In this epsiode of Exhale Bible Discovery with Dr. Paula, we arrive at the beautiful message of 11:11 that tells us that we must stand up, and that when we do we are undergirded by the Holy Spirit. The seventh trumpet has now sounded. A beautiful prayer occurs right before this next somewhat terrifying chapter, Chapter 12. Let our hearts and minds be open to what the Lord has to say to us, as we dig in, together!
Transcript
Welcome to Exhale Bible Discovery.
Speaker:Each week we'll take a deep dive into the Bible, going line by line and chapter by chapter to discover the truths that God has for us in his word.
Speaker:Welcome, everyone.
Speaker:We are to lesson number 15.
Speaker:And that is Revelation, chapter twelve.
Speaker:And if you'll remember, last week in chapter eleven, it opened with John being instructed to measure the temple and the altar with the worshippers.
Speaker:Well, God treasures us, his children, and has identified or measured us as worthy.
Speaker:We arrived at the beautiful message of 1111 that tells us that we must stand up.
Speaker:And when we do, we are undergirded with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:And that is when we make great strides in God's Kingdom.
Speaker:When we saw the second woe that has now passed and the 7th trumpet has now founded.
Speaker:A beautiful prayer occurs right before this next somewhat terrifying chapter that we have now arrived at, chapter twelve.
Speaker:And I have this broken into two main parts, but really I put it into four parts and I'll explain here in a minute.
Speaker:I kind of went with an outline.
Speaker:But the first main part, the mystery of the woman in the Dragon, is Revelation twelve one through nine.
Speaker:And then the second part is the mighty and triumphant Messiah 1210 through 17.
Speaker:So let's dive right in.
Speaker:As mysterious and frightening as these next verses are, again, I believe that once we stop trying to see these visions as literal and rather understand their symbolic meaning, it is then that we can remove the veil from the message.
Speaker:And so I wanted to provide a simple outline of the entire chapter.
Speaker:Part one would be the introduction of the characters and that's the woman in the Dragon, verses one through six, part two would be contempt, Satan's utter hatred of anything having to do with the woman and her seed, verses seven through nine.
Speaker:Part three would be contention, Satan's war utter contention against the Church ten through twelve.
Speaker:And then part four is Christ, the stronghold of Christ and his Church.
Speaker:And so it's really important too that we identify the various symbolic terms that are being used.
Speaker:The woman represents God's people from the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Speaker:The Dragon obviously represents Satan.
Speaker:The manchild is Jesus.
Speaker:The Angel Michael is the head of the angelic host.
Speaker:The offspring of the woman represents Gentiles, those who are outside of Christ and his family right now who come to faith in Christ.
Speaker:The beast out of the sea represents the Antichrist, or anyone who is against Christ, who is Antichrist.
Speaker:And the beast of the Earth represents false prophets who promote anything that is Antichrist.
Speaker:So let's look at part one, these characters, the woman and the Dragon.
Speaker:And as we witnessed throughout this book, the visions that John sees are descriptive, frightening.
Speaker:And to someone who does not have the whole picture, this book is downright confusing.
Speaker:This is why it is more important than ever to get into God's work in deep study as His Word is so expertly woven like a tapestry that as you continue to pursue his truth, this beautiful tapestry unfolds and becomes abundantly clear to the reader.
Speaker:This type of literary work should not be surprising to any student of the Bible as we know that Jesus spoke in parables to illustrate and teach many truths about God.
Speaker:We know the 66 books of the Bible contain a variety of literary styles poetry, history, parables, songs, doctrine, letters, and of course, prophecy.
Speaker:All of these styles add to the rich variety of this tapestry that we call our Scriptures.
Speaker:It's also important to note that Christ spoke in parables or mysteries for a reason.
Speaker:Paul wrote in Ephesians three, four and five.
Speaker:By referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his Holy Apostle and prophets in the Spirit.
Speaker:He then continues in verse nine and to bring light.
