Slaying the Great Red Dragon

3:05 I titled today's message, Slaying the Great Red Dragon. Look at verses 1 and 2 of Revelation 12. A great sign appeared in heaven, John said. I saw a great sign. The great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head, a crown of 12 stars, and she was with child. Who is this woman? You can read every commentary under the sun and get a different idea, but it's not hard to understand who the woman is. if you know your Bible. Remember in Genesis chapter 37, verses 9 to 11, Joseph had a dream. And in his dream, he saw the sun and the moon representing his parents, Jacob and Rachel. And the 12 stars he saw were their 12 offspring, the 12 sons of Jacob. This was a representation of Israel. It's very clear this woman represents Israel. And it says in verse two, she was with child, a woman in labor. You know, the church is never described as a married woman or a woman in labor. She is the bride of Christ. But here Israel is a woman who's about to give birth. And she cried out being in labor and pain to give birth. As we'll see in a moment, the child is Jesus Christ.

4:30 This is the sign of the woman. There was a second sign, verses three to six, the sign of the dragon. Look at verse three. Then another sign appeared in heaven and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and on his heads were seven diadems. The word dragon is used 12 times in the Bible and it's all in the book of Revelation. Again, this isn't literal. It's a sign pointing to a reality. The dragon is Satan himself, as we'll see in a few moments. And he has seven heads and 10 horns. What in the world does that mean? Again, if you know your Old Testament, Daniel 7, this is consistent with the vision that Daniel saw of the Antichrist. The seven heads represent the seven worldwide empires in history. The 10 horns represent the final form of world government, which will be that 10 nation confederacy over which the Antichrist has power. And notice verse four and his, that is the dragon's tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Now remember, this is a panoramic view of history.

5:48 This is a reference to when Lucifer, God's chief angel waged a rebellion against him. And how did God respond? He threw Lucifer and all those angels who lined up with him, threw them to the earth, cast them out of heaven. And those angels became demons and Lucifer became our adversary, Satan. That's what John saw. He saw the original fall of Satan found in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. And then he fast forwards and the dragon stood before the woman, Israel, who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour the child. From the very beginning, Satan did everything he could to prevent the Christ child from being born. You saw him trying to destroy Israel itself in the Old Testament through Pharaoh and Egypt. And when he couldn't do that, he tried to kill off at least the messianic line through which Jesus would come.

6:50 and he didn't succeed there. After Jesus was born, he inspired Herod to kill all of the males who were two of age and under, and he didn't succeed with that. And then finally, the Bible says Satan inspired Judas to betray the Lord Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver, thinking foolishly that would end the promise of God. But what Satan meant for evil, God used for good. It was through the death of Christ and his resurrection that we have eternal life. That's what you find here in verse four. Verse five, and Israel gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne. That's a reference to the ascension of Christ. So when the dragon was not successful, notice what happens. verse 6. In between the end of verse 5 and verse 6, in all that white space there, are thousands of years. Because John fast forwards thousands of years since the ascension of Christ into the future, and specifically the final three and a half years of earth's history. Then the woman, who is the woman? Israel. Then Israel fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God.

8:11 so that she would be nourished there for 1,260 days. You know how long 1,260 days is? 42 months. You know how long 42 months is? Three and a half years. Every time in Revelation, you find those descriptions for this final period of time, 1,260 years, 42 months, three and a half years, 1260 days. And that's what you find here in verse six is a fast forwarding to the final three and a half years where the dragon is pursuing Israel and she flees into the wilderness for three and a half years. And it's going to be a time of persecution for Israel. Now that is a panorama of the whole cosmic struggle. When we come to the next verse in verse seven, John is going to zero in on those final three and a half years by first of all, looking at it from a heavenly viewpoint. What's happening in heaven during these final three and a half years?

