant people of God transition into the new covenant people of God.

So it doesn't demand one particular woman, but rather the idea is that the promised Messiah in those old covenant scriptures given to Israel has come, or is coming, and then this dragon is enraged and wants to try and stop this. The dragon is clearly identified in verses 3 and 4. He's a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his head. I don't think it's necessary for us to parse out all that that means, but simply to suggest that it ties us to the visions given to Daniel.

In other words, John's Revelation is one of the most Old Testament-ish books in the New Testament. It doesn't have the most quotations, but the Old Testament is definitely very much present in the book of Revelation. And so I think this description of this devil sort of ties us in to some of the things that Daniel saw. But it goes on to describe him later, specifically following the chapter in verse 9.

So the great dragon was cast out. That serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. Now, look at his activity with reference to the woman. Look at his activity with reference to the male child.

The male child, as I'm sure you've surmised, is our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the devil wants to try to prevent the Lord Jesus Christ from coming onto the scene. And that is what John refers to in verse four. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. Now, that certainly is reminiscent of the situation facing our Lord at the time of His incarnation. Remember that Herod massacred the innocents. Herod took the sword against anybody who might fulfill that particular prophecy and had them executed.

The Serpent's Campaign Through Redemptive History

But this goes way back into redemptive history. As I said, Genesis 3.15 is behind the scenes here in Revelation 12. And in Genesis 3.15, we read very specifically, God promises in the garden a deliverer. God promises in the garden a deliverer who would be a man.

God promises in the garden a deliverer who would be born of a woman. God promises in the garden that this deliverer would achieve total conquest through his own suffering. That's the emphasis at the end of Genesis 3.15. We see specifically there, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.

He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. God's first promise of the gospel is spoken to the devil himself. And he says to the devil, you'll bruise his heel, but he's going to crush your head. And even before we get to Herod massacring the innocents, we see the devil trying to stop the birth of this seed.

You see it all the way back in Genesis 38, with that instance of Judah and Tamar. If Judah had his way, there would be no line of the Messiah. You see this with reference to Pharaoh's massacre of the innocents in the Exodus, or before the Exodus. You see it with wicked Queen Athaliah in 2 Kings 11.

Verses 1-3 tell us that she went on a purge. And her purge specifically was to wipe out all of the potential contenders for the Judaic throne. And she wanted to massacre every single one of them in the line of David. Well, there was a faithful woman by the name of Jehoshabah who spirited away Joash and hid him.

She hid him away so that the line survives. Athaliah ultimately meets her end, but the line of David continues. all throughout the Old Testament where there's these threats to that line. You see it at the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. Remember the counsel given by those religious reformers to the Israelites who had married the pagans?

They told them to put away those pagan wives. They didn't want to compromise the seed. They didn't want to jeopardize the Davidic line. God had promised to David that from David's line, God would raise up a son, and that son would sit upon the throne, and that son would reign forever and ever and ever, world without end.

And this is particularly what John is telling us with reference to the devil. The dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. This seed of the woman was purposed to destroy the serpent. And so the serpent thinks in his own wretched way, well, I'll destroy any possible contender for my position.

And that's what drives the devil in redemptive history to try and exterminate the seed of David. But it doesn't happen, does it?

Satan's Creaturely Limits

Who's more powerful than the devil? God. Who's more powerful than Satan? God.

Always bothers me, and it should bother you when persons try to deify God, deify Satan, as if he's a contender on the same sort of level with God. Satan's creature. God is creator. Satan is made.

Satan is conquered. Satan is on a leash according to Revelation chapter 20. Satan is not God. He is not a deity.

He does not have omniscience, omnipotence, or omnipresence. In fact, the instructions given to the people of God with reference to their dealings and doings with Satan is to resist him. I've shared with you many years ago, I went to a sort of prophecy, I don't know if it was a prophecy conference, but it was a conference put on by a fellow who had these techniques on how to cast demons out. You might ask, why did you go there?

There was a reason. I wasn't actually looking for, you know, lessons and instructions on how to cast out demons, not suggesting that I have all those answers, but it has always struck me very, very nicely that the instructions given to us in the Bible with references to the devil is, resist him. It's a short conference if we actually were biblical about it. You know, all these people come in.

How do we fight against the devil? How do we deal with these demons? How do we launch resistance against the nefarious foe of our souls? Resist him?

