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have been going through the Book of Revelation chapter by chapter on Sunday mornings and we are up to chapter 12. Now look at verse number 17, it says, and the dragon was wroth with the woman, the title for the sermon this morning is the woman and the dragon, the woman and the dragon. Now, as I've been sharing with you, if you've been following along, we ought to know now that Revelation chapter 12 begins a retelling of the events all over again. In fact, it's so clear that we begin even from the first century with the birth of Jesus Christ and his ascension into heaven. But before we look at that, well actually let's start there in verse number one, Revelation 12 verse number one, let me just read it very quickly. It says, 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, drop down to verse number five, it says, and she brought forth a man child, so she gave birth to this child and who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. And so this child that is being born of this woman is one to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Quickly flick with me to Revelation chapter 19, please come with me to Revelation 19 and verse number 15, Revelation 19 and verse number 15, and this speaks about Christ coming on the white horse to establish his kingdom. In Revelation 19, 15 it says, and out of his mouth go for sharp sword and with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. Of course that is Jesus Christ coming on his white horse and so here you see that he's ruling the nations with the rod of iron and the child that was born of this woman would rule over the nations with a rod of iron, making it crystal clear that that is Jesus Christ. Come with me to another passage in Revelation 10, Revelation 10 verse number 10, Revelation chapter 10 verse number 10, Revelation 10, 10. So when we get to Revelation 12, okay we're seeing the birth of Jesus Christ, okay we're seeing that we're coming back to the past and you know the events are going to be retold and there are several ways they can prove this here in Revelation 10, 10. You may recall it says, and I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up and it was in my mouth sweet as honey and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter and he said unto me thou must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings and so we see that John is receiving these words to prophesy all over again the events that he's been preaching about throughout these chapters. Coming now to Revelation 11, next chapter Revelation 11 verse number 15, Revelation 11 verse number 15 and again another reason why we know that Revelation 12 is a retelling of events is because it says here in verse number 15 the seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever and so we see the end of chapter 11 is Jesus Christ coming in and receiving the kingdoms of the earth him establishing his kingdom and so of course that begins the millennial reign. Now we get to chapter 12 and we have Jesus Christ being born and so we can see that there is a shift there is a change John is prophesying again. Now Revelation chapter 12 is very symbolic you know this idea of this woman there let's read again verse number one and there appeared a great wonder in heaven a woman clothed with the sun and so people you know have you know have tried to make a educated guess as to who this woman is. Now the Roman Catholic Church they believe this woman is their Virgin Mary. I don't like using the word Virgin Mary because she didn't remain a virgin after she gave birth to Jesus Christ you know she had other children and so their Virgin Mary they say is this woman and you can see that uh in at the end of verse number one it says and upon her head a crown of 12 stars and so they'll often picture the Virgin Mary with 12 stars like a 12 star halo around her head and they'll say that's her. Now the reason it's it's a hundred percent not Mary is because not only is this referring to the birth of Christ and you can look you can make the argument yes uh you know uh Mary plays a role of course in the birth of Christ but as we keep going through this chapter it's about future events like future events yet to come and so obviously Mary is not walking the earth today she's long gone she's long perished so it's definitely not a reference to uh Mary. Now the other idea that I've heard in most uh Baptist churches is that this woman is Israel. Now the the reason they'll say or they'll you know assume that it's it's Israel is if you look at verse number one again it says and they repeat a great one in heaven a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars and so they'll often bring you to Genesis 37. So come with me to Genesis 37 keep a finger in Revelation 12 of course but come with me to Genesis 37 and verse number nine Genesis 37 and verse number nine and we have the story here of Joseph and we know before Joseph was sold into slavery he had these dreams and that's partly the reason why he was sold into slavery because he had these dreams and he bothered his family bothered his brothers and in Genesis 37 verse number nine Genesis 37 verse number nine it says and he dreamed yet another dream and told her his brethren and said behold I have dreamed the dream more and behold the sun and the moon and the 11 stars made obeisance to me so the they're worshiping him he's one of the one of those stars that would make 12 stars and he told it to his father and to his brethren and his father rebuked him and said unto him what is this dream that thou has dreams shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee on the earth and so we can see that in this dream Joseph in Joseph's dream the sun represents his father the moon represents his mother and the stars represents himself or the 11 stars represents his his brethren and they bow down to worship him of course this plays out later on when um Joseph becomes you know second in command in Egypt and basically he's the boss okay and of course they do give him uh they do submit themselves under his authority now while we are giving an answer to that just come with me quickly to Genesis 32 come with me to Genesis 32 now I can see the strength in that argument I can see that this woman you know is clothed by the sun uh the moon is under her feet the 12 stars are there but here's the thing if the 12 stars represent the 12 tribes of Israel how does that still