SEEING CLEARLY
REVELATION 12-18; REVELATION 12:1-17
INTRODUCTION… It’s Not the End of the World (p)
I’d like you to imagine that this has been your morning:
You awake to discover your alarm failed to go off and so you wake up late to get ready for work. In your rush out of bed, you immediately stub your toe. Then you get into the shower only to realize your spouse and kids have used up all the hot water and it is a cold shower for you. When you go to get your breakfast in the kitchen, someone put the milk carton and the orange juice cartons back into the refrigerator empty which is par for the course because you discovered all the cereal boxes are empty anyway… and there’s are no clean coffee mugs. You grab your phone before you head out the door and realize you didn’t plug it in all the way the night before so it’s dead as a doornail. You walk outside to go to work to find a tree limb sticking out of the front windshield of one of your cars which blew down the night before in the storm. You can’t call the insurance because your phone is dead. Not only that, you accidentally left the driver’s side window down in your other car and the driver’s seat is soaking wet from the storm. You back out of the driveway and hit your mailbox.
What are you feeling and thinking?
What level is your stress and frustration?
What do you expect to happen the rest of the day?
Now I realize this is an imaginary morning, but sometimes we can have days like that can’t we? Sometimes we can have weeks that drain us and we feel like the whole world is pressing down on us and laughing. We go though seasons when whatever can go wrong does go wrong. Sometimes our best efforts and all our good intentions come to nothing. Circumstances can create a perception about our lives that the whole world is coming to an end. Bad things happen and sometimes we have a parent, sibling, spouse, or friend that might say to us, “It’s not the end of the world.” We know that! This small statement is meant to put things into perspective and help us see our lives clearly and in a better light.
REVIEW OF MESSAGES
We have been studying the Book of Revelation and we have been reminded of some powerful passages and heard some powerful challenges for our faith:
We have been challenged to make Jesus Christ the absolute directing head of our lives.
We have been reminded that God always forgives and allows us to come back to Him.
We were challenged to live up to the name Christian that we claim and honor it.
We were reminded that our spiritual health is of utmost importance.
We discovered that Jesus Christ is our ultimate hero in this life and the next.
We applied the truth that if Jesus is our hero, then we can persevere in suffering.
We were challenged last week to open up our lives and our mouths and share the Gospel.
Today we are going to talk about “seeing clearly” when it feels like our world is absolutely coming to an end. To get that perspective, we are going to look at some great and wondrous verses in Revelation 12:1-17 which has three main people/characters for us to look at and one main point. It is a little bit longer passage than we normally read, but it is action packed so stay with me.
READ REVELATION 12:1-17
“A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. 7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down-- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short." 13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring-- those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
PASSAGE PEOPLE/CHARACTERS AND MEANING
In Revelation chapter 12, the Apostle John introduces us to three important people/characters. They are central in chapter 12 and in chapters 13-18 which follow. These chapters in the Book of Revelation record for us the trials and triumphs of the Church in the midst of the end of the world.
#1 The pregnant woman who is entering labor and giving birth – which stands for the Mother of Jesus in the first part of the passage and Spiritual Israel which is the Church in the second part of the passage
#2 The child who is born – which is Jesus Christ
#3 The red dragon—Satan
There is other symbolism in the passage such as stars that represent angels and other people/characters such as the Archangel Michael, but these three are the core of what we are looking at today and lead us to see clearly when it seems like our world is coming to an end.
ITS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD SECTION 1
Lots of things happen in our lives and they may seem bad in the moment, but truthfully, it is not the end of the world and we will get through them. I’d like to read some situations and I’d like you to say with me after each one, “It’s Not the End of the World.” By saying this, we are going to initiate some Godly perspective this morning as we move along through this passage.
When you back your car into your mailbox and dent your bumper and destroy the mailbox…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
When you go to let the dog out, and it already peed all over the house…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
When you have $1.06 in your bank account and payday is two days away…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
When your child brings home a behavior notification the first week of school…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
When your blood work comes back and the doctor wants a follow-up appointment…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
When your boyfriend or girlfriend breaks up with you and you can’t stop crying…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
I. THE WOMAN AND THE CHILD
The first two people/characters described in Revelation 12 are the woman (Mary) and the child (Jesus Christ). They play a key role in the vision of the Apostle John in this passage.