9:16 There is a war in heaven. Look at verse seven. And there was a war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon, that is Satan. The dragon and his angels waged war and they were not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them, that is Satan and his angels, in heaven. The natural question I had when I read this passage, and I bet you have as well, is this. What is Satan doing in heaven? You know, many people are mixed up about this. Satan is not in hell right now. The reason is hell, his final place, hasn't even been created yet. The lake of fire, that is still future. Satan sometimes is on our planet, but not often. He's not omnipresent. He can't be more than one place at the same time. He's got plenty of demons to do his work. Satan's primary residence right now is in heaven. Job 1 paints that scene of Satan in heaven talking to God about God's servant named Job. He has allowed limited access into heaven right now. And you know why he's up in heaven right now? To accuse you and me before God the Father day and night. We'll talk about that in a moment. But the Bible says at some place at the beginning of that final three and a half years, Satan, while he's in heaven, is going to try to rebel against God. In fact, the Greek construction of the text here indicates that it's the dragon, Satan, who fires the first shot in this battle. What is it that causes him to wage another rebellion against God? I've heard a lot of speculation. Some people say maybe it was the rapture of the church. Satan saw the rapture take place, saw you and me headed to heaven, and he thought time is running short. If I'm going to have my worldwide kingdom, this is my last chance to affect it. Maybe that's what did it. We don't know exactly what happened, but there was a war in heaven and they lost Satan and his demons. And look at the result,

11:25 verse nine, and the great dragon was thrown down. Underline that. He was thrown down. The serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was, there you get it again, thrown down. And his angels were thrown down with him. This is what you call a real throwdown that takes place here. This is an ultimate final defeat here. He throws down the great dragon. And that's good news for heaven, but it's bad news for the earth. Look at verses 10 to 12. Woe on earth. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven. I think this is the tribulation saints, those who are martyred for their faith in heaven, saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down. He who accuses them before God day and night. That's what Satan was doing. He was accusing the brethren day and night. That's what he's doing right now. The throwdown hasn't happened yet. This is still future right now.

12:36 he is in heaven. But fortunately, Satan isn't the only one in heaven. Hebrews 7.25 says, we have an advocate who makes intercession for us day and night. In 1 John 2.1, John says, brethren, I've written these things to you so that you may not sin. But if you do sin, you have an advocate, a lawyer in heaven who is Jesus Christ, the righteous. Aren't you glad we've got an advocate in heaven for us. That's who we have, Jesus Christ the Lord. He accuses them before God day and night. Thank God he has been thrown down. Verse 11, and they, that is the tribulation saints, overcame him because of the blood of the lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. He's talking about the tribulation saints. And he says, and they overcame Satan. What do you mean they overcame Satan? They got their heads chopped off in the tribulation. They got thrown in the fire because of their faith.

13:44 What do you mean they overcame? Well, they didn't end up on earth. They ended up in heaven. And that's why they're victors. They overcame. To overcome means to obey God regardless of the consequences. They overcame him because of the blood of the lamb. That's why they're in heaven and because of their word of their testimony. And notice this phrase, they didn't love their life even when faced with death. I came across a quote this week. I hope you'll write this down. Every time you choose to suffer instead of being disloyal to God, that represents the defeat of Satan. That was true of the tribulation saints. They're overcomers. Verse 12, for this reason, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. The throwdown of Satan is wonderful news for those who live in heaven or will live in heaven. But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you having great wrath, knowing that he only has a short time.

14:52 it's good news for heaven it's terrible news for earth when satan gets cast out of heaven for the final time because now he knows his time is short and that explains the final battle on earth which is the focus of verses 13 to 17 what is it that causes the antichrist halfway through the tribulation to suddenly break his covenant with israel what's happening on earth is a result of what's happening in heaven. It's that rebellion in heaven and the throwing down of Satan that results in Antichrist turning up the heat on Israel. Look at verse 13. And when the dragon, Satan, saw that he was thrown down to earth, he persecuted the woman. Who is that? Israel, who gave birth to the male child. But the two wings of the great eagle were given to Israel so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place where she was nourished for a time, times, and half a time from the presence of the serpent. There's another illustration of three and a half years. Time is one year. Times is another two years. Time plus times is three years and half a time, a half a year, three and a half years. At this midpoint when the Antichrist turns against Israel. Israel will flee, part of her will, looking for a place of protection. And she'll find that place of protection in the wilderness. This could be a reference to perhaps a tremendous airlift that's going to occur when they are lifted out of Jerusalem and Judea and taken to this place in the wilderness. There's going to be a persecution for three and a half here is look at verse 15. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman so that he might cause her to be swept away with a flood. I don't think this is literal water.

