back to indexWed Bible Study - Revelation Lesson 16
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We're looking at Revelation chapter 12 today. 00:00:08.000 |
I feel like I don't think, I think I haven't taught in like over a month, right? 00:00:24.240 |
It's been more than a month, maybe about five weeks. 00:00:28.780 |
So last two, three days I was just cramming and going back and reviewing everything. 00:00:34.680 |
And then even today I wanted to make sure because again, Revelations is one of those 00:00:38.800 |
things that you, of course you can get things out of it if you jump in the middle, but you 00:00:43.560 |
know, you're going to get a lot more out of it if you understand the flow and like the 00:00:48.740 |
So what I actually want to do is I know Pastor Mark did review, but I want to just go over 00:00:53.720 |
like the textual review, what we went through and just real quickly, I'm not going to go 00:00:58.000 |
anywhere near what we did the last time we met, but just so that we can jump in, when 00:01:04.640 |
we jump in chapter 12, like we can understand the flow of what's happening. 00:01:10.960 |
The notes aren't, isn't going to start until a little bit later. 00:01:16.440 |
So remember chapter one, just to kind of give you a review. 00:01:19.660 |
So if you have your Bibles, I recommend that you open up your Bibles and turn to chapter 00:01:23.200 |
one, just kind of look at it while we're going through it. 00:01:26.040 |
And then some of these pictures will trigger your memory. 00:01:28.960 |
So chapter one, you have, John is given a vision of the throne of God and who Christ 00:01:35.600 |
And that's the beginning of all the revelation where Jesus himself is speaking to him. 00:01:39.240 |
And so that's the beginning of chapter one, right? 00:01:42.200 |
And then he's the, Christ walks among the seven lambs, and the seven lambs represents 00:01:48.080 |
the church that he has intimate knowledge of the church, right? 00:01:52.480 |
So chapter two and three are the seven churches that we talked about. 00:02:02.600 |
So remember, after that chapter four, again, John is given the throne, a vision of the 00:02:10.160 |
throne in one other place where God, before he calls him into ministry, where God reveals 00:02:17.440 |
himself or shows a vision of himself before he's actually enters into ministry. 00:02:25.960 |
Kind of like Ezekiel, you guys remember, right? 00:02:33.200 |
So it's kind of like a pattern, like before God sends him out, he shows them the vision 00:02:39.440 |
And basically that's what he does with his disciples. 00:02:42.980 |
And then he reveals himself to his disciples and then what they have seen and heard, they 00:02:47.600 |
So the chapter four is the beginning of John being shown the throne of God. 00:02:54.120 |
And that's where the revelation is going to one by one be revealed. 00:02:57.800 |
And then as he, after he sees the throne of God, he turns around and he sees the line 00:03:02.660 |
of Judah in the form of the lamb of God, right? 00:03:12.840 |
Do you remember what the seal judgments were? 00:03:15.240 |
I'm not going to go through all of them, but what was the beginning of the seal judgments? 00:03:24.960 |
And then you have the martyrs and then you have the, right? 00:03:28.200 |
And then you have the kings and the nations who are hiding because the judgment is coming. 00:03:32.900 |
And then the seventh seal gets opened up, right? 00:03:36.120 |
And then chapter seven, you have the, what is that a picture of? 00:03:56.080 |
And then behind them, all the other nations who are worshiping the lamb, right? 00:04:00.920 |
So chapter four is the worship of the father. 00:04:07.440 |
And then the trumpet judgments open up, right? 00:04:14.840 |
What is a significant number in the trumpet judgments? 00:04:20.900 |
So just remember, even if you don't remember the order, the third of the earth, the third 00:04:25.040 |
of the sea, the third of the mountains, right? 00:04:32.840 |
If you look at all the judgment is on creation, right? 00:04:40.780 |
And then chapter nine is the judgment where it's intense judgment. 00:04:44.380 |
So you have the locust who comes in and they represent demonic power, if you remember, 00:04:51.720 |
So there's an increase in the intensity of judgment, right? 00:05:02.080 |
This gigantic angel who has his one foot in the ocean, one foot on the mountains and representing 00:05:06.920 |
the power of this angel and what is in his hands, right? 00:05:14.280 |
He eats that and how does it taste in his mouth? 00:05:23.120 |
Sweetness of the coming of Christ, but bitterness of the judgment that he will bring, right? 00:05:29.980 |
Chapter 11, the vision begins with the measuring of the temple, right? 00:05:35.160 |
And what did the measuring of the temple signify? 00:05:51.920 |
And you're measuring something because you're trying to renovate something. 00:05:54.360 |
So he sends them out, they're measuring and basically God is going to restore, right? 00:06:00.560 |
Restore worship, restore possibly the nation of Israel. 00:06:05.080 |
And then you have the two witnesses that come, right? 00:06:07.720 |
These two powerful witnesses and they're able to conquer everything except the beast, right? 00:06:15.680 |
And this beast overpowers them and then after that they get resurrected and they go up. 00:06:20.180 |
And then so at the end of chapter 11, it ends with the seventh trumpet. 00:06:25.600 |
And the seventh trumpet opens up what we're getting into in verse 12, okay? 00:06:31.400 |
So the general outline in chapter one to three, right? 00:06:43.960 |
