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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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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? 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 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. 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, 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 
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. 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, 
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. 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. 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.