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“Heaven and the Mother” Revelation 11:15-19; 12:1-17 May 9, 2021

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“Heaven and the Mother” Revelation 11:15-19; 12:1-17 May 9, 2021 Screen 1 Screen 2 “Heaven And The Mother” Revelation 11:15-19; 12:1-17 May 9, 2021 Today is Mother’s Day, beloved! Happy Mother’s Day! Mother’s Day has incredible significance to me, personally and spiritually. First of all, because of two precious mothers in my life – Wendy and Ellen. I’m blessed to have my beautiful wife/mother of my children with me today. I love you Mommy. Ellen, my Mom, who is in Heaven today. She is celebrating nine and a half years in Heaven (her ninth Mother’s Day there). I will never forget her, and because of the blood of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, I will see her again. Second, I preached my very first sermon on Mother’s Day (May 14, 1989, at PM service at Macklin Baptist Church). For years I thought it was later, but I did not remember correctly. Michael found the recording of my very first sermon, and listened to it on my old Walkman. .) Mother’s Day is so very special . Let’s Pray and dive into Revelation 11. PRAY here thanking God for Moms past, present and future and strength for all of them to live Godly lives and raise their boys and girls to love you, supremely. Amen. Revelation 11:15 “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were Screen 3 loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.’” Based on what we have already studied in previous Chapters of the Revelation, we would expect something horrific to happen here (seven seals, seven trumpets, etc.), but NOT SO, my friend. The seventh trumpet “peals back the veil of 1 Heaven.” This verse introduces the climax of history. It is “Worship!” This worship is seen in Heaven (where my Mom and all of yours who are there today who have trusted Christ). >The Worship of Heaven!< “He shall reign forever and ever!” The Hallelujah Chorus of Handel’s Messiah sings this . Revelation 11:16 “And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before Screen 4 God fell on their faces and worshiped God,” “the twenty-four elder” - same ones who appear in Revelation 4:4, 10; 5:5-6, 8, 11, 14; 7:11, 13; 11:16; 14:3; 19:4. These represent the people of God – the total and the totality - the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Revelation 11:17 "saying, ‘We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.’" “Lord God Almighty” – (Crider Song) “almighty” means irresistible power. It occurs one time in Paul’s writings: 2 Corinthians 6:18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” . and nine times in the book of the Revelation for a total of ten times in the entire New Testament. It quite literally means “He who has his hands on everything.” (Hendley) “God has ultimate control and influence over the course of time and eternity. There is no completion for his supremacy in the cosmos or in eternity.” (Patterson) 2 “taken your great power” – He has already reigned before a period of time, since the creation of man. He has allowed Satanic influence and power and will to exist. As history climaxes, even this will be for His glory. Revelation 11:18 “The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the Screen 5 dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” “nations raged” – wars, revenge, greed, oppression and heartlessness have fought against God and each other but God will one day STOP IT! “saints, and those who fear your name”- like the fear of a child for his father, while knowing the great love and concern of his father, yet nevertheless knowing to fear/respect him when his father’s will has been transgressed. “Fear” sends the child running to the Father rather than running away from the Father. “destroying the destroyers” – this speaks to “the beast” and the “false prophets” in Revelation 13, and the “scarlet woman” of Chapter 17, and ultimately “Babylon the Great,” later. God’s furry towards sin occurs because sin is ultimately a destructive force that destroys lives and destroys all that is Godly. Those who perpetrate this must be judged and will be in the last day. “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.” 3 Revelation 11:19 “Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his Screen 6 covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.” “ God's temple in Heaven was opened” – Hebrews 9:23 “Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” Obviously, this refers to the temple in Heaven – not the temple on earth (that we spoke about last week in Revelation 11:1. Evidently, this is the temple in the present Heaven and Revelation 21:22 speaks of the new Heaven and the new earth – NO TEMPLE THERE AND THEN! (This is the best I’ve got . .) In sequence, here in Revelation 11, Christ has not returned yet. “the ark of his covenant” – (some view this as God’s throne, of which it was a symbol for in the Old Testament.) Built by Moses Circa 1446 B.C. and disappeared Circa 586 B.C. with the destruction of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar. It contained Aaron’s rod, a pot of manna, and the tablets of the Law and was covered with the mercy seat. Jewish tradition teaches that Jeremiah rescued it weeks before, or days before the fall of the city and hid it somewhere on Mount Zion or near the Dead Sea caves of Qumran. Ethiopian Christians claim they have it (but will not let anyone see it though). Some have rumored it to be in the Vatican and eight to ten other places in the world. But it is really currently in Heaven according to this verse (prior to the millennium). The ark symbolizes a place where God uniquely dwells, and His omnipresence. 4 Revelation 12 Revelation 12:1 “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with Screen 7 the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” “a great sign appeared in heaven” – this is the verse that introduces the first of seven great signs throughout Chapters 12, 13, 14. They are: Screen 8 1. The woman 2. The dragon 3. The man-child (baby) 4. The angel Michael 5. The offspring of the woman 6. The beast out of the sea 7. The beast out of the earth “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” – the male child and the red dragon in this chapter are easy to identify but this woman is not so easy to identify. Some say she represents: 1. Mary, the mother of Jesus (this is the favorite view of Catholic scholars). However, this view has problems that go with it. First, Mary is always presented in Scriptures as a peasant girl from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, and nowhere does she ever appear “with the sun, the moon under her feet”, and a crown on her head. Only later in church history does Mariology begin to be a problem (and it indeed is a problem today). Nowhere does Mary flee into the wilderness where she is kept for three 5 and a half years. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, said she was this woman (obviously she was not). It is common today in Roman Catholic art to portray Mary as standing on a crescent moon with twelve stars around her head. 2. Other scholars/interpreters say this woman represents the church. But Christ gives birth to the church, the church does not give birth to the Lord. 3. I believe the correct way to understand who this woman is to use Old Testament Scripture specifically: Genesis 37:9-11 9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. The original audience of Jewish readers would have immediately recognized this vocabulary to mean Israel (the nation/people). There, the sun represented Jacob (Israel), the moon represented Joseph’s mother, Rachel, and the eleven stars represented the sons of Israel (which bowed down to Joseph). In this sign in Revelation, with 12 stars, Joseph is now among the other tribes of Israel. In other Old Testament passages, Israel is often represented as a woman (Isaiah 54:1-6; Jeremiah 3:20; Ezekiel 16:8-14; Hosea 2:19-20).
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