Morning Sermon

January 20, 2008

A Woman and a Red Dragon

Text

It is helpful to me when I can open several commentaries with different perspectives on the book of Revelation and read the same explanation and interpretation for the symbols that are mentioned. That was the case this week, and although there are varied applications of those symbols, at least there is a general agreement upon their identity. So Jesus and the church are represented before us this morning. The woman represents the church and her son is clearly Jesus. There is no doubt about the great red dragon, either. He's identified as Satan. So we know what all the symbols stand for, but there is so much more for us here.

Actually, this passage is a very central, crucial passage, one of the most important in the whole book. We're starting the fourth of a series of seven visions received by John, and what has been implied in chapters 1-11 is now made clear, that "Satan is the one who orchestrates the flurried and desperate attacks upon every attempt to bring the purposes of God to fruition." (Thomas)

Chapters 1-11 deal with the victory of Christ over his enemies, with the establishment of the true temple, the church. And now, chapters 12-22 deal with the victory of the church over her enemies. Thus this chapter is the transition which begins the second portion of the whole book. Thus David Chilton makes the observation that "the second half of the Book of Revelation covers much the same ground as the first, but from a different perspective." Then he quotes another writer, Milton S. Terry, "[The First Part] has revealed the Lamb of God under various symbols, glorious in power, opening the book of divine mysteries, avenging the martyred saints, and exhibiting the fearful judgments destined to come upon the enemies of God. Everything is viewed as from the throne of the King of heaven, who sends forth his armies and destroys the defiant murderers of his prophets and burns up their city. [The Second Part] reveals the Church in conflict with infernal and worldly principalities and powers, surviving all persecution, and triumphing by the word of her testimony, and, after Babylon the harlot falls and passes from view, appearing as the wife of the Lamb, the tabernacle of God with men, glorious in her beauty and imperishable as the throne of God."

So thus far we've been studying things as viewed from the throne of the King of heaven. And now we begin a study of the same theme from the view of the church persecuted but still ultimately triumphing upon the earth. Therefore in chapter 12 we come to a description of the conflict between Satan and the church. And John goes back to the beginning, to the birth of Jesus, with,

I. THE SIGN OF A WOMAN GIVING BIRTH. Actually, for emphasis, it is a great sign! Take notice. v.1

We see much of that imagery of the church of God in the Old Testament prophecy of,

Is. 60:1 "Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. 2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you."

Also, that same chapter, Is. 60:19 "The sun shall no longer be your light by day, Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory. 20 Your sun shall no longer go down, Nor shall your moon withdraw itself; For the LORD will be your everlasting light, And the days of your mourning shall be ended."

So the church is clothed with the sun, showing forth the very light of God to the world. And her beauty, in the image of the bride in the Song of Solomon, is described this way,

Song of Solomon 6:10 "Who is she who looks forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, Clear as the sun, Awesome as an army with banners?"

The reference to the stars might well relate to the eleven stars that bow down to Jacob in his dream, written in,

Gen. 37:9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, "Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me." 10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?"

So the twelve tribes of Israel together are the twelve stars, the garland upon the head of this woman which symbolizes the whole church of God's people Israel. And what is it that is emphasized here about the Old Covenant nation of Israel? That she was about to give birth! In other words, the idea is that the whole perspective of the Old Testament is the expectation of the coming of Jesus. The whole purpose of the Old Testament is in its ability to point to Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is pregnant with Jesus. He is there, developing in the womb as it were, from the very beginning of Genesis, the word of God through whom the world was made. And at the end of the Old Testament, the woman's labor is clearly begun. He's coming, and he's coming soon.

Mal. 4:4 "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

And we know that reference to Elijah was fulfilled in the presence of John the Baptist. And John's message was the declaration of the delivery room doctor attending a birth.

Mat. 3:1 "In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.'"

So the expectation of the Old Covenant was the arrival of Jesus. The purpose of the Old Covenant was the preparation for Jesus. The message of the Old Covenant was the gospel of Jesus. And that is the only possible correct way in which you can understand the writings of the Old Testament. They present a woman crying out in labor ready to give birth.

Let me give you just a few examples of,

A. The Old Covenant expectation of Jesus. Perhaps the clearest is, Is. 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."

God with us, the overall theme of all that the prophets have to prophecy. And don't miss the point there that the birth of Immanuel is called a sign! John calls it a great sign!

For another reference to this sign, you can go all the way back to the original promise of the covenant of grace, the word spoken to the serpent in,

Gen. 3:15 "And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."

