Rev. # 41~12:1-13 ~THE WAR CONTINUES~ 2-6-10
For the last few broadcast we have been talking about this angelic war in the 1st heaven that we read about here in chapter 12: and we’ll continue on with these thoughts as the Lord leads, this entire chapter is about this angelic war.
1And 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 twelve stars:
The woman represents Israel, and her child is Christ, the Messiah, The woman is not the church, since the church did not bring forth Christ, but rather He brought forth the church.
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2And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
The birth pains speak of the period of time before the birth of Christ when Israel was waiting for redemption by the Messiah.
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3And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
This of coarse is a reference to the devil.
The “seven heads” are seven historic Gentile kingdoms, which are represented by seven kings or rulers.—These 7 refer to the major world empires up to the time of Rome and which also were connected with the nation of Israel and her enslavements.
(1) Egypt--(2) Assyria:-- 3) Babylon--4) Medo-Persia:-- 5) Greece:-- (6) Rome--(7) and the seventh head is really a future kingdom although it has historical roots in the sixth kingdom.{ROME}—THE REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE.
And the seven crowns depict the completeness and universality of his power.
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4And 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.
When Lucifer was cast out of Gods heavenly Kingdom, he then becomes “Satan” and his tail takes 1/3rd of the fallen angels with him, the 3rd that thought that he could over throw God and take over His Kingdom, Satan has always wanted to be worshipped.
Ø Jesus said that He saw him cast out.
Luke 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
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5And 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.
Where we see the colon at the end of the word ”iron” takes in the 33 years that Jesus was on this earth, and the remainder of the verse is telling about His resurrection and ascending to heaven.
We’re told that He will indeed rule them with a rod of iron in
PS. 2:9 -Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
What ever the Lord Jesus says at that time will be the way it will be, “a rod of iron”
He’ll not stand up before the people making a lot of speeches trying to get His bill passed, all we see in our day and time from the world leaders are a bunch of lies, carrying for no one but them selves.
Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride shall bring him low:
The biggest part of this apostate administration we have today are a bunch of liars.
Proverbs 29:12 If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.
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6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Verse 6 is afore view of verses 13-17.
Lets be sure and notice the word “prepared”, is in the pass tense, Petra is ready at this very time, its there in Jordan, from what I have read it has running water, its been “PREPARED”, its ready.
The “they should feed her there” possibly could be the 144000 Jewish Missionaries, or the saved sheep of the gentile nations.
Matthew 25: 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, {the Jews} ye have done it unto me.
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7And there was war in heaven:{atmospheric heaven} Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
These are the holy angels of God led by Michael who is mentioned in the Bible in Dan.10:13 & 21 and also in Daniel 12: and then in Jude 9, and here in Rev.12:7.
Ø There are four things that are significant about Michael:
Mi-cha-el, means “who is like God?” It poses a negative question, and of coarse the only answer is “No one!”
Michaels very name and presence stands as a rebuke to Satan’s boast in ISAIAH 14:14 “I will be like the most High,” in other words, {I will be like God]
Here God sends this angel named Michael to defeat Satan, Remember his name means,
{Who is like God?}
He is one of the chief princes (plural) according to Dan. 10:13. So Michael has a high position among the angels of God.
In Dan.12:1 he is called the great prince and in Jude 9 he is “the archangel,” which means “first or chief of the angels.”
It appears that Michael became the chief commander and leader of the holy angels after Lucifer’s
fall, He undoubtedly possesses great power and strength.
As chief prince he has a special responsibility as guardian of Israel, especially during the Tribulation.
Daniel 12:1-2 1And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:** and there shall be a time of trouble,**such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
And verse 2 of Dan.12: tells us that the O.T. saints will be resurrected at the end of the tribulation.
2And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt--- W.T.J.
Without the protection of Michael, the Jews, who have miraculously remained a distinct people throughout all their persecutions, would have ceased to exist.
But let us remember that behind the power and work of Michael, is the sovereign authority and might of God.
