 So here we are, Revelation chapter 11, beginning at verse 15, reading to verse 19. And John writes, then the seventh angel sounded. And there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. And He shall reign forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, we give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty. The one who is and who was and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reigned. The nations were angry and your wrath has come. And the time of the dead that they should be judged and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints and those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. Then the temple of God was opened in heaven and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake and great hail. And so what we're doing at this point here in chapter 11 is we're resuming the judgments that are part of what are called the trumpet judgments. I had mentioned to you, and I'll just briefly say it, that chapter 10 and into chapter 11 verse 14 was kind of like a parenthesis. But now John is resuming writing concerning the judgments that are yet to come. Now as we've been looking at Revelation chapter 8 concluded with what are called the seal judgments. And they introduce what are also called the trumpet judgments. The trumpet judgments, as I've mentioned to you already, are also referred to as the judgment of thirds. And so each judgment, since we've seen the seal and the trumpets and all, each judgment continues to escalate and each judgment is building in intensity. And we're seeing that as we go through these particular judgments leading to what has been called the bold judgments. So at this point what we have in verse 15 is the seventh angel sounding. And as he does so notice that there's an immediate response in heaven because heaven begins to erupt, it erupts with praise. And heaven erupts with praise for what is about to be done. And it'll be done in the near future. And the rejoicing occurs because Satan's power is soon to be broken forever. Heaven is rejoicing because Satan's rebellion will be ended and Jesus' reign will occur. And I don't know about you, but just reading that thrills my heart to know that the enemy will be judged, rebellion will be quelled and God will be praised throughout the world. And that's what we're seeing here. This one ruler, it's called the ruler of the world, is about to be dealt with completely. And this one who is a ruler is known by many titles and many names. When you read your Bible, he is called our adversary. He is called Belial. He is called Beelzebub. He's referred to as the dragon. He's called the God of this world, the prince of the power of the air. He's spoken of as a roaring lion. He's called the serpent. He's also known as the devil and Satan. This evil, this evil being works constantly to undermine all that God would have done. In his tireless efforts, the unregenerate person is open to his plans as well as Satan's designs. You see the Bible in 1 John 5 verse 19 says to us that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And that's because when you don't have God's spirit within you, your flesh will yield to the temptations of the enemy. You see, before you're saved, the Bible says that you were unsaved and your flesh is at war with God. In Romans 8, 6 through 8 it says to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Those who don't have the spirit of Christ, those who haven't been born again, no matter what they do, no matter how hard they try, no matter how good people think them to be, if they're living in the flesh, if they haven't been regenerated, if they haven't been born again, nothing they do is pleasing to God. Everything that we do before we're saved is tainted by sin. And so those that are in the flesh cannot please God. The fact is an unregenerate, a person who is not saved, an unregenerate person can't please God as a matter of fact is hostily opposed to him. And that's what Satan uses to influence and control those who don't know Christ. So these kingdoms have refused to bow the knee to God and are in opposition to him, these kingdoms of the world. They are energized spiritually and philosophically by Satan. They oppose the ways of God. And though they speak different languages and though they worship different gods, they're all lost. There are many nations. There are many leaders. But the spiritual fact is they have one ruler. There are not many religions. I mean, I've heard this, you've heard this, probably all of your life. Oh, there are many religions. No, there are only two. Keep that in mind. Gods and Satan's. There's only two. And God's faith is revealed through Jesus Christ. So to know Christ is to know life. It's to know God. So you can call God by another name. And if you do so, you don't know Jesus Christ because God is not Allah. God is Jehovah God. And he revealed himself by taking upon himself human flesh. And Jesus Christ came dwelt amongst us and he took our sins and he paid for our sins on a cross. That comes through Christ. It comes no other way. But the enemy would have us to think that we might be able to do good things in order to somehow be in good terms with God. But the Bible makes it very clear that doesn't happen. The spiritual fact is there are not many religions. There are only two. There is God's and then the ones that are presented by Satan. And the one who is actually energizing and directing each of these religions as well as individuals is Satan himself. In Ephesians chapter two verses one and two, Paul said, You he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. The