cause the woman to be Israel like I can understand I can accept I can accept that the 12 stars are the tribes of Israel but how does that make the woman Israel it makes the stars Israel and of course the father of these of these uh sons is Jacob right Abraham Isaac and Jacob and Jacob's name was changed to Israel and if you want to take this very symbolically then of course the sun would represent Jacob or Israel once again now okay the sun is Israel then that still doesn't prove that the woman is Israel does that make sense okay you can make an argument the sun might be Israel the 12 stars might be the 12 stars of Israel but that doesn't prove the woman is Israel it's the woman is separate from the sun and from the 12 star I don't have a problem accepting that the 12 stars may very well represent the 12 tribes of Israel because the number 12 is brought up many times in the book of revelation sometimes though it is also referenced to the 12 apostles of the lamb as well so it could be a reference to the 12 apostles of the lamb I look whatever you want to believe about the stars you know is yours to think about but the main reason the main reason I don't accept this woman to be Israel okay is because there is nowhere in your Bible okay that refers to Israel as a woman like Israel every time you can read about this multiple times in the Bible even in the book of Hosea you know when God says that out of Egypt have I called my son out of Egypt he refers to Israel as his son okay and when you think about the man Jacob he's a man like he's a man all right and yes his name was changed to um Israel but look at Genesis 32 and verse number 20 verse 32 sorry Genesis 32 verse number 28 this is when God changed the name of Jacob to Israel he says and he said thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel now what is the definition of Israel for as a prince thou has power with God and with men and has prevailed and so the definition of Israel is not a princess okay it's a prince Israel is a masculine name Jacob was a man okay and God uses uh Israel to to symbolize a son that came out of Egypt which also represents Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of that in the New Testament and so Jesus Christ of course is a man Israel is never referred to as a man anywhere in your Bible and then I'm left to think that when I get to the last book of the Bible in chapter 12 now all of a sudden Israel is a woman it doesn't make sense it doesn't jive with the rest of the Bible now I concede that there are times and many times where the cities like Jerusalem the cities within nations are given feminine qualities I accept that I believe that okay but the nation as a whole when it comes to Israel it is never referenced as a woman okay so again it just doesn't jive with the rest of the scriptures now what who is this woman who does this woman represent now I don't think it's all that complicated okay look at Revelation 12 come back with me to Revelation 12 and verse number nine the Bible gives us enough hints look is the Bible sometimes as a as a puzzle that you need to put together yes it is many times a puzzle I mean look most of the Bible is just straightforward most of the Bible doesn't require a lot of mental difficulty you just accept it as it is written but when the Bible needs to be put together as a puzzle God gives us sufficient clues sufficient evidence where it is just pretty much straightforward as to what it ought to be okay I'm not this kind of guy that believes the Bible is just so cryptic like so complicated and so cryptic that you need some of the man to explain it to you I don't hold that view some believe the Bible is so cryptic that if you go back to the Hebrew and Greek there are all these codes and all these languages and God tell us about the future and you know the Bible predicted from what I remember apparently Barack Obama when he got into office as a president and like oh man wow all this cryptic stuff I don't believe that for a minute I believe God wrote the Bible for us so we can just understand it we can with the Holy Spirit of God and and and read in common English we can understand at least in our English understand God's word but look at Revelation chapter 19 and verse number sorry Revelation 12 verse number 9 it describes this dragon it says in verse number 9 and the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and Satan now when God says that it is that old serpent what should that remind us of Genesis the garden of Eden right the first time we're introduced to the devil is that serpent that old serpent in fact there's only two places in the Bible that refers to the devil as a serpent and these are the only two places Revelation chapter 12 and Genesis chapter 3 they're the only places in the whole Bible okay now of course here's here's a you know uh there are other references of his prophets and his uh his people known as uh um uh vipers you know you know this kind of definition is but when it comes to the devil himself the only two places where he's given the title or described as a serpent are these two references so if we come back to Genesis chapter 3 where it he is referenced as that old serpent you know the reminder is hey it's back in Genesis come here to Genesis chapter 3 verse number 13 Genesis chapter 3 verse number 13 and what is the serpent's call to fame in the Bible that he deceived Eve right he deceived Eve she ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil she sinned against the Lord she caused her husband to eat of it as well and this is of course the downfall of mankind when mankind received the sinful nature and were kicked out of the garden and needed salvation okay so Genesis 3 13 the Bible says and the Lord God said unto the woman what is this that thou has done and the woman said the serpent beguiled me and I did eat and the Lord God said unto the serpent because thou has done this thou at curse above all cattle and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shall thou go and thus shall thou eat all the days of thy life so you can see here that God is speaking to Eve then he turns your attention to that old serpent in verse number 15 he says and I will put enmity between thee and the woman so God says look there's going to be division and there's going to be uh like enmity is like we get the word enemy okay you guys are going to be adversaries the woman and the dragon or sorry the serpent and I'll put enmity between