The Battle PT-3 (Rev. 12:7-8)

 

SPIRITAL DIARY FOR 6/8/2015 10:19 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                     Focus:  The Battle PT-3

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Revelation 12:7-8

            Message of the verses:  “7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.”

            We see in verse seven these words:  “The dragon and his angels waged war,” and what this shows us the truth of what Jesus said in Matthew 25:41 “"Then He will also say to those on His left, ’Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”  There is a spiritual warfare going on and Satan is the head of those fallen angels and once they fell God prepared a place for them which we know as hell, but it will not only be occupied by them, but also those who do not believe that Jesus is the Christ and the only way for salvation. 

            We see the term “waging war,” and then we see “waged war,” and MacArthur says that this “emphasizes the force and fury of the battle; this will be no minor skirmish, but an all-out battle.  Satan will fight desperately to prevent Christ from establishing His millennial kingdom (just as he opposed Israel’s restoration from captivity and was rebuked for it; Zech. 3:2).  Thus, the supernatural war will reach a crescendo as the time for Christ to establish His earthly and eternal kingdom draws near.”

            God has won every battle fought against Satan and will win this one too as we read “they were not strong enough.”  Michael and his holy angels will win this battle and then Satan will not be allowed to be in heaven as he has had access in the past.  All of heaven will be searched and made sure that all of Satan’s demons are out, never to return and as he has to then go to the earth what we read in Ephesians 2:2 will end for Satan, for he will no longer be “the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2).”

            The cleansing of heaven will bring terror to the earth for Satan and his demons will have to come to earth and this causes him to be angry and so at this time he will come after the children of Israel, and also those who have come to know Christ as their Savior.  Revelation 12:12 says “"For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."”  John MacArthur writes “At exactly what point in the Tribulation Satan and the demons will be evicted from heaven is not revealed, nor is the duration of their battle with Michael and the holy angels.  All that can be said with certainty is that Satan and the demos will be case out of heaven, possibly at the Rapture, but no later than the midpoint of the Tribulation.  Verse 12 says that Satan and his forces have only a ‘short time’ after they leave heaven, supporting the view that they will have only the last three and a half years of the Tribulation to operate, rather than the full seven years.  They will not arrive on earth later than that, since they clearly are present during the terrible events of the last here and a half years, the Great Tribulation (cf. 9:1ff.).  During that last period, Satan’s full power will be directed at anyone belonging to God, especially Israel.”

            Well after all is said and one from the subject of what we have called the “battle” I am not sure when this will happen, and whether or not it will happen during the Rapture or at the mid-point of the Tribulation.  If I had to guess I would lean towards the mid-point of the Tribulation for that is when times on earth will be as bad as they have ever been or ever will be.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As we read and study the book of Revelation we cannot be sure as to the timetable of many of the things we find in it but one thing is sure and that is all the judgments that we are learning about will happen and the outcome will be that there will be a new heaven and a new earth and the awfulness of sin will once and for all be done with thanks to what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in and to trust the love that the Lord has for me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Habakkuk.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What was Cain’s occupation?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/8/2015 10:50 AM

The Battle PT-2 (Rev. 12:7-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/7/2015 3:05 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                     Focus:  The Battle PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Revelation 12:7-8

            Message of the verses:  “7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.”

            Now we know that Revelation 12:7-8 speak of a battle, but we don’t know, at least the Bible does not tells us the reason for this battle, and as mentioned MacArthur has a theory that I have listened to from his sermon on why this battle takes place and that is what we will be looking at in this SD.’   

            John MacArthur writes “While it is impossible to be dogmatic, this ultimate battle may be triggered by the Rapture of the church.  Describing that event the apostle Paul wrote, ‘For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord’ (1Thess. 4:16-17).  Possibly, as the raptured believers pass through their realm, the prince of the power of the air and his demon hosts will try to hinder their passage.  That may trigger the battle with Michel and the holy angels.”

