Admonition Podcast

Good morning.

Good to see everyone this morning.

Take the Bibles, if you will, and open them to Revelation chapter 12.

We continue our study in the book of Revelation.

We'll begin with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our study.

Gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you've
blessed us with, grateful for the life that we have, the opportunities that we have to

come together, to glorify your name, to praise you, to worship ah you, and to bow before
your throne.

Lord, we pray that as we open these pages of scripture, we might understand the things
that we have read.

that we might grow to a greater understanding of your providence and your will and your
protection and your service of your church as it exists in this world.

Lord, we pray that you will be with us as we go throughout our daily lives.

May we always have confidence in you.

May we always rely upon your name and your authority and not our own.

Lord, we pray that you will be with those who are struggling because of illness.

because of injury, because of uh difficulties physically in their health.

Lord, we pray that you give them strength and comfort and that they have the ability to
regain the desired health that they would like to have.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus name, amen.

Chapter one opens up.

John is worshipping on the Lord's Day.

He hears a voice behind him.

He turns around to see the one who is speaking.

It is the manifestation of Christ in a glorified state.

holds Christ holds the seven stars in his right hand and it's the seven churches of Asia
Minor.

uh He's surrounded by seven golden lampstands and it's the messenger of the seven
churches.

When you find

a figure that shows up later in the book and it's explained and interpreted in the midst
of the book, you can pretty well just hold on to that figure and assume that what the text

tells you that is, is what that is.

So if you see stars falling from heaven, you should not immediately assume that uh it's
the uh final return of Christ and the end of time and uh

some nuclear explosion, it might be churches succumbing to the influence of Satan.

But as you go through the text, you find John goes into that open door in chapter four.

He goes into the throne room of God and he sees the glory of God.

He sees the glory of God's throne and before the throne is a sea of glass.

That is a perfectly

Have we ever in our modern vernacular termed a sea or a body of water as a sea of glass?

Absolutely.

When you get near a body of water and it's so still, there's no ripples, there's no
movement, you just see yourself.

You see the reflection, just right off the top.

We use that terminology.

The Bible uses that idea that there's a time when the seas are calm, when they're uh
reflective, and there's a time when they're tumultuous.

You're going to see that coming up.

All right.

So the seas before the throne, God is there.

The elders are before the throne.

The beasts are before the throne.

Everyone's praising God.

Everyone's declaring God is worthy.

And of course, they're also going to declare

the Lamb, the Messiah, also worthy.

The Messiah begins to open the scroll and the revelation begins to be seen.

The visions and the signs that the book tells us in chapter one is what the message of the
book is.

It's given in signs and symbols through the angel to John so that John might tell the
church what the church needs to know.

And so, the seal begins to be opened, you see that first horse and then the second horse,
the third horse, fourth horse.

You see the Christians under the altar who've died for the testimony of God, and they're
crying out and asking, how long, Lord, are you going to allow our deaths to continue?

They're told to rest for a little while.

They're given white robes.

The next seal is opened and the son...

turns dark, the moon turns to blood, sky starts falling, all these things start happening,
and the rich people, the mighty people, the people of prominence and power run and hide

themselves and call upon the mountains to fall on them to protect them from the wrath of
the Lamb.

That happens in seal number six.

It is a foretaste.

It is a forecast of God

answering the prayers of the saints.

In chapter seven, you've got to pause.

You've got a, uh wait a minute, hold on, don't start yet, message.

Because we need to seal the people of God.

We need to mark the people of God.

The people of God are going to be marked multiple times in the process of the book.

They're going be marked again.

coming up in just about a chapter or two.

But the marking is just a clear statement.

There are those who belong to God and there are those who don't belong to God.

Here in a little bit, we're going to find those who belong to the beast.

They're going to be marked because Satan wants to know who belongs to him too.

And he wants to exclude those who don't, okay, because it's leverage.

So, the trumpets come forth.

This is all inside the seventh seal.

And the seven trumpets begin to sound and we have partial judgment in trumpets one, two,
three, four, five, six.

In the last three trumpets, four, five, six, or sorry, five, six, seven, you have three
woes.

