Category: Bible studies

They were all having fun in the sun. As the small waves crashed in, they made a sound that was much bigger than was truly represented by their size. Some of the now reddened sunbathers were enjoying the lazy pursuits of sand castle making, while others were strewn out along the beach, lying out on towels like the resting seals on an island of the Galapagos. Just a few feet into the water there were literally dozens of tube-laden swimmers. Some were riding waves, but most were just bobbing up and down to the rhythm of the sea’s movements. Above them on the shore sat a lifeguard slumped back in his seat, scanning across the surface of the water. The smell of salt air mixed with coconut oil from the Coppertone sunscreen together with the light glistening on the water had a mesmerizing effect – even on the lifeguard. In fact, watching the dancing rays of the sun against the moving water threatened to hypnotize him. Suddenly, the light flashed as it caught a brief point of deflection that snapped the lifeguard from his stupor. It was a fin – and the lifeguard knew what was beneath the water where that fin was exposed – a shark. He stood up on the step that was joined to the front of his seat and looked through his binoculars. As he gauged the danger, he began to blow his whistle. When people were moving too slowly, he raised his hand to his mouth and called out the word that motivated all of them… “Shark! Shark!” People began to flee to the beach. The lifeguard knew an important truth…The power and danger of the shark lay beneath the surface.

It is a lesson worth remembering: It is often not what we SEE that shows the real power – it is only the tip of the power that is exposed. That is true for all that God’s enemy does – but it is also true of God Himself.

Key Principle: What earth sees is a mere shadow of reality. The real world is the SPIRITUAL WORLD that is beneath the surface of the physical universe’s mask. This world perishes – that one preceded it and will be there when this one is finished.

Paul knew this truth. He said: 2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

As John introduced this critical truth that will help guide Tribulation believers through troubles in the way it had helped Paul through persecution – John, under Divine inspiration, opened the door to helping the believer see the powers of darkness beneath their extreme earthly troubles. Let me remind you of our story and the “dark team” that was exposed in the last few chapters of Revelation that we have been studying together. They were the “beneath the surface” evil team – an unholy trinity – that was revealed in Revelation 12 and 13:

• The “father figure” was a dragon that was clearly identified as Satan – who was bested in Heaven and was tossed to the earth (Revelation 12:7-9), ending the whining and droning against the people of God in Heaven’s corridors

• His fall to earth coincided with the appearance of the “son figure” of this unholy trinity – the Antichrist. Called the “man of sin” and various other names – he burst on the scene as a startling new political force after being mortally wounded and then miraculously raised. His initial legislation purposed to offer bold peace initiatives, all the while stockpiling weaponry and trading power around the earth. A rising confederation of earth’s powers formed an axis of evil at the Antichrist’s command. His confederation acted as ONE, but was swift, powerful and transformative.

• Eventually, the dragon pulled in a second ally in the Tribulation – a “spirit figure” in the unholy trinity. This beast was described as LIKE THE FIRST and a HARLOT (Revelation 17) that attempted to spiritually satisfy men’s need for relationship outside the God given boundaries of intimacy with HIM. This was both a false religious beast, and a sign oriented magnet pull of popularity. It had a propaganda ability and pointed to the Antichrist. This one was all about spreading the Antichrist’s BRAND.

That team that was built to wound believers and destroy the coming Kingdom was exposed to ENCOURAGE SUFFERING BELIEVERS. It was exposed to bring confidence to the flagging heart. By Revelation 14, it became important for John to make clear that God wasn’t sitting on the sidelines. The Creator had a team prepared also – and His team was accomplishing His desires in stark contrast to what it appeared on earth. Things looked BAD on earth, but they weren’t bad- they were following the long scripted plan of the Most High.

On first inspection you see that both Heaven and Earth are coordinated spiritually in the message and judgment delivered to the earth. God has a bigger team just “beneath the surface” of the physical world. He is not holding back because He cannot marshal His forces – patience alone delays His coming!  God inserted the information about what HE was doing in a PARENTHETICAL statement – the fifth of seven such parentheses in the book according to the old commentator Dake. This one begins: “AND I LOOKED…”

What John described were seven people or events that caught his attention:

• The 144,000 witnesses that followed the Lamb (14:1-5)
• Angel #1: The Gospel of the Tribulation Period (14:6-7)
• Angel #2: The Indictment of Babylon (14:8)
• Angel #3: Call to both the Marked and the Martyrs (14:9-14)
• Angel #4: Call to Commence Judgment (14:15-16)
• Angel #5: Judgment Reaping Begins (14:17)
• Angel #6: Grapes of Wrath Harvest (14:18-20)

Even a quick glance at the list reveals that six of the seven beings that caught John’s eye were angels that related to judgment. In the Bible, angels have been ascribed the primary role in executing judgment. One such clear example is in the teaching of the seven step parable in Matthew 13, where Jesus clearly enunciated this role for angels:

Matthew 13:24 “…The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 29 “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”…36 “… His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” 37 And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

In an important way, the record of Revelation 14 is the fulfillment of that incredible promise.

Essentially, the words of Jesus are the outline for Revelation 14: The Son of Man sends the angels to reap. The passage, therefore opens with position of the Lamb and His people, and then moves to the reaping call of the angels:

The Lamb and His 144,000 workers (14:1-5)

Revelation 14:1 Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion…

Some may wonder why we don’t begin with the Lamb and His movements – instead of the 144,000 – in light of the fact that the Lamb is clearly mentioned first in the passage. Let me say something that some will find hard to grasp, but if you keep reading and keep studying, it may offer more help than confusion. Taking the text literally doesn’t imply that we don’t understand that even literal speech has common metaphor. When we read that “all the world” went out to hear John the Baptizer – we don’t picture the Chinese of the Han Dynasty on the bank of the Jordan River. We understand there are common ways to say things. When Jesus spoke of the “two or three gathered together” in the context of judgment – He promised to be “in the midst of them”. This was to be a comfort as they judged difficult things… not an implication that He would materialize and “beam down” when they got together. Normal metaphor doesn’t collide with literal understanding, but we must be careful to judge where it appears and where it does not. I mention this because the passage we are in now has a “tricky” part to it – it is not clear where the players are in 14:1-5. It opens with the Lamb on “Mt. Zion”, and it looks to some like Jesus left Heaven and relocated to Jerusalem. Others move Mt. Zion to Heaven and see it as the “Heavenly Zion” (cp. Hebrews 12:22-13), a perfectly reasonable way to see the mentioning of a city in a metaphor (though I do not think that is what he is doing in Revelation 14).

Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

That Revelation 14 is set in Heaven is one of a series of possibilities, but not what I believe is going on in the passage. If you follow the rest of the description of the 144,000 in the coming verses, they appear to be ON THE EARTH, making decisions that would not be made in Heaven – like not defiling themselves sexually. Since they are WITH the Lamb, it seems more proper that the use is a metaphor. I believe John is trying to indicate that God’s witnesses were on earth, remaining undefiled and offering the truth – and that Jesus was their center – they followed Him. I believe he meant it the way I mean it at a wedding, when I tell a couple to FOLLOW JESUS and KEEP HIM IN THE CENTER OF YOUR HOME. I mean metaphorically – not strictly literally – and everyone in the room knows that.

Look at verse one again. It may look to you (as it does to me) that the opening description of the Lamb’s presence is mentioned to assure the reader the 144,000 are following the Messiah, and they are following the Law – since they are Jewish believers. There are many today who really do not understand Messianic believers. They ostracize them, or make them feel really strange. We should keep in mind that if Revelation 14 is to be understood literally, as I believe it should, MESSIANISM will carry the Gospel to the world in the Tribulation Period. They will have no better reputation in the world then they do now – but God will use them as His primary vehicle to reach the world! This doesn’t mean that everything they do is correct today, but it does mean they will carry a very significant role in the coming days.

The Dedication of the 144,000 (14:1)

They are believers that follow BOTH a dedication to the words of the Father (from the estranged Jewish bride of the Father) and follow the Lamb – they are Messianic Jews. Their placement on Zion is another clue to their identity. Zion is used in Scripture as both a Heavenly ideal – and the eternal city at the end of Revelation – and an earthly city of Promise with Messiah the King (Psalm 2, 48, Isaiah 2, 24, Joel 2:32, etc).

14:1b “…and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.

Before we go on with the description of these Tribulation believers, can I ask you a question? What MARKS your head? Are you embracing the world’s system in your thinking so fully that your life is patterned by the way they think. I am not going all fuzzy on the mark of the beast here – I am simply using the pattern of Scripture.  You see, long before, God told Jewish fathers to teach their children the Scriptures in Deuteronomy 6:7:  “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Orthodox Jews have taught their disciples to put a Mezuzah on their doorposts. They were instructed to bind phylacteries on their arms and forehead. We don’t do it in a PHYSICAL way as I was shown in my education in Jerusalem – we take it as a common metaphor, that God wanted fathers to BIND THE LAW on their children by making it relevant to them in everyday life – and illustrating how God worked daily in their home. It isn’t WRONG to buy a phylactery and bind the Law to a child, but a box with little written scrolls stuck to their head won’t draw their allegiance to God any more than sleeping on my Math textbook would naturally cause me to understand Mathematics. The binding must be about TEACHING VALUES or the box binding won’t help.