thee and the woman look at this and between thy seed and her seed and it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel now not only is this a reference that we see the reference of the woman and the serpent here but we see the very first prophecy the very first prophecy of Jesus Christ coming into the world most often in the Bible we know Jesus Christ as the seed of Abraham okay but before he was known as the seed of Abraham the first time we're introduced to Jesus is that he's the seed of the woman and in revelation chapter 12 not only do we have the woman and that old serpent but we have the birth of Jesus Christ as we keep going through the chapter it speaks about the seed of the woman because if you understand Galatians chapter 3 every believer that is in with with uh that is in Christ Jesus every believer that is saved uh is the seed of Abraham is the seed because we are in Christ Jesus who is the seed and so the very first reference is Jesus Christ as the seed of the woman it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel now let's drop down to verse number 20 in the same chapter Genesis 3 20 and Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living so when we read revelation at the 12th that old serpent ah Genesis 3 right it's not that complicated really okay we go back to Genesis 3 what do we have enmity between the woman and the serpent we have the prophecy of her seed okay and we see that she is referred to here as the mother of all living because we all come from Eve we all share the same mother we're all related it's right it's wonderful not only are we brothers and sisters in the Lord we're actually brothers and sisters in the flesh really if you draw our attention all the way back to even and of course Noah and his family on the ark but let's go back to revelation chapter 12 now back to revelation chapter 12 and verse number one so you're saying pastor are you saying that this woman is Eve not exactly I'm saying that this woman is representative of it Eve is long gone just like virgin Mary or Mary right she she passed away long ago she's not going to uh be there while God is you know uh during the great tribulation or anything like that but she is representative okay these are symbolic signs in some symbolic things she is the woman and we know that Eve is the mother of all living and so this woman represents the entire world like the entire world's population every single human being that is on the earth at this time is represented by this woman now with that in mind let's read it all over again revelation of the 12 verse number one and there appeared a great wonder in heaven a woman clothed with the sun now Brevin if the woman represents our earth the world the entire world is our world clothed with the sun right now it is the sun is shining down we have daylight and even when it's night time it's it's it's uh shining light on the other side of the world isn't it okay so the our world the entire earth the population is being clothed by the sun and the moon under her feet and of course the moon orbits the earth okay and upon a crown uh her head of crown of 12 stars again I don't have a problem if you want to say that's the 12 tribes of Israel or that's the 12 apostles of the lamb I don't mind you tell me what you think that is then verse number two and she being with child cried travailing in birth and pain to be delivered okay and yes you can now apply this to to sorry to to Mary if you like because she did literally give birth to Jesus Christ that see that was promised uh to to eve and in verse number three it says and there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red dragon hey that's the old serpent it's saying here that he had having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads all right I'm not going to break down for you right now these seven heads ten horns and seven crowns are okay we're going to look at that a little bit in revelation 13 and then we're going to look at that even more so in revelation 17 okay that's where God really starts to illustrate what this represents but just to give you a spoiler okay these these horns these crowns these heads represent kings and kingdoms okay that that's the most important thing you need to take away from this it's kings and kingdoms and this makes perfect sense with with uh the devil being referred to in the bible as the god of this world remember when uh jesus christ went into the wilderness and was tempted in the wilderness that satan came and tempted him and offered him all the kingdoms of the world if he were to bow down and worship satan and so what this tells us is that the devil has influence in our nations you know in our governments uh you know in the kingdoms of this earth the devil has clear influence and power in these areas and of course that shouldn't surprise us when there are laws that are passed down that are clearly against the bible in a clearly satanic a satanic agenda it shouldn't surprise us because god's already told us that satan is the god of this world now what else do we learn so she's about to give birth so we're back to the time of the birth of christ we've gone back to the past in this retelling okay and what happens in verse number four and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and it cast them to the earth by the way those stars of heaven are angels okay we've already seen the book of in revelation how a star can be referred to as an angel and as we keep going for this chapter it's very clear that they are his angels okay so not only did satan rebel against the lord but one third of the angels have rebelled against god okay satan drags them down with him it says 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 so is there a story in the bible where as soon as christ is born that there is a attempt to kill that child is there a story in the bible of course there is it's a story of king herrod remember when uh the the um the uh the wise men yeah the wise men came along and inquired of the wise man the the one that would be called called the king of the jews was born they wanted to see that child and then god was the wise man look don't go back to herrod don't tell him where the child is because herrod sought to kill jesus right he ever wanted to be the king of the jews he didn't want someone else to be given that title so keep your finger there and come with me to matthew chapter 2 where we read the story come with me to matthew