Never did the church so much prosper and so truly thrive as When she was baptized in blood The ship of the church never sailed so gloriously along as when the bloody spray of her martyrs falls on her deck We must suffer and we must die If we are ever to conquer the world for Christ
So says Charles head in Spurgeon
The early church father Tertullian though equally graphic was a bit more succinct The blood of the martyrs he said Is the seed of the church could such talk be any more out of sync with the prevailing attitudes that distinguish the Christianity of our contemporary culture The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church
I'm not naive beloved to talk this way will certainly not secure Christ community church as the fastest growing congregation in Solano County Especially in a day when there are churches on every corner peddling a hot tub Christianity The Christianity that is self-indulgent and soothing and prosperous The revelation of Jesus Christ is shattered that fantasy for us hasn't it In fact, it's furnished us with a set of lenses that enabled us to more clearly discern the underlying presupposition of the entire New Testament That in this age Persecution will be the normal experience of the Christian church to the extent she remains faithful in her witness to Jesus Christ I was thinking this past week about how it is that John opens the revelation how he opens the revelation proper How it is that he identifies himself he begins by saying this I John your brother who share with you in Jesus The persecution that is the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance That was you well know John is writing to seven Asia Minor churches He himself exiled on a penal colony of Pat Moss And yet he wants his readers to know that he's vitally connected to them in that they share a common lot John begins by saying I'm your brother I'm your companion in that we share a common context that defines our mutual In Jesus Christ What is that common context? persecution tribulation kingdom perseverance Which is always so amazing for me to consider my friends given the fact I grew up in an evangelical context that a knowingly perhaps Would seek to invalidate what John defines as the very realm the very environment of authentic Christianity the kingdom Well, that's for the nation of Israel A thousand year period after Jesus returns when the Jews are reestablished in their land as a national entity Perseverance well except christ is savior now later at some point in the future if you so choose submit to him as lord The tribulation the persecution oh the church has rescued long before it ever begins And yet ironically These are the very things John identifies as the Coenania that unites Christians in their common experience this is the realm of our fellowship kingdom perseverance persecution It's the environments of authentic Christianity beloved and of course this should not surprise us Particularly this dimension of tribulation or persecution Because of course the one who spoke to this most clearly was none other than Jesus himself Remember the word that I said to you servants are not greater than their master Okay, so what's your point if they persecuted me They will persecute you In the world you face persecution Tribulation do you detect even the slightest ambiguity in those words? Paul said to the Christians at Antioch it is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God And to his disciple young Timothy indeed all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted To the Corinthians he adds autobiographically we are afflicted in every way perplexed persecuted struck down Always carrying into body the death of Jesus For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus sake How does Paul and Romans eight characterize the present lot of all faithful Christians he says quoting Psalm 44 For your sake we are being killed all day long We are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered
And again, well these kinds of words secure our place as the most popular church in town
And yet beloved how in the world do we ignore this when the clear presupposition of the New Testament is that In this age persecution will be the normal experience of the Christian church to the extent she remains faithful in her witness to Jesus Christ
This past week I read of the persecution of a young pastor by the name of noble Alexander For 22 years the Cuban government imprisoned him because of his refusal to renounce his loyalty to Jesus And the article explains He suffered food poisoning for being forced to eat maggot-ridden gruel On one occasion he lost consciousness when being dunked in an icy lake while bound Three times he passed out from the pain of being whipped with electrical cables He sustained gunshot wounds in his hand leg and thigh For having a Bible he spent 90 days inside a coffin-like box where he could barely move For refusing to work on the Lord's day he was dunked into a cesspool of rotting debris and putrid excrement for three hours As he would later confess the severest of all his sufferings while in prison came when word got to him that is why for professing Christian had deserted him Now friends, is this the glaringly rare exception? Perhaps it's not as rare as you realize as you might assume Contemporary misiologist that is experts who research the field of missionary endeavor estimate that every year tens of thousands of Christians are martyred for their allegiance to Jesus Christ some suggesting hundreds of thousands Every year and of course this doesn't begin to quantify the various experiences of sufferings short of death That are endured by Christians around the world Persecutions for the gospel that express themselves in various forms in various faces That was this altogether foreign to you Of course it is You know something of this you've connected the dots in your own experience The extent to which you are proactive with the gospel is the extent to which you feel the pressure of the world's hostility On the job site in the neighborhood in the classroom at family functions on the playground A lot of the presupposition of the New Testament is clearly born out by the evidence of firsthand experience in this age Persecution is the normal experience of the Christian church to the extent she remains faithful in her witness to Jesus Christ
