Revelation 12 - The Woman and the Dragon
12 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 thirdof 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 male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”[a] 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 the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But 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.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”
13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
INTRODUCTION:
In Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, Chuck Swindoll writes:
On Sunday, believers arrived at a house church in the Soviet Union in small groups throughout the day so not to arouse the suspicion of KGB informers. They began by singing a hymn quietly. Suddenly, in walked two soldiers with loaded weapons at the ready. One shouted, "If you wish to renounce your commitment to Jesus Christ, leave now!"
Two or three quickly left, then another. After a few more seconds, two more.
"This is your last chance. Either turn against your faith in Christ," he ordered, "or stay and suffer the consequences."
Two more slipped out into the night. No one else moved. Parents with children trembling beside them looked down reassuringly, fully expecting to be gunned down or imprisoned.
The other soldier closed the door, looked back at those who stood against the wall and said, "Keep your hands up--but this time in praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. We, too, are Christians. We were sent to another house church several weeks ago to arrest a group of believers."
The other soldier interrupted, "But, instead, we were converted! We have learned by experience, however, that unless people are willing to die for their faith, they cannot be fully trusted."
NOTICE THE KINGDOM LANGUAGE OF JESUS BIRTH:
• HE WILL SIT ON THE THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID
• HIS KINGDOM SHALL KNOW NO END
• A SAVIOUR
• LUKE 4:18-22 - HE AS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR TO PROCLAIM FREEDOM TO THE CAPTIVES…TO RELEASED THE OPPRESSED.
• LUKE 2:34-35: DESTINED TO CAUSE THE FALLING AND RISING OF MANY IN ISRAEL, AND TO BE A SIGN THAT WILL BE SPOKEN AGAINST…”
Isa 9:6-7 ... For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. {7} Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
A BABY WHO IS A KING?? … ( “JESUS LORD AT THY BIRTH” )
**WHAT DO WE MEAN BY THIS KINGDOM LANGUAGE?
THERE IS A DIFFERENT SIDE TO CHRISTMAS …
Peterson:
It is John's task to supplement the work of Matthew and Luke so that the nativity cannot be sentimentalized into coziness, nor domesticated into drabness, nor commercialized into worldliness. He makes explicit what is implicit in the gospel stories. The messianic birth takes place out of the womb of God's people in a cosmos resplendent with wonder.
(Page 121 Reversed Thunder)
… it is john's genius to take Jesus in a manger attended by shepherds and wise men and put him in the cosmos attacked by a dragon. The consequence to our faith is that we are fortified against intimidation! Our response to the nativity cannot be reduced to shutting the door against a wintry world, drinking hot chocolate and singing carols. Rather, we are ready to walk out the door with as the psalmist put it, high praises of God in our throats and two-edged swords in our hands (ps 149:6)
WE DISCOVER WHAT HAPPENED IN HEAVEN WHEN JESUS WAS BORN IN BETHLEHEM:
a) THE COSMIC DRAMA:
• A PREGNANT WOMAN CRIES OUT IN THE PAINS OF CHILD BIRTH
• IDENTITY - FAITHFUL ISRAEL BIRTHS THE MESSIAH—SINCE OT AND NT BELIEVERS ARE LINKED.
• SUN= RADIANT BRIDE
• MOON = DOMINION
• CROWN = ROYALTY - WHAT A PICTURE OF GOD’S PEOPLE.
• LATER THIS WOMAN = THE CHURCH! V 17
• A RED DRAGON APPEARS = SATAN (V.9) = RED = MURDERER.
• 7 HEADS; 10 HORNS; 7 CROWNS ? PRESUMPTUOUS POWER.
• DRAGON HAS COSMIC SIZE AND POWER= HURLING STARS 1/3
• DRAGON TRIES TO DEVOUR THE CHILD AS SOON AS IT’S BORN
• NOTE THE PARALLELS WITH (A) HEROD AND (B) TEMPTATION NARRATIVE.
(Isa 26:21) See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer.
(Isa 27:) In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.
A) THE CHILD IS BORN: V. 5
• SEE PSALM 2:7-9
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son ; today I have become your Father. {8} Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. {9} You will rule them with an iron scepter ; you will dash them to pieces like pottery."
• THE CHILD WILL RULE WITH AUTHORITY (IRON SCEPTRE)
• ASCENSION = SUCCESS + APPROVAL - THE CHILD IS CARRIED OFF TO HEAVEN AND GOD’S THRONE
b) THE WOMAN FLEES TO THE DESERT FOR 1260 DAYS {SEE DANIEL 9}
• THIS PICTURES GOD’S PROVISION FOR THE CHURCH IN THE FACE OF PERSECUTION FROM THE EVIL ONE.
