Revelation 12:1-5
What Would Jesus Say?
Introduction
The year was 1809. The international scene was looking bleak. Napoleon was sweeping through Austria; blood was flowing freely. Nobody then and there cared much about babies. But the world was overlooking some very significant births. It always has. For example, William Gladstone was born that year. He was destined to become one of England’s finest statesmen. That same year, Alfred Tennyson was born to an obscure minister and his wife. He would one day greatly affect the literary world in a remarkable way. On the American continent, Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And not far away in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe began his eventful, although tragic life. It was also in that same year that a physician named Darwin and his wife named their newborn child Charles Robert. And that same year produced the cries of a newborn infant in a rugged log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. The baby’s name? Abraham Lincoln.
If there had been news broadcasts at that time, I’m certain these words would have been heard: "The destiny of the world is being shaped on an Austrian battlefield today." But history was actually being shaped in the cradles of England and America. Similarly, everyone thought taxation and government oppression was the big news when Jesus was born. But a young Jewish woman cradled the biggest news ever known to man – the birth of the Savior! (adapted from Charles Swindoll)
I read about two women who were having lunch in an elegant hotel and were approached by a mutual friend who asked the occasion for the meal. One lady replied, "We are celebrating the birth of my baby boy!" "But where is he?" inquired the friend. "Oh," said the mother, "you didn’t think I’d bring him, did you?"
I’ll let you make the necessary inferences. Today, I want us to invite the Lord Jesus into this service and know that we are indeed about to celebrate the birth of the greatest child ever born to mankind – the Christ child.
We have already considered what Santa, what Satan, and what the angels might say if they were present with us. This morning I want us to consider for a few minutes what Christ might say if He were present among us, and here is the reality – He is! Jesus Himself said, "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst." He is here today, and though I have mentioned this before, never forget that when we come into the house of God for worship, you are not the audience. You see, all that we do in corporate worship is for God – He alone is the audience in this display of worship and adoration. God alone is the recipient of glory and honor and power – and He is worthy! The idea we have is of Ron and me on stage performing for you, and the quality of his singing or my preaching determines whether it has been good or not. But I want you to broaden your vision some today. What we really have is our church on stage and God sitting alone watching. He has watched as we sang. He watched as you gave your offering. He watched as the special was sung, and He is watching now to see if I will try to please Him or you, and He watches you to see your response. Yes, God is the audience, and we are all on display.
What is it that God wants to see in us as we have come together? He wants to see how we will respond to the message His Son will bring to us. You see, Christ has a message for us not just today, but every Sunday! What would Jesus say if He were with us today? How would He address the events of His birth? The view we get is most often through human eyes – the eyes of the shepherds or the wise men or Joseph or Mary, but what about through the eyes of God? Is there anything in the Scriptures that helps us to see the Christmas account from heaven’s perspective? Let’s look to Revelation 12:1-5 as we consider this morning what Jesus might say about His birth to each of us.
"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 twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne."
What would Jesus say to us? Perhaps He would say…
Behold The Great Conflict Surrounding My Birth
In the verses we’ve read, the apostle John unfolds a fantastic scene. He relates to us two great wonders that have appeared to him in heaven. A third wonder will appear in chapter 15 concerning the great whore of false religions, but for now there are two great wonders that concern the birth of the man child Christ.
John sees a woman who is clothed with the sun, standing on the moon, wearing a beautiful crown with twelve stars. The woman is the nation Israel, and she is clothed, or robed in the glory of the sun. Look with me at three passages:
In John 8:12, Jesus said,
"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
He is the light of the world. Now turn to Malachi 4:2.
"But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall."
Notice the spelling of the word Sun. Jesus the Son, S-O-N, is the Sun, S-U-N! Jesus, the SUN of God is the light of the world! Now let’s go to Luke 2:25 and begin reading there an event that occurred just a few days after the birth of Christ.
"And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."
So, John sees this woman Israel clothed in the sun, the glorious light of the world who is Jesus Christ. While she is clothed in the light of the world, she stands on the moon. The moon is not a light, but is a reflector of the light. Jesus said to His followers, "You are the light of the world." Did He mean that saved people are light? We have no light of our own to shed, but are instead reflectors of the light. We are to reflect the light of Christ in this dark world.
The crown with twelve stars represents specifically the twelve tribes of Israel. The number twelve seems to indicate God’s government. God’s government in the Old Testament was the twelve tribes whom He used to bring the Christ child into the world. God’s government in the New Testament began with the choosing of the 12 disciples whom He used to preach and teach the Christ.