            We have seen Michael in action before when we looked at Daniel chapter ten where in answer to Daniel’s prayer a holy angel was sent to give Daniel an answer but was held up by a powerful demon who is said to be in control of the Persian Empire.  Michael had to rescue this angel as he was their fighting for three weeks.  We learn from this incident and others that Michael is seen in Scripture as the defender of God’s people against satanic destruction.  Let us look at Daniel 12:1 “"Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.”  This verse is speaking of the Tribulation Period, but in it we see Michael’s job as he “stands guard over the sons of you people.”  We have also mentioned Jude 9, but will look at it again:  “But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"”  It was very important that no one find out where Moses was buried for if his body had been found there may have been many who wanted to worship it, so the Lord sent Michael to make sure this did not happen.  Now in this passage we see that Michael is described as an archangel and we also saw this term in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 where we read “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel.”  MacArthur writes “It is possible that the archangel in that passage is Michael and that he is shouting as he confronts Satan’s attempt to interfere with the Rapture.”  When one thinks about how the Rapture happens as described in Scripture it is not impossible to believe that all of the saints who are to be raptured may need some kind of protection for after all we are going to be going through the “air” which we have already learned is the domain of Satan and his demons. 

            We will try and finish this section in our next SD as it is Sunday and time to me is different on Sunday with the going to church and other things to do.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the safety that God provides to me from Satan and his demon hosts, knowing that God is all powerful gives me comfort.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to make every effort to live in the love of Christ.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Daniel” (Daniel 2:27-29).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which prophet announced the downfall of Babylon after Judah had been overthrown by the Chaldeans?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/7/2015 3:34 PM

 

The Battle (Rev. 12:7-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/6/2015 10:06 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus:  The Battle

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  Rev. 12:7-8

            Message of the verses:  “7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.”

            Let’s begin with a few verses that show to us that there has been war in heaven since the fall of Satan:  Isaiah 14:12-14 “12 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ’I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ’I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”  “11 Again the word of the LORD came to me saying, 12  "Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 “You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. 17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you. 18 “By the multitude of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you. 19 “All who know you among the peoples Are appalled at you; You have become terrified And you will cease to be forever."’"”

            We looked yesterday at the fact that Satan still has access to God in heaven, but his real domain is the earth and the air around the earth.  “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4).”  “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience (Eph. 2:2).”  “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12).”

            Satan and his angels have tried to actively oppose the holy angels along with the people of the earth.  There is a very interesting portion of Scripture in the book of Daniel chapter 10:12-13 that speaks of how Satan’s angel’s opposed God’s holy angels:  “12 Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. 13  "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.”  These two verses speak of a number of things including the unseen battles that go on in the air above the earth, and it also shows that there are demons who, spiritually speaking, are over different countries of the world.  We mentioned that battles between holy and unholy angels earlier and sited Jude 1:9  “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”  The following verses speak of what Satan is doing in our present age:  1 Pet. 5:8; Matt. 13:19, 37-39; Acts 13:10; Luke 13:10-16; Acts 10:38; Acts 5:1-11; 2 Cor. 2:11; Eph. 4:27; and James 4:7 which tells us to resist the devil and he will flee.

            The above paragraphs speak of what is and what has been going on in battles around the earth and also in heaven, but there will come a climax to these battles in the verses that we are looking at in today’s SD.  John MacArthur writes “The war raging between supernatural beings in the heavenly sphere will reach its peak during the Tribulation.  The future conflict will find ‘Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon.’  The grammatical construction of that phrase in the Greek text indicates that Satan (the dragon) will start this battle.  It could be translated ‘Michael and his angels had to fight the dragon.’  The Bible does not reveal how angels fight, nor does our limited knowledge of the heavenly realm permit us to speculate.  Henry Morris wrote:  ‘With what weapons and by what tactics this heavenly warfare will be waged is beyond our understanding.  Angels cannot be injured or slain with earthly weapons, and such physical forces as we know about are not able to move spiritual beings.  But these beings do operate in a physical universe, so there must exist powerful physic-spiritual energies of which we yet can have only vague intimations, energies which can propel angelic bodies at superlumianary velocities through space and which can move mountains and change planetary orbits.  It is with such energies and powers that this heavenly battle will be waged and the spectators in heaven (including John) will watch in awe.  When Michael finally prevails, and Satan is forced forever out of the heavens, a tremendous cry of thanksgiving will resound through the heavens.’”