In the same way, I need to ask: What values are bound on your head? Is morality determined in your mind by what a majority of people SAY about things? Did you choose your life path by what would give you the best INCOME, or rather by seeking God for direction? Is right and wrong in your heart determined by People Magazine or God’s eternal truth? Listen to these prophetic words of Al Mohler:  In a day of rampant moral relativism and social experimentation, Americans have been engaged in a free-for-all exercise in cultural revolution. But when the experiment is directed at marriage, the fallout is sure to be uniquely tragic. The legalization and cultural acceptance of same-sex marriage will mean, ultimately, the destruction of marriage itself. Without a coherent vision of marriage, the entire society will eventually find itself completely unable to regulate sexual behavior or personal relationships. What happens when the next “sexual lifestyle” gains civil rights status? Those who charge that even raising such a question is scare-mongering, must face the simple fact that the question is unavoidable. Intellectual honesty demands that we recognize the fact that acceptance of same-sex marriage implies–to anyone who has even the slightest commitment to intellectual integrity–the acceptance of any adult consensual sexual lifestyle as legitimate and ultimately deserving of legalized status. (Albert Mohler, Jr. is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.) So I ask again, Who is setting the bar for the definitions of your heart, and your actions. Do we really believe that soon the church will not be standing alone in the message of sexual purity? If we do, are you prepared to put your life up as an example of it? Who is marking your decision making patterns – whose mark do you carry on your head?

The Direction of the 144,000 (14:2-3a)

Dropped into the middle of their description is a voice and choir from Heaven that gives them direction. They got the cues of their message from Heaven, and truths revealed to them that no one appears to have accessed. Revelation 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. 3 And they (in Heaven) sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand…”

The Description of the 144,000 (14:3b-5)

Look at the description of these 144,000 witnesses and then ask this question: When the church is removed, how many people will think that sexual purity is even a concern. How many care about it even NOW? Watching what is happening in our country in our time, we must see the stark difference between these witnesses and the sweeping European and American remaking of moral codes: Revelation 14:3b “…who had been purchased from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.

• They were PURCHASED out of the earth – they are not like them.
• They were not drawn into sensual practices – they worked at chastity and abstinence.
• They followed the LAMB – when everyone else followed the DRAGON.
• They told the TRUTH – when their world was so deceived it did not believe that TRUTH could even be known.

Sadly, this could be said of Christians in a local high school in many school districts. It could be said of college students that desired to have a testimony on their college campus. The dark standards of our world are permeating our times so very quickly that these description points can already be seen as a HIGH CONTRAST to the prevailing world view of our times!

Now, in a swift pass over the text, let’s see six angels swoop into the scene:

Angel #1: The Gospel of the Tribulation Period (14:6-7)

Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”

The first angels brings a message of the eternal Gospel (that salvation in every age was always by grace through faith and in no other way). The angel pushed out the message to be sure that all men on earth had the opportunity to know God, though few thought it worth listening to. He also brought the additional part of the Gospel that we don’t preach in the technical giving of the message today: That the church is gone and the last days of judgment had come. The call to worship God is interesting formed around the CREATION MESSAGE that had probably been long removed from society by lab coated men and women of the sciences. Clinging to the message of Creation was part of the final stage of reaching out in response to the truth of God.

Angel #2: The Indictment of Babylon (14:8)

Revelation 14:8 And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.”

The second angel pointed out that the system of men was morally bankrupt, and that was a central truth of the message of the witnesses. It is quickly becoming the central truth to our ministries in these latter days as well.

Angel #3: Call to both the Marked and the Martyrs (14:9-14)

The third angel offered a message to two people groups of the earth. First, he warned people who were making the decision to follow the beast that it had dire consequences that were absolutely eternal. As churches move away from a message of hell, it is easy to hear how collared clergy will line up against such a message: Revelation  14: 9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

That same angel seemed to signal that martyrdom was becoming the order of the day. In my view, the 144,000 get their protection removed at this point, and they begin to be culled from the earth by evil men, which brings a step up in the tempo of Heaven’s judgment against earth’s mutineers: Revelation 14:12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.” 14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.

Angel #4: Call to Commence Judgment (14:15-16)

The tempo of judgment continues with one judgment following another – for the time had come: Revelation  14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Angel #5: Judgment Reaping Begins (14:17)

Still another of God’s army lashed out in threshing the earth… Revelation  14:17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.

Angel #6: Grapes of Wrath Harvest (14:18-20)

The final grape harvest – a wine of blood of men – was now on the horizon: Revelation  14:18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.

Things looked VERY BAD on earth. It appeared that God was LOSING as the earth’s witnesses were being destroyed. In fact, God’s team was accomplishing His long-before scripted plan. I take great COMFORT in that truth. Why? Because it forces me to admit once again that I am not qualified to know when God is losing!

• When the country ebbs into sin-sickness in our school system – I cry out to God and complain, “Why don’t you DO SOMETHING Lord?” – because I think I can tell who is winning by what is happening – but I cannot.

• When the political frame of the country seems to be reeling and no candidate seems to be able to identify Biblical values wholly and model them – I wonder why God doesn’t raise up someone different – but I do not know His plan.

• When the economic values of our homes are decreased and our currency loses its value around the globe I complain to the Lord that mission dollars to not go far anymore – but I must humble myself and recognize that God is working His plan.

• When our historic foundations are eroded to the point that the influence of Christ and the Gospel in the formation of the country is out rightly denied while damaging beliefs and religious groups gain a more solid foothold of rights in our government than we have – I weep, but God is on His path to victory, and all things are happening as he would have them.

• When this generation of unborn American children are slaughtered out of a perverse desire for selfish convenience I cry out to Him repeatedly – “God, where are You? Why don’t you stop this terrible nightmare.” He says, “Just do your part, for I know where I am taking your nation.”

When I cry God answers! He shows me the truth. I see only the fin of power. The real power is beneath the wave.

I am no ample judge of the Almighty’s plan. I do not see what the enemy is really doing – nor do I understand how God will take evil and overturn it into GOOD. I see the FIN, but not the FISH. I see the PROBLEMS but not the PLAN.

In the moments I become most angry, I show the most ungodly ego. When I complain about what God is allowing, I am masking the real complaint – what God is DOING. His patience with evil is a constant sore point to me – because I believe I understand the plan.

Israel weeps in darkness and blindness as God has focus His holy attention on the many of us from another nation, people, kindred and tongue. To US this is a marvelous plan… we love being the object of God’s affection. Consider the words of Paul to the Romans 9:22:

“What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make know the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even US, whom He also called, not from among the Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”

Those words are set in a context that says that God turned His face away from Israel for a time to BLESS the other people of the world, like me – to allow the Gospel to go to the ends of the earth through the temporary, mutual rejection between Israel and God. From my standpoint that is GREAT – because God opened a door for my access. If I were looking from Israel’s standpoint – I would not be nearly so enthusiastic. The salvation of the world sounds great, but I wouldn’t want the darkness to fall on my own family. In the final analysis, if I were Israel, I would have to admit that this is the way God chose to tell His story – and His way is always best. Can we say less about our own times?

Can I not admit that when I am disgusted by the world’s sin sickness – it is BOTH a reminder of man’s mutiny and of God’s patience? That should quiet my heart. It MUST quiet my soul. The fact is that what the earth sees – and what I can see now apart from the discerning light of the Word of God – is a mere shadow of reality. Beneath the surface lurks the SPIRITUAL WORLD operating but masked by the physical universe. The real is hidden, the temporal is seen… and mature believers learn the difference between the two – and which to rely upon.

The year was 1945. The place was central Europe. The last days of power in the Third Reich (Drittes Reich) that began in 1933 were now becoming clear. Though the forces led by Adolph Hitler were clearly facing defeat from Allied powers, the army was ordered to continue destroying without long term rationale or real cause. Though soon to be defeated, these were some of the bloodiest days of the war. Two thirds of European Jewry was already destroyed. Cities across the continent lay in piles of ruins. Priceless artwork was reduced to ash, and architecture of generations was now a blackened cinder hull of its once former glory… Why go on? It seemed like madness – but threatened power is the least rational kind of power.

 One particularly disturbing trend that can be observed if one looks carefully at the waning years of the Reich was this: some people were still joining the war. New recruits had slowed, but the fact that there were ANY is quite disturbing. Why would they do this? The answer may be simple: Many believed the deception of the propaganda they were fed. They didn’t KNOW the end was near, though careful observation should have indicated a problem. The age of recruits was unbelievably low. The weapons handed to them were old and in disrepair.

How did the Reich pull off such a deception? It took three things that revived in a unique way the ancient Roman pallet – SPECTACLE, TEAM WORK and PLANNING. There was a popular process, a political process, and there was a propoganda process. There were sports teams, camps for the young and long standing traditions were co-opted for political and ethical reconstruction. In the end, the team that formed around deception became very proficient at the mass deception game. The description of the end times in Revelation 13 is just like that moment all over again…

Pause… because that should help us understand how such a thing could easily become a reality again, even in our modern world.

To mold a generations values into one (in this case a deception), the long standing differences seeded by religious and ethical thinking must be systematically eroded into accept few (or ideally no) specific underlying fixed truths. The masses must be lulled into political submission by expediency while having their emotional needs met by unifying and satisfying spectacles. Pairing religious deception with political power will produce zealous followers. Believers need to be attuned to the way deception is fed through both channels as the end approaches. Regardless of your political persuasion, is it not now painfully obvious that:

• We can be persuaded that a nation has harmful weaponry by intelligence reports that may or may not be accurate. In response, we can be persuaded to bankrupt our coffers and borrow extraordinary amounts of money to fight a war that is costly in both human and fiscal terms.

• We can be led into battle by pundits that assure us there is no other alternative – and we will follow. Our most reliable people can be carted out on TV and change the policy and personality of the nation. It is not hard to imagine.

Don’t miss my point. This isn’t a commentary about mistakes in our recent national past – because I don’t claim to KNOW what the right thing to do is – and I am a community leader. I don’t know the facts well enough to judge – that is my honest admission. The point is that we can be moved extremely quickly to get behind an idea based on political punditry. I believe if you look clearly at our current day, you will see that we are in a world that is utterly prepared for the unfolding of the end time. Add to that the fact that our national religious life has become a soup of contradictions that seem hard to grasp just a generation ago – and the pot is on the stove set for boil.

Key Principle: The stage seems very well set for the last hours to come quickly – but that isn’t a BAD THING. It is a challenge to the believer of today to work with the sound of a ticking watch in the background. Time is running out and we must pay attention.