In verse 2 the woman being with child travailed in birth and pained to be delivered, but notice the second great wonder John mentions in verse 3. There is a great red dragon, who is none other than Satan. He has all these heads and crowns, which are symbolic of his complete domination and control of the Gentile world. Verse 4 says that the dragon’s tail drew out a third of the stars of heaven. I’ve told you before not to believe something just because I say it. If you believe something, believe it because the Bible teaches it. After studying these verses, I have changed my mind about them. The third part of the stars of heaven refers to the angels that were cast out of heaven with Lucifer. Read verse 9.
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."
So, the second wonder begins with Satan and his evil demons doing something. Notice the rest of verse 4. "And the dragon, Satan, stood before the woman, Israel which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born."
If you’re like me and most people, when you think of the birth of Christ, you think of smiling faces in a peaceful manger and the shepherds and wise men and angels all gathered around in one big happy scene, but the scene John unfolds for us is very different. While the world around the manger scene might have been quiet and tranquil, in the unseen world of good and evil spirits and where angels fight battles we never know about, and while God and the holy angels were at work bringing about the birth of the Christ child, Satan and the unholy angels were at work to prevent it. Did Satan stand around in Bethlehem waiting to kill the baby Jesus? Not hardly! His work began in Genesis 4. I want you to think about how Satan has been at work throughout history to prevent the birth of Christ. Remember also that in the Old Testament we see the law of the firstborn illustrated throughout history. In salvation, we know that our firstborn nature is sinful and corrupt. It is condemned to die. However, our second born spirit nature is born of God and cannot sin. Watch this:
· Right after the fall of man in Genesis 3, God promised Adam and Eve a seed who would destroy the serpent. It was the first promise of a Savior. In chapter 4, Cain and Abel are born. Cain, the firstborn, rose up and killed Abel, the second born. Satan was already at work trying to prevent the Savior’s birth.
· Remember that Abraham had two sons. Ishmael was the firstborn son that was rejected. Isaac was the second born son who would be the great grand-daddy of Jesus. Satan tempted Abraham to shortcut God’s plan by giving him this son and was really an attempt to prevent the birth of Isaac, which would also prevent the birth of Christ.
· Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob. The account in Genesis 25 tells us that these two brothers were wrestling in their mother’s womb.
You’ll see the great conflict all through the Bible. King Herod, who killed all the infants trying to kill Jesus, was used by Satan to try to prevent the Christ-child. King Herod was an Edomite. The Edomites were descendents of Esau who we just saw was wrestling in his mother’s womb with Jacob, a great-grandpa to Jesus. Pharaoh tried to kill the baby Moses. Satan tried to destroy Joseph, King David, Solomon and many others to try to prevent the birth of the Christ. So when we think of the birth of Christ, maybe today He would tell us that as we celebrate life and family and gifts and all that goes along with Christmas, we ought never forget the great conflict that was being waged in the heavenlies to get the Savior to earth. Think about how vulnerable Christ made himself! Here He was, the Creator of the world, lying helpless and hungry in the arms of a woman to whom He gave life! The Savior who came to bring peace and restore God’s creation was the object of the greatest hatred ever known to God’s creation, and found Himself in the middle of the greatest conflict to be waged yet on this earth.
Behold The Great Deception Involving My Birth
Verse 5 tells us that the woman Israel did indeed bring forth the child who would rule one day. No matter how hard he tried, no matter what wicked tactics Satan employed, he could not prevent the birth of the Savior. So, since he couldn’t keep Him from being born, what’s the next best thing? Let me give you what I believe to be Satan’s three most widely used tactics at Christmas time.
Doubt
We saw a couple of weeks ago that Satan works to create doubt in the minds of believers and unbelievers alike concerning the virgin birth. He doesn’t want you to believe that Jesus was born of a virgin. He doesn’t want you to believe that Jesus lived a sinless life. He doesn’t want you to believe that you need what Jesus offers. He wants to create doubt about whether Jesus came to really bring peace or not, and the more trouble you experience in your life the more apt you are to give in to the doubts that the devil plants in your mind.
Deception
He uses deception concerning the truth of the birth of Jesus. His primary means of deception through the centuries has been false churches, and primarily the Catholic Church with all its ceremony and tradition and saints. Through their lies he has convinced a great multitude to accept what is known as the Immaculate Conception, that Jesus was sinless because Mary was sinless also. This is a lie and it takes the credit for the sinless Christ from God and gives it to a woman who was no different than you or me. Now she is a saint to be worshipped and prayed to. For just an idea of how widespread this belief is, when I typed the words "Immaculate Conception" into the computer, it corrected me by capitalizing them. Even the pagan lost world knows of this lie.