chapter 2 verse number 13 matthew chapter 2 verse number 13 now let me say even though what we're reading about is very symbolic the woman the dragon etc it appears to me right like that when christ was born according to revelation 12 is when satan was able to convince one third of the angels to rebel against the lord that appears to be the timing i'll just read it again just just carefully from verse number four in revelation 12 while you go to matthew 2 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 now obviously the devil does not want people to be saved obviously he wants to stop the work of jesus christ okay it makes sense to me at least that when jesus the son of god will finally enter into the world the devil's like man i need reinforcements here like i'm going to need some help to defeat the work of jesus christ okay and so i have no reason to believe that this is when a third of the angels came down to the earth fallen angels i'm not saying there weren't fallen angels beforehand there definitely were but this is a significant number a mass number of fallen angels you may recall that um back in revelation chapter five we we counted the number of angels as as a minimum and the minimum count that we came up with was 104 million angels okay as a complete uh minimum and if the devil is drawing a third of those stars that would be a minimum of 34 million devils that are on the earth preparing themselves to destroy jesus and his work okay now look at matthew 2 13 and when they were departed behold the angel of the lord appeared appear to joseph in a dream saying arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into egypt and be thou there until i bring thee word for harrod will seek the young child to destroy him so brethren who is putting these thoughts who's influencing herrod according to revelation 12 the dragon the serpent okay verse number 14 and when he arose he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into egypt and was there until the death of herrod that he might be fulfilled which was spoken by the lord by the prophet saying out of egypt have i called my son that's the reference that i mentioned back in hosea then herrod when he saw it saw that he was mocked of the wise men was exceeding wrath and set forth and slew all the children that were in bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof from two years old and under according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men so you have king herrod who's under the power and influence of the devil he doesn't succeed he doesn't manage to kill jesus because the family fled but what does he do instead he tries he attempts every child from two years old and under is brutally killed now again you know you think about these things like who who could in their heart just desire to maim and murder children little children like you think the natural man would not like they're innocent they need protection like you know if you saw a little child just lost and confused on the like you'd try to go and help them and you try to you'd probably take them to the police station to help find their family right like that's the natural response of a human being what would draw somebody to just destroy little children like this you know it's obviously the influence of the devil and you know when you think about abortion today the abortion clinic's just designed just not even waiting for a child to be two years old you know well child's in the mother's womb let's destroy that child where do you think that's coming from the devil okay it's the work of the devil this isn't a normal thing human beings will come up with and so we see that herrod again king herrod the power in that time was under the influence of the devil now the reason it makes sense to me that well it makes sense to me because the devil's okay i've got to go up against jesus on the earth okay i'm going to need my minions i'm going to try to get as many of my minions as i can right um at least 34 million devils to come with him on the earth this also makes sense to me because when we see the ministry of jesus christ on the earth how many times do we see people possessed with devils like you you don't really you don't read about it in the old testament like i can't think of a story in the old testament where somebody is possessed by a devil i'm not saying there aren't devils there are definitely familiar spirits there's um just think of stories there definitely are there definitely are devils on the earth okay but you don't really read about just people in mass just being possessed by devils but when christ is walking the earth they're all over the place and even after christ ascends to heaven the apostles are dealing with all these you know demon possessed people as well so it kind of makes sense to me wow you know that the devil certainly had an attempt to stop the work of jesus christ and that's why it makes sense to me that it did take place at that time when when the devil knew that jesus christ will be born into the earth all right let's go back to revelation to the 12 and verse number five revelation to the 12 verse number five 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 so we just we fast forward very quickly from his birth and then he ascends up to heaven right he christ of course died on the cross rose again from the dead and then afterwards he ascended in the clouds back to heaven so that's what we've we're up to as far as this story goes now look at verse number six and the woman fled into the wilderness now the next phrase is really important as well or really interesting where she hath a place prepared of god so god prepares this place for this woman so they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days that's one thousand two hundred and sixty days or 42 months or three and a half years i'm sure you've you've by now you've been going to each other with me you you recognize these numbers okay and we know this period of time this three and a half years is still future yet to come so we've gone from the birth of christ to his ascension immediately now to future events okay which are yet to come for us all right so she's fleeing into the wilderness now why would she be doing that why would she need to flee if if this woman represents the entire earth the entire world why would it need to flee and again i don't believe the wilderness here is a literal wilderness as it were okay like the woman and the dragon it's