But why we just saying it didn't
For still our ancient foe that seek to work us well His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate On earth Is not his equal Last Lord's day it was playing beyond all question wasn't John pulled back the veil remember And what was revealed to us in this book for the very first time or better yet who was revealed to us The enemy of God in all and his ugliness and malevolence an enraged dragon Standing behind the facade of all of the other proximate causes that result in the suffering and persecution of God's people That ancient serpent called the devil in Satan the deceiver of the world It is a powerfully apocalyptic illustration of what the apostle Paul teaches more plainly elsewhere For our struggle he says is not against enemies of blood and flesh But against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers of this present darkness Against the spiritual forces of evil into heavenly places now you know that verse you've heard it before The genius of this apocalyptic imagery here however is that it turns your ear into an eye You can see it can't you a great red dragon Standing between the legs of this woman and childbirth waiting to eat her baby You'll never forget that image will you that's John's intention you see he wants you to never forget it Why are the age of minor Christian suffering imprisonment Why has Antipas already been murdered? Why have several of the churches been infested with false teaching why have some become lukewarm in their devotion to Jesus Christ Why has the age of apostle himself been exiled the Patmos The overt totalitarianism of Rome Yes The violent hatred of Judaism Yes The insidious paganism of the culture yes But brothers and sisters John now says at best These are all proximate causes Shall we now call a spade a spade? Are you ready to see things as they really are Let me help you more rightly interpret your circumstances You have an adversary A supernatural enemy bent on your destruction to borrow the language for first Peter 5 Or roaring the lion on the prowl for someone to deliver here a great red dragon filled with rage Finally and ultimately under God's sovereignty he stands behind all the suffering and persecution You are enduring now to get our minds around the imagery of revelation 12 I suggested last lord's day that we ask a bit three questions The first if you recall was this who is marked out as the initial target of the dragon's attack The opening paragraph versus one through six proved to be abundantly clear The initial target of the dragon's attack was the Messiah himself Jesus Christ And we gave some attention to this didn't we? We had a wonderful time looking at the flow of redemptive history Seeing how the dragon relentlessly sought to prevent the Messiah from coming Consequent upon his repeated failures He redirects his attention to the destruction of the Messiah when he came with all of his wicked efforts climaxing at the cross
But as we discovered this proved to be his most notorious failure of all Because the very act of striking the heel of the woman's seed Prove to be the final crushing of the serpent's hand Remember verse five but her child was snatched away And taken to God into his throne This leads us then to a second question Upon the dragon's failed attack Who becomes his new target While the answer is hinted at in verse six It's recapitulated and more thoroughly developed in verses 13 through 17
And what about the third question? It's equally simple What is it that accounts for this transference of targets? Who's the initial target who becomes a secondary target and what accounts for this transference of targets What accounts for this shift this change this redeployment this redirection framed by the two outer paragraphs is Versus seven through twelve that take us to the very heart of the matter friend The inner paragraph that provides us with the theological explanation for the events that unfold in the outer two paragraphs You'll see it But first let's give our question let's give our attention to question number two, shall we Here it is Upon the dragon's failed attack who becomes his new target But did you happen to notice something a bit strange about verse six We read that the woman This familial testament sign for the people of God please into the wilderness To a place prepared for her by God that he might nourisher for 1260 days The same period of time she has given the responsibility to witness we saw that in chapter 11 And yet there in verse six John provides us with no explicit indication as to the reason for her flight Now it's easily assumed a given the proceeding context But here now beginning in verse 13 John reintroduces this theme to now provide us with an elaboration of what was left unsaid in verse six The dragon Enraged by his failure to destroy the child in fact as we will see enraged by the child's victory over him Now turns all of his persecuting zeal Against the woman And the way John illustrates this beloved is by casting it in exodus Terminology we have seen is over and over again in the revelation Look at verse 13 So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth be patient with me will come back to that He pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child That is the messianic community the people of God the church The dragon pursues her with a view to persecuting her But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle So the chicken fly from the serpent into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and times and have a time Now my friends for those of you who grew up in certain kinds of context similar to mine I want you to know it is precisely at this point that Halenzy tells us Finally here is the appearance of the united states It's right here. Can't you see it? There it is
