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Revelation chapter 12, the part I want to focus on is at the beginning of the chapter there where he starts out talking about the sign in heaven of a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars and she being with child cried traveling in birth and pain to be delivered. Now today we are emphasizing the birth of Jesus Christ. This morning I preached on 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 about how God was manifest in the flesh and this evening I want to talk about this passage that deals with the birth of Christ, not one that we normally turn to on Christmas, you normally think of Luke chapter 2 or something like that, but this passage deals with the birth of Jesus Christ. It talks about the woman here that's travailing in birth and pain to be delivered. Look at verse number 3, it says, and there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red dragon having 7 heads and 10 horns and 7 crowns upon his heads and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born and she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. Now this man child that's born here is Jesus Christ. Now when the Bible talks about this dragon having 7 heads and 10 horns, that is none other than Satan, the great serpent, the devil, and he is standing before the child ready to devour it as soon as it is born. Now the reason why it says that is that if you remember when Jesus Christ was born, there were wise men that came to visit Jesus Christ and they followed the star that they'd seen in the east and when they followed the star, it led them near Jerusalem. So they went to Jerusalem and they went to King Herod and they questioned him saying where is he that is born King of the Jews for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. It says when Herod the King had heard these things, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. They were all kind of blown away by that. Whoa, somebody else is born King of the Jews, he's thinking I'm King of the Jews, King Herod, who was a very wicked king and he was definitely of the devil, he was a child of the devil and so he asked the wise men very diligently what time the star appeared and so forth and he tells them go search diligently for the young child and when you have found him bring me word again that I may come and worship him also. So he kind of pretends that he's just interested in meeting Jesus and seeing the Messiah, the King of the Jews and he just wants to worship him but really what he wants to do is actually murder the baby Jesus. So he sends the wise men, they go and they keep searching and looking and they're following the star and then finally the star takes them to Bethlehem and rests over the house where Jesus is actually residing with Mary and Joseph and when they get there they present their gifts, the gold, the myrrh and frankincense and at this point Jesus is not a newborn baby, he's actually described as a young child in Matthew chapter 2. By the time they get there following the star, making the journey, he's grown up just a little bit because when Herod realizes that the wise men don't bring him back the message, God warns them in a dream that Herod has bad intentions. So after they present the gifts to Jesus, they go into their own country another way. They bypass Jerusalem, they go a different way home and when Herod realizes that, he is wroth, the Bible says, he's very angry and he sends forth to slay or to kill all of the children in Bethlehem from two years old and under according to the time that he had diligently inquired of the wise men. So that shows that Jesus was probably close to two years old because that's around the age group. He must have been one or two years old when the wise men visited him because that's the age group that Herod's targeting. Of course, the Lord sends an angel to warn Joseph in a dream to take his wife, to take the child and to flee down into Egypt and to be there until they hear from God again. They get up in the middle of the night, they flee into Egypt with the baby Jesus and that's the only way that he was spared and all of the other children in that town were slaughtered. And of course, what kind of a wicked, murderous, evil person would slaughter babies? I mean just that innocent, delicate life, I mean you'd have to be a truly sick person but the leaders of this world, they'll do anything to hang on to their power even if it takes killing innocent people just to hang on to their power and King Herod was like that. And so he, being the wicked son of the devil that he was, sought to devour the child as soon as it was born. So if we look in Revelation chapter 12 here, we can see the symbolism here where the woman's about to give birth and it says at the end of verse 4, the second half, the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. And of course, in Psalm 2, the prophecy is made of Jesus Christ that he would rule all nations with a rod of iron. And it says her child was caught up unto God and to his throne and that refers to the ascension of Jesus Christ. So obviously, we're skipping a lot of steps here, but we have Jesus born. He's to rule all nations with a rod of iron. He is eventually caught up to heaven to be with the right hand of the father there. Now go back to Genesis chapter 3. It's interesting when you compare this with Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3 