Believers are being convinced, more and more, that the literal view of the end is not real. The deception has already eroded our resistance to changes that will bring it all about – even within the community of believers. God’s Word told us it would happen… and those who study it should see its work clearly. Let’s take a look.

When we open this passage, we step into a story already in progress. In our last time together we introduced two essential prophetic texts that appeared to be like small streams coming together, growing into a larger river – one from Daniel 11 and another from Revelation 12. The confluence of events mentioned show both Heaven and earth, as the world barrels toward its end. I want to tell the story of these events, but will tell them in a past tense – as completed – to insert us in the story in proper sequence…

First, the great dragon, Satan, was bested in Heaven and was tossed to the earth (Revelation 12:7-9). His long droning against the people of God was halted, and his access key to Heaven’s corridors was revoked – showing him that his time to deceive and destroy was coming to a close. In human terms, his appearance was seen by his startling empowering of a new political force – a rising star from among men that captivated the world with his political abilities. This new hero quickly pulled such powers to himself as to become a despot (Daniel 11:36). He reversed the direction of his fathers in terms of their historic gods of worship and even boldly magnified himself with a brazenness that was unusual – even for a politician.

Next, that newly empowered ruler offered bold peace initiatives, all the while stockpiling weaponry – buying and trading power and positions as a child would trade baseball cards on a sand lot (Daniel 11:39-40). Once again on earth, a rising confederation of earth’s powers formed an axis of evil that was a mere mask for the demonic underworld’s blood lust. The new leader’s egregious behaviors took him into the heart of the Near East and into Israel – with every action he exalted himself.

From Heaven, it appeared as though God stood back and allowed His estranged bride to be led to the slaughter, but purposed to step in at intervals to keep the dragon from crushing her. Great struggles were eased by only small releases from Heaven. Satan was doing what he does best… He was called a murderer by Jesus, a destroyer by the Apostle John, and blinder by the Apostle Paul. He is the crouching lion according to the Apostle Peter. He appears as light –  Paul told the Corinthians, but is actually the “Lord of the Flies” from the mouth of the Savior. His work was nearing its end – and the Word revealed that he knew it (Revelation 12:12). God made a promise. He told His people that His enemy would face defeat with powerful words like God will soon CRUSH him under your feet (Romans 16:20) – and the time of that delay in fulfillment was waning.

As Heaven was relieved at the loss of the adversary’s voice, they looked on with horror at the impact of the enemy’s thrashing of earth. The great enemy turned his attention first to crush Israel – the estranged wife of the Father in Heaven – but the Creator created a way of escape at each point of destruction. The enemy poured out a river on the dry land to sweep the woman away (Revelation 12:15) but God summoned the land to open and swallow the water. Even the long fallen world responded to its Creator when he summoned action. Frustrated, the great enemy contented himself with destroying earth’s other believers – not a part of the people of Israel around the earth.

We open Revelation 13 with the dragon thrashing against the earth’s followers of their Creator. It is a simple two part story – He has an earthly political structure (13:1-10), and drew in a religious structure as his spokesman as well (13:11-18). Both of these are wrapped in political theater of spectacle – something that will soothe the emotions of those who pass through the events:

The Political Leadership of the Tribulation (Revelation 13:1-10)

Revelation 13:1 seems to suggest that the dragon used a political system that was made of ten nations and ten leaders – seven of which had some elevated status over the others.

• This confederation of rulers was obviously pagan in orientation – a fellowship of fists raised against the power and plan of God in every way. The dragon came from the abyss, and slid his powers into that pagan system like a hand in a puppet. Look at the description:

Revelation 13:1 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.

• The confederation of nations appeared as ONE BEAST – there was a unity to these nations (Revelation 13:2a).

Revelation 13:2a “And the beast which I saw was…”

• The confederation of nations was swift in moving people (a leopard) but its footprint in the lives of people was profound (a bear) and its ability to back up its judgments with fierce authority was unprecedented – all because of the empowering by Satan – the adversary of God.

Revelation 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.

By now, you may be asking yourself an incredibly logical question… How could this guy get so powerful so quickly? How could someone rise from obscurity to become such a political force… can something like this really happen in the day of modern media? Keep looking at the description. Something FANTASTIC and beyond explanation unfolds that makes him a “household wonder”!

• The RULER of this new confederation of nations was apparently mortally wounded  and then “miraculously” raised up. I do not wish to challenge the enemy above my place, but I simply must offer this observation: I respectfully submit that the plagiarized spectacle of a resurrection was the best the enemy could come up with after more than two thousand years of planning! Further reading will indicate that the ANTICHRIST was the very one wounded, and that it came as the wound of a sword – perhaps in battle (Revelation 13:14).

Revelation 13:3 I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; 4 they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

Before you read this as HOCUS POCUS in a bizarre way, think of it this way: What if this rising star came from a medical background? What if he had unlocked something in the human genome in a lab that had never been seen before? What if his company controlled the proprietary information that could stop a plague, heal a world wide pandemic, or heal resuscitate a popular leader? What if he controlled both the release of a pandemic and the cure? Can you hear the end of verse 4, as people quietly said in Washington, Brussels, Beijing and Tokyo: “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

Take it another way. What if this ruler was cornered and his power was absolutely destroyed. What if the wound was political – and he was utterly disgraced in some way? What if he “came back from the dead” politically to be uncontested and stronger than ever? Wouldn’t this evoke the same awe?

The rest of verses five through ten offer an over-arching retrospective on the leader’s rise and the creation of the confederation:

• The leader was boisterous, arrogant and blasphemous – because he had appeared to overcome “death”: Revelation 13:5 There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies…

• The system developed quickly around the time the church was removed from the scene as a resistance point, and the first half of the Tribulation was characterized by the rising power and confederation agreements: Revelation 13:5b “…and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.

• The ruler and his confederation were anti-God, and openly hostile to those who sought God – no matter what corner of the earth they were from. People seemed willing to submit to worship and veneration of the new power – except for the few that were reached with the Gospel and had God’s Word to guide them: Revelation 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.

You cannot escape the religious overtone to the words of the political machine we have been reading about. It may come because of a great military victory (some scholars believe the defeat of Near Eastern opponents from the north of Israel described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 may be the catalyst). It may come from a simple propaganda machine backed up by the spectacular resuscitation of the fallen leader. One thing is certain, the other passages that refer to this “man of sin” and his system confirm over and over again that he speaks POMPOUS WORDS (Daniel 7:8) and that he uses them in a RELIGIOUS TONE (2 Thess. 2:4).

Were the people of God forgotten? No, not at all. They were first introduced to God in Messiah through the protected witnesses of Revelation 7 and they had His Word to explain His temporary inaction for their defense. They trusted Him to come through in the way He said He would. He said:  Revelation 13:9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.

Herein is the real cruelty of those who would teach the Bible’s prophecy is not to be understood literally. If the story is metaphoric, what comfort can come from its pages in the midst of the trouble. It is no mystery that those who take the Bible literally see a future for the Jewish people. It is also no mystery that most of the Jewish believers today take the Bible’s promises literally. In the midst of the Tribulation – it is the one hope believers will have – that God will do EXACTLY what He said He would do! Consider this:

• When God promised a Messiah to be a man, born of a woman – He delivered literally.
• When God promised Messiah would be born of a Jewess in Bethlehem of Judea – He delivered literally.
• When God said that Messiah would come 173,880 days after the command to rebuild Jerusalem in 445 BCE (Daniel 9:26ff) – He delivered literally.
• When God said that Messiah would be “cut off” and then the city of Jerusalem would fall – He delivered literally.
• When God said that Messiah would suffer as a servant of His people and be nailed to a tree – God delivered literally.

What justifies in our minds making an allegory out of God’s re-gathering of Israel, His restoration and total salvation so completely described by Paul in Romans 11 as a FUTURE EVENT to the church age? The church that turns the future prophetic teaching into uncertainty flies in the face of the past and its literal fulfillment.

The Religious Leadership of the Tribulation (Revelation 13:11-18)

The dragon pulled in a second ally in the Tribulation – in addition to political partners. There is no zealot like a religious convert – and the dragon is good at religion building. He has worked at the craft since the Fall in the Garden.

This second beast is LIKE THE FIRST (as indicated by the use of allos as “another” of the same kind). She is empowered by the enemy, and she lives to make a mockery of the MARRIAGE of both the Father to Israel and the Son to His Church. She is a HARLOT (Revelation 17) and satisfies man’s need for relationship outside the God given boundaries of intimacy with HIM. Look at her description:

• The religious character, cloak and symbolism is undeniable – it is pictured as a sacrificial lamb. I suspect the picture shows the public persona to be peace-loving and gentle – while the reality is the very opposite: Revelation 13:11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.

• His operation is within the confines of the power of the political beast, causing honor and veneration to fall upon the political leadership. Revelation 13:12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

• His religious work is found in the performing of signs like that of Elijah – the control of lightning. With each passing year I marvel at how the church is setting up a generation of “sign crazed” people – who think you can tell what is right by what is popular and what appears powerful: Revelation 13:13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

• His work included the propaganda machine that gave BREATH to the message of the beast. Could this be a media giant? Revelation 13:15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

• His work also includes BRANDING and positioning of the BRAND. This could be a citizen identification mark that allows people to operate within the financial system – that wouldn’t even be hard to imagine. The mark itself identifies one as BELONGING TO THE SYSTEM, just as the witnesses of Revelation 7 were sealed on their forehead or the believers of Revelation 14 have their Heavenly Father’s name on their heads. The great counterfeiter of the ages duplicates the identity mark to THE MAN who rules. People will take a side – belonging to HIM or following at great peril to themselves, the real King of the ages. Revelation 13:16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

Pairing religious deception with political power will produce zealous followers. Believers need to be attuned to the way deception is fed through both channels as the end approaches. As an American, we see a change going on in front of our eyes, and it is much deeper than a simple political one… it is aimed at people of faith from all corners of our own government:

• When in February of 2009 – the US government officially announced plans to revoke “conscience protection” for health workers who refused to participate in medical activities that go against their beliefs, (fully implemented later in the plan in February 2011) – and some Christians wondered aloud if this was directed at them – because of their open opposition to abortion.