Our country is mentioned in the revelation You say where Well, of course it's reflected by the symbol of the great eagle Good thing Benjamin Franklin failed in his attempt to make our national bird the turkey
And so says Lindsey This refers to a massive airlift operation from united states aircraft such as the united states six fleet in the Mediterranean Here they say he says are the Israelis in the final three and a half years of the great tribulation airlifted to the hidden city of Petra
Would have would would this have made any sense to the original recipients of this letter No, unfortunately for them. They're only categories for consideration. We're biblical ones Such beloved they would have instantly recognized this for what it is It is a replay of the Exodus if we were more familiar with our old testaments We would see it as clearly as did they Who after all we talked about this last week in the Old Testament is most frequently likened to a dragon Pharaoh What country here in chapter 11 is spoken of symbolically is the enemy of God's people Egypt Pursued by the murderous intent of Pharaoh what is the place God provides for his people as a place of refuge a place of provision and protection the wilderness and Dear friends more to the point here with what kind of imagery did God speak when making reference to the deliverance of his people out of each other Exodus 19 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on Eagles wings and brought you to myself We get the same thing in Deuteronomy the same thing in the song the same thing in the book of Isaiah is this a massive airlift operation No, well, I mean it's an illustrative way of speaking of God's own empowered deliverance of his people Taken into the wilderness that place where God will take care of her For how long forever in the wilderness Never to arrive in the promised land No, the length of this conflict has been predetermined right it's been set by divinely ordained boundaries Verse 14, but the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle So that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and time And half a time one time times that is two times and half a time three and a half times is the idea That phrase is borrowed straight from Daniel chapter 7 Referring to the time of violent Jewish oppression under Antiochus epiphanies. We've talked about this in the past It corresponds perfectly with the time symbols that we have already been introduced to in this book 42 months 1260 days three and a half years now here time times half a time All used in the revelation as we've discovered with reference to the age between the two Cummings of Jesus Christ The time of tribulation. How does John begin the book? We're living in a tribulation. I'm your fellow companion in the tribulation
You say boy once the church is in the wilderness Does this mean achieve will never again face the wrath of the dragon That there will be no more persecution no more suffering Well beloved before we consider the Bible let me ask you what does two thousand years of church history teach you
If God were willing an auntie of where to stand before you this morning. What do you think he would tell you
What would a Chinese Christian tell you? You've heard John but trans. What would a Romanian Christian tell you? What would a Filipino Christian tell you? What would your own bit of personal experience tell you? The dragons Persecuting pursuit of the woman and the corresponding spiritual protection of God our simultaneous and Relentless Notice the interplay that goes back and forth first 15 Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman to sweep her away with the flood But the earth came to the help of the woman it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon poured from his mouth Now what in the world is this? It's the attempt of the dragon to exterminate the church couch once again in the language of the Old Testament I told you beloved when we started this business that nearly every line in the revelation is taken out of the Old Testament So I mean don't have to be dependent on These jokers on the television All we need to do is find where this is mentioned in the Old Testament and it will help us And what do we discover in the Old Testament? Frequently The Old Testament scriptures Likens the persecution of God's people by her enemies as menacing waters from which God delivers them For example Psalm 124 If it had not been that the Lord If it had not been the Lord who was on our side Let his real now say if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when our enemies attacked us Then they would have swallowed us up alive when their anger was kindled against us Listen then the flood would have swept us away The torrent would have gone over us then over us would have gone the raging waters In other words the persecution of God's people by her enemies Describe as menacing waters from which God delivers them Do you remember David's song of praise when delivered from King Saul Second Samuel 22 for the waves hear it for the waves of death encompassed me The torrents of perdition assailed me In my distress. I called upon the Lord to my God. I called from his temple. He heard my voice and my cry came to his ears He reached from on high. He took me. He drew me out of the mighty waters He delivered me from my strong enemy The persecution of God's people by her enemies Described as menacing waters from which God delivers them That's what this issue see verse 15 from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman to sweep her away The dragon seeking by persecution to exterminate the church You say so what about verse 16? But the earth came to the help of the woman it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon it poured from his mouth Do you remember the Exodus account? Thinking those kinds of categories friends Pharaoh thinks that he's going to destroy the people of God by driving them into the red sea remember But what happens? God opens up the red sea for his people They walked through on dry ground. What about their Egyptian pursuers? God closes the red sea They drowned and how does Moses interpret this event? Listen to the language Who is like you, O Lord among the gods Who is like you majestic in holiness? Awesome in splendor doing wonders You stretched out your right hand the earth