ties in very closely with Revelation 12. You'll see what I mean in a moment. Now Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 is known as the first mention of the gospel in the Bible. That's what some people will refer to this as the first time God alludes to the plan of salvation in any way, shape, or form. The fancy theological word for this is protoevangelium because theologians like to use big fancy words that nobody understands to make themselves sound smart. It's a lot easier to just say, hey, this is the first time that God ever makes any reference to the gospel or implies that there's going to be a savior that's going to be coming into the world. Look at verse 14. The Bible says, and the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou has done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity, this is the key verse, verse 15, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed, it, meaning the seed of the woman, shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. So this is a very vague verse, but it is making reference to the coming savior who would be the seed of the woman, who would bruise the head of the serpent, and that his heel would be bruised by the serpent. Now another reference to this, keep your finger there in Genesis 3, go to Romans 16, Romans chapter 16, keep your finger in Genesis chapter 3, and here's what I want to really emphasize about what we just read in Genesis 3. The Bible says that God would put enmity between the serpent and the woman. Now enmity means basically that you're enemies. If God puts enmity between two people, he says I'm going to make you basically enemies, you're going to be in opposition to one another, you're going to be at enmity, you're going to be enemies. And he said I'm also going to put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And then it says that the seed of the woman is going to bruise the head of the serpent, but that the serpent would bruise the heel of the seed. Now look at Romans chapter 16 verse 20, here's another reference to this. The Bible says in verse 19, for your obedience has come abroad unto all men, I'm glad therefore on your behalf, but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, Amen. So it is said of Jesus that Jesus would bruise the serpent's head, the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. It is also said of Jesus that he would rule all nations with a rod of iron. But in Revelation chapter 2 it says that we as Christians, we as believers, will also rule and reign with Jesus, and we will rule with a rod of iron, and that we also will bruise Satan's head under our feet. That's what the Bible says in Romans chapter 16 verse 20. Now I don't want to get too complicated tonight, this is a complicated subject, we're looking at some difficult complicated scriptures, but I want to simplify this tonight and draw an important truth from this. I want to help you understand how Genesis 3 and Revelation 12 all fit together so that we can learn a profound truth about the Gospel. Now go back to Revelation chapter 12, keeping in mind what we read in Genesis 3. That there was enmity between the serpent and the woman, that means they're enemies. And that there was enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. Now when we talk about the seed we're basically talking about the son of or the children of. The seed of Abraham means that somebody is the son of Abraham. The seed of the woman is talking about the son of the woman. And the seed of the serpent would be his descendants or the serpent's children as it were. Look at Revelation chapter 12 and look at verse number 7. It says, and there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon, which is the devil of course, fought and his angels. And prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea. For the devil has come down unto you having great wrath. Because the devil and the dragon are the same person. Because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. The earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth, meaning very angry, filled with wrath, was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now clearly Revelation chapter 12 is not literal. It's clearly symbolic. It's a parable. That's why there's a woman that gives birth to a baby and there's a dragon ready to devour that baby. Obviously that's not literal. It's symbolic. It represents baby Jesus being born, the dragon that's ready to devour him, the devil. That took place in the form of Herod wanting to slay the baby Jesus. It's symbolic. The woman fleeing into the wilderness is not literal. It's symbolic. The flood coming out of the mouth of the dragon. These are all symbolic things. How do we interpret this parable? Whenever we're looking at parables and symbolic things, we use clear scriptures to interpret scriptures that are less clear. This is something that has a lot of symbolism. We need some more clear scriptures to help us to understand what this is about. That's why we went to clear scriptures like Psalm 2 where Jesus is ruling with a rod of iron and then we can interpret this and understand. We can go to Genesis 3 which is pretty clear and connect it with this and understand it. Who are the players here in this struggle, this battle? In Revelation 12, what we clearly see is a battle as it were or enmity between the serpent and the woman just like was prophesied