I invite you to turn this morning to Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12, found on page 1226 in the Bibles that are in front of you. A different look at the birth of Christ from the book of Revelation. Obviously, an apocalyptic book. It gives us big pictures, a big picture of the whole coming in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. So I will be reading the whole of chapter 12. Let's give our attention to the holy word of the Lord.
"And 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 12 stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and on his head seven diadems. 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. 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. 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. Now war arose in heaven: Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated. And there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 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. 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. And they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they love not their lives even unto death. 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. 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. 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 a half a time. The serpent poured out water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with a flood. 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. 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.
There ends the reading of God's word.
Well, as we continue to consider, beloved in the Lord, the birth and celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, it's important to, I think, at moments pull back all the sort of sentimentalism of this and understand what we are truly celebrating. I wonder how many of you looked in the Bolton and thought, "The Christmas war." I thought, "That is not really an encouraging thought for the celebration of the coming of Christ. You're going to talk about war and blood?" Yep. That's exactly what I'm going to talk about.
The fact is, the world is in complete turmoil. The world is in complete turmoil. How can you process that? How can you really process that if Christ has come and we call him, and he is called and he is designated as the Prince of Peace? I don't know if you feel like I do, but the more you open up social media or just watch the news, it seems like people are losing their minds right now wars and rumors of wars and shootings all the time And violence and the from our perspective, it only seems to get worse. I i always feel like, with the Bondi Beach shooting, by the time I have prayed for that, something else has come, something else has already happened. And who knows what will be reported today? What in the world is going on right now? That's the question. I think that's important to ask: What in the world is going on? What is happening right now? What is happening in the world? These are the questions, I think, that are important for us if we're going to rightly and properly celebrate the birth of Christ. This demands and requires some reflection on these tougher questions.
A lot of people are confused about these things. How life works, I think you can look at it in general in life. How weary are we of conflict? We look at the situations in which we find ourselves and we say, "This thing is just awful. This thing is terrible." And it seems like there's nothing but difficulty, hardship, confusion, and what seems to go well. And so we're always trying to win. We're always trying to overcome. We're always trying to beat it. We're always trying to succeed and change the circumstances to get relief.
Notice that I said, "Change the circumstances to get relief." It's a fool's errand. Circumstances may outwardly change for a moment. "If I could just change my situation, change my life, change my position, change my circumstance, everything will get better." And so we're always on the run. And if it's not physically, it's in heart. Trying to overcome. Trying to beat it. Trying to succeed. Trying to win. I've got news for you: You're looking at life entirely in a wrong way. You've not listened yet to the scriptures. and choices and consequences, they have consequences and it matters. God has told us the Christian life is not this way. "Through much tribulation, you enter the kingdom of God. Through much difficulty, you enter the kingdom of God." And in fact, he told us that it's not even in this life going to be about your own personal happiness that produces character development. In fact, here's how we would love Romans 5 to read: "We rejoice in our happiness, because knowing happiness produces endurance, and endurance character, and character hope." It's not what it says. No, no, no, no, no. It says we rejoice in sufferings and hardships, knowing that hardships and sufferings produce endurance, and that it's actually building character in you, and that character builds hope.
Again, you look at life all backward. I look at life all backward. It's a war you're in. You're in a serious battle. And the hardship that you face actually builds the character that God is after as he is teaching you to trust your champion.
Now, I raise all of that because we treat the celebration of Christmas the same way. We think a baby that was born came to give us the easy life. We love him in a manger because he's non-threatening. We love to celebrate the coziness and the eggnog of this whole thing. I know that sounded goofy, but just all that stuff. It's the exact opposite.
The arrival of Jesus brings in the last battle. It's the end of the war that's being described here, and it's nasty. And today, what the book of Revelation is showing us is that we have a real reason for this war that we're in. And the reason for the war and the hardship that you're in is precisely because Jesus won. And the promise is fulfilled and will be finally fulfilled. And this is what Revelation helps us to understand. This is what Revelation captures. It's really one of the most important chapters in the Bible. Should I say it's my favorite? The vision that John receives is one that explains that with the coming of Christ comes the battle of all history.