spirit who now works within the sons of disobedience. You see, everything he does is intended to usurp and undermine God's designs as well as his desires. Jesus said it like this in John 10 verse 10. He said, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But he went on to say, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. This is something we as believers who read our Bibles, we see and we understand. We see that Satan will continue to oppose the Lord, but we know that God will overcome his efforts as well as his rule. And it's so sure that John writes as if the event has already taken place. Notice in verse 15, how he says the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Now as I was preparing the study, I used various commentators and one of the writers made comment on the words have become. And he said this, he said the verb tense means that this is so certain it can be spoken of as already happening. Though the event is in the future, it is so certain it is described as actual fact. And heaven rejoices. Heaven rejoices over the fact that God's rule is assured. Heaven rejoices because Jesus is going to reign forever. And once Jesus begins to reign, it will never end. In Luke chapter 1 verses 31 through 33, Gabriel the angel was speaking to Mary, the mother of Jesus. And Gabriel said, behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son. And shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no end. And so there's this praise and worship that's going on in verse 16 of chapter 11. It says, the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and broke their noses. Oh, I'm sorry. Fell on their faces and worshiped God saying, we give you thanks, oh Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come because you have taken your great power and reigned. These elders that we see here, these 24 elders were mentioned in chapters 4 as well as chapter 5. And they have eagerly awaited Jesus taking the earth away from Satan. And now you see them rejoicing. They rejoice because Jesus is going to reign. That prayer, thy kingdom come. Well, that prayer is about to be fulfilled. In verse 17, we give you thanks, oh Lord God Almighty, who is and was and who is to come. We give you thanks because you're all powerful. We give you thanks because you dwell in eternity. We give you thanks because you will reign. But how do the nations respond? Verse 18, the nations were angry. Your wrath has come. And the time of the dead that they should be judged. And that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints and those who fear your name, small and great and should destroy those who destroy the earth. Now, earlier we had seen that the people had become afraid at what was taking place. We had read that a tenth of Jerusalem had fallen, that 7,000 people were killed, and that the people began to fear. But here in verse 18, they're enraged. They're enraged at the Lord, and now they're defiant towards Him. So what is God's response? Well, your wrath has come. His wrath is not yet exhausted. But it is as certain as if it had been completed at that time. You see, when His kingdom comes, the wicked dead will be judged, and the righteous will be rewarded. We'll see that more clearly in chapter 20. Notice in verse 19, it says, the temple of God was opened in heaven. The ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. There were lightnings, noises, thunderings and earthquake and great hail. And so the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen. That's where God dwells. The ark symbolizes that God's promises are now being fully realized. And it says in verse 19, there were lightnings and noises, thunderings and earthquake, great hail. For those who reject God's judgment is being poured out. We're going to see that more clearly in chapter 16. And so as this draws to a conclusion, we pick up at verse 1 in chapter 12. And John says this. Now, a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet. And on her head, a garland of 12 stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and is thrown. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1,260 days, which makes up three and a half years. So chapter 11 proclaims the sounding of the seventh trumpet, but the effects are going to be found later in chapter 15 through 18. But chapters 12 through 14 will give us a deeper look at the things that have already been spoken of in chapters 6 through 11. What we have here is a picture of Satan's attempt to resist God's judgments. And it reveals his attempt to circumvent God's purposes that are realized through his son. And so that's what we'll be looking at here in chapter 12. And so we begin at verse 1 where it says a great sign appeared in heaven. It's a woman clothed with the sun and the moon stars. So when he says a great sign just to give you a little information, that appears noticed in heaven. But it's speaking of events that take place on earth. What we're going to have is a panorama, a panorama of Jewish history and Satan's war that he has had against God. Now he is speaking here concerning signs. And this is the first of seven signs in the last half of the book of Revelation. This sign is referred to in verse 1 as a great sign. And John will use the word great four more times because he wants to emphasize the significance of what's taking place. So what he sees is a great sign. Now notice it says in verse 1 a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a garland of 12 stars. And so he speaks concerning this sign. This sign. He's not seeing a