swallowed it and so on and on it goes back and forth throughout this aid Verse 17 that the dragon was angry with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her children Those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus and by the way that last little phrase The testimony of Jesus is not their testimony to Jesus but Jesus's own testimony concerning himself It defines what John means by that generic phrase the commandments of God The idea is these are people who keep the commandments of God in that they hold to Jesus's own testimony concerning himself God's command the gospel say believe in Jesus Well, of course dear friends. It's a reference plain and simple to the Christian Church
You say but wait a minute now You said that the woman is the church Now her offspring is the church Well, we've seen this before friends This is what apocalyptic so often does it uses multiple symbols not to point to different reference but to different perspectives on the same reference For example in chapter four we read of the seven lamps before the throne of God In chapter five we read of the seven eyes of the slaughtered lamb do these speak of two different reference No, they speak to the same reference the Holy Spirit each providing their own complementary perspective Lion lamb two symbols pointing to two different reference no complementary perspectives on the one same Messiah Here regard her as a woman Exclusively and she is the bride of Christ the people of God regard her as a mother and she is the community out of which Christ is born Along with the rest of her offspring the subsequent generations of Christians Not two different reference two complementary perspectives on the same reference Well, the point here beloved is obvious. It simply is That throughout the entirety of this age The church will be relentlessly persecuted by the dragon
It's the answer to our second question Upon the dragons failed attack who becomes his new target It's crystal clear isn't What verse six hinted at but left unspoken Now verses 13 through 17 make it all so very explicit if he can't have the child He will redirect all his demons toward the woman
But all of this now begs the third question arguably The most important What is it that accounts for this transference of targets Or to ask it in a different way Why has the dragon turned On the woman Well the explanation is found in the paragraph sandwich between these outer two And this explanation comes to us in two sections In verses seven through nine we see a war taking place in heaven Then in verses 10 through 12 the consequences of that war are interpreted for us Look at verse seven and Notice that it begins with the word and and war broke out in heaven Consequent upon what we see occurring in the prior paragraph in particular verse five the birth of the child his subsequent exultation and everything in between Consequent upon that War broke out in heaven And make no mistake about it beloved the aggressor here is not the dragon As though foiled in his attempt to devour the child he now directs his assault toward heaven no here the first strike is launched By the one that the Old Testament refers to as the Prince of God's people in the unseen realm Michael
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon The dragon and his angels fought back but they were defeated To what end And there was no longer any place for them in heaven what does that mean Don't be too quick on the draw See if you can figure it out by what john now says three times
The great dragon was thrown down maybe your translation says cast out or hurled out That ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan the deceiver of the whole world He was thrown down to the earth there it is a second time Moreover his angels were thrown down with him there it is again. So what is this at the very least We're safe to conclude at this point Given the relationship between the prior paragraph and this one
The corresponding exaltation of Jesus Christ into heaven
Is responded to by the casting out of Satan from heaven These two events are very much tied together The exaltation of the Messiah the expulsion of the dragon
What is this? Well, we have a couple of places in the gospels where similar language to this is used You remember loop chapter 10 When the 70 referring to refer return to Jesus following their short term missions assignment They're ecstatic lord in your name even the demon submit to us And Jesus said something very interesting. He said I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning That was he speaking about a literal fall A spatial fall from one location to another No, beloved in the context. It's plain. He's speaking metaphorically He's speaking of the defeat of Satan that is already beginning to express itself in the introductory establishment of the presence and power of the kingdom of God manifest in the preaching of those apostles
In the face of his son John 12 now is the judgment of this world Now the ruler of this world will be driven out but again what does Jesus mean by this being driven out? Are we to think solely in spatial terms in in in in geographical categories as though the death of Jesus Christ means to change in Satan's address
Right here is where it all comes together What does this mean Satan thrown out of heaven as is so often the case in the revelation the words of a subsequent him Interpret the meaning of the preceding being Look at verse 10 Then Then I heard a loud voice in heaven proclaiming now now now with reference to what That is upon the ejection of the double from heaven now Have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah in other words heaven proclaims that the kingdom has arrived In the fullness of its salvation power the kingdom has been inaugurated. It's here in other words What Jesus had foreseen occurring in the gospels is now arrived in reality But why now because the lingering impediment to its realization has now been taken away look Now have come to salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah for There's your explanation The accuser of our comrades has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God