            I mentioned in yesterday’s SD that I learned a theory that John MacArthur has to show why this battle will be fought, and we will look at that in our next SD as we continue to look at the battle which is described in Revelation 12:7-8.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Knowing more about the battles that are going on around the earth by demons and angels is something that perhaps we will get a better idea of after we leave this earth and go to heaven.  But now it is good to realize that this happens and that in the end the holy angels will be victorious because of Who side they are on.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to be a light in this ever darkening world that we are living in.  The darker the world the brighter the light can shine.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Egypt” (Mark. 2:13-14).

Who interpreted a famous dream for King Nebuchadnezzar?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/6/2015 10:48 AM

  

Introduction to the War of the Ages: War in Heaven (Revelation 12:7-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/5/2015 8:46 AM

My Worship Time                           Focus:  Introduction to the War of the Ages:  War in Heaven

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Revelation 12:7-12

            Message of the verses:  “7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.  12 "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."”

            As we begin this introduction on these six verses we need to be aware of a few things about Satan.  John MacArthur quotes C. S. Lewis from his book The Screwtape Letters where Lewis writes “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils.  One is to disbelieve in their existence.  The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.  They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”  This of course is also true of the leader of these demons, and that is Satan. 

            John MacArthur writes about something else that perhaps confuses people:  “One of the most pervasive and persistent popular myths about Satan pictures him (complete with pitchfork, horns, and tail) as being in charge of hell. In reality, Satan is not in hell; in fact; he has never been there.  He will not be sentenced to the lake of fire until after his final rebellion is crushed at the end of the Millennium (20:7-10).  And when he does enter hell, Satan will not be in charge; he will be the lowest inmate there, the one undergoing the most horrible punishment ever inflicted on any created being.”  Since we now see that Satan is not in hell where is he?  Well this section of Scripture tells us that he has access to heaven, but then there is a great war in heaven so that he and his demons are kicked out and that is what we will be looking at as we study this section. 

            Let’s look at some verses that talk about where Satan is at this time in human history.  First we will look at 1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  Let us now look at some verses from the book of Job:  “6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it."”  We see here that Satan has access both to heaven and to earth.  It was a long time ago while listening to a Pastor speak that he said that it was because of Satan’s access to heaven that this was one of the reasons that God would make a new heaven, and a new earth, and also a New Jerusalem.  The reason is because of the sinfulness of Satan contaminating heaven and earth.

            Satan, having access in heaven is said to be accusing the brethren and this is why Jesus Christ in our advocate in heaven. Since Jesus Christ has paid for all of our sins then there is little reason for Satan to do this, but he does continue to accuse the brethren.  I want at this time to quote something that I read in a book written by Warren Wiersbe entitled “The Strategy of Satan.”  “It is important that we learn to distinguish between Satan’s accusations and the Spirit’s conviction.  A feeling of guilt and shame is a good thing if it comes from the Spirit of God.  If we listen to the devil, it will only lead to regret and remorse and defeat.  When the Spirit of God convicts you, he uses the Word of God in love and seeks to bring you back into fellowship with your Father.  When Satan accuses you, he uses your own sins in a hateful way, and he seeks to make you feel helpless and hopeless.  Satan wants you to feel guilty.  He wants you to experience regret and remorse, but not repentance.”

John MacArthur writes the following about what Satan could do if he were able to do, and one of the points he makes he is completely brand new to me and we will speak of it a bit later on in more detail.  “Satan’s battle plan for the earthly phase of the war of the ages is brutally simple:  to eliminate all those who serve God.  If he could, he would kill them all.  If not that, he would destroy their faith, if that were possible.  Were he able to rid the earth of all those who serve God, the devil would achieve his goal of unifying the entire world under his rule.  It may be noted at this point that such a reality will occur when the believers on earth are raptured to heaven (John 14:1-6; 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).  The Rapture will be followed by the Tribulation, in which Satan does gain the fullest rule of the planet he will ever have (13:4-10).  Satan longs to be permanently what he is only temporarily, the god of an unrighteous world (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4), and to be worshiped by everyone (cf. Mat. 4:9).  To achieve those goals, Satan desperately wants to prevent the Lord Jesus Christ from establishing His kingdom—both now spiritually in the hearts of men and in its future millennial and eternal forms.”

