The Woman and Satan

Welcome to Matthew 16. A husband and wife team will play a key role. This woman, the bride of Christ, is none other than the Church of God, the spiritual body of Jesus Christ. But there is an adversary desiring with all of his being to utterly destroy the woman. And if not able to destroy the woman, at least destroy your eye to be part of that spiritual woman, that bride. So today, brethren, I want to talk to you about a few key points of that spiritual battle between the woman and Satan, and how we can be victorious in this war. I'm going to use a central scripture being Revelation 12, which covers a brief history of the past, present and future of this warfare between the Church and Satan. So let's turn to Revelation 12, and you may want to keep tabs in there or a marker, because we're going to be in and out of it a number of times. So Revelation 12. Then it says, Now, a great sign appeared in heaven, and a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon, under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Who is this woman? Now, we can look at very symbols, understanding, of course, that the Book of Revelation is full of symbols and symbolism. And some people say, well, it's Old Testament Israel. Others may even say it's Mary. But as we look at the whole chapter, that leads to a number of speculative answers. So, as we'll see, the purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the history between God's Church and Satan. And so the woman is the Church. So, as I said, Revelation is very symbolic, and particularly this chapter, very symbolic. And as we know, John wrote what he saw. As you can see, he saw a great sign. And so, there is a lot of symbolism here. In verse 2 it says, Then, being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And so the question immediately may come upon our minds is, if the woman is the Church, how can the Church give birth to the child, and we know it's Christ? And that's where we need to think through the symbolism here. God's plan requires God to send his Son to die for the Church to bring many sons into glory, as we know in Hebrews 2. So, the ultimate goal of God is to have many sons into glory. To achieve that, it is required, let's call, husband and wife team, to bring many sons of God into glory. And that was part of God's plan before the Foundation. So, the called out ones, the Church, was obviously needed to be trained to lead in the world tomorrow. And so it was required to redeem and to purchase the called out ones, the Church. Therefore, Jesus Christ had to be born. And so, in a symbolic way, the Church raised up the need that there was a need to have a Redeemer. So, Christ and his prepared bride were then to raise, educate, train, bring many sons of God to glory. Therefore, in symbolism, the woman gave birth to the child in a symbolic way.

How is that? Once again, let's make that clear. The Church necessitated that a child to be born. And Jesus Christ had to come for the sake of the Church. The Church was going to exist. And therefore, the Church, to exist, the one which is the word, had to come in the flesh. And therefore, the symbolism that the Church gave birth to the Son. Now, why is the Church symbolized by a woman? Some may say. Some may even question that. God's plan and purpose for mankind is a family. The family of God. And so, a husband and wife have a key role in raising the children, in this case God's children, the Father's children, to glory. So, Christ and the Church, the wife, work together to raise God's children, humanity, and that will be the job in all tomorrow and beyond. So, that's why Satan hates, first, the family. He hates the father figure in the family. He hates everything related with procreation through the family. He hates the true meaning of sex. And that's why we have all the confusion today about sex, marriage, and the sole concept of LGBT and all that stuff. It really is Satan's attack to the Church. Turn with me to Acts 20, verse 28.

Acts 20, verse 28.

So, the Church necessitated that the Son would come and therefore to purchase the Church with His own blood. And yeah, there's a big value of the Church. The Church, which is the first fruits, and we see what Christ has done for the Church. So why? So that the Church would be a glorious Church, a glorious woman, individual. The way God sees her. Why? To help Christ in for full the Father's plan, the Father's will. And we have a wonderful analogy of those described in Ephesians chapter 5. So let's turn there to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 23. And it says, For the husband is the head of the wife, as also is Christ, the head of the Church, and He is the Saviour of the body. Christ has got a job to develop the Church. And there's a lot being said here about the Church in Ephesians. Look a bit further in verse 27. That He, Christ, might present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So the Church, for the Church to exist, required the Word to be born to do this job.

