Good morning.

Good to see everyone this morning.

Encourage you to get your Bibles out and

turn to Revelation chapter nineteen.

We’re going to open with a word of prayer

and then we’ll get into our study

as we continue our study of the book of

Revelation.

You would let us pray. Our gracious Father

in heaven,

we come before your throne, grateful for

the day you’ve blessed us with,

grateful for the opportunities that we

have to study your word,

to learn more about your will,

to open the scriptures and take the things

that we learn and put them into

our hearts, to store them up, that we

might have the protection against Satan,

that we might have the defenses against

sin,

that we might also have the

sword with which to do battle in our lives

and in the world around us,

in our hearts and in our mouths.

Lord, we pray that you forgive us when we

sin and fall short of your glory,

and all this we ask in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

As we closed out chapter 19, we discussed

the fact that chapter 19 and 20,

~ as with chapters 17 and 18,

are additional pictures where God

is showing through the visions that John

is having what confidence the Christians

can have because

God knows who their enemy is, God

identifies their enemy to them.

God tells them how he’s going to judge

their enemy.

Then God gives them more pictures and more

detail about the judgment of that enemy.

Then God shows them pictures and detail

concerning the rejoicing that they will

have

and the blessings they will have after

their enemy is destroyed.

And all of these things are intended for

us to come

to the passage, see the picture,

and ask.

What does it mean? We are not to come to

the picture and say,

that’s what John sees, and that’s what it

means.

As we just for a moment step back through

the text

and back through the discussion of the

book of Revelation to bring ourselves

to where we’re at, we notice that the book

of Revelation,

according to John, is written in the days

of Vespasian before Titus comes

to the throne. It is written

Before Domitian, who will make the

persecution of

the church a Roman governmental policy.

So it’s before he comes to the throne,

and it is in Domitian that God says he

will judge Rome.

So when the book opens, John’s on the Isle

of Patmos for the cause of Christ

on the Lord’s Day, and he is in a

Period of worship. He is in the spirit on

the Lord’s Day.

Hears a voice behind him. He sees one who

looks like the glorified Son of God,

the glorified Messiah. And it’s the same

picture that you have described

of the one who’s riding on the white horse

in chapter 19.

It’s a picture of Christ. Christ is

surrounded by the seven golden lampstands,

he’s holding the seven stars in his right

hand.

And John is going to be told to write to

the seven churches of Asia Minor.

When John concludes those short messages

to the churches,

chapter four opens up and he sees an open

door.

He goes through the open door into the

throne room of God and sees the glory

of the throne of God. He sees the sea

that’s before God.

He sees the beasts that are before the

throne of God.

He sees the Spirit of God p pictured by

the seven.

Lamps that never burn out. He sees the

four or twenty-four elders that

are around the throne, and then he sees

the multitudes that are around them.

And he sees all of this glory,

and God is declared to be worthy.

Then chapter 5 opens up after the elders

fall down and worship the one who’s

on the throne, and John sees the

A message in the right hand of the one

who’s on the throne,

and it’s a scroll, and it’s sealed inside

and out,

and it’s sealed with seven seals,

sorry, it’s written on inside and out,

it’s sealed with seven seals, and as the

message

is made available to the people,

John wants to know what it says.

But they search heaven and earth and under

the earth,

they search those who are alive,

those who are in heaven, those who are

dead,

can’t find anyone worthy to open the

scroll.

John begins to weep, but the messenger

comes to John and says,

Don’t weep, for we found the one who’s

worthy.

And it’s Jesus Christ.

It’s the lion of the tribe of Judah.

It’s the lamb that was slain and is alive

forevermore.

And so all those who once,

in the previous chapter, worshiped God,

now worship Christ. And they declare him

to be worthy.

And they give him the same honor and the

same glory that was given

to God the Father. You remember in Jane

John chapter seventeen,

Jesus would pray before he went to the

cross,

before he went to Gethsemane, he would

pray that God restore

the glory that he had with the Father

before the world was.

This is a picture of that glory.

This is a picture of those who are in

heaven and those who dwell with

God honoring Christ as equal with God.

Now, as the sixth chapter opens up,

you find the scrolls, seals beginning to

be open.

So the first seal is open, and a white

horse goes forth and conquers.

We’ve just seen the white horse again in

chapter 19.

Who was the one who was riding on the

white horse in chapter 19?

Christ. Guess who was riding on the horse

in chapter 6?

Christ. He’s pictured differently in

chapter 6.

He’s pictured as a Parthian warrior.

He’s pictured as the enemy of Rome that

they never defeated.

He’s pictured in chapter 19 as the

conquering king.

Okay?

As the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Then the red horse comes forth and warfare

begins to persecute the church.

And then the black horse comes forth and

economic pressures start to hit the

church.

Then the pale horse, the fourth horse,

comes forth, and hell and death,

that is Hades, the grave and death,

are riding with the horse, and they’re

Killing the saints. We know they’re

killing the saints.

We know that’s those are the ones that are

dying,

because when you open up the next seal,

where are the saints? They’re dead under

the altar,

crying out, How long, Lord, are you gonna

allow this to go on?

And so the sixth seal opens, and God gives

a picture there in chapter

six of what’s coming and the judgment that

He’s preparing for their persecutors.

And the question is asked at the end of

chapter six,

who’s gonna be able to stay?

Who’s going to be able to stand in the day

of the wrath of the Lamb?

So chapter 7 opens up. And there’s a big

pause,

and everything’s held back. You can’t

start the judgment yet.

Because we’ve got to mark all those who

can stand in the day of the wrath

of the Lamb. And they’re all the people

who are Christians.

And so they’re marked with the name of God

on their forehead.

Not a single one of them is missed.

God knows exactly who belongs to Him.

So when this judgment starts.

While they may suffer through it,

because John’s telling them they’re going

to,

and while they may even die in the midst

of it,

they should not lose hope. They should

rather be assured God knows exactly

who they are. And God will provide for

them.

So we find the hundred and forty-four

thousand,

we find the twelve tribes of Israel

representative of God’s people,

we find all of those given the name of God

and held forward as

Those who God knows belong to Him.

Chapter 8 opens up, and you have the seven

trumpets.

Seven trumpets are going to begin to

sound,

and inside the seventh seal, you have the

seven trumpets,

and every time a seventh trumpet sounds,

a partial judgment comes forth.

And so you see a number of different

partial judgments that occur.

Some on the earth, some on the trees.

All of these representative and look like

the old plagues of the

the nation of Egypt. So the plagues come

forth just like they did in

the days of Egypt, and God says,

I’m gonna judge them partially,

I’m gonna give them time to repent.

So then chapter 10 opens up.

Chapter 10 opens up, and John sees a

mighty angel standing with one foot

on the land and one foot on the sea,

and he has another message from the Lord.

He has another scroll.

And John’s told to go take the scroll and

to consume it.

And so he takes the scroll and he eats it

like Ezekiel

did in Ezekiel’s prophecy. And it was much

like Ezekiel’s prophecy in that

it was sweet in his mouth and bitter in

his belly.

The message that is coming is God’s in

control,

but you Christians are about to go through

persecution,

and some of you are going to die.

And so John sees two witnesses.

These witnesses look like the Old

Testament prophets.

They have the power of the Old Testament

prophets.

They look like the prophecy of Zechariah

and the prophecy of the high priest

~ in his day and of the governors rebbable

in his day.

They look like those who speak the word of

God,

who do the will of God, and as long as

they’re speaking and doing the will of

God,

nobody can touch them.

But when they stop speaking, when when

their message is concluded,

when God’s message has been declared,

then invariably what would happen to the

Old Testament prophets?

They’d come and they’d speak the message,

they’d declare what God said, and would

Israel hear the message and obey it?

Not most of the time. Would the kings

rejoice in getting

to hear the message of the Lord?

Not most of the time.

What do you often find happening to the

prophets once they declare

the message of God? They’re imprisoned,

or they’re killed, or they’re persecuted.

So here you have the two prophets.

They come and they speak. The witnesses

speak the word of God,

can’t be touched while they’re speaking.

When the message is concluded,

the world kills them. And the city doesn’t

even bury them,

just kills them, live lets them lay in the

street for three and a half days

and throws a party.

But three and a half days transpire and

God resurrects them back to life

and brings them up into heaven.

And persecution begin, or sorry,

judgment begins. By the way, hold on to

this picture because here’s

a picture of God’s people speak God’s

word,

they’re persecuted for it, they’re killed

for it,

and then they’re resurrected. Okay?

Hold on to that picture. You’re going to

see it again in chapter 20.

Okay? So chapter 12 opens up,

and we see a woman, and she’s pregnant,

and she’s about to give birth,

and we also see a great red dragon.

And the red dragon has seven heads and ten

horns,

and the great dragon is Satan.

It’s representative of Rome under Satan’s

control.

But Satan wants to devour the child

because the woman is a woman

who is white.

And holy and righteous and has 12 stars on

her head,

and we’ve seen the stars consistently are

what?

Churches. So here’s a woman that

represents the church.

She represents God’s people. So as the

woman is prepared to give birth

and Satan’s prepared to consume the child

as soon as he comes forth,

the moment the child’s brought forth,

God pulls the child up into heaven,

and Satan loses.

Well, then you see another persecution.

So they or then you see another picture.

Satan and his minions go up and they try

to make war in heaven and they fail.

They’re cast back down to the earth.

So then they decide to go after the woman.

But God takes the woman and carries her

away.

So they decide to just make war with her

children.

You know what? If I can’t get the church

and I can’t get Christ,

then I can at least get.

The Christians. And so Satan begins to

make war with the Christians

and decides to pull in his minions,

Rome. So Rome comes forth,

the sea beast, the land beast,

the picture of the military corporate

power of Rome and the false prophets,

the false priests of Rome, false religion

and military power

are the persecutors of the church under

Rome.

And they’re pictured as the land beast and

the sea beast.

But remember, the land beast comes up out

of the water,

the sea beast comes up out of the land.

Where was the mighty angel standing just a

little bit ago?

On the water and on the land. God says,

I got you covered before they ever come

up.

I’ve got it handled before they ever

start.

You don’t have to worry because I know

what’s coming.

I’m prepared for it before he ever begins.

And so they begin to persecute.

Chapter 14 opens up, reassuring picture.

Hey, they’re going to come, they’re going

to kill you,

they’re going to persecute you,

they’re going to tell you that if you

don’t bow down and

Worship Caesar, they’re gonna lock you out

of the economy,

they’re gonna keep you from being able to

do business,

they’re gonna starve you to death.

Guess what? There’s a lamb that’s standing

on Mount Zion,

and his people are with him, and they win.

Victory’s over. Now,

we haven’t even had the full judgment yet.

We’ve just seen partial judgment,

partial judgment, partial judgment,

persecution. But God says, let me tell you

how it turns out.

The one who’s in charge is about to

commence the reaping,

and the harvest is going to be brought in

in judgment against the persecutors.

So then chapter 15 opens, and you’re

introduced to seven angels.

Inside the seventh trumpet, which is

inside the seventh seal,

you have seven angels given seven bowls of

the wrath of God,

and they’re about to be poured out on the

earth.

So chapter 15 opens, chapter 16 opens,

and they begin to pour out.

The seven bowls of final judgment.

And it’s over. The end is declared.

God defeats his enemies. They’re judged.

Rome is dealt with, and God’s people are

victorious.

But, as is often the case in the book of

Revelation,

chapter 17 opens, and somebody says to

John,

here, let me show you some more detail.

Let me show you.

The great harlot who rides upon the beast.

Let me show you the one who we’re going to

judge.

So there’s no question when it happens,

what happened? You remember when Jesus in

Matthew chapter 24 would

say to his apostles as he opens up that

chapter and they’re showing

him the temple and they’re showing him the

building of the temple

and the structure of the temple,

and Jesus responds to them.

Not one stone will be left upon another.

When God enacts the judgment on Jerusalem,

when God brings forward the blood of all

the prophets from righteous Abel

to Zechariah and brings it upon that

generation of Israel,

when God finally ultimately terminates

every vestige.

Of the covenant relationship that he had

had with Israel in AD 70?

There wasn’t a single Christian who had

heard and read the prophecy that Jesus

made

that could come to the conclusion that

anyone other than the Lord had done it.

~ was it Rome that marched through the

gates?

Yes. Was it, as to use Daniel’s words?

The abomination of desolation standing in

the midst of the temple?

Yes. Was it the armies of Rome dismantling

the temple just so they could steal

the gold that was inlaid in the stones?

Sure.

But who did it? And the answer is the

Lord.

The Lord prophesied it, and the Lord did

it.

When you get to this passage and you see

God saying,

Let me describe to you the city.

Let me give you a picture over and over

and over again to demonstrate to

you that I know that it’s Rome,

that I know that it’s the city that rules

over the earth.

That I know that it’s the city that has

caused all the kingdoms of

the earth to commit harlotry with her so

as to get her riches?

By identifying the city, he makes it clear

and when her judgment comes

and when she falls, you’re gonna know who

did it.

Because I’m going to tell you exactly how

it’s going to happen.

I’m going to destroy her from the inside

out.

I’m going to use all those subjugated

kingdoms that she thought she ruled over,

and I’m going to use them to rip her

apart.

And so chapter 18 opens, and again,

another picture, a deeper picture of the

defeat of the great city.

Chapter 19, the marriage feast and the

victory.

Here comes the white horse. He comes

forth.

Christ is reigning on him. He conquers.

Christ is covered in blood. All the

righteous saints are dressed in fine

linen,

arrayed in white robes. They didn’t even

have to go to battle.

They just showed up for the marriage

feast.

And for the victory And chapter nineteen

ends.

Then the beast was captured, verse twenty,

and with him the false prophet.

Who was the false prophet?

Go back to

Chapter thirteen.

Verse 1, then I stood on the sand of the

sea,

and I saw a beast rising up out of the

sea,

having seven heads and ten horns,

and on his horns ten crowns, and on his

head a blasphemous name.

Now the beast which I saw was like a

leopard,

his feet were like the feet of a bear,

his mouth like the mouth of a lion,

the dragon gave him his power,

his throne, and his great authority.

And I saw one of his heads, as it had

been,

mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was

healed,

and all the world marveled and followed

the beast.

So they worshiped the dragon who gave

authority to the beast,

and they worshiped the beast, saying,

Who is like the beast? Who is able to make

war with him?

And he was given a mouth to speak great

things and blasphemies,

and he was given authority to continue for

forty-two months.

Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy

against God,

and to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle,

and those who dwell in heaven.

It was granted to him to make war with the

saints and to overcome them,

and authority was given him over every

tribe,

tongue, and nation.

All who dwell on the earth will worship

him whose names have not been written

in the book of life, of the lamb slain

from the foundation of the world.

If any one has an ear, let him hear He who

leads into captivity shall

go into captivity. He who kills with the

sword must be killed with the sword.

Here is the patience and faith of the

saints.

Then I saw another beast coming up out of

the earth,

and he had two horns like a lamb,

and spoke like a dragon, and is exer and

he exercises all the authority

of the first beast in his presence.

And causes the earth and those who dwell

in it to worship the first beast,

whose deadly wound was healed.

He performs great signs so that he might

so that e he even makes fire come down

from

heaven on the earth in the sight of men.

And he deceives those who dwell on the

earth by those signs which he

was granted to do in the sight of the

beast,

telling those who dwell on the earth to

make an image to the beast.

who was wounded by the sword and lived.

He was granted power to give breath.

To the image of the beast, and The image

of the beast should both speak

and cause many who would not worship the

image of the beast to be killed.

He causes all, both small and great,

rich and poor, free enslaved, to receive a

mark on their ~ right hand

and on their forehead, that no one may buy

or sell and ~ sell except one

who has the mark and the name of the

beast,

or the number of his name. Here is wisdom.

Let him who has understanding calculate

the number of the beast,

for it is the number of a man

His number is six six six. So you have two

beasts in chapter thirteen.

They have derived power from the dragon.

They have their authority from the dragon.

They have the picture in the heads and the

horns of the dragon.

They speak when they speak, and you don’t

hear the lamb speak,

and out comes the

Voice of a lamb. No, you hear the lamb

open its mouth,

and out comes the voice of the dragon.

So you have the beast in chapter 19,

~ verse 20. Then the beast,

the beast here, is the sea beast that

comes

up out of ~ the beginning of chapter 13.

~ yeah, so the sea beast comes up first.

And he looks like the dragon, but he’s got

all the characteristics

of Daniel’s Old Testament vision.

Okay? He looks like the four kingdoms in

Daniel’s vision in Daniel chapter seven.

He looks like those kingdoms of old and he

makes war with the saints.

But you don’t just see the sea beast come

up,

you see the land beast come up.

He looks like a lamb. He looks innocent.

Except when he opens his mouth.

And he causes everyone that he can to

worship the sea beast.

Because if they worship the sea beast,

they’re worshiping the dragon,

and they’re ali allied with Satan.

So who are these? These are the false

prophets.

So in chapter 19,

the beast, that is the sea beast,

was captured, and with him the false

prophet,

the land beast. So the sea beast and the

land beast of chapter thirteen

are dealt with in verse twenty of chapter

nineteen.

Okay. They they’re they’re going to reign,

they’re gonna have authority for forty two

months.

How long is forty two months?

Three and a half years. Half of seven.

They have an imperfect power. It’s

temporary.

It’s momentary. They’re going to reign,

they’re going to persecute, they’re going

to be victorious for a temporary period

of time, and then God’s gonna put them

down.

And he does that. The beast was captured,

and with him the false prophet,

who worked signs in his presence,

by which he deceived those who received

the mark of the beast

and those who worshipped his name.

These two were cast alive into the lake of

fire burning with brimstone.

God says, I’ve got an old testament

judgment for you.

I’m going to cast you into Isaiah’s lake

of fire.

I’m going to judge you forever.

I’m going to make your judgment so

complete you never again come forth.

Okay? But it’s not a picture of

Of a historical event where God brings a

final judgment on a group of people.

It’s a picture of God defeating forever

Satan’s

use of Rome in its military power and its

religious power.

His use of those two tools are gone.

They’re never coming back. Okay?

So the rest were killed with a sword.

Which proceeded from the mouth of him who

sat on the horse,

and all the birds were filled with their

flesh.

So picture if you were, if you could,

here’s a great battle about to happen.

And on one side of the of the array,

one side of the valley, You have the

battle army of Satan.

You’ve got the great dragon. And you’ve

got the two beasts,

the sea beast and the land beast.

Then you’ve got all of Satan’s people.

And they’re arrayed in battle against

Christ.

And behind him are all of his servants,

and they’re not even dressed for battle.

They’re already dressed for the war to be

over.

And so what happens?

The first thing is the sea beast and the

land beast are captured,

cast down into hell. Picture of hell from

Isaiah.

And then

What kills all the rest of Satan’s army?

The sword which proceeds out of his mouth?

Believe it or not, You’re never gonna

defeat Satan with military

power.

There’s not a righteous nation under

heaven that could go to war and go

to war long enough to defeat Satan.

Attacking with physical forces.

Attacking with physical armaments.

You can interestingly go into Israel’s

history,

and you can see David go to battle against

the Lord’s enemies,

and you can see David defeat the Lord’s

enemies again and again and again

and again and again, and by the time all

the battles are won.

What location are the Lord’s enemies

inhabitating?

They’re inside the house of David.

They’re inside the kingdom of Israel.

When David writes all those psalms about

all of

his enemies that sat at his own table and

ate his own food,

he’s describing not the the Philistines,

not the Canaanites or the Jebusites.

He’s describing all the people that at one

time were righteous and faithful

to the Lord and were sitting at his own

table,

and now they’re seeking to overthrow him,

to overthrow the ruler that the Lord had

set up,

and they’re seeking to take power

themselves.

Here’s the age-old story of mankind.

You get righteous people fighting a

righteous battle against unrighteous

enemies.

And before it’s all said and done,

you’ve got righteous people inside the

midst trying to grab power

for themselves instead of submitting to

God.

Guess what? Satan’s not new at this.

And Satan doesn’t mind losing an army or

two.

Because he’s always going to find somebody

else.

But the picture here is Rome is defeated.

The power of Rome that Satan’s using

is annihilated. It’s cast into the lake of

fire.

It’s judged permanently.

And the rest of they’re just defeated by

the word of God.

So chapter twenty opens. Yes.

So stretch from what in the picture is

here.

I think the picture you you’ve got to go

to to get the full picture,

you’ve got to go back to chapter two and

three.

And you’ve got to read about the sword

proceeding out of the mouth of God

and out of the mouth of Christ over and

over throughout the text.

~ the the picture is God if if we could if

we could overlay an image,

imagine Genesis one.

The Lord spoke, and it happened.

And it was very good. Come into

Revelation.

And what do you have? How are God’s

enemies defeated?

Christ speaks. See,

this isn’t a picture of the method as much

as it is

the authority of the one who sits on the

throne.

Go back to the occasion.

Where Jesus is approached by the Gentile

centurion who has men under him,

and his servant is dying, and he desires

for his servant to be healed,

and Jesus says he will go with the man to

his house,

and the man says, No, no, no, I my house

is not worthy for you to come into

my house. You speak the word, and he’ll be

healed.

You see, that man who was a Gentile knew

that authority works that

way. If Christ would just say it,

it would be done. He says, I’m a man who

has those under me.

I know how authority works. If I say it,

it’ll get done. So just say the word.

And when you go into the

Descriptions of Christ all throughout the

book of John.

John emphasizes that Christ was the word,

yes. But when Christ is in the flesh,

who does he insist his words belong to?

God the Father. He says, I don’t speak my

own words,

I speak the words of him who sent me.

So this picture

Of the sword that proceeds forth from the

mouth of God comes forth from

the mouth of Christ that defeats all of

God’s enemy is the authority of God.

When God says his enemies are done,

they’re done. You step back in the Old

Testament,

you find Hezekiah is on the throne in the

days of Isaiah.

And Hezekiah is in the city of Jerusalem

because the city is completely besieged

by the Assyrian army. And in comes a

message from the Assyrian king

and the Assyrian general saying,

I’m going to take your city apart.

I’m going to kill all of you. I am going

to show no quarter,

and I’m going to do that because my gods

are better than your gods.

And no one has been able to stand in the

way of my gods.

And Hezekiah is going to take that letter

which he receives from

the king of Assyria, and he’s going to

bring it into the very temple of God,

and he’s going to lay it before the Lord,

and he is going to pray that the Lord deal

with this.

Blasphemer.

And overnight a hundred and eighty five

thousand of the Assyrian army

die without a single Israelite ever

raising a sword.

When God says his enemies are done.

All he has to do is say the word.

When Jesus was before Pilate,

And he told Pilate that he could call ten

thousand legions of angels.

He’s saying, The only thing that’s keeping

me here is my authority,

not yours. The fact that I have authority

to keep myself here

is the reason I’m here. So if Jesus were

to say the word,

Rome would have been defeated in the days

of Pilate.

And Jerusalem could have been defeated at

any moment.

But that wasn’t the plan. That wasn’t what

God had decided to do.

So when the individuals

who oppose the Christians, who war against

them on behalf of Satan,

who have allied themselves with the dragon

and with the beast and with

the false prophet,

When God says their time’s up,

their time’s up. And they’re defeated.

Does that answer the question?

Okay. Then I saw an angel coming down from

heaven.

Bear in mind, we’re dealing with pictures.

When the sea beast and the land beast were

cast into the lake of fire,

that was a picture.

When you open up chapter twenty and

somebody comes to you and says,

Here’s how the tribulation’s gonna happen

and here’s how the thousand year reign’s

gonna begin

Just remind them it’s a picture.

You see what he sees, and what does it

mean?

Then I saw an angel coming down from

heaven,

having the key to the bottomless pit and a

great chain in his hand.

He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent

of old,

who is the devil and Satan, and bound him

for a thousand years,

and cast him into the bottomless pit,

and shut him up, and set a seal on him so

that he should deceive

the nations no more.

Till the thousand years were finished,

but after these things he must be released

for a little while.

All right, there’s the picture.

So what you’re supposed to be looking for

is you’re supposed to be looking

for a literal thousand-year reign of

Christ,

during which Satan’s going to be literally

locked away in a bottomless

pit with a literal chain and a literal

lock.

Really?

No, not really.

What God is pointing out is the same

dragon back in chapter twelve.

Because by the way, we’re working

backwards with God’s enemies.

Chapter 13, up comes the sea beast and the

land beast.

And in chapter 19,

sea beast and land beast are dealt with.

Well, who brought up the sea beast and the

land beast?

The dragon did. Great.

Who are we going to deal with next?

The dragon. God’s dealing with his enemies

one at a time.

God’s giving a picture of their demise and

their judgment again and again and again.

Now the only thing about this one that’s

different than the sea beast

and land beast is it’s temporary.

So there’s something to that. There’s

something we need to learn from this.

Okay? Notice in chapter twelve,

the dragon, as we’re introduced to in

verse three,

we see see a great fiery red dragon having

seven heads and ten horns

and seven diadems on his head.

His tail drew a third of the stars of

heaven and threw them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who

was ready to give birth

to devour her child as soon as it was

born.

This one who we’re gonna be told in just a

few verses in chapter twelve is Satan,

is pictured as one who’s gonna knock out a

third of the churches.

He’s gonna take down a third of the stars

of heaven.

Those aren’t literal stars, those are

churches.

They’ve been churches all the way from

chapter one forward.

Verse 7. And war broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought with a

dragon,

and the dragon and his angels fought,

but they did not prevail, nor was a place

found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out,

that serpent of old called the devil and

Satan who deceives the whole world.

He was cast to the earth, and his angels

were cast out with him.

He loses it the woman. He loses to the

child.

He loses in heaven. Notice it again.

Now verse thirteen, now when the dragon

saw that he had been cast to the earth,

he persecuted the woman who gave birth to

the child,

birth to the male child, but the woman was

given two wings of a great ang eagle,

that she might fly into the wilderness to

her place,

where she is nourished for a time and

times and half a time from the presence

of the serpent.

So the serpent spewed water out of his

mouth like a flood after the woman that

he might cause her to be carried away by

the flood.

But the earth helped the woman,

and the earth opened its mouth and

swallowed up the flood,

which the dragon had spewed out of his

mouth,

and the dragon was enraged with the woman,

and he went to make war with the rest of

her offspring,

who keep the commandments of God and have

the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The devil loses again. Even the earth

defeats the devil.

Then you go forward to chapter twenty.

And God takes the devil in his use of

Rome.

And puts an end to it. And it’s not that

it’s

a temporary end.

How does the scripture use the idea of a

thousand?

The cattle on a thousand hills belong to

the Lord.

Does that mean the cattle on the thousand

and first don’t?

How about the Lord keeps his covenant for

a thousand generations?

Does that mean the thousand and first is

out of luck when it comes

to the covenant of the Lord? No.

The picture of a thousand is complete

perfection.

So consider: I saw an angel coming down

from heaven,

having a key to the bottomless pit and a

great chain in his hand.

By the way.

Who was said earlier on in the book to

have the key to the bottomless pit?

You go back to chapter 2 and 3,

and it’s Christ. All right. Here’s

Christ’s authority

enacted. Here comes an angel with a key to

the bottomless pit and a great chain.

And he laid hold of the dragon,

the serpent of old, who is the devil and

Satan,

and bound him for a perfect,

complete period of time.

Thousand years. In other words,

Christ is going to judge the dragon’s use

of Rome,

and he’s never going to use her again.

Because his judgment will

be perfectly complete. Okay?

This isn’t about Satan in every aspect of

his work.

This isn’t about Satan in every aspect of

The tools that he uses. This is about

Rome.

So when the angel came forth in chapter

sixteen and chapter seventeen and cried

out,

Babylon has fallen, has fallen that great

city,

God says, Listen, she’s fallen and she’s

never getting up again.

Satan is cast into the bottomless pit and

shut him and is shut up and set

a seal on him so that he should deceive

the nations no more.

Who did the deceiving of the nations?

How did Satan deceive the nations?

With what did Satan deceive the nations?

The answer is Rome. The picture

is of God’s judgment against Rome.

And Satan’s use of Rome. The harlot?

Gone. Satan’s tool to deceive the nations?

Gone. Satan’s power to influence the

nations through military power?

Gone. Satan’s power to influence the

nations through religious power?

Gone.

God said, I’m gonna take all his tools

away.

And he’s going to be shut up and he’s not

going to have the impact that

he had before. But then notice but after

these things,

he must be released for a little while.

The reassurance to the saints is Christ

wins.

But the moderating of that is a reminder

that doesn’t mean your enemy’s gone.

That doesn’t mean you can imagine that

just because God defeated Satan in

his use of Rome, that he no longer has

anything with which he can attack you.

But this judgment is against your

persecution on this earth.

We’re gonna pause right there and we’re

gonna come back.

We’re gonna see the saints reigning for a

thousand years.

We’re going to see more rebellion.

We’re going to see the great white throne

and the judgment that everybody says

is the end of time and it’s not.

And we’ll get back to that next week.

Thank you for your attention.