Understanding the Book of Revelation, Part 3

A few months ago, actually back in August, you may remember the Hurricane Irene. Seems like we had a pretty light hurricane season this year, which was nice. Very nice. But Hurricane Irene did cause quite a bit of damage up in the northeast and along the coast.

Not as much as they thought. There was an Associated Press article that was written around that same time, and it was written by Mitch Weiss. Let me quote from it a few paragraphs. In Nags Head, police officer Edward Mann cruised the streets in search of cars and driveways. A telltale sign they planned to stay behind. In other words, not listen to the evacuation. I don't know if they were actual orders.

They wanted them to evacuate, but some didn't. He warned those that authorities wouldn't be able to help holdouts in hurricane-force winds and that electricity and water could be out for days. Some tell Mann they're staying because they feel safe or because the storm won't be as bad as predicted. Mann, age 25, said some have told him they've ridden out more storms than years he's even been alive. So they're not listening to the predictions.

Bucky Dymanski, age 71, was among those who told Mann he wasn't leaving. The officer handed the retired salesman a piece of paper warning of the perils of staying behind. Dymanski said he understood. He also said I could be wrong, but everything meteorologists have predicted never pans out. I don't know. Maybe I've been longed to sleep, but my gut tells me it's not going to be as bad as predicted. I hope I'm right.

Well, in this case, he was right. It didn't get that bad, and I'm sure he was safe and made it through okay. Although I know some houses were flooded and there were some issues with some people and perhaps some even died.

But it wasn't nearly as bad as they had first predicted. On the other hand, what God has predicted in the book of Revelation will surely pan out. Of course, the book of Revelation has been ridiculed and discounted by billions of people, I suppose, throughout the last many years, you know, the last couple thousand years since the book of Revelation was penned by John. So it's been ridiculed, but nevertheless, it will pan out. It is going to happen as predicted. God knows the end from the beginning.

He knows what he's talking about. So we must not have the same attitude as some people do, like Bucky Dymanski and others, that things aren't going to happen in the book of Revelation. They surely will come to pass. Now, at this point, I'd like to just pop another quiz at you. You know, this is another pop quiz. So we're going to go through a few questions here. We'll go through quickly. I'd like to cover as much ground as I can today. First question, what are the first four seals commonly called? The first four seals in the book of Revelation, what are they commonly called?

Now, this is not really listed in the Bible, but this is what people call them. And that is the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Now, I'd like you to tell me what those four seals are and what color each of the horses are. First seal, second seal, third seal, fourth seal. And what do they represent? So what is the first seal and what color is the horse? Okay, that would be a white horse and it represents religious deception.

Religious deception. Second seal is red and it is the horse of war. It represents war. The third seal is a black horse. It represents famine. A black horse that represents famine. The fourth seal is a pale or sickly looking horse, which represents pestilence. And normally pestilence comes after famine has hit. So these things are going to happen together. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Those are the first four seals. The next question, what is the fifth seal of the Book of Revelation? What does the fifth seal represent? And that would be great tribulation from Satan the Devil. Great tribulation, persecution. What is the sixth seal?

The sixth seal are the heavenly signs. The heavenly signs, what happens in the heavens, that we will be able to see these things taking place in the heavens. The next question, who will the great tribulation be focused upon? Who will the great tribulation be focused upon? It's going to be focused primarily upon the modern day physical descendants of the children of Israel, and also spiritual Israel, the Church of God.

Now, of course, we know that some will escape the great tribulation that are a part of the Church of God, but there will be other members of the Church of God that will go through great tribulation. The next question, actually this is question number nine. I didn't really do this very well because you probably didn't have them numbered that way.

The next question is, some of the prophesied trumpet plagues written up in the book of Revelation will be very similar to the plagues that God poured out in Egypt just prior to the time of Exodus. So, what is this prophetic principle called? In other words, there's a prior fulfillment and a latter fulfillment of a certain prophecy. What do we call that prophetic principle? That's right. We call it duality. Duality happens twice.

In some cases, it may happen even more than twice. But generally, there is a prior fulfillment than a latter-day fulfillment. Next question, why does God tell His disciples to watch therefore and pray always regarding all the things that He said would come to pass in the last days? Why does He tell His disciples to watch therefore and pray always? Luke 21, verse 36, that you may be accounted worthy. He tells us that so that we may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass.