Chapter four is he gives a vision of the throne of God, right? 00:06:48.740 |
Chapter five is a lamb of God that opens up the seals. 00:06:54.000 |
And then chapter seven is the opening of the trumpets. 00:07:16.280 |
Chapter seven is the 144,000 and then the nations. 00:07:20.260 |
And then chapter nine again is the beginning of the woes, remember? 00:07:26.260 |
The first three, first four of the trumpet judgments is toward the earth and then he 00:07:34.100 |
The fifth, sixth, and seventh are the three woes. 00:07:37.460 |
And the three woes are the meaning that the intensity of the judgment is coming and the 00:07:45.620 |
And the chapter nine says that the judgment is going to be so severe that they're going 00:07:50.860 |
That's how torturous that period is going to be. 00:07:53.520 |
And so we left off right there where we dealt with the two woes, right? 00:08:00.580 |
So as we jump into chapter 12, that's kind of where we are. 00:08:06.980 |
Chapter 12 through chapter 19 opens up a new section. 00:08:11.620 |
Even though the judgment is going to continue, there's a big gap until the bowl judgment. 00:08:18.660 |
I said seal judgment but it's not the bowl judgment. 00:08:20.820 |
So as we're going through, if you see seal, that's a mistake. 00:08:29.600 |
So chapter 12 through chapter 16, there's kind of a gap where it's almost a preparation 00:08:38.400 |
The severest judgment is saved for the last part of the tribulation. 00:08:43.800 |
So you can imagine the intensity of the judgment up to this point but it says nothing is going 00:08:49.160 |
to be compared to what is actually going to come. 00:08:51.620 |
So chapter 12 and on is going to prepare for that, right? 00:09:03.400 |
We call it, in English, we call it the first gospel, right? 00:09:07.220 |
Or we call it proto evangelium, meaning that, again, the interpretation of the first gospel. 00:09:11.980 |
So if you look at it, right after the fall, God makes a promise to the world that I will 00:09:18.740 |
put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring and he shall 00:09:22.800 |
bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. 00:09:31.260 |
If you read today's text, I'm sure you would have seen the correlation with this because 00:09:36.780 |
this is what's being fulfilled today in chapter 12. 00:09:40.900 |
Okay, those of you nodding your head, you read it. 00:09:43.420 |
The other guys are like, "Oh, okay, that's interesting. 00:09:48.940 |
So redemptive plan of mankind begins with this prophecy and we're now here in Revelation 00:09:55.420 |
chapter 12 at the end of human history, at least almost at the end of human history, 00:10:01.260 |
So now you have this battle between the woman and her seed and then Satan and his followers, 00:10:09.280 |
And this cosmic battle is going to take place. 00:10:12.260 |
And within this cosmic battle, Satan is obviously going to lose and as a result of that, he 00:10:17.980 |
comes and he gets thrown down to earth and while he's on this earth, he's basically creating 00:10:25.780 |
But at the end of it, her seed is going to crush the head of the serpent as he is introduced 00:10:31.300 |
here and then we know how that's going to be fulfilled. 00:10:33.980 |
So you can kind of summarize that all of redemptive history is summarized with the fulfillment 00:10:42.740 |
So we're at the end of this in Revelation chapter 12. 00:10:45.740 |
We're at the end fulfillment of this promise of redemption, okay? 00:10:54.120 |
So chapter 12 begins a new section in Revelation. 00:10:59.580 |
Chapter 11 ended with the seventh trumpet and we kind of reviewed that already being 00:11:03.300 |
blown but the seven seal judgments don't begin until chapter 16. 00:11:08.120 |
So chapter 12, 13, 14, and 15, you're going to have events that are actually going to 00:11:18.860 |
So all these events that are taking place is going to give the rationale behind why 00:11:28.160 |
So this section should not be read chronologically because it's not simply referring to just 00:11:35.180 |
So this is kind of like just like I said, Genesis chapter 3, 15 was promised and so 00:11:40.380 |
chapter 12 is basically revealing to us what's happening up in heaven for this being fulfilled. 00:11:47.500 |
He's not simply talking about at the very end tip of his redemptive history where this 00:11:54.780 |
So the vision that he sees in chapter 12, it encompasses all of the redemptive history. 00:12:01.020 |
Let me say that one more time because some of you guys are not even making eye contact. 00:12:07.420 |
What he says in chapter 12 is not to be understood as just that tip part, the end three and a 00:12:16.820 |
So it's not like he's at the very end so all the vision that he sees is what's happening 00:12:23.620 |
It's meant to be understood as, chapter 12 is meant to be understood as how this prophecy 00:12:29.060 |
of the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent is being fulfilled, right? 00:12:44.860 |
Because if you try to apply this to the three and a half years, it's not going to fit. 00:13:00.860 |
So chapters 12 to 15 sets up to explain the severest of the sevenfold judgments that will 00:13:07.020 |
unfold in the seven seal judgments, but it's bold judgments. 00:13:14.220 |
This is the reason behind the intense judgment at the end is because of what was happening 00:13:22.900 |
So there's a spiritual battle that is manifesting in the physical world. 00:13:31.780 |
There's a spiritual battle that's happening in the heavenly realm that is going to be 00:13:41.300 |
So the vision that he's seeing is the vision of heaven, right? 00:13:46.900 |