Speaker:What is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things? This chapter in particular is a wonderful illustration of prophetic symbolism.
Speaker:It also is a reminder that those who are not undergirded with the Holy Spirit, they will not understand the things of God.
Speaker:And remember, before Paul was blinded on the road to Damascus, he himself could not comprehend the things of God.
Speaker:He was persecuting anyone who believed in Jesus.
Speaker:It wasn't until he met Christ and was blinded on this road to Damascus.
Speaker:And when his sight was restored and he acknowledged Christ, then Paul was provided with true vision, spiritual vision that he needed to understand the mysteries of Christ.
Speaker:And as you continue to read through this book of revelation and his words are being revealed to you, praise him for the understanding and privilege of the comprehension he's giving you.
Speaker:These words are true gifts to us.
Speaker:So verse one opens with another incredible vision.
Speaker: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.
Speaker:While the woman represents all of God's people clothed in the sun points to God's people bathed in the light of Christ.
Speaker:The moon under her feet is still mysterious until we go back to the Old Testament account of Joseph in Genesis 37 of his dream of the sun and the moon and the stars being under him.
Speaker:And of course his brothers were like, what gives? Really, you think you're above all of us.
Speaker:But the symbolism is clear that the woman or the Church is over all things on the Earth.
Speaker:And the Crown of twelve stars again represents the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve disciples of the New Testament.
Speaker:It's a complete picture of God's people in verse two, she was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
Speaker:And we know Satan has been in opposition of the coming Messiah before he was even born.
Speaker:The enmity between them is well known.
Speaker:The pain in birth relates to this long suffering of believers over time and if you're a believer, you understand this very well.
Speaker:Jesus birth would finally bring about a savior for all people who would place their faith in him.
Speaker:And so Satan wanted nothing of it.
Speaker:Verse three.
Speaker:Then another sign appeared in heaven.
Speaker:An enormous red Dragon.
Speaker:Seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns on its head.
Speaker:Now the narrative moves to the opposite.
Speaker:The enemy, Satan himself.
Speaker:Dragons over the centuries have almost always been identified as a beast.
Speaker:Something add the devil and Satan himself.
Speaker:The color red is identifiable as something that has to do with evil.
Speaker:The seven heads show this beast is trying to usurp God by claiming to be the head of all things.
Speaker:The horns and Crown show his claim to power and fake royalty.
Speaker:Satan has always tried to show his might, but Alas, his true color red shows through exposing his real persona which is evil, lies and all things against God.
Speaker:In Jesus Christ.
Speaker:Verse four, its tale swept a third of the stars and flung them to Earth.
Speaker: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.
Speaker:And most of the allegiance believe this is telling the story of Satan's fall from heaven and taking with him a third of the Angels.
Speaker:The Dragon or Satan standing in front of the woman who is to give birth so he might devour him shows Satan's desire to defeat Christ from day one.
Speaker:We know from the Gospels that King Herod was prepared to kill all of the male children after Christ was born.
Speaker:Also in the Old Testament account of the birth, the Passover when the first born males without the covering of blood on the doorways would be killed was also an attempt to kill the line from which Christ would be born all those centuries before So verse five, she gave birth to his son.
Speaker:A male child will rule all nations with an iron scepter and her child was snatched up to God into his throne.
Speaker:Clearly this is the birth of our Lord and Savior Christ, and being snatched up to God in his throne points to his death and resurrection and ascension into heaven.
Speaker:We know while on this Earth Christ ruled with an iron scepter of his words, he spoke of God's words with authority, letting everyone know that it is through him that one must come in order to receive eternal life.
Speaker:And it wasn't welcomed then and certainly today.
Speaker:There are many who think that is terrible, that you have to believe in Christ in order to get to heaven.
Speaker:Six the woman fled into the wilderness for a place prepared for her by God where she might be taken care of for 1260 days.
Speaker:The Israelites were also forced to flee their homes and into the wilderness in order to escape the bondage that they were under.