For thousands of years, God had been promising His people through the prophets in the Old Testament that a Savior would come to them. The prophets of God looked forward to the Messiah that would come and save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Jesus’ existence and His arrival should not have been a surprise to anyone who paid attention to God’s Word.
Isaiah 7:14 = “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Jeremiah 23:5-6 = “The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.”
Micah 5:1-5 = “Marshal your troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel's ruler on the cheek with a rod. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace.”
In the Apostle John’s vision in Revelation 12, the time for Jesus to be born had come to pass and His Mother Mary was in labor. Our passage in Revelation describes Mary as a daughter of the 12 tribes of Israel, using language from Genesis 37, and tells us that she is ready to give birth. The situation had a special mother, certainly a holy child, but the birth was ordinary. What was most important about this birth is that it was not an accident. The birth of Jesus was the result of a promise being kept by a Holy God who always keeps His promises.
One of the lessons we learn from this passage is that God always keeps His promises which supports the ultimate meaning of this passage.
* God keeps His promises to comfort us when we grieve.
* God keeps His promises to bring peace when we trust in Him.
* God keeps His promises to give strength when we are at our weakest.
* God keeps His promises to save when we have done nothing to merit it.
This means that we can trust God even when we cannot see the answer, the end, the light at the end of the tunnel, or cannot find the answer to our questions. He is trustworthy. He is righteous. He is the God who keeps His promises even when we feel like our world is crashing down around us and the world is coming to an end.
IT IS THE END OF THE WORLD SECTION 1
I would be remiss if we did not take note that there are indeed signs that the world is coming to an end that are described all throughout the Book of Revelation. Most of the time we tell people, “it’s not the end of the world,” but what if it really is! I don’t want to say that and it not be true! Here are some signs of the end of the world and I’d love for you to join me in saying “It is the End of the World” after each one.
When there is a great earthquake and the sun turns black and the whole moon turns blood red and stars in the sky fall to earth…
[It is the End of the World]
When the sky recedes like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place…
[It is the End of the World]
When hail and fire mixed with blood falls on the earth and a third of the earth is burned up, a third of the trees are burned up, and all the green grass is burned up…
[It is the End of the World]
When a third of the sea is turned into blood, and a third of the living creatures in the sea die, and a third of the ships are destroyed…
[It is the End of the World]
When a great star, blazing like a torch, falls from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water and a third of the waters turn bitter and many people die…
[It is the End of the World]
When a third of the day and a third of the night is without light…
[It is the End of the World]
II. THE RED DRAGON
I mentioned there are three main characters/people in Revelation 12. The pregnant woman who is entering labor and giving birth is Mary, the mother of Jesus. As the vision continues in chapter 12, the identity of the woman shifts to being the Church. The child who is born is Jesus Christ our Lord. Also in this passage we have the central villain which is unmistakably Satan, the red dragon. I say unmistakably because verse 9 tells us that the red dragon and Satan are one and the same.
We learn a lot about Satan in Chapter 12 of Revelation:
* He started a war in Heaven in which he and a third of the angels were defeated (verses 4, 7-9)
* He tried to kill Jesus Christ when He was born (verse 4)
* His purpose is to lead the whole world astray (verse 9)
* He was defeated by the blood of the Lamb (verse 11)
* He is defeated every time we give our testimony of faith (verse 11)
* He is filled with fury and wants to take as many souls to Hell with him as possible (verse 12)
* He is at war with every single person who calls themselves a believer in Jesus Christ (verse 17)
I want you to know that it is Satan’s whole existence to make us feel defeated and rejected and lost and hopeless by making life on this planet awful, terrible, and frustrating. He lies. He manipulates. He tempts. He spins truth into half-lies. He discourages. He laughs wickedly. He is at war with people of faith… me and you.
IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD SECTION 2
Lots of things happen in our lives and they may seem bad in the moment, but truthfully, it is not the end of the world and we will get through them. We have a God who keeps His promises. I’d like to again read some situations and I’d like you again to say with me after each one, “It’s Not the End of the World.”