We know that his plans will not succeed for Jesus said in John 12:31 “"Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.’”  Now I mentioned in an earlier SD that it is difficult for me to understand what Jesus said in John 12:31 as I see all of the evil still going on upon the earth.  MacArthur answers this problem:  “Though Satan was defeated at the Cross, his sentence has not yet been fully carried out.  And though he understands his destiny as revealed in Scripture, Satan nevertheless relentlessly continue to fight his losing battle against God.  Thus, the war of the ages will continue until Satan is incarcerated temporarily in the abyss (20:1-3) and then permanently in hell (20:10).”

What we will see in this passage is the long supernatural war of Satan against God reach its climax. Now remember we are still looking at the sounding of the seventh trumpet as seen in 11:5-17 and this will anticipate Christ’s triumph over Satan even though the final battle does not take place until we reach the end of the Tribulation Period described in Revelation 19:11-21.  When we reach the 15^th chapter we will see the effects of the seventh trumpet are sounding.  Chapter 15 only has eight verses in it but is a very important chapter.   

MacArthur concludes his introduction by going back to what we just learned in verses 1-6 and then looks ahead to what we will learn in this chapter where he writes.  “Verses 7-12, which describe the war in heaven, may be divided into three sections:  the battle, the victory, and the celebration.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to know what will happen in the future as the Bible makes this perfectly clear, but it is hard to be patient and wait for the good things to happen like the Rapture of the Church, something I am looking forward to as all believers should be.   

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust the Lord for His plans for what will go on with my father-in-law next Wednesday that His perfect will, will be accomplished.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” (Luke 17:19).

Today’s Bible question:  “To what country did Joseph flee with Mary and the baby Jesus?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/5/2015 9:52 AM

 

 

The Male Child (Rev. 12:5-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/4/2015 10:39 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                     Focus:  The Male Child

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Revelation 12:5-6

            Message of the verses:  “5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

            In today’s SD we will be looking at the third main player who will be taking part in the final battle and that is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ as once again we go back in time to see the birth of Jesus and actually in verse five it describes what He did when He came the first time in a very brief way as He was born and then was taken up to heaven after doing the will of His Father.  This was in spite of all of what the devil had thrown against Him trying to kill Him at birth, giving great temptation to Him throughout His life on earth, and then actually trying to have Him die on a different day than when He must die which was on the Passover.  Satan was not able to do any of these things to the Lord and we can believe that he will not be able to do anything to Him to stop Christ’s coronation for He will “rule all the nations with a rod of iron” which will happen on His earthly reign during the Millennial kingdom.  John MacArthur writes “In fact, the verb poimaino (rule) carries the connotation of ‘destroy’ as it does in 2:27.  The Messiah will come and destroy ‘all the nations’ (19:11-21) and in His kingdom have dominion over the nations that enter to populate that kingdom.  An iron rod is also one that cannot be broken.  Just as all of Satan’s past efforts to hinder Christ have failed, so also will his future efforts fail (cf. 11:15).  The phrase ‘rod of iron’ speaks of the resoluteness of Christ’s rule; He will swiftly and immediately judge all sin and put down any rebellion”

            The following things that I write are difficult to understand, at least for me and that is that we know that Satan was defeated at the cross and yet he is still the head of his earthly rule as even Jesus did not dispute when He was tempted by Him.  I realize that this happened before the cross.  John MacArthur writes on this subject:  “But though he is a defeated foe, Satan will not give up.  Unable to stop Christ’s birth, ascension, or rule, Satan still assaults His people.  He has already instigated the genocidal massacre of Jews in Europe, as well as the death of countless thousands throughout history. During the Tribulation, Satan will increase his efforts to destroy the Jewish people, so that the nation cannot be saved as the Bible promises (Zech. 10-13:1; Rom. 11:25-27).  And so that there will be none left alive to enter the millennial kingdom, he will seek to kill believing Jews.  As always, Israel will be his prime target.  In a brief glimpse of what will be described more fully in verses 13-17, John noted that ‘the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days (cf. v. 14).  God will frustrate Satan’s attempt to destroy Israel during the Tribulation by hiding His people, just as the Lord Jesus Christ predicted: 

             ‘"Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 "Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 18 “Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will (Matthew 24:15-22).’”