literal woman. In verse 17 it'll speak concerning her offspring. And it's not literal offspring per se. What this woman is is representing. And this woman is representing the nation of Israel. Though Israel has been unfaithful, God is restoring her to himself. When you read the book of Hosea, it's a book that really speaks concerning the unfaithfulness of Israel. And he speaks of her as being his wife who's been unfaithful. And so he's seeing a woman, this woman symbolizing the nation. And it speaks concerning a great sign. And the question has to be asked, well when he says a great sign appeared in heaven and then describes it as a woman clothed with the sun, etc. What is this great sign? It's the miracle. It's a miracle of the nation of Israel. In Daniel chapter 9 verses 27 and 28, Israel plays a major part in what is called the tribulation. And they have what is called a 70 week prophecy. His 70th week in that prophecy concerns Israel as she goes through the tribulation. You see, this is a miracle, a miracle of Israel. The nation that truly has been a sign and a witness of God's existence is Israel. In Isaiah 43 verse 10, it says, you are my witnesses, sayeth the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God form, nor shall there be after me. The nation of Israel is the sign. It's a witness of the existence of God. You see, the fact that there's even a nation of Israel today is a miracle by itself. No other of the ancient peoples that you read of in Scripture have ever been dispersed and regathered. And you could read in your Bible of all of these people, different people. There are seven great nations and all that are spoken of. And God speaks of the Canaanites and the Parasites. He speaks of Jebusites and Malachites. He speaks of the various aites throughout the Scripture. There are all kinds of aites. And then there's the salulites. You usually see the salulites in gyms. But anyway, I love saying that. I don't know why. So many aites, uptites, out-of-sight, salulites, Israelites. When has it ever happened that a nation has been dispersed throughout the world and regathered? When has that ever happened? Where are the Philistines today? Where are these different peoples? You read them in your Bible. You read of them. All of these people. Where are they? The miracle of Israel. There are books. I had a book. I was in a comparative religions class years ago now. And I had to read a textbook that was called The Miracle of Israel. The Miracle of Israel. And it wasn't even a Christian college. It was a secular college. But part of the textbooks that I had to read was related to what was called The Miracle of Israel. Because it really is an amazing thing that you have a nation whose people had been scattered all around the known world at that time. That in 1948 became a nation once again. Don't take that for granted. Don't think that that is something that is normal. It isn't. It's a miracle. And so there have never been any other ancient peoples that have been dispersed and then regathered and made once again into a nation. This woman that we're looking at symbolizes Israel. And again, Israel in the Old Testament is often identified as a woman. It's actually what is called a common metaphor in the Old Testament. She's referred to as the wife of God. She's also spoken of as an adulteress. So a feminine application to the nation of Israel is found in the Old Testament. And so what we're looking at is the woman. A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman. And this woman would have been the regathering of Israel. And so it says in verse one that she's clothed with the sun. So being clothed with the sun obviously reveals the glory of God that has been given to the nation. And Psalm 33 verse 12, it says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own inheritance. Clothed with the sun, God's glory. The sun, moon and stars reminds us of a portion in the book of Genesis concerning a young man named Joseph. In Genesis 37, 9 and 10, the Bible tells us that Joseph had dreamed, still another dream, told it to his brothers and said, look, I've dreamed another dream. And this time the sun, the moon and the 11 stars bowed down to me. So he told it to his father and his brothers and his father rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream that you've dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you? And Joseph was part of the lineage of Abraham and Israel was going to be coming from Abraham. And so when Joseph is speaking this way, he's speaking concerning the nation and all. And so the father gets upset. And he says, what are you saying? Shall your mother and I, your brothers, bow down because in the dream the sun was his father, the moon was the mother and the stars would have been his brothers. So this represents the nation of Israel. It says in verse two, being with child should cry out in labor and in pain to give birth. Cry out in labor and pain. Israel has a history of painful persecution. And Satan continues his onslaught on the nation. Even as the nation today is in pain during the tribulation, the persecution, the persecution increases. I was just reading of some Jewish people in Argentina who were driving and people were pulling up next to them and yelling anti-Jewish things at them and all. The persecution continues, synagogues continue to be vandalized and all. Antisemitism is still in existence obviously and isn't continuing to increase. I'll say something about that in just a moment. Again, verse three. Verse three says, another sign appeared in