all very symbolic of what god is teaching us here but what happened so the three and a half years refers to the start of the three and a half years of that seven year period to come and what did we learn during those three and a half years that there's wars right there's great wars right i mean there's famine right there's pestilences i mean people are dying in significant numbers and so what we see here is that the one that is trying to destroy the earth the one that is trying to destroy all the peoples of the earth is the devil the dragon is trying to destroy all people now this reminds me again of harrod he's after just jesus but in order to attempt to destroy jesus he just destroys every child that's two years old and under this is the kind of mayhem that the devil causes okay the other thing that i've discovered as i'm going through i already kind of noticed this but especially chapter 12 something that i learned is that the devil is like the biggest loser like he is such a loser he never achieves what he's trying to achieve he tried to kill jesus failed he tries to destroy the woman god finds a replace god protects the woman at least for these first three and a half years okay you're going to constantly see the devil attempt things cause a lot of havoc cause a lot of damage yeah beware of the devil but he never really achieves what he wants to achieve you'll see that i'll show that as we get toward the end of the sermon so these are the first three and a half years okay wars destruction famines pestilences okay it's it's a disaster on the earth and it's been caused by the devil okay for those free first three and a half years now we'll talk about why would god prepare a place for the woman as we keep going okay verse number seven it says and there was war in heaven i mean there's war on the earth there's destruction on the earth and now there's war in heaven what's happening in this war michael and his angels they're the good angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels so i mean this is a battle like i said satan's got at least 34 million devils on his side you know michael's got a hundred million was that right no is that right no at least 60 60 million angels i mean this would be a significant event in heaven like all of a sudden this massive wall breaks out but then it says in verse number eight and prevailed not so he didn't succeed again the devil's a loser look i'm sure he caused damage in heaven in the war in heaven okay but he doesn't prevail he loses okay neither was their place found any more in heaven so satan can never enter heaven again the devils that came with him can never enter heaven again there can no place ever be found for them after this significant battle in heaven verse number nine 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 the angels were cast out with him okay now again we know that three and a half years has taken place okay not only has there been war in heaven there's been war on the earth okay now again if all of these devils are being cast out of heaven i believe in these times we're going to once again see a significant number of demon-possessed people okay because you've got all of these angels coming to the earth okay verse number 10 and i heard a loud voice in heaven saying in heaven now is come salvation and strength and 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 look one thing we learned about the devil is that he has acts right now he has access to heaven as much as he likes in fact he's up there in heaven accusing the brethren day and night constantly like i don't know look i think we have a great church but it's not a perfect church because we're not perfect people there are things that we can do better there are things that we probably don't do very well you know when the devil finds things that we're not doing very well okay or when the devil finds that there might be a conflict between brother so and so and brother so and so in church what's the devil up to oh i can't wait to tell god about it just like a gossiper you know when people start to gossip and did you know this did you know that that's the devil he wants god's people to look horrible inside of god okay he's the accuser of the brethren he loves to gossip and to accuse god's people of wickedness but in verse 11 it says 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 so what's wonderful about this is heaven is rejoicing it's like oh man praise god we don't have to deal with the devil anymore like day and night we have to deal with him like he just kept coming up making all these accusations and like the hosts of heaven are like oh man finally we don't have to deal with you anymore we don't have to hear from the devil anymore but what we notice is when he is cast down onto the earth that he starts to persecute not just the woman but he prioritizes those that are saved right so this of course continues to play out and so this is all very consistent with the events of the end times we've got the first three and a half years the whole world is in this array and then at the beginning of the next three and a half years at the midpoint what happens the bible calls that great tribulation for saints that's when now the saints are being are the focus of the persecution that's when saints begin to lose their lives at the commencement of the next three and a half years but even though people may lose their lives during great tribulation it says here that we've overcome the devil by the blood of the lamb and look this is something else that i love about this verse sometimes i used to be a pre-tribber i never saw in the bible i was a pre-tribber because my church told me i need to be a pre-tribber and i just said i guess you're smarter than me so i'll just believe what you have to say even though i never saw it in the bible when i saw the post-trib rapture when i saw that the last generation of believers are going to go through great tribulation and persecution and even put to death my first response was a bit of fear and it's not that god's word really has given me fear it's just that i've been told one thing and it's a bit of a shock to the system when you start to realize hold on i'm going to go through great tribulation if i'm that last generation okay i could lose my life with jesus christ i've been told my whole time this whole time that hey life is going to be just fine and when things get very hard don't worry about it god's going to take you out