What God wants from us as members in His Church is to be brethren, people, without spot or wrinkle. In other words, we need to be people with a holy, righteous, godly character. The Church as a body that Christ has formed. Christ's body, Christ's spiritual body. And look at verse 30. For we are members of His body, of His Church, and a big part of His flesh and of His bones. And then He says, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. But this is a great mystery, he says. I am speaking concerning Christ and the Church. So the analogy is, the physical analogy that man and woman getting together and becoming one flesh is really an analogy to help us understand what God is trying to do with the Church, for us to be one body. One body. The body of Christ. The bride to marry Christ. And that is a great mystery that we need to understand. Look at 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 2.

Starting in verse 2 through 4. For I am jealous for you with great jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband. That I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ, who is the husband, Christ, who is we, you, us, is the wife, the bride, the church. For I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve, he has again the analogy, serpent deceiving the woman. Bias krafftnes. So your minds may be corrupt from the simplicity that is in Christ. We have to be careful.

Satan is trying to deceive the church. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if we receive a different spirit, which you have not received, or a different gospel, which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. So Paul is saying, don't be deceived, because I don't want you to accept, put up with deception that will come out in the world.

Don't allow these ideas. They are coming out everywhere today, particularly in social media and all that stuff. That is just deception. Don't allow that. You see, if you and I listen to Satan, to his wavelength, to his broadcast, we are going to be deceived, just like Eve was. That's what Paul is saying here. And therefore, we have to stay close to God.

We have to stay together, united in love, to be active in his church, in his body, in a solid, healthy relationship with one another, so that we all stand together. You know, it's like the story of a lion on a hunt. He tries to scatter those deer. Why? Because once one is scattered and he's an individual, it's an independent little one, he's going to go with that one, and he's going to kill it.

He's going to destroy it. So it's not just divide and conquer, it's divide, conquer, and destroy. That's his, his goal. Destroy you and me and the church. That is Satan's goal. So why did Christ build the church? To bring many sons to glory. Just a wife helps the husband in raising up children.

And that's going to be our job in the wonderful world tomorrow and beyond. And you and I, as the body of Christ, as being part of a body, we need to be together. We can't be isolated members. What sort of a body is that a finger is kind of lying somewhere on the floor in a separate area or a toe somewhere else? We've got to be together as a body. You cannot be an independent Christian in the body of Christ. You can't. And look at 1 John chapter 1.

1 John chapter 1. He says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our heads have handled concerning the Word of Life. We, the disciples, in this case specifically John, we saw Christ. We touched Him. We saw Him personally. We've looked upon Him. We touched Him. We handled concerning the Word that became flesh, which is the Word of Life. And then He continues, The Father is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

We, as we are fellowship with the brethren, we are fellowship with God and Jesus Christ. We, together, as a church, we need to be together. We need to be united in love to serve Christ's sheep. And therefore, to be united requires an organization, an authority, an order. So let's go back to Revelation 12, reading in verse 1. Now a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman, which we've seen is the church, clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet. We can see this organization structure from God the Father to us, through Christ to us, and on her head a gauntlet of twelve stars.

So we see this structure in the church organization, and we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And how many apostles were there? Twelve. Read with me, for instance, in Ephesians 2, verse 20. Ephesians 2, verse 20. It says, And having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. We are built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, and the prophets included men like David and others which were prophets. And many others. We can see that in Hebrews 11, that talks about many others as well.

So, brethren, the church is going to be the bride of Christ. It's going to marry Christ. We read that in Revelation 21, verse 9, and Revelation 19, verse 7. And that is pictured by the first fruits, the plan, God's plan, as three basic seasons. The first season, 11 bread, obviously Passover 11 bread. The second season, the first fruits, that we are being prepared to rule. And over a period of time, at the end of that period of time, then there is the feast and trumpets and all those fall holy days, which represent the coming of Christ and the bride being changed to spirit and being married to Christ, and therefore helping in this process of bringing many children to glory.

And that's what it is. We are to rule as kings and priests. But we are not to rule like the Gentiles. You know, Christ said, you are not to be like the Gentiles. He reads sections like Matthew 20, verse 25 and 26, says, you will not rule like the Gentiles, which are of authority. No. We rule to serve. To serve. And as you can see, part of this organization structure is built upon the apostles as the twelve foundations of that new city, new Jerusalem, which will be the headquarters of the bride. And that's why it's related to it as the bride, because that's where the bride will be.