And so we see glimpse of it where that is going to be manifested on earth, but the vision 00:13:53.180 |
that he's seeing is what's happening up in heaven. 00:13:59.460 |
So the conflict, which chapters 12 through 15 record, it comes as a result of unleashing 00:14:09.180 |
Satan knows the days are numbered and he makes a last ditch attempt to inflict damage before 00:14:15.220 |
So the difference between the judgment that we've seen up to chapter one through 11, or 00:14:19.660 |
specifically chapter four through 11, is God is bringing inflicting judgment upon mankind. 00:14:28.380 |
The first three and a half years are in a tribulation or what's happening, but God is 00:14:34.700 |
And then remember we talked about that, that even in the context of his judgment, what 00:14:45.580 |
Is God just bringing judgment and then he's done? 00:15:03.140 |
So even in the context of him bringing all these severe judgment, remember prior to us 00:15:08.340 |
getting to this text, he said one of the divisions that came in says that God is no longer going 00:15:17.060 |
That up to this point that he's been patient, that even in the midst of judgment, he's waiting 00:15:24.380 |
Even as he is inflicting all like a third of the earth being wiped out, his end goal 00:15:28.220 |
is that some of them will still repent and come to Christ. 00:15:32.220 |
So he's not even directly involved with that. 00:15:33.660 |
Now the second half of this, the end part of it that we're going to be talking about, 00:15:39.100 |
he says he's bringing judgment, but the judgment is he's releasing it to Satan. 00:15:45.680 |
So Satan's hand is going to be directly involved in the last part of the judgment that's coming. 00:15:51.780 |
And so that's why the second half of the tribulation is going to be much more intense. 00:15:57.620 |
Where it's kind of like you may feel the pain, but the pain is coming from a physician whose 00:16:03.940 |
ultimate intent is to bring about repentance. 00:16:09.140 |
The second half of it is where in the context of this battle, Satan, at least what is revealed 00:16:14.100 |
to us, is Satan sees that his days are numbered. 00:16:16.700 |
So during the last period, everything that he saved up, right? 00:16:21.420 |
If you're kind of like in a basketball game and you have only five minutes left, and this 00:16:26.780 |
is the last championship game, and after this game it's over, you're going to spend every 00:16:31.780 |
single second of the time that you have and exert. 00:16:39.580 |
So basically what we're seeing is Satan's very last part of before he gets bound and 00:16:45.820 |
judged where he unleashes his fury upon mankind. 00:16:50.360 |
And his intent is not to bring us to repentance. 00:16:54.860 |
And he's going to target, who is he targeting? 00:17:05.400 |
So that's the distinction that we see in the first half and the second half. 00:17:07.980 |
The first half, half the judgment is coming upon mankind, and those who are sealed by 00:17:18.800 |
The second half, Satan is unleashed, and he comes and he specifically targets Christians, 00:17:28.540 |
So the second half is going to be much more intense for Christians. 00:17:33.520 |
We're going to see all the natural disasters and experience all of that. 00:17:37.460 |
But second half is targeted toward Christians. 00:17:46.060 |
Chapter 12 is specifically about the suffering and persecution of Christians. 00:17:54.320 |
Chapter 7 contains two of the seven signs that are mentioned beginning chapter 7 and 00:18:00.600 |
So I'm not going to go through all of it, but typically when the Bible talks about signs, 00:18:21.380 |
Jesus performed all of his miracles as a sign of who he is, right? 00:18:26.140 |
The miracles that Jesus performed were sign gifts, right? 00:18:32.380 |
So when the Bible talks about sign, it is for the purpose of proving and to point to 00:18:38.980 |
So in the last part, starting from chapter 12 to chapter 19, the term, the great sign, 00:18:50.820 |
And then the other five are scattered starting from chapter 13 to 19. 00:18:55.740 |
Meaning that all that was prophesied, everything that God has been saying and preparing is 00:19:10.700 |
Not that anything prior to this were random, but these are very significant things that 00:19:15.060 |
God has been preparing and he's allowing it to happen. 00:19:17.980 |
That's why, again, over and over again, it reminds us that this is the great sign, the 00:19:27.780 |
That when Jesus said, "The end is not going to come until the man of lawlessness is revealed," 00:19:32.260 |
and then, you know, before the end, because of the increase of wickedness, the love of 00:19:38.260 |
God, the love of Christ is going to grow cold. 00:19:41.460 |
So all of these signs, all of these things that Jesus and the prophets had said are going 00:19:46.100 |
to be fulfilled at the end time, he's saying those signs are being revealed here. 00:19:59.380 |
The first sign that opens up in chapter 12 is the sign of the woman and her male child. 00:20:09.140 |
How many of you read that and thought, like, "Oh, that must be Mary," right? 00:20:13.660 |
It sounds like Mary, but if you look closely at the context and if you read carefully, 00:20:18.260 |
there are certain things that are stated here that's most likely not Mary. 00:20:22.260 |
In fact, most commentaries believe that this is not referring to Mary, but the nation of 00:20:30.380 |
The reason behind that, a few of the reasons, the Old Testament often referred to Israel 00:20:41.540 |
In Micah 4.10, "Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you 00:20:46.580 |
shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country. 00:20:51.700 |
There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemy." 00:20:54.180 |
So again, there's many verses where Israel is referred to as a pregnant woman. 00:20:59.940 |
Isaiah 26.17, "Like a pregnant woman who rise and cries out in her pangs when she is near 00:21:05.100 |
to giving birth, so were we because of you, O Lord." 00:21:08.100 |
So again, I'll just give you a few verses, okay? 00:21:12.460 |
So one of the reasons why the commentators believe that this is probably in reference 00:21:16.900 |
to the nation of Israel is because it is commonly, Israel is commonly referred to as a woman in 00:21:24.980 |
In Genesis 37.9-11, in Joseph's dreams, he sees the sun and the moon, and it's a description 00:21:33.680 |
So if you look at chapter 12, the woman is described as having the sun and the moon, 00:21:48.500 |
It says, "Joseph dreamed another dream and told it to his brother and said, 'Behold, 00:21:53.700 |
Behold, the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars were bound down to me.'" 00:21:56.980 |
So clearly in this text, when Joseph dreams this dream, who are the sun and the moon? 00:22:13.260 |
So the description of sun and the moon, again, here is talking about the origins of Israel. 00:22:18.420 |
So the woman is described as having the sun and the moon, the glory of the sun and the 00:22:24.460 |
And then thirdly, the 12 stars are clear reference to the 12 tribes of Israel, right? 00:22:30.020 |
So if you look at the context, a larger context, it's probably in reference to, not to Mary, 00:22:38.540 |
And so giving birth, meaning that Christ was coming through the line that God had prepared 00:22:43.460 |
through the nation of Israel, that he is the fulfilled prophecy, again, of the seed of 00:22:52.180 |
So Genesis 3.15, when it says, "The seed of the woman is going to come," and that seed 00:22:56.740 |
was coming through the line of Israel, through Judah. 00:23:07.460 |
Clearly, there's no debate of who the child is, the male child. 00:23:17.380 |
There are three specific things that are mentioned. 00:23:23.220 |
He is caught up to God and to his own throne. 00:23:28.260 |
Then finally, he's clearly called Christ, the lamb who conquers by his blood, right? 00:23:35.900 |
And this is the reason why Satan was actively trying to destroy the woman and her seed, 00:23:43.620 |
because she knows that the fulfilled prophet, when he comes, that he's going to crush the 00:23:46.980 |
head of the serpent, and that's exactly what he does, by conquering, right? 00:23:58.840 |
The second sign that is mentioned is of the great red dragon and his angels. 00:24:09.440 |
The dragon is clearly identified as the devil or Satan in verse 9. 00:24:15.840 |
And there's going to be this cosmic conflict between Satan and his angels and the archangel 00:24:31.600 |
I can go here and list dozens and dozens of different ways that Satan is described in 00:24:35.480 |
the scripture, that this is our primary adversary, where the Bible says that we have an enemy 00:24:41.360 |
who is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. 00:24:44.040 |
His whole intent is to block us from coming to Christ, right? 00:24:52.740 |
And so his primary work that he does is scheming to deceive, right? 00:24:57.800 |
Sending false prophets, lulling us to sleep, causing us to be lukewarm. 00:25:02.800 |
And so his work is not, again, at least in our lives, necessarily a power encounter, 00:25:12.680 |
Satan, the term, is used 52 times in scripture, and it literally simply means adversary. 00:25:22.100 |
His primary work is to oppose the work of God. 00:25:28.600 |
So if you're not walking right with God, he's not your adversary, right? 00:25:33.600 |
Because his primary work is to prevent us from coming to God. 00:25:37.600 |
So his primary adversary is to God and to his people, right? 00:25:59.240 |
The second term that is used most often is the term devil. 00:26:03.600 |
It only appears in the New Testament, not in the Old Testament, but the word simply 00:26:19.000 |
So his primary advocacy against us is to accuse and to condemn and to slander. 00:26:31.400 |
In Isaiah 14, 12, he's called the bearer of light, which translated in Latin is where 00:26:41.980 |
So Lucifer, the literal meaning of the term Lucifer is not dark, right? 00:26:48.040 |
That was a name that was given to him before he fell, that he's the morning star or bearer 00:26:54.520 |
And the scripture also talks about how when the end time comes, the deception is going 00:27:03.640 |
So Satan is very, like he knows how to deceive, basically. 00:27:20.000 |
So he knows how to dress up as an angel of light and to deceive. 00:27:26.040 |
But Elzebub, it's another word that is again used to describe him, lord of flies or lord 00:27:34.180 |
Even though he is lord, but he's lord of nothing. 00:27:36.680 |
He's lord of a world that's going to be condemned. 00:27:40.680 |
So all those who follow him are following a god of dung, right? 00:27:47.400 |
John 8, 44, he's called the father of lies, right? 00:28:06.260 |
He's called the old serpent, dragon is how he's described today. 00:28:14.440 |
You know what's interesting was one of the commentators pointed out that Satan before 00:28:23.880 |
And then remember what happens to him when he's kicked out of heaven? 00:28:28.860 |
God judges, what was the judgment against Satan? 00:28:32.800 |
That he's going to be a snake, he's going to crawl on the ground. 00:28:38.520 |
So one of the commentators mentioned that it's interesting that the dragon without his 00:28:48.960 |