The war has been going on from the very beginning. This is not a new war. This is an age-old war. This is a cosmic war. This is a war since the beginning, and what you're experiencing is the end of a long battle. This is not the beginning of the war. This is the end of the war. And the reason that things are all the worse is because of the cross. That's not how we think. The reason things are worse is because of the cross. You say, "That doesn't make sense to me." Well, heaven will make sense. But we're not there yet. First century Christians were confused by this. That's why the book of Revelation was written. And why we are facing these kind of things. "Why are we facing persecution from a Roman Empire? Why is Caesar demanding worship if Jesus is on the throne?" And Revelation 12, this is the beauty of Revelation. It gives us sort of snapshots throughout history. It's not meant to be read consecutively. It's snapshots coming back and forth, showing us different perspectives of history from heaven's perspective, from God's perspective. And that's what we have here.
You are at the very end of a long cosmic war that has been going on from the beginning. You're in it, whether you like it or not. And it's as if John says, "Let me explain this for you. Let me show this to you. Let me paint you a picture of this war that has been going on so that you can appreciate why things are so severe right now, why the hatred, why all the violence, why does it not seem to ever get better, why does every evil under the sun seem to continue to come at us and nothing seems to go well? Are we ever going to get the relief by a president?" The answer is no.
This is Revelation 12. The vision we have is a snapshot of the history of the world. There is three figures here: a woman, her son, and a dragon. "A big fiery dragon look at verse one 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 12 stars." This is beautiful language up front of this vision that John received. It is a woman described for us. This woman is absolutely radiant. This woman is beautiful. The divisions here he's in description that is giving us is that is the light of the luminaries of the sun, the moon, and the stars, the greatest lights to describe her. She is so bright, she is radiant, she is majestic. She's notice this: the light of her moon; the moon lights her path; the brilliance of the stars are her crown. She's reflecting pure light.
What is represented here in this woman, this figure, is the church throughout history god's people all throughout history captured in this woman. And in heaven's sight, this is the marvel of how God looks at us. We beat up the church. We always beat up the church. This is representative of the church. How God sees the church. How God speaks of the church. It's really remarkable. She's she's radiant. In fact, Revelation 14: uh "If uh they are they are virgins if these who follow the Lamb it is These who follow the Lamb." wherever he goes these have been redeemed from mankind as The first fruits of god and of the lamb he's speaking of his people pure the reformers always tried to capture this when they use language like this: "The church must be our mother who brings us to birth and nourishes us to spiritual life. There is no other way to enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, and nourish us at her breast. Away from her bosom, one cannot hope for any forgiveness of sins or any salvation." This is the church.
So we have this radiant imagery here of God's church in the world in the figure of a woman. And it describes a woman in pain, attempting to give birth. And now, in the midst of this scene of a pregnant woman, another sign appears in heaven of the greatest threat to her. Listen to it: "Another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and on his head seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth."
You couldn't come up with a more terrifying figure to juxtapose next to this woman. Set adjacent to this wonderful, splendid, beautiful woman, this awful, beastly figure is described. A dragon. Red is, all these things are symbolic in Revelation. Red in the book of Revelation is the color of bloodshed. He has seven heads and ten horns. That is, all throughout history in the scriptures, to symbolize this is a really powerful figure with thrones and kingdoms and dominions under his emphasis. And if you can get the imagery: he's roaring, he's foaming at the mouth, he's swinging his tail everywhere, he's shattering the luminaries up in the heavens, knocking stars out of the sky. A foaming, raging red dragon breathing fire, all aimed at a beautiful pregnant woman. It's powerful imagery, isn't it?
At the heart of the battle and the heart of the battle is described in verse 4. That he saw a woman. John says in the vision, ready to give birth, and he violently went as soon as the child exited the womb and tried to devour it. It's awful. It's like having your beautiful pregnant wife walking through the dark street among thugs. Her strength seems none. She's completely vulnerable. And you see, this is how Jesus spoke of his people in the world, isn't it? "In the midst of all this evil, completely vulnerable, we are not the warriors. We are not the champions. We are we are vulnerable. We're weak in the midst of this." Jesus said it: "I send you out as lambs among wolves. You're among wolves. It has always been this way. Evil has always appeared stronger. The movies all capture it. God's people always seem vulnerable. God's people always seem like the underdog, powerless to stop what's happening."
But here strength is captured where In the sun that she bears. In the sun that she bears, something amazing happens. She she gives birth to a male child. This child was destined to rule the nations all the nations with a rod of iron. He has all supremacy. He has all power. And immediately, in the next breath, he was caught up to God in his throne. In one sentence, the book of Revelation just captured the champion who would come from her, who's stronger than everyone else. It's not even a match.