And we're in the sounding of the seventh trumpet right now.

We just saw as we ended the last chapter, one last partial judgment, a tenth of all the
people died.

All right, one last partial judgment in trumpet number six.

We're about to get trumpet number seven.

But in the midst of that and all the things that were going on in these trumpets, there
was another pause.

An angel who holds the little book, who's got one foot on the land and one foot on the
sea, comes forward to John and John is told to take the little book.

So John goes, the angel says, give me the little book and John eats the book.

just like Ezekiel did, and it was sweet in his mouth, as sweet as honey, just like
Ezekiel's message was, but it was bitter in his belly, just like Ezekiel's message was.

Ezekiel lived in a time when God's people in the form of a nation, Judah, were about to be
judged and the nation was about to fall.

He lived in a time in between the first or the the second carrying away and the third
carrying away where he's prophesying that Jerusalem is going to fall and the nation is

going to go entirely into captivity and all the prophets, air quotes there, all the
prophets in Judah were saying no, no, it's all over.

The people who went away, they were the bad people.

We're the good people.

We're the people of God.

God saved us.

We're never going to lose the city of Jerusalem.

And Ezekiel is going to write to them as God gives him instruction and he's going to
measure the city and he's going to measure the temple and he's going to go look inside the

temple and he's going to go into the temple and at the heart of the temple he's going to
find a secret room in the holiest of holies where there are priests worshipping idols.

at the very core of Judah, Jerusalem, and the worship were those who were given over to
idolatry inside the very temple of God.

and the message from Ezekiel is, oh, not only are you gonna fall, God's going to get his
war wagon, he's gonna do battle with you.

And you're going to fall entirely because you are rotten from the inside out.

And so the picture and the message is bitter.

Now, John's gonna be given a message about a temple.

and John's going to told, you tell them that the temple's gonna be trodden on the outside,
but the inside, not gonna be touched.

The inside was pure.

The church was going to survive the coming trouble.

So then another figure is shown.

You have the two witnesses.

On one side, you've got uh the high priest.

On the other side, you've got the uh leader of the people.

If we use Zechariah's imagery of the two olive trees in both figures, in all the figures
you have here in this picture, you have God's people, God's people, God's people, God's

spokesman, God's people.

It's just a continual set of images that represent the leadership of

God's actual people and not those who just claim to be.

And the point that is made in chapters 10 and 11 is that God's witnesses are going to
speak, God's people are going to remain faithful to Him, the world is going to kill them,

they're going to torture them, they're going to do harm to them, but they're not going to
be able to touch them when their life is over.

And so their power and their reach is limited.

Chapter 12 opens up with the woman and the dragon.

Lots of discussion over who the woman is.

Lots of discussion over who the dragon is.

The dragon is interpreted in the text.

We're told that the dragon is Satan, the devil.

So we don't have to wonder who the dragon is.

It's Satan, the devil.

All right.

But we also see it represented in the nation that is persecuting the people of God.

It's not the devil.

because the devil's a dragon.

It's the devil in his persecuting power of a government.

Okay?

And that government is looking to consume, to kill this woman.

Chapter 12 opens up in verses one through six.

The woman gives birth and the dragon loses battle number one.

In chapter 12, you're going to find

that the dragon is a three-time loser.

He's going to lose once, he's going to lose a second time, and he's going to lose a third
time.

Every time the dragon tries to accomplish anything, he loses.

And the point to the Christians is, you don't have anything to be worried about from
Satan.

He's never going to win.

But

The woman is uh one of those figures that people struggle with because they wonder, well,
is the woman here, the woman over in chapter 17?

No.

The woman in chapter 17 is a harlot and she's killing the Christians.

That's not the woman here.

The woman here gives birth to the Messiah.

The woman here is protected by God.

The woman here is desired to be destroyed by the dragon and he does not succeed.

The woman here has a crown of 12 stars or a garland of 12 stars upon her head.

It's the people of God.

Seen from a corporate perspective, that is from a group.

One of the things that's important to realize when you dig into the text of scripture is
that

individual people of God succumb to the power of Satan.

