Satan Cast Out： A Woman, A Child, A Dragon

The title this morning, Satan. Satan is cast out, a woman, a child, and a dragon. Revelation 12. Now a great sign appeared in heaven. So remember, it's John receiving this revelation. That's where the word, the book comes from, revelation. Revelation, the revelations of actually of Jesus Christ. Jesus is giving John these revelations and John is writing them down. And so he saw a great sign appear in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun. So there's this woman wearing the sun and the moon were under her feet. And on her head, a garland of 12 stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and was in pain to give birth. So remember what I mentioned about revelation. To really understand revelation, you have to have a good understanding of the Old Testament. Because it references the Old Testament so many different times. And this is one of those times. In Genesis, we see where Joseph had that dream as well, representing almost the same things here. So some people say this appearance, this woman, who is this woman that is clothed with the sun? Some say it's the church. I wanted to let you know that. I like to show different views, especially in areas where we're not exactly crystal clear on who this is. Because the Bible doesn't say, oh, by the way, this represents such and such. You have to go to the Old Testament. You have to look at the language of what is John linguistically, what do these Greek words mean? Active verb tense, passive verb tense. Historical context, what is the writer? So when it gets into sermon prep or even commentaries, it's not easy. Because trying to relay what they actually meant 2,000 years ago can be challenging. Others, and this is who I would agree with, others say that this represents Israel. And I'm gonna reference gotquestions.org quite a bit. All right? I don't wanna take credit for this. And when I research things, and they say exactly what I wanna say, I just copy and paste it. Like this explains it better than I was gonna explain it. They said, note the similarities between this description and the description that Joseph gave of his father Jacob, Israel, and his mother, their children. Genesis 37 talks about that. The 12 stars refer to the 12 tribes of Israel. So the woman in Revelation 12 is Israel. And of course, I think that makes even a little bit more sense when you read the last sentence that she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. This sounds like a pretty important child for them to mention in the Bible. And Israel is often described as a woman in labor throughout the prophets. Israel, the nation of Israel is, the prophets would give that imagery a lot. And I didn't jot them down. That took some time, and I don't know how much time to have on this. But I remember one of the prophets talking about, and again, a lot of these things just come to me, and I think it's important, but he said that you're about ready to give birth, but you couldn't. You're about ready to bring these things to fruition, and you couldn't. Or they would say, when Zion travails, sons and daughters are born. So often you would see Israel as this mother, this woman giving birth to this nation. And she is in great pain, great labor. Can anyone relate who is a female? No, men cannot have babies. You might be able to hook up a machine where you feel a contraction, but it's not the same thing. And we are losing our mind in this country. It's unbelievable. It's only satanic deception, in my opinion. And she's in great pain, and I want to remind you this morning that purpose often comes with pain. Calling with conflict and blessing with affliction. Isn't that true? God's purpose in your life, it's not going to be absent of pain. Calling does not come without conflict, and blessing does not come without affliction often. Because it makes for a soft Christian, and God builds His men and women in the furnace of affliction. And God doesn't show us these challenges. I mean, you can ask most pastors or most people involved in Christian ministry, you know, if they knew what was ahead, they'd say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'll see you later. I'm going to jump in the... Swim away. Get out of here. But to fulfill God's purpose, there is pain. Because it's hard to birth a dream that God gives you. Because that dream is challenged by the enemy. It's challenged by your family. Negative Nellies and judgmental Jerrys want to stop you. It's just, it is hard to bring forth God's purpose. And calling, your calling has conflict with it, does it not? Satan is wanting to stop you, and so we see she cried out in labor, but God's purposes, His plans would prevail. And then 12, three and four, verses three and four, and another sign appeared. So he's giving signs, there's a woman there, clothed with the sun and different things. Then another sign appears in heaven. Behold, this sign now is a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven diadems on his head. Of course, many would agree that the dragon is Satan. But I want to think here for a minute, also, we keep seeing throughout Revelation, another sign was given, another sign was given. And even we're celebrating Christmas, a sign was given in the stars. This will be a sign. You'll go and you'll see the baby that is born there in the manger. And there's a sign, and the preaching of the Gospel, signs and wonders followed. God often gives people signs. Signs, I believe, have five main purposes. But let me caution you, you have to be careful. This is tricky because on one hand, you want to let people know we have the Word of God, you follow the principles, that's all we need for godliness and living. Here's the principles laid out. But on the other hand, you know that sometimes you get a sign. Anybody can relate? Any signs out there? Few people? I think you're just not being honest, but that's okay. And I don't mean a weird sign, but like, God, confirm this. Confirm this if you're doing this in my life. And there's something that sometimes there's things that are just, and I think God in His goodness, He knows when we're genuinely seeking Him, when we're genuinely asking, Lord, I need to know if this is You, because I can't step out and just do this. I don't know if it's me, I trust You, I don't trust me. Lord, I need to know if this is You, show me, just give me something. Because there's also a fine line between faith and presumption. Anybody ever messed up because they presumed certain things? But there are five main purposes if God gives you a sign. Number one, you'll see that it's to wake us up, or to wake someone up. There's a sign that I've got to get back to church. I've got to get back to God. I've got to repent and turn my life back over to Him. The prodigal son, that car accident, or that near-death experience, or somebody does something and you realize, or your child is almost hit by a car, or something, there's something that wakes you up. God, if you're really there, if you're really there, there's been atheists who would scream out at God, and He would give them a confirmation. That's one of the reasons, and again, because