THE 7 GREAT ACTORS OF REVELATION Rev. 12-13
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: You Get What You Pay For
1. A father visited a church with his son. Afterward he found fault with everything in the service; he criticized the minister, the sermon, the singing, the volume and even the decor.
2. The boy, who had noticed what his father put in the offering, said, "Well Dad, what did you expect for a quarter?" [Anonymous]
B. TEXT
1. A great sign appeared in heaven: a WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an ENORMOUS RED DRAGON with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a MAN-CHILD, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. 7 Then war broke out in heaven. MICHAEL and his angels fought against the dragon, and 8...he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 17 Then the dragon was enraged...and went off to wage war against the [SEED OF THE WOMAN]—those who...hold fast their testimony about Jesus. 13:1 And I saw a BEAST COMING OUT OF THE SEA. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. 11 Then I saw a second BEAST,
COMING OUT OF THE EARTH. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It...made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name...666.
C. THESIS
In Revelations 12 & 13 John sees the 7 Great Actors of the final 7 years of human history. Let’s look at their identities:
I. THE WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN
1. Three types of women are used as symbols in the Bible: the virgin, the wife, and the prostitute. Babylon is later portrayed as a prostitute, but this woman is neither virgin nor prostitute. She is expecting a child, so it follows that she is a wife.
2. Israel is referred to as the wife of Jehovah many times in the O. T. (Isa. 54:3-6; Jer. 3:6-10, 41:32; Ez. 16:32; Hos. 2:14-16, 3:1). The best O.T. reference to identify the woman is Genesis 37:9-11, where Joseph saw Jacob, represented by the sun; his wife, by the moon; and the 12 brothers represented by stars.
3. Combining these elements, the woman represents "Ideal Israel" or "true Israel in her pre-messianic expectation" (Kittel, p.220).
II. THE GREAT RED DRAGON: SATAN
1. The identity of the Dragon is given in Vs. 9; “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan.” Satan was first seen in the Garden of Eden as a snake that had legs, similar to a dragon.
2. The Cosmic battle between Christ and the Dragon-Serpent was traced by the Creator in picture form among the stars. As early as 4,500 years ago, the Draco Constellation was identified as picturing a great drama.
3. D. James Kennedy wrote a book on this called “The Gospel in the Stars.” The constellations actually portray the sin and fall of man, the price that must be paid (Libra, the scales); Virgo – the Virgin will bring forth a Son; and Scorpio – shows the mortal conflict between the Serpent/ Dragon & the Champion!
4. One of the subhouses of Scorpio even depicts the Champion (identified as Hercules by the Greeks, but we know it’s Christ) with his foot upon the head of the Serpent!
5. The 7 HEADS & 10 HORNS – the seven heads represent that Satan is the motivating “spirit” behind all the world’s major empires. The ten horns represent 10 kings which support Antichrist in the Last Days.
6. TAIL & 1/3 OF STARS. “Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth” Vs. 4. This pictures Satan deceiving 1/3 of the Angels of God. See Daniel 8:10.
III. THE MAN-CHILD: CHRIST
1. The nation of Israel was chosen by God to be His vehicle to reveal Himself to the world and as the genetic seed bed from which He would cause the Redeemer to be born.
2. All the way back to Genesis 3:15, it was prophesied that One would be born that would redeem the human race from the corruption of Satan. Therefore Satan desired to “devour” the Child, and attempted to kill the Christ Child through King Herod & his slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem (Mt. 2:16).
3. The Son is "caught up to God" referring to the ascension and exaltation of Christ to the throne of God.
IV. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
1. Michael is one of only 2 angels named in scripture. He is an archangel (Jude 1:9) and he is especially assigned to Israel. Evidently, until this time, Satan had limited access to the presence (throne) of God (Job 1,2; Zech. 3:1-2). But now he is cast out – loses his heavenly access – in preparation for judgment. No longer will he be allowed to be the “satan” (adversary) or “devil” (accuser, slanderer).
2. What the Lord Jesus had seen ahead in a vision – “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Lk. 10:18)), is fulfilled in this mighty heavenly battle at the end of history.
3. As predicted in Dan. 12:1, Michael shall “stand up, the great prince that stands for the children of your people” and leads the angels in driving Satan out. This triggers the terrible persecution against Israel the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation, because Satan is actually thrown down to the earth and possesses the Antichrist.
V. THE SEED OF THE WOMAN (Trib. Christians)
1. Wikipedia, on "Anti-Semitism," tells the sad history of the world's hatred for the Jews, especially from the time of the Temple’s destruction in A.D. 70. This hatred is of satanic origin!
2. Dan. 9:27 & 2 Thess. 2:4 tell us that the Antichrist will defile the Temple with his image and will attack Jerusalem, Matt. 24:14-22. Zech. 13:8 says 2/3 of the Israelites there will be killed, but a remnant will escape/ retreat, possibly during an earthquake (Zech. 14:5).