in Genesis 3. The serpent and the woman are at enmity and the woman is fleeing the face of the serpent and the serpent wants to destroy the woman. He wants to cause her to be carried away with this flood. He hates the woman. He has nothing but anger and wrath for the woman and for the woman's seed and if he can't get to the man child, he'll go after the woman and if he can't get to the woman, he'll go after the remnant of her seed that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. What we see is hatred, anger and the desire to murder and destroy the woman, the woman's seed. Now who are the players here? Who does the woman represent? Well the Bible tells us in Genesis that the woman, of course, her name was Eve and that she was the mother of all living. That's what her name even meant. The reason she was called Eve is because she was the mother of all living. So if you stop and think about it, the seed of the woman actually represents any human being that's ever been born on the face of the serpent because every single human being was a seed of that woman, Eve. She's the mother of all living. Now specifically when the Bible talks about the seed of the woman that would bruise the serpent's head, that's one specific descendant of the woman, that's Jesus. In general, the woman's seed represents all of mankind because every single person in the world is born of a woman and ultimately goes back to Eve and is born of Eve. Now Jesus Christ was born as a human being. That's the whole miracle of Christ's birth is that God was manifest in the flesh, that Jesus Christ became a human being, was actually born as a human. That's why 89 times in the Bible, Jesus is called the Son of Man. Now that's a lot. That's pretty significant. Over and over again, Jesus is called the Son of Man, Son of Man, Son of Man, 89 times. Very much emphasis on that. What does that mean, Son of Man? Well obviously we're not talking about a specific man because Jesus is actually the Son of God when it comes to his earthly father. But when the Bible says that Jesus is the Son of Man, it's basically saying Jesus is the Son of Mankind. A lot of times when the Bible says, what is man that thou art mindful of him, that's what we would say in 2016 as mankind. When the Bible talks about man, for example, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. People use the word man to mean mankind. So Jesus is the Son of Man. It's saying that he is of the seed of that woman. You know, he is a human being. He was born of that lineage. Now what I want to point out about this passage is that the devil hates and wants to destroy and murder all of humanity. All of humanity. He doesn't just hate the good people or even just hate Christians or believers in Christ or Jesus or the apostles. If you study the Bible here, the devil hates all of mankind. He wants to destroy and murder all of humanity starting with Adam and Eve all the way down to us today. Even his own minions or even people that don't even believe in Jesus, he wants them dead, he wants them destroyed. Why? Because he is at enmity with the woman and with all of her seed. Look at John chapter 8 verse 44. It's pretty interesting when you stop and realize that. Look at John chapter 8. And then on the other side of that coin, we have the Lord who actually sent the Lord Jesus Christ to this world to redeem all of humanity. Not just certain people. Not just a certain nation or a certain type of people or a certain race or nationality. Basically Jesus Christ came to save all of mankind. Now ultimately all of mankind will not be saved. But Jesus Christ's goal was to come and to save the world. The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Is that just certain people? When the Bible says God so loved the world, it's saying he loved all of mankind so that he gave his only begotten son so that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. In John chapter 1, it says, that was the true light, talking about Jesus, that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. It talks about how there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, watch this, that all men through him might believe. That was the goal. The Bible says God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The Bible says that God will or desires to have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. So on one side we have God who loved the whole world, loves all of mankind and wants all of mankind to be saved. On the other side we have the devil who hates all of mankind, wants all of mankind to be destroyed and killed. That's what we have. On one side is the Lord and on one side is the devil. Now look at John chapter 8 verse 44. This tells us a little bit more about what the devil is like. It says in verse 44, year of your father the devil. Now right away we can see here that the devil has a seed. There are people out there whose father is the devil. That means that the devil has his children or his seed also. Because remember there would not only be enmity between the serpent and the woman but also between the serpent's seed and the woman's seed. Look at John 8 44 it says year of your father the devil and the lust of your father ye will do and here's the key that I want to point out. He was a murderer from the beginning. So what is the devil's goal? Who is he? What does he do? His goal is to kill. He is a murderer. He's always been a murderer. The