So, God wants us to take these events seriously. What is going to happen, He wants us to believe what we read in the Bible. He wants us to watch carefully, which in many ways means watch yourself, watch the way you're living. Yes, watch world-time events. True, but watch yourself. Watch therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass.

Another question, in Revelation 7, an angel who had the seal of the living God told four angels, who had been given permission to harm the earth and the sea, to wait until something was done first. Do you remember that? An angel was told to wait until something was done first. What had to be done before the four angels could harm the earth and the sea? I know this was a month ago. If you haven't been reading the book of Revelation lately, you may not remember this. But the servants of God had to first be sealed in their foreheads. The servants of God had to be sealed in their foreheads. Before God would allow the angels to harm the earth and the sea. The next question, how many servants of God were to be sealed in their foreheads? 144,000. Last question, what group of people makes up the great multitude mentioned in Revelation 7? There is a great multitude mentioned in Revelation 17, so who are these people? They are the people that will come out of the great tribulation, will have their robes washed and whitened through the blood of the Lamb by the accepting of Jesus Christ as their Savior. That's what will allow their robes to be whitened. They will come to repent of their sins. They will come out of the great tribulation. There is a great multitude that it talks about in Revelation 7. So that's enough questions.

Let's go to Ezekiel 33, as we will soon launch into the book of Revelation. But I wanted to set the tone by going to Ezekiel 33. This is a very important concept that we need to understand when we read the book of Revelation, because the book of Revelation is going to be devastating. The events there, when they come to pass, will devastate this earth. And literally billions of people are going to die, and it's going to be a tragic time. But we need to understand that even so, God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God has no pleasure in it. It's something that has to happen, but God has no pleasure in it. So in Ezekiel 33, and I'm not going to take the time to read everything that comes up to this, but it's talking about a watchman and how a watchman needs to trumpet God's truth and tell people what's going to happen, what's coming. And that's one of the reasons why we're going through the book of Revelation, because we also need to understand what's going to happen in the future. And even though I have a limited role as a pastor, part of my job is to warn you people of what's going to happen, and warn myself as a result of these things that are going to come to pass, because God is going to hold us accountable for these things.

So let's actually start in verse 7.

That's Ezekiel 33 verse 11. So God has no desire that the house of Israel die, or that anyone dies for that matter. God has no desire that the wicked should die, but he wants all wicked people to repent of their sins and be spared. But he knows that that isn't going to happen. God understands that man isn't going to repent. Even in the book of Revelation, it talks about those who will not repent even after God pours plague after plague after plague upon the earth. So now let's go to Revelation chapter 9, where we begin today's message from the book of Revelation.

Revelation chapter 9. Revelation chapter 9 will start in the beginning. The fifth angel sounds. John says, John says, So here it's talking about locusts coming out of the smoke, out of the bottomless pit. They were commanded not to harm the grass or the earth or any green thing or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

As we talked about in the quiz, God is going to seal the 144,000, and they are not going to be harmed because of the seal that's on their foreheads, but everyone else is going to be harmed by what's going to happen next. Verse 5, God is in control, and God determines what's going to happen, and He's allowed five months to be the time period in which people are going to be tormented by this fifth plague.

The torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. Now, I don't know if any of you have ever been bitten by a scorpion. Frankly, the scorpion here in Oklahoma, I don't think it's talking about those scorpions. My wife was bit by a scorpion once upon a time, and she's still alive today, and she wasn't really that hurting for too long.

I don't want to minimize my sweet wife's pain, but she bounced back pretty quickly, said it was kind of like a wasp. Not that big a deal. You know, we're talking about those little wasps that we have in Oklahoma. Do we have those in Arkansas, too? Or not too many scorpions here? We have them, but maybe not as much as Oklahoma does.

We always have, every year we have several scorpions throughout the course of the year that we have to kill. Well, this particular scorpion that got Barbara, I probably should tell the whole story. She was yelling that there was a scorpion in the bathroom. It was in the kitchen. I'm sorry, I get my stories mixed up. So anyway, she was hollering at me to come and kill this scorpion.

