Collision With Prophecy

Collision With Prophecy #9:
The Church in the Wilderness and the Great Controversy

Introduction

As you'll recall from our first meeting, the passage in Revelation containing the main mark of the beast verses is but a portion of a longer section. Included in that section is the whole of Revelation chapter 12. If we would understand the fuller context of the issues involved in the mark of the beast, then we need to come to grips with Revelation 12.

We saw two meetings ago that the mark of the beast and the seal of God are about a moral issue. And we've been seeing that morality has everything to do with obeying God. In our last meeting, we v3ery carefully identified the beast of Revelation 13:1-10. Tonight we'll see that thousands of years and thousands of miles are no barrier for Satan. He will chase down and destroy every decent god-fearing believer if he possibly can. He'll run to and fro' throughout the earth for the satisfaction of deceiving you and inflicting pain upon you and using your life to smear God's name.

If he can.

But we are fare-armed--God has given us the Scriptures. And we are fore-warned--because tonight we'll look into his plot. Tonight we'll see the conflict laid out in stark terms. Let us turn to the Word of the God, not of the dead, but of the living.

A Conflict Involving God's Holy Law

You may or may not know, that originally, the Bible was not marked-out in chapters and verses. The text of the Scriptures was split into chapters and verses not many hundreds of years ago. Most of those chapter-breaks make a lot of sense, but from time to time they are a bit obscure. The same text is all there, mind you, but in order that we consider it in the way that makes the most sense, we may have to include part of the previous chapter. And that's what we find with Revelation chapter 12. Really, the block of Scripture flowing through chapter 12 begins in Revelation 11:19.

Often, a block of Scripture--a passage of verses written as a distinct unit--will begin and end with the same idea. Let's test this with the last verse in Revelation 12:17

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

What do we find here? A distinct people, identifiable (i) by their keeping of God's commandments, and (ii) by their having the faith of Jesus. Very interesting. Now, let's look at the last verse in Revelation chapter 11: Revelation 11:19:

And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

What's that we see? To John's wide and watching eyes is shown the temple of God in heaven. Just as we've already seen in Yom Kippur and End-Time Prophecy, that when the Bible speaks of the temple or the sanctuary, it is practically speaking of the same thing. So John looks and sees the heavenly sanctuary. And in vision he is shown "in His [God's] temple the ark of His testament." The word "testament" comes from a Greek word translated equally well as "covenant." So what does John see? The ark of the covenant. And now let's test our recollection. What position did the ark of the covenant occupy in the camp of Israel in the wilderness, and in the sanctuary itself? It is in the Most Holy Place, in the very center. And what was placed in the center of the ark? The Ten Commandments.

So what is happening? As God was preparing John (who was "in the Spirit" on the Lord's day [the Sabbath, see Isaiah 58:13]) to see and understand what He was about to show him in the vision described in Revelation 12, He made a transition from one scene of the vision to the next by "cutting to a visual" of the ark in the heavenly sanctuary. Instead of fading in or out, or wiping left or right, He uses thunder and lightning and earthquakes and weather-effects. Pretty cool. So just as this section of Scripture ends with the commandment-keeping people in Revelation 12:17, it begins with the enshrined commandments of God in heaven in Revelation 11:19.

Two Wonders at War

Next, contrasted with each other, we see not one, but two wonders in heaven.

The first wonder (called a "great wonder"), is a woman, clothed with the sun, standing with the moon under her feet. On her head she wears a crown topped with 12 stars. But the description doesn't stop there. She's pregnant--so pregnant that she stands trembling, in pain of labor, just on the point of giving birth.

In contrast, the other wonder is "a great red dragon," with not one, but seven heads. He has ten horns arrayed on those seven heads, and seven crowns. His tail reaches into the heavens and sweeps fully a third of the stars out of the sky, sending them crashing to the earth. But the real attention of the dragon is focused on the belly of the pregnant woman. The giant red monstrosity stands there, glowering over the woman, drooling in anticipation of eating her child when it will be born.