of there long before you have to deal with any troubles or difficulties so there's a shock to the system all right and some people have told me the reason they can't accept the post-trib position is because it's scary it brings fear and look i think that's a natural response we're human beings like do we really want to be persecuted and tortured and and maybe beheaded for the cause of christ i mean is that really i can't wait to be beheaded is that really our desire probably not right but what gives me a lot of comfort in this verse let's read it again 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 you see during great tribulation believers we're not going to love our lives like we're not going to be afraid to die for christ like right now you might have a bit of fear about that oh man look one thing that's very clear in the book of acts chapter two in the end times that god is going to pour out his holy spirit in such a measure in such a significant way like think about maybe think about your own life and think about the time that you've just been on fire for god like the time that you've been the most excited the most zealous and you're like you know what i don't care what happens to me i'll serve jesus christ you know maybe you're like peter right before jesus christ was arrested peter's like oh i'll die with you jesus right he's hitting his heights you know i'm sure if you've been saved long enough there's been a period in your life you're like you're just so excited i'm saved thank god for my life but you know what if i have to lose my life for him so be it well that attitude that character is going to be every believer in the great tribulation we're not going to love our lives okay death all right great great because we know that those that die in for christ during this time are going to receive thrones in the millennium they're going to be given special positions with jesus christ we'll read that later on in revelation 19 and so again it might give you a little bit of fear now but i'll tell you this during the great tribulation if we are going to go through it you'll be like just bring it on i'm gonna win as many souls as i can for god during great tribulation and if i lose my life for him so be it bring it on that's going to be your attitude you know you're not going to love your life you're going to love everlasting life you're going to be having your eyes set purely purely on the eternal things of god let's keep going there verse number 12 therefore rejoice ye heavens again they're rejoicing and you that dwell in them but look at this world to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea for the devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time so he gets kicked out of heaven and the devil's now he's got great wrath all right like he's so angry that god has kicked him out and he also knows he's got a short time all right he knows that man things are going to come to an end very quickly and the devil's just going to want to maximize his destructive power as much as he can okay again we know when this begins it's the great tribulation he focuses because he's got a short time he focuses his attention on believers instead of the entire earth let's keep going there verse number 13 before i read this actually verse number 13 and 14 is repeating the first three and a half years i need you to understand this okay it may seem like it follows him being kicked out of out of heaven at the midpoint okay but it's it's just repeating what happened in those first three and a half years look at verse number 13 it says and when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child but we already saw that it was persecuting the woman we already saw that in previous verses okay so we know that we're just re-stating what happened beforehand in verse number 14 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 so once again we see it's the same time period because we're given a time which is singular times which is plural which is two and half a time so one plus two plus half is three and a half years once again okay so that was 42 months those 1260 days the three and a half years again just talking about the fact that satan's persecuted this woman for this period of time and once again you see that she's been delivered she's been given these two wings of a great eagle now i remember that uh i don't know which prophecy expert you know said this but those the two wings of those great eagles that's the united states of america has everyone heard that before because you know the the the symbol of america is the is the bald eagle or something like that and so this is america coming to the rescue or something like that i'll tell you in a minute what what all this represents we saw that our place was prepared for her by god okay so god is helping the woman god is helping the world from being utterly destroyed by the devil for those three and a half years again is there a lot of destruction of course there is but satan does not accomplish what he's trying to do okay because god comes through and does not allow the entire earth to be destroyed those first three and a half years so let's keep going there verse number 15 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 so even though she finds a place of safety now symbolically at least the serpent brings a flood in attempt to destroy the woman look at verse 16 and the earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth so once again dragon's trying to destroy the woman god allows the earth to open up and for the flood to go into the earth so it doesn't affect the woman now keep your finger down come with me to daniel 11 come with me to daniel 11 daniel 11 daniel 11 now i know there's a lot of symbolism here all right but could this flood be a literal flood i don't have a problem with that interpretation if you believe that flood is an actual flood i've gone back and forth on this over the years i don't have a solid answer as to what this flood is it would make sense to me that satan would try to use the flood because we know that in genesis 6 god used the flood to destroy the entire earth but then god promised with the rainbow that's the covenant that he would never flood the earth again so is the devil trying to break god's promises that he tries to cause a worldwide flood to destroy this woman i guess that makes sense to me okay but god of course puts a stop to it because he promised that the earth would never be