• Two months later, others were concerned to learn that the US administration officials in would only allow the President to speak at Georgetown University, if the monogram symbolizing Jesus’ name covered during his speech. When Christians cried out about historic foundations, “Reactionary!” cried the press about the Christians.

• In April of 2010, the US Pentagon dis invited Rev. Franklin Graham from their National Day of Prayer event because of complaints from those who saw his overt evangelism as “offensive”.

• Last year, the US government eliminated federal grants to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for their extensive programs that aid victims of human trafficking because the Catholic Church is anti-abortion, according to the Washington Post.

• Later, in one month, the Air Force Academy both rescinded support for Operation Christmas Child, that sends holiday gifts to impoverished children across the world, because the program is run by a Christian charity, and paid $80,000 to add a Stonehenge-like worship center for pagans, druids, witches and Wicca. (source: David Barton and Wallbuilders).

This slide began long before the current administration, but I think we can make the case that many who are running our country are coming out of the closet and believe that Jesus and His church are no longer a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps they are right in the political realm – but they are DEAD WRONG in the spiritual realm. The clouds may be coming… but we aren’t DONE YET.

• Today, I have the freedom to talk to my next door neighbor about how much Jesus loves them, and why He died for them – and today I won’t go to jail… but will I do it or hope some else takes the call more seriously?

• Today, I have the right to open, study and learn God’s Word without any fear of retaliation from the authorities – but will I avail myself of the opportunity or find more pressing personal issues to attend to?

• Today, I have the privilege of praying for those who are in authority over me without the fear of Daniel’s lion’s den – but will I bow my knees or hope that someone else will bring them before the Lord?

• Today, I can engage my public officials, and question policies that appear to shift away from America’s historic foundations of faith – but will I engage them or hope that some organization will do it for me?

• Today, I can teach a child about the faithfulness of the Lord, and tell them what He can do in and through them if they will live for Him – but will I work at it or will I hope that they get that from a Sunday school teacher or friend?

• Today, I can show my community how a godly man or woman should respond when their values and their Savior are attacked – but will I offer any positive response, or just quietly hope it goes away.

Believers need to be attuned to the way deception is fed through both channels as the end approaches. The stage seems very well set for the last hours to come quickly – but that isn’t a BAD THING. It is a challenge to the believer of today to work with the sound of a ticking watch in the background. Time is running out and we must pay attention!

She was alone and she knew it. The sound of a man stepping on a small piece of glass in the dark parking garage caught her attention. Fear shot through her… The kind of quick stinging fear that feels like bumping a nerve. Just knowing someone else was in that place pushed her mind down a slope and panic set in. “Where is my car? Where are my keys?” She thumbed through her purse nervously. Just as she lay her hands on the keys, another startling sound erupted… The window on her car went down! Through the space of the window in complete darkness, she saw her smiling husband. A tear welled up in her eye, because she knew she was safe. He came to surprise her, but she knew the truth… He was her rescuing angel.

Key Principle: The enemy KEEPS aiming his sights on God estranged bride, but God won’t let her slip away into his hand. Attacks are NOT a surprise to the Creator. God knows how to protect His people – and He never neglects His duty!

Last time we looked into Revelation 12, we saw that a series of signs were flashed across Heaven to inform John of Satan’s war with God. We noted that these signs were actually a CAST OF CHARACTERS THAT WERE RECORDED to tell us of what is ahead. Though not a pretty picture for many, understanding the vision will help us navigate in the present, and have real implications for what we do in modern life. We saw that the signs tell the story – but we have to learn to look at them and understand both the blessing of their warning and the truth of their message!

The first part of the passage is about the CAST – Three Persons that form the story (Revelation 12:1-6)

Remember, the first part of the passage told us about three people, and how they showed the story of God and His great enemy. The three persons were:

1: There is a Woman at the center of the story.

Revelation 12:1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars…5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations ….6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

She was formed in Heaven, and not the creation of some political movement in the past of the present. She was neither a contrived ancient robber nation that disposed the Canaanites of old, nor some modern Zionist plot to dispossess modern Arabs of their land.

She was a woman beloved and wedded by God as Hosea 2:16 and Isaiah 54:5 call Israel. She had the description that aligned her with the nation and its people, that had become hostile to her former husband – the Living One of Heaven. God wrote Israel a certificate of divorce. As evidence to her continual hostility to her former husband, God wrote in Romans 11:28 and her enmity at the time before her eventual restoration: Romans 11:28 “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Israel was depicted in the Epistles of the Christian Scriptures as the divorced wife of God that is awaiting her restoration to Him in a future time that will come about because of a terrible Tribulation. The fact is that she was put away only after they had a son together – and He constitutes the second sign.

2: The Child of the woman is set for great things.

Revelation 12:2 “and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth… 5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

First, He was ruler appointed by God. (As God specific promises to David through Nathan the prophet in 2 Samuel 7). Second, He would come FROM Israel, but RULE ALL THE NATIONS one day. This seems in keeping with what we saw in Revelation 11:15 … “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” The rod of iron with which He would rule is identical in wording to Revelation 19:15 …and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and …on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” Third, He would be caught up to God’s throne room. Did not the book begin with a vision of the Risen Christ in the throne room of God in chapter 1? Did not Acts 1 show Jesus being “taken up to Heaven”?

3: The dragon wants to kill both the woman and the Son.

12:3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

A third person comes into view. He is the great red dragon. Ha-satan occurs 13 times in the Masoretic Text, in two books of the Hebrew Bible, including Job 1–2 (10x) and in Zechariah 3:1–2 (3x). Biblically, he was behind the attempts at Israel’s destruction in Haman’s plot, and his fingerprints were on Herod’s killing spree of the babies of Bethlehem.

He took a third of the stars and threw them to the earth. When Satan rebelled, something changed about his characteristic lodging in heaven, because we read: “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!” (Isaiah 14:12). Jesus made a glancing reference to it when He said: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). It could even be that the STAR that fell to earth in Revelation 9:1 was that of Satan himself – though that is not certain. We are told that an “innumerable company of angels” was created by God (Hebrews 12:22), and here one third of them chose to rebel with him.

The dragon was not only spiritual, but seen in the political realm – one with seven heads and ten horns. If you follow the pattern of Daniel’s visions, like that of Daniel 7, a head was a national kingdom, and a horn was a ruler of that kingdom. Satan built a national coalition through human surrogates – but it is nevertheless HIM behind it all! Satan stood before the woman to devour the child. A good reference point could be simply Matthew 2:13, where God thwarted the attempt of Herod to kill the baby Jesus.

God has an ultimate plan for both the believers of the church age and the people of Israel. God’s future for Israel does not guarantee that all they do in their current unregenerate state is acceptable behavior, but we must wise up to the rise of an increasing wave of ANTI ISRAEL thinking that is putting even churches in opposition to any future for that people. Replacement theology – that the church is the new Israel – is reaching into churches and denominations and moving them to enmity with Israel and any future plan of God specifically for them.

Before I read another verse, let me be as clear as I am able to be in words:

• The future of Israel is not in the hands of the Netanyahu government – for though they have elected him their Prime Minister – he cannot protect her from an attack that has been perpetrated upon her with Satan’s backing.

• The future of Israel is not dependent upon her by the so-called “Quartet” government peace initiatives. Each of these governments has their own interests and agenda – and they cannot guarantee Israel’s safety.

• The future of Israel is not in the hands of President Obama or our Congress. They can pledge to stand at her back, but we are borrowing just to stay afloat in our own economy, and with a rising number of American Muslims in our national scene – that dependable source of friendship has deep limitations.

• The future of Israel is not in the hands of the UN. If one is to look past the veneer of the surface you will discover a deep and abiding disrespect (read: hatred) of Israel by many nations that have little to do with the Arab cause or any direct insult that Israel may have made to them.

The future of Israel is UP TO GOD. Let me show you by looking at the balance of Revelation 12, with what Paul Harvey would say is … the rest of the story.

The second part of the chapter is about the CLASH – Six Events that unfold between Satan and the Woman and Child (Revelation 12:7-9)

Event One: Satan is tossed from Heaven

Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Long before this passage was written, Daniel prophesied the day was coming for the Heavenly wrestling match that would end in Satan’s tossing from Heaven.

Daniel 11 offers the description of some earthly events. A ruler will arise, according to 11:36, and he will be a despot. He will do whatever he pleases, even magnifying himself to be like a god in the eyes of other men. Daniel 11:37 says he won’t have regard for the god of his own father, but will be a stockpiler of weapons and will create a federation of states by buying off powerful people. Daniel 11:40 argues that some will be unhappy and attack him, finally coming into Israel and even gaining control of many Near Eastern countries. He will establish himself in Israel, but will eventually himself be taken out of power, with no friends to help him remain. At that time, Daniel 12:1 says: “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.”

Remember that the Tribulation on earth is about the Jewish people, for the Jewish people. It is to get the estranged wife of the Father to see the truth about the world and its empty gods and worthless promises. Satan’s arrival after the war in Heaven steps up an already virulent hatred against the Jewish people world wide.

The dragon is clearly called Satan in 12:9. In other places in Scripture he is called “The murderer from the beginning” by Jesus. He is called a “destroyer” in Revelation 9:11, and shown to have a deep connection to ruling people and blinding them to truth in this age in 2 Cor. 4:3-4:

2 Cor. 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

At the same time, the battle between Michael and Satan is not new. Jude 1:9 showed this battle went on in the past:

Jude 1:9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

For a time, God allowed the enemy to keep up his attack and accusation against the brethren day and night. Heaven had to be tired of Satan’s constant harassing voice of the deciever. Now might be a good time to recall that SATAN IS A DEFEATED ENEMY!

Paul ended the treatise to the Romans with these encouraging words: Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

John knew it would happen as well: 1 John 4:4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

The whole defeat was a DONE DEAL when Jesus died on the Cross at Calvary: John 12:31 “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” 33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.

Don’t go on… stop! Look at what we have just read! Jesus said that HIS DEATH would defeat the enemy. He said that what was given to us as His followers was stronger than what the enemy has to hold us back. He said He will soon CRUSH the enemy. The heel bruiser is about to get stomped on! What an exciting promise.

The great thief of the heavens is about to get jailed. The great murderer of thousands is about to get the electric chair. The rapist, the vile abuser, the kidnapper – he is about to be cut off from ever harming or maming again. His work – the destruction of men and women, the slow and painfulkilling of cells and planets is about to be reversed – and Jesus will bring it all about. We will not mourn his passing – for the Creator of all will crush him once and for all.

Event Two: Striking up Heaven’s Band

12:10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.

The other night I sat in a Jerusalem restaurant with the fire alarm going off the whole time. It was a high pitched squeal, and it was clearly out of order. The whole meal was Aaron and I having a conversation with a screeching behind us…..I about went nuts.

I cannot help but think that some of the rejoicing in Heaven is nothing more than Heaven throwing a party over the fact that the slithering, whining, irksome voice of the enemy has been silenced. Like the voice of a foul mouth co-worker that just grinds on you – he is finally barred from the office – and Heaven breaks into praise. The screeching of the baby has ended. The screaming voice of the emo band has gone silent – suddenly a sign comes up from the choir of the Heavenly host!

NOW we are finally going to see an end to this harassing of Heaven. Now we are rescued from his mouth. Now the kingdom is set to move ahead. Now the authority of the Savior is becoming seen in all Heaven and earth. The problem is that what is good for HEAVEN is bad for EARTH….

Event Three: Earth Warriors Helps Heaven’s Angels

Heaven quieted down, but earth got that much more perilous. Satan’s entry permit to Heaven was cancelled. Heaven prevailed. The shocking part is that EARTH appeared to play a role in the victory. Look at the verses:

Revelaiton 12:11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. 12 “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

We are so accustomed to the pagan notion that earth is subject to Heaven, that we forget that this is not the Bible’s position. Heaven is affected by earth as well. In 1 Corinthians, Paul argued that rebellion among women was a danger to the angels in Heaven.

1 Cor. 11:8 For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; 9 for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. 10 Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

Here in Revelation, the work of the witness of the believers who had lives on earth that were able to be lost because of their testimony aided Heaven’s victory. The stone of Messiah crushed the work of the enemy as Daniel 2:44-45 showed in the vision. His reign is established in the hearts of believers on the way to being established in all the earth! The martyrs and witnesses helped overthrow the wicked one’s case from Heaven’s court when they finished the job the JOB began at the time of the Patriarchs long ago!

Look at the power a believer surrendered has to affect Heavenly things! They overcame the enemy by speaking the truth and living the truth. They gave the enemy a punishing blow when  they lived in integrity. They shamed him when there was no hidden areas in their lives he could use against them… they – and we – can defeat the devil because he doesn’t have anything to accuse us with. If all he can do is make things up – his power diminishes over us!

Recently I heard Dieter Zander, the pastor of the first GenX church in America speak at a conference about reaching people in the age of relativism. He cited a Barna study that asked people to use single words to describe Jesus. They responded, “wise, accepting, compassionate, gracious, humble.” Then he asked them to use single words to describe Christians, they said, “critical, exclusive, self righteous, narrow and repressive.””There is a difference between knowing the good news and being the good news, Zander said. “We are the evidence! How we live our lives are the evidence. Everything counts–all the time.” “With previous generations, a strong preacher could give a good message, even if the church was hypocritical and critical and people would still get saved,” Zander continued, “but not any more. I’m seeing a change in what seekers are looking for. Not something they can relate to. They are looking for a transcendent God. They don’t want to be entertained they want to be transformed.” (sermon central).

We have an enemy that is facing defeat, a Savior that has been proclaimed victor, and Spirit that empowers us and provides a way of escape. Why not start living like we actually ARE on victory’s side?

Event Four: Tribulation Persecutions Against Israel

Now on earth and seeing the end in sight, the enemy has but one ploy up his sleeve. He did not stop the King by death – for the King rose again. He did not corrupt the world by impregnanting the women (Genesis 5). What was left?

Revelation 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

Satan put a full court press into the persecution of Israel. What else was there? If you cannot kill the King, try to nuke the Kingdom. It would stop the future plan – and that is his end game. It has always been his end game… try to show he can defeat the Creator. Just as he tried, God provided a special and unpredicted wing of escape for the Jewish people.

Event Five: God’s Blockers Come Through

One need only be in the desert during a delue to know how dangerous water can be to a desert landscape. Satan poured our a river:

Revelation 12:15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.

It seems that God has more answers than Satan has questions. A problem seems to arise, and one of God’s many tools, seldom used in the past, is employed to aid His people. Not since the swalowing of men in the Genesis account was such a method used by God’s hand and recorded in Scripture.

When I was young, I recall reading about how Heaven helped the earth’s missionaries: I read of a Norwegian missionary, Marie Monsen, who served in China in the 1950s. She testified to the intervention of angels when Christians were in great danger. They had taken refuge in the mission compound only to be surrounded by looting soldiers and they were astonished to find that they were left in peace. A few days later the hostile men explained that they were ready to break down the flimsy wall when they noticed tall soldiers with shining faces on a high roof in the compound. Marie Monsen wrote, “The heathen saw them, it was a testimony to them, but they were invisible to us. (sermong central illustrations).

God isn’t limited to the size of the team we can see. His heavens will respond to His command. His earth will eat up the flood waters. He is able to wipe the place clean – but has decided to be patient with men.

Event Six: International Believers Get Pressed

Unsuccessful at annihilating Israel, the enemy moves to other believers around the world, to martyr them and torment them:

Revelation 12:17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

His rage is placed against them. The “offspring of Israel by faith” as Paul called the believers among the Gebtiles in Galatians 3:6-9, share the wrath of the enemy once reserved for the Jewish people. When the enemy can’t get what he wants, he goes after someone he doesn’t – just to wound, mame, destroy… it is his way.

The enemy KEEPS aiming his sights on God estranged bride, but God won’t let her slip away into his hand. Attacks are NOT a surprise to the Creator. God knows how to protect His people – and He never neglects His duty!

Oh, dear ones… we should see the day approaching. The clouds are gathering. It is not Iran we should fear. It is not an election that should raise our hackles. It is not the plethora of causes that should make us feel as though we are drowning… it is simply this.

We serve a risen Savior that desires us to lift high His holy name. We serve a Savior that longs for His own people to believe in His ability to conquer temptation, His power to completely clean the inner prison of self guilt, to conquer death’s sting and provide peace, power and purpose. We can follow Him, and the enemy’s ability to wound us firther will be blocked by His good hand. Can we not learn to trust Him?

It was a nice afternoon that January 29, 2012, and a businessman was returning to his south Florida home after a week away. He was traveling at about seventy miles an hour. Trees were flying by on both sides of the car, and he was humming, because he was making great time. “I-75 is often one of the most boring parts of the journey, but at least I am nearer to home”, he thought. Coming down that long stretch of straight highway south of Gainesville, he noticed his acceleration – this was a hill. It was slight… it was a Florida hill. He could barely see it, but he could feel it. The engine was pulling back. As he was briefly gazed at his radio tuner that seemed to have been phasing in and out of reception, his eye caught a flash and he immediately snapped into driver mode, watching the flashing signs ahead. “Oh, man!” he said to himself. The road was blocked. There were no less than dozens of vehicles with lights flashing on top. His first thought was about how long this was going to take. His second was to change the channel of his radio. It was then he heard the story. A dozen were believed dead in the road just ahead of him. Suddenly, the inconvenience was pushed back in his mind, and he gained an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the flashing lights and signs that were strewn across the highway. He was, after all, safe. The signs slowed him down, and the lights brought him to a stop. In the end, the warnings helped him to know that danger was ahead, and that he could prepare for it.

In a very real sense, Revelation 12 is a series of signs that flash and tell us of what is ahead. It is not a pretty picture for many, but understanding it will help us navigate in the present….By the mid point of the cyclical letter that John wrote to be distributed to the seven churches of Asia Minor, the forward progress of the flowing story of Tribulation slowed to a sweeping view of the context of what God was doing in human history. It is as though God slowed down John’s advance to show him the BIG PICTURE of the Tribulation.

Key Principle: The signs tell the story – but we have to learn to look at them and understand both the blessing of their warning and the truth of their message!

The BIG PICTURE has always fascinated me – and in the Bible the scenes and sayings must always be set in to it. God is at work telling His story – and all of that story harmonizes to share His person and His purpose. In other words, to understand the Bible’s message to you, you have to understand the Bible’s big story. I have told it often to my students – because all the details of God’s Word are consistent with the BIG STORY He is telling through the library of books and hall of writers He has used to record and compile His Holy Word. Let’s review it again: What is the Bible’s big story?

The Bible is a romance book. It is a relationship book. The center of the story of the Bible is a story of two marriages. Let’s step back and look at the whole landscape of the story…In the beginning God created a world of angelic beings. One of those beings rose up in mutiny, and took with him a third of the angelic kingdom. God’s strategy was not to simply wipe out His creation – for He is a relational being. His choice was to be creative a second time, and craft a story before the angelic world of a second world – a physical world we call our universe. In that universe, God would show Who He is – and the angels would understand His true glory.

He made man and woman and placed them in a beautiful garden. He allowed the enemy access to them, and they joined in mutiny against their creator – just as that third of the angelic host had before them. Angels that followed God gasped as God allowed a stolen world to corrupt the whole of His once beautiful creation. Without missing a beat, God promised a Redeemer – a Son that would make his entry through the womb of a woman. The enemy tried to corrupt the race of men and woman and ruin the blood lines. God fired back in protection and flooded the world, saving a family with clean blood, and started anew – penalizing permanently any fallen angels that wanted to try to ruin the race. Time passed and men grew in numbers. Eventually God separated their attempts to unify and they became ethnic groups, language groups, and even nations.