Consider the contrasts between these two wonders appearing in heaven:

The woman is clothed with the sun--a blinding brightness [note: the "sun" in Scripture must be interpreted according to context, as in some places it represents Jesus (Malachi 4:2), and in others the wickedness of sun worship (Ezekiel 8:16)]. Here, the sun represents Jesus and purity, for this woman represents the followers of Jesus. The dragon is colored red--the color of blood.
The woman is represented as a normal human female--with just one head. The dragon is a beastial representation, with not one, but seven heads.
The woman wears one crown, a stephanos. The stephanos crown is a victor's crown, given to one gaining the victory in ancient Greek games of contest. The dragon wears seven diadamatas, seven royal crowns. Those who rule don't necessarily earn their rulership by fitness to rule, but may take it by force.
The woman is preparing to give birth, to give life. The dragon is preparing to take life, to consume the child as soon as opportunity permits.
The woman is shown in an exalted state--standing with the moon under her feet and clothed with the sun. The dragon casts stars to the ground. He's shown with no foundation beneath him and no brightness. His is the realm of destruction and murder.

There are also similarities. Both are defined as "wonders." Both are represented as in the sky before John. They are frozen in mid-action-sequence, the woman already pregnant and in labor, the dragon already active in destruction (casting the stars to the ground) and waiting to eat the little baby.

The attention of both is centered on the imminent arrival of the infant. The woman travails in birth-labor, focusing on her pain. The dragon also awaits the birth of the baby. He will not have opportunity to destroy it until it is born.

This brings another important point: the arrival of the child is out of the dragon's hands. It is not a matter over which he is allowed to exercise dominion. This event is clearly under God's timetable and His dominion. The dragon only can wait for it.

Interpreting the Two Wonders

Interpreting these symbols is not difficult. Throughout the Bible, what does a woman represent? A church, a nation, or a group of religious people are represented by a woman. For example, Jeremiah 6:2 says, "I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman." Ephesians 5:25 says, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

In Ephesians 5:32, Paul goes on to say that "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." The church was the woman. Revelation 17 portrays one of the end-time churches represented as a woman "arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication." She is the Babylon of Bible prophecy, a false religious structure. She makes an all-out effort to take the world captive.

Genesis 3:15 prophesied of the coming of the Savior as the "seed of the woman," and of His crushing the serpent (Satan) under His feet; but Romans 16:20 shows that God would crush the serpent under our feet in the end. Revelation 12:17 we saw, identified the remnant of her seed as end-time Christians obedient to God. But in Revelation 12:1 we saw that the first great wonder displayed in the vision is a woman "clothed with the sun." Adorned in purity, in blinding bright whiteness, she is a church. She represents God's people down through the passage of time.

But someone might say, "wait a minute. The church came after the death of Christ on the Cross, not before it." But don't forget. The Bible even calls God's people before Jesus came a church. Did you know that? Turn to Acts 7:38:

This is he [Moses] that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us.

Well, we can tell very plainly that this verse is referring to Moses and Israel in the wilderness, on the journey between Egypt and Palestine. Here they are called, "the church in the wilderness." Nor is this a strange translation. The underlying Greek word here is the same word used throughout the New Testament for church: ekklesia. An ekklesia literally is a group of those who are "called out." The Hebrew nation was "called out" of Egypt, just as we in our day are "called out" of the world.

Consider Jesus Christ. Let me ask you this: when, in the figurative sense, was Jesus slain? Do you remember that Revelation 13:8 calls Him the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world"? When Adam and Eve first sinned, Jesus immediately offered His life for theirs. He promised to come "in the fullness of time" to die in their place. In this way He was in fact "slain from the foundation of the world." Jesus would "come in" to the world, that He might redeem (buy-back) those "called out" of the world. It was as a direct result of their sins and His willingness to pay their penalty that the church can well be said to give birth to the Messiah. If they hadn't sinned, there'd be no need for a Savior to come and die on the cold Cross. And so here, in this portrayal of the conflict between good and evil, we see (so to speak) the church giving birth to Christ, "the Seed of the woman."