When you break an arm or a leg or your collar bone…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
When you run out of gas on your way to a job interview…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
When your mother or father or child passes away, it may feel like it …
[It’s Not the End of the World]
When you are diagnosed with cancer or maybe your spouse or child got that diagnosis…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
When you lose your job and you aren’t sure where money will come from to pay bills…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
When you find yourself caught in an addiction and you actually admit it…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
When you witness a horrible accident or a crime and you can’t sleep at night…
[It’s Not the End of the World]
III. THE ONE MAIN POINT: DEFEAT OF THE DRAGON
The theme of Revelation 12 is that the dragon is defeated. If you read on further into 13-18 in this strange and wonderful book, you will find that the dragon is defeated. The dragon is defeated. We see it three
times in this particular passage of Scripture. He is defeated when he fails to devour Jesus at his birth. He is defeated at war in Heaven and cast out. He fails when he tries to destroy the Woman (the Church) and her children (believers).
Satan is defeated.
Satan is defeated.
Satan is defeated.
Satan is indeed a sore loser and plans on cheating and destroying until he is ultimately taken out of the game. Satan now knows he has lost because of the cross and because Jesus has purchased our souls with His blood. We have the victory through the cross. The blood of Jesus has already claimed victory for each one of us who are believers. We read in Revelation 12:12, “He is filled with fury, because he knows his time is short.” He knows he’s lost everything he has fought for since his rebellion against God.
What will he do? Revelation 12:17 says, “And the dragon was angry at the woman and declared war against the rest of her children—all who keep God’s commandments and maintain their testimony for Jesus.” From now until the day Satan is ultimately tossed into Hell, he will make war on us… we are the ones who keep God’s commands and maintain our testimony for Jesus. He wars against us!
The theme of this whole section is the red evil dragon known as Satan or the Devil is defeated. The Apostle John begins with that in Chapter 12 and continues to show it in the rest of the chapters of Revelation. This defeat of Satan changes everything for us because we know how the story ends. When you know how the journey will end, you take the journey a little differently… don’t you? When you begin with the end in mind, your steps are different. The Lamb defeats the dragon and that is the absolute truth. It’s not going to seem like it at times, and there are going to be moments where you think the Lamb is being defeated and life is crashing down around you, but remember the Lamb is victorious in eternity and in your personal life. There will be ups
and downs as well as beasts who try to devour and deceive and seduce us along the way, but in the end, if you have put your trust in Jesus and in the blood of the Lamb, you will overcome.
IT IS THE END OF THE WORLD SECTION 2
Most of the time we tell people, “it’s not the end of the world,” but sometimes our hearts hurt and we feel like life is over. Here are some more signs of the end of the world and I’d love for you to join me again in saying “It is the End of the World” after each one.
When smoke fills the sky and out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth and kill one third of mankind…
[It is the End of the World]
When ugly and painful sores break out only on the people who are not Christians…
[It is the End of the World]
When every sea on the earth turns into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died…
[It is the End of the World]
When all the rivers and springs of water on the earth become blood…
[It is the End of the World]
When the sun becomes so intense that it sears people when they step outside with fire…
[It is the End of the World]
When only one part of the world is plunged into darkness…
[It is the End of the World]
When there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake that all the cities of the nations collapse and every island sinks and every mountain flattens and from the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon people…
[It is the End of the World]
APPLICATION
Your alarm failed to go off; you stub your toe; cold showers; no breakfast; no coffee; dead cell phones; damaged vehicles; broken mailboxes… perhaps there are days that are overwhelming. Perhaps you are dealing with other situations and people that make your heart hurt and you cry and the stress of your life seems to make you drown.
What are we supposed to think as believers?
How do we see clearly through times like this?
How do we cope when it seems like the world is coming to an end?
I want to encourage you who are followers of Christ that Revelation 12 was written for you to encourage you. If you are not a believer, these promises can be yours if you trust in Him. We who are believers, have a great promise in this passage that God will give us the victory over evil and over the schemes of the Devil. We are encouraged today to remember that being in Christ means we have a God Who keeps His promises Who is for us and for our good and will work on our behalf to order our steps and make the paths straight. That does mean, however, that you actually need to BE IN CHRIST. Revelation 12:17 is very clear that these promises are for those who KEEP God’s commandments and MAINTAIN their testimony of faith in Jesus Christ.
This promise is for those of us who maintain our relationship with God and we make Him the priority in our lives. For us, God has the victory and we can hold our heads high. We have in our corner the ultimate victory that cannot and will not be taken away. So says our God!
CONCLUSION