That's about, what, half a second? You don't sell DVDs and books and CDs back then, and probably VHS cassettes at that particular time, dating myself here, but you don't sell stuff by just adopting the biblical strategy. Resist him! Not say these words, do these things, all this stuff, but resist him.

Why? Because he's a conquered foe. The skirmishes that exist are mop-up battles. Christ has won the victory.

Because that's one of the things I think persons are struck with when they come to Revelation 12. If, as we see, the devil is defeated by the crosswork of Jesus, if, as we see, the devil is cast out of heaven, Why is it that he then rages against the church on earth? And God allows this. God not only allows this, but God has decreed this, because if the Son learned obedience through suffering, those who are co-heirs with Christ, to every benefit secured by Christ, they're going to learn obedience by suffering too.

In other words, afflictions and trials and hardships and heartaches in this world have redemptive means or have redemptive ends in God's plan. They further conform us unto the Savior. In other words, as Christians, we shouldn't say, why am I being harassed by the devil? Why am I having a tough time in the world?

Why am I this? Brethren, this is God's purpose for you. Now, you may not like that. You may say, oh, Pastor Butler, you don't know my particular ins and outs.

And I don't want to minimize that. And I don't want to trouble you by thinking that I don't care about that. I try to pray for people and try to pray with reference to the afflictions and the trials that people face. But the Christian church needs to get this down.

Health, wealth, prosperity gospel is a lie. Even if we're reformed and we think, well, you know, I'm a good godly. Well, I don't think any of us would say good godly. I hope none of us would say that.

Well, we're trying, we're struggling. We want to persevere and be like Jesus. So why is everything going wrong in my life? Because God's conforming you under the image of his son through everything going wrong in your life.

We could ask the question with Jesus, why did everything go wrong in his life? Why is he prophetically looked at as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? Why is it told us in the prophet Isaiah, he had no form, he had no calmliness. He wasn't this handsome, stunning character that we're all drawn to.

No, I think that the prophet is speaking to the days of his passion. We hid, as it were, our faces from him. We didn't want to look at the gore. We didn't want to look at the agony.

We didn't want to see that sort of thing. Well, why does Jesus do what he does? Well, according to Hebrews 5, he learned obedience through suffering. The point is, brethren, that the decisive conquest at Calvary with reference to the devil does not mean there is no more malice inflicted on the people of God.

In fact, a proper reading of Revelation 12, I think, will suggest that if we're not being plagued by the devil, if we're not being molested by the world, then we're probably not being faithful. In other words, where will the devil be? The devil will be where those seeds of gospel preaching are being sown because the devil doesn't want people to hear it and believe it and be saved. Why would the devil mess with a church where all the message is, is health, wealth, and prosperity?

That's why they're all happy. That's why they all have white teeth. That's why they, you know, their wives have big hair. That's why they all have summer homes.

There's no molestation from the devil. There's no fighting, there's no battles, there's no persecution. But the infant church in Revelation 12, though the conquest occurs at Calvary, nevertheless, the devil rages. Nevertheless, the devil seeks to exterminate the people of God.

I think the idea is thus, I couldn't do it with Jesus, but I'll go after his people. But Jesus is there with his people. Jesus fortifies, Jesus strengthens, Jesus gives grace so that his people can press on in the midst of it. Look at Revelation chapters two and three, the letters to the churches in Asia Minor.

Is it all just fun and games? Everybody's happy, everybody's peppy, everybody's just singing and praising and doing great things. No, Jesus addresses real suffering, real hardship, real martyrdom. And yet the people of God didn't say, well, why?

If Christ won this decisive victory, are we still suffering? The Bible explains it. We just need to read it. And Revelation 12 is one of those passages.

Notice, Revelation 12, verse 5. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Remember John 18, 37, last week. Are you then a king?

Jesus says, you say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born. Now notice what John does. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and his throne.

This is kind of a telescope, a quick snapshot. It doesn't go through every jot and tittle of the Lord Jesus' life. It doesn't deal with the earthly ministry. It doesn't deal with the opposition by his enemies.

It doesn't deal with all of that. It simply deals with incarnation and ascension. It simply deals with the reality that this male child was born, this male child escaped the grasp of the attempt of the devil, she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, Psalm 2 9, and her child was caught up to God and his GK Beal says that temporal telescoping is involved in verse 4 is suggested by verse 5. Now a snapshot of Christ's entire life, his birth, his destiny and kingship and his incipient fulfillment of that destiny in his ascent to God's heavenly throne after his post-resurrection ministry is given in one line.