16:50 Again, this is a sign. And in the Bible, a flood represents judgment, persecution. Verse 16, but the earth helped Israel and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river of persecution, which the dragon poured out of his mouth. We don't know what this means. Perhaps there is an earthquake of some kind that changes the topography of Israel or Jordan that benefits those seeking shelter. Perhaps the earth actually opens up and consumes some of those, just like it did in number 16. Remember those who were fighting against Moses, Dothan, Abiram, Korah were all swallowed up by the earth, the Bible says. Something happens there. Verse 17, so the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. When the Antichrist sees that he's unsuccessful in gaining access to those who are seeking shelter in the wilderness, It only intensifies his hatred for the rest of the woman's children. That is the Jewish Christians who keep the commandments of the Lord. This is a reference probably to the 144,000 Jewish evangelists as well as those Jews who are saved during the tribulation period of time.

18:15 I know this is a strange picture. Now remember, this is a description of the final three and a half years of earth's history. And Jesus said, they are so awful that had they not been cut short, everybody would have died during this final period of time, but they were cut short for the sake of God's elect. Everything we have and experience right now is a result of the unseen, but real war going on between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. And I believe every conflict you face in this coming week is a reflection of that unseen but very real war. What principles can we derive from this that will help us through this next week and through the rest of our life as this battle only intensifies the closer we get to the end? There are two statements I want you to write down, two promises you can cling to. First of all, God never forgets his people.

19:25 God never forgets his people. We see in these final three and a half years that God's elect are going to be protected. It doesn't mean they escape problems. It doesn't mean they escape death, but they overcome by being welcomed into heaven. God won't forget his people Israel, and he won't forget you either. If you are a child of God, nothing can separate you from his love and his protection. I think about the close of Romans chapter eight, my favorite chapter in the Bible. I think of the way the living Bible puts it. Paul wrote, for I'm convinced that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God. Death can't and life can't. The angels won't, and all the powers of hell itself will not keep God's love away. Or wherever we are, high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, our fears for today or our worries about tomorrow, nothing will ever separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us. Isn't that a great promise? That's the promise. God never, never forgets his people. The second truth that we can hang on to is this. Satan's ultimate defeat is certain.

20:51 His ultimate defeat is certain. Satan is kind of like a convict on the run right now who knows he's going to get caught, but he's just trying to wreak as much havoc as he can until the time that he's finally apprehended. The same is true about Satan. He was defeated at the cross of Jesus Christ. His capture is inevitable. But until that time, remember this, Satan has no more power over your life than you choose to allow him to have. Neil Anderson has written a great book in which he describes how he came to realize that truth. This is a great story. Listen to it. When I was a boy on the farm, my dad, my brother, and I would visit our neighbor's farm to share produce and labor. The neighbor had a yappy little dog that scared the socks off me. My dad and brother stood their ground, but I ran. Guess who the dog chased? I escaped to the top of our pickup truck while the little dog yapped at me from the ground. Everyone except me could see that this little dog had no power over me except when I gave in. Furthermore, it had no inherent power to throw me up on the pickup. It was my belief that put me up there. Because I chose to believe a lie, I essentially allowed that dog to use my mind, emotions, my will, my muscles, all of which were motivated by fear. Finally, I gathered up my courage, jumped off the pickup, and kicked a small rock at the mud. And lo and behold, it ran. Now that's Satan. He has no more power over you than that little mud does. And every time you stand your ground and say no to him, you lessen the grip you think he has on your life.

22:53 James said it this way in James 4, 7, resist the devil and he will what? He will flee from you. These are the valuable takeaway lessons that reward those who study the book of Revelation. We don't need to fear Satan, but we certainly need to take him seriously. Just before I turn things over to David, I'd like to explain that today's presentation contained a lot of teaching that I didn't get to share with you. My original message was far too long to fit into this radio program. But when you request the DVDs and CDs for my complete study in Revelation called Final Conquest, the collection, contained in an album cover, includes the entire unedited version of today's message. David will explain what's required to receive my recorded teaching series in just a moment.

23:53 I've also written a book for you that contains my complete verse-by-verse study through all 22 chapters of Revelation as well. As you can imagine, this is a hefty volume and one that you'll refer to for many years to come. Plus, you'll be delighted to see how Jesus emerges from all the mysterious imagery in Revelation as your conqueror and king. Jesus is the hero of the final conquest, and those who follow him are the recipients of his blessings. I'm pleased to send a copy of Final Conquest with my thanks when you include a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Friend, we are closer to the return of Christ than at any point in history. The signs are no longer subtle, and you, through your generosity, can be the reason someone faces that reality with clarity, peace, and unshakable hope.

24:54 Thank you for being that person. I look forward to hearing from you today. Here's David with all the details.