heaven, behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads, ten horns, seven diadems, a diadem is a crown, seven diadems on his heads. And so another sign appears and it's a great fiery red dragon. Well, verse nine tells us who this dragon is. We'll see that in a moment. It is Satan and Satan is red with blood and destruction. So the power behind anti-Christ is revealed. It is Satan. And John 8.44, Jesus said it like this. He said, you are of your father, the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it. So this power is Satan. Notice he has seven heads, ten horns and seven crowns. That's a way of expressing or revealing his kingdom. Now seven heads with seven crowns represents world empires that have been energized and written. And when you see in the Old Testament these great nations, you can see these nations, these seven crowns. You have Egypt and Assyria. You have Babylon. You have Middle Persia, Greece, Rome. And the seventh will be the future kingdom of anti-Christ. We'll see that in chapter 17. Anti-Christ future kingdom will be a ten nation confederacy symbolized by horns. I mentioned to you that in Scripture one horn speaks of strength or power. So anti-Christ future kingdom will be a ten nation confederacy symbolized by the horns. Again that is predicted by Daniel the Old Testament prophet. In the book of Daniel chapter 7 24 through 26, it says it this way. The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom and another shall rise after them. He shall be different from the first ones and shall subdue three kings. He shall speak pompous words against the most high. Shall persecute the saints of the most high and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time. That's three and a half years. But the court shall be seated. They shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it forever. Notice in verse 4. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven through them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. Now when it speaks of his tail drawing a third of the stars, the reference to angels in verse 7 as well as verse 9 reveals these stars to actually be angels. It says a third. The amount is not revealed but it's vast. And these are those who followed Satan when he rebelled. Now notice in verse 4 that the dragon stood before the woman ready to devour her child. And that's a picture of his constant attempt to destroy God's people and resist Messiah. You need to remember that Satan has a deep hatred for Israel because God loves Israel and Israel had Messiah. Messiah was born from Israel. So the enemy hates and resists the people of God. The enemy hates the nation of Israel. The enemy hates Jesus Christ. You see Satan has a deep hatred for Israel because God loves it. When you read your Bible, remember in the time of Moses how Pharaoh hated the Jews or in the book of Esther how Haman hated them enough to try and obliterate them as a people. And in our day I was looking at this week in our day, Israel is hated and anti-Semitism exists worldwide. The Palestinian territories are the most anti-Semitic territories in the world, number one. But they are followed in order by Iraq and Yemen, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Morocco. Those are all nations that hate Israel and want Israel to be obliterated. So the nations today continue, many nations today continue hating the nation of Israel. But this is something we've seen in the old as well as the New Testament, the hatred. When Jesus was born, Satan tried to kill Messiah through Herod. Satan tried to get the people of Nazareth to kill Jesus by pushing him off of a hill. Satan instigated his death because he had healed on the Sabbath and called himself God's Son. He actually had instigated people to want to stone Jesus to death and he also provoked people to try to stone him to death on more than one occasion. And so he hates this woman and he hates her child. But notice in verse five she bore a male child who was to rule all nations. Israel gave the world Messiah. Jesus is the male child. He is the descendant of David and he is the ruler over the nations. In Romans nine three through five it says, Paul says, I could wish that I myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh who are Israelites to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the given of the law, the service of God and the promises of whom are the fathers and from whom according to the flesh Christ came who is over all the eternally blessed God. Amen. And so he's taken of Christ and notice this, Jesus rules with what is called a rod of iron. A rod of iron is a picture of strength and authority. He's going to rule. He will rule in the millennium. He's going to end individual nations. He's going to unify all underneath him and so he has a rule. A rod of iron is a rule that cannot be broken and he's going to deal with all sin and he's going to put down any rebellion. Verse 5, and when it says she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron notice it says, and her child was caught up to God and his throne. What is that referring to? That would be referring to Jesus' ascension after he had died and been buried and resurrected caught up to his throne. In Psalm chapter 2 verses 6 through 9 it says, yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion I will declare the decree the Lord has said to me you are my son today I have begotten you ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance the ends of the earth for your possession you shall break them with a rod of iron you shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel and so what we have here is a picture of the one who rules Jesus Christ and we see his ascension in verse 9 it says when he had spoken these things while they watched he was taken up a cloud received him out of their sight and so it says her child was caught up to God and his throne is a picture of his ascension Satan couldn't stop Jesus from saving people but though he can't stop him from doing that that doesn't mean he can't attack Satan has instigated hatred for Jews throughout their history he continues doing so to this day and during the tribulation he'll do his best to destroy the Jews but God is going to protect them notice verse 6 the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1260 days and 60 days 3.5 years Israel will be protected in Jordan it would seem during the last 3.5 years of the tribulation notice how it says in verse 6 the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God and she'll be protected for those 3.5 years we're going to look at that closely in a moment when we get to verse 13 and now we have war in heaven verse 7 look out in heaven Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought but they did not prevail nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer so the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world he was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him this is interesting here up until this time in the book of Revelation chapter 12 which is still in the future obviously Satan has had access to heaven all you need to do is read your Bible and you look at the book of Job for example and in Job chapters 1 and 2 you have Satan there speaking to God concerning God's servant Job and when God had the sons of God also referred to as angels are also referred to as sons of God Satan was there also when you look in the book of Zechariah in chapter 3 verses 1 and 2 Satan is shown to be there before God and so he has a continuing access and so in the future he will no longer have access you see Satan and his demons have actively opposed God and they have actively opposed his angels and they have actively opposed his people since the fall it's Satan who opposes evangelism it's Satan who oppresses believers it's Satan who instigates pollution into the church with sin and doctrinal error Satan and I don't want it to sound dramatic because I feel it so intensely I have to be careful how I present this to you but Satan hates you he hates you he hates God when you hear of all the evil that this world has that's not God doing it Satan's provoking us he's done it from the fall he has called God's goodness into question and his word into question from the beginning when he came and he spoke to Eve he asked the question has God said from the very beginning he has questioned what God's word says and then he says he has not said that that's not what's going to happen he has done that from the beginning Satan hates God and he hates you you know the word of God teaches us how much God loved the world God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son God's intense love for you there's something else called Satan's he hates the gospel he does what he can to get it outlawed he does what he can to keep people assembling like we are right now he does he tries to keep us from assembling right now I mentioned to you of a friend of mine Don McClure's son Michael I know Michael also but Michael's a pastor of Calvary Chapel San Jose and Calvary Chapel San Jose I was mentioning just last week because they're doing what you're doing right now they meet together and as their fines have gone up to 1.8 million dollars for just gathering together as we are right now and you know what Michael's doing the pastor he's preaching the gospel and he's still in his pulpit and he's ministering to his people because the enemy doesn't want the word to go forth but Michael knows that God's word sets people free and that's what he's doing and that's what we're doing important in the word of God the enemy oppresses it he wants to keep the word of God from being spoken he opposes evangelism he tries to find ways to keep the word of God from being put out I've seen it even in facebook and all of that where somebody posts something a scripture and they take it down this goes against our policy I've seen that you've seen that if you use social media that's happening now it happens now we don't want to hear about this and so he opposes evangelism he most certainly does and he also oppresses believers he attacks and tries to destroy constantly and he pollutes the church he dumps it down and he causes the church to because the message is being polluted he causes those who claim to be Christians perhaps they are I'm not saying by not having the word of God taught in many places what happens is you have people who are Christian in name only they've never even had a relationship with Jesus Christ they never known him they've never had the sins forgiven they go to church on Sunday but they don't practice what they learn throughout the week that's been going on from the beginning really the enemy has been oppressing and opposing and polluting all along and believers must be aware of this in 1 Peter 5 8 and 9 it says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour resist him steadfast in the faith knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world he is seeking whom he may devour resist him withstand him resist him withstand him in the faith it's not simply saying I have faith and therefore my faith is going to move a mountain very often in the New Testament