The fact we just mentioned certainly explains the dragon's focus upon the child about to be born! For the woman represents God's people and the child represents Christ. He would be born, and after successfully completing His ministry on earth, be "caught up to God, and to His throne," to "rule all nations with a rod of iron" (Revelation 12:5; Psalm 2:2-9).

And, speaking of the dragon, how shall we interpret him? Revelation does it for us. Revelation 12:9 identifies him, as we've already said, to be "that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan." But notice: he is portrayed as having seven heads (Revelation 12:3). What could that mean? How many Holy Spirits are there? There is exactly one Holy Spirit, called "the Spirit [singular] of truth" (John 16:13). But in Revelation 1:4 there is reference to "seven churches which are in Asia," and "the seven spirits which are before His throne."

What's interesting is that it has been suggested, and it makes a lot of sense, that the seven churches in Revelation chapters 1-3 represent not only seven literal churches in Asia, but seven distinct time-frames within which the church functions. Not seven different dispensations with God operating differently in each period, but simply seven distinct periods or phases that the world and God's people pass through. The seven heads of the dragon would represent Satan's working during each of these periods, and the seven spirits before God's throne represent God's protection and nourishing of His people through these ages of trial and persecution. The 10 horns of the dragon represent the 10 divisions of Rome; the seven crowns, manifestations of Satan's kingdom in each period.

So here we have two wonders locked in conflict: God's people, His church, face-to-face with the dragon, Satan. The focus of the battle at this stage of the conflict? The infant Christ who would be born. She labors to give birth. The dragon waits to destroy the child. All eyes are on the belly of the woman. All eyes are concerned with this "Emmanuel: God with us" (Matthew 1:23). The battle between good versus evil smolders. Jesus will come as infant child in the very flesh of humanity to grapple with the toxic dragon. The war is to be joined.

The Great Escape?

There was no escape for Christ. For 33 years He lived under severe persecution by Satanic powers. Satan and his cohort of demons surrounded and dogged His stickery path through our world. But they did not prevail. The dragon did not eat the child. Satan through Herod and the Roman government continuously attempted to slay the infant Savior, but the battle never let up (Matthew 2:1-18). Satan sought to destroy the tiny group of disciples, but his real focus was on Christ. Still, nothing that Lucifer could do availed. Christ was caught up to God and to His throne to complete His work in the heavenly sanctuary by applying the benefits of the atonement to His people through the linkage of faith.

All the years following the death of Christ on the Cross, persecution grew ever more severe as the followers of Jesus were hounded and driven through Judea, persecuted with intensifying fury by the Roman Empire. And so God's people--represented by the woman--were pressed and attacked. Down through the days of persecution they journeyed, until finally they passed into a situation the Scriptures call "the wilderness" (Revelation 12:13-14). First Satan used the Roman Empire, through its iron strength attempting to annihilate them. But the church only grew stronger and stronger. Because of this, eventually there came a dramatic shift in the Satanic strategy. From the use of coersion and force, he shifted to infiltration and compromise. The danger faced by God's people now accelerated almost beyond measure.

Because of Roman antipathy and persecution of the Jews, some of the early Christians went out of their way to differentiate between themselves and the them. Some even gave up the Sabbath. Let it be remembered that it was something of a fad at that time to be a "Greek." Some Jews went so far as to have a reverse circumcision (yes, it is said to have been painful!). In the Greek running competitions men wore no shorts, so one could readily tell who was or was not circumcised (fortunately, the present "Olympics" has a different policy).

In the fourth century, the Emperor Constantine passed a Sunday law as he sought to unite the decaying Roman Empire under Christianity. True Christians of that age, unwilling to break the Ten Commandments in any part, continued to live under conditions of pressure in the surrounding culture. A time was coming in which she would be propelled into "the wilderness."