Speaker:Once Christ ascended into heaven, the Church has been seeking him and his Church.
Speaker:Yet it has always and will be continued to be attacked by Satan.
Speaker:And as a Church, we continue to seek out Christ as we also flee from the snare of Satan.
Speaker:Jesus told us in John 14, two, three.
Speaker:In my Father's house are many mansions.
Speaker:If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.
Speaker:And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself.
Speaker:That where I am.
Speaker:There you may also be.
Speaker:Jesus has indeed prepared a wonderful place that he has promised us.
Speaker:And we must not keep our eyes off of this incredible truth.
Speaker:And this reference to a time of 1260 days simply points to the time from when Christ ascended into heaven and until he comes back for his Church.
Speaker:It's this time when the Church is under severe Satanic attack.
Speaker:Well, part two is Satan's utter hatred of the woman in her seed.
Speaker:This is verses seven through nine and seven says the war broke out in heaven.
Speaker:Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and then the Dragon and his Angels fought back.
Speaker:And this verse truly appears to be strange at first glance, a war in heaven.
Speaker:Well, there has been a war on Earth since the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden.
Speaker:And Satan has been at war with all of God's creation.
Speaker:And we are seeing this war big time right now with the radical left doing whatever they can to diminish and erase God's creation of man and woman and so many other things.
Speaker:But this war happened prior to Christ's birth, as this war was an angelic war.
Speaker:And those who fell with Satan, they chose to fall with him.
Speaker:They made a choice and therefore had to be banished from heaven forever.
Speaker:Just like today.
Speaker:We also have a choice to either follow Christ or we're saying we're following Satan.
Speaker:There is no middle ground.
Speaker:Those who are agnostic or just don't care about Christ, they are making a choice to deny Christ.
Speaker:Therefore, they belong to Satan.
Speaker:Whether they believe it or not, they're doomed to hell in this state of mind and belief.
Speaker:And it is a very sad state indeed.
Speaker:Verse eight.
Speaker:But he was not strong enough and they lost their place in heaven.
Speaker:Well, Satan and the devil, they believed that they were stronger than God, that he was stronger than God, but he found out this was not the case.
Speaker:Verse nine, the great Dragon was hurled down the ancient serpent called the devil or Satan who leads the world astray was hurled to the Earth and is Angels with him.
Speaker:The reference to the ancient serpent means the devil who is from the beginning of the time was represented as a serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Speaker:And the word devil means slanderous one or false accusers.
Speaker:Do you know people like this? I know I do.
Speaker:And the word Satan and Aramaic is Satana which originally meant one lying in ambush.
Speaker:For Satan is the ultimate deceiver on this Earth.
Speaker:He is constantly luring people into his lair whispering cunning thoughts and temptations in their path.
Speaker:Without the full armor of God it is easy to fall into his trap.
Speaker:And so your truth bomb is Satan is at war with God and anything that represents him.
Speaker:Therefore Satan hates those of us who call Christ our Savior.
Speaker:So your call to action.
Speaker:How are you staying preyed up and read up knowing Satan is pursuing you each and every day.
Speaker:Okay we're to the second part.
Speaker:This is the mighty and triumphant Messiah verses ten to 17.
Speaker:Now we're in part three, parts one and two were in the first section parts three and four into this section part three is contention Satan's war against the Church in verses ten through twelve.
Speaker:Verses ten through twelve are also a part of a Doxology or a praise to God.
Speaker:And so I put this Doxology into three parts.
Speaker:First part is authority.
Speaker:Let's read verse ten.
Speaker:Then I heard in a loud voice in heaven say now have come the Salvation and the power in the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah.
Speaker:For the accuser of our brothers and sisters who accuses them before our God day and night has been hurled down here the narrative suddenly changes in verse ten.
Speaker:John moves from a description of Satan into this Doxology or praise to God talking about the power of Christ.
Speaker:And so there's major points in this praise and I want to go over them with you.