Anyway, whether you accept that or not, I thought that was interesting. 00:28:52.480 |
He's saying like a dragon that was judged is a snake, right? 00:28:59.760 |
And his primary work is to deceive the world. 00:29:04.960 |
And then he works again in verse 10, the accuser of God's people, right? 00:29:15.140 |
So all of these things are, I think it's important for us to know who the identity of our adversary 00:29:20.560 |
is because if you don't know what he's doing, right? 00:29:24.600 |
I think the mistake that we can make is when we think about Satan, like I know some of 00:29:29.920 |
you guys like watching scary movies and I'm going to say something that some of you guys 00:29:36.400 |
I don't think you guys should be watching scary movies, right? 00:29:41.120 |
Because your worldview of the satanic world is being created by something outside of the 00:29:49.760 |
And so this is, even though Satan, we don't worship Satan and Satan is not our God, Satan 00:29:57.620 |
So if you have a wrong view of Satan, it could be just as detrimental to your walk with God 00:30:07.140 |
And it can have an adverse effect in both ways. 00:30:14.520 |
Because you become so desensitized to the occult that you think it's nothing. 00:30:20.860 |
The scripture says he's like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. 00:30:23.480 |
So our enemy is actively working to accuse and to destroy us and Hollywood trivializes 00:30:30.760 |
Or the other extreme is where it becomes so freaked out, right? 00:30:34.960 |
About the occult where even though in your mind you know that God is almighty and powerful, 00:30:40.080 |
but because of what you're watching and seeing on the screen, satanic power is all powerful 00:30:47.120 |
Right away your worldview is being created, informed by what you're watching and media 00:30:55.880 |
You don't have certain things that are controlled by God and then certain things controlled 00:30:58.960 |
by Satan and then you got a whole bunch of things in the middle that nobody controls. 00:31:08.480 |
So there are some things that God controls, some things that Satan controls, and there's 00:31:12.160 |
a bunch of stuff in the middle that it's kind of neutral. 00:31:19.120 |
The Bible describes it as either God is sovereign or Satan is sovereign. 00:31:25.840 |
So we have to ask ourselves, is the media controlled by God or Satan? 00:31:29.680 |
All right, I'm going to go off a little bit, okay, on this because I'm kind of, you know, 00:31:37.320 |
I kind of see the culture of just watching these scary movies and you may not agree with 00:31:44.280 |
me but it is creating your view of the occult. 00:31:49.320 |
And I think, at least for us, you know, I came from a charismatic background where there 00:31:52.720 |
was too much attention to that and I couldn't wake up in the middle of the night because 00:31:56.240 |
I was so afraid of demonic forces because they put too much emphasis on it, right? 00:32:01.640 |
You and I belong to a culture where we talk about it but it's not real, right? 00:32:08.240 |
The scripture constantly reminds us it's real. 00:32:12.640 |
Unless you're studying this as some literary study and if you're actually studying it like 00:32:16.960 |
we are studying it as real events, as real people, right, real forces that are actively 00:32:23.720 |
working to accuse us, to thwart us away from God, then what you allow into your mind, right, 00:32:35.200 |
And I could, you know, and I say this and I'm very cautious to overstep my bound because 00:32:41.760 |
I don't want to start creating rules in the church that are not stated in the scripture 00:32:48.120 |
but I will go as far as to say that if it doesn't bother you, it may be because you 00:32:53.560 |
have become desensitized to it, not because your spirit inside is telling you it's okay, 00:33:02.280 |
So I want to strongly encourage you to be discerning of what you watch and I'm not just 00:33:07.640 |
talking about the occult, I'm talking about everything else too but especially because 00:33:14.120 |
So some of you guys, you know, like to be scared, go ride a roller coaster, you know 00:33:19.360 |
what I mean, or have somebody jump out in the middle of the night and scare you. 00:33:23.760 |
But if you're in a habit of watching scary movies, like it is affecting you, right? 00:33:33.960 |
This is what we're reading, he may not actually look like a dragon, we may not know exactly 00:33:40.760 |
what he looks like but there is an evil force that is actively working against us, detrimental 00:33:46.720 |
to us spiritually, we become desensitized to the spiritual battle that you and I are 00:33:58.880 |
You probably won't but I invite you anyway, okay? 00:34:03.880 |
So Satan is described to have seven heads and seven diadems that represent power and 00:34:15.480 |
The ten horns, they're also repeated in Daniel 7, 7 and verse 24 of Daniel, 7, 24, which 00:34:23.680 |
I think is really interesting if you read the text and I'll come back to that. 00:34:28.240 |
So Daniel 7, 7 is a description of the beast but it says, "After I saw in the night vision 00:34:35.520 |
and behold the fourth beast terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong, it had great 00:34:39.680 |
iron teeth, it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. 00:34:44.920 |
It was different from all the beasts that were before it and it had ten horns." 00:34:48.240 |
So ten horns is introduced to us as the beast and then the passage I want you to look at 00:34:54.640 |
"As for the ten horns out of the kingdom, ten kings shall arise." 00:34:58.840 |