the term the faith is not speaking of my subjective faith it's speaking of God's word which is the faith that has been once for all time delivered to us it's the word of God the enemy was trying to attempt Christ and Jesus with each one of the temptations said it is written it is written because he used the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and so if you are not in the word of God and you're not growing in the word of God and knowing the word of God then the enemy will come and he'll use his devices to undermine God's work in you and you can be deceived by the things that he's saying so we resist him by staying steadfast in the word of God and in a time in the church where we have many people who are very popular because of personality sadly many times the personality is overshadowing the word of God so the word of God is what we are to stand in because we have to be sober and we have to be on the alert vigilant because he's walking out to destroy and so we have a war that's taking place here and it says in verse 7 war broke out in heaven Michael and his angels fought with the dragon there's been a continual war between demons and angels but now it goes full scale the spiritual war is going to take part this will reach its peak rather during the tribulation you see one of the things that we don't understand I mean when you read this and I'll read it again just to try and make a point it says verse 7 war broke out in heaven Michael and his angels fought with the dragon the dragon and his angels fought they didn't prevail nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer it's easy just to read that not imagine what that is because we all of us we don't really realize how powerful angels are we really don't I remember hearing of a guy who was talking to a well-known teacher this guy was a pastor talking to a well-known teacher named John MacArthur and the guy said to John MacArthur every morning when I shave Jesus stands next to me and we have a conversation and then he asked John do you believe this and John says that he looked at him and he says no I don't but that's not what troubles me what troubles me is I think you do there are people who have minimized the unbelievable power and just what angels are you know we say angels are on assignment or you know we minimize let me give you something in scripture in bible teaches us they're incredibly powerful and second kings Hezekiah the king of Judah was being threatened by the king of Assyria and what happens is the Assyrian king sent his army to destroy the city of Jerusalem and Hezekiah was greatly afraid because the Assyrians were the dominant power of his day so Hezekiah did the wise thing he sent to the prophet Isaiah and he said I'm concerned what's taking place and Isaiah sends word back and says don't worry about it God has this and in 2 Kings chapter 19 verse 35 it says it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000 and when people arose early in the morning there were the corpses all dead one angel 185,000 he took out how powerful do you think angels are how powerful they're amazingly powerful so I can't envision this war in heaven I can't envision how it must be just on a scale that's unparalleled unparalleled but what it says to us in verse 8 is they didn't prevail and it also says nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer this all out war that will take place while Satan tries to keep Jesus from establishing his kingdom but it isn't going to succeed you see up until this time it appears that demons also had access to heaven but heaven is now being thoroughly purged it's off limits to these demons they're all cast out the exact time of this isn't set most likely is going to occur during the middle of the tribulation so it says in verse 9 the great dragon was cast out and is named that serpent of old called the devil and Satan the dragon, the serpent the devil, Satan he's the dragon he's the serpent the serpent of old would speak of the serpent he's the devil the word devil in the greek is diabolos and diabolos means slanderer false accuser he's called satan because satan literally means the adversary and in verse 9 it says that this slanderer adversary, the serpent is the deceiver of the whole world he's the one who leads the world astray he's the one who misleads people into false security but satan and his host are cast down into the earth joining other demons that are already there we've already seen that demons have been released from the abuso, the abyss there's an additional 200 million that we've seen in chapter 9 there are millions and these evil forces combine and create unimaginable pain and terror on earth and notice in verse 9 he's the one who is guilty of deceiving the whole world he's the one who deceives he's the one who has spiritually kept people blind he's the one who instigates people to say you can have religion but don't be so exclusive you see, you Christians think I have a problem with you with, it's very simple as you act as if you're exclusive an exclusive club but the fact is Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life no man comes to the Father but by me we did not invent that that's what he told us Peter said there's no other name given amongst men whereby we must be saved Peter said that it isn't something we decided to have our Christian club and keep everybody out we're all exclusive, no we're welcoming we want people to be part of the family of God we want people to be saved but it's the enemy who keeps the world deceived in history and forth Paul said it like this