That sometimes a portion of the people of God collectively succumb to the power of Satan
and fail to be faithful to God.

But all the way through history, from the beginning all the way to the end, God's people
collectively have never been defeated by Satan.

have never turned away from God.

The point that you should understand from the Old Testament, from the history of Israel,
is God always had His remnant, and His remnant was never defeated.

His remnant was never touched by Satan.

Did they go through hard times?

Sure they did.

Did they have struggles?

Sure they did.

Did many of them die at the hand of persecutors?

Absolutely.

persecutors inside and outside of God's people in Old Testament Israel.

But they never lost to Satan.

Not one time.

And so the picture here of the woman is of those who are represented by the number 12,
that is the number of God's people, who are represented by those who give birth to the

Messiah, which was God's people.

It is represented by those who are

able to escape the attack and the onslaught of Satan in Old Testament pictures by going
through the waters.

It is those who are protected by being taken out into the wilderness.

All of these are pictures of God's people and they're Old Testament pictures of God's
people.

Let's start with chapter 12 verse 1 and I know we've covered some of this but since it's
been two weeks we'll kind of rehash just a little bit of it as we go through.

Now a great sign appeared in heaven.

a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head, a garland of 12
stars.

This is a woman of light, not a woman of darkness, not a woman of evil, not a woman of
reproach.

She's a woman clothed with brightness and glory and light.

Okay?

Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

and another sign appeared in heaven.

Now notice, John's gonna remind you, by the way, these are just signs.

These are pictures.

This isn't telling a historical event.

He says, another sign appeared in heaven, behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven
heads and 10 horns and seven diadems on his head.

This is a representation of

a power that desires to fight against God.

And it's represented in Daniel's picture from Daniel 7.

It's represented as an indescribable beast the way that Daniel describes the beast.

It's represented though with crowns and heads and horns.

That tells you something about it.

If you go read Daniel chapter seven, it tells you that it's a government.

It tells you that it is a people that oppose the kingdom of God because they have a
kingdom on this earth.

Okay?

So it is Satan, but it isn't Satan in the sense of it's not the person of Satan.

It is Satan in his governmental influence, okay, and his persecuting influence.

Now notice, his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

You remember the people who dwell in heaven in the book of Revelation?

Who are they?

Good people or bad people?

Righteous people or unrighteous people?

The people who dwell in heaven, who are they?

Righteous people.

The people who dwell in the earth, who are they?

unrighteous people.

If a third of the stars go from being in heaven to on the earth, what happened to them?

They became unrighteous.

Now, in Revelation two and three, what does Jesus say to the churches in which there are
moral issues, doctrinal issues, that if they will not repent?

Their candlestick will be removed and he will come and make war with them.

That makes them the enemies of the Messiah.

And they're the churches.

This dragon, his influence, his power, his persecution affects the church.

And churches fall.

Congregations lose to this dragon.

Not all of them.

of them.

John's telling the Christians, he's telling the church, he's telling those who are
faithful, he says, you're going to see some of your brethren give up.

You're going to see some of them succumb to the influence of the dragon and they are going
to depart from the faith and they are going to lose.

And it's going to look like it saved their life.

It's gonna look like it was the thing that kept them from being killed.

So you're gonna be influenced to go do the same thing.

says, don't do it.

You're giving in to a loser.

Notice, his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as
soon as it was born.

mental image here you got a doctor waiting to receive the baby as the mother gives birth
nope not a doctor it's the dragon and he's waiting to kill the baby as soon as it comes

out

And yet, notice what happens.

She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was
caught up to God and His throne.

Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God that they
should feed her there 1260 days.

Watch the figure.

Number one, Satan goes, yeah, I know the Messiah is coming.

I've read all the prophets.

I know that the Messiah is going to be born in Israel.

I know that the Messiah is going to be born, the King of the Jews.

I know that the Messiah is going to come forth from Bethlehem.

I know all of those things.

And when he comes out, a killing.

Did that actually happen?

An attempt to kill the Messiah when he was just entering the world?

Absolutely it did.

Was it successful?

No.