We talked about Saint Nicolas, the man who has been venerated by so many and to whom we in America refer as Santa Claus. I’m not going to try to beat up jolly old St. Nick this morning, but you can think of the great deception that Satan uses to keep people from remembering what Christmas is all about. Consider the popular Christmas song that I’ve put in your bulletin today,
"You’d better watch out, you better not cry,
Better not pout, I’m telling you why:
Santa Claus is comin’ to town.
He’s making a list, and checking it twice,
Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice,
Santa Claus is comin’ to town.
He sees you when you’re sleeping, He knows when you’re awake;
He knows if you’ve been bad or good, So be good, for goodness’ sake!
Oh, you better watch out, you better not cry,
Better not pout, I’m telling you why:
Santa Claus is comin’ to town."
(Haven Gillespie)
Think about the irony of that song! "You’d better watch out, you better not cry, Better not pout, I’m telling you why: Santa Claus is comin’ to town?" What is that all about? Its about getting ready because Santa is coming. Listen, Jesus is coming to town one day and we’d better be getting ready for that. "He’s making a list and checking it twice. Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice?" Who’s making a list? The most important list that’s ever been made and is still being made is the Lamb’s Book of Life. We’re told in Revelation that "whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice? Knows when you’re sleeping? Knows when you’re awake, whether you’ve been bad or good? I’ll tell you there’s only one who knows all that and that’s our omniscient, or all-knowing Lord and Savior Christ! "So be good for goodness sake?" Jesus said, "There is none good but one, that is, God:" We ought to be good for God’s sake.
Why? Why does the song teach we are to be good and get ready? Because Santa is coming with his gifts. Jesus said in Revelation 22:12, "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Santa wears a red suit. Revelation 19:13 has Jesus returning wearing a red suit.
I think that’s probably enough of all that, but if you’ve got eyes to see and ears to hear then you ought to realize that although Satan couldn’t destroy the Christ child, he’s done an awfully good job of deceiving the world about him.
In Coral Springs, Florida, a substitute teacher went into a kindergarten class last week and was reading to them a holiday storybook. The group began discussing the existence of Santa Claus and she told the class that he wasn’t real. Parents want the substitute banned from the classroom and disciplined. One parent was quoted as saying, "I feel like no matter what I do or say now, the seed of doubt has been planted in my daughter’s head. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to undo it, and Christmas is everything in my family." School officials hired a Santa Claus, complete with a natural, full, white beard to go into the classroom to make up for what the teacher did. (www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/offbeat/stories/wfaa021213_cm_offbeat3.9b21dc25.html)
Distraction
If Satan can’t cause you to doubt, and you are not deceived by his lies, then maybe he can distract you enough to keep you from keeping Christ the central thing in Christmas. It doesn’t take much with all the shopping and cooking and getting ready to see family and so forth. I think Satan is pretty successful at distracting us all year round, let alone this time of year. How’s your devotional life? Are you spending time in prayer and in the Word? Are you able to share your faith and remember that Christmas is all about Jesus?
We’ve considered the great conflict and the great deception, now let’s consider the third thing Jesus might say.
Behold The Great Victory Concerning My Birth
Verse 5 says,
"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."
In this one short verse, we have the birth of Christ, the promise of the earthly kingship of Christ, the death, burial and resurrection, and the present day intercessory ministry of the Savior. You see, no matter what Satan and his angels have done or are doing, nothing on earth or in the heavens above could stop the redemptive plan of God that He determined before the world was created. God determined that Christ would be born, that He would be crucified and that He would raise from the dead without asking Satan what He thought, and He has never looked back.
Israel brought forth her man-child through the virgin Mary, He came as the Lamb, riding in on a donkey, and He has yet to return to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. That lamb was slain, His blood was shed, and He was caught up unto God, but that’s not the end of the story, because Jesus is coming back one day. That day may be soon, it may not be, we don’t know. But this much we do know – we’d all better be ready when He returns!
Conclusion
Are you ready? Have you ever placed your faith and trust in Christ Jesus, the Savior who was born into this world in spite of all the opposition of hell some 2000 years ago? What Jesus did for you was no cakewalk, it was no peaceful little stint in a handsome human body. Jesus went the extra mile for you, purchased your salvation, has offered it in the form of the greatest gift ever given, and invites you to take it and open it by repenting of your sins and placing your faith in Christ. It is up to you whether you will accept His gift or not. Will you?
Perhaps today you are saved. Christ has spoken to you through the message and He is reminding you to remember what its all about. Have you forgotten? Have you taken for granted what He did? Do you know now the great risks and cost He endured for you? It is my hope that you will never look at another manger scene the same way again.