And basically, I was kind of busy at the time. Yeah, you hear it coming. I was a little bit busy, and I said, just, I said, Barb, just hold on. I'll be there shortly. Just stay away from it. And then a few minutes later, that's when she starts screaming because she had not been careful. And she had stepped on the scorpion. She had forgotten about it, too, and she stepped on it and got bit by it. Of course, I was in deep trouble. Not really. She's very nice to me. She forgave me very quickly.

But from now on, it's death to scorpions. As far as I'm concerned, if my wife mentions a scorpion, I'm on the case. And I dispatch scorpions very quickly now. It's no longer in due time. Due time is immediately. So, this is not the kind of scorpion that we're talking about here. There are scorpions that can actually kill people, I understand. There's scorpions that are very over in the Middle East. They're a lot worse.

And they're painful. And so, it's talking about something that would be very painful, but you're not going to die from it. You're going to live, but it's going to be torturous. The torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days, men will seek death and will not find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them. The shape of the locust was like horses prepared for battle.

Now, this is actually going to go on to explain a war machine. It's not really talking about locusts, most likely, although locusts could be very destructive. In fact, there was a locust plague back in 1866 that resulted in over 200,000 deaths. 200,000 people died. I think it was primarily from the famine that resulted from the locusts that ate every green thing that was around. That was in Algiers back in 1866.

But it goes on to describe something that sounds most likely like modern-day warfare, a war machine. The shape of the locusts were like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, their faces were like faces of men. They had hair like women's hair, their teeth were like lions' teeth. They never saw a locust that looked like that. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron. And the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. They had tails like scorpions, and their stings were in their tails. Now, you may remember back in the old days, in the World Wide Church of God, we had some programs about the Book of Revelation and about this very chapter.

It would show modern warfare, helicopters, airplanes, jet fighters, and things that were, in some cases, painted up and had teeth and things like that on them. But they were shooting missiles out of the tail, so to speak, or out of the front, or the head. And so, if you were living 2,000 years ago and never knew anything about modern warfare, and you got a helicopter whirling around, and you got missiles coming out of destroyers out in the ocean, and you got airplanes that are launching out of these destroyers and so forth, this is likely what it's talking about.

And there was a very effective program, I remember, that Mr. Armstrong or Garner Ted had given about this very thing, and it was quite graphic. So it's likely talking about actually the beast power that's going to arise, and there will be a lot more said about the beast power. But there will be armies, and Satan is going to be behind these armies, and we see that as we continue on.

Verse 10, they had tails like scorpions, sting was in their tails, their power was to hurt men five months, and they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is a baton, and in Greek a polyon, which means destroyer and destruction. It's referring to Satan the devil, who is the destroyer. One woe is passed. The first woe is the fifth seal.

I'm sorry, the fifth trumpet is the first woe. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. So then it goes into the sixth trumpet, which is the second woe, and begins talking about the sixth trumpet. A sixth trumpet sounded. Verse 14, release the four angels who are abound at the great river's Euphrates. This is what the sixth angel said.

So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year. See, God is very specific in these prophecies. He has these four angels who have been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year. Now, does that mean that God has a particular time exactly in mind? Or does it mean that when He's ready, then He's going to tell those four angels? And that, I mean, it could go either way, I suppose. It could mean that those things are predetermined, or it could mean that when God's ready and decides when that hour is going to be, then He reveals that to the four angels.

And they are then basically unleashed at that time because they're going to kill a third of mankind. One third of mankind. And that's in addition to what other things that have already happened and other deaths that have occurred. One third of mankind. So if there's nine billion people on earth, when this occurs, then we're talking about three billion people. That's a lot of people. Verse 16, Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million.

I heard the number of them, two hundred million. And thus I saw the horses and the vision. Those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.

By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed. By the fire the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouth. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents, having heads, and with them they do harm. But the rest of the mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands. So there will be billions who are not going to die, but nevertheless they're not going to repent of the things that they've been doing. As it says here, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. So it's a little hard to believe that we can be so hard-hearted as human beings that we're going to cling to our own understanding. We're going to cling to Satan's deception so strongly that they will not repent of these things, even though God is working to show them the error of their ways. Now that brings us to chapter 10. John says, I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud.

And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, his feet were like pillars of fire. And he had a little book open in his hand. And he said, his right foot on the sea, his left foot on the land. And he cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars, and when he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write these things down. This is what John says. But I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.