The woman gives birth, the child is born, the child is in a vulnerable state and yet Satan
swings and misses.

Satan loses number one.

But he doesn't just lose with the child.

He loses with the people of God who bring forth the child.

And so the picture here of the woman is that she's taken into the wilderness and she's

fed for three and a half years.

What picture is that from the Old Testament?

Elijah.

Here comes the government.

Here comes the king of Israel Ahab and he wants Elijah dead because Elijah said it's not
going to rain for three and a half years and he sends people everywhere to go find Elijah

and they search high and low all throughout the nation.

Nowhere is Elijah found.

Why?

Because Elijah's been taken out into the wilderness and he's being fed by ravens.

And then Elijah's being taken to a foreign land to tire and being fed by a widow who had
nothing.

God protects His people.

But there's another picture, Egypt.

When Israel is leaving Egypt, where does God take them to protect them from the enemies of
Israel?

In the wilderness.

Out on Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai, they didn't go to Mount Sinai because there was a great
big city there where they could live comfortably.

There was nothing there.

It was a place where someone would take sheep and let them graze because there was nothing
there.

Israel's taken to Sinai.

Israel is then taken out into the wilderness after they reject the Lord and will not go
in.

Kind of like some stars fell, right?

And then God takes them out into the wilderness and for 40 years their shoes don't wear
out, clothes don't get any holes in them.

They're fed by God every morning for 40 years.

You see, God is making it clear just the same way the book of Hebrews has Hebrews chapter
11, by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith.

That's what John's doing in Revelation.

He's saying, go look at the Old Testament and tell me, when did Satan ever win?

Identify one single time Satan ever won.

Now, what are you worried about?

Notice what else he says.

She fled into wilderness where she has a place prepared.

that they should feed her there 1260 days.

And war broke out in heaven.

Now this, this of course is back at the beginning of time.

This is where Satan and his his followers, uh they, they decided to rebel against God.

And this is no watch this.

The Messiah comes forth and the Messiah sends up into heaven out of Satan's reach.

This is a Daniel 7 picture, remember?

In Daniel 7, who comes to the ancient of days?

Turn over to Daniel chapter 7.

Verse seven, I saw in the night vision and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful, terrible,
exceedingly strong.

had huge iron teeth.

It was devouring, breaking in pieces and trampling the residue with its feet.

It was different from all the beasts that were before it.

It had 10 horns.

I was considering the horns and there was another horn, a little one coming up among them
before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots.

And there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous, that
is blasphemous words.

I watched till thrones were put in place and the ancient of days was seated.

His garment was white as snow.

The hair of his head was like pure wool.

His throne was a fiery flame.

Its wheels a burning fire, a fiery stream issued and came uh and came forth from before
him.

A thousand thousands ministered to him.

Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

the courts were seated and the books were open.

The fourth beast comes up, he's devouring, he's conquering, nothing can stand in his way.

He looks like he's just gonna have the run of the place until John looks at heaven and he
sees the one who sits on the throne and there are multitudes surrounding him and

judgment's gonna begin.

not the final judgment, not the last day, not the end of time, the judgment of the beast.

But then notice, I watched, then because of the sound of the pompous or blasphemous words
which the horn was speaking, I watched till the beast was...

playing.

and its body destroyed, given to the burning flame.

As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were
prolonged for a season and a time.

I watched in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, coming with the
clouds of heaven.

Now how did the child escape?

when I'm in heaven.

How did Jesus go back into heaven?

in the clouds.

Now, he didn't go as a baby, but he was the child of God's people.

And he ascended back into heaven and he was untouched by the devil.

Now notice, one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, he came to the
ancient of days and they brought him near before him.

Then to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom.

that all peoples nations languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting
dominion which shall not pass away in his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed in

Matthew chapter 16 in plain spoken language what did Jesus say he came to build?

church.

And what did he say the gates of Hades would not affect?

His church.

When we say the gates of Hades, what is Hades?

It's the grave.

It looks like the dragon wins when Jesus is put on the cross.

Even the apostles turn and flee.

Even the apostles begin to doubt.