War in Heaven

Now the scene shifts. Whereas the first portion of the vision had portrayed the conflict between God's people on earth, and between their Savior and their foe, (and their enemies' redirection of his wrath at the followers of Jesus), now the verses from Revelation 12:7-12 move to portray the conflict in its broader scope. There was war in heaven. Who fights? Michael (Jesus) and his angels versus the dragon (Satan) and his angels.

How can Michael stand for Christ? Let's keep a couple of things in mind:

Satan is here represented symbolically by the "dragon." Christ is described in His infancy only as a "man child" (Revelation 12:4-5), which was exactly what He was at that point in time. If Satan is presented symbolically as a "dragon," it makes sense that Christ also be represented here symbolically, under the label "Michael,"--a name that in Hebrew translates to the question, "Who is like God?"
To identify Christ as Michael is not to identify Him as a created being. Christ always existed. He always had life in Himself--original, unborrowed, and underived. Other groups have called Christ "Michael" but claimed He was the first created being, or a being with only a "derived" divinity. As far as we can see, such is not the testimony of Scripture.
The clinching evidence is found in Joshua 5:13-15, where Joshua is standing outside the city of Jericho which the Hebrews have surrounded and are preparing to attack. Looking aside, Joshua sees a Being standing with sword drawn. Moving to face Him, he asks, "Are you for us, or against us?" In response, Joshua is told, "Nay; but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." Immediately Joshua drops to the earth and "worships" this Person, asking "What saith my Lord to His servant?" In response comes the command, "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy." The only thing that makes holy is the presence of God. Echoing the experience of Moses and God at the burning bush, we here find Jesus and Joshua in converse. Here, He is come "as Captain of the Lord's host." Jesus, in the role of heavenly General, is one and the same as "Michael" with His angels.

Where did the war begin? "In heaven." The result? Not the destruction of Satan and his angels--the third of the stars that were flung to the ground--but the removal from heaven of Satan and his rebels. They are cast to the earth--the whole lot of them. Verse nine calls Satan one "which deceiveth the whole world." In the Greek it is a present active participle, meaning that it speaks of one presently active in a continuous effort at deception.

Who is he striving to deceive? The entire oikomenayn; the occupied world. The root here is the Greek oikos, which means a "house," literally, "all that are under one roof." If you listen closely to this word (which we'll see again in Revelation 18:1-5), you'll hear another word we've become familiar with in recent years: ecumenism. That's right. That's the English translation. Ecumenism is an attempt to put all so-called "Christian" belief-systems under one comfortable, cozy roof--under and into one oikos. And here stands Satan, cast out of heaven, one who is presently active in deceiving the whole world--everyone on the planet--trying to get them all yet more completely deceived, yet more completely "ecumenized." But that's another topic. We can't share everything in one night now!

Revelation 12:10-12 next treats us to a fascinating angel pronouncement:

Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

When is come what? "Now" is come "salvation," "strength," the kingdom of God and the authority of His Christ. The war in heaven began only after Lucifer forsook his purity. Lucifer (Satan) was originally a bright and shining angel, pure and true. God didn't make a devil; He made a beautiful, truth-loving angel.

But pride rose up. He began to look to himself. Seeing himself in a compartmentalized context--apart from his dependency upon his Creator--everything became psychologically twisted-up (See Isaiah 14:9-20; Ezekiel 28:3-19). Lucifer ("star of the morning"), without justification began to seek the worship appropriate only for God. He rebelled. He deceived a third of all the angelic host. There--in the very hallways and portals of purity and truth, basking in the pulsating glow of brightness emanating from God on His throne--there began the mystery of iniquity; the inexplainable, unjustified existence of sin. And the battle was carried to earth. Satan was not then destroyed; he was limited--cast to this earth. God suffered him to be placed in His perfect Eden garden.

Even in that verdant paradise, even there, Satan was placed on the shortest of short leashes. He was tied to one tree. Just one. Just one tree on all the planet. That was the only place where he could tempt Adam or Eve. If (that is) they would even go there. There the mighty fallen angel brooded, chained--limited to the tree. And of course, there is where he and Eve had their fatal meeting. Notice this interesting fact: Satan was not destroyed in heaven, although God instantly could have done so. And then, Satan was not destroyed on earth, although God instantly could have done so. No. Satan had made some claims about God: that He was unfair; that angels didn't need God's law; that no one could really obey it; that God Himself was unjust.

Charges like that are not answered by zapping a being out of existence. If God had done that, just think what questions would remain in the minds of the other beings, along with the added concern, "If I don't obey God, He may wipe me out too!" Such precipitous action on God's part would only have inspired the service of fear among heaven's angels.

So our heavenly Father chose a different approach. He would deal with the sin problem for the long term, for the duration. He would end sin once and for all. He would show that it is unjustified and unnecessary. He would permit the demon a limited period of time to show (to a point) where his selfish plan for governing the universe led. God let the devil's leash out, like a rope by which Satan's own wickedness would finally hang himself.

Eventually--perhaps not immediately--Satan's true colors would be shown. Given the time and opportunity too, Lucifer would expose himself. And so God let out the line. The result was Satan's murderous rage at the birth and life and death of Jesus. Satan exposed what he was to a watching universe. Whoever's out there among the stars, whatever worlds look down upon our sad and blackened corner of the sky, they see the results of sin painted large. Oh what a shame that we don't seem to see it right before our eyes in its brutal fullness, right in our midst!

"For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." "Now" is come salvation, announced the angel. When? Where was the focus of the dragon in the very first part of our passage? On the woman's womb, within which was the Christ-child! Yes, the fight began ages ago in heaven, 6000 years or more past. But there are two decisive points in the battle. At the Cross "her Child was caught up unto God, and to His throne." According to Genesis three, Satan had been cast out of heaven right at the time of the beginning of our world, (and hinted at in Ezekiel 28:13-14). So we know that there was a time when he was cast down. But it is also true that at the Cross, Satan was cast down even further.

If only we had time tonight to go to the book of Job! In the first two chapters of Job we see that from time to time there is a gathering of the beings whom God has granted some authority in the worlds throughout the cosmos that He has made. According to the Bible's book of Job, on some of these appointed occasions, "when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord," "Satan came also among them to present himself to the Lord" (Job 1:6; 2:1). It seems that even after his initial casting out of heaven, there still were times when he was permitted to return to heaven. Our passage says that he "accused them [our brethren, i.e. humans. See Ephesians 3:15; Hebrews 2:12; Revelation 19:10; 22:9. Angels and humans are "brethren"], before our God day and night." Could it be that up until the time of the Cross, Satan still had a limited access to the throne room of heaven?

God and Satan do nothing in partnership: always they are at odds. But Adam had sinned in Eden, and in doing so he had given his worship to Satan. Adam had been God's appointed "manager" of this planet. To humankind, in the pair of Adam and Eve, the charge had been to exercise "dominion" (Genesis 1:26, 28-30). Adam's sin granted Satan some measure of control over the earth. Perhaps in some sense he (Satan) became our planet's (temporary) representative. Until, of course, the true king, Jesus Christ came, and won it all back. Then was Satan cast down indeed. And after Jesus successfully lived without sinning, in a body as human as ours, and condemned sin "in the flesh," Satan was thrust down to the earth.

Angry Dragon Makes War Upon Woman's Seed

But still He could do battle. He could strike at heaven through the fallen children of this world. He could poke and prod and harass and deceive and attempt to coerce them into forsaking their Savior, casting away their redemption. He could persecute Christ's followers. He could strike the Son through His followers, and even in His followers, for Christ resides in the true Christian. Colossians 1:27-29 calls it, "Christ in you, the hope of glory!" Through Christ's people, Satan could keep gnawing at Christ's heel.

And so he persecuted and sniped and bit and scratched, and with all of his ferocity he drove the woman into the wilderness. And had not God reached out to protect them there, nourishing them and sustaining them, they would not have survived. But through the power of His intervening grace, through the "power of His Christ," "They overcame him [the accuser, Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death" (Revelation 12:11).

What about the mystery of the 1260 days? We'll, what did we already discover about prophetic time periods, a few meetings back, when we talked about the longest time prophecy in the Bible? In apocalyptic Bible prophecy, a day equals or stands for a year (See Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6). If this is true, then what do we have here? Another long prophetic time period, this time reaching for 1260 literal years. In fact, this very same period occurs exactly seven times in the Bible, all in the apocalyptic books of Daniel and Revelation! In fact, all seven of these texts refer to the same 1260 year period: Daniel 7:25; 12:7; Revelation 11:2, 3; 12:6, 14; 13:5. So the question is, from when to when?

We know that it has to be within the time window following the death of Christ on the Cross and a period of persecution (Revelation 12:13), and when we work closely with our upcoming topic "America in Bible Prophecy," we'll see that the period ends with the first beast of Revelation 13:1-10 receiving a "deadly wound." It must come about the time of the rising of the image beast (Revelation 13:11-18).

The image beast persecutes the commandment-keeping followers of Jesus in the end-time, during the period when the sanctuary is being cleansed, which we know from our study on Yom Kippur and End-time Prophecy. Our study of the longest time prophecy in the Bible showed that the final period began in A. D. 1844. So without going a notch further than what we've already covered, we know that this 1260 year period fits somewhere between the death of Christ and A. D. 1844. Fortunately, finding an exact fit within that time-frame is not difficult at all. Let's proceed.

In A. D. 533 as Emperor Justinian was anxious to begin his war against the Vandals (remember, he had rooted them up before the close of A. D. 534), he mailed a letter to the Pope. Because of the significance of this letter, I reproduce it below in full:

Justinian, victor, pious, fortunate, famous, triumphant, ever Augustus, to John, the most holy Archbishop and Patriarch of the noble city of Rome. Paying honor to the Apostolic See and to your holiness, as always has been and is our desire, and honoring your blessedness as a father, we hasten to bring to the knowledge of Your Holiness all that pertains to the condition of the churches, since it has always been our great aim to safeguard the unity of your Apostolic See and the position of the holy churches of God which now prevails and abides securely without any disturbing trouble. Therefore we have been sedulous to subject and unite all the priests of the orient throughout its whole extent to the see of Your Holiness. Whatever questions happen to be mooted at present, we have thought necessary to be brought to Your Holiness's knowledge, however clear and unquestionable they may be, and though firmly held and taught by all the clergy in accordance with the doctrine of your Apostolic See; for we do not suffer that anything which is mooted, however clear and unquestionable, pertaining to the state of the churches, should fail to be made known to Your Holiness, as being the head of all the churches. For, as we have said before, we are zealous for the increase of the honor and authority of your See in all respects. Codex Justiniani, lib. 1, tit. 1; translation as given by R. F. Littledale, The Petrine Claims, p. 293.

History knows this document as "the decree of Justinian"--the landmark declaration of the supremacy of the Pope in Rome over all Christendom. But the Ostrogoths held the city of Rome and had to be rooted out before the Pope could come and lay full claim to his seat there. Wars proceeded over the next few years as the power known as the "little horn" of Daniel 7 plucked up the last of the three horns: the Ostrogoths. After five years of war the Pope could finally wield the power granted to him in 533 by Justinian. Thus, A. D. 538 marks a critical milestone in the history surrounding the age during which the woman (the true church) was persecuted by the dragon through Rome.

When we take A. D. 538 and add 1260 years to it and see what comes out at the other end, we see something of great interest. When you do the math, you'll see that this takes us to A. D. 1798 as the time marking the end of the period of wilderness terror and persecution. What happened in 1798? Of particular interest to you will be that Napoleon sent his General Berthier to Rome in A. D. 1798. He took Rome in February of that year. The Pope was taken prisoner and died in captivity. The Papacy received a deadly wound. It was even declared that never again would the Papacy be permitted to exist.

Down through the ages though, there were developments. The early 16th century saw the arrival of the Protestant Reformation. Battle was joined between the Protestants and the Papacy for many years. But after awhile the tide began to turn and the Reformation became more subdued in the European lands. The noble history of that period is wonderful and lively. O that we might retell it right here! But our time for tonight is gone. Suffice it that we say this for now: as the practice of religious freedom was waning on the European continent, a group of weary but staunch believers in Jesus Christ were driven across the ocean to a new country opening up. Hailed as "a country without a king and a church without a pope," a new power was rising. The United States of America would soon be born.

look with me at Revelation 12:15 "The serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman to cause her to be carried away by the flood." And just down the page, at Revelation 12:16: "And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth." A fresh, new, sparsely populated land received the persecuted people of God. The power of Rome was unenforceable in the "new world."

For awhile.

But only for awhile. For we find in Revelation 12:17 that the dragon never would let a mere ocean stop him; still he would hunt his prey . . .

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

And so, as we've already seen, as this passage of Scripture begins with the Law of God, so to it ends with it. Satan is angry with those refusing to bow to his revised version of God's law. An ocean or even a constitution won't stop him. Not for long. And only the restraining hand of God has prevented him from wiping out all those who would worship their Creator according to the dictates of their conscience. We said there were two climax-points in the war between good and evil--the great controversy. The first climax point was Christ giving His life at the Cross of Calvary providing a sacrifice sufficient to atone for humankind. But that first climax point makes possible also the last climax point: the coming of a time when God produces a people willing to receive, in its fullness, the applied benefits of that very atonement He is now making for them in heaven. Heaven purposes to display, in the last moment of time, a people who keep all of God's commandments, who have the testimony of Jesus Christ. In short, a people willing to follow the Lamb whereever He goes (Revelation 14:4). A people who live--by choice--with Christ in them, "the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27-29). And that opportunity has now come to us--to you and I. God calls us off the sidelines and into the war.

Conclusion and Preview

And so tonight we've seen, spread out before us, the holy adventure of God's people. We today can stand in continuity and solidarity with them. The dragon is wroth with the woman today, more than ever. He is filled to a frenzy with anger against this faithful band of Jesus-followers ready, in the end-time--at the very height of deception and smooth-preaching--to "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth" (Revelation 14:4). He is purple with rage against those who, embracing the empowering grace of God stand up for Jesus at the end of all things, faithfully keeping the commandments of God and having the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:17; 14:12).

Satan says "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars [angels] of God [For stars as angels, see Job 38:4-7]: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:13-14). In such thoughts and words, he says "worship me. Live my way. Obey my laws. Let me run things around here. My laws are better than God's laws. They are more convenient. Just worship me and I'll give you all that your heart could desire."

"Just sell-out to me."

But tonight we've seen that Satan has come down having great wrath. Why? Because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. Tonight friends, God is calling me and he's calling you. He's calling us. He's calling this generation to live for Him. He's calling us to forsake sin, to leave it behind, to turn our backs on it forever; to receive His power and live for Him alone. Oh friends, don't be deceived. Don't sell-out for a piddly moment of self-destructive indulgence. The pleasures of sin are for only a season. But what does God have? The Scriptures tell us that at God's right hand for us are "pleasures forever more" (Psalm 16:11). So let's be honest. We've all been wimps. We've all celebrated sin. We've all managed to indulge ourselves at Jesus' expense and to the destroyer (Satan's) most exquisite satisfaction. But let us purpose in our heart tonight . . .

No more.

As we've seen tonight, God's people have been very active down through the ages of history. The devil has tried his best to make certain they have received no rest. But the Bible also tells us that truly there is "No Rest for the Wicked" either. Tomorrow night we'll explore exactly why that is. But now let us pray . . .

Larry Kirkpatrick, Last modified 30 June 2001