first thing that he did was to deceive Adam and Eve into eating that forbidden fruit. Of course Adam was not deceived but Eve was deceived and what he did was basically he's basically murdering them in a sense because he's telling them eat this fruit and you shall not surely die. They ate the fruit and they died. I mean if I pointed someone out a poisonous fruit and I said here eat this, whoa isn't that poisonous? No, no, no. This is good for you. And they ate it and died. I would be convicted of murder. A premeditated deception like that to get someone to eat poison would be considered murder. That's why the Bible says he's a murderer from the beginning. You know we go back to the beginning the first time we meet the devil and what's he trying to do? He's trying to kill somebody. He's trying to get someone to eat something that he knows is going to kill them in the day that they eat it. Now they didn't die physically. They died spiritually that day. They died immediately but then also down the road they died physically. It was set in motion the decay of their bodies that they would no longer live forever and eat of the tree of life so they ended up being killed. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own for he's a liar and the father of it. So when we think about the devil and what he's trying to do, he's trying to kill and destroy and ruin the lives of every single person on this planet. He hates every person, every human being. He wants everybody dead. He would just take everyone to hell with him. That's his goal. Now it's hard to understand that type of a rationale or that type of a mentality because it's just such pure evil and because we don't have that kind of evil in our hearts it's hard to understand that but we have to believe the Bible when that's what it teaches about the devil. Now when it comes to the children of the devil, these people are mentioned all throughout the Bible. Sometimes they're called the sons of Belial in the Old Testament. They're called the sons of Belial, Belial, Bel, Bel, Beelzebub, these are all different variations of the same name and they all happen to do with the devil. Whether it's Bel, Belial, Bel, Beelzebub, that's Satan. So the sons of Belial are the sons of the devil. Here Jesus talked about the children of the devil. He said you're of your father the devil. Specifically he's talking to the unbelieving Jews who have rejected him and though he had done so many miracles before them they would not believe on him and it says that they got to the point where they could not believe in John chapter 12 verse 39 and 40. It says they could not believe because God had blinded their eyes and darkened their hearts. So these people are doomed it's too late for them. They've become the children of the devil. They're what's known as those who are twice dead, twofold more the child of hell. They are what the Bible calls a reprobate, a person who, and listen to me these people are out there, people who hate the Lord, they hate God, they hate his word and they've been given over to a reprobate mind and now they are the sons of Belial, they are the sons of the devil. We see these people of course in Judges 19 where the sons of Belial surround the house and wanted to abuse men in a perverted way. Go to Romans chapter 1 if you would, Romans chapter number 1 and let me show you this in Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1 talks about those who've been given over to a reprobate mind. Three times in this scripture it says God gave them up or God gave them over, God gave them up. These people are done, they're reprobate. Reprobate means rejected. The Bible says in Jeremiah 6, 30 reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord has rejected them. But watch this, in verse 28 it says even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy and here's the one that I really want you to notice, murder, full of what? Murder, full of murder. And then another thing I want to point out, let's keep going, it says debate, deceit, malignity, backfires, look at the next phrase, haters of God. So just to emphasize a few points here tonight, obviously we could talk about everything on the list if we had time but we want to talk about they're full of murder, these children of the devil, these sons of Belial, these reprobates, they're full of murder, they're haters of God and then the Bible says as we continue there in verse 30, despiteful, which is similar to hateful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. So when we think of somebody who's full of murder, somebody who has no mercy and somebody who hates God, it's pretty easy to see like father, like son. Think about that. What was the devil like from the beginning? He's a murderer from the beginning. He hates Jesus Christ, he's a hater of God and he actually even hates all of humanity. So of course he's going to be filled with murder, despiteful, of course he's going to be unmerciful because he desires to kill and to destroy and to harm and to do anything evil or hurtful to someone else. That's what the devil's like, that's what his children are like. Go to Revelation chapter 12. Now what's interesting about this battle that's going on and of course we know there's a battle that went on in heaven between the devil and his angels and Michael and his angels that we read about in Revelation 12, but there's a battle going on on this earth as well. There's