So John was seeing things that he was not allowed to write down. God has not opened up everything to our understanding. A great deal he has revealed to us in the book of Revelation. But these seven thunders have not been revealed. Now not too long ago, there was a man who wrote a book, and he claimed to know what the seven thunders were.

He claimed himself a prophet, by the way, and one of the two witnesses. He said his wife was the other witness. And recently, I understand he's been indicted for tax evasion, and for having Swiss bank accounts, and that type of thing.

There will be many false prophets in the last days, people that will claim certain things. In fact, I brought up here a book, the Little Book of Revelation. Have you ever seen the Little Book of Revelation? Well, supposedly, right here it is. It doesn't look all that little to me.

330-some pages, but it's called the Little Book of Revelation, and it was written by another false prophet. This was written back in 1986, and it's full of, what will we call it, prophetic gobbledygook? You know, there's a lot of stuff in here. Some of it true, perhaps, because a lot of it we've heard before, because this man has been affiliated with the Church of God. But that isn't the Little Book of Revelation. I mean, the Revelation itself is only this big. So the Little Book of Revelation, you'd think, would be a lot smaller than that. There's many other reasons why this book would not qualify as the Little Book of Revelation that it talks about here. Verse 5, But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as he declared to his servants the prophets. So the mysteries of God that are revealed in the Word of God are going to be finished at the return of Christ. This is what this whole book basically points to, is the return of Jesus Christ, the establishment of the government and the kingdom of God, a time when all people will come to know the Lord from the least to the greatest. So these are times that are going to be fulfilled in the days ahead. When the seventh angel sounds, then the mystery of God will be finished at that time. Now that doesn't mean there isn't going to be a lot more happening after that, because certainly God is eternal, and those who follow him and repent of their sins will also be eternal. There will be many things that we're going to be doing over eternity. But as far as the mystery of God in terms of what the Bible reveals and so forth, it's basically going to be finished at that particular time.

What's written in here? Verse 8, How would you like to eat this little book? I think that probably made you sick, wouldn't it? The little book that John wrote was bitter, but then it became... I'm sorry, it was sweet at first, but then it became bitter. So he took it, he ate it, and that's what happened. His stomach became bitter, and evidently it's talking about the things that are going to be happening on the earth because of what's written in the little book of Revelation is going to be very distressing. These are difficult times to come upon the earth.

Verse 11, So John does go on to prophesy further in the book of Revelation, and perhaps that's what it's talking about there. Chapter 11 is a fascinating book, or chapter, because it talks about the two witnesses. We've all wondered about the two witnesses, and we've all heard stories about the two witnesses and how there have been probably a hundred two witnesses over the last 20 or 30 years or 40 years. Many people claiming to be the two witnesses. There will be two witnesses, and they are for real, but God is going to reveal who they are. We're not going to have to wonder who they are. It's going to be obvious who they are. Verse 1, And do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will tread the holy city under foot for 42 months, or for 3 1⁄2 years.

So Jerusalem is going to be under control of the Gentiles and the beast power for 3 1⁄2 years. During the time of the Tribulation, they're going to be tread under foot. John was to go and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. Now, is this not talking about those who claim to be the people of God, the temple of God? Judgment has begun at the house of God, and God is in the process of judging all of us. Now is our day of salvation. Now is our time to learn the things that God wants us to learn and to show ourselves faithful, as Mr. Sani was talking about in the sermonette. Now is our day of salvation. God has revealed these things to us, and we're going to be measured, and we're going to be judged according to the things that we know and how we live our lives. Verse 3, and I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy 1260 days clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the God of the earth. So are these two witnesses going to actually be representing two branches of the church? It's interesting to contemplate what this is exactly saying. It doesn't tell us.

Two olive trees and two lampstands. Of course, in Revelation, the first three chapters, it talks about the lampstands and the olive trees and so forth. So it makes you wonder if it's not talking about leaders from church eras or something like that.

Verse 5, And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies, and if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. So the two witnesses will have great power. They're going to set themselves up in Jerusalem.

And they are going to become well known. Anyone who tries to harm them, fire is going to proceed from their mouth and devour their enemies.

These have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy, and they have power over waters to turn them to blood and strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire. So these couple of verses, do they bring to mind anything in the Old Testament? Who else had this kind of power?

