Why? Why? Why? Why? It's the question Indemic to every stratum of human existence from our earliest age To our final gasps for breath Why? Why do I have to take a nap? Why do I have to eat my vegetables? Why do I have to practice the piano? Why do I have to take off the garbage? You've heard them all before, haven't you? Moreover, though the subject matter may change with maturity
Nevertheless, the essence of the question itself never does
Why don't I ever have a date? Why am I not more attractive? Why am I still single? Why am I married to this person? Why can't I have children? Why doesn't my husband make more money? Why does my daughter have a learning disability? Why has my son become wayward? Why did my business fail? Why do we have to go to war? Why do I have cancer? Why? It seeks for the reason the cause the purpose of some particular state of affairs It's a question that transcends all age boundaries, doesn't it? Moreover, if you think about it friends, it's a question that can precipitate and almost endless chain of explanation Why did he die? His brainwave activity ceased Why? His brain no longer received the oxygen it needed Why? His heart stopped beating Why a bullet passed through it? Why it had been propelled toward him at high speed? Why a pistol hammer had ignited gunpowder in the bullet? Why? His enemy had pulled the pistol's trigger Why? The enemy carried a grudge? Why the victim had stabbed the enemy's brother? Why the brother owed the victim money? Why a gambling debt? Why he needed a quick way to get cash? Why? Will it ever end? How far back do you want to go? How many more reasons could be traced back from there? To borrow from a familiar image how many layers of the onion are you prepared to peel away? To arrive at the final and ultimate cause
Now step with me. Will you for a moment? Into the original context of the revelation These Asia-Miner Christians in the latter half of the first century they were asking the why questions Why are we social outcasts Why are we being denied the right to earn a living? Why will people not buy and sell with us? Why are our children being made to starve? Why are some among us being imprisoned? Why have some already been killed? Why such suffering? Why such persecution? Well, you see the extent to which one can answer those questions is Dependent upon the asking of another how far back do you want to go? How many layers of the onion are you prepared to peel away? Because you see beloved your initial response to those questions might be something like this I think I've got an answer I Possessed some measure of acquaintance with history in the first century The Romans are the cause of their sufferings. They're running the show. They're the bad guys first it was the Babylonians and then it was The Meads and the Persians and then it was the Greeks and then it was the Syrians now it happens to be the Romans They're the bad guys. They hate the Christians and at one level my friends you would most certainly be accurate at the same time a More penetrating analysis would reveal that you've only peeled away the outer layer So what lies behind in this case the Roman hostility toward Christianity a Particular system of societal existence But what lies behind this particular system of societal existence a Very definitive philosophical worldview So what has shaped this specific philosophical worldview a certain set of religious assumptions, but what has produced these particular religious assumptions? Are you getting the drift of this? How far back do you want to go? How many layers of the onion are you prepared to peel away? Where does it all in? To focus the question more succinctly What is it that finally and ultimately stood behind all of the other Proximant causes that resulted in the persecution and suffering of the first century Christians in Asia Minor Well for that matter my friends step into our own day in time What are the causes of the present difficulties faced by the Church of Jesus Christ? Well, of course the answers one might suggest would be Conditioned on our geographical context wouldn't they? For example, what are the present causes of the difficulties faced by the Church in China? Oh, you say I know something of that the scarcity of Bibles to begin with enormous persecution totalitarian Marxism What are the present causes of the difficulties faced by the Church in Nigeria are our our our Nigerian brothers and sisters? Well, we could suggest the reality of an unstable government tribalism and their endless wars economic poverty the vast proliferation of aides untrained leaders many conversions few well-equipped teachers and preachers of the world and What about the Church here in the West? What are the present causes of the difficulties facing us? Well, I suppose we could mention the dulling influence of material prosperity the rapid pace of life The isolationism experienced in our large cities the breakdown of the nuclear family the indoctrination of our culture by a liberal media a Postmodern pluralism that insists that the only absolute truth is the fact that there is no such thing as absolute truth Now have you noticed the various categories upon which I've drawn in my analysis? They're all sociological psychological and occasional Now this does not mean that they're not in act that they're inaccurate Norm I suggesting that there is nothing to be learned from sociological and psychological analysis the inherent weakness however is this It's just the outer layer of the onion skin And until we understand this beloved we will find ourselves whistling in the dark If our analyses are understood solely in these kinds of categories So also will be the solutions we then propose to overcome them If we can somehow adjust our psychological and sociological methodologies So that they rightly address the difficulties that presently confront the church then we can bring in revival The problem is our analyses Well, not necessarily inaccurate Our far too shallow