• MARY/JOSEPH FLEE TO EGYPT
• ISRAEL FLEES SLAVERY
• ELIJAH FLEES TO BE FED BY RAVENS
• IN THE DESERT/WILDERNESS GOD PROVIDED MANNA BY RAVENS = A PLACE OF SPIRITUAL REFUGE
• 1260 DAYS NOURISHMENT = 1260 DAYS PERSECUTION.
II. WAR BREAKS OUT IN HEAVEN
a. ANGEL MICHAEL VS. THE DRAGON {SATAN}
MICHAEL - (Jude 1:9 NIV) But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
• (Dan 12:1) "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise.
b. MICHAEL WINS—SATAN IS HURLED DOWN TO EARTH—LOSES ACCESS TO HEAVEN
c. JESUS SAW THIS EVENT—LUKE 10:18 “I SAW SATAN FALL LIKE LIGHTNING FROM HEAVEN”
d. SATAN HAS NOW INTENSE HOSTILITY AGAINST GOD’S PEOPLE IN THE LAST DAYS
*DEFEATED IN HEAVEN, SATAN TARGETS HIS DECEPTION ON THE EARTH
• HOSTILITY TOWARD THE CHURCH IS BETTER UNDERSTOOD
• AS THE END DRAWS NEAR INTENSITY INCREASES
GLORIOUS ANNOUNCEMENT OF VICTORY IN HEAVEN: “LOUD VOICE”
V. 10
• “ NOW HAVE COME THE SALVATION AND THE POWER AND THE KINGDOM OF OUR GOD AND THE AUTHORITY OF HIS CHRIST” 12:10
III. WAR BREAKS OUT ON EARTH: VV 13-17
• DRAGON PURSUES THE WOMAN
• CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH CANNOT BE SEPARATED.
• PERSECUTES THE WOMAN (CHURCH/ISRAEL TOO?)
• NOTICE THE EXODUS ALLUSIONS—FLEEING—SEE EXODUS 19:4 “I CARRIED YOU ON EAGLES WINGS”
• WOMAN IS GIVEN TWO WINGS OF A GREAT EAGLE= DELIVERANCE
• DESERT = REFUGE AND SAFETY.
• LASTS FOR 3 ½ YEARS = ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES—SEE DAN 7:25
• Dragon attacks the church (1) fear (2) deception
Many of you saw the movie Chariots of Fire. It was the true story of Eric Liddell, a man who ran for Scotland, then went on to become a missionary. You may recall that he refused to run on the Sabbath, forfeiting some of the awards he probably would have won in the 1924 Olympics.
Well, there was another scene in that movie that may have appeared like Hollywood fiction, but it was also true. One year before the pivotal event in the movie, Eric Liddell ran in a meet between England, Ireland and Scotland. He ran the 100, 220, and 440-yard events.
In the 440, he got off to a bad start. When that gun sounded, there was a lot of shoving to get in front to the inside lane, the advantageous position.
Liddell tangled feet with J. J. Gillies of England and tumbled to the track. He sat there dazed for a moment, not knowing whether he could get up, when the official screamed, "Get up and run!"
He jumped to his feet and took off after the pack, which was now a full twenty yards ahead of him. In a quarter mile, that's a big distance to try to make up. In his unorthodox style of running he took off after the pack. He pulled into fourth place ten yards behind the leader, J. J. Gillies.
With forty yards to go, he pulled into third place, then second. Right at the tape he passed Gillies, stuck his chest out, won the race, and collapsed to the track in total exhaustion. Medical personnel had to assist him off the track that day.
An article appearing the next day in The Scotsman newspaper said, "The circumstances in which Liddell won the race made it a performance bordering on the miraculous. Veterans whose memories take them back thirty-five years and in some cases longer in the history of athletics were unanimous in the opinion that Liddell's win in the quarter mile was the greatest track performance they had ever seen."
There's something glorious about getting up off the track after you've been knocked down and running again. Win or lose, you didn't stay down. - Craig Brian Larson, "Strong to the Finish,"
CHRISTIANS ARE ABLE TO OVERCOME THE DECEIVER BY:
A) THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB
B) THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY
C) SACRIFICIAL DEVOTION—EVEN WHEN FACING DEATH
• RIVER OF DECEIT COPIES THE RIVER OF LIFE IN REV 21:1.
• ANGER AND RAGE RESULTS IN WAR AGAINST HER OFFSPRING—DISCIPLES.
