The 7 Great Actors Of Revelation

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!