Speaker:The first point, he talks about Salvation now have come to Salvation.
Speaker:Jesus came and died to provide those who choose to believe in him and accept him as Lord and Savior will receive Salvation from the bondage of sin and receive eternal life with him forever and ever.
Speaker:The second main point, power he says comes the Salvation and the power.
Speaker:Because of the gift of the Holy Spirit that is given to all believers because of Christ we are empowered with a supernatural strength that only comes from above.
Speaker:John 2022 says and when he had said this he breathed on them and said to them receive the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:The third part of this praise the Kingdom of our God.
Speaker:Well believers are promised to be in heaven with our Lord.
Speaker:He reigns as our heavenly King and therefore this is the Kingdom that we will enjoy.
Speaker:And then he talks about the authority of his Messiah and I really wanted to dig into this because, you guys, this is what we are empowered with.
Speaker:It's the authority of Christ Jesus is the final authority on Earth and in heaven.
Speaker:He has given us authority in the power of the Holy Spirit to do many things.
Speaker:So I've got them listed out.
Speaker:Believers, Jesus has secured our authority.
Speaker:Mark 1617 to 18 and these signs will accompany those who believe in my name.
Speaker:They will drive out demons, speak in new tongues, pick up snakes with their hands, and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them.
Speaker:They will place their hands on sick people and they will get well.
Speaker:We also believers have the authority to preach the gospel.
Speaker:Mark 1615 Go into all of the world and preach the gospel to all the creation.
Speaker:You guys, he's telling us to go, it's not a request, it is a command.
Speaker:Well, we also have the authority to stand against Satan.
Speaker:Ephesians 427 and do not give the devil a foothold.
Speaker:Paul also reminded us in Ephesians 611 to armor up, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the Devil's schemes.
Speaker:And then in James four seven, submit yourselves, then to God.
Speaker:Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Speaker:You guys, we have the authority.
Speaker:And we were told in Revelation 1111 that he breathed life into them and they stood up.
Speaker:We have that authority in Christ.
Speaker:Then we have the authority to be seated with Christ.
Speaker:I pray in Ephesians 118 through 20 says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you know the hope to which he has called you the riches of his glorious inheritance in his Holy people, that you and I and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Speaker:And that power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.
Speaker:You guys, that is huge for us.
Speaker:Also, God's Word provides us with authority.
Speaker:Mark 435 41 Jesus calmed the storm with his words, but when he did this, he was asleep in the boat and he put those disciples in charge.
Speaker:And so when they woke him up in fear of the storm, he rebuked them, saying, Ye of little faith.
Speaker:Because what he was basically telling them and telling us is, you guys, we have the authority in the words of the Bible, to rebuke and to stop things.
Speaker:We have the power of the word.
Speaker:We need to use it.
Speaker:Also, believers have the authority to walk as a new creation.
Speaker:Ephesians 422 24 you were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on a new self created to be like God in true righteousness and Holiness, and then finally you guys, we have in Christ the authority to be his ministers and healers.
Speaker:Acts three through six tells us about Peter.
Speaker:In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk.
Speaker:Y'all, we have this power as well.
Speaker:So do you truly comprehend the authority that you possess in the name of Christ? It is time to claim this authority right now and to put it to use our world needs you a warrior in Christ.
Speaker:And there is no mistake that Paul uses the analogy of staying armored up with the spiritual weapons of warfare for such a time as this.
Speaker:Ok, the part two of the Doxology is victory because verse eleven says they triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
Speaker:They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
Speaker:And this verse proclaims victory that Jesus provided us by his blood and the word of God and our own testimonies form a veil of victory over Satan that he cannot stand.
Speaker:So those of us who stand up for Christ even to the death, will be victorious in the end.
Speaker:And the third part of this Doxology or praise is to rejoice.
Speaker:Verse twelve says, 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.
Speaker:He is filled with Fury because he knows that his time is short and you all.