That's the house of the bride. Let's call it that. And it's built on twelve foundations. Look with me in Revelation 21, verse 14. Revelation 21, verse 14.

So, well, let's just, while we are mentioning verse 9, that says, I'll show you the bride, the lamb's wife. So, that clearly shows that the bride, the lamb's wife, that's the church, symbolized by a woman. But going back to verse 14. Now, the wall of the city, that's new Jerusalem. And, brethren, this is well beyond the millennium. You and I, brethren, don't understand what is beyond the millennium. We really don't, because very little is said about it. But, you know, like that film, Forrest Gump, says, you don't know what's in a box of chocolates. Well, God's got a box of chocolates, a spiritual box of chocolates for us, that is not telling us what it's going to be beyond the millennium. But the eye says there's going to be a new Jerusalem, which is going to be compared to the bride. That inner was the abode of the bride. And it says, and that city, and we're reading now in verse 14, and it says, now the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. So you can see this organization structure from this woman that becomes the bride. There is an organization structure there.

And therefore, as we look into the kingdom of God, into beyond the millennium, we can see this new Jerusalem. And from the whole earth and beyond, we don't know what will be ruled by the bride. Brethren, God is giving us such awesome hope. Even Abraham looked towards that new Jerusalem. Brethren, that's what we've got to look forward to. Beyond the millennium, there is things out there that are just going to be so awesome that you and I just cannot fully grasp it.

But we have to have faith. Faith is to believe and trust in things that we don't see. Hebrews 11.1. And that's what it is. We've got to have that faith. God's got a great plan. Look at Pharesis in verses 12-13 of Revelation 21. It says, yeah, now, Also, she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and the names written on them which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.

Brethren, this is beyond the millennium. And each gate will have the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Three gates on the east, verse 13, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now, the wall of the city at twelve foundations, yeah, we read that. So what we can see is these gates, and from there, all the nations will be served. Look at verse 24-26. You see, And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light.

And the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day, and there shall be no night there. So the nations will come through these gates, through the tribes of Israel. The implication is this, for instance, tribe of Israel, for instance, Ephraim, will be responsible for a certain number of nations under it.

Maybe another tribe of Israel, for instance, Zebulun, will have a whole series of different Gentile nations over it. And so there will be this organized structure well beyond the millennium of serving the nations through that organized structure. From God the Father, through Christ, through the Church, through the different gates of physical Israel. And then you can see things that we just don't know. Because to speculate much more on this, it's actually kind of saying things that we don't know, because it's not in a bottle. But we got little inklings that things will be enormous, enormous. And there is an organization structure.

This will be, let's call it, world headquarters. The very basis of government centered in New Jerusalem. To expand the government, and I would speculate here, to the whole universe, not just planet Earth. So I'm speculating, but I think we can see that that is going to happen. God's got a plan beyond just planet Earth. And it says, we'll inherit all things. And we read in Hebrews, at the beginning of Hebrews chapter 2, it says, all things were given to authority for man. And so it's just amazing. But now look at Revelation 12 verse 3. Revelation 12 verse 3.

And another sign appeared in heaven. You see, here is a sign that is so in verse 1 and 2 of the church, of a woman. And this woman required a son to be born. To develop children into glory beyond just the millennium. And then he has another child. That's another sign. Another sign.

A sign of the adversary. And it says, another sign, verse 3, appeared in heaven. Beyond a fiery, red dragon. That's the adversary. That's this beast. The beast, the spiritual beast, which is Satan. Having seven heads and ten horns and seven diademas on his head. Yahweh see a direct comparison.

That this beast, dragon, Satan, will ride, will be in physical analogy, another beast, will be the scarlet woman of Revelation 17 verse 3. A scarlet woman, a false church, that will be guided by this dragon. And this false church will sit on a government beast, a governmental beast. And you can see that in Revelation 17. And that governmental beast, as you study Revelation 17, represents the Catholic Church, how it will then rule over the resurrections of the Roman Empire. And you can see that historically and points out to the lost resurrection still to come.

