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Home , Revelation 11

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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 , 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. 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 (, , etc.), but NOT SO, my friend. The seventh trumpet “peals back the veil of

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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 :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 . 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)

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“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 “” and the “false prophets” in , and the “scarlet woman” of Chapter 17, and ultimately “ 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.”

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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 :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 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.

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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

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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 ’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). Also, often times in the Revelation, women represent religious systems (:20 – ;

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Revelation 17: 2 - the great harlot associated with false religion; :7- 8 – the “bride” is the church.) This refers to:

1. the ethnic offspring of Abraham/the Jewish people. 2. religious systems/race/people groups Israel.

(God still has a special prepared plan for the Jews in the end times – very plain in Scripture.

Revelation 12:2 “She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the Screen 9 agony of giving birth.”

“She was pregnant” – she is a mother [Happy Mother’s Day] . . .

Revelation 12:3 “And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.”

“And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon,” – this is obviously Satan – warlike and fiery red in color.

“with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadem” – He wants to be considered king. This comes from:

Daniel 7:7-8 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were

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plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

This passage is a prophecy about the Roman Empire and here, it speaks of Satan who will reign over the/a revived Roman Empire.

Revelation 12:4 “His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast Screen 10 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.”

“a third of the stars of heaven” – this is a reference to the precosmic fall of Satan (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28). Angels had free will at one time at least. Maybe they still do and one third followed Lucifer . . . They do not receive redemption like humans do . . .

“he might devour it” –the child, (and it is not Baby Yoda) King Herod at Jesus’ birth and all throughout Jesus’ earthly life.

Revelation 12:5 “She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations Screen 11 with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,”

“to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” – Psalm 2:9 speaks of the Lord’s anointed/Messiah:

Psalm 2:9 “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

“but her child was caught up to God” – “caught up” is the same word here as in:

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1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

. . . and refers to the rapture of the church. Here, this refers to Jesus’ ascension. So, we go straight from Jesus’ birth to his ascension and technically, this also covers everything in between. Satan tried to “devour” Jesus. (This is the same word as used in :9 where John eats the little scroll.) The first and last events of the Lord’s initial advent (first coming), the bookends of His first advent, are here described.

Revelation 12:6 “and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place Screen 12 prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.”

“1260 days –three and a half years – still in the future – (30 days for each month, biblically) – this time period is called “42 months” in Revelation 11:2. “A time, times and a half time” (verse 14). This refers to Daniel 9:27 which is the final three and a half years of the 70 week prophecy in Daniel 9. The Antichrist enters into a covenant with the nation of Israel at the outset of the Great Tribulation. However, the final world system is even more anti-Semitic than Hitler, Stalin or others like them. The covenant/treaty he makes with Israel will be broken half- way through the tribulation. The dragon/Satan will turn against Israel like never before. However, God will miraculously protect the nation by bringing her into the wilderness (like in the Exodus, long, long ago). Some believe the place where the Jews will flee will be Petra, south of the Dead Sea. Christian businessmen have susposedly stacked the place with food and evangelistic tracks written in Hebrew.

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Revelation 12:7 “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting Screen 13 against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,”

Daniel 12:1 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.

Three and a half years into the tribulation wars will break out in Heaven – this speaks of the “final assault” on Heaven by Satan. Michael fought Satan in:

Jude 9 “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’”

Revelation 12:8 “but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.”

Hallelujah Satan is defeated!

*This could be a looking back in time to the precosmic fall of Satan (Patterson). Walvoord believes this is still in the future. (Both Premillinial Dispensationlists view).

Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, Screen 14 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.”

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Job 1:6 speaks of Satan having access to God in Heaven. Here, we are told precisely who the “great dragon” is.

Revelation 12:10 “And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of Screen 15 the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”

(Heaven sure is loud. Amen!) One day, Satan and his minions will be stopped!

Revelation 12:11 “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.”

What an encouragement this must have been to a suffering first century church (see the Seven churches of the ) to know that the martyrs past and present (and future, one day) will triumph “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” You and I, today, can overcome Satan’s accusations and deceptions only by Jesus’ blood - His atoning sacrifice He made on the cross of Calvary. What did we read about last week in Revelation 11:1-14? The Two Fire- breathing Dragon witnesses and “the word of their testimony” (Revelation 11:5- 6). Satan knows his “time is short” and he will be once and for all defeated, so he acts quickly.

Revelation 12:12-13 12 “Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in Screen 16 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.”

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(Pages 270-271 in Patterson’s book and place here (New American Commentary)!

* Satan never gives up on his attacks of the Jewish people or the church.

Revelation 12:14 “But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so Screen 17 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.”

“the two wings of the great eagle” –

Exodus 19:4 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

This speaks of the Exodus plight. (As stated earlier, some speculate this could be to Petra – Christian businessmen comment, etc..) God will miraculously protect the Jewish people here for three and a half years . . .

Revelation 12:15 “The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to Screen 18 come.” 18

This speaks of the furry of Satan against the Jewish people “like a flood.” Here, the dragon spews water out of his mouth (as opposed to fire . . .)

Revelation 12:16 “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.”

Another allusion to the exodus:

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Exodus 15:12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.

Revelation 12:17 “Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went Screen 19 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.”

“the woman” – is Israel/literallythe Jews (including the 144,000).

“the rest of her offspring” – refers to Gentiles who come to faith in Jesus during the Great Tribulation. These two groups are Satan’s targets during the last days (just like they are today). This statement echoes:

Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[a] and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

“those who keep the commandments of God” – i.e. the Jews (who embrace Christ)

“hold on to the testimony of Jesus” – the Gentiles who embrace Christ. *The Christian faith is the offspring of Judaism! *

Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Heaven awaits all who place their faith in Christ and repent of their sins. Ultimately, one day, Satan will be defeated completely – his “time is short.”

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Because Judaism gave birth to Messiah/Christ Jesus we have hope today – regardless of the perilous times in which we live – Happy Mother’s Day.

(Possibly ask Staff – At end of sermon here all women and girls stand in the middle of all rooms and men and boys gather around them for special prayer.)

INVITATION Screen 20

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