The War In Heaven (January 1, 2023)

THE WAR IN HEAVEN

Text: Revelation 12:1 - 11

https://youtu.be/YpgkPBQk8lk

The sermon starts at 34:11 on the link above

1 Then 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 she cried out because she was in labor, in pain from giving birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: it was a great fiery red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept down a third of heaven's stars and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was snatched up to God and his throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the desert, where God has prepared a place for her. There she will be taken care of for one thousand two hundred sixty days. 7 Then there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but they did not prevail, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 So the great dragon was thrown down. The old snake, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to the earth; and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, "Now the salvation and power and kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ have come. The accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them day and night before our God, has been thrown down. 11 They gained the victory over him on account of the blood of the Lamb and the word of their witness. Love for their own lives didn't make them afraid to die.

The pastor of a small town church sent one of his parishioners to the big city to order a Christmas sign to be hung outside on the door of the church. The parishioner lost the note which the pastor gave him which gave the dimensions of the sign and the inscription that was to be printed on it. So he wired the pastor: “Rush copy of motto and dimensions.”

A new clerk in the Western Union office got the reply and almost fainted. “Unto us a child is born. Eight feet long, three feet wide. (Michael Hodgin. 1001 Humorous Illustrartions For Public Speaking. Grand Radpids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing house, 1994, p. 198). It might seem like this story is out of place. I promise it is related to today’s text very well. Today’s text deals with Christmas story and beyond because it is about the birth of Jesus and how the enemy targets God’s children.

VILLAIN

Who is the villain in this story?

1) Dragon: We know who the dragon is in this story don’t we?

2) Other names: Revelation 20:2 tells us that the serpent, the dragon and the devil are all references to the same fallen angel who was once known as Lucifer.

3) Lucifer: He was known as Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12) before the war in heaven. After the war in heaven he is known as Satan. In the Old Testament, Satan means “adversary”. In the New Testament Satan means “accuser”.

What was his beef with God? Was it because of his pride?

1) Pride: We have always heard that pride was his downfall. The Bible says in Proverbs 16:18 that“ Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (NRSV).

2) Jealousy: It has been said that he was jealous: “ The main reason for his rebellion was due to God asking him to bow down to humanity, in particular, Adam. However, Lucifer viewed Adam as inferior and was jealous of God’s love of him”. http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-lucifer-and-satan

3) War in heaven: Satan and his fellow fallen angels were defeated by Michael and heaven’s angels (Revelation 12:7 -9). Jesus said He saw Satan fall like lightning from heave (Luke 10:18).

What was his vendetta?

1) Connecting the dots: The serpent does not show up until Genesis 3 when he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Later in Genesis 3:15 God promises that her seed will crush the serpent’s head.

2) A flashback and a forecast; When John saw the vision of the vents in Revelation 12, he was obviously seeing the past as well as a forecast of the future.

3)The war in Heaven: Satan and his angels went to war with Michael and God’s angels. Why? The reason why was because of his pride and jealousy. If he was jealous of Adam, then it makes sense to see how Satan was jealous of this baby who is obviously Jesus. Satan was envious of God’s only begotten Son (John 3:16) ---“who is to rule all nations” (Revelation 12:5). Satan was out for vengeance with a vendetta!