he said even if our gospel is veiled it's veiled to those who are perishing whose minds the God of this age has blinded who do not believe lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God she shone on them they refuse to believe and so as all of this is taking place verse 10 I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down let me spend a moment with you the accuser of our brethren I may have some lawyers in here and you'll understand this the word accuser is actually could be used as a legal term the accuser of our brethren can also be looked at as being the prosecuting attorney the one who brings the case against the defendant and so the word adversary when he speaks of the accuser of our brethren the adversary the adversary is the way of speaking of a prosecuting attorney and so it's like this guys the enemy is before the throne of God and notice it says he accused before the throne of God both day and night there's a constant flow of accusations you may think of yourself as being inconsequential but you're really not because when if you're a believer in Christ if you gave your heart to Christ if you've been transformed you have become his enemy and he thinks that the adversary will do is accuse you before the throne and you think me little oh me yes little oh you and so he will say that one claims to be your follower but did you see the way he got mad at that guy who cut him off on the freeway as he's on his way to work did you see how he is watching those people rolling through stop signs condemning every one of them for not stopping he treated his wife how they were fighting before they got to church and argue until they got to the holy site the driveway and suddenly praise God did you see that and he does that did you see the way did you hear the way and that's what he means he is constantly before God he just constantly is saying something about God's children that's what he does with you that's what he does with me and no I'm not kind of weird paranoid somebody's following me around no that is spiritually true the enemy accuses you before the throne of God night and day not you independently but perhaps sometimes your name may come up in his lips I don't know he certainly knew who Job was because God said have you considered my servant Job and Satan said well of course yeah because God had said where have you been on earth what does that mean God was saying I know what you've been up to you tell me and Satan when you look at it in the original language Satan is saying I've been up to no good finding someone to find fault in have you considered my servant Job oh yeah of course I have that's what he does all you need to do is take everything he owns all you need to do is touch his skin he'll curse you to your faith and what happens well we've been going through Job even his own wife begins to say how long will you hold on to your integrity curse God and die then his three buddies show up for ten days they're quiet and that's a good thing because once they open their mouth we have nothing but problems the rest of Job till God speaks and so what does the enemy do guys the enemy accuses you before the throne of God night and day these are your believers these are your believers you think you can defeat me with that motley crew those weaklings they can't even pray for an hour those people and God's listening as the judge but John in first John says to us we have an advocate Jesus Christ the righteous adversary is the prosecuting attorney John says but we have an advocate our advocate all of you know what an advocate is he's our defense attorney so when the enemy is saying you see that this is what they did blah blah blah they're guilty they did that and you know it then Jesus walks in I like that kind of courtroom drama picture he walks in and he says father may I say something he's our defense attorney he never loses and he says that one that's mine and God's mighty gavel hits that table and he says not guilty see that's what you have in Christ that's what you have in Christ if any man sins and we confess our sin God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness I am a new creation I have been born again by the spirit of God the blood of Christ has washed and cleansed me I belong to him my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life and no matter what the enemy says Jesus just says he's not guilty and I have life because of that see so the enemy can do all he wants but he cannot win and thank you Jesus for that thank you that he cannot win and we have overcome him and notice what it says in verse 11 it says they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb by the word of their testimony they did not love their lives to the death they overcame him by the blood salvation nullifies Satan's accusations they overcame him by the word which combats and exposes his lies and false promises and they overcome because they love not their lives which speaks of their total dedication to Jesus Christ we are saved because of him and we live for him therefore verse 12 rejoice oh heavens and you who dwell in them woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea for the devil has come down to you having great wrath he knows that he has a short time he's going to work harder he only has in this point three and a half years to go and he's working overtime and so in verse 13 roll into the conclusion now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child but the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she's nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent three and a half years so the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood but the earth helped the woman the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth the dragon was enraged with the woman he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ Satan unleashes his fury he's going to do his best to exterminate the Jews but Israel flies to a place of protection now Jesus spoke of this when he was teaching his men about the last days it's in Matthew 24 verses 15 through 18 he said when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place whoever reads let him understand then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains let him who is on the house top not go down to take anything out of his house and let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes there are many conservative scholars who believe that the place that is being spoken of here is Jordan and the location in Jordan Petra you see in the Old Testament book of Daniel chapter 11 verse 41 that verse reads that antichrist shall also enter the glorious land and many countries shall be overthrown but these shall escape from his hand Edom Moab is the ancient name for Jordan and the prominent people of Ammon in the Old Testament book of Isaiah chapter 16 verses 1 through 4 the Lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela which is Petra to the wilderness to the mount of the daughter of Zion for it shall be as a wandering bird thrown out of the nest so shall be the daughters of Moab the daughters of Jordan at the fords of the Arnon take counsel, execute judgment make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day hide the outcast do not betray him who escapes let my outcast dwell with you, O Moab Jordan, be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler for the extortioner is at an end devastation ceases your oppressors are consumed out of the land we've been to Petra more than one time we've been to Petra and we've seen the place that they have this city there Petra and many scholars believe there will be a strategic place that the Lord uses to let the outcast dwell Petra and then finally the dragon was enraged he goes after believers who are holding fast to Christ know this for sure he doesn't let up he doesn't let up sometimes his onslaught against you may feel like a wave after wave after wave and you just endure one attack and then you come to the top only to have another one if you're going through that I it's not unusual the enemy goes after us because he wants to make us inconsequential one of the things that I discovered in this biblical you didn't make this up is that going through trials has a refining effect if you've ever said to the Lord I want to be used by you now close with this if you've ever said to the Lord I want to be used by you and then suddenly it seems like everything's going wrong has that happened to you oh god oh I love you so much Jesus I've been going through that for a long time I kind of understand that when I gave my heart to Christ to where I am right now I understand that I'm going to follow you Lord oh really the enemy will go he works over time see I've discovered the enemy doesn't necessarily concern himself too much with the backslider doesn't really concern himself too much with the carnal person carnal Christians make a great impact on unbelievers and makes unbelievers not want anything to do with Jesus you have Jesus in your life hasn't changed you at all we actually when we're carnal and backsliding and living lives like that loving our sin more than we love him we're a great tool in his hand but when you're on fire when you say you know what Lord no matter what I'm going to follow you but you get to discover what no matter what means and I've been doing that I can tell you that for 50 years Lord I want to serve you oh really there comes a refining fire but after you go through the refining fire your faith has been purified your prayer has been answered because you become when you want it to be you just didn't know it was going to come that way when I first was saying I want to be used by you I kind of thought he'd say great here's an office talk about me thank you Jesus but it didn't come that way it came through a lot of purging a lot of trials a lot of and it'll be real a lot of pain a lot of pain because he wanted to break my hardened heart so that it would be soft and hardened hearts need to be broken if they're going to be used by God always understand that until you know you have nothing but him you're not going to be used by him the way he wants to use you understand that so if you're saying God use me understand understand it's not something scary because some of you are saying I ain't I'm never going to do that I'm not saying that you just took me out of the mission field no that may be a good thing God use me because the one the Lord uses he first breaks and then after he breaks he shapes and after he shapes he uses he's going to break you and he's going to shape you but he is also going to use you when you see him face to face you're not going to whine and cry oh it was so hard I wanted that car I wanted that guy no you didn't I wanted that girl I knew she was the one you ended up giving me this one no that's how I work best with you at the end there's no complaining in heaven there are no tears there is no sorrow there is no joy there is only joy because he fashioned you and he used you and guess what he even rewards you for just doing what you should have done all along what a faithful god we serve what a wonderful god we serve