The apostles are hiding come Sunday morning when they should have known that three days
later the temple that was destroyed is going to be brought back.

looked like the devil won, except the devil didn't win because Jesus ascended from the
grave and came forth and was victorious and ascended to the Father never to die again.

Rome didn't win.

The devil didn't win.

It looked like he won for a moment.

It looked like the devil won for a moment when Egypt and its armies was behind the people
of God and the sea was in front of them and there's a wall of water on one side and an

army on the other and it looks like it's all over.

till God delivers His people.

Now.

Notice what happens.

The child escapes.

The Messiah is untouched.

So what does the dragon do?

He follows him up into heaven and go make war.

Remember something that Paul teaches us.

Paul teaches us that our battle, our warfare, isn't with physical powers, with earthly
powers, but with spiritual powers and spiritual might and spiritual dominions.

There's a point that we need to understand.

Every battle that we face in this life has already been decided in heaven.

Every warfare that we face as a church has already been won in heaven.

It's only upon us to stay on the right side.

So the child goes into heaven, the child goes to his throne, the child goes to the ancient
of days and Satan falls on his tail.

But watch this.

Child's not gonna do war with Satan.

The child is so far beyond Satan, he doesn't need to do war with Satan.

He sends a messenger.

War broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but
they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out, the serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who
deceives the whole world.

He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

The point is, the devil tries to win on the earth, fail.

So the devil takes the war up into heaven, fails.

Where is the devil?

The ruler.

Nowhere.

Where is the devil the influencer?

Only over those whom he deceives.

The devil reigns over nothing except those who give their power, their lives, and their
abilities to him.

He has no authority in heaven.

He has no authority on earth.

He just loses everywhere he goes.

Now notice something as you look at this.

The term Michael, the name Michael is an Old Testament picture.

Turn back to Exodus chapter 15.

Exodus chapter 15.

After the people come through the Red Sea and after they come forth out of the Red Sea and
the Egyptian army is destroyed, Moses writes a song and the people sing the song of Moses.

by the way, in Revelation, we're going to read about the song of Moses and the Lamb.

Okay?

Hold on to that for a few chapters.

But in Exodus chapter 15, verse, let's begin in verse 7.

In the greatness of your excellence you have overthrown those who rose against you.

You sent forth your wrath and consumed them like stubble.

And with the blast of your nostrils the waters were gathered together, the flood stood
upright like a heap, the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoils.

My desire shall be satisfied on them." The mindset of Pharaoh and his government and his
army was all my people just gave Israel all the plunders of Egypt and I'm gonna go get

them.

And it's all gonna be mine.

Notice, I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.

You blew with your wind.

The sea covered them, they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

The name Michael means who is like God.

the very name of the angel that is described as the one who God sends forth, the child
sends forth, the child doesn't go to battle with Satan, the child doesn't even need to go

to battle with Satan, he sends a messenger.

and he sends a messenger whose name is, Who's Like God.

because the point of Exodus, the point of Egypt was always, there's nobody like God.

Now the devil, the dragon, the government, the all-powerful mighty ruler of the world
wants you to believe he's like God.

and he's defeated by a messenger whose name is asking the question, who is like God?

Go ahead, give me an answer.

Who's like God?

Nobody.

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders, you stretched
out your right hand?

The earth swallowed them." Now, hold on to that phrase.

The earth swallowed them.

You in your mercy have led forth the people whom you have redeemed, you have guided them
in your strength to your holy habitation.

Moses writes, God, you used the earth and you protected us from the enemy who is like you.

All right, go back.

So Satan goes into heaven and he does warfare in heaven and he loses again.

So when he loses again, where does he go?

Well, there's no place found for him in heaven.

So he goes back to the earth to go persecute the woman again.

Who's the woman?

God's people can't do anything in heaven, got no authority there and keep losing, so I'm
going go back to the earth and try again.

So notice what happens.

uh Beginning in uh verse 9, so the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called
the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world.

He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation and strength in the kingdom of
our God.

and the power of his Christ have come.

For the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been
cast down." Real quick, before we proceed.

What does the name Satan mean?

Accuser.

What does Satan do when Satan is before God in the book of Job in Job chapters 1 and 2?

He accuses, based upon no shred of evidence.

He accuses Job of being one who would only be faithful to God if God continues to protect
him.

Job will only be faithful to you because you've built a hedge around him.

Nobody can touch him.

Satan makes it clear, God, Job is only faithful to you because he's rich.

and he's got luxury and he's got abundance and nothing can touch him because you won't let
me.

So God says, no, that's not why Job's faithful.

You can take everything that he's got, but you can't take him.

You can't touch him.

And Satan enacts the policy, having been the accuser of taking away all of Job's things,
all of Job's possessions, all of Job's children.

And what does Job do?

bows down and declares there's no one like God.

The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of Lord.

And Job's wife comes to him and says, why don't you curse God and die?

Because Satan comes back and accuses Job.

Well, you know, everybody will give everything for their life, but you won't let me touch
him.

So God says you can touch him, but you can't kill him.

And so Satan takes Job and he takes away his health.

He takes away his happiness.

He takes away his home.

He takes away everything he's got.

And he's sitting now in the city, dump scraping open sores with pottery shards.

And his wife comes to him and says, why don't you curse God and die?

And he says, why are you talking like the foolish women?

Who is like the Lord?

You remember what the apostles say to Jesus after many who believed in Jesus turned back
and walked with him no more.

After many who had been his disciples said, these things are too hard, who can understand?

And Jesus said to his apostles, will you go away also?

What was Peter's reply?

Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal

Peter in that moment testified the same thing that Job did.

If I leave God, who am I going to?

Who is like the LORD?

You see, God's people have been accused by Satan and accused by Satan and accused by Satan
for generations after generations after generations for millennia.

And Satan's always wrong.

because Satan always loses.

God's people know it.

So notice what happens.

Now salvation has come.

Salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for
the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God.

Day and night has been cast down and they overcame him.

Now notice how God's people win because it's not how most of us think.

That's not how most of us imagine God's people winning.

We often imagine God's people winning because they outlast Satan, like Job.

We imagine God's people winning because God delivers them and they just go on into glory.

That's not how God tells John the people are going to win.

You remember the message which John was given by the angel?

Sweet in your mouth is the Word of God.

Bitter in your belly.

The message is not one of happiness and flowers and roses and everything's perfect.

We read, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,
and they did not love their lives to the death.

people of God win.

because they do not deny Christ even to the point of being killed for their testimony.

You see, the devil's perspective is everybody will say something to keep their life.

And he's been proven wrong over and over and over and over and over again.

Because the Christians overcome by the power of the blood of the Lamb.

They're washed in the blood.

They overcome by the word of their testimony, which was the message of God.

And because they love God more than they love their lives.

So if you kill them,

You might take their physical life, but you'll never take their soul.

We read in verse 12, therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them.

Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having
great wrath because he knows that he has a short time.

A pronouncement of danger, of that which is coming is going to affect not the people of
God primarily, but the people of the earth.

that the one who they think is their leader, the one who they think is their deliverer,
the one who they think is the power has deceived them and will turn on them and do harm to

them.

That's exactly what's going to happen.

So we get to the end of chapter 12 and beginning of chapter 13, but let's just mention as
we close, let's read verses 13 through 17 just to notice this final defeat.

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who
gave birth to the male child.

But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness
to her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time from the presence

of the serpent.

So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might

caused her to be carried away by the flood, but the earth helped the woman, and the earth
opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had spewed out of his

mouth." What did Moses say had delivered the people of God from Pharaoh?

He said, God parted the waters, God congealed the bottom of the sea, and we went forth,
and then the earth swallowed them up.

This isn't forecasting some great thing that occurs in some nuclear warfare.

This is Exodus language.

The devil tries, the devil fails.

The devil tries again, the devil fails.

The devil tries one final time and he fails again because the devil is not the ruler of
this world.

The devil is not the final authority in this world.

The devil is a deceiver and the only authority he has is over those who allow themselves
to be deceived.

So then notice.

We'll we'll close.