God chose from among the nations one that He would offer a special relationship… and He declared that nation to be His wife. He wrote her love sonnets, cards and poetry – but she was not faithful. His love was ever promised, and hers was fickle. She cheated on Him. Then she cheated again. Then again. He wept over her, but declared that divorce was necessary for her to learn what she needed to know. What wasn’t learned in His warm arms would have to be learned in a cold and cruel world. She was put out – but not until she was pregnant.

The woman bore a Son of the Father. He was one of her nation – but His Father was the One in Heaven. The Son grew up, and the estranged wife of His Father caused some of the deepest wounds to His heart. The Son visited her and cried over her. –but she wasn’t ready to listen. The Son grew up.

The Father told the Son to take a wife of His own. He was not to choose a nation, but rather a PEOPLE, defined by love to Him, and not by any ethnicity or national ties. The Son took a bride and engaged her – leaving to His Father’s house until the Father called for the wedding to take place. The bride was left to prepare herself for the wedding to come, and to offer example and comfort to the estranged bride of the Father.

One day the Father blew the trumpet for the wedding to come. The bride of the Son was swept into glory, and the estranged wife of the Father was not invited to the feast. In fact, in one last and giant effort to get her away from her addiction to others, the Father punished her suitors and caused them to show her their real disdain for her. When she saw they did not truly love her, and that she could only count on her ex-Husband, she cried out to Him. He sent His Son to call her back home. When she saw the Son, she recognized Him as one she wounded, and she wept a mixture of tears of joy for her rescue and sorrow for the pains she inflicted on the Son. When the family was all joined together – the story concluded with God remaking the universe and restoring things to His original design  for them. The angels nodded – they got the message. God isn’t fickle, and the original relationship failure, in spite of the rumors spread by the Deceiver – wasn’t God’s fault.

One of the places we can really grasp the story well is in Hosea. Another is in Revelation 12, and that is what I want us to look at in this lesson together. The passage is a story of:

THREE SIGNS THAT REVEAL THE UNSEEN STORY

These three signs are PEOPLE whose description and actions explain both God’s program and the enemy’s response – by “pulling back the curtain” of the spiritual world that is often unseen by people on earth.

Sign #1: There is a Woman at the center of the story.

Revelation 12:1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars…5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations ….6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

If you look closely at the description of the woman in the verse, it is clear that God the Father is speaking of His chosen and estranged wife. The events of the chapter hinge on our understanding of the identity of the woman! How can we identify her? We look closely at her description and compare that to the Scriptures for a match.

First, note the sign was formed in Heaven: The picture of what God was doing in the Book of Revelation can be seen in SIGNS formed in the Heavens. These signs were a device to help John move the story ahead. Note that this sign – like the others of the book – was a DIVINE thing – not simply happenstance on earth.

• The Bible shows God as the MAKER of the nation, not someone looking around the nations that happened to notice her existence. God didn’t choose a wife by showing up at a party of the nations and noticing her in the corner of the room – He crafted her upbringing. God created a nation – and God chose her as a groom chooses a bride. The case for God’s marriage to Israel is not a difficult one to make- for God poetically made it Himself in Scripture as we shall see in a few moments.

• One of the reasons I believe so strongly in the LITERAL understanding of God’s Word is the sign He provided in the nation of Israel. If you watch closely what Jesus said about the last days before His return to earth, they are filled with the promises to Israel that people would increasingly despise her and wish her destroyed. Right in the middle of Jesus’ sending speech to the twelve disciples in Matthew 10, He jumped off to a future time before His return in a prophetic statement. It I s always a struggle in the Master’s teaching to know when He is speaking of believers in general (which the disciples could represent) or Jewish people (the disciples were also all Jews). To know, you have to look closely at His words:

Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 “But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; 18 and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. 20 “For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. 21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. 23 “But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.

Jesus mentioned specifically synagogue persecution – meaning persecution by other Jews. He mentioned persecution by Gentiles – insinuating the persecuted are Jews. He ended with the return of the Son of Man – meaning it was NOT simply about the twelve, but future followers of His. Jesus said men around the globe would increasingly HATE THE JEWISH PEOPLE –even if they didn’t actually KNOW the Jewish people first hand. The rise of such irrational hatred can be seen on the internet, the TV, and National Public Radio. This past week I heard a commentary by a man who argued – and his entire panel of learned Americans agreed – that Israel is to blame for the Iranian threats, because Iran is only making a nuclear weapon because Israel is so threatening to them. I can only say it defies logic and history to think this way – and is a demonstration of the growing DECEPTION that is befalling people in circles all around the globe. Israel’s leadership is not always right – but they did not threaten the annihilation of Iran – leaders of Iran have threatened them. It has been public, vicious, and repeated. I don’t believe most Iranians want this said by their leaders – but it is reprehensible to pin it back on Israel that such things are happening.

For those who think I am playing politics, let me say this: Whatever happens to Israel in the future will involve the whole world. You will be involved and so will your children. Her nation was formed in the heavens and God is telling His story through her – if the Bible is to be believed.

Second, the image was that of a woman. That is entirely consistent with Scripture’s view of Israel – since her major prophecies of love, failure, divorce and restoration are all as a bride of the Father in Heaven.

• God often described His relationship to Israel as a husband. Hosea 2:16 “It will come about in that day,” declares the LORD, “That you will call Me Ishi (my husband, literally “my man”) And will no longer call Me Baali (my Master). That wasn’t new. God used the terminology many times: Isaiah 54:5 For your Maker is your husband–the LORD Almighty is his name–the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. There are many more we could cite.

• The marriage between Israel and God was depicted as a “rocky one” because of Israel’s unfaithfulness. The early verses of Hosea 2 describe a painful divorce by God, because of Israel’s unfaithfulness, and follows that description with the coming of a chastising that is severe – leading to the restoration of her marriage. In her unfaithfulness, God wrote Israel a certificate of divorce.

Compare that to Romans 11:28 and her enmity at the time before her eventual restoration: Romans 11:28 “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Israel is depicted in the Epistles of the Christian Scriptures as the divorced wife of God that is awaiting her restoration to Him in a future time that will come about because of a terrible Tribulation.

She will one day be broken by God’s chastising, and only then see her Messiah as Zechariah foretold: Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”

Third, the woman has a stunning wardrobe. The relationship of her clothing  -the sun and moon under her feet – is also completely consistent with the covenant God made with her. What does the sun, moon and stars have to do with Israel?

• Jeremiah 31:31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, … “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. …35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: 36 “If this fixed order departs from before Me,” declares the LORD, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever.” 37 Thus says the LORD, “If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” declares the LORD. 38 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the city will be rebuilt for the LORD …(it) shall be holy to the LORD; it will not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.” God promised that Israel’s existence and security was the wrap of the sun moon and stars. Her promise to continue in His sight is her garment.

Fourth. the woman was crowned with twelve stars. Again, it is nearly impossible to miss the connection with Israel, that was known through the ages as “the twelve tribes of Israel”. In the dreams of young Joseph in Genesis 37:9 Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

Fifth, the woman gave birth to a Son. This child was born of a NATION and for a NATION– but He was not a mere child… He was a Divinely appointed RULER. As God’s appointed ruler, he HAD to be born of that nation – for Israel was forbidden to appoint one of another nation over themselves (Dt. 17).

Sixth, God prepared an escape hideaway for the woman. There came a period of 3 and one half years when Israel only survived the attacks against her, because of the protective hand of God over her. She found her estranged husband her protector against her illicit lover – and life became very strange for her. Jesus warned concerning the Tribulation period: Matthew 24: “So when you see standing in the holy place “the abomination that causes desolation,” spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress [great tribulation], unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again (Matthew 24:15-21).

The first sign was Israel as a woman estranged from her God. Having birthed a child of her former husband and having been promised His love for all the ages, she was finding protection from Him while the nations and their false gods and value systems no longer tolerated her.

Sign #2: The Child of the woman is set for great things.

Revelation 12:2 “and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth… 5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

Three descriptions of the child and His work help identify Him:

First, He was ruler appointed by God. God’s specific promises to David through Nathan the prophet in 2 Samuel 7 (later summarized in 1 Chronicles 17:11-14 and 2 Chronicles 6:16) represent an unconditional covenant in which God promised Israel that first, He would not withdraw His hand from the Davidic line regardless of the performance of the kings in that line, and second, that the Messiah would eventually come from the line of David and establish a kingdom that would endure forever (2 Samuel 7:10-13).

2 Samuel 7:10 “I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly … 12 “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. … 16 “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’

Second, He would come FROM Israel, but RULE ALL THE NATIONS one day. This seems in keeping with what we saw in the last lesson: Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” The rod of iron with which He would rule is identical in wording to Revelation 19:15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Third, He would be caught up to God’s throne room. Certainly, no Bible student could miss that description so common to John and the other Apostles. Did not the book begin with a vision of the Risen Christ in the throne room of God in chapter 1? Did not Acts 1 show Jesus being “taken up to Heaven”?

The second sign was the Messiah that had been born of Judah in the line of David, but was caught up to God until the time of the end, when He would return to rule all nations.

Sign #3: The dragon wants to kill both the woman and the Son.

Revelation 12:3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

There are four descriptions, but we will look more at them in the next lesson. Just touch the description lightly for now:

First, he is a great red dragon. Ha-satan occurs 13 times in the Masoretic Text, in two books of the Hebrew Bible, including Job 1–2 (10x) and in Zechariah 3:1–2 (3x). Biblically, he was behind the attempts at Israel’s destruction in Haman’s plot, and his fingerprints were on Herod’s killing spree of the babies of Bethlehem.