So, Yahweh have in this chapter, we introduced two major figures. One is the true church, the woman, and the other one is the false church inspired by Satan, the dragon, and is controlling governments. And it shows these seven heads and ten horns. And as we study that, we know it's the seven resurrections of the Empire, of the Roman Empire, that is governed by the church, and the ten horns which represent the lost resurrection, final resurrection, which will have ten kings or groups of nations. And here is another point. This dragon is to rule in a dictator way, like the Gentiles ruled, because it's a beast, it's a dragon, and it has ruled and will continue ruling in this evil way. But we, as God's church, we are to rule in a different way, not like the Gentiles ruled to serve, to give of our lives to serve like Christ gave his life to serve. So, continue now in verse 4. And Israel 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 a child as soon as it was born. So, Yah is this dragon, Yah is the spirit being, which is super brilliant, super intelligent, super bright, super reasoning and argumenting and coming out of ideas and rational and whatever it is, and negotiating with these ideas and convincing a third of the angels. That's what it says. Drew a third of the stars, a third of the angels. He convinced a third of the angels. This was the covering carob, as we read in Ezekiel 28, 15. And he deceived these angels. And so, Yah, we have this brilliant mind, very intelligent. He thought that his way was better. He hated God's way of raising up children and having these children to be in the family of God, and he would not be in the family of God. So, that could have been speculation, Yah. It could have been the reason why he got so angry. But, look at it. We as human beings have the same reasoning capability. We got the same capability to think and reason and develop our own ideas. And therefore, he is injecting these arguments and these ideas into people, into society, through the Internet, through social media, and brethren, you and I are being affected. Affected!

And then, it says, Yah, and continuing at the latter part of verse 4, it says, He stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to the vow of that child as soon as he was born. So, he tried to kill Christ as soon as he was born. And we know the story, how Herod tried to kill him as soon as he was born.

So, Satan moved Herod, an unstable person that would kill anybody without anything to actually want to kill Christ. And so, he went and killed all those children who were two years old and younger, as you know the story. Continuing in verse 5, And she bore a male child, which was Jesus Christ, who was to rule all nations. Christ is destined to rule the world. He says, to rule all nations with a rod of iron.

And brethren, he has a rod of iron. He's a scepter. And a rod of iron has got two meanings. One is a scepter. A scepter means it's made of metal, of iron, that does not break, that stands. That kingdom will not be broken, will stand forever. But also, the rod of iron means that those rebels that first come out will be immediately corrected. But thereafter, a rod of iron is like a rod of a shepherd that gently guides the sheep. Christ is the same. He is not changed. Continue now in verse 5. And he was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and his throne.

Christ is now, after he died, is now on God's throne, next to God on the right-hand side. Then continues in verse 6. Then the woman fled into the wilderness. And it was the church fled into the wilderness where she was prepared by God that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. That is one thousand two hundred and sixty years. So this false church rose up and you know the year of the Council of Messiah where they decided that Sunday will be the day and no more Sabbath and no more the Passover on the fourteenth.

And that was imposed by a hard end and that continued for one thousand two hundred and sixty years. A year for a day as you read in scriptures like Ezekiel 4 verse 6 in Numbers 14, 34. And that, by the way, brethren, is not the same as verse 14. We'll get to verse 14 about time, times and half a time. Verse 2, specific times in history.

But what this is, is one thousand two hundred and sixty years. What happened is the church fled into the wilderness with very few people. From the time of the Council of Messiah 325 of the current era and the great false church started ruling on earth. And it, with brutal force, brutal force. And the church, God's church, symbolized as a woman, was forced to run away to the valleys and mountains in Europe and Asia Minor during those one thousand two hundred and sixty years. From 325 to 1585. Any history researcher that will want to trace the movements of the church of God during those one thousand two hundred and sixty years will find a lot of difficulties.

Because the history of the church of God is hidden and it's not the history of a human organization. It's a spiritual organism that has moved through those times and passed from one to another. And therefore we find groups of small faithful members that ran away and hid to survive during those twelve hundred and sixty years. And the history of the church is basically preserved during those twelve hundred and sixty years by enemies of the church.

Which considered God's church as a group of heretics that kept the Sabbath. And therefore we have different groups like the Paulicians and the wall dancers and others. Of which some of the members were a few or others at different occasions.

And even that becomes even more difficult to trace because these groups themselves then apostasized and became following wrong thoughts. So those groups, when people look at those groups they say, oh well, they kept Sunday. Well, but initially there was a small little trail that didn't. And as they apostasized those small little trails continued throughout the ages.