The child is the seed of the woman. We read of the expectation of Israel in,

Micah 4:9 "Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst? Has your counselor perished? For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor. 10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, Like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from the city, You shall dwell in the field, And to Babylon you shall go. There you shall be delivered; There the LORD will redeem you From the hand of your enemies."

The expectation of Jesus is equally clear in,

Micah 5:1 "Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops; He has laid siege against us; They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek. 2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting." 3 Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel. 4 And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth; 5 And this One shall be peace."

Then, of course, there is, Is. 9:6 "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."

And, Is. 11:1 "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. 3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears."

This child will be a king. That was clear throughout the Old Testament, as David declared in a prophecy of Jesus,

Ps. 110:1 "The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." 2 The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!"

And God the Father speaks equally clearly in,

Ps. 2:6 "Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion."

I could keep on going with all the glorious prophecies of Jesus, and my point is that those prophecies are not just isolated high points scattered throughout the Old Testament, they are the very essence and substance of what the Old Testament is all about it. From the first word of Genesis 1 to the final word of Malachi 4, every word of the Old Testament cries out as a woman in labor about to give birth.

And so, in the New Covenant, we finally come to,

B. The triumphant arrival of Jesus. v.5

Clearly a fulfillment of everything I just read. Isaiah spoke of this clearly arrival of Jesus in,

Is. 66:7 "Before she was in labor, she gave birth; Before her pain came, She delivered a male child. 8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children."

But there is more. Notice from our text that Jesus' birth is directly and immediately connected with his ascension and enthronement, just as it was in Psalm 2. From verse 5, "her Child was caught up to God and His throne." And again from Psalm 2, "The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.'"

The child was born, and then seated upon the throne in heaven at the right hand of God. And so with just a few words, John's revelation summarizes and joins together the whole of Jesus' life, from birth to ascension. And this occasion of the writing of the book of Revelation, with the finality of the end of the Old Covenant, is the final aspect of Jesus' first coming. That first coming has reference, then, to his conception, birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and finally, as he sits upon his throne, the coming of his judgment upon the Old Covenant nation of Israel.

But there is a second great sign in Revelation 12.

II. THE SIGN OF THE GREAT RED DRAGON. v.3

What becomes immediately obvious at the first is,

A. The danger of the great red dragon. The danger of fire is obvious, and the seven heads and ten horns seem to have obvious reference to the rebellious kingdoms prophesied by Daniel who persecuted God's people Israel. Those four kingdoms, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome were all stages in the dragon's attempt to establish his empire over the world. And this dragon in Revelation 12 wears the diadems of those persecuting empires.

Throughout Scripture, dragons "are used to symbolize rebellious man at the height of his power and glory." (Chilton) For example, we read,

Jer. 51:34 "Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon Has devoured me, he has crushed me; He has made me an empty vessel, He has swallowed me up like a monster; He has filled his stomach with my delicacies, He has spit me out."

And the personal identity of this dragon is not left in doubt. Even better than several commentators agreeing upon an identification, here we have the Holy Spirit telling us. We read in verse 9 that the great dragon is one and the same with the tempter of Adam and Eve, "that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan."

We read also of Satan's fall. He, an angel created by God as a good creature, fell from that goodness and rebelled against God. And he wasn't alone. He brought a third of the angels with him in order to carry out his wicked plot to gain supremacy over God's creation. v.4

Such grave danger. And woe to us when we forget the purposes of Satan. So Peter warns us,

1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

And you can do so with this great encouragement, knowing that, 1 John 4:4 "...He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."

In other words, Jesus is greater than Satan. And that is shown here as clearly as can be.

B. The defeat of the great red dragon. v.7-9

He was cast out of heaven! He was cast out of any place with any claim to authority. He was kicked out, expelled, condemned, defeated. That's what those words mean. He and all his angels with him. Those angels are now, of course, called demons. Spiritual forces, "spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places," principalities and powers, "the rulers of the darkness of this age." They are all cast out in utter and hopeless defeat.

Now, the question is, when? When was Satan cast down? When was Satan defeated? And the answer to that question is a pivotal point in which I believe is a right and proper understanding of this whole book of Revelation. More importantly, it is a pivotal point for the right and proper understanding of the battle with Satan in which you and I are engaged every day of our lives here on earth. What is the position and the power and the authority of Satan now? Has he already been defeated or is that defeated described for us here still future?

Let me use Scripture to interpret Scripture, and let the Bible itself answer that question. Turn with me to,

John 12:31 "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out."