See, it wasn't necessary for John to give every jot and tittle of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. He was born and he was caught up to God in heaven. That encapsulates everything. When we drop down to verse 11, we'll see how the saints of God overcome the accusation of the devil.

It is by the blood of the cross. It's not that John is anti-atonement. John is giving us this telescope. John is giving us this snapshot of the life of Jesus.

But notice in verse 11, they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Now notice, verse six, then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1,260 days. Again, the idea here specifically is that the ascension of Christ does not remove from the people of Christ hardships, trials, and difficulties. That's the one thing I kind of want to just get across.

A couple weeks ago, I took a night off from Genesis 11, and we looked at James 1. James 1 deals with the believer and trials. A lot of people are tried in this context. We have a lot of people going through various things and issues in the life of the church, things that we know about, may not even know about other things.

I think it's good for us to get a biblical understanding of the believer and affliction. And here, specifically, verse six. Remember I said that Revelation is very Old Testament-ish? This is Old Testament language.

You know, it was Israel in the wilderness where God cared for her. It was Israel in the wilderness where God protected her. They didn't interpret it this way. They didn't look at it this way.

They didn't say, boy, we loved it out in the wilderness. No, they got out in the wilderness, and what did they say? Boy, back in Egypt, we had garlic, and we had leeks, and we had onions, and we had all kinds of good things. They whined and grumbled and complained.

But God, through Moses and Deuteronomy, tells them that it's there in the wilderness that I carried you the way a father carries his son. So that's pretty typical, isn't it? We look at the wilderness and we say, man, this isn't as good as we had it in Egypt. We prefer to be a slave class as long as we had garlic and leeks and onions.

We'd prefer anything over this, Lord. And yet God says, it is precisely then that I was protecting you. It was precisely then, not that he's not in Egypt, but it's precisely then that I'm carrying you the way that a father carries his son. It is precisely then that I am fortifying and stabilizing and securing you.

That's the emphasis in verse 6. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1,260 days. So that's the incarnation of the Son, the attempt by the dragon or the devil to try and stop that incarnation through redemptive history, culminating right up to Herod trying to assassinating the innocents. Now

The Defeat of the Dragon (vv. 7–12)

note the defeat of the dragon in verses 7 to 12. See, I think Revelation 12 is a bit of a behind-the-scenes look. A behind-the-scenes look of what's happening. We see the cross, we see this decisive victory on earth, but what's the implications for sort of behind the scenes?

What's happening in heaven? And I think this helps us with Revelation 13 as well. Again, I don't want to get too involved in trying to detail for you all the particular ins and outs of the book of Revelation, but suffice it to say, in Revelation 13, John's going to introduce two nasty characters. There's a beast from the sea and a beast from the earth.

These aren't real monsters. They're not like real sort of, you know, things that you might see under your bed or in your closet. That's not what they are. One's a political power and one is a religious power.

But the power behind them is this dragon. The power behind them is the devil. The power behind them is Satan. It jives with what Paul tells us in Ephesians 6.

We don't wrestle with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers and those dark things that lie behind the scenes. Well, that's what Revelation 12 does. It takes us behind the scenes and shows us what happens. Scripture is very clear that when Jesus died on the cross, he vanquished his foes.

When Jesus died on the cross, he triumphed over his enemies. I just think we should probably look at those passages or a selection of those passages.

Crosswork as Cosmic Victory

You can turn to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. Verse 15, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. This is connected to the first coming of the Lord Jesus.

It's connected to Calvary. See, there's this idea that Christ won't really be king until the second coming. That's not what Revelation in the New Testament tells us. Christ is king.

Christ is ruler over the kings of the earth. We're not waiting for the King to come. We're waiting for Him to consummate. We're waiting for Him to bring us into the eschaton.

But Christ at the right hand of the Father, He intercedes for His people. He's an advocate with the Father on our behalf when we sin. But He's also the ruler over the kings of the earth, just like He was in Revelation 1. Prime Minister Trudeau is not ultimate, Yahweh is.

President Donald Trump is not ultimate, Yahweh is. No governor, no king, no authority, no earthly power is ultimate. God most high, specifically the Lord Jesus, the mediatorial king, stationed at the right hand of the Father, he's ultimate. Doesn't Paul tell us that in Ephesians 1?