Now, what was the very first gospel that was ever announced? You know the story. All this comes together in just the reading of the scriptures and seeing the unified story of Scripture, which is so important for us. It's one story in the Bible that from the beginning genesis 3 the first gospel announcement was made: "I will put enmity between you, Satan, and the woman, between your seed and her seed." Right there: the woman, her seed, enmity between Satan, you, and your seed. This is why Jesus told people they were of their father the devil, and "He shall crush your head, Satan." That's the whole story right there, coming out at the beginning of the bible in genesis of a woman in labor, ready to give birth. The champion needed to come. A warrior would come forth from her. The Old the entire old testament was this struggle to show us this. I mean, I'm giving you a whole Old Testament history right now.
Isaiah 26 17 "Like a pregnant woman who cries out in her pains when she is near to giving birth, so we were because of you, oh Lord, Israel." The greater history you never read about in the history books is the history lesson I'm giving you now. And for all you boys and girls who don't like history, you will after this sermon.
Eve brings forth her firstborn and says, "I've got him." That was Cain. Cain killed. Remember Abel. Eve has Seth. The battle continues between Isaac and Ishmael. Jacob and Esau. Joseph being cast into the pit by his brothers. Israel's babies thrown into the Nile. Hannah being mocked by Penina. Saul trying to spear David. Satan always was, throughout history, standing before the woman, watching. "Would he come? Who would he be? And I'm going to get him. I'm going to stop this champion." And so that's the history of the warfare in Israel. That's why they were persecuted. And it came to the climactic head with Herod, King Herod, a descendant of Esau, by the way, who tried to kill him and all the babies. He just wanted to kill all the babies, hoping he'd get them. This is the picture of history. Revelation 12 captures it all.
The woman captures the struggle of the church to bring forth the Savior, the champion. But here's what we celebrate today. Here's what we celebrate: But she prevailed. She prevailed, and the child was born. And in one statement, the whole success of the church is captured. The child was then caught up to God and his throne. And and you know, that language that language is so familiar throughout the Epistles. This is exactly what Paul said in Ephesians chapter one he when he raised him from the dead he seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body." See? This is the story. And Simeon captured it when he finally held up the child in his arms and he said, "Now, finally, I've seen my salvation, and I can die."
But this is where Revelation challenges us for what it means in the present for us. See, our thinking, in our thinking this would mean, "Well, from here on out, life should go great, right? We should have our wonderful life all mapped out. We work hard to create it." That's what Christmas cards are, by the way. You know, um I tell you, every year we have a contest in our house of whose is the best in the congregation. You're all up on our mantel. I see you all the time. And I pick one. We pick one. Should I pick the one that looks the best or the messiest? Well, now I can't tell you who I'm going to pick. But this is what we do, and is this wrong? No. We want people to know that we're doing well. But what's the truth of the matter? Kind of a hard season, isn't it? Usually, a lot of family conflict. People are mourning over the loss of loved ones. You need to think about the real reason, says Revelation, for all the strife, all the difficulty, all the evil, all the suffering happening in the world.
That's what this is. You're all wrong. And how you're handling it in life is all wrong because you don't understand this point: Jesus has a mission to save. It's a great commission. And he's plundered the strong man's house. And he has bound the strong man. And he has pulled all kinds of people, and he's doing it today, out of darkness into light. But what do you think this life is?
As soon as he was caught up to God in his throne, we read, "Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought, and the devil and his angels fought, and there was no longer found a place for them." That's Acts 1. Remember when he said, "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples. Wait until the Holy Spirit comes." And then in Acts 1, he ascends right in front of their eyes into heaven. And they were told to wait in Jerusalem and that he would one day like return this way. You know what happened when he went back up into heaven? He house cleaned. Revelation 12 helps you with that. Between the ascension and Pentecost, there was major house cleaning going on.
Verse 7, the war is described as coming to a climax. "War broke out in heaven, a fight. There was no longer found any place for him, the dragon." Why? Look at verse 10. "And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now, now, 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, and he who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by what? The blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death
The blood of the Lamb and the testimony is victory. It was his death warrant. The kingdom has come. Jesus has been seated all far above all principalities and powers. But notice what happened to Satan: he's cast down. Where? This is really important for us. You need to understand Revelation. Says, "What happened? What then shall we say to this?" The message is: "You won because Jesus won. He's victorious." And this is the language dispersed throughout Scripture. "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up freely for us for us all how will he not also graciously give us all things? So then, who can bring a charge against God's elect? Satan can't do it. It's God who justifies. Who can condemn you?"