a spiritual battle that's going on every day and if you think about in this battle, we have obviously the serpent on one side, we have the devil on one side who wants to kill and to destroy and then we have Jesus on the other side that wants to save people. He wants to give life. He said look, the thief comes to kill and to destroy, he said I'm come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. What's interesting about this battle though is that most of the people on this earth don't even realize that the devil is actually their enemy and that the Lord is actually on their side. So what I want you to understand is that in this battle, the spiritual battle that's going on in this world, unsaved people are not our enemy. Think about what I'm teaching tonight showing this because unsaved people are the seed of the woman. I mean, they're at enmity with the devil. By nature, the children of the woman should realize if they knew the truth, if they knew the word of God, if they heard the gospel, they should realize, wait a minute, I should be at enmity with the devil. He's been at enmity with me ever since the Garden of Eden just because by virtue of the fact that I'm a human being. He hates all of humanity. He's a murderer and a liar and he wants to destroy me. They're actually not our enemy. You know, the devil is our enemy and the sons of the devil are our enemy. It's too late for them. They've joined forces with Satan. They've been given up. They've been given over. They're the sons of Belial. Okay, but unsaved people that are not sons of the devil, which is obviously the vast majority of people that are not saved, are not these God-hating reprobates. They're not our enemy at all. They're just mistaken. They're just confused. They're just misguided. They don't understand which side of this battle they're supposed to be on. I mean, God wants to recruit them into the Lord's army. God is there to try to save their life, to save their soul, to help them, to bless them, but they don't even realize that, and there are so many people today, they're fighting against God unwittingly. It'd be like somebody going into a battle and they're accidentally, you know, shooting at their own side and accidentally giving aid and comfort to their enemy. Think about the apostle Paul. I mean, the apostle Paul was not a reprobate. He was not a son of the devil. He actually thought that he was doing good when he persecuted Christians. And here he is accidentally fighting on the wrong team, persecuting the Lord Jesus Christ and persecuting the church, when in reality, he eventually recognized, wait a minute, you know, the devil's my enemy. The sons of the devil are these Christ-rejecting Jews. It's not the Christians, you know, and he got on the right team. He got on the right side. Look at Revelation chapter 12. The Bible says in verse 1, And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head, a crown of 12 stars. Now, you know, the woman clothed with the sun, the moon under, you know, what is this symbolizing? The sun, clothed in the sun, moon under feet, 12 stars. You know, I think this is symbolizing the earth or the world because of the fact that the world of course is clothed in the sun in the sense that the sun shines upon the earth. The moon is subservient to the earth in the sense that the moon revolves around the earth and then the 12 stars probably referring to the 12, you know, zodiac constellations as being the, you know, the primary star systems of, of, uh, of the earth. She being with child because remember the woman is Eve from the garden of Eden. That's an enmity with the serpent and that gives birth unto Christ. It says she being with child cried, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven crowns upon his heads and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and to cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up into God and do his throne. And then of course we'll skip the part that we already read where there's a war in heaven and and the devil's cast out of heaven. Look what happens when the devil's cast out of heaven. It says in verse 13 when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. Okay, so who's he out to destroy when the devil's first cast out of heaven? Who is he out to destroy the woman? So this is not any specific group of people. This is not a specific nation. This is not just Christians. He's just out to persecute the woman. He's just out to persecute the children of men, human beings in general, mankind and Joe. Why? Because he hates everybody. He wants to kill everybody. But then eventually it says in verse 17 after he fails for three and a half years to destroy the woman, it says in verse 17 and the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So when the devil fails after three and a half years to destroy the woman, he then decides to focus his efforts to destroy the remnant of her seed that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So who's he going after now? Just the believers. And just the believers who are actually living for the Lord. Now chapter 13 picks up exactly where this left off. Look at verse 1. And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea. Of course this is the antichrist for sake of time. It says at the end of verse 2 the dragon gave him his power and his seed and great authority. So right after he says I'm going to go out and make war with the