destroyed with a flood ever again so you can read that literally if you want i don't have a problem with that if that's your right if that's your thought but if you were to ask me today pastor you know what would be your position on the flood there well if you look at daniel 11 verse number 21 daniel 11 21 this is about um uh how do you pronounce his name again Antiochus Epiphanes this is before the birth of christ okay which daniel does speak about but again it's also a type or a shadow of the antichrist which when this happens occurs at the midpoint of the seven years which is what we're up to in this retelling so far of the battle between the woman and the dragon but it says in verse 121 and in his estate shall stand up a vile person that's that's um an Antiochus epiphanies or if you want the antichrist of the book of revelation to whom they shall not give honor of the kingdom but he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries now look at verse number 22 and with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him and shall be broken yea also the prince of the covenant so it's saying here that he's going to overthrow with the arms of a flood now arms there is weapons or armies as we would term it okay and so you can see that also in the book of daniel which many times speaks of the end times as well that god uses the symbolism of a flood as armies of a flood so it's just the fact that he had a great army that overcame the people of Judah at this point in time or Judea at this point in time and again we see some symbolism of the antichrist of the end times so if you was asking where do you stand on this today i would say the flood is a great army okay and again that would make sense because there's been great warfare on the earth okay so we know that there are great armies battling and destroying the earth during that first three and a half years and it could be that these armies or the arms as it were the nuclear weapons and the missiles and all these things could be pointed at the destruction of every single human being every major city potentially and as these weapons are deployed or as these armies begin to cross certain boundaries it's not the first time we've seen in the bible where god can open up the earth and swallow up people and stops that from happening so if you want to believe it's an actual literal flood or if it's a flood of armies i don't think it's a big deal but the idea is there that the devil is trying to destroy the woman but god puts a stop to it okay for these three and a half years all right come with me to genesis 18 please come with me to genesis 18 genesis 18 the because the question that this will bring up we know the earth is wicked like like these are the end times right like jesus christ says look it's going to be like the days of noah it's going to be like the days of lots i mean there is there is great wickedness on the earth during this time why would god save the earth save the world from the attack of the devil at this point in time at least you know from being completely destroyed when it is a time of such great wickedness on the earth well i believe the answer we can be found here in genesis 18 genesis 18 because in genesis 18 we learned something about the nature of god something that is very hard for us to process but god is look we know that god is an angry god we know that god is angry at the wicked every day but we know that god is a very very very merciful god we know that he's slow to anger all right we know that his mercies are new every morning and in genesis 18 we see the destruction or we're leading up to the destruction of sodom and gomorrah the most wicked cities on the earth at this time where the lgbt the homosexuality is all oh everybody in the city every man is essentially a homosexual and we know that how much god hates it that he destroys that city with fire and brimstone i mean god doesn't even wait for them to go to hell he brings hell on earth and destroys such a wicked people but there is something that would stop god from doing so so when you look at genesis 18 verse number 23 because we know that lot was living there abraham's concern for lot when god tells him i'm going to destroy sodom verse number 23 genesis 18 23 and abraham drew near and said will there also destroy the righteous with the wicked that's a good question god there are some righteous people in sodom look if you wanted to judge lots righteousness by his works he's not righteous it's not he's righteous because he's saved that's why he's got the righteousness of jesus christ that's a good question like if the devil is attempting to destroy the entire earth yes it's excessively wicked but are they not righteous on the earth during that time for those first three and a half years of course there are if we're that last generation we're going to be there all right verse number 24 the answer is this per adventure there'll be 50 righteous within the city will there also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that that are therein that be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee shall not the judge of the earth do right abraham says lord i don't think this is your nature i i don't think this is who you are you're not going to allow the righteous to be destroyed with the wicked as wicked as sodom is surely your eyes are upon obviously my nephew lot and his family look at how god responds in verse 126 and the lord said if i find in sodom 50 righteous within the city then i will spare all the place all the place for their sakes that's god's nature and god doesn't change like we can say lord just let the devil destroy the earth that's going to be righteous on the earth okay so why would he protect the woman why would he protect the world for the righteous sake because we're still living on the earth if it's us or the way of the last generation we still have opportunities to preach the gospel we can still see people saved we can still do great works for god so to not put a stop to that god within his nature is able to even deliver an entire people that are wicked i mean reprobate even as it is for the sodomites drop down to verse number 32 not only for 50 and he said oh let the lord oh let not the lord be angry and i will speak yet but this once peradventure 10 shall be found there and he said i will not destroy it for 10's sake if there were just 10 safe people god said look i'm not going to destroy it now god ends up destroying