Well, we know that Moses obviously had power that God gave him to speak, and the plagues were poured out upon Egypt. So that's certainly an incident. Also, back in the time of Cora's rebellion, fire came down out of heaven and burnt the 250 people that stood up in rebellion along with Cora at that particular time. Moses was involved in that as well. And then we know that Elijah also had the power to call fire down from heaven. Not that fire proceeded out of his mouth. This is a little different because this says fire proceeds out of the mouth of those two witnesses. Maybe it just could just mean that they speak and fire comes down from heaven. So it could be exactly the same thing here. But, Elijah spoke. Remember when I think it's 1 Kings 10 maybe? I'm not sure exactly. I think it's right around there.

We might just go there briefly. We won't spend much time. Probably not 1 Kings. I've got it in my notes here somewhere, I think. Well, I can tell you here just a second. 2 Kings chapter 1. You may remember this account where Elijah the Tishbite, who is not a favorite of many of the kings of Judah and Samaria as well, this is the account where the king had gone to the god of Ekron. Instead of going to God, he was asked inquiring of Beazalbob the god of Ekron. Basically, they sent a contingent of 50 up to Elijah to take him captive. Elijah sent fire down from heaven.

Verse 9. Then the king sent to him a captain of 50 with his 50 men. So he went up to him. There he was sitting on the top of a hill. He spoke to him, Man of God, the king has said, Come down. Elijah answered and said to the captain of 50, If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men. So fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his 50 men. Then another captain was sent along with 50 men and the same exact thing happened. They were also destroyed as fire came down from heaven. Then a third captain came along and he had enough sense to go humbly before Elijah. And he pleaded with him in verse 13 and said to him, Man of God, and there's no question you are a man of God. Man of God, please let my life and the life of these 50 servants of yours be precious in your sight. And so he humbly went before Elijah and Elijah then went with him. But Elijah did not call fire down from heaven upon this man and the 50 people that were with him. But he had the power to do that. So these two witnesses will come in the power and the spirit of Moses and Elijah.

Also, verse 6, they will have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy. Remember, Elijah prayed and it didn't rain for three and a half years. So they're going to have great power. It's going to be very obvious that God is with them. And they're going to be preaching the truth from Jerusalem. The gospel is going to go forth from the two witnesses.

Verse 7, it says, When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, will overcome them, and kill them. So this beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit is actually the coming European Union or the resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. These Europeans that will give their power to the beast, ten kings giving their power to the beast. And they're the ones that are going to finally overcome and kill the two witnesses. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is Jerusalem, it's talking about here, where our Lord was crucified. Verse 9, Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days and not allow their dead bodies to be put into grave. So they're really rubbing it in here. They're letting these bodies lie there on the street for three and a half days. And they're rejoicing. Notice verse 10, And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another. Does it sound anything like what's happening right now? You know, as far as some of the celebration and the festivities that go on, people give gifts to one another, they rejoice. Well, they're going to be doing the same thing when the two witnesses are lying dead in the streets of Jerusalem.

Verse 10, And those who dwell on the earth will make merry, they'll send gifts, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. Now, how did they torment people who dwell on the earth? They tormented them by telling the truth, by telling them that they needed to repent other sins. They needed to obey God and accept Christ as their Savior. So they're going to consider that as torment. Verse 11, 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, Come up here. And they ascended to heaven in a cloud. Their enemies saw them, and in the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake, 7,000 people died, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. So the two witnesses are going to be resurrected after three and a half days. So all these people that are rejoicing and giving gifts to one another and making merry are going to be very shocked. And I think they probably ought to begin to realize that the jig is up. You know, that they really aren't going to win over God and His power, because God is going to raise them from the dead. Actually, this is likely going to take place at the return of Jesus Christ, at the sound of the seventh trumpet. Either just prior to that or exactly at the sound of the trumpet. It may be that they are going to be resurrected simultaneously, along with the first fruits that will be resurrected. Because it says in verse 14, the second woe is passed, and behold, the third woe is coming quickly. And then the seventh angel sounds, 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 worshipped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come. So they're going to rejoice. Twenty-four elders are going to rejoice at what's happening. Christ is returning. The kingdoms of the earth will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. And it says in verse 18 that the servants, the prophets, and the saints are going to be rewarded. God is coming back to reward the servants and the prophets and the saints, and all those who fear the name of God. And He is going to destroy those who will destroy the earth. Verse 19, Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, there were noises, there were thunderings, there was an earthquake, and there was also great hail.