Speaker:There is no reason to fear because Satan will be defeated and his time is limited.
Speaker:Currently, the devil is wreaking havoc on this earthly realm, but not forever.
Speaker:And we must not forget Satan has his minions.
Speaker:God also has his heavenly angelic beings and the Holy Spirit, which enables believers to fight the fight.
Speaker:Okay, we're down to the very last part of the lesson, which is Christ the stronghold of the Church 13 through 17.
Speaker:And this last part of Revelation twelve reminds us of who is truly in control.
Speaker:Verse 13.
Speaker:When the Dragon saw that he had been hurled the Earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
Speaker:Remember, the woman represents the Church and God's people.
Speaker:Satan is and has been in hot pursuit of believers since his fall, and his only mission is to entice and to recruit as many people as he can before he is cast out forever.
Speaker:And I believe things are heating up and this is why more and more people are falling into Satan's trap of lies, distorting God's creation, and mocking basically everything that belongs to God, including DNA.
Speaker:Verse 14.
Speaker:The woman was given two wings of great Eagles so that she might fly to a place prepared for her in the wilderness where she would be taken care of for a time, time and a half out of the Serpent's reach.
Speaker:Well, first we saw the attack of Christ before he was born, then during the time of Christ was on Earth, he was mocked, despised and then killed.
Speaker:And now in the Church age, Satan desires to ruin those who believe in Jesus.
Speaker:I'm actually going through a very similar thing.
Speaker:Of course not being crucified but being crucified with words by a fellow person in my town and I truly believe it's spiritual warfare, nothing less.
Speaker:So the reference of being given wings of great Eagles tells us as believers that we are under his protection.
Speaker:His death on the cross provided us a great escape on wings of Eagles safely in the bosom of our Lord.
Speaker:Those who die before the end times are safely in his care already and Satan cannot touch them and this is where they shall remain until the time comes for Jesus to return to Earth and rule with us on Earth.
Speaker:Verse 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river to overtake the woman and sweep her away with a torrent.
Speaker:And y'all we know that every word out of the Devil's mouth and those who follow him are foul.
Speaker:They're a bunch of lies and they totally love deception.
Speaker:Eve was lured with words from the serpent.
Speaker:Just like God's word is final and holds all authority and is truth.
Speaker:Satan's words are not final, they do not hold any authority and they are lies.
Speaker:However, we know in this world those who are spewing hatred, division and mockery towards God and his creation.
Speaker:They are covering this world in a torrent of deceit.
Speaker:Verse 16 but the Earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the Dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
Speaker:This verse is clear encouragement of who wins this battle on Earth.
Speaker:God, we are on the winning side.
Speaker:Never forget this even when things appear bleak.
Speaker:Verse 17 Then the Dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring.
Speaker:Those who keep God's commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
Speaker:You guys, Satan hates you and I and those who hate God are going to hate you too.
Speaker:They hate who you stand for and they despise all scripture and God's moral laws.
Speaker:Your truth bomb is this.
Speaker:Satan is after all believers.
Speaker:You however as a believer has authority over Satan, you need to proclaim that.
Speaker:So your call to action is what will you begin to do today to exercise your authority in Christ? How will this change the way you pray? So to summarize this chapter, Satan is very real and very present on this Earth and his desire is to pursue and kill the Church and this includes you and I.
Speaker:Satan knows his time is limited and he is ramping up his war on Earth and mankind as believers more than ever we are being called in authority to armor up, stand up and rebuke him.
Speaker:So to sum it up in ten words or less Satan lures the world with lies.
Speaker:Believers must stand strong let's pray father God, thank you for your word.
Speaker:Thank you for this book of revelation.
Speaker:Thank you that we have authority in your name, Jesus to stand strong and to stand firm.
Speaker:Continue to undergird us and help us to see that we are on the winning team.
Speaker:And it's in Jesus beautiful name.
Speaker:We pray Amen be sure to visit my website Dr.