it because there's not even 10 people there okay but we learn the nature of god okay god delivers okay or he sees his eyes are upon his people even when the entire earth the entire world is wicked i mean doesn't that give you great peace when there's oppression and persecution and difficulties and trials and lockdowns and things that strip away our freedoms and all this that god's eyes are still upon us so it makes sense to me that he's going to deliver the woman for the righteous sake okay now of course as soon as god delivers lot and his family out of the city okay jesus christ says in luke 17 29 but the same day that lot went out of sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all even thus shall it be in the day when the son of man is revealed so we're going to have a time when god removes us from the world at the rapture and on the same day god begins priorities right on the same day god begins to destroy a wicked world okay so we can see why god would withhold from destruction for the righteous sake so again that makes perfect sense for me in revelation 12 why he's protecting the woman from a complete destruction of the dragon all right back to revelation 12 revelation 12 verse number 17 and the dragon was wrought with a woman and went to make war with the remnants of her seed i remember how when we looked at prophecy of jesus christ the first time he's referred to as the seed of the woman and again in galatians 3 we are in christ jesus therefore we are also the seed this seed of the woman are those which keep the commandments of god and have the testimony of jesus christ so notice her seed are believers the woman is not all believers the woman is the world unbelievers and believers all mixed in but because the devil is unable to destroy the entire woman and he's no he knows his time is short now he focuses attention on just the remnants of the seed okay the believers those which keep the commandments those which have the testimony of jesus christ and of course this begins the great tribulation as we know it okay the tribulation the persecution against god's people now keep your finger there actually you don't need to keep your finger there come with me now to revelation chapter six just revelation six because don't forget revelation from 12 is a retelling okay so as the devil is seeking to go against those that keep the commandments of god and testament of jesus christ i want you to see where this lines up with the first telling in revelation of the sixth verse number nine it says and when he had opened the fifth seal i saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of god and for the testimony which they held and so when we're looking at the retelling and we see the woman persecuting the remnant of the seed we know this takes place at the same time as the fifth seal does it make sense okay after the fifth seal is a sixth seal when the sun and moon are darkened and the rapture takes place and so as we keep going for this chapter by chapter the next main event well actually we're going to have further detail in the next chapter about the persecution against god's people that we see play out here but the next major event beyond that of course if the bible is consistent which it is is of course the rapture of the believers all right now the big takeaway that i told you that i get out of this chapter or at least helps illustrate this thing for me that satan is a loser every time he attempts to kill jesus at his birth fails okay he attempts to destroy the entire earth fails he tries to win a war in heaven fails right he seeks to kill the saints he has some success like i said he has uh he does uh cause destruction and mayhem wherever he goes but we saw that the saints don't have a love life and we also saw in the previous chapter that yes he has some success killing the saints but there are two witnesses that can operate for the next three and a half years we you know and the devil you know is frustrated in fact the entire earth is frustrated and tormented by the preaching of these two witnesses and still he fails in trying to destroy all the saints of the earth because they end up leaving believers you may recall that when they're sent up to heaven all right and later on we see that the devil or the antichrist attempts to cause everybody to worship him as god but that fails because again like i saw the two witnesses do get people saved and they're not obviously going to be worshiping the antichrist and the dragon like he never gets what he wants right and then later on he he amasses a great power he finally has uh he destroys babylon which is the great power on the earth and then he amasses all power to himself he finally thinks he realizes this dream to be the great power on the earth and then jesus christ comes back on his white horse and destroys him and destroys his armies he never wins he has some level of success all right he causes destruction mayhem but he never achieves what he truly wants to achieve and even even after the rapture even you know when when he doesn't have to deal with the saints in the same way that he did before even though we have the two witnesses his kingdom is being destroyed by the wrath of god like he's not living in in like pleasures and and uh you know just just uh complete peace and and uh prosperity god's destroying the earth with his wrath over and over and over again so the devil or through the antichrist as well he never gets what he wants my big takeaway man is that the dragon satan is a huge loser now i'm not saying he's not dangerous he's very dangerous he's very dangerous but he's a loser he's a loser and what the bible say that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world praise god that you know we're saved we have the blood of jesus christ we're the testimony of christ in our lives and i'm just encouraged by these you know tribulation saints if i can use that term boy you know they're happy to win us for god okay in the in in the olivia discourse the bible says that the gospel of the kingdom goes throughout the entire earth you know there's going to be a great soul winner for taking place in his last days we don't see christians hiding oh i'm gonna die oh i'm gonna be forced to take the mark of the beast we see believers going you know what this is our last chance we've been through the spirit we have a greater measure of the holy spirit of god you know and they're doing great exploits for god okay let's pray