So again, some very tumultuous times coming. Now we're going to go into some inset chapters. See, this has taken us all the way to the return of Christ. But now we're going to digress a bit in chapter 12. And it's very clear that this is what's happening. You know, if you read the Bible for what it says, the way it's written, it's not all that confusing. People really believe the book of Revelation is very confusing, but it's really not nearly as confusing as a lot of people think. Chapter 12. 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. Now, what is this talking about in chapter 12? Well, it's reminiscent of what's written actually in the book of Genesis. We'll go back to Genesis 37. We'll see a parallel here in Genesis chapter 37.

Genesis 37. Now, this is when Joseph had a number of dreams. And in verse 9, he dreamed 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. Now here, the sun is going to be representative of his father Jacob, the moon, his mother, and the eleven stars are his eleven brothers. 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? And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind. See, his father knew that God had promised certain things and that things would come to pass. And so he wondered about this dream and wondered if it might not be of God. On the other hand, his brothers envied him, and we know that his brothers ended up selling him into captivity. And some would have killed him because of their envy. They sold his brothers into captivity, and then God did fulfill this dream by allowing Joseph to come out of prison and to be exalted by Pharaoh and end up second in command to Pharaoh. And he actually ended up saving the whole family because of the famine that had come upon them. And Joseph had been put in charge of the granaries, and there was food because of God directing Joseph to do these things. So this woman that's clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. It's twelve stars because it's the twelve sons of Israel, the twelve sons of Jacob. There were only eleven back in Genesis because one of them was Joseph, and the eleven brothers. Now there's twelve because it's showing that this is a woman that basically is a part of Israel, you know, that the ancient Israel, the woman of Revelation 12 is actually the church that comes out of these patriarchs that God calls Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the children of Israel. And the church of God is also out of the children of Israel. God has worked through Israel throughout history. God has opened up, obviously, salvation to all people these days in the church of God. Gentiles are a part of the church of God as well. But this is what it's talking about here. This is the symbolism.

So she was with child, and she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven, an opposite sign, you might say, Behold a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Now obviously this is, again, reminiscent of Satan's rebellion and the third of the angels who followed Satan the devil.

In his rebellion, they were thrown to the earth, and the dragon, who obviously is Satan the devil, the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child. Notice child is capitalized, speaking of Christ, to devour her child as soon as it was born. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. So this is very clear, speaking of Jesus Christ. Remember that Pharaoh, not Pharaoh, but Herod, tried to kill Jesus Christ when he was a child, when he was just a very small child. But Joseph had already taken him to Egypt because God told him to do so to protect Jesus Christ. But Herod had the innocent children killed, hoping to kill this child early on. Satan was behind motivating Herod to do so. Now verse 6, then the woman fled into the wilderness. Again, the woman is speaking about the descendants of Israel, of Jacob, of Joseph, and the Church of God. This woman that represents the Church of God. So the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there 1,260 days. So there's a lot of time that has elapsed here. Now some have thought this may be referring to 1,260 years, a day for a year, where the Church of God was basically unknown. And it could well be referring to that 1,260 years that took place. The Church of God was present, but very small, and very tiny and very unknown. But it is also likely referring to 3.5 years, 1,260 days. 3.5 years, obviously, where she will go to a place that has been prepared by God. Verse 7 speaks about war that broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, with Satan the devil, and the dragon and his angels fought, the demons. 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 deceived the whole world. He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Now, we know that there was a time, anciently, where Satan was cast down, and the angels, his demons were cast down. But God has allowed some access to the heavens. We know that Satan was there when Job, the subject of Job, was brought up. So we know that Satan has had access to heaven at times, anyway. God allowed it. So this is, evidently speaking of another time in the future, yet to come, where Satan and his demons are going to be... There's going to be another war in heaven. They're going to be cast down once again, as they were initially when they rose up against God. And Satan is not going to be a happy camper. You know, he's going to be... He's going to know that he has a short time. Let's read that again, verse 10.

So anyone that would tempt you to sin and then rat on you for going along with him... He is an accuser of the brethren. And he accuses... says he accuses them before our God day and night. So again, God allowed that access from Satan the devil, who would go before God and accuse them day and night.