I'm not teaching on signs today, I don't want to give all the references and spend a lot of time here, but you need to know that it's to wake us up sometimes, or it's to direct us. And I think it's okay to wait and say, Lord, I don't know if this is You. You know, it's good to encourage young couples to put that marriage on the altar until you say, I do. You don't always know. How many people have got, yeah, this seems great, it feels great, we're going for it, and they're like, uh-oh. That was, what do you got, a couple months? I better cancel this thing now. And so, Lord, I don't know what to do. I do not know what to do, direct us. I've got so many stories, I don't want to tell them because I've already told them before. I want some new stuff in 2024, right? Some new signs, Lord, show us. But He will use that sign to direct you. But again, you have to be careful because not just any happenstance. We sometimes get silly about it. All right, Lord, if that light turns green and I don't have to stop, I know You want me to... That's kind of, we don't want to play games either. So I think, in my opinion, it's not all the time. Okay, I need to sign Monday, and then Wednesday, I need to sign. Friday, I need to sign. And with direction, I need confirmation all the time. That can become unhealthy. You know, sometimes you might be like Abraham, or Abram was his name when God called him. He said, go to a land that I will show you. Okay, any direction, north, south, east, or west, you'll know when you get there. And I've thought about that a lot. I wouldn't even like, okay, because when you pack up and you're just walking with camels, you've got to kind of have an idea of what direction you're going. I mean, you could go completely the wrong direction. So possibly, I mean, we don't know, but it could be that they got up and they just, okay, this makes sense, let's head out this direction. But we know that when you commit your works to the Lord, your thoughts will actually be established. And I do believe if the enemy can plant thoughts, so can the Lord. Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts, your thinking will be established. As you meditate, and the more you meditate on God's Word, the more you worship and pray, the more your thoughts become more like how He wants you to think. It's easy not to snap at someone, or make the wrong decision, or make a foolish decision, or quick-tempered, or quick reaction, because you've been saturating your mind and heart with the things of God. He will also give you a sign, often to confirm His will or His Word. I mean, not in the sense that His Word means confirming, the Word stands forever, it's inerrant, but sometimes to confirm His will. Okay, Lord, we're doing this, I hope you're in this. I hope you're going to give me some direction on this, to confirm what direction He wants you to go. And I don't want to get into all the different ways I've had people tell me, Lord, show me His job opportunity is before me. And Lord, I need to make a decision Friday. How do I know if this is Your will? I have no clue. Lord, I need to know by Friday. I'm going to wait. Here comes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. I've got to make a decision. And then you get an email from a different place that you've been really praying about, really would like to work. That might be a good confirmation. And so that's how He'll confirm or even direct you a little bit different. Lord, how many of you have done this? Is this Your will if I buy something? And it's not there when you go to buy it. You want to wait. Lord, show me. I don't want to step out. I don't know if this is You. You know this house that we're going to purchase, if this is going to be a great spot for us long term. We don't want... Lord, You know, and we have to trust You. God, please confirm Your will. And you step out. And many of you know I started in real estate in 2009 just for a few years to launch this church. But so many people, you know, it's okay. You know, and they put it in, the offer in. Back then the prices were like way less than now. A nice home in Palmdale. You know, Rancho Vista was $220,000. And, okay, this is Your will. And then the bank would come back and increase their offer by $50,000. Like that might be a good confirmation that not to go that direction. You know, and so you just... But then we tried to play games with God, right? Well, if we squeeze this in... And that's between you and God. I don't... That's why there's no, you know, one size fits all approach. Because that could happen and somebody could still end up getting that home. Not because of that. But, you know, praying, Lord, confirm Your will. I want to purchase this, but I don't want to overspend. I don't know what the future holds. And then number four, to prepare us. That's what He's doing a lot in Revelation. To prepare us. You have a sign or somehow a confirmation to prepare you. There's one thing that I want to mention that I have before, but I had this very vivid dream. And a lot of times we could talk about dreams and I don't get out there because, you know, that's a whole other interesting topic. But what's interesting is God uses dreams a lot in the Bible. Or Peter had a vision. Joseph was warned how many times? You know, flee from this area. Go to Egypt. Now leave Egypt. Don't go to that area, Bethlehem. No, don't go there. Now go to here. And the wise men were... And so God will sometimes do that. And I had a very vivid one of His... I still remember a black leopard, you know, kind of just coming at me. And I'd shine this light right in his face. And there he is over there. It's like, why is it so vivid? Why is it that it felt like it had spiritual meaning to it? I think that next day or maybe two days later, I set up an appointment. I don't know why I did this because I thought it'd be fun. It wasn't fun. But to have a Jehovah Witness come back with one of his top guns. And we sat in our living room for two hours. It was painful. Painful. The brainwashing is unbelievable. He said, well, here's what the Bible says. Well, no, no, no. We've got to pull out the watchtower. We've got to have one source of authority. Hey, let's pray in Jesus' name. No, we don't pray in Jesus' name. I mean, it's just so much stuff. But then when he left, I was so frustrated. And then I remember, he's all dressed in black. And it just came to me. I didn't think it. It just came to me. And it's shining a light and getting around it. And I was like, just confirmation. Oh, I kind of feel a little bit better. Okay, he wasn't going to be open. He wasn't going to be receptive. Now you could say, well, that's just coincidence. Okay, I don't know. It helped me out. And God still uses dreams to confirm His will. Reading and to prepare us for things. Reading Billy Graham's biographies. He would use two. And a lot of us have. I've had these early on. Not in a long time. But where you have dreams and you're walking out and you're preaching to like a sea of people. Like, what was that all about? I don't want to speak to anybody. I'm scared of public speaking. But He'll begin to show you things what might come in the future. To