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An
Overcoming Testimony
Revelation
12 represents four great conflicts between God and Satan. Now I must admit
that if I were God I think that I would just zap the devil and be done with
it. But for reasons of His own choosing, that is not the way God does
things. Since God is God and we are not, I suspect we should go along with
His program!
Revelation 12:1-12
A
great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the
sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her
head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give
birth.
Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with
seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.
His tail swept
a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.
The
dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that
he might devour her child the moment it was born.
She gave birth to a
son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.
And her child was snatched up to God and to
His throne.
The woman fled
into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be
taken care of for 1,260 days.
And there was
war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the
dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and
they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down--that
ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world
astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Then I heard a
loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the
power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For
the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and
night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so
much as to shrink from death.
Therefore
rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and
the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short."
When
the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the
woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two
wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for
her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times
and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. Then from his mouth the
serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her
away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its
mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his
mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war
against the rest of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments and
hold to the testimony of Jesus.
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When
I first looked at these scriptures I wondered, "Now what?" My major
resource for this message is the Full
Life Study Bible.
Donald C. Stamps, General Editor;
Zondervan Publishing House.
The
conflicts are as follows:
1.
Satan’s
conflict with Christ and His work of redemption
(verses 1-5)
2.
Satan’s
conflicts with the faithful of Israel
(verses 6, 13-14)
3.
Satan’s
conflict with heaven (verses
7-9)
4.
Satan’s
conflict with believers
(verses 10-11, 17)
The
woman represents the faithful people of
Israel through whom the Messiah came into the world. This is indicated by
A.
The birth of the child
B.
By the reference to the sun and the moon Genesis 37:9 … "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars
were bowing down to me."
C.
The twelve stars refer to the twelve tribes of Israel.
The
enormous Red Dragon described
in 12:3 is Satan. The 7 heads,
horns and crowns probably represent Satan’s great powers.
His tail that swept 1/3 of the stars out of the sky represents the third
of angels that fell with Satan.
In
Revelation 12:5 the Male Child is Jesus.
Satan was bent on His destruction – in fact, he
thought Jesus was destroyed until the resurrection and ascension.
I believe that Satan has done everything he can to make men believe that
Jesus was a mere man, just as we are, and also works overtime to get people to
deny the ascension!
To really understand the plan of salvation, we must accept the fact that Jesus is both God and man.
He started out as God, He took on the body of a man and set aside His glorious power so that He could be tempted in all points as we are. God really wanted to understand just what you and I go
through! (Philippians
2:5-8 "Your
attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature
God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself
nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness.
And being found in appearance as a
man, He
humbled Himself
and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!")
In Revelation 12:6 we're told that the woman
fled. This represents the persecuted church during the Tribulation.
The 1260 days represents the last half of the 7-year Tribulation. (Verses
7-10) The Tribulation involves war in heaven and on earth. This is a
spiritual war, but it appears to be carried out in the flesh. Look at Daniel
10:1-13. Note particularly verses 11-13. He
said, "Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I
am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to
you." And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. Then
he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you
set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your
words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of
the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the
chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of
Persia.
Sometimes
we forget that life is a real spiritual battle!
Being an overcoming child of God is
not a place for sissies!
We are in a battle against the enemy of our souls.
But with God’s help, we will
win!
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Look
at verses 10-12:
Then
I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation
and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His
Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God
day and night, has been hurled down. They
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their
testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink
from death.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who
dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil
has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows
that his time is short." |
They
overcame him! We will win!
Satan is full of anger. But that is his choice! He is the one who
rebelled against God, not us!
Satan is set to destroy the
nation of Israel, but God will not let him. Verses 13-17 describe it.
But God will deliver His people.
Go back to verse 11. They
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
God will help us overcome our
enemy, but we have to cooperate by having a testimony worthy of a child of
God. A word of testimony is what we say, what we write, or what we act
out. A smile is a testimony of joy, tears are a testimony of sorrow. Your
life is a testimony of your upbringing or your belief system.
We need to be sure that our
acts are godly!
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Psalm 89:15-18
NIV Blessed are
those who have learned to acclaim You, who walk in the light of Your
presence, O LORD. They rejoice in Your name all day long; they
exult in your righteousness. For You are their glory and strength,
and by Your favor You exalt our horn. Indeed, our shield belongs
to the LORD, our King to the Holy One of Israel. |
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Psalm
89:15-18 (New Living Translation) Happy
are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the
light of Your presence, LORD. They rejoice all day long in Your
wonderful reputation. They exult in Your righteousness. You are
their glorious strength. Our power is based on your favor.
Yes, our protection comes from the LORD.
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When we consider the problems
in the world – and there are many – it often overwhelms us. But if we
will respond to God’s call to worship and walk in the light of the Lord’s
presence, if we will rejoice in the Lord’s wonderful reputation, if we will
but exult in the Lord’s righteousness, then we will walk in His
strength. Our power is based on the Lord’s favor! Our protection
comes from the Lord.
We have covered a lot of
territory. What is God asking of us?
- Be sure that our lives
and words match what God says. Too often we have more confidence in the
weatherman then we do in God. As we fill our lives with the things of God we
will find that our faith increases.
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think it was Goethe, who said, after hearing a young minister,
"When I go to hear a preacher preach, I may not agree with what he
says, but I want him to believe it." Even a vacillating unbeliever
has no respect for the man who lacks the courage to preach what he
believes.
Billy Graham, Christianity Today, Vol. 1,
reprinted in Vol. 40, No. 10.
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I
recently heard about a very successful man who was interviewed on TV about his
reason for success. He stated that when he was a child he was full of self-doubts,
but a favorite teacher, whom he mentioned by name, had build his self-confidence
to the point where he could make a success in life.
The
newspapers picked up the story and printed it. The teacher read it and
sent the man the following note. "For years my older brother said
that I had failed in life. He told me that I should have chosen a career
other than teaching. When I saw the article about your interview with my
name in it, I tore it out. Then I took it to my brother and shoved it in
his face. 'See,' I told him, I was not a failure after all!' "
We
never know how our lives will affect others! Rejoice in God, live a godly
life and leave the results to your Heavenly Father!
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