But now he's been cast down, no longer allowed access to God's throne. Verse 11, 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. So those who will stay faithful again will overcome Satan the devil by the blood of the Lamb, by accepting Christ as their Savior.

We know that we are saved by grace. It isn't law-keeping that's going to save us. We are going to be saved by grace. And Satan is going to be overcome by those who accept Christ as their Savior, who accept the testimony of Jesus Christ, and those who will even be willing to give their lives.

It says here, Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. So he's going to persecute the Church of God. Christ is the head of the Church. As a human baby, we know that Christ was on this earth, and he was perfect. In the way he lived his life, he qualified to be the Savior of mankind, and he became the head of God's Church.

So the dragon will persecute 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 Church of God is going to be protected, and it says the Church will be given two wings of a giant eagle or a great eagle.

Exactly what does that mean? We don't know exactly what that means, but we know that God is going to miraculously protect the Church of God and protect God's people, that they might fly into the wilderness to her place. Now, I kind of help depict this to our children at Camp Pinecrest. Cyrus has probably been on the wings of the giant eagle, haven't you? Remember that? There's a giant teeter-totter. It's a big, like a telephone pole, that is set up as a giant teeter-totter.

I tell them these are the wings of the giant eagle. You have to get it balanced, and then it will fly to the place of safety, where God's people will be protected for a time, times, and half a time. We just add a little bit of flavor to the ropes course out at Pinecrest.

It's interesting. It's one of the most dangerous activities out on the ropes course, believe it or not, because they're given the challenge to balance the wings of the giant eagle for 20 seconds. They have to get it off the ground for 20 seconds, and then it flies away. But the problem is, they sometimes aren't very careful about loading, or they're too careful about loading the giant teeter-totter. They get too much weight on one end. Kids are flying off and falling off. That's where I earned my keep, trying to keep people from not breaking their arms and their legs and other things.

It's been a fun activity. I think the kids have enjoyed it a lot. There was a person not among our group that broke his arm on that thing. You really do have to have spotters and people that are looking out. Also, cautioning when they start getting too much weight on one end. It's hard to stay on that thing.

If it flies up quick, people have to go off. Anyway, that's talking about the wings of the giant eagle here. She might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and half a time from the presence of the serpent. For three and a half years, God's people are going to be protected from Satan the Devil. There is going to be a place that is going to be prepared. If we believe what Revelation 12 says, there is a place of safety.

There is a place that God is going to prepare for them, and they're going to be taken to a place where they're going to be protected from the presence of the serpent. Satan the Devil is going to have three and a half years of great tribulation. That's the time when these people will be protected from Satan the Devil.

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 who have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

So what is this talking about? Is it possible that the beast power that Satan is going to be behind is going to go after God's people, God's church? And God is going to have to miraculously intervene to protect them from this beast power that's going to go after God's church. The dragon is going to be enraged with a woman, and it says he went to make war with the rest of her offspring.

It's talking about the rest of the church of God. So that's very interesting to consider that some of God's people will be protected, and some are not going to be protected. Some are going to have to go through the Great Tribulation.

They're not going to go to that place of safety for the three and a half year period. But they are going to keep the commandments of God, and they are going to have the testimony of Christ. But for some reason, they are not going to be protected. And we can speculate as to why that might be. We're not going to do that in the sermon, but we could speculate later on if we want. That brings us to chapter 13, which is a fascinating chapter about the beast that comes from the sea, and the other beast that comes from the earth.

And what do they picture and represent? So next time we'll go into that particular topic. The Book of Revelation is a fascinating prophecy of what is going to come to pass. There is a blessing for all those who hear the words of the Book of Revelation. So I am going to take significant time to cover the Book of Revelation. I may decide to give another sermon sometime in between, because otherwise we're at chapter 13 now, we've got a ways to go.

So I may bring another sermon or two scattered in. But I do want to cover the Book of Revelation because I believe that we are drawing closer, obviously closer, to the return of Christ. And it is important that we know what the Bible says and that we understand the Book of Revelation. It is a prophecy that the wise will understand, and again there's a great blessing upon those who do understand.

So those who have ears to hear, let us hear these words from the Book of Revelation. Those who have eyes to see, let's see what's going to happen in the future.