But the church was kept alive through this dark period. And during that time, brethren, the gospel of the kingdom of God was not preached. The church did not have the power to do it. It was in hiding. Only after 1585 when the Roman power and the papacy power decreased and started having freedom of religion, eventually the church came out of hiding. But still the gospel of the kingdom was not preached until recently. Now the story on Revelation 12 jumps to the time of the end, and that's in verse 7.

And it says, 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. Brethren, this is future. This has not happened yet. It may be soon happening. The way we see things going on looks like it could happen very soon, but it's not happened yet. Why do we know that? Because Satan still got access to heaven as the accuser of the brethren.

He is the accuser of the brethren. So we see that there will be a time that will come. That God will say, Satan, stop accusing the brethren. Time is out. Time out. Get out! And then you will get Michael, that's what it says there, Michael and his angels to kick them out.

To kick them out. But this is a spiritual war, brethren. It's a spiritual war. Not a war with physical arms and atomic bombs or anything like that. Yes, indeed, there was a destruction when Satan was first destroyed, destroyed a part of the creation, when he fell. And we read that in Ezekiel, when he fell. But it doesn't say he was expelled. But now he's being expelled. You see, there's a spiritual war of arguments, of words and debates. You see in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, the type of warfare that Satan wages.

2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4 through 6. And it says, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. It's not machine guns. It's not rifles. It's not hand grenades. No. But they're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. What are these strongholds? Costing down arguments. Arguments. Well, this reasoning, human reasoning, yeah, and this and that, and yeah, arguments. That arguments upon arguments, upon arguments, upon arguments, you get wrapped into these arguments.

You end up no way. And every I think that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity. Why? Because these are arguments. They're ideas. They're thoughts. They're human reasons. We've got to bring that into captivity, the obedience of Christ. So brethren, this is the type of war that Satan wages, of disobedience. We've got to bring that to the obedience, as it says here, to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

See, Satan is a being of disobedience, a lawless being, a lawless being. And that's his wages. That's his wages. That's what he'll do. And so let's continue reading in Revelation 12, verse 9, and he says, So the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old, so this is, as I said, right at the time of the end, Michael and his angels stand up, and the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old, called devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

Today he's deceiving the whole world. He was cast out to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. They were expelled. They were expelled. And verse 10, Then I heard a loud voice, saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength in the kingdom of God and the power of Christ have come to the accuser of our brethren, who accuse them before our God day and night, and he has been cast down. You see, Satan is in heaven today accusing us. He accused Job. You know the story in Job chapter 1.

He accused Job, and he's accusing you and I. And you know what? His accusations are probably true. You and I have a lot of things wrong that he can just take up and say, You see, look at it! Look at what George, or look at what this person, or that person, put your name in there. Look at what he's done. And you know what? Those accusations are probably true. We've done wrong things.

We've done wrong things. So how can we overcome? Look at verse 11. He says, And we, and they, in other words, us, we, overcame Satan by, and here are three things for us to overcome Satan. Three things for us to overcome Satan. Three. One, by the blood of the Lamb. And two, by the word of their testimony.

And three, they do not love their lives to the death. Brethren, let's look at the first one. How can we be victorious in this war against Satan? Do you know what our weapon is? The blood of the Lamb. The blood of Christ. If the blood of Christ has covered your sins and my sins, whatever the devil goes to God and says, look at what George has done, it's a false accusation.

It's a false accusation because it's already covered. And Christ says, false, because I've covered that already. That's how we overcome Satan. We overcome Satan by the blood of Christ. Therefore, therefore, here is the danger. We cannot justify ourselves. If you and I say, no, no, I don't quite do it. It's not quite that way. I didn't do that.