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9And 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.
Satan deceives the whole world.
Satan never takes a rest. Satan, is not omniscient nor omnipresent,** but through his network of demonic powers and deceiving spirits he is able to operate all over the earth and at all times.
He causes men to miss the plan and truth of God by his many methods of deception; Satan has many traps and tricks that he uses to deceive. HE’S HAD OVER 6000 YEARS TO STUDY MAN.
BUT here Satan loses his position as
Eph.2:2- the prince of the power of the air—
At this time him and his demons can only move about on the ground as they now relentlessly attack the Jews, and kill as many people as possible.
Until this point in the Tribulation, Michael never lays a hand on Satan. He respected Satan’s might; he was acting in accordance with God’s purposes with Satan.
But at this point in the Tribulation, Michael is directed to do what he was never allowed to do before and that is to boot Satan and his demons out of the atmospheric heaven.
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Ø 10And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: -“Christ” means Gods Anointed.
for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
At this point a voice is heard in heaven, we’re not told who the voice is but It’s a voice of praise announcing the millennial kingdom with its salvation accompanied by the power of God and authority of Christ.
Salvation here in this context refers to deliverance from the reign of Satan and the Tribulation and to the completion of that which God will do to establish the reign and rule of Christ on earth.
We know that Satan is always accusing the brethren because we read it in Job 1: & 2:
Although he was cast out of Gods heaven he is still allowed entry to accuse the brethren.
Each and every time we Christians sin he is there informing God all about it as though God don’t already know.
The accusations are many and varied and they go on night and day, but the Lord Jesus is seated
there at God’s right hand to intercede and plead our case as our Advocate and Great High Priest.
1 JN.2:1-2
My little children,** these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate **intercessor} with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And he is the propitiation**
{The Only satisfying Sacrifice} for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Jesus, as He is seated next to the Father might say in our behalf something like this;
“Yes it is true Father, he has sinned and he don’t love me as he should, but I love him and I have died and paid the penalty for his sins—all of them. Past present and future, All of Your divine requirements have been propitiated or satisfied by my Personal work on the cross. Satan has no case”
Maybe Satan thinks that when God sees that we still sin that God may spare him, but his doom is sealed.
Isaiah 14:15 yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
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11And 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. –Martyrs death-***
This verse teaches us how Tribulation saints will overcome Satan and his attacks in the Tribulation.
We read about the Tribulation Martyrs back in chapter 6:9--11
9And 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:-they held to their belief in Jesus.
10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
So we understand by these words that there was going to be others that was going to die just like these did in chapter 6:
The word of their testimony refers to the proclamation of the Word, and believing it and applied by faith in Christian living, believers are able to put to silence the accusations of Satan and to reveal him for what he is.
Jesus Christ, our Advocate, answers his accusation in heaven, but we can also answer them by proclaiming and living the Word.
Ø Satan and his world system claim that God is not what man needs; the world claims man’s need is human knowledge, science, and the material things of life.
But we want all men to know that without Jesus as our Lord and Saviour all is hopeless.
Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
The Blood of Jesus removes all sin and condemnation.
1 John 1:7 -- and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. –P-P-F
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus--
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12Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters 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.
There will be great rejoicing by the inhabitants of heaven. Satan no more can enter into the heavens and God’s kingdom is about to be established on earth with Satan put away.
But then we find a woe or warning upon those living on the earth because Satan who will then be restricted to earth knows his time is short.
Knowing this fact, he becomes exceedingly wrathful, all of which he will turn against mankind and especially the Jews.
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13And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
We believe that this is at the midway point of the tribulation, this is when the battle of Gog and Magog comes about that we read about in Ezk.38:-39:
This occurs when Israel is in a false peace and safety, living in unwalled villages and trusting in the treaty with the Roman prince, who we know as the Antichrist.—DANIEL 9:27
We read in that account that God destroys the King of the North, who we believe to be Russia along with Iran and the rest of that evil coalition, we’re told that 5/6th will be destroyed.