He has that name, or Philippians 2, where he has that name that is above every name. He has universal empire, and verse 15 in Colossians 2 associates that or attaches it to the cross. So does Hebrews chapter 2. You can turn there.

Hebrews chapter 2, just to show you that Christ was victorious at the cross. The devil was defeated at the cross. Hebrews 2.14, Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death. That is the devil.

How does Jesus destroy the devil? Through Jesus' death. Is that the emphasis in Revelation 12? He is born, He's incarnate, and then He's ascended.

What's assumed in between is that He died on the cross, that He was raised the third day, and then He ascended on high. It's associated with that that verses 12 and following come. Devil cast out by virtue of Christ's crosswork. Notice in 1 John. 1 John, another statement concerning the emphasis on the defeat of the devil at the first coming of the Lord Jesus. 1 John 3, verse 7.

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Now, what manifestation of Christ do you think John is talking about? He's talking about the manifestation of Christ in His first coming, His incarnation, His taking on our humanity with all of the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof, yet without sin, His life of perfect obedience to the Father, His death on Calvary as a substitute and as a sacrifice. He is referring to that coming. That's where the devil was defeated.

And that's what Revelation 12 is telling us as well. So when we look at Revelation 12, verses 7 to 12, as I said, it's a behind-the-scenes look. It's what happens in heaven. Now, you might be puzzled about this statement that the devil's in heaven.

Those of you who've read the book of Job, you read in Job chapter 1, and you see that the devil is talking to God. Tonight, we're going to consider another passage that we've looked at in the past. In Zechariah chapter 3, there's this Joshua, the high priest, and the devil's right there, telling God that this is a wretched man. You might ask the question, well, why is the devil there in the presence of God?

And I might say to you, I have no earthly idea. But the Bible tells us that that's where he is. The Bible tells us that that's where he was. where he was, because Revelation 12, 7 and following says that he was cast out. The casting out of Satan in verses 7 to 12 in Revelation 12 is not at the creation of the world.

It's not that first sort of fall of the devil and God casts him out, but it's at the recreation of the world, the new creation inaugurated by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's that activity that brings the death blow upon the devil, and that's what John describes. Notice in verse 7, again, using Old Testament language, using concepts that the Bible has already presented, he says, War broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out.

That serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. That connected to the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Just like we saw in 1 John, just like we see in Hebrews 2, just like we see in Colossians 2, and if we would have taken the time, just like we see in John 12, when Jesus says, and I, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself. and the ruler of this world will be cast out." It was the first coming.

It was those events associated with the incarnation of our Lord. The Creed was right, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. He assumed our humanity to do what he did at the cross so that he could vanquish our greatest enemy, the devil, and so that he could deal with our other enemies, the world, and I'd say probably the greatest enemy is our flesh. See, there might be a time when the devil's not messing with you.

There might be a time when you're not being messed with by the world. Just imagine you're on a deserted island, and it's just you. The devil's busy. He's out, you know, messing with other people.

Because remember, he's not deity. He's not omnipresent. He's not omniscient. He's not omnipotent.

He can't be everywhere all the time, doing everything all the time. So you might be on that island, lonely but happy, because you like some private time. But there's that enemy still, the remaining corruption. There's still that in you.

There's still there. It's still present. It's abiding. It's always there.

A pilgrim, a Christian, swimming through that River Jordan. He doesn't just, you know, just do it like, you know, Michael Phillips and just soar through. There's struggle. There's hardship.

There's aches. There's pains. We're gonna slug it out, brethren. You see, in terms of the devil, he has been vanquished, and that's what the text is telling us.

Now,

Heaven's Response and the Accuser Cast Down

what is the response of heaven to this? What is the response of the people of God to this? Verse 10, then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. It's one of the functions of the devil.

He's an accuser. It's an adversary of the people of God. That's what he's doing in Job 1. He says to God, Job only serves you because you've made life good for Job.

Job only does what you tell him to because you give Job every good thing. So God says, go ahead, take it from him and see what happens. Job says, naked I came into this world, naked I shall return, blessed be the name of Yahweh. The devil accuses, we'll see that again tonight in Zechariah 3.