prepare. To confirm. God cares for us enough. He knows where we're at. And He knows that we're fallible. We're weak. I need to hear from God. I don't know about you, but I don't really rush ahead. He's taken seven years for tears. To build faith also. To build faith. He shows us a sign to build faith often. He'll show you something. Oh, Lord, thank You. It reinforces what we believe. And it's a very good thing. So there was a sign in heaven. And you can look at these five things to see how God might use a sign to warn you. To encourage you. To wake you up. Or to direct you. But you don't, let me just close with this, you don't just follow every whim. Or every little, you know, sometimes ask for a few signs. Amen? Okay, Lord, alright, I got it. But like Gideon, I can relate to Gideon. Remember Gideon? Alright, Lord, if everything is wet, but the other side of this mat is dry, I know it's You wanting me to go forward. That's why they call it throwing out a fleece in the Christian community. And then he woke up. Can you imagine? Everything is due. And for that to be dry underneath is actually impossible. Those of you who work outside or you know. And he goes, okay, okay. Well, one more chance here. And he flipped it over. Now, if it's wet and everything else is dry, then I'll know it's You. And it was. But he's still a little worried. And they go sneak into the camp. And one of those enemies has a dream that this big sourdough freshly made with butter on it thing rolls into the camp of the enemy. You just bought some sourdough today, Rogie. I know you. And so it rolls into the camp. And the enemy says, oh, this is nothing but the sword of Gideon. And he confirmed it again. Now Gideon said, surely this is God. Finally, it only took three times. And I think God knows our frailty. And actually, to me, it's not really being disobedient, it's being cautious. Like, Lord, I know that's a good confirmation. And again, I can tell you about the radio station and how he purchased that. It took about three different confirmations. You couldn't make this stuff up if you wanted to. So just take it to prayer. Move cautiously. God will show you. But the sign, there was a great fiery dragon, which obviously it looks like Satan, and his tail, what did it do? It drew a third of the stars of heaven. And it threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth and he was going to devour her child as soon as it was born. And of course, this sounds like what Herod tried to do as soon as Jesus was born. The wise men came and they said, where is this king who was born? And Herod said, well, when you find him, come back and tell me. Because he wanted to kill that child. Be careful who you tell your dream to. There's a lot of dream killers. And I wish it wasn't true, but not everyone is happy for you when you're doing good. And there's a lot of lessons. Mary pondered it in her heart. Nehemiah pondered it in his heart. David pondered things in his heart. The prophets would ponder things in their heart. And so Herod, when the wise men never came back, he set out to kill all the babies two and under to make sure they got rid of Jesus. How did God remove Joseph and Jesus from that area? By a dream. And so there are YouTube videos and different things that actually mock, oh, dreams aren't for today. Dream, oh, are you sure? Golly, I hate when people say God's not doing that anymore. Are you sure He's not doing that anymore? Did He tell you? Because He hasn't told me. His Word is still kind of clear that He's doing things. I mean, think about it. God uses these things to direct His people. Well, but now we have the Word in chain. Yeah, but the Word doesn't tell me who to marry. It doesn't tell me where to work. It doesn't tell me to buy radio stations. It gives me principles to follow. But I need a little help from the Holy Spirit to guide. That's New Testament theology. Well, what do you mean? Well, Paul was led by the Spirit, not the Septuagint. He was led. The Holy Spirit forbade them, forbidden them from going. The Holy Spirit did this. There are so many things we're open to when we're allowing God to move us around. His Word is my stability. His Word is my anchor. I don't do anything without those principles. It's life. But we don't worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Word. The Word points us to Jesus. And God uses things to lead us. And I think it catches a lot of flack, dreams and things, because people can get really weird with it. You're not supposed to be weird. Solid. Solid. Cautious, but careful. Open, but cautious and careful. And so, this picture of a third of the stars of heaven came in the vision, and the child, Satan was wanting to devour this child. And Satan's goal, you need to know this, is always to devour. In case you're wondering this morning, in case you're wondering this morning, what his goal is, it is to devour. 1 Peter 5, 8-9. Be sober. Be vigilant. Men, this is a call to you as well. Of course, sobriety meaning with drunkenness, of course. But also, it doesn't just mean that. Sober means to be ready. Be a watchman. Be alert. Know what's going on. Not the lazy man stuck in his man cave for five hours with no clue what's going on. Or around him or anything. Be sober. Wake up to the things that are really important. Be vigilant. What does that mean? Vigilant. Not giving up. Fighting. Moving forward despite setbacks. No matter come hell or high water, I am going to move forward. I'm going to seek God. I'm going to guard my family. I'm going to pray for things, even when it doesn't look like there are going to be good results. So you're sober in the things of God. You're vigilant. So in other words, you discern what's going on and you're fighting spiritual battles and you have to do this because your adversary, not your friend, the devil walks about as a roaring lion. Do you know often lions, you picture, they don't roar right before they go after their prey. That would kind of give them a signal. The roar is an intimidation. This is my ground. This is my land here in Africa. Don't you come near me. It's a sign of intimidation. So it's kind of ironic that the devil walks around intimidating and discouraging. He can't touch you if God has you. I'll never forget one of that. You should read that book, Pilgrim's Progress. I think there was a movie out too, his name is Christian. And he's walking down this path and there's two lions trying to get him, but they're chained. They can't touch him unless he falls one side or the other. Or he sees him, he becomes discouraged, and he goes back to where he was. So you have to understand about Satan, he's not equal. He's not all-powerful. He's not all-knowing. He doesn't like me saying what I'm telling you right now. That's for sure. He roars. He intimidates. He tries to discourage you. And I think a discouraged Christian is causing more problems than anything else. It's quenching and grieving the spirit. Think about it. If we're discouraged, look at all areas of service. If the worship team is discouraged, it's like, hey, I'm going to take this month off. I don't even want to be there. Can you imagine? Sound and media, I'm getting