            When the antichrist goes into the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and commits the abomination of desolation that will be the key for the Jewish people to leave and go to where they will be led to go which is in the wilderness, something that their ancestors knew something about.  Now also the 1260 days is one half of the Tribulation Period.

            MacArthur finishes this chapter in his commentary by writing “The great cosmic war of the ages between God and Satan that began with Satan’s rebellion is set to reach it climax.  In this passage John provided important background information on that war and introduced its key figures.  Then his vision turned to a description of the war, but in its heavenly and earthly phases, and its inevitable outcome.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Although it is hard to understand the power that Satan has since he has been defeated, I believe that his total destruction is not too far off as we race towards the end times.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I take this from the quote that I put on my SD that I did this morning from the book of Hosea, as the quote comes from Warren Wiersbe:  “God will not allow us to enjoy His gifts and at the same time ignore the Giver, for this is the essence of idolatry.”   It is my step of faith not to have this kind of thing happen to me, but to do as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians “In everything give thanks.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Caesar” (Luke 20:22).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who said ‘Arise, go thy way: thy faith has made thee whole?”

Answer in our next SD. 

6/4/2015 11:17 AM

 

The Dragon PT-2 (Rev. 12:3-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/3/2015 7:16 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                  Focus:  The Dragon PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Revelation 12:3-4

            Message of the verses:  “3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.”

            We continue to look at some of the activity of Satan as seen in these two verses in today’s SD.  We want to look at the influence that Satan had on the other angels that God had created as the verse says “And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.”  As we continue to look at chapter twelve of Revelation we see that its span goes from before the earth was created up all the way to the Tribulation Period, for what Satan did when he swept away a third of these angels happened before the earth was created.  A couple of years ago when I was leading a Bible Study on the early parts of Genesis John MacArthur said on one of the CD’s we were listening to that one of the people he was reading about how long it took Satan to fall after God created him as being Lucifer was probably about twenty minutes.  I suppose that this was just a guess on that person’s part, but it seems that when you read from both Isaiah and Ezekiel’s accounts that it did not take too long and it must have been shortly after that that the other one third of the angels fell with him.  When we look at this verse the angels are called “stars of heaven.”  MacArthur writes “The genitive case offers further support for that interpretation:  these are ‘stars’ belonging to ‘heaven’; that is their proper abode.  Angels are depicted symbolically as ‘stars’ elsewhere in Scripture (9:1; Job 38:7).”

            We see that when these angels fell that they were cast down to earth, but that does not mean that they do not still have access to heaven.  We can see the truth of this from the book of Job as God asks Satan where had he been and was told that he was on the earth.  Now there will be a time when Satan and all of the angels will again be thrown out of heaven and this time they will not be allowed to come back into heaven.  We will look at that a bit later on.

            We don’t know how many angels joined Satan, but as we look at the book of Revelation  we have seen some very large numbers when it comes to demons, so the number must be very large indeed.  Revelation 5:11 says “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,” as this verse speaks of the “good” angels which have two times as many as those who followed Satan.  Let’s look again at Revelation 9:16 “The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.”  These are all demons.  Needless to say Satan has a very large army.  Two more verses to look at are Ephesians 6:12 and also Colossians 2:15 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”  This speaks of those demons who are currently free to roam the earth and the heavenly realm. MacArthur writes “They, along with evil men under his control, assist Satan in his unholy war against God.  Adding to the (unrevealed) number of these unbound demons to the calculations given above increase the numbers of both the holy and the demons.”

            We have one more thing to look at and it could take a long time to completely study this event and that is that Satan desires to destroy the nation of Israel, and has desired this since God called Abram out of idolatry to worship the One True Living God which is first seen in the 12^th chapter of Genesis.  The portion from Revelation I am speaking of is “the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.”  Now not only has Satan been bent on killing off the children of Israel, but he began right off with the children of Adam and Eve, for it was he who was behind the killing of Able, as he always goes after the righteous people of God.  Job is another example of who Satan went after too.  However we not want to briefly look at a portion of Scripture that John MacArthur has in his commentary to help make this point of how Satan goes after the Jewish people and it comes from the book of Exodus.  MacArthur writes “Because they were the chosen people through whom the Messiah was to come, and by whom the good news of forgiveness was to be proclaimed, Satan reserved his special hatred for Israel.  After Joseph’s death, the Israