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Salvation History In PicturesSeptember 17, 2017Revelation 12The chapters of Revelation from 12 to 14 are a large exclusion from the sequ3ence of events. This means that the story of Chapter 12 is not confined to the end of history. I believe it stretches from prehistory to the end of history. It really fits the title of this sermon series: from Start (before creation) to Finish (the defeat of the enemy.)This story is told with pictures, as is much of Revelation. These particular pictures look a lot like a number of pagan myths. Some see these similarities and say, that this is just one more myth.I prefer to look at it this way. John is writing down what he sees, using the images of spiritual warfare that are already to familiar to his readers. He uses Old Testament ideas and he also uses images that look like pagan stories. But John has put these together to tell a differently story. The Pagan stories were of conflicts among the gods. Revelation is the story of Salvation told in pictures.Let me give you’re an example. In the old west, there was a school teacher. She was married to the local sheriff who always wore a white hat. They had a child, and this child was not ordinary. An itinerate preacher told them that he would one day be the one to come back and clean up this old cattle town. But a villain appeared; he had a curled mustache and a black hat. He came to kidnap the child and send him away to Australia. But the Sheriff caught him in the act. They met at noon in the street and had a show down. The sheriff was victorious and the villain defeated. The boy grew up and stood up for the little guy against the forces of greed and power. He finally brought peace to that town, but not as a sheriff, but as Mayor.Now that sounds like about 100 cowboy movies and old western novels. You have the sheriff and the school teacher, the villain and the show down at noon. But my version is about the boy who would rule the town with justice. It is a way to tell the gospel as if it were a cowboy movie. That is like what we find in Revelation 12.I. READ. This is the English Standard VersionAnd a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman?clothed with?the sun, with?the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.?2?She was pregnant and?was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.?3?And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great?red dragon,?with seven heads and?ten horns, and on his heads?seven diadems.?4?His tail swept down?a third of the stars of heaven and?cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child?he might devour it.?5?She gave birth to a male child,?one who is to rule?all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was?caught up to God and to his throne,?6?and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for?1,260 days.7?Now war arose in heaven,?Michael and?his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,?8?but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.?9?And?the great dragon was thrown down,?that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan,?the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.?10?And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now?the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers?has been thrown down,?who accuses them day and night before our God.?11?And?they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for?they loved not their lives?even unto death.?12?Therefore,?rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But?woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because?he knows that his time is short!”13?And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued?the woman who had given birth to the male child.?14?But the woman was given the two?wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent?into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished?for a time, and times, and half a time.?15?The serpent poured water?like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood.?16?But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.?17?Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off?to make war on the rest of?her offspring,?on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to?the testimony of Jesus. And he stood?on the sand of the sea.II. Apprehend.The best way to look at this story is to identify the players. Then we can make sense of the timeline.The Woman. We have at first a woman, who is spectacular. She is clothed in light and stands upon the moon. She has twelve stars on her head. Later we see that she gives birth to the messiah. One interpretation is that this is Mary. Those who venerate Mary in worship will look to this passage for support. But that is not right. One reason is that Mary was an ordinary woman chosen to be part of the Salvation story. She was not godlike but very human.The other is that this story and the woman herself is present not only at the birth, but also at the events of the end time.The sun, moon and 12 starts imagery suggests that she represents the people of God – the Jewish people of the Old Testament, as well as later followers of the son she gives birth to.The dragon. This is easier. Since the serpent in Eden, the evil on, the deceiver, Satan has been described as a serpent or a dragon. This is clearly that one, who sought to deceive even angels in heaven. He is the one who turned a portion of God’s angels into his own servants. He is the one who is cast from heaven to earth. He is the one who spends his wrath to get revenge on the followers of the Messiah.The Child. This is a male child who will role the nations with an iron scepter. There is no other possibility that the Messiah – who is the Christ. Jesus was born of Israel – the people of God. He was born to become the ruler of the world, with authority and justice. He was born on the earth and was later taken up to heaven. This is a very short description of the life of Christ, but it makes it clear who we are speaking of.Michael and the Angels. It would seem that Satan at some point in time turned against God. If we judge by this description, he turned as much as 1/3 of heaven against God. So there was a battle between Michael and his forces and Satan and his. As a result the devil and his followers were cast out of heaven.I do not believe that this event of the devil being on the earth to deceive is confined to the end of time, or even to the time of Jesus. I think it is for us in the pre history. For we find that the Serpent was in Eden to confuse, deceive and destroy. He has been at work through time working his lies.Paul says that our battles in this world are not against human enemies. We can get angry at Hitler or North Korea or the Ku Klux Klan. But the real enemy is the one behind those forces of darkness. They are deceived, but the enemy is the deceiver.We may have trouble with this. It is commonly held that people are basically good. That social progress is the story of humanity, and all that stands between evil and justice is a good education.That leaves out the true battle. Behind the schemes and in human hearts everywhere is the pull of darkness. We find this kind of story is popular movies and books: Star Wars has the dark side. The Lord of the Rings has the power of Mordor. Harry Potter has to face down Voldemort. Those are our stories that echo the idea that we are in a war of light and darkness.The Brethren. Satan turns his wrath from Christ to his brethren. He chases and persecutes them without mercy. However, they survive and endure in the battle. The secret to their survival is what we find in verse 11. 11?And?they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for?they loved not their lives?even unto death.Timing: We wonder when these things will happen. As I said before, these things happen from the beginning to the end. Salvation History begins before history itself. The Bible speaks of God having a plan that was developed before the foundation of the earth was laid. God knows all things, all at once. He knows the sequence of time, but is not limited to it. He determined to work out a plan of salvation in eternity, before it was even needed in time. The rebellion happened in time before our history. We are given only glimmers of why this happened. In passage like Revelation 12, we see only pride, hatred and anger. The birth of the son occurred as Mary, a daughter of the children of Israel, gave birth to Jesus, in accordance with the many predictions of his birth. His death and resurrection was followed by his ascension into heaven. From there he rules in human hearts, but one day he will return to restore the world to the light of truth.The intense persecution of the people of God – their escape into the desert and the attack of the evil one refer to events yet to occur to us.III. Mulling it over.We have to ask, why did this vision get from John to us? In many ways it sounds like science fiction or comic books. Again that is because God is telling us this in the language of mythology. He uses dragons and angels to paint a picture of the real spiritual battle that we face.Don’t let the fantastic images make you think that this is all make believe. I have heard Christians say that this is all old fashioned stuff not suited to the scientific age.I ask you, what explains suicide bombers; a dictator who makes nuclear missiles from the money that should be used to feed a nation? What explains how a civilization can be taught un true propaganda so long that it becomes believable? What explains the anger and hate we find in so many human hearts?Why can we hold access to a vast realm of human knowledge in our pockets, and we look at celebrities, videos of kittens, conspiracy theories and sports? How is it that we can be entertained to death so that we no longer think or read, but follow the crowd?Is this just technology at work? No technology is a tool for good or harm in the hands of intelligent and the foolish. It is used for good and it is used to deceive.This story is a warning to us. Be discerning. Do not believe all that you see with your eyes. There is a greater story at play in history. The story of the Roman empire is not the one that wins. The story of the smart phone and bit coin is not the one that wins. The story of hatred and division will not win either.The story that wins is the true story of Jesus – the Gospel.IV. What shall we do?I leave you again with verse 11. 11?And?they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for?they loved not their lives?even unto death.Victory is found in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Victory is moved forward in the testimony of the people of god – our words and our lives are our testimony.Victory is for those who do not fall for lies, do not cower under intimidation. It is for those who “do not love their lives even unto death.” Or as Revelation says elsewhere, ‘who persevere to the end.”We live by faith. We entrust ourselves to Him alone who can keep us from falling and present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy. ................
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