discouraged. I'm calling in sick. Other aspects of media, I'm discouraged. I'm frustrated. Now we have ushers calling in. Nobody's coming in. I don't want to be there. Discouragement. Discouragement. Witness to that person. No, I'm discouraged. I see it all the time. And in my own life as well. You don't want to do much for God when you're discouraged, do you? Come on, we've all been there. We get pumped up. January 1st is coming. New Year's resolutions. We know. Man, I'm motivated. I'm going to do this. I can't wait. I'm going to talk to some of you on January 7th and see how you're doing. Do you know you'll be very discouraged if you don't set realistic goals and understand that the enemy is trying to discourage you? That's what he does. He roars. He intimidates. I talked to a gentleman recently who finally took my advice and stopped watching the news all the time. He goes, I feel so much better. The joy's returned. There's a smile back. Goodness gracious. I'm not so discouraged. Boy, it can get you. Can it? The White House having their Christmas party with all those transgenders fluid dancing down the middle of the White House? My Lord, have mercy on us, God. And the video they're filming in the Senate Hall where the guy got removed, and it's like this is sexual perversion at a very deep and deviant and demonic level. And if you're not careful, you get very discouraged. And that's what he does. He devours. Look at what I'm doing. Look at what I'm doing, he says. There's nothing you can do, Christian. And I get discouraged because people post that on social media. I get thousands of comments a month. You think you're really going to make a difference? America's going to hell in a ham basket. We're supposed to just wait for the rapture. Well, what verse? Can you tell me what chapter and verse that says to just go and wait for the rapture? What chapter and verse, please? Oh, no, I mean, it's pointless. The pointless. The enemy's coming in and God's going to do... That's not the Bible I read. Tells me to do business until he returns. Tells me to expose the unfruitful works of darkness. I'm called to expose the unfruitful works of darkness. I'm called and you're called to motivate the next generation. Can you imagine all the teenagers and young adults looking at us going, well, what about me? Well, too bad, honey. I'm out of here in 20 years. You can deal with this. Leave them the... Well, no, we're supposed to be big boys, put on our big boy pants, get up and fight this battle spiritually speaking. Make a difference. How do we know God's not going to bring revival? You think God is concerned? God is scared? The enemy's roaring and God is backing away? Absolutely not. That's why he says put on the whole armor of God and withstand the wiles of the devil. Having done all, just stand there with their loins girt about with truth. That's all God says. Just stand there, hold the line. Don't fall back. Don't get discouraged. I might preach a little this morning. I might change direction because you need to encourage yourself in the Lord. Yes, it's okay to stand up, Raquel. Praise God. But right, we got to encourage ourselves and leave here ready. Okay, Lord, he might've been growling this week. He might've been puffing his chest and roaring this week, but I'm going to take him out. That enemy is no threat to me greater is God that is within me than he that's in the world. I'm just telling you, discouragement is the biggest weapon he has. Right? If I'm discouraged, I'm not coming for a while. Abram, you got it. I'm done. I'm not going to witness to people. I'm not going to help people. I'm not going to talk to people. I don't want to do anything because I'm discouraged. There goes our witness. There goes our spiritual power. There goes the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. How do you know you don't see someone walking on Trader Joe's and God puts on your heart to pray for them? That they're delivered and they begin weeping and breaking down and you go somewhere else and you see you're full of the Spirit of God. Now you're doing the things of God. Most of us are not full of the Spirit of God. That's why we go through our daily life like a robot. Went to church. I'll see you next week. Is that how robots walk? Robots walk. When I was younger, I could do the robot. Everyone, remember that dance? I don't think I could. I'm not even going to attempt it. I mentioned ice, ice, baby vanilla ice last week. I'm not going to go there this week. I'm praying for that guy. I'm praying for him and all these guys that I grew up with in Hollywood. I didn't know them, but I'm just praying for them. But that's a side trail. But isn't that true discouragement? He comes about roaring and he wants to devour, but what are you supposed to do? Resist him. You have to see this. Resist him. That word steadfast, steadfast. In other words, hold fast. If I had something, it's like, here comes the hurricane and I'm holding tight. I'm steadfast. I'm holding tight. So resist him. Here he comes. I'm holding tight. I'm steadfast. It doesn't mean there's no hurricane or earthquake, but you hold on to Christ. You resist him. You hold to that faith knowing that the same sufferings, meaning when you go through that difficulty, they are experienced by brothers all over the world. We all go through the same things, but fortunately in America, we know nothing of suffering. And then we see Satan cast out. We're going to talk about that here briefly because his tale drew a third of the stars and he threw these stars to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman and was ready to give birth and to devour her child. So a lot of people think, and it does get confusing because the Bible isn't always written in chronological order. I wish it was. There's a Bible that's called the chronological Bible. You know, you can read that, but then it's like, well, who put this together, right? They do some things that I don't quite agree with, but it's a good Bible. But some people say this is when Satan was cast out of heaven and he drew one-third of the angels with him. Let's talk about that for a minute. God declared everything to be good. Very good after creation. After that, it appears that Satan was cast out of heaven when he rebelled against God. Jesus said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. So again, there are different views on your interpretation of Revelation. I mean, there's views on even Satan. Did he really fall? He was created really good and then he fell and became this? Or did God create him to be evil? You know, and people teach that. And all we do is we can just stick with Scripture. And then Isaiah 14 is another passage that may describe the fall of Satan. It opens with judgment being pronounced against a human king and the nation of Babylon, but then it goes on to suggest that it may also refer to Satan. And read Isaiah 14 at your convenience. I will just tell you that this has been a struggle for me for about 20 years. On where everybody says, oh, this is definitely about Satan. I'm like, um, I don't know. Maybe, because there's some language in here that's definitely not for a king, an