What's the devil doing there in that scene where God is with Joshua the high priest? The devil is right there to accuse Joshua and tell God what a wretch and what a miserable failure Joshua is. Isn't that what the devil does to us? You're a wretch, you're a miserable failure.

You don't live the way God says. You're not holy. You're not perfect. Who do you think you are claiming title to heaven when you can't even do this that or the other?

That's a function of the devil. And what we find is that the cross work defangs the devil with this particular aspect of his conduct. You see the same sort of thing in Romans chapter 8. Who is he who will condemn?

It is Christ who justifies. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? The apostle is, in essence, challenging the devil, challenging the world, and challenging our own flesh. When all of these accusations come to us, what are we supposed to respond with?

It is Christ who died. It is Christ who is risen. That's my hope. That's my help.

That's my... solid ground. You see, the devil is cast out, and the people of God rejoice as a result. Notice in verse 11, they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Now note this particular warning in verse 12, therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them.

Why? Because the devil's been cast out of the heavens. But notice this warning in verse 12. That's the validation or that's the sort of undergirding we need when we get to Revelation 13.

Why are the inhabitants of earth and sea being warned and being cautioned? Because the devil has this short time and he's going to do everything he can to try to disrupt people on earth. That's the point. He has lost.

He has been vanquished. Christ has triumphed over him. But he's kind of like a petulant child, you know, a child that didn't get his way, but he has to make everybody miserable around him. I know none of you kids are like that.

You don't get your way, and you embrace it from the heart, and you say, yes, mommy, yes, daddy, with a big smile on your face. Well, there are some of these kinds of kids that actually do exist. Mom at Walmart says, you can't have this. And they flip out in Walmart, and they just are a public spectacle.

They don't get their way, and they lose it. It's kind of how the devil is in this particular passage. That's why the warning comes in verse 12. It's not something about, oh, the political times in the 21st century, you're going to...

No! There's a specific application in this particular context. But the caution holds, because the devil, after he's defeated, is like that whining kid in Walmart, throwing a temper tantrum, just ripping things off the shelf, because he didn't get what he wants. That's how the devil is presented.

That's why when we have this view of the book of Revelation being scary, and it's gloomy, and it's doomy, and it's all, you are not reading the same book of Revelation that has historically fed the people of God in the Church of Jesus Christ, because they all read it, and they say, praise God Almighty for Jesus. The devil is portrayed here losing on four fronts. We'll summarize that when we get to the end of the message. The devil is also seen here as a petulant child, ripping down the shelves at Walmart because mommy said, no, can't have it.

God defeated the devil through the cross work of Jesus Christ. So the devil turns his anger and his vengeance upon the church of Jesus Christ. And

The Persecution of the Woman (vv. 13–17)

that's what verses 13 to 17 highlight. Notice in verse 17, we see the outrage of the dragon. Now, when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. And this isn't Mary, the mother of Jesus.

It's the church. This is the people of God. This is connection, Old Covenant Israel, New Covenant Israel. It's the mother.

It's the people. It's the ones from whom Messiah comes. It's the ones that love Messiah, the people of the Messiah. So the devil turns his rage and enmity against them.

When the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. Now, the next bit of reference in verse 14, again, it's Old Testament language. It's God's provision for the nation of Israel. It's God's caretaking of his people in the nation of Israel.

Notice in verse 14, but the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent. Wilderness in Israel was a good thing. They didn't like it, they complained, they whined, they want to go back to Egypt, but it was there that God provided for them and there that God carried them the way that a father carries his son. The book of Exodus tells us, Exodus 19, you have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

Deuteronomy 32, 10 to 12. He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness. He encircled him, he instructed him, he kept him as the people of his eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings.

So the Lord alone led him and there was no foreign God with him. See, the readers of Revelation, and us included, ought to think of God's care and provision for the nation of Israel at the time of this persecution. In that instance, through Pharaoh, God bore them up on eagle's wings. So the reference here to verse 14 makes sense in the context of biblical history.

We ought to say, oh yeah, that's God providing for his people.

The Serpent's Continued Campaign Against the Church

Now notice verses 15 to 17, the serpent continues to attack. There is this campaign against the church. He doesn't just... Leave Walmart.

He doesn't just go quietly. Again, you might ask the question, well, why didn't God do? I don't know. God uses him even for his own good purposes.

Luther said he's God's devil. He's on a leash. You ever walk down the road and there's a big dog and he comes running at you and you fear for your life and then snap, he stops? Because he's on a chain. take a moment to praise God for anybody and everybody who's ever made a chain in their life and figure to put it on a big dog so that it wouldn't eat you to death.

That's a good thing, right? That the dog is stopped. The devil can only go so far. He's bound according to Revelation 20.

The binding of Satan there doesn't mean he's not a personal enemy to the people of God, doesn't invalidate the implications of 1 Peter 5. He roams about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. What's in view in Revelation 20 is clearly delimited so that he can no longer deceive the nations. In other words, in this new covenant era, the gospel goes forth to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

But here, specifically, the devil does not go quietly, and we see this campaign against the church in verse 15. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. Again, we read that as adults, typically. Children usually get the book of Revelation better than adults.

And we go, well, it's just telling us that there's this active campaign on the part of the devil to try and upbraid the people of God. We may not know all the particular ins and outs of the imagery and all of the particular ins and outs of the details, but this much I know, the devil hates the people of God and he wants to hurt them. That's how you're supposed to understand 15 to 17. The devil hates the people of God and he wants to try and hurt them.

But the earth, by God's grace, protects the people of God. It's a general reference to the devil's campaigns against the church. Beal again says, the image of the flood proceeding from the serpent's mouth portrays his attempt to destroy the church by deception and false teaching. That's exactly how the beasts operate in Revelation chapter 13.

But notice, We then see verse 16 the earth helped the woman the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth and now verse 17 and the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ the petulant child who leaves Walmart Ripping everything down gets out of the parking lot and says well. I'm still going to go after that Look devil. I'm not the most brightest bulb in the chandelier, but you lost. Accept it.

The devil has nobody in his corner saying that to him. Look, you've lost. You've lost over and over and over again. You've lost in your battle against the Christ, verses 1 to 5.

You've lost in your fall from heaven, verses 7 to 12. You've lost with reference to the woman in verses 13 to 16. And you'll continue to lose, according to verse 17, in every campaign against the people of God subsequent to this. That's what the text is telling us.

So is this discouraging? Is this gloomy? Is this sad? Or is it a picture of Christ triumphant?

Is it a picture of the one whom John describes in Revelation 1 as the ruler over the kings of the earth, the beast from the sea, the beast from the earth? These are rulers in their particular spheres in the earth, but Christ is over that. The devil is a loser according to Revelation chapter 12, but that doesn't mean the devil isn't going to stop trying to molest and trying to destroy and trying to hinder the people of God. Notice how the people of God,

Application

before we close our exposition and move on just to a few thoughts in application, notice how the people of God are described in verse 17. The dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring. Who are the offspring of the woman? Who are the people of God?

Who are the people for whom Jesus died? They keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. In other words, they believe the gospel. They're washed in that precious blood, verse 11.

And as a result, they try, by God's grace and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, to obey God. In other words, they don't see the commandments of God as burdensome. John tells us that in his epistle. The commandments are not burdensome.

They're not grievous. That doesn't mean we're never burdened or grieved, but the burden and the grief comes because we don't comply with those commandments the way we ought to. O wretched man that I am, the apostle says, who will deliver me from this body of death? You see, the Christian seeks by grace to obey the word of God, not because he's trying to earn his or her salvation, but because he's been justified freely by grace.

And that faith in Christ is alone. But it is not alone because all of the other graces that accompany salvation are inhered in it. And so, brethren, the people of God are described in Revelation 12, 13 as those who actually do what God says. Now, not perfectly.

Not always. We need the advocate. We need his mediation. We need his intercession.

We need to continually go back to that fount that is open for sin and uncleanness. But brethren, the heartbeat of the Christian man and woman, boy and girl, is I want to do what God says. I want to obey the Lord. Oh, how I love your law, David said.

Not, oh, how I hate your law. Oh, what a terrible thing your law is. No, the law's a good thing. In fact, Paul putting the blame not on the law in Romans 7, but on us.

The problem's never been the law. The problem's been us with reference to the law. The law is holy. It's good.

It's just. The apostle speaks glowingly of the law. The apostle's condemnation is us relative to the law in that we break it, in that we trounce on it, in that we stomp on it, in that we want nothing to do with it. But as far as the people of God, those saved by grace through faith in Jesus, they are those summarily described here as those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.