So many believe that the ten horns is representative of ten kingdoms, ten nations that's going 00:35:08.480 |
And out of that, later on, it's not mentioned here, out of that, the three are going to 00:35:13.400 |
gather together and overthrow and Satan is going to come or the Antichrist is going to 00:35:24.000 |
You know, when I was younger, there's a ten nation federation. 00:35:26.800 |
So I remember when the European Union got together and they brought the currency, there 00:35:42.020 |
And I'm not exactly sure what these ten horns represent but again, many people think that 00:35:46.520 |
it's in reference to a world union of some kind, right? 00:35:52.280 |
Again, from this point on, it's just complete conjecture. 00:35:56.840 |
I think, and I could be wrong, okay, I think at the end times what's going to happen is 00:36:02.040 |
there is going to be world unity and it's going to be led by the Antichrist. 00:36:06.440 |
The unity is not going to be led by a Christian figure. 00:36:10.440 |
It's somebody who's going to come representing a religious figure. 00:36:15.200 |
And if you look at the world events right now, because of the terrorist activity, like 00:36:21.560 |
anything that's extreme is kind of lumped in with the terrorist, even with Christians, 00:36:29.840 |
So if you disagree with them, you're a homophobe, you're a racist, you're whatever it is, we're 00:36:36.600 |
So there's this growing movement of everybody coming together. 00:36:40.780 |
So if you've been watching the news, there's more and more of these liberal Christians, 00:36:44.720 |
liberal Buddhists, liberal Muslims, nominal of every religion is coming together and they're 00:36:50.120 |
holding hands, they're having joint services. 00:36:54.440 |
There's more and more of the nominal on every religion is coming together in the middle. 00:37:01.080 |
And the group that is leading that right now are the liberal Catholics. 00:37:06.160 |
And again, I don't know if it's going to be the Pope or a Christian figure, but my guess 00:37:10.720 |
is because he's going to come as an angel of light, it's going to be a liberal Christian 00:37:15.120 |
figure who comes representing Christ, but has rejected inerrancy, rejected the gospel, 00:37:21.960 |
and they're going to hold hands with all these other religions. 00:37:25.720 |
And at the end of it, the Antichrist is going to rise from that. 00:37:29.280 |
And when he takes control over that, it's not just going to have religious power, it's 00:37:39.880 |
I'm just taking bits and pieces of what I've read in Daniel, what I've been taught, that 00:37:50.000 |
I'm just telling you, but it just seems like looking at the world events, that if Antichrist 00:37:55.560 |
is going to come and he's going to be a world figure and he's going to come as an angel 00:38:01.040 |
But what religious figure is going to unite the world? 00:38:05.960 |
It has to hold hands with all the other religions. 00:38:09.920 |
And right now, religion and politics are being mixed. 00:38:12.880 |
Even though they're saying they're trying to kick out of it, they're trying to kick 00:38:21.360 |
But again, if you look at this, "He asked for the 10 horns out of the kingdom, 10 kings 00:38:26.320 |
shall arise and another shall arise after them. 00:38:28.900 |
He shall be different from the former ones and shall put down three kings." 00:38:31.960 |
Again, that's the out of the 10, three kings, he's going to conquer the three and then out 00:38:38.560 |
of the power of the three, he's going to take over the 10. 00:38:41.400 |
"He shall speak words from the Most High against the Most High." 00:38:45.600 |
In other words, he's going to be directly going against God himself. 00:38:48.600 |
"And shall wear out the saints of the Most High, his children." 00:38:54.480 |
"And shall think to change the times and the law." 00:38:59.720 |
So God's law upon his people, he's going to forcefully change. 00:39:08.560 |
"And they shall be given into his hand for a time, times and a half a time." 00:39:14.560 |
So during those three and a half years, Satan is going to directly blaspheme against God 00:39:19.660 |
and go after his people, and he's going to change the law that God had given. 00:39:24.600 |
So he's going to be in power for a short period of time until God comes and he says it's the 00:39:32.300 |
So Satan right now is being restrained by the power of God because the church is still 00:39:39.740 |
But at the very end, he's going to unleash Satan and he's going to allow Satan to have 00:39:48.960 |
Right now he's scheming behind the scene, but the last part of human history, he's going 00:39:55.760 |
He's going to go against God and go specifically against his people. 00:40:00.160 |
And again, this is where the debate is the church going to be here during this period? 00:40:09.520 |
If you believe in a pre-trib, that these Christians who are going to be persecuted are the ones 00:40:17.600 |
So these are Christians who got converted because they saw the judgment of God in the 00:40:21.800 |
first three and a half years, and so they repented and came to Christ. 00:40:25.360 |
And then as a result of that, the second half of the seven years, there's going to be intense 00:40:32.720 |
I told you I lean more toward post-trib, right? 00:40:35.880 |
I'm not like gung-ho about it, but I lean more toward the post-trib that these Christians 00:40:44.000 |
That God is going to preserve us, that we're not going to lose our salvation, but we're 00:40:49.400 |
And that this is not a second group of people who converse during the tribulation, but the 00:40:59.280 |
And again, I'm not going to go into my argument behind that. 00:41:03.840 |
Because there's Christians around the world who are already going through this right now, 00:41:10.640 |
So to me, it doesn't make sense that this preservation is only for rich people in nice 00:41:15.800 |
countries where all the other people are already going through this. 00:41:23.760 |
The last scene, Michael, the archangel and his angels wage war against Satan and his 00:41:29.160 |
And as a result, Satan and his angels are cast out of heaven. 00:41:37.200 |
In verse four, it states that when the dragon was cast out of heaven, his tail swept the 00:41:43.260 |
Many believe that this is in reference to the third of the angels that followed Satan's 00:41:47.700 |
And this is where we get Satan and his angels. 00:41:51.700 |
And again, clearly there's a battle between Archangel Michael and the angels and dragon 00:42:01.100 |
I believe that that's in reference to verse four, the third of the angels. 00:42:06.740 |
He was able to lead a rebellion against God, a third. 00:42:13.380 |
But if you notice, the conflict is not between Satan and God. 00:42:21.180 |
So even in the midst of all of this, God is still sovereign. 00:42:33.260 |
The dragon, knowing his time is short, begins his attack on the woman, the child and her 00:42:43.660 |
So again, it's not everybody who goes to church, but the attack are for those who are 00:42:54.540 |
The woman flees into the wilderness, which was prepared by God, and she is nourished 00:42:59.260 |
for 1,260 days, which calculated is three and a half years, the second half of the seven 00:43:10.020 |
Ultimately, Satan's power is conquered by Christ through the blood of the Lamb, in verse 00:43:19.860 |
Again, that's why we said we can't apply this specifically just to that period, because 00:43:25.940 |
this division in chapter 12 reveals to us from the very beginning until the very end. 00:43:33.580 |
But it's set up for the judgments that's coming in chapter 16. 00:43:37.900 |
And then verse 17, and let me just read this, "Then the dragon became furious with the woman 00:43:44.940 |
and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring," talking about Christians, "on 00:43:51.540 |
those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus, and he stood 00:43:59.260 |
So chapter 12 ends with the dragon or Satan angry, and he's furiously going after the 00:44:08.060 |
woman's children, which sets us up for verse 13, chapter 13 and 14 and 15, where we're 00:44:21.480 |
So you can imagine, so now the work of Satan has just begun, and he's going to begin to 00:44:30.500 |
The beasts who are his servants, and you could see, what I want you to see is Satan is trying 00:44:38.660 |
to usurp God's glory, or he wants some of God's glory. 00:44:43.620 |
And what you'll notice in Satan's work, that Satan, I don't think that's in one of my questions, 00:44:52.460 |
but I want you to see Satanic work and see if you can see traces of the work of God. 00:45:01.420 |
What I mean by that is Satan is trying to mimic God. 00:45:08.640 |
He mimics the way he does his work by sending his angel. 00:45:11.700 |
God sends his angels, Satan sends his angels, right? 00:45:14.980 |
So a lot of the things that Satan does is the opposite of what God's doing, but for 00:45:20.300 |
So I want you to pay attention to that as we're studying, starting from chapter 13. 00:45:26.180 |
So we end here with verse 17, and I want to just quickly go over the discussion questions 00:45:31.020 |
for you so that you can take some time in discussion. 00:45:33.260 |
And as I mentioned to you before, be cautious in the way that you approach the occult. 00:45:45.100 |
And I know this is very, you're not going to like this either, but, and I'm not saying 00:45:52.180 |
that you can't or you shouldn't, but even innocent things like children's books, like 00:46:04.940 |
I'm not saying, "You can't read Harry Potter," right? 00:46:07.880 |
But I'm just saying that even innocent things like Harry Potter, like we need to be mindful 00:46:14.720 |
of what it is saying and what is developing in our mind, like how we see the occult. 00:46:24.100 |
He detests anything that has to do with magic and fortune telling, because all of these 00:46:38.380 |
The scripture detests it, and anybody practice sorcery in the Old Testament was stoned immediately 00:46:43.080 |
because it was directly connected to the occult, and the occult was demonic. 00:46:49.020 |
There's only two kinds of spirit, either from God or either from Satan, right? 00:46:53.360 |
So I'm not saying, so therefore, these books and movies and all of these things that you 00:46:57.700 |
can't watch and you need to discern for yourself, but you need to be discerning. 00:47:05.760 |
Everything that you do, not Scary Farm, be discerning. 00:47:11.180 |
Don't just do it because everybody else does it. 00:47:20.020 |
Don't just say, "Where do you draw the line?" 00:47:22.580 |
You're going to get into all kinds of trouble if that's your bottom line, right? 00:47:28.420 |
And I don't want anybody to sit in here, judge people saying, "Oh, he's doing this," or, 00:47:33.100 |
I don't want to create that kind of environment either. 00:47:34.980 |
All I'm asking is, if the Satanic world is real, which we know that it is, then all the 00:47:41.260 |
manifestation of Satan's work needs to be taken seriously, even if it is in the form 00:47:50.800 |
So that it doesn't create a false view of the spiritual battle that you and I are engaged 00:47:55.500 |
in because once you become desensitized to that, you are unaware that you are being attacked, 00:48:01.660 |
Certain phrases that you use, certain things that you said, the using of the Ouija board, 00:48:06.540 |
And you say, "Well, Harry Potter does it and whatever else does it." 00:48:17.180 |
But you can see how it gets desensitized, right? 00:48:19.760 |
Where you're using the media and everybody is using it and it's like, "Oh, yeah, we're 00:48:24.620 |
But the whole point of the Ouija board is to call out the dead to speak. 00:48:29.740 |
And then Christians kind of engage in it because we become so desensitized, it just doesn't 00:48:34.460 |
So all I'm asking you to do is to be mindful. 00:48:38.180 |
Be mindful even of things that you are being entertained by that you don't just do it, 00:48:44.180 |
that you have a clear reason why you're doing it, okay? 00:48:52.660 |
The three things that I want you guys to discuss, Paul reminds us. 00:48:58.540 |
Ephesians 6, 12, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against 00:49:01.860 |
the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual 00:49:10.780 |
Do you think you are aware of satanic activity, not only in the general world, but in your 00:49:18.240 |
If so, what are they and how do you think he has been attacking? 00:49:23.020 |
Are you aware there's satanic activity in your life? 00:49:28.500 |
When's the last time you thought about satanic activity specifically, not the world, not 00:49:32.700 |
Kim Jong-un, you know, and these crazy movies, but you, right? 00:49:47.460 |
When's the last time you really thought about that? 00:49:49.660 |
Number two, how can you discern if something happening in your life is demonic activity 00:49:54.260 |
versus just everyday struggles that all Christians go through? 00:49:57.540 |
Do you think God has given us the ability to discern? 00:50:04.020 |
God has given us the discernment to be able to. 00:50:08.140 |
So God wants us to test the spirits and discern whether that is from God or not. 00:50:12.380 |
But the scripture also says all things, the word of God is something that you need to 00:50:18.220 |
He said, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the 00:50:21.220 |
mind so that you may be able to test and approve that which is good and perfect will of God." 00:50:26.240 |
So even God's will in the spiritual world is discerned spiritually. 00:50:30.860 |
So if you're insensitive spiritually, you're not going to be able to discern satanic or 00:50:38.900 |
So if you're walking in the flesh, it's not something that you can just, there's a test 00:50:43.620 |
of four things that you can test because it's spiritually discerned. 00:50:47.140 |
So if you're spiritually insensitive, you're not going to know. 00:50:50.300 |
If you're spiritually sensitive, God has given us the Holy Spirit, right? 00:50:54.600 |
And God actually tells us to discern the spirit, right? 00:51:02.260 |
Is it just emotions or are there some indicators? 00:51:07.020 |
Number three, it is easier to imagine large-scale persecution that may come at us as a result 00:51:12.820 |
of satanic activity, but how do you think you are handling the scheming and deceiving 00:51:16.580 |
of the devil to draw us away from the passionate worship of God? 00:51:19.780 |
In what way have you noticed yourself being deceived in the past? 00:51:23.780 |
So again, this is kind of related to number one, but not to think of this spiritual battle 00:51:32.580 |
Of Michael and Satan going at it and, you know, archangels and so we're just kind of, 00:51:44.300 |
If God is counting the hair on our head and he cares about us to that extent, I guarantee 00:51:52.560 |
Just as much he cares for us, for the details of our life, I guarantee you Satan is concerned 00:51:58.540 |
to thwart that on the other side as an adversary. 00:52:03.740 |
So all these little things that we think don't matter do matter. 00:52:08.220 |
That's why Paul warns us in Ephesians 6 to stay sober, that you're in a spiritual battle. 00:52:13.300 |
Even though it's manifested physically, there's something spiritually happening behind the 00:52:17.860 |
So again, the question is, are you aware of this, right? 00:52:22.060 |
What kind of satanic activity do you think is happening? 00:52:28.420 |
And I guarantee you there's something happening always, whether you're aware of it or not. 00:52:33.920 |
So take some time to discuss that, like what may or may not be, okay? 00:52:38.700 |
Let me pray first and then I'll release you to your group. 00:52:46.740 |
Heavenly Father, as you've commanded us to walk by faith and not by sight, I pray, Father 00:52:59.060 |
God, that our faith would be tangible, it would be real, that it would change our perspective. 00:53:06.700 |
And we are bombarded, Lord, with media that constantly governs our thoughts, that causes 00:53:11.940 |
us to be blinded, Lord God, of spiritual truths. 00:53:15.540 |
We are daily wrestling with the insensitivity, Lord God, of the things that are actually 00:53:23.220 |
We know when we are sober that all of these things, Lord God, are from you as a warning. 00:53:29.740 |
I pray, Father God, that your word would have its effect on us, that wherever we are in 00:53:35.060 |
your walk with God, in our walk with you, I pray that this evening that you would help 00:53:39.860 |
At least be aware, Father God, of what's happening, that we would not allow the devil to scheme 00:53:47.100 |
or give him a foothold in our life, but we would engage in the spiritual battle, Father 00:53:52.580 |
And so we pray that as a church that you would cause us to be awake, sober, sensitive, and 00:54:01.140 |
as a result of that, that we would see how helpless we are, Lord, without you.