earthly king. But if you read the beginning, like Isaiah 14 around verse 12, it's definitely talking about an earthly king. For sure, there's no way around it. You can look at the language. But then he goes on to say, he talks about the whole earth and the king fell from heaven and the king's desire was to exalt himself above all the stars and the symbolic name Lucifer or Lightbringer was also used. So it's an interesting passage. I just leave it at that. Definitely talking about a human king because he's pronouncing judgments in Isaiah 14, I believe, on different kingdoms. And he gets to the king of Babylon and he pronounces a judgment on that king. But then it goes into some very interesting language that would not pertain to an earthly king. So that's why a lot of people think Isaiah 14 is talking about a judgment against Satan as well. So again, got questions. The book of Revelation describes a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. Remember we read that, I think a month or two back? So there's a star that falls from the sky to the earth. This star is given a key to the bottomless pit and proceeds to release a horde of tormenting locusts. So while Revelation 9.1 is not clearly a reference, I mean, it's not a clear reference to Satan, it could be, especially since he uses the key to unleash terror upon the earth. So here's what you need to know. This one-third of heaven could be Satan being cast down and taking one-third of the angels with him. That's where we come up with this concept. Without that verse, there's really no... And then are these angels now demons? And is that how the demonic realm was born? You know, so that's what that's about. John says that the dragon was hurled down to earth and he identifies it as the ancient serpent called the devil. We're going to read that here in a couple more verses. So John calls him the devil or Satan who leads the whole world astray. So let me bring this home. If the stars are symbolic references to Satan's angels, then we do have a reference to the fall of a portion of the angels. So when you hear one-third of the angels fell, Satan fell, these are all the verses they use to come up with that, to conclude that. But two-thirds of the angels remain loyal to God if that indeed was the case. And these are holy angels. And then one-third of the angels who join Satan, again, if that's the case, the reason I say that is we don't know for certain. There's no way I could come up here and say, oh, this is exactly what this means. This is exactly how this played out. I mean, we just don't know. And they are called unclean spirits or demons today. And I had to share this Ravenhill quote with you. If you have the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and two-thirds of the angels on your side, there's nothing to fear. There's absolutely nothing to fear. We get worked up when the enemy roars. His loud roar discourages us. And then we go to verse 5. So Israel is what we think this is. She bore a male child. I even think Roman Catholicism might teach that this is Mary. And tied in with their theology on the ascension of Mary, if I'm not mistaken there. So she bore a male child. If this was Mary, this has a lot of problems trying to make this Mary. So she bore a male child who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. That sounds familiar. If you haven't read the Bible, it's coming up in Revelation 19. In Revelation 19, we're going to get there in the months to come, the lamb becomes the lion and the servant becomes the king. He rules the nations with the rod of iron. So this is definitely talking about Jesus here. Because John says he has that vision where heaven opened up. Couldn't you imagine this? Heaven opens up and you see Jesus coming, riding horses with the armies of God following after Him. And His eyes are like flames of fire. And on His head are many crowns. And out of His mouth goes a sword that He will strike the nations. He will rule the nations with a rod of iron. And He will tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. So this cracks me up when you hear Ben Shapiro dismiss Jesus. When He comes back, He's not playing. He came as a servant. He washed feet. First you must be the last. Turn the other cheek. Mild, gentle, didn't answer His accusers. He's sitting down at the right hand of the Father, waiting to stand up. Because when He stands up and He comes back, nothing, nothing can stop Him. Think about it. You can't get more graphic than that. Out of His mouth goes a sword to strike, to devour. And He rules the nations. This is what is interesting. And He rules the nations like a graceful dove. Do you know what a rod of iron is? Have you ever been spanked with wood? Remember, you can't do it nowadays, but back in the old days, I remember we lived out in the almond orchards in Quartz Hill. They would just, whatever twig, whatever twig is on that almond tree, right, get over here. Bam, bam, bam, bam. Today, you can't do that kind of stuff. And we wonder why our schools look like zoos. The problem is a very small fraction of people would be abusive. So they threw the baby out with the bathwater and get rid of any type of discipline. And now we've got millions of just uncontrollable, and it falls directly on our shoulders. The lamb becomes a lion. Says He's going to rule the nations with a rod of iron. So this is, for those, you know, a lot of people don't believe in a thousand-year, literal millennial reign of Christ. But verses like this tend to make you think, okay, so when is He going to rule? Think about it. If He's just coming back, we're all judged, heaven and hell, it's end of story. But He's actually going to come back and rule and reign and judge. And those of us will rule with Him, the Bible says. So as complicated as it is, it seems like, and there's a lot of divinic promises, a lot of promises about Jesus that haven't been fulfilled yet. In that sense, He's going to come back and devour His enemies and rule them. And then it goes on to say about this millennial reign, if there is one, it seems to be that there is, that there are going to be dogs and thieves and cowards outside of the city gates. But Jesus and children will die at a hundred instead of a young. So like, what do you do with all those things? You know, it's interesting. We're going to try to, God willing, unpack those as we keep going. But I told Abram, this is the hardest book of the Bible I've ever taught through. Because I like to be clear. You know, I like to be crystal clear. This is what's happening. Not like, oh, that's interesting. Well, seven stars and a dragon and wow, okay. Flying saucers and aliens and all kinds of things. She bore a male child who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Basically, tell them I'm coming and hell's coming with me is what's happening when Jesus returns. Jesus said it before tombstone. That's where you recognize it, right? And her child was caught up to God and His throne. So this has to be Jesus. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God that they should feed her 1,260 days. So we see here the ascension. He is currently sitting at the right hand of the Father. But like I said earlier, wait until He stands up. And that's what we're going to get to as we keep reading here. Rule the nations. He's going to rule the nations. That's a future fulfillment. And it may appear that this represents the tribulation time, but Israel is preserved. And again, when we talk about the tribulation, you talk about the end times. And what people do is they pull in this text. They go to Daniel, I believe chapter nine. They'll get Matthew, the end of Matthew. And they'll get some of Ezekiel 38 and 39, Magog and Gog, and they try to pull in this whole end time scenario. And that's why it's challenging, because you have to pull in a lot of different things. But as we're living, we can see a lot of this unfolding. I mean, if you read theologians 100 years ago, they had a hard time explaining how the whole world would see two witnesses, or a mark where you can't buy or sell. That's not going to affect. I mean, we're that close, aren't we? Have you been following the World Health Organization and how Biden decided to maybe give up some of our sovereignty? Which means if there's another pandemic, we're under their sovereign control in the area of medical emergencies. And it's just right there. Right there. For people who can't see, the historical accuracy of the Bible is alarming. But again, remember they can't see it because what? Blinders are on. Spiritually blind. It can be right in front of you, but they are spiritually blind. They don't want to see it. They are arrogant. They are blasphemers. And then this could be when Satan is thrown out of heaven. We go on to verse 7. And war broke out in heaven. Wait a minute. I thought heaven was nice and relaxing. But you have to remember something in the Bible. We have to dig deep on certain terms. Did you know there's the word for hell? Sheol. Gehenna. What's the other one in the New Testament? Ohades, yes. But like Sheol in the Old Testament would be a place of just the dead, where they go, the underworld. And then there's a place of hell later, of torment. And so you have different words. And so sometimes if we're not careful, we can put a certain word in what we think is happening, but what's not happening. And one of those words is heaven. Heaven, what we're looking forward to to be with God. But how was Satan in heaven? How? Well, remember, he still had access to God. So heaven was a place, the Bible makes it clear, where God dwells in a more profound and powerful way. Although he's everywhere, there's a place where God is there in a more profound and powerful way, it appears. So he's also saying that war broke out in heaven. We don't know exactly when. Some say this could have been back at creation during the fall. Others say this is coming up. And Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail. You will never, ever, ever, ever, ever see in the Bible where the enemy prevails against God. Never. The only time is when Jesus said, hey, you're taking me, I'm going to the cross. This is your hour. This is your hour. Darkness is reigning, but just give it a few. Let's see here. Give it a few days. So he never prevails. He's always fighting. Now, not only did he not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So again, the book of Revelation isn't always chronological. And like I said, this could have been at the creation. This could be coming up. But let's keep reading. So the great dragon was cast out of heaven. That serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. And he was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. If I took a survey, maybe some of you would say that happened at creation. That's why we have the demonic realm. Others would say that's coming up. We just don't know exactly. But again, quoting gotquestions.org because this is so important. Satan was originally one of God's holy angels. Again, they believe what many teach. I don't doubt that. I'm definitely leaning towards that. But the Bible doesn't specifically say that. It's where we have to pull in certain things. He rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven in Luke 10.18. That was only the first stage of his judgment. Satan's kingdom was vanquished at the cross. A lot of times, we don't realize, and when I talk to people, they don't quite understand, something very, not only did salvation happen at the cross, something very, very important to the spiritual realm happened. Because Jesus actually went down, and people, I remember, I haven't listened to her in 20 years, so don't judge me on this, but I remember Joyce Meyer caught a lot of heat when she said Satan went to hell, and she retracted all that, she repented, but nobody seems to care about that. They just liked it. So anyway, but what he did, it went down into the, remember I said Sheol, Haiti, and he went down there and he led captives, he led those out of captivity. So there was a holding place, it seems, possibly Abram's bosom, something, where he actually, where they're waiting, they're waiting the Messiah. They can't go because Jesus hasn't yet ascended. He's the first to ascend, the first to be resurrected. They're in this waiting time. So he goes and he sets them free. The keys to the kingdom, he's conquered hell, death, sin, and the grave. So Satan has no more authority like he used to have, because it was broken at the cross. And it's interesting, and there's, this could, I mean, this is a whole, this could be a whole sermon. You know, they're waiting for the kingdom of God, waiting for the kingdom of God. Jesus said the kingdom of God is in you. So all millennial and people like that will use that to say God's kingdom is here. And their point, if you flesh it out and read, it's not that bad, because Jesus said the kingdom of God is within you. You're looking for outward signs, Pharisees, but the kingdom of God is within you. Jesus said it. So the only thing he can be talking about, obviously, as believers, we have the Holy Spirit. And so now Satan is fighting against the spirit of God in believers. All of that, think about the cross, the ascension, the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit comes, that promise of the Father. And that's why he said, I've held death in the grave I've overcome. Jesus did that on the cross. So much happened. And then later, it looks like Satan will be bound in the abyss for 1,000 years, Revelation 20. And then he'll be cast into the lake of fire for eternity. And we'll get into the millennial reign of Christ. And I've said before, you know, the millennial, any time the Bible talks about 1,000 years, it's always allegory. It's never literal. But when we get to this portion of Revelation, it mentions 1,000 years quite a few times in that one chapter. So that kind of makes you think, okay, maybe it's going to be 1,000 years. Jesus is reigning. He's fulfilling. Why let Satan go again? And they released him, and he was able to go, and they're like, oh, my goodness. Just be done with this fool. So we're going to get to that millennial reign, what that looks like when we get to Revelation 20. But until his final judgment, Satan is the prince of this world. So he is the prince, but you