Now, Jesus said while he walked upon the earth, Satan is cast now. His judgment is now. Similarly,

Mat. 12:28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 "Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house."

And then, Luke 10:17 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." 18 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

So who is in power and authority? Jesus! And who has been cast down and judged? Satan.

For a more theological explanation of that, turn to,

1 John 3:8 "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."

Col. 2:15 "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it."

This idea of Satan's defeat by Jesus will be my clear explanation also of,

Rev. 20:1 "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while."

So the defeat of Satan relates to his inability to claim all the nations as his own. Jesus know does that. Jesus claims the nations, telling the church,

Mat. 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations."

So he is bound. The nations belong to Jesus and to Jesus' church. But that doesn't mean the battles are over. Satan's defeat doesn't mean that he is unable to cause trouble and affliction. Just the opposite. He is engage in,

III. A BATTLE ROYAL. It is spiritual battle, and it is the very context in which we live today. We live in the midst of that battle with Satan. Thus we receive this exhortation,

Eph. 6:11 "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

We have hope in that battle, great hope. And much help. God's help. God's protection. And John's revelation shows it to us.

A. Protection for the woman in the midst of the dragon's assaults. v.6

There is that 3-1/2 years again. That short period of time, the fullness of seven years broken in half. With an immediate reference to the 3-1/2 year siege upon Jerusalem before the city fell to the Romans, we can see that protection as descriptive of our whole lives. God's protection. When Satan seems to be dominant, when he is causing the most trouble, still the church is protected. The wilderness here is not an image of God's abandonment, but of his most intimate and personal protection, and even feeding and nourishment!

Thus the encouragement of, v.12

Next week we'll focus our study upon this battle between Satan and the Church from verses 13-17, a battle that defines our life and existence now in this present age, but let me end by setting the context of that battle. The context for our struggles "against the rulers of the darkness of this age" and "against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" is that Jesus has already won the war.

The skirmishes rage on, sometimes rather intensely. But what the Bible proclaims to us is,

B. The victory of the lamb. The lamb wins! That's actually the title of one of my commentaries on Revelation. The lamb wins. That's what you take with you when you leave today. That's what gives you strength and motivation the very next time you find yourself engaged in a fierce fire-fight with the enemies of your soul. The Lamb wins. The Lamb has already won. He has already been thrown out of heaven, and it is God who reigns in heaven!

v.10-12

Oh, there will still be trouble in this world. "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." He's furious. But don't let that fury overcome the reality of the truth. He fights on as an already conquered enemy. And his time is short!

"Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them!"

People of God, listen and hear with great encouragement that declaration from heaven. Hear, to the great encouragement of your soul, what has become of Satan, what Jesus has accomplished. Listen to the loud voice which speaks from heaven.

v.10 "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. 11 "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony."

It has already happened. It is already a reality. "The greatest fight in all history has already bee fought and won by the Lord Christ." (Chilton)

And even those who die at his hand don't die in vain. v.11

So what does all that have to do with us? First, look at how Satan's defeat is described in v.10. "The accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down." The Hebrew word "satan" means accuser. That's his name. And he still tries to accuse you, to make you think or feel as if you were still the accused. The defendant.

Beloved, if you belong to Jesus Christ, you are not a defendant standing before a judge. There is no more accusation against you.

Rom. 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

Rom. 8:33 "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"

No one! You are freed from the curse of the law, from its condemning accusation. You are already righteous, justified by faith, and the recipient of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. So when Satan accuses you, tell him off! He has been cast down, and his authority to accuse you has been stripped away from him. And that is a battle that many Christians continue to fight. This is the encouragement.

Rom. 5:1 "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

That's the first application, a peace of conscience for your soul. Because Satan has been cast down, you do not stand before God as a defendant awaiting judgment or sentencing. Instead, you are received by a loving and merciful father.

Secondly, as an application, the encouragement of this text calls you to an optimistic and energetic commitment to pray for and labor toward the worldwide establishment and extension of the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ.

This is why we pray for missionaries. This is why we advertise our own church locally. This is why I preach the gospel. This is the boldness and encouragement of our evangelism. Because the woman has given birth to a Son. And that child has defeated the great red dragon named Satan.

Therefore beloved, pray earnestly, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Look expectantly to the world in which we live for this triumph of Jesus to be made manifest and evident.

And at all times, with that optimism intact, join in the singing of the heavenly song to the praise of God,

v.10 "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come."

"Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come." Hallelujah.

"Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!" 11:15 "...and He shall reign forever and ever!"

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