Then the blood of the Lamb cannot cover us because we haven't repented. We haven't acknowledged. And therefore, we can't overcome Satan. We are exposed. So, to overcome Satan, we need to call upon the blood of the Lamb. And the blood of the Lamb is that we humble ourselves, we submit, what does it say? Submit, and Satan will flee, right? Submit to Christ's offer of dying for us, of paying for our sins freely. We therefore believe in that. And by our belief, we repent. And by our repentance, we commit to this new covenant, which originally we did at baptism, the new covenant. We signed the new covenant agreement at baptism. But every time you and I get on our knees and say, Father, forgive me in Christ's name, we are calling upon that new covenant, and we are recommitting. And that's what we've got to recommit at Passover. We're recommitting when we take that blood. We're recommitting that new covenant, because it's the blood of the covenant. It's how Christ signed the covenant for us. And so we have to accept it and do our part and commit. Commit how? By changing. By changing. To follow Christ's lead through God's Holy Spirit. And God's Holy Spirit is the Spirit that helps us to sanctify. It's God's strength, God's power, God's mind, God's capability, that helps us to change. Now, you know what? Satan knows you like a book. Why? Because he's seen you doing all these things. He can see you. And what's more, he's seen generations and generations and generations and generations and generations of your parents and great parents, and they can see your gene and your behavior patterns, where I just kind of follow that genetic way quite often. And so he knows human beings. He can read you like a book. Now, if you say to him, I have not sinned, or rather, if you say to God, I have not sinned, we have to be careful. Because we're lying. Look at 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1 verse 5 through 8. This is the message which we heard from him and declared to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have no fellowship or a theme and walk in darkness, we lie. And do not practice the truth. If we walk in darkness, if we say, Yeah, I'm a Christian, I am the Church of God, but I am not practicing it, I am a liar. I am a liar.

Verse 7. But if we walk in the light, as is in the light, if we walk in the light, if we walk in God's way, if we're walking that New Covenant way, as is the light, we have fellowship with one another. We are having fellowship with one another in the Church, with our fellow Brethren. Brethren, we are together as a body. And the blood of Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. And yes, what do you mean? If we walk in the light, how can we have sin? Well, it's because when we walk in the light, think about example, you're walking in the light, and you're walking the right way, and there's a daylight, it's full, but suddenly there's something on the floor, and you trip accidentally, and you fall. Did you deliberately fall, even though you're walking in daylight? No. But you're trying to be careful, but we can accidentally fall. If we're walking in the light, we want to please God, yeah, occasionally we'll still sin and trip, but that is not our intent, that is not our desire, and we get up and ask for forgiveness, and we confess our sins. That's why it says. In verse 7, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and truth is not in us. That's verse 8, the bigger part. Verse 9, if we confess our sins, it's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, you and I have to appeal to the blood of Christ. We have to appeal to the blood of Christ. We must be prepared to confess. And Brethren, yeah, we get to the point of sin and forgiveness. And that is very well understood in our relationship with brothers and sisters. When we do something wrong against our brother and sister, do we forgive? If somebody does wrong against us, do we forgive? Doesn't it say, forgive us our trespasses, forgive them their trespasses against us?

And God is faithful, He will forgive us, but that's what we pray as we forgive others. Are we forgiving others? And so, we in this relationship with the brethren, if we are walking in the way, then we have relationship, fellowship with the brethren, because why? Because we are forgiving one another, we're walking with one another together in unity, in love. And brethren, you cannot walk in unity with other brethren in the church if you're an independent Christian, all the way out by yourself. You've got to come together, you have to have fellowship, you have to kind of rub shoulders with one another. Okay, now in the COVID situation, maybe you can't rub literally shoulders too much, but the point is, in physical terms, in what we say and things like that, sometimes we say things wrong, our tone might be wrong, might be interpreted incorrectly, and we've got to become better. That's the soul training of preparing a people, that's part of the logo of the church, preach the gospel and prepare a people of us being prepared to be the bride. That's what we've got to be doing. That's our calling. That's why it says, for instance, at the Passover, examine yourselves. And if we discern the body, it says, and that's why if we don't discern, some of you are sick. You know that in 1 Corinthians 11. Brethren, the body is really the spiritual body of Christ. And if we don't love and care our brethren, and if we cause hurt and offense in our brethren in the church, some are going to be hurt, and some will be sick, and some have even died. That's what it says.

Look at David's relationship. When David said, Father, forgive me, that I have sent, forgive me, and don't take your spirit away from me. But brethren, if we defend our sins, how can we be forgiven? Look at James 5, verse 16. James 5, verse 16. It says, Confess your trespasses one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed, and effect the fervent prayer of the righteous man avails much. If you have offended a brother, have the courage to confess and humble yourself to him, and say, I'm sorry. I'm not saying go and confess to everybody, but when you have hurt somebody, and your brother says, listen, you've hurt me, Matthew 18, okay, individually, one by one, not going out and broadcasting to the whole church, handle it individually, and you meditate, you pray, you fast about it, and you say, yes, God, I've sinned against you, like David said, I've sinned against you, but we go to our brother and he says, I am sorry, I'm going to try and be a better, fellow Christian. Brethren, that's what we've got to do. That's what we've got to do. We've got to be working with one another. So, going back to Revelation 12, in verse 11, it says, We have overcame him in the blood of the Lamb. Yes, we have overcame him by the blood of Lamb. I think you can understand that. We're overcoming Satan by the blood of the Lamb. We need the blood of Lamb and by the word of their testimony. How is your word of being a light to the world shape up?

What sort of example are you? What sort of example am I? Are we being an example of love, of showing unity towards one another? How's our relationship with brethren? Well, you walk on this side, I walk on that side, I'm not really going to talk to him. I'll just walk.

You know? Is it humble? Is it in humility? You know what Christ did for us? He died for the church. That he may present her as a bride, glorious, without any wrinkles. Do you know what we, that's what we got to do. We got to die for our brethren. A living sacrifice, Romans 12. And that's what it says. We got to give our lives a living sacrifice. And that got him back here to verse 11 in Revelation 12, and says, They did not love their lives to the death.

We are prepared to serve, to give our lives in service to others. That's what should be happening in the church of God. And that's how we overcome Satan. Brethren, when Satan is thrown on the earth, he knows time is short. And look at verse 12, Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you 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 he has a short time. And what he's going to do? He's going to persecute the church, he's going to persecute Israel, and he's going to persecute all humanity, because he hates, habores, people, because they are to be.

Sons of God, in the kingdom of God, in the family of God. So he's coming to destroy humanity. He hates everything that is of God's with a great wrath. And therefore, when he comes with that great wrath, what do we got? The great tribulation. So it is very possible that, the way I understand, I stand to be corrected, yeah? But what I understand is that, when he's thrown down to earth, he will then start that big persecution on earth, that countdown of Daniel 12, seems to then begin, and time is short, he knows the days, and he's going to persecute the church, and the church will flee, and that's what will happen.

And therefore, look at the eye in verse 13. Now when the dragon saw, there he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted who? The church of God, who gave birth to the male child. That because of the church, there was needed to be Christ as our Redeemer. But the woman, that's the church of God, was given two wings of a great eagle.

Now remember, this is right at the time of the end. You see, this is right at the Atelian, he knows he has but a short time. And he says, and then at this time, the church is given the wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to a place where she's nourished for a time, times, and half a time. This is not the same time as we mentioned earlier on in verse 6. It's not. This is a different time period. This is right at the end.

It's three and a half years. That's those three and a half years of the Great Tribulation, that the church will be protected. Or at least a part of the church will be protected. You see, because he cannot accuse the woman anymore. No, he can't. Why? Because he went to heaven, or he was in heaven, he would accuse the woman. He'd accuse the church, he'd accuse you and I. Now he's been kicked out, he's expelled, so he cannot accuse us anymore. So what is he going to do?

He's going to persecute us to death. He wants to destroy us, or obliterate us. He's angry as such. That's it! That's it! I am going to utterly destroy these people. But as long as we together, as long as we're overcoming Satan through the blood of the Lamb, by the testimony that we present, by not loving our lives to death, by being a sacrifice, we are together. We are submitting to one another. We are building this right spirit and attitude. And when we're that, we will then be counted as the five wise virgins.

But there are others in the church that are not at the same level of, let's say, preparedness, of readiness, of closeness with God. Yes, they're God's church. Yes, they're in God's church. But they may be at times justifying themselves. They're starting to get into arguments on Facebook or on the Internet and getting on to these things.

Beware, brethren, that you're not caught in Satan's tricks. Beware. Because today, many are being caught in that even in the church. And if you've been caught, get out of that trap. Avoid it. Avoid it like the plague and work on those three things. The blood of the Lamb, your testimony, and not loving your life till very death. That kind of really gets down to the bottom.

When you analyze these things, as I tried to very briefly analyze them, well, that's very significant. Very significant. So, there'll be basically two groups in the church. That's what it says in Matthew 25. Five wise and five foolish virgins. Virgins means members in the church. And then Satan is going to attack. And those that, as you look, for instance, you take scriptures like Luke 21, verse 36, pray, watch and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape these things and to stand in front of the Son of Man.

What are you going to watch? Yourself? Myself? That we are putting on the blood of the Lamb? That we are being careful with our example, our light, our testimony? That we're not loving our lives till very death? We are sacrificing for the brethren? And if we are in these things, and all these things kind of emerge brethren, then God, not me, not me, or I decide, well, I'm going to go to the place of safety. No! It doesn't say that. Watch and pray that you may be counted worthy. And who counts you worthy?

God! Not your choice, not my choice. God. And so that group of the Church, which is talking about in verse 14 of Revelation 12, was given two wings that should fly into the wilderness for three and a half years from the presence of the serpent. Brethren, this is not a secret rapture to heaven. This is on the earth, in the wilderness, from the presence of the serpent. And then verse 15, And then the serpent spewed water out of its mouth like a flood.

Brethren, have you seen a flood? I mean, have you seen, for instance, when you have a huge reservoir of water, and the walls of that reservoir of water break, and the water just rushes out and gets everything, like it happened in New Orleans a few years back when those dikes, protections broke, and things just, the water just ran and ran and ran and ran.

How can you avoid that flood? You can't. But God can. Because it says here, it says here, But the earth helped the woman. God will intervene miraculously, like it happens in the days of, of, of, um, Korah and his rebellion. The earth opened up and swallowed them up! That's what it says. Now, what is this flood? Maybe it's an army. We thought previously it could be an army. What is this flood? Well, it could be a group of people, which are a riot group of people in a riot, in a demonstration, in a so-called peaceful demonstration. But they get out of hand and they get violent, violent, and caught up by that spirit of Satan, and they just go and destroy things. Be careful, brethren. We're living in this age. Things are being set up. The wall is being set up for this attitude. Be careful! Avoid that, because you can easily be influenced by the spirit of Satan. So, whatever it is, brethren, we know that it is an unseen, wicked, spiritual hand around the world, building up and training and preparing people for these sort of events. And the woman will get help. The woman is being helped by God, by opening up the earth and swallowing this flood, the swelling, this anger, and this wrath. But there is the other part, the left over of the church, the others that did not go of that group, those who protected, to be in a place where it says from the face of the serpent. But then the remaining ones, the other five versions, which were foolish, which were not ready. And what happens? Verse 17. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of the church. Those that did not go with that first group. But those in the church, they still keep the commandments of God, and they still have the testimony of Jesus Christ, because they are virgins. So it will be those, maybe it will be people that will come up because of our preaching during those years of the Great Tribulation, that they will repent, whatever. Brethren, God has a purpose for mankind. To be children of God in the kingdom of God, because he wants to bring many sons and daughters into glory. You and I are being trained now to be the bride with Christ, to help as a couple, let's call it that way, spiritual couple, to raise up many children to the Father, to train mankind beyond this age. In the world tomorrow and beyond. But we have an adversary. You see, we are the woman pictured in Revelation 12. But in Revelation 12, we also see there is an adversary. There is an enemy. There is this great evil spiritual dragon. And he has his eyes on you and I. He has eyes on you, because you and me are one of the few that will be part of that team that will be helping God to have many children in his kingdom. So, prize number one is for him to get you and I. Prize number two, you'll go for the rest of mankind. So brethren, our only choice is to watch and pray that you and I are accounted worthy to escape these things and to stand before the Son of Man. We need to be overcoming Satan so that we can help Christ in the future to bring many sons and daughters into glory. Satan wants to utterly destroy us. But he will not be successful, because that's what Revelation 12 tells us. He will not be successful. But if you and I are not careful, if you and I are not watching ourselves and praying that we're counted worthy, you and I might not be ready to be part of the bride. So, don't let somebody else take you crown.