What is it beloved That finally and ultimately stands behind all of the other Proximant causes that result in the persecution and suffering of the people who belong to the God of the Bible The answer is right here in Revelation chapter 12 And it's a bit surprising don't you think given the fact that chapter 11 concludes with references to the judging of the dead The rewarding of God's people the destruction of God's enemies the opening of God's temple I mean we saw last week. It's the end. It's the consummation if John had finished with chapter 11 and we'd never known anything different We would have considered the book of Revelation sufficiently concluded But what does John here do? We've seen it before as he has already done on more than one occasion He cycles us back to consider the same period of time he has earlier addressed from several other vantage points Now here for the purpose of revealing something he has not yet made clear and that is a deeper analysis of the difficulties and sufferings of the church Of peeling away of the seemingly endless layers of the Union to finally unveil The hidden cause of the church's steady experience of opposition And maybe my friends If you love the church Like I love the church maybe this gets it a question you've wondered about throughout the years Why isn't that the church of Jesus Christ seem so steadily to meet with difficulty at nearly every turn? Why isn't that she's always met with roadblocks and obstacles hindrances of one kind or another? Why does the media frequently portray the church in such reproachful ways? Why are God's people so incessantly persecuted? Why is the church of Jesus Christ relentlessly compromised by the infusion of false doctrine? Why is it that the simple gospel is repeatedly corrupted or supplanted by other priorities? Why is gossip ever present to threaten the fellowship? Why isn't it the authority of pastoral leaders is so steadily criticized and resisted? Why do churches so frequently split? These are not anomalies dear friends. They are the stock and trade experiences of the church of Jesus Christ What's more if you know anything about the history of the church? You will find yet another question at the top of your list. Why has it always been this way? From the pages of the New Testament right up until this very moment It has never been anything else Why so? How far back do you want to go? Beyond the sociological? Beyond the psychological and occasional? What is it that finally and ultimately stands behind all of the other proximate causes that result in the persecution and suffering of the people of God? The answer my friends when you peel away all the layers is nothing less under God's sovereignty than the existence of an enraged dragon Satan himself. It's what chapters 12 and 13 are all about Satan and his two counterparts posing as An evil and unholy counterpart to the Trinity Relentlessly seeking to destroy the people who belong to Jesus Christ Now to best understand the emphasis of chapter 12 Which will occupy our attention for this morning and next Lord's Day? I'd like us to ask of it three questions question number one Who is marked out as the initial target of the dragon's attack? We'll see the answer in verses one through six question two upon the dragon's failed attack Who becomes his new target Though hinted at earlier in the text it will become more explicit in verses 13 through 17 question three What is it account? What is it that accounts for this transference of targets? What is it that accounts for this transference of targets? We'll hear it in the glorious declaration of verses 7 through 12 now for this morning I'd like us to consider question number one Who is marked out as the initial target of the dragon's attack? Well, let's begin firstly by introducing ourselves to the cast of characters verse one a great portant appeared in heaven a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars She was pregnant and crying out in birth pangs in the agony of giving birth Then another portant appeared in heaven a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven diadams on his head Now my friends believe it or not John is in the process of telling us a story a story that is as much grounded in historical reality as any of the narratives that you might read for example in first kings or the gospel of Matthew and Yet he tells us this story in this apocalyptic genre drawing upon some sensationalistic images from the Old Testament Which in some cases are then borrowed from ancient mythology? Here then he introduces us to a woman and a dragon neither of which are to be understood literally because as you'll note They're both referred to as portance or as signs a great Portant appeared in heaven a great sign in heaven a woman clothed with the sun Verse three then another Portant another sign appeared in heaven a great red dragon Now this is a very important word to John this word sign Both here and in the fourth gospel. I would remind you that fourth gospel is literally structured upon seven signs Well, you see beloved when John uses this word he does so not merely to draw our attention to the fantastic nature