• JESUS WARNED OF THIS—IF THEY PERSECUTE ME THEY WILL PERSECUTE YOU ALSO…AND JN 15:21 “ON ACCOUNT OF ME”
CONCLUSION:
The consequence to our faith is that we are fortified against intimidation! Our response to the nativity cannot be reduced to shutting the door against a wintry world, drinking hot chocolate and singing carols. Rather, we are ready to walk out the door with, as the psalmist put it, high praises of God in our throats and two-edged swords in our hands (Ps149:6) (Peterson, page 122)
I thought when I became a Christian I had nothing to do but just to lay my oars in the bottom of the boat and float along. But I soon found that I would have to go against the current.
In the 1920s, on the heels of the Bolshevik Revolution when Joseph Stalin was extending his chokehold over all of what became the Soviet Union, he sent political speakers out to Russian towns and villages to brainwash the people about Marxism and the Russian form of Communism. Peasants were forced to hear the harangues telling them what they must believe. It was made clear that the teaching of Christian faith was to come to an immediate end. The church was no longer to be active.
What none of them realized was that hundreds of years of Russian Orthodox teaching about the resurrection couldn't be rubbed out of people's souls just like that.
One large crowd of people sitting in a public auditorium listened for three hours to the speech of a Russian commissar as he tried to convert them to Marxism and the glories of the Communist party. When he finished, he was exhausted, but he had taken his best shot. He was sure he had convinced the crowd, so he invited questions. Here and there people rose to ask questions, but he was satisfied he had done his best.
Just as things were about to end, and he was to sign his success seal over what he had done, a Russian Orthodox priest stood up at the back of the hall: "I just have one thing to say to you. Christ is risen!"
Instantly the entire crowd responded, "Christ is risen, indeed!"
At the end of the second worship hour, a couple came up and introduced themselves. The women said to me in a heavy accent, "I am from Russia. Thank you for telling your story; it moved me greatly. But I must tell you one more thing about that story, which you did not tell. You need to tell people that when the crowd said 'Christ is risen indeed!' they knew for certain they would all go to jail." (Gordon MacDonald.)
Adoniram Judson (1788-1850)
Ann Hasseltine Judson (1789-1826)
America's unlikely missionaries to the Far East
He had been a cynical actor who rejected the faith of his father. She had been the town belle, indulged by her parents.
Hardly likely candidates for the rigors of the early nineteenth-century mission field--but now Ann Hasseltine Judson, nicknamed Nancy, and her husband, Adoniram Judson, are assured of their place in history. They helped open the Far East to others who would carry out the Great Commission. Before they met and were married, both Adoniram and Nancy underwent powerful conversion experiences, passing, as Nancy put it, "from death into life." Both had a passion to join the nascent missionary enterprise that was firing the imaginations of youthful Christians on both sides of the Atlantic. So thirteen days after they wed, in 1812, they set sail for India.
Aboard ship, Adoniram, an ordained Congregational minister, changed his theology to the Baptist position. Ann did also, and they were thus forced to sever ties with their sending mission. The Judsons were baptized by William Carey's colleague William Ward.
The Judsons found that the English governors of the subcontinent did not welcome these Western visitors with their Bibles and zeal. Threatened with deportation, they left India and went first to Mauritius and thence to Burma--a closed land, ruled by a tyrannical regime, horribly hot and disease-ridden. The Judsons found the place "dark, cheerless, and unpromising."
Over time, Ann Judson suffered from smallpox and spinal meningitis, buried one child, and saw her husband shut up in a vermin-infested prison for two years. Yet she also translated the Gospel of Matthew into Burmese and strove to improve the lot of Burmese women, who were considered little more than chattel. She missed her family but could affirm that "I am happy in thinking that I gave up this source of pleasure [and] I am happy [to] labor for the promotion of the kingdom of heaven." She, and a new baby, died soon after Adoniram's release.
Adoniram fell into a deep depression after Ann's death and even contemplated suicide. But he recovered and went on to translate the entire Bible into Burmese. He also pursued an itinerant ministry that, after many years, began to yield fruit. In 1845 he returned to the U.S. for a visit, to find himself lionized as a living Protestant saint.
Judson, who was married three times, outlived all his wives and several of his children. Between marriages, he entrusted his children's care to others. Some of his children never saw him after childhood. But when he died in 1850, he left behind 7,000 more "children"--members of the Burmese Christian church he and Ann had begun. "William Carey," Christian History, Issue 36.
See: Mt 28:18-20; Ro 8:17; 2 Co 4:11.