remnant of the woman's seed that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, the antichrist is set up by the dragon. And what is the antichrist's purpose? Look at verse 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints. So compare Revelation 12.17 where it says the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Verse 7 of chapter 13 it was given unto him to make war with who? The saints. So the saints are the remnant of the woman's seed of course, the believers in Jesus Christ. So it makes sense that if the devil wants to make war with the seed of the woman that are actually the remnant, the believing saved remnant, he does that through the antichrist who makes war with the saints. So chapter 12 flows perfectly into chapter 13. Chapter 13 is the fulfillment of the threat made in chapter 12 verse 17. Now a lot of people have a mixed up understanding of Revelation 12 because they try to put chapter 12 after chapter 13. But guess what? Chapter 12 is before chapter 13. Chapter 13 describes the abomination of desolation, it describes the antichrist receiving a deadly wound and being healed and setting up this image. That's when he goes to make war with the saints at that time when he's declared to be God, when he's healed from that deadly wound. Chapter 12 happens before that. So I'm not trying to get too complicated tonight but I want to break this down to you. In the events of chapter 12, we have the devil persecuting the woman. Then after that midpoint of Daniel's 70th week, three and a half years into the end times here, we have a switch where he goes after just the saints. Just the saints. Okay. Now go to Revelation chapter 6. Revelation chapter 6, we're going to see if this jives with other more clear passages. Okay. Chapter 12, we talk about the fact that he's persecuting the woman. To destroy the woman. He fails to do that so then he turns to persecute the Christians after that midpoint, after that abomination of desolation when the antichrist is set up and makes war with the saints. Well let's look at Revelation chapter 6 because Revelation chapter 6 is the very beginnings of what we know as the tribulation. The very beginning of the tribulation starts with the opening of the first seal. Okay. Now people always ask me this question. They say, Pastor Anderson, do you think it's possible that we could already be in the tribulation? Maybe the tribulation just started or maybe we're into it. And maybe you've asked yourself that question or thought about that. You know, how are we going to know when the tribulation starts? Well look, it's pretty easy to tell when the tribulation starts because look at the first events of the tribulation here in Revelation 6. It says in verse 1, And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, and one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. So the very first seal, very first thing, right? The tribulation is starting. First thing that happens is a guy goes out to conquer. Now let me explain something to you. When you go out to conquer, people get killed, right? I mean, you don't just conquer, just walking. Here I am, everybody. I'm the new boss. I'm the new king. I'm the new emperor. Everybody bow down to me. No, no, no. You got to fight for that position because people like to hang on to their power like we talked about with King Herod. Look at the second seal, verse 3, and tell me if I'm wrong. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another, and there was given unto him a great sword. So the very first thing in the tribulation, the first thing, and Jesus brings this up too in Mark 13, Matthew 24, Luke 21. The very first thing is a guy goes out to conquer, and then they open the second seal, and the whole world is at war, the whole world. He said peace is taken from the earth, and that they're killing one another. So let me say this, unless we're experiencing World War III, there's no chance that we're in the tribulation. I mean, right now, sure, there are wars and battles going on in this world right now, but is peace just taken from the earth? I mean, is the world at war? No. We did have a great war in the first part of the 20th century that later would become known as World War I. And of course, we had another war at the middle of the 20th century known as World War II. But since World War II, there's never really been a time where we could say that peace is taken from the earth, and that the world is at war. But let me tell you something. According to the Bible, there will be another world war. Eventually, that time will come. But until then, you can rest assured that we're not in the tribulation, because the first thing is a huge war, and the emphasis is on people killing each other. Why? Well, World War I was a bloodbath. World War II was a horrible bloodbath. You know, the estimate of how many people died in World War II is 50 to 70 million. That's a lot of people. Well, this war is going to be even worse than that. Look at the...and then if we look at the third seal, it says in verse 5, When he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see, and I beheld and lo, a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand, and I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. That has to do with expensive food prices, and so we see a famine. That's what drives the cost of food up is when it's scarce. People don't have food. It becomes precious. So we