Second, he took a third of the stars and threw them to the earth. When Satan rebelled, something changed about his characteristic lodging in heaven, because we read: “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!” (Isaiah 14:12). Jesus made a glancing reference to it when He said: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). It could even be that the STAR that fell to earth in Revelation 9:1 was that of Satan himself – though that is not certain. We are told that an “innumerable company of angels” was created by God (Hebrews 12:22), and here one third of them chose to rebel with him.

Third, he had seven heads and ten horns. If you follow the pattern of Daniel’s visions, like that of Daniel 7, a head was a national kingdom, and a horn was a ruler of that kingdom. This dragon is the “backer of nations and rulers” that will become more a part of the story in the next chapter. Satan built a national coalition through human surrogates – but it is nevertheless HIM behind it all!

Fourth, he stood before the woman to devour the child. A good reference point could be simply Matthew 2:13, where God thwarted the attempt of Herod to kill the baby Jesus.

The third sign was Satan and his harassment of the woman before the Messiah’s birth – as he tried to stop God’s program. He attempted to destroy the child, but God intervened and whisked the infant to safety in Egypt.

Stop for a second and think…

The remainder of the chapter is about Heaven’s victory over the dragon in a cosmic battle that cast Satan to earth in the midst of the Tribulation – and the havoc he brings when he gets to earth. He has been “an accuser of the brethren day and night” in Heaven, and his voice is no longer welcome there. Michael, the “guardian of the Jewish people” in Scripture (as revealed in Daniel 10), is given the cue to help him to the exit (12:10):

Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. 12 “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

Michael is clearly an archangel that apparently got his name from the dispute that Satan caused. In Hebrew, Michael means “who is like God”  – a rhetorical question, that stood in opposition to Satan’s attempt to show himself to be exactly that – like God (see Ezekiel 28). Satan will be put out, and the earth will face a shock wave of new BLOOD LUST and POWER CRAZE. Satan is running out of time by the mid point of the Great Tribulation. But, if you listen closely… you can already hear him getting stirred – and the nations that puppet his deception are already speaking out.

We will come back to the scene, but let’s not exit without making clear why God took the time to pull the curtain back for us to see this scene.

God has an ultimate plan for both the believers of the church age and the Jewish people – the people of Israel. God’s future for Israel does not guarantee that all they do in their current unregenerate state is acceptable behavior, but we must wise up to the rise of an increasing wave of ANTI ISRAEL thinking that is putting even churches in opposition to any future for that people. Replacement theology and Arab Liberation theology – both which hold that the church is the new Israel – is reaching into churches and denominations and moving them to enmity with Israel and any future plan of God specifically for them.

• I dream of a church that will uphold a literal view of God’s Word  – and will not bow to networks, nations or religious leaders that will preach hatred and destruction to the Jewish people.

• I dream of a church that will support Israel’s self development – by helping them to care for all their people – both Arab and Jewish – to the end of producing the best society that unregenerate man can… because God is working a plan in them.

• I dream of a church that will form its ethics FROM the Word of God, and not reinterpret the Bible in some liberation theology that saddles its own sense of ethical boundaries on the people of God.

• I dream of a church that will not be backed into a corner called “politics” when God’s Word and its understanding are at issue, thwarting her ability to speak out on behalf of the apple of God’s eye.

I dream of that church, because that is the church Jesus began. That is the one that should be awaiting His trumpet call. The estranged bride of the Father should feel our love and learn of the God she has drifted from because of our living witness. If she does not, we are not fulfilling an essential role left to us. God made it clear… The signs tell the story – but we have to learn to look at them and understand both the blessing of their warning and the truth of their message!

I have a shocking confession to make that will likely set some of you back… I was never a big fan of Motown’s music. It isn’t that I disliked the IDEA of allowing young African American singers to break into a career that was dominated by people who look like me. In fact, that is the part that I liked about the studio. What I didn’t like was the sound of many of the artists. Their world and mine were as far apart as I am from British Comedy today. I understand that SOMEONE thinks it is funny – but it just isn’t my taste.

I mention this hard and personal truth today, because the title of my message was borrowed from a young man that was promoted under the Motown label, while I was just a little boy. His name was “Shorty Long” and he died much too young in a tragic boating accident in 1969. By the time of his death, the song: “Here Come the Judge” and made its way onto the charts, and soon after even onto a spoof on network television. What began as a “smack down” answer to a tough minded judge in the segregated south, ended as a comedy routine on night time television. “Here Come the Judge” showed the inequities of the system if you were young, black and lived in the south.

I am using the title because the statement is true. The fact of the matter is that a judge is coming – but He is a perfect judge. He is coming to a world that is not prepared, and to believers that should be prepared. The Bible teaches that he is not going to judge followers of Jesus of their sin – for that was fully judged at the Cross and our trust in the work of Jesus alone covers us from any future penalty for our sin. The lamb paid for all of our sin. God has been clear. At the same time, the performance as a believer is going to be judged when the Savior comes– and I should walk every day with that coming review in mind. Let me show it to you in the context of the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11:

Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. 18 “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Key Principle: When I stand before Jesus – seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years will evaporate into the smoke as the fire of His eyes burn through my life’s work. What is left after all the selfish, ego-driven, stubborn, hard-hearted, gossip-laden, flesh colored work is gone – is what Jesus can BEGIN to celebrate. Mature believers keep that day in their minds eye – and never lose sight of it. 

The voices of Heaven – likely the angels that serve our God- cried out that Jesus was about to draw the end curtain of humanity down on the world below. His uncontested and rightful place over the world was about to be fully made manifest to all who walked the alleys of planet earth. Kings and Kingdoms would yield all authority to the One who created them. His title “king of kings” would be shown in its completion.

Then another set of voices was heard… that of the twenty four elders – the believers of the church age as we identified them back in our study of Revelation four and five. You may recall that when we studied Revelation four and five, we concluded that these twenty-four appeared to relate to the PRIESTHOOD serving at that time in  Heaven. We saw that John was likely seeing what the prophet Ezekiel had long before seen in his earlier vision into Heaven, in Ezekiel 8:16; Ezekiel 11:1, a priesthood in Heaven that served in the Heavenly Temple. The twenty four reminded us of the courses of the priests. (1 Chronicles 24:3-19). The elders seemed to FUNCTION as priests in God’s Temple, but that wasn’t all –their description clued us into their identity:

• By their praises in Revelation 5:8, we can glimpse into their PAST. They were from all tribes and nations, and they were redeemed.

• They were made priests of Heaven BEFORE the Lamb opened the book and brought on the Great Tribulation (Rev. 6:1).

• They sat on thrones apparently denoting judgment, and had been judged themselves. They were crowned with a STEPHANOS or “victor crown”, not a DIADEM or “ruler crown”.  Paul warned the church at Corinth that a future job of believers would include judging even angels in 1 Corinthians 6:1

• They were clothed in White Robes: This is the garment of the priests. It is also the marker of those who have been judged as “righteous” (like in Rev. 19:14 “And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.”)

After all is considered, it appears as though John has dropped in on the worship ministrations of the Redeemed of the Church Age, who have already been JUDGED, and now served as Priests and Ministers before the Holy One on the throne. They praised God for His SAVING WORK on their behalf in Revelation 5. Now their anthem was renewed. It was not the same as that of Heaven’s host – because their experience with Jesus was entirely different. They were SAVED by His blood. They were RESCUED by His obedience to His Father. They were CHANGED by His love. They offered two observations as ex-earth dwellers:

• First, You (Oh Lord) raised up the dead ones and they were judged and rewarded as those who feared your Name.

• Second, You (Oh Lord) wrought judgment on the earth and have taken up your cause against a rebellious planet with people that are destroying, through their resistance, the world that You have created.

John mentioned a judgment for the believers that already had taken place. Jesus had previously revealed the truth of that PERFORMANCE JUDGMENT for His people in previous revelations to the Apostle Paul – particularly in 1 and 2 Corinthians. For the balance of our study in this lesson, I want us to look at what was shared by Paul – so that what John opened up in Revelation 11:18 has its proper context. After this, our next study will continue into Revelation 12.

1 Corinthians in context

Before we look at the Judgment of believers over their performance, let me set the passage in 1 Corinthians 3 in the context of the letter it is found within. The first letter to the Corinthians can be easily divided into two major sections: chapters 1-6 are about the division that was evident in the church and was communicated to Paul through the household of Chloe – as one of the church’s biggest problems. The balance of the book, chapters 7-16, are responses to questions the church posed previously – they requested instruction. Since the issue of division is the immediate context of chapter three, it is important to keep in mind Paul’s goal: Help believers see the importance of the church’s work so that they would not divide it or belittle it.

In chapters one and two, Paul pleaded with the people of Corinth to heal their division. He argued that the church was unique. Its STANDARD was the Eternal Word of God and its CENTRAL TRUTH was the work and Word of Jesus. Over emphasis on the WORKER as celebrity was harming the body. He pressed further in the second chapter, stressing that there is nothing like the church of Jesus Christ. The rules of how to do what we do are set in fences that are unique to this work. The church could not simply depend on flashy methods, high words, celebrity personalities, passive hearers and un-surrendered hearts. It was an operation of God’s Spirit – not of slick marketing and up beat themes.

The church exists to exalt Jesus Christ as the gift of His Father to men. We are to seek HIS GLORY – not our own. Someone has said: “No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase SELF ESTEEM.” We are to search the pages of His Word and grow in His grace. We are to reflect His glory to the nations. Since the fall in the Garden men have been starved for the glory of God, and the church is to be the screen on which glory is projected.

Paul made clear that while people may criticize, mock and play with the Church of Jesus Christ – they do so at their own peril. They do this because they do not truly comprehend how God feels about their casual attitude – he had in mind in particular those believers in Corinth.