3. Based on Rev. 12:6 & 14, some scholars feel that the Jews will flee to the ancient, underground city called Petra, in Jordan. Once there, they’ll be out of reach of Antichrist, who goes after those who’ve become Christians during the tribulation.
4. HUMOR: Jews are shrewd people!
a. One public school teacher, named Betsy, was a Christian; it was her final year of teaching. Betsy decided to bring up the subject of Jesus Christ.
b. She told her class that she was having a contest; she would give $50 to whoever could tell her who was the greatest man who ever lived.
c. Immediately a Jewish boy began to wave his hand, but Betsy ignored him in favor of those who went to her church.
d. But she was disappointed with the answers she got. Jane picked Noah because he saved all the animals. One picked Alexander the Great because he conquered the whole world. A third child picked Thomas Edison because he invented the light bulb.
e. Finally, she called on Moishe who still had his hand in the air. "I think the greatest man who ever lived was Jesus Christ." said Moishe.
f. Betsy was shocked but still gave him the $50. She said, "Well, Moishe, I'm very surprised that you should say Jesus Christ. How come?"
g. "Well, to tell you the truth," he replied as he pocketed the money, "I think it was Moses, but business is business!"
VI. THE BEAST OUT OF THE SEA: ANTICHRIST
1. The Antichrist’s Empire is represented by this Beast (“therion” wild beast) with “ten horns, seven heads, ten crowns.” The 7 heads are successive Empires (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greek, Roman, final EU empire). The “ten Horns/crowns” represent 10 [EU?] kings which reign simultaneously with the Beast, receiving their power from him.
2. The four contemporary empires (Dan. 7:11-12) which Antichrist takes over are the Lion with eagle’s wings (UK & USA), Bear (Russia), Leopard (Middle East Confederation), and the Terrible Beast with 10 Heads (EU). It’s a COMPOSITE BEAST.
VII. THE BEAST OUT OF THE EARTH: FALSE PROPHET
1. This beast and first beast are similar; both are “therion,” “wild beasts, but this one is said to come from the earth.”
2. This Beast is a religious leader, who heads a worldwide cult of emperor worship. He has “horns like a lamb” (13:11), symbolizing that he pretends to be one of God’s children, at least at first.
3. He causes images of the Antichrist to become animated (vs. 15). They breathe and can kill those who won’t worship them. One of these images is placed in the Holy of Holies (Dan. 9:27), after the Antichrist sits there claiming to be God (2 Th. 2:4).
4. Elsewhere he is uniformly referred to as “the false prophet” (16:13; 19:20; 20:10). His miracles and activities (“counterfeit miracles,” 2 Thess. 2:9) are aimed at causing people to worship the Antichrist. So he serves in a religious function, as head of the apostate religion. Verse 13 says he “causes fire to come down from heaven.”
5. He institutes the MARK OF THE BEAST (vss. 16-17). Not only is there a death penalty for not worshipping the image of the Beast, but no one can buy anything unless they take a mark upon their hand/ forehead. 666 will be stamped on people. 6 is the number of Man; 3 is the number of deity; 666 would be the number of deified humanity, elevating the Antichrist to the position of God.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. In an article called “STORM WARNINGS IGNORED,” the account is told of a category F5 tornado that tore through Andover, Kansas (May 1, 1991; Updated Jan 25, 2015).
2. Weather Forecasters & officials warned the people of the Andover for more than a half hour to take cover, but when the tornado hit the Wichita suburb, 13 people were killed and the local storm shelter wasn't even full!
3. Frustrated authorities said it was one more example of people refusing to listen to warnings until there’s an actual threat, and then it’s too late. A dash-mounted video camera on one patrol car showed people casually walking along a street as the tornado approached.
4. Afterward people were asked why they hadn’t taken cover. They said, “We thought we had time.” “We thought it would miss us.” “We didn’t think it was really serious.” So 13 people died! he said. We all have excuses for not getting serious.
5. What’ll God have to do to get your attention? God said there would be WORLDWIDE PLAGUES, a GLOBAL GOVT. would rise; ISRAEL back in their own country; that TECHNOLOGY would develop to track every human; that CHINA would have an army of 200,000,000; that RUSSIA would invade from the north; and God describes the effects of the coming NUCLEAR WAR. God said the Rapture of the Church is coming and that afterward the Antichrist would rise to rule the world. Will you get serious with God this morning?
B. THE CALL: PARDON HAS TO BE ACCEPTED
1. Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbery and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to the Supreme Court which ruled, “The value of a pardon is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged." [Prokope, V. 11, #5]
2. For some, God’s pardon will come too late. Will you miss getting your pardon? Let’s pray.
3. How many of you want to accept the pardon that Jesus Christ paid for you when He died on the Cross? Raise your hands. Any others? If you meant it, stand to your feet.
4. How many want to make sure you’re ready? Join them by standing. Let’s all stand and make new commitments to God.
