November 15, 2015

Revelation Summary…To Date• Chapter 1: Revelation of Jesus Christ. Angel

presented Revelation to John (special blessing). • Chapter 2 and 3: letters to seven churches, and

prophetic picture of the church today• Chapter 4: the church is raptured (view of

heaven; living creatures, the elders)• Chapter 5: God is on His throne (title deed to

earth taken by Jesus Christ)• Chapter 6: open the seals (Four Horseman, Tribulation Saints, and Celestial Devastation)

Revelation Summary…To Date• Chapter 7: parenthesis or a pause after

opening the 6th seal• Chapter 8: Seventh seal opened to reveal 7

Trumpet Judgements• Chapter 9: Trumpet judgements, which

including the Woe Judgements• Chapter 10: John read the little book (sweet

taste, but bitter) • Chapter 11: Rebuilding the Temple, and the

Two Witnesses

Revelation Summary

• Chapter 12: Woman and the Dragon; God’s army defeats Satan, and is thrown from Heaven

Revelation 11:11• So with all of the catastrophic events unfolding, God has sent

two witnesses.• We have identified them as Elijah and Moses.• Along with the catastrophes the two witnesses have been

placed in Jerusalem to serve as prophets for God to the people (speaking on behalf of God).

• The people hate them, because they blame them and God for these catastrophes.

• Then after completing their testimony the witnesses are killed. (Revelation 11:11 – 12)

Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

Revelation 11:13• Notice the two witnesses went up in a cloud,

just as Jesus did in the ascension.• Then in Revelation 11:13-14

In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

• The people were terrified, and this will not be the end. There are many more events and judgements to come, which will be much worse.

Revelation 11:15• Now in Revelation 11:15-18

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:

“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

• The end is near, Then in Revelation 11:19Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.

Revelation 11• Remember in Exodus there are detailed plans for constructing

the Tabernacle. God instructed Moses to build the Tabernacle precisely as God had presented it to him. Exodus 40:33-35

And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

• Then we read in Hebrews 8:1-2, 5 (writer refers to Melchizedek)Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest (as Melchizedek), who (Christ) is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true (genuine) tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man…who (the priests) serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle.

• So Moses built a copy of what is in Heaven.

Revelation 11• Remember we discussed in the Tabernacle; to the

left the Memoria, front was Alter of Incense, right Table of Showbread, then behind the curtain was the Holy of Holies…where the Arc of The Covenant is located.

• So in Revelation 11:19 this is the real Tabernacle.Then the temple (or Tabernacle) of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. (John sees this happening after seeing the Tabernacle…we continue progress through the judgements as another huge catastrophe occurs).

• So this is the real thing in Heaven.

Revelation 12• We have a flashback to begin Revelation 12,

Revelation 12:1-2…

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

• Remember Genesis when Joseph had the Dream of the Sheaves, that bowed down to his sheaf. Which made his brothers very angry.

Prophecy in Genesis• Then Joseph had a second dream where the sun (father), the moon

(mother) and 12 stars (brothers) were bowing down to him.• At this Point Rachael was died, so Jacob could have been referring to Leah.

Or possibly Jacob was just unsure of what the dream meant, and his answer was confused.

• However this could have been a very prophetic interpretation by Jacob, as Joseph’s dream being a foreshadowing of Christ.

• If this is so, then it is one of many depictions in Genesis where Josephs life was a foreshadowing of Christ.

• Who is this women? These dreams can be viewed on two levels: 1) the women is Israel giving birth to the Messiah, and 2) the 12 stars are the Twelve Tribes, from which the Messiah came.

• Revelation 12:3-4 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.

• The dragon is Satan, and we are told this in Revelation 20:1-2.

Revelation 12Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years…

• So the dragon is Satan. Then back to Revelation 12:4

His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

• When does this happen? Well clearly not at this point…So this is a flashback.

Revelation 12• Let’s look at Luke 10:17-20. As the verse

begins Jesus has sent out his disciples 2 by 2 (and others) 70 in total, they teach, preach, and heal.

• Then they report back in to Jesus, and are amazed at what they found…

Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submitted to us in Your name.”

• And He (Jesus) said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Revelation 12• So when did this occur, we have not seen this.

But there have been allusions to it. We can look at Ezekiel 28:11, referencing the King of Tyre (city that built it’s wealth at the expense of others).

Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: (Read Look-up remaining)

• Though not referring to the King of Tyre…you remind me of someone I know of. He had a position, someone who could have done much. But his pride destroyed him.

Mention of Satan’s Fall• Also In Isaiah 14:12-15, another allusion is made of

Satan.

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Hades, To the lowest depths of the Pit.

• So both Isaiah and Ezekiel (different context) allude to an event in the past, that Jesus refers to in Luke 10…And He (Jesus) said to them,

Mention of Satan’s Fall

• We find this event occurring between Genesis 1 verses 1 & 2. In fact John Milton wrote a poem (Paradise Lost) where he uses Genesis, Luke, Ezekiel, and Isaiah verse we read to describe the war in Heaven.

• So from at the point of falling from Heaven, Satan has been a primary character in the Bible. Although not the main character. So ultimately he will have to be defeated, which we will see in Revelation 19.

Mention of Satan’s Fall• So the dragon in Revelation 12…

His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

• This would be one-third of the angelic hosts. Angels are created beings, and have free will like we do. Which Satan chose to rebel, and so did one-third of the angels.

…And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

• Satan decides he will stop the God’s plan and destroy Israel at the beginning. How would he do this?

Satan’s Attempt to Change God’s Plan1) The Jewish people were placed in slavery. Which lasted over 400

years in Egypt. Satan thought mission accomplished. But no, less than 100 people grew into more than 2 million. Which Moses lead out of Egypt.

2) Christ is born in Bethlehem, and Herod the Great is king. Herod then orders the killing of all male babies in Bethlehem under two years old. But Joseph and Mary go to Egypt and stay until Herod dies (about 42 months).

• Now Revelation 12:5…She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.

• We see this in Psalm 2:9You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.

• This is the first messianic psalm in the Book of Psalms

War In HeavenThen the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

• How long was Joseph and Mary in Egypt? About 42 months.• Revelation 12:7-9…

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

• So Satan is not strong enough to remain in Heaven, and falls to earth at the beginning of Revelation 12, with the women “sandwiched” in between these verse…Israel, the plan for salvation, and the Messiah.

Kingdom of God, Power of Christ• Revelation 12:10…

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

• If you were Satan would you not be studying this Book very carefully? He knows how it ends and his plan is to change it.

Nebuchadnezzar…Change The Future?

• Remember Nebuchadnezzar? He had the dream of a gigantic statue with a head of gold, chest shoulders of silver, belly of bronze…Daniel translated the dream and said that the head of gold is you Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire, but another empire will replace you…Persian, Greek, then the Roman Empire. Once Nebuchadnezzar knew this he made the statue in his dreams of gold in order to change future events. But he did not succeed, and eventually went mad…eating grass like a cow. So Satan will fail as in this example.

Great Eagle

• Revelation 12:13-17Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Satan Knows the Truth

• Israel is saved, Christ is saved. The Dragon is enraged and he knows his time is short, and that he is going down. But he is thinking if he goes down, I will take as many as possible with him.

Petra

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