Conclusion: Triumph of the Lamb

Well, in conclusion, the triumph of the Lamb. The incarnation, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, led to subsequent events, led to his life of obedience to the Father. See, sometimes people might say, well, why did Jesus come into the world? Was it simply to start a new religion?

Was it simply to inaugurate a season of great consumer spending? Is that why we have this sort of thing? No, he came into this world, sinners to save. How does he save sinners, you may ask?

And you should ask. He saves sinners by being their substitute. He saves sinners by being their sacrifice. He saves sinners by having obeyed the law of God perfectly.

See, when Jesus is in his earthly ministry, if we would have kept reading in John 4, Jesus says, my meat is to do the will of him who sent me. Why does Jesus say that? Because none of us ever did, and none of us ever will. Jesus said that because it was the defining aspect of his earthly ministry.

I always do what pleases my father, Jesus said. Why does he do this? Because we need a righteousness. And the only way that you and I are going to get a righteousness is if God gives us one.

And that righteousness comes as a result of Christ's perfect life of obedience to the Father. But we not only need that righteousness, we need our sin dealt with. We need our sin forgiven. And that's what the cross is about.

The cross is the one who's altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand. The cross is about Christ, who knew no sin, being made sin for us. and on that cross, taking the penalty and the punishment and the judgment of God on our behalf. See, the gospel answers to everything. We need forgiveness, we get it through His blood.

We need a righteousness, we get it through His life. We need justification, we get it all through, both the death of Christ and the resurrection of Jesus. This is why Paul says, He was delivered up because of our offenses, and He was raised for our justification. See, that's why Jesus came.

That's why the cross. That's why the incarnation. That's why that great and beautiful thing where he came down for us men and for our salvation. It was in order to redeem us from our sins.

We see, as I said, the utter defeat of the devil. If you missed that, let me repeat it. The devil fails in his attempt to destroy the child. He failed with Tamar.

He failed with the people of Israel, you know, marrying with the pagans. He failed with Athaliah. He failed with Herod. He fails every single time.

Revelation 12 tells us that he was poised there, right in front of the woman, ready to get that baby and stop him and neutralize the threat, but he fails. He's cast out of heaven. He is cast, or he's ultimately dealt with in terms of his continuing campaign against the church and the people of God. A third observation, I've already brought this out, but we need to remind ourselves, the persecution of the church.

We've seen it in the book of Acts. I've tried to make that conspicuous that it's not located only to the book of Acts, but it's presently going on. It's going on in China. It's going on in the Middle East.

It's going on where God's people are, and they don't have the same sorts of liberties that you and I very often take for granted. The people of God suffer gross persecution at the hands of godless states, and this validates what Paul says. It's not ultimately the flesh and blood. It's the demonic power behind it.

It's the devilish power behind it. When we're critiquing socialism or communism, it's not simply because Marx was a terrible human being, though those things are true, but it's because the devil is behind these anti-God campaigns. What would be the end game is the institution of communism to try and rid God from a society. That's the devil's hand in all of that.

Well, it has to deal with economics. Economics are moral, brethren. There's a whole commandment given to economics. You'll hear sometimes, we talk about the eighth commandment is a moral principle.

You're not supposed to steal. It's just a fundamental thing. You see, we need to see behind these machinations of men, there is a devil in his campaign against the church. Again, Beal makes the observation, Christians can be assured that the serpent begins to battle against their bodies only after he has lost the battle over their souls.

This expresses one of the major themes of the book. The suffering of Christians is a sign, not of Satan's victory, but of the saints' victory over Satan because of their belief in the triumph of Christ, with which their suffering identifies them. In other words, we don't look at suffering Christians and say, what's your problem? You don't have enough faith.

What's your problem? You're not a team player. What's your problem? You're a whiner.

You're a grumbler. We should be saying, praise God almighty, you've been counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. So we've got this whole backwards approach to suffering and trials and difficulties in the Christian faith. We actually blame people that are going through afflictions.

Could you imagine if Benny Hinn was your pastor and he came to your sickbed and he said, you just need to get more faith and you'll get up off this bed. Boy, that'd be the last pastor I'd ever want. Kick a man when he's down? Come on.

Anybody ever entertains the thought that that's biblical? That's just terrible pastoral theology. blaming people who are going through afflictions. Now, we need to take a sober assessment of our lives. I think this is inculcated in James 5 on that statement, dealing with the sick, call for the elders of the church, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven.

We should do a spiritual inventory if there's big calamity in our lives. It's not bad to say, well, you know, I gotta look at my heart, gotta look at my soul, I gotta see where I'm at. But if it is the case that I'm not harboring some massive sin, and some guy comes along and tells me that, you know, you're in this condition because of you, seems to neglect the very sovereignty of God, neglects the very reality that God has purposed difficulties, trials, afflictions, and hardships in our lives to conform us unto the image of his Son. So why in the world would any pastor or group of people blame somebody who's going through affliction?

Do we blame the woman in Revelation 12 because the devil's enraged against her? Oh, you're just a faithless grope there. You're just a terrible lot there. No, we don't say that.

We root for the woman. We want her to be victorious. We want God to spirit her away on his wings, his eagle wings. We're for that.

And yet we get to individual suffering in the Christian life, and we want to come and kick them in the ribs and say, well, you know, you deserve this because of this, that, and the other. That we even call it gospel? That we even associate it with Christianity? Jake Gressam-Machen, in the early part of the 20th century, said with reference to liberalism, theological liberalism, it's not a subset of Christianity.

It is something completely contrary to Christianity. That's the voices we need today. Let's not namby-pamby dance around the issues. These men are liars.

If they blame you when there's not some heinous sin in your life, some undealt with sin, if somebody comes along and blames you because you're suffering, they're liars. They're working for the dragon. They're operatives of the beast. They're men who ought not to be trusted.

Listen to the master who said, in this world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. Doesn't that get at Revelation 12? Doesn't that summarize Revelation 12? Doesn't that bring to the forefront the very lessons that we're trying to bring out here?

In this world, there will be tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I've overcome the world. Brethren, that's the message that the people of God definitely need to appropriate. And if you're curious about this whole idea of the devil accusing the brethren, come back tonight. When we look at Zechariah 3, we'll investigate that a little bit more fully, and we'll see how the Christian can silence the accuser who tries to raise this opposition.

How in the world do you think you could ever be one of the people of God? Because Christ died. Because Christ is risen. It's not me.

It's not my works. It's not my merit. It's not my law. It's not my abilities.

But it's me, Savior. It's my Lord. It's the one who shed his blood on my behalf. That is my hope.

That is my righteousness. If you don't know that, Lord, that hope and righteousness can be yours by coming to him in faith. Not just moral reform. I got to go out and be a better me today.

No, if you got that from this, I just, I don't know where the disconnect came. You can't go out and be a better you. You need the best. You need the champion of our salvation.

You need the king of kings and the Lord of lords. You need the one who is prophet, priest, and king. You need the one who was. for us men and for our salvation, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. And the way of access to that King is through faith in Him.

Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the incarnation of our Lord and for the glorious description of His victory here in Revelation 12. We know that he has completely defeated the devil, and yet we know that devil does seek to roam about as a lion, or roams about as a lion, seeking whom he may devour. So help us to see our hope, our protection, our foundation in the person and in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray that you would encourage all of our hearts as we do fall into these trials, help us to face them the way James counsels with all joy, and help us to know that you have your purposes even in the midst of these things. Go with us now and bring us back together that we may worship you tonight, and we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, let's close by singing the doxology in praise to our triune God.

It is in the Trinity Hymnal at page Roman numeral 16. If you don't already know it, we'll stand as we sing the doxology. Praise God around you, all that takes float. Praise Him, all creatures, dearly loathe.

Praise ye the God of the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all, amen.

Go with us now, Father, may we know these blessings in our own hearts and lives, and may we be encouraged at this view of our Lord Jesus Christ, having dealt the death blow at Calvary's cross for his people. We ask that you would cause us to reflect upon this and respond with great joy, with thanksgiving and gratitude to our wonderful Father. And we pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 3:15; 38
• Exodus 19:4
• Deuteronomy 32:10-12
• 2 Kings 11:1-3
• Job 1:1; 1:9
• Psalm 2:9
• Zechariah 3:1
• John 4:34; 12:32; 18:37
• Romans 7:24; 8:33-34
• Ephesians 1:21; 6:12
• Philippians 2:9
• Colossians 2:15
• Hebrews 2:14; 5:8
• James 1:2; 5:14
• 1 Peter 5:8
• 1 John 3:7
• Revelation 1:1; 1:4; 2:1; 12:1-17; 13:1; 20:2