Paul called them to stand together as a sign they understood the value of God’s Church. They needed to understand with God’s spiritual discernment – but that required surrender to God’s Spirit. Paul wrote: 1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. God’s truth is spiritually discerned, while life on earth is physically discerned. Spiritual discernment is based on maturity – and that is a matter of the Spirit’s work in the born again believers, and based on their conscious surrender. Un-surrendered Christians are selfish and flesh oriented Christians. They trade the ability to really grasp the things of the Spirit for their hunger in this physical world. They cannot really comprehend what God wants, because they are living in a different world by a different standard. Because of their stubbornness, Paul told them he could not feed them as adults (3:2). He could clearly see immaturity in their congregations by their DIVISIONS (1 Corinthians 1:3-4).

As the Apostle James said, battles between us come from battles within us. Hurt people hurt people. Refusing to be healed by God will eventually spill over into wounds we will give another – it is inevitable. Either I can take my wounds to the Cross and have them healed there – or I will wound others with my stubborn and failed self-reliance. This church was divided, because people in this church refused to grow up in Christ and yield to Him. Many a church conflict can be summarized in that same way.

Paul called them to stand together as a sign they understood the true place of God’s servants. Understanding the place of leaders as servants of God and His revealed truth forced believers to see the impossibility of dividing over their service to Him, since they were mere servants and all served the same Master (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). We need not be confused. Paul had a proper and healthy self-image. He knew he was one that Jesus gave His precious blood to save – so he did not feel worthless. At the same time, he did not inflate himself with visions that his gifts made him more valuable than others with other spiritual gifts. He saw himself as we should see ourselves – those who serve Jesus by serving one another. He saw himself as one who labored alongside others who had differing roles – but the same goal – to be used by God to honor Him through the growth of His kingdom.

He said that “neither the planter nor the water bearer were anything” – for we are not indispensable, irreplaceable or the key to the future of the Kingdom – only Jesus is. Following a man is fine if he is following Christ. If not, he is leading you away from God’s direction – because Christ is always on the right path.

People who serve Jesus well aren’t pulling people to THEM – but they are pulling people to JESUS. At the same time, they are excited when a person is following Jesus well even if they are being led by another godly person. Competition in churches is often an ego battle of immature people masquerading as godly leaders. We must be MORE and MORE careful to uphold our brothers in Christ – to speak well or simply refuse to speak at all. My brothers in ministry deserve my love, encouragement and help – with as little criticism as I can possibly offer. The exception to that is when someone wants to deliberately corrupt the truth of the Gospel – but that, in my experience, is quite rare. It happens, but not nearly as much as gossip and criticism about other men of the Word occurs – sadly.

Paul called the to stand together as a sign they understood that God was watching what believers are doing on earth. Here is the heart of the truth we need to recall today. We must understand that God has given us the days of our lives. How we treat our ministry and faithfulness today will be accounted for in the future. Even though believers don’t lose salvation when they refuse to obey God in their walk – they do lose reward, and that will one day become plain to see. We will be judged in our performance by Jesus. Look at these words closely:

1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.

In a moment of self-reflection, Paul recognized that God’s grace was the operative power behind his accomplishments in ministry. Who among us can say differently? He recognized that he was in need of a constant flow of grace from the time of his salvation through the whole process of honoring God in ministry. He also openly acknowledged the difference between a good plan for establishing a ministry, and a BAD plan. He said he was a WISE master builder when he placed the foundation stones. Others built upon his work, but Paul outlined the whole building with a foundation of Jesus Christ.

When Paul said there was “no other foundation” he was indicating that there was no other PROPER foundation. Men build ministry on many things that are not Christ. Some build them on EGO (believing that only their denomination or group can bring the truth), others on FAME (using a prior reputation and methods that draw crowds by their stunning approach, but are not directed by the Spirit of God). These may result in churches, but at their core they are not about serving Jesus Christ. The day will come when that will be clear – either at the judgment seat of Christ, or even before that time.

Paul the zeroed in on the judgment seat of Christ in 1 Corinthians 3:14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

The real test of ministry is not its temporal popularity, but its spiritual endurance at the scrutiny of the Master. If Jesus doesn’t deem it a correct and healthy work – than it simply isn’t one. Heaven isn’t a place where a vote will be cast by the members of a theological academy or angelic choir. We serve only ONE – a Master Who will inspect all of the work that we have done. There is NO OTHER treasure higher than HIS SATISFACTION. At the same time, His satisfaction is often paired by the satisfaction of other godly men and women. People who have a healthy walk with God can “sniff out” teaching and leadership that is healthy – because we have the selfsame Spirit within.

Someday Jesus will take all of my labor and place it between us. He and I will look at the number of hours I have labored to know and teach His Word. We will look at the way I communicated that Word to people. He will examine the time I have spent caring for people – and He will give the TRUE and PERFECT evaluation of me. If I have done well in His estimation – the trial of my work before His fiery eyes of scrutiny will survive. If I have not done well – that work will evaporate – with no opportunity to relive my life on earth.

Let me repeat it again: When I stand before Jesus – seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years will evaporate into the smoke as the fire of His eyes burn through my life’s work. What is left after all the selfish, ego-driven, stubborn, hard-hearted, gossip-laden, flesh colored work is gone – is what Jesus can BEGIN to celebrate. Mature believers keep that day in their minds eye – and never lose sight of it.

What does it mean for a believer to “SUFFER LOSS”? In the text it is clear that there is no issue of salvation or eternal destiny at stake in the argument – this is a judgment in the life of a believer. Everyone is judged TWICE by God – once for sin, and once for performance of work. The sin judgment determines one’s destiny. The performance judgment, measured strictly against what God has made us capable to complete – is about REWARD. Heaven is the HOME of the believer – but some level of REWARD before the Savior is a conditional blessing to those who live their lives for His glory. For each of us, Jesus will scrutinize our work, and we will see the real truth of our lives – what we were really about. Jesus told his parents when they sought Him in the Temple as a youth, “Did you not know that I would be about My Father’s business?” Perhaps they should have known – but I am not always sure that I could claim that same obvious exclamation. Beloved, I fear that many of us spend much of our lives on ourselves, and not on His honor and glory – can that be? May we see it now and avoid the sadness of loss later…

Paul insisted that believers take seriously their individual lives – but don’t forget the context. This was about the place of GOD’S CHURCH. It is clear in the passage that God wanted men to understand that the church of Jesus Christ is not just another organization to be criticized, gossiped about, and slammed at will. This organism is a living body created by a Victorious Savior. It has His fingerprints, His DNA and was purchased with His blood. It not only COST Him plenty to create, it was created with a God ordained DEFENSE system. Criticize it lightly, and God will censure your life’s work easily. Be careful, when you speak of the church… you speak of GOD’S CHURCH.

• Did not God’s church reach into the sin sick lives of men and women of the Roman Empire at the expense of being thrown to lions, being crucified or beheaded? It was NOT to win a theological argument – for the early Christians were really trying to offer hope to hopeless people.

• Did not God’s church reach the poor in many nations long before ever being considered by the rich among them? It was not to become WEALTHY  – for even today there are many who handle the broken in skid row and hungry in India’s streets for no other reason than to show their love for and obedience to their Savior.

• Did not God’s church begin some of the great universities of our world? It was not to become ERUDITE – for though they now shudder at the idea, the great schools of Princeton and Yale were begun to train men to share Jesus and His Word with accuracy and scholarship.

• Did not God’s church open hospitals in many cities of our world? It was not to gain control of health care legislation – but because they saw the sick as needy and the needy as open to Christ.

• Did not God’s church feed the poor in many places, offer addiction counseling and group meetings, help single parents with support, care for elderly and widows? Yes, sure it has… and it is just beginning its work. There is much MORE to do. We, His church, may not have been perfect, but we have not been FILLED WITH EMPTY WORDS EITHER – there is a track record and a history.

Where we have failed, we will seek to have God renew us. Where we have resisted, we will learn to submit to the Gentle Chief Shepherd…. But know this… this is God’s church in many places, under many names – and He has promised to be her defense when she is attacked – so tread lightly. Hold back quick words about the intent of others –even if their denomination or fellowship doesn’t completely agree with yours.

Listen to Paul’s later words to this same congregation. He reminded them that mature believers feel torn between Heaven’s home and earth’s mission of love. He said in 2 Corinthians 5:9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. …14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

There is a coming PERFORMANCE REVIEW of our Master. No believer can avoid it – but we can GET READY FOR IT NOW. We can allow God’s Spirit full control to accomplish His holy purposes in us today. He dominates where He is fully invited. When we open a room to surrender, He fills it up with Himself. Like air itself, when a vacuum seal is broken – the air rushes in with a wisp of pressure. The lid “pops” and the air displaces the vacuum. The natural state in our world is full of air. The natural state of Heaven is filled with the Spirit. Believers are people in transition – opening bit by bit through surrender to our new “natural state” the fullness of God. We will not fully get there in this body – but we will not need the body when we are fully there!

The Judge is coming. Believer, Jesus is going to look at our lives. We will face a real performance review as believers. Mature followers of Jesus keep that day of measure in their minds eye – and never lose sight of it.

When Jesus comes, we will know the TRUTH. They’ll be no confusion- like this little story…Two little boys were the best of friends. As they grew up, their friendship only deepened. One became a preacher and the other a priest. And they would meet each week for coffee at the local Starbucks, no matter what else might be happening. After one such meeting, they shook hands and started to part ways. One was parked in front of the store and the other behind the store. They went to their cars and when one of them came around from the back, the other was turning from the front … and they collided. There they were, stuck in the street with both cars smashed up. After making sure the other was safe, the preacher begged the priest that this incident would not hurt their lifelong friendship. The priest agreed, reached into the glove box, and pulled out a small flask of whiskey and two communion cups. He poured one full and handed it to the preacher and said, ‘Here, let’s drink to our friendship.’ The preacher said, ‘Here’s to our friendship,’ and turned it up and drank it. As the priest put the whiskey back in his glove box, the preacher asked him if he was also going to drink to their friendship and the priest said, ‘Yes, but I am going to wait until after the police leave first.’