see world warfare, famine, and starvation. We could look at Matthew 24, Mark 13, see the same thing. Look at the fourth seal, and when he had opened the fourth seal, verse 7, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see, and I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him, and power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth. Now let me ask you this. Who are the first four seals directed at? Are they directed at Christians? Are they directed at Jews? Are they directed at the United States? Are they directed at Israel? Are they directed at anyone in particular? You know who they're directed at? Everybody. The whole world's being slaughtered in warfare. The whole world's experiencing famine. The whole world is suffering death and destruction. I mean the fourth part of the earth is just given over to death and hell. Now that makes sense when you think about what we read in Revelation 12, that parable of the woman being persecuted by the serpent, where the devil is just indiscriminately just killing everybody, just trying to kill everybody, right? But then when we get into the fifth seal, we see something different. When the fifth seal is opened, it says, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain. This is in verse number 9, the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. See this is where we're getting into a new phase where now it's the Christians that are being killed, you know, those that are being killed for the cause of Christ. So anyway, I don't want to go into a big deep prophecy lesson tonight. I just wanted to give you that basic teaching, just a basic understanding of, first of all, number one, we're not in the tribulation because the whole world's not at war. Number two, the first three and a half years of the devil's program during that time is actually just all of mankind's suffering through wars, famine, pestilence, death, hunger, and so forth. Then after that is going to be a phase where the devil persecutes the believers and so forth. So what do we learn from the sermon tonight? What's the message that we take away from this on Christmas day where we're celebrating the birth of Christ? What we need to understand is that Jesus Christ was born to bring good tidings, great joy to all people. So the birth of Jesus Christ is something that's a blessing for all people whether they know it or not. Even people that aren't saved, even people who don't even believe in Jesus Christ, Jesus' birth is for them too. Why? Because he's on their team. He's the seed of the woman. He's there to redeem all the seed of the woman. He's there to redeem all of mankind. He's there to bruise the serpent under his feet for all of humanity who is hated of the devil whether they know it or not. And so we need to not view unsaved people. We shouldn't view the Hindus as our enemy. We shouldn't view the Catholic or the Muslim or other people that are deceived by Buddhism. We don't need to view them as our enemy because whether they know it or not, unless they're a reprobate, which is a small minority, they're at enmity with the devil himself too. He hates them. He wants to destroy them. That's why when Jesus died on the cross, he said what? Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. They don't even realize that I'm here to save them. They don't realize that I love them. I'm on their side. And you know, many people today, they would look at us as Christians, us as soul-winning, fundamental babits. They would think that we're an enemy to them. If we come and knock on their door, they think that we're against their church or against their religion and that that makes us. But here's who we're against. We're against the devil. Listen to me, dear Roman Catholic. The devil is the one who is behind all that paganism and idolatry. He's a liar and a murderer that wants to destroy you. We're not here to fight you. We're not here to argue with you. We're actually here to try to pull you out of the fire. You know, we're the friend of sinners. We're the friend of the unsaved, trying to pull them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. I don't hate Muslims. I don't hate Hindus. I don't hate other... Look, we want them saved. And if we love them, we're going to speak the truth in love, reach out to them, and get them the gospel. All the way back to Genesis 3, the stage was set for this conflict that we could follow all the way through the Bible, all the way from Genesis 3 to where it culminates in Revelation 12. And we see that the devil is the enemy of the Hindus, yet the Hindus worship him. They worship the devil. I mean, the Hindus literally worship a god that they have formed and fashioned with their own hands that is literally holding a pitchfork. You know, I was just in Guyana and Trinidad, and I was soul winning in these Hindu neighborhoods, and just all the images of their god holding a pitchfork. Flames around him, serpents around him, and this is their god. We know it's the devil. We know that when they worship a sacred cow, that's no different than when the devil convinced the children of Israel to bow down and worship a golden calf. It's the same thing. There's nothing new under the sun. And when we look at their false god that is part man and part woman, which the Hindu gods are androgynous. They're neither man nor woman. We know that that's the devil. That's not the Lord. That's not God. That's Satan that they're worshiping. We know that the Muslims, when they bow down and pray before that cube, they're not worshiping the Lord. They're not worshiping the god. They're worshiping the devil. When the Jews go to that wailing wall, and they bow down, look, the Bible says that if you don't have the son, you don't have the father. Who are they worshiping? It's not the Lord. It's the devil. That's why Jesus told the Christ rejecting Jews, he said, you're of your father the devil. But here's the thing. That doesn't mean that we hate them. It doesn't mean that they're our enemy. Are there enemies of the gospel out there? False prophets? Reprobates? Of course. I mean, we learned about one last Sunday night when we talked about Jonestown and everything. That old sermon. And what was his goal? To kill? To destroy? To hurt people? Our job is to seek and to save the lost as Christ did. To go out and preach the gospel, the good news, the glad tidings to every creature, to a lost and dying world that might think that they're our enemy. But we in our hearts, if we know doctrine, if we know what Genesis and Revelation teach and what we learn tonight, we know that those people are not really our enemy. Even though they might be fighting against us, arguing with us, yelling at us, they're not really the enemy. They're actually just confused. And we need to get them the truth, get them the gospel, and get them to understand who the real enemy is. And get them to understand who the captain of their salvation is, so that they can get on the right side of the spiritual battle. I mean, can you believe it, how the devil has so many people duped into fighting for him? All he's going to do is turn around and destroy them all. I mean, even people who are Satan worshippers, they worship the devil. Do you really think the devil's ever going to do anything for them? Because when they die, they're going to go to hell and the devil can't do anything for them there. Because the devil doesn't rule and reign in hell. The devil is going to be tormented in hell just like them. And the Bible even teaches, if you study Isaiah 14 and study Ezekiel 28, the Bible even teaches that the devil will be mocked and ridiculed even by his followers in hell. Or when they realize what a fraud, what a liar he was. When he gets there, and he's just like them. Become like unto us, being tormented and destroyed like us. Ezekiel 30, 31, I mean, there's a lot of scripture about that. So we need to understand that the people of this world, you know, we're their only hope if we could bring them the gospel of Jesus Christ, because the gospel is what they need. And you know, the thing that I like about Christmas, you know, a lot of people are down on Christmas and they hate Christmas and bah humbug and they claim it's pagan and all this stuff to worship Jesus on this day. And they say, hey, he wasn't born on December 25th. Well, here's the thing about that. There's a one in 365 chance that he was born on December 25th, amen? Those are the odds right there for you. Now, that's not true. Look, if you, you can look up when Elizabeth and then, but you know what, if you actually study it out, it's impossible to pinpoint when he was born. We don't know, you know, nor do we care. But here's the thing I like about Christmas is that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ. And it's actually something that everybody can celebrate. Even if, even if you say, are you offended if a non-Christian celebrates Christmas? Well, no, no, no. Cause you know what? Hopefully that's a future Christian. You know what I mean? Right? Somebody that we're going to win to the Lord down the road. And you know what? At least it brings emphasis and attention on Jesus at this time of year. People who wouldn't normally hear the word of God or hear about Jesus, they hear about it around Christmas time. It gets them thinking about it. And it's a good opportunity to share the gospel. And you know, I don't, I don't have enmity toward the loss at this time of year. I'm not just going to panic or freak out cause somebody said happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas. You know, because the, you know, the point is the bottom line is that they, they know not what they do. You know, and I just want, I just want to get people saved. And I, and you know what? I, we just need to understand the Lord is the God of the whole earth. He's the savior of the whole world. And the devil is the enemy of all of us and hates everyone. You know, and we need to get people on the right side where they belong with the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, that man child who will one day rule all nations with rod of iron. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this, uh, this scripture Lord. And I pray that, that it was understandable, Lord. We dealt with some really heavy subjects and heavy scriptures tonight, but I pray that I was able to make it simple enough, Lord, so that even a theologian could understand. And I just pray that you would please just bless our time of fellowship now, Lord, and uh, just bless everyone who's here for, for taking time out on Christmas day to, to actually acknowledge the real, uh, reason for the season, which is the birth of Jesus Christ. Lord, please just bless the food that we're going to partake of after the service and the hot cocoa. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.