My friends in Hebrew The name Satan means Adversary It's a term borrowed from the legal realm. I don't know if you knew that It was used to speak of a person who brings an accusation against someone else in a court of law And what's in view here you see are those few all testament glimpses that we have of God's tribunal in heaven In which Satan seeks to bring an indictment against the people of God Remember Job Satan's allegation was that Job was a harling Someone whose friendship got it bought with a steady stream of materialistic bribes He's your friend because you pay him well
We see a similar situation in the book of Zachariah chapter 3 when the accuser levels his charges against Israel's high priest a man named Joshua Satan beloved is the great accuser and his accusations express themselves in two directions
Before God Satan says in effect How can you possibly forgive these rebellious people
These people who shake their puny fists in your face And scoff at your authority and and and and worship other gods. How can you let them off It's a massive reproach to your own dignity and honor. Are you truly holy? Are you truly just or is it that after all sin really doesn't matter How then can you let them go
And then Satan turns To us and points his bony finger into our chest and says
You're not much of a Christian. Are you? I see through the facade
Down deep inside There's bitterness isn't there and greed Enrescentment and envy and lust and self promotion and pride I see the petty little games that you play at church The formality of your worship The way you passively defied the authority of the elders The way you despise brothers and sisters in the congregation The meagreliness of your giving the resentfulness in your service. Oh, there may have been great saints of old But you're certainly not one of them Who do you think you are you don't deserve heaven
He's the accuser of God's people and you say to me in that sense aren't
In my case Satan is right and in one very real sense you see prior to the death of Jesus Christ It would seem as though the devil had an airtight case So what's our hope Is there any possibility of overcoming these accusations And the condemnation they deserve the answer is yes
The accusations of the devil Are overcoming two ways Firstly Take note of the objective basis of our overcome
But they have conquered By the blood of the land Or better yet Because of the blood of the land In other words beloved the blood of the lamb is the ground The basis upon which the accusations of the devil are nullified As it were, God now says to Satan My son has died of presented Jesus as a propitiation for their sins Might be great sacrifice, and I have done this both to the jack of the ungodly You have no basis for your accusation My holiness has remained unthinkable, for forgiveness is rightfully theirs
Who are bringing in charge against God's sin and justified Who is the condemnation? Who is the condemnation? Who was raised? Who is the right hand of bad? We received for us You know the word brother The court room of bad friend you know Christ in kind of defense attorney More friends Bear with me and bow to you We have the vengeance of you And for us it's now practical thinking it is Because of Jesus Christ he has been as it were This bar And you Eating what? The Satan has lost his place as the accuser of God's people
Because of Jesus Christ And our attachment to Jesus Christ by faith We've been singing it in recent days haven't we? Before the throne of God above I have a strong, a perfect plea A great high priest whose name is love Whoever lives and pleads for me My name is graven on his hands My name is written on his heart I know that while in heaven he stands No tongue can bid me vents depart No tongue can bid me vents depart When Satan tempts me to despair And tells me of the guilt within Upward I look and see him there Who made an end to all my sin Because the sinless Savior died My sinful soul is counted free For God the justice satisfied To look on him and pardon me To look on him and pardon me
He's been thrown down His role as the accuser of the brethren
Rejected turned away What's the response to Satan being thrown out of heaven? twofold verse 12 Rejoice then you heavens and those who dwell in them On the one hand heaven rejoices that the accuser has lost his place On the other hand rejoicing is not the only response But woe to the earth and to see For the devil has come down to you with great wrath because He knows that his time is short Having lost his accusatory opposition What becomes Satan's sphere of influence the world What is his disposition great wrath because he knows he's defeated What then becomes his primary target for attack The church why Why the transference of targets Because Jesus Christ defeated him And in so doing stole away the basis for his accusation His wickedness beloved is now driven by one primary agenda And that is to persecute the church of Jesus Christ with such demons That she will forsake her allegiance to him How does he go about doing this? That's chapter 13 For this morning what we must never forget is this Satan's attacks against the church Are grounded precisely in the fact That he has already been conquered Don't you ever forget that beloved Woe to the earth and to see for the devil has come down to you with great wrath because He knows his time is short His attacks are driven by the fact that he knows he's already defeated And therefore you see the utter foolishness of compromising our devotion to Jesus Christ Because to do so Is to yield ourselves to a
A defeated foe who's waiting the final execution of his sentence
And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us We will not fear for God has willed his truth to triumph through us The prince of darkness grim We tremble not at him His rage we can endure for low
His doom is shoot One little Word Shall found him would you bow your heads with me close