Now, that's what we're celebrating. You see, God has taken away every accusation against you. He's taken away your sins. He has forgiven, and he's covered you in Christ's righteousness. He has won the victory for you. That's the joy we have. That's the peace we have. Peace with God, right? Romans 5. And and that's just what verse 12 tells us to do at this season: "Rejoice. You've won. Notice that you who dwell in heaven rejoice now." That's an important distinction. What he's saying is your citizenship is there. You belong there because he's there, and it is reserved for you. Verse 11 says, "Yeah, that's changed our whole perspective on life. We don't love our lives to the death. What does that mean? We don't now so hold on to this life so closely, because we really don't belong here. And death's been defeated."
Here's where we are confused today about the consequences of everything. "Therefore, rejoice, O heavens. That's us. You who dwell in them. We're viewed as in heaven. We belong there. Next verse. But woe to those to you on earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows the time is short." The woe is not pronounced on those who dwell in heaven. The woe is pronounced on those who dwell on earth.
Revelation pictures you, beloved, as belonging to heaven. You don't even belong here. Heaven's opened for you. You're going there. We belong there. We have a citizenship there, said Paul. Your Savior is there. But there's really bad news for those down here. Did you hear me? The devil's been thrown to the earth. And he has come down here in great rage. And he's furious. Now you can see why the shootings, the hatred, the evil, the violence, the turmoil. And you don't even know what's coming this week. And why this stuff just keeps coming, do you? know what you're seeing? Do you know what you're seeing? What do you think you're seeing? You're seeing someone really mad. You're seeing somebody furious. And the influence of the whole demonic realm is over it. The whole world lies under the sway of the evil one. He's furious because he's lost. You know what losing does to somebody?
Now, I've seen this in the sports world. I've seen it with some of you who lose soccer games. Changes your blood pressure. Constricts thousands of muscles. It impairs decision-making. It elevates stress. It reduces testosterone, by the way. Causes dopamine deprival. The "winner effect" is a term used in biology to describe how an animal that has won a few fights against weak opponents is much more likely to win later bouts against stronger contenders. You know what's happened to Satan? He's fully defeated. He's lost. The child's on the throne. And the devil's reserved in all of his demons and chains of judgment, Jude won, for the great day. But he is full of rage right now, and his fury is at an all-time high the later it gets in history because he knows Jesus is coming again. And he's giving it his all like a roaring lion back and forth, seeking, first Peter five "whom he may devour."
Next, and Revelation 12 says, since the woman has brought forth the child when he ascended, the great goal of the evil one now is to make war on earth. And the great aim of the evil one is to destroy everyone he can. everyone he can and if he can, get to us any way he can he will so He creates as much division as possible He seeks to destroy the church he seeks to derail you in life. That's why we go after and discipline a young man like that. You have to see this. How you handle your conflicts and sins matters. Are you running in defeat, or are you standing up in victory?
Here's what I love about the vision. We'll close it out. "But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time." That's this present age. "The serpent poured out water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river."
You know this history? All this is borrowed from the Old Testament. What did God do for Israel when the serpent, Pharaoh, rose up? He plagued them. He plagued them. And those plagues fell on the earth, not on Israel. And God fed them with manna every day. And God nourished them. And God cared for them in the earth. Along the way, the earth helped Israel. Water came from rocks. Quail fell at their doorsteps. Satan can't destroy you. He can't touch you. But you need to look at your conflict in this life with a much better understanding, because you can get really bitter.
Jesus has won. And that's what we're celebrating. He is on the throne. And he promises soon to come again and to take us to be with him. Because we're not from we don't belong here. And that's the encouragement I want to give you today: so that whatever perspective in the struggles and the hardships, do the right thing. We overcome in this age by the blood of the Lamb, by the gospel. And in the midst of it all, God said, "Yeah, you may suffer in this age, you may face hardships, but that's how character's built. We're victors. So we press on."
That's what we celebrate in the incarnation. That's the Christmas story. That's the Christmas war. And we share in the victory through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your word to us. And thank you for giving us a perspective that we lose sight of. Give us courage, oh Lord. That's what Revelation calls us to in the face of this, courage, not cowardice. The cowardly are outside the kingdom on the last day. Give us courage by the grace of God. And let us trust you. And let us hold fast our confession without wavering, for he who promises faithful. And thank you for the victory that we have in Christ. Thank you that we indeed have won through the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. We don't love our lives here, even to death. We belong to heaven. Give us that kind of help, encouragement, and strength through whatever you have for us, knowing that the devil has truly been defeated in jesus name we pray. Amen.