know the king. Big difference between a prince and a king. And I like the language they use, because did you know a prince couldn't do whatever the king didn't want them to do? The prince was submitted to the king. He was like his butler. You have these type of prince such and such. That's great, princess bride. But there's a king. So until his final judgment, Satan is the prince of this world, but it seems that he still has restricted access to the heavenly realm. Isn't that interesting? Satan still has access to the heavenly realm. And if that's the case, then what John is seeing here is going to happen at a later date. In Job 1.6, Satan stands in the presence of God. Did you know that? Read Job 1. It says the sons of God were going back and forth talking to God, communicating with God. And Satan was there. How was that guy there? See, we start reading into things because we're putting the end of things too soon. He still has that access. There's a similar situation in 2 Chronicles where there was a lying spirit with God. And this lying spirit said, I'll go put a lying spirit into the prophets. And so we see Satan must have access. But since God is holy and absolutely without sin, and since He will not even look on evil, how can Satan be in heaven? Well, the answer involves God's sovereign restraint of sin. In Job, Satan stood before God to give an account of himself. God initiated the meeting. He led the proceedings and he remained absolutely in control. The result was Satan's power was limited and God was glorified. So here's some factors that we have to consider. Satan does not have open access to God whenever he wants. He is summoned. The visits are temporary. In no way is the purity of heaven tainted by the brief God-ordained presence of a sinful being being quarantined, as it were, by God's regulatory power. Again, gotquestions.org because I can't write this well and explain things that well. Satan's access is only granted prior to the final judgment. After the judgment, God creates a new heaven and a new earth. Wipes away all tears from our eyes and reveals the new Jerusalem and the promises are complete and there is an absence of sin. So when we say God cannot allow sin into heaven, we simply mean that God cannot allow human beings who are still in their sin to live in His presence. But it is possible for God to command a sinful being to stand before Him, to exact an account from Him, and to judge Him without compromising His holiness. So I think the last question I have up there is, what will happen when you are summoned and are temporarily in His presence to give an account? That is more certain than anything. I believe in the Word of God more than the sun coming up, to be honest with you. And there will be a time when everyone is summoned to come and stand before God. Temporarily, even in His presence, temporarily, and give an account. And here's a good way to know, does this make you a little nervous? Does this make you pause a little bit and have concern with where your soul is at? So a couple things could be going on. Number one, even as believers, okay, I can be completely honest and transparent here. I am ready for this day because of what Jesus did for me. I'm not fearful necessarily, but I understand the awesomeness. So you can say, this is exciting, but there's also, holy God, there's a, in my flesh, in my humanity, I'm like, can you be certain but nervous? On my wedding day, I'm certain, but I'm nervous. So it's okay to feel a little, like I don't know anybody that's like, oh man, I can't wait, this is going to be so cool. Maybe that's good, but also, you understand the awesomeness of God. There's something that the flesh can't handle. And so although I'm excited, although I know Jesus, thank you, there's a awesomeness that comes from describing God. But there's others who when they hear this, they're just like, can we go to a different subject? You need to hear this. Maybe no one here this morning, I don't know. Definitely those listening later. But I have to be crystal clear on these points. Because we've never had a Sunday ever, ever, ever, ever in the history of our church, ever, where everyone that was here last week was here this week. It's always switching, right? There's a lot of the same people, of course, but always switching, always new people. Did you know we can fluctuate from about 150 people, more or less, less than last Sunday or more than last Sunday? 150 more. Or then a couple weeks later, 100 less. It's like this constant sickness out of town. And so you never know. And you don't know because we want to be careful, but people go to the prayer room all the time. And we ask them, do you know Jesus? No, I need to do that. I need to get my heart right. I don't know him. And it's things like this that have to wake us up. And that's why I don't want to just give a Kool-Aid message. There's no way in the world a true Bible preacher can make sinners feel comfortable every time they preach. That's actually the sign of a false prophet. And so you have to wonder, okay, when I stand and I'm summonsed to give an account, what am I going to, am I ready for that? Am I ready for that? Because you won't be able to answer, well, look at all the good works I did. See, look what Jesus did. And we don't know. We don't know. And I don't want to get, you know, because you have to be careful of the word heresy. Heresy, heretical, comes from a self-willed opinion that opposes the truth. So I want to be careful. And I'm not saying this is Bible, but I can see, I would love to be standing before God and there's Jesus right next to me. Because he paid the price. That's why I'm gaining access to the Father and to heaven. I mean, I don't know, but I can't see him like, okay, good luck. He could be there with those. This is, I paid the price. So we don't read too much in it and teach it. But I can see, I don't think I'm just stark naked in front of God. Maybe, maybe we don't necessarily give an account because he's there. He gives the account. Because what am I supposed to say? Jesus, so it could be that Jesus is there with those who believe. Leading them right into the throne room of grace. And it broke my heart this week when, you know, many of you know, Matthew Perry's passing. And I've prayed for that group for a while. But they record him saying this a year ago, I think, I believe there is a higher power. I believe I have a very close relationship with him that has helped me a lot. Perry told that famous theologian, Bill Maher. Should say that blasphemy-er. And in 2022, Perry revealed that the first time he prayed was when he was dealing with substance abuse. And they asked God to make him famous. He believed that fame might be the answer to his problems. Let me tell you right now, it creates more. If God doesn't appoint you, man will destroy you. And he said, he told them that prayer was, please God, make me famous. You can do anything you want. Just make me famous. And then Perry said, three weeks later, I got the job for friends. And if I could, I would have said, the devil can make you famous, Matt. Did you know that? The devil can make you famous. All these artists out there in Hollywood, the devil can make you famous. It's a dark industry. He just promotes the darkness. Look at this. Look at how many people have drifted from their roots. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus. How many of these people used to sing in church? Whitney Houston. What a voice on that lady. Golly, from heaven. Can you imagine her just belting out amazing grace? But see, God, promote me. Promotion will destroy you. Because man was not meant to be exalted and elevated. It's empty. Why is Jim Carrey dealing with depression? No fulfillment. Robin Williams takes his life. Arnold Schwarzenegger, I look in the mirror now and say, you're disgusting, you pig. Well, that's what you look like at 75, Arnold, come on. But see, you don't have to. I mean, you can stay kind of active. You think Michael Jordan is happy? Think miserable. It never pays because you're following the wrong God. It's idolatry. The devil can promote you. The devil can make you famous. The devil can set... It's not a higher power. It's not a higher power. That's why I don't like AA meetings. Do you know you can't say... Do you know it was founded on the Word of God? 1940s or whatever that was. And here's the 12 principles. And here's God. Oh, now you can't say... You can say higher power. So you can go in there and say, my higher power is a rock I like to climb to on Quartz Hill Mountain. And you will be okay. That's misleading. That's demonic. Because they don't want you to name the name. God, Elohim, Yahweh, Yeshua. That God. Name that name. Name that name. There's no other name under heaven or earth that has given man to be saved that Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord. That is the name. Even the demons know that name. So be clear here as I bring this to an end. Believe in a higher power does not save you. Belief in a higher power does not save you. Even a belief in God somewhere does not save you. Did you know even the demons believe and tremble? Oh, I bet they do. They believe. But break down the word believe. They have intellectual knowledge but not relational engagement. That's the difference. I believe there is a God. I believe there is. Okay, well, yeah, most people do, obviously. How'd you just take your last breath? How's your heartbeat 45 billion times in your lifetime? The electrical pulse that keeps it going. How's your DNA working in your genetics and your telomeres on the end of the DNA? They're controlling this in your stem cells and your cells. He's in a microchondria. How does all this just happen? Of course. And then that person's so nice. And then you ask him, but have you repented of your sin? The demon comes out. It does. Ask him. They'll start, you know, I don't want to talk to you. That's your choice. That's your God. Oh, see, now we're getting a little bit more specific. Can you guys help me out here? Maybe you've read the book. Somebody said, I am the only way, the only truth, the only life. There's no other way to get spiritual life, but through me. There's no other way to know the truth, but through me. I'm the life, the truth, the only way. There is no other path to the Father except through Christ. And that's why the church, the true Christian church, can preach it so powerfully because it's the truth. Maybe you can find one, but send me a powerful, powerful Mormon bishop bringing down heaven and preaching Christ crucified with the authority of Scripture. Send it to me. Send me the Jehovah Witness. Send me the Imam that is just calling down the righteousness of Christ. You won't find it because they lack the spiritual power. So you must believe and repent in the one true and living God. You turn from intellectualism to now your heart is repenting and being engaged. Charles Spurgeon said, consider how precious a soul must be when both God and the devil are after it. Let that just kind of sink in for a minute. How precious is your soul? Maybe those listening, your soul is so precious that God and the devil are both after it. I mean, if you just go somewhere for a couple hours, sit at the beach, go to a park, go up in the mountains, and you think about this, God of the universe draws me, convicts me, loves me, wants me. I don't willingly that any should perish, but I'll come to salvation. That God, and yet people reject it and reject Him and reject Him. So if you need to make that decision today, don't wait any longer. Surrender your heart, surrender your life. If you're listening and you're nearby, at some point, let us know. We'd love to baptize you. Because the Bible says internal belief. You believe and then you're baptized. It's an outward expression. Basically, baptism is, hey, this is what's going on. I'm going to publicly declare Jesus. I'm going death, burial, it actually represents His death, burial, and resurrection. Down in the oldness, up in the newness of life is why that baptism is so. That's why sometimes you see people crying and weeping. Some people believe, okay, this might get a little, you know, out there for some people, but they've been delivered when they come up out of that water, dealing with all this demonic bondage, and they just come out and they are set free. So even if you believed in the past and you need to get baptized, let us know. We'll do it this morning. Maybe you're a child and you did it as an infant. A priest sprinkled some things on you. And this membership into the Roman Catholic Church and the sprinkling secures your salvation. Blasphemy. That's heretical. That's completely unbiblical. You need to make that decision. Maybe if you're 12 or 13. That's why I did it when I was 30. Because at 12, I just got into the pool. This is cool. That's what I'm supposed to do. But there was no heart engagement. And if you're left and you feel, man, this weight, and you don't know if you're right with God, the Bible is very clear. It says, repent. Do you know repent is the cleansing process? Because if we don't repent, what prevents us from repenting? Pride. And I see it a lot. I'm like, okay, you just need to repent. Repent. I'm a good person. No, you're not, sweetie. Or mister. We're not good people. I hate to just burst somebody's bubble, but that's the truth. We are not good people. If even our good works, we're exposed. Right? Let me see. Hey guys, I'm at the homeless shelter. Look how I'm doing today. If you could just see the heart. It's like you're not there for the right reasons. You want a selfie. I heard a message I shared on Facebook yesterday. The speaker said, we are to expose sin and repent and hide our righteous deeds. But we love to promote our righteous deeds and hide sin. Man. So if you need to make that decision, join us in the prayer room. If you need prayer for anything, the prayer team is going to be in there. We'd love to pray with you. The altar is going to be open. So you can come forward to the altar, folks. This is a time. We hear opening worship. We hear God's Word come alive in our hearts. There's a response often required. There's a response required. The Word of God is not just to be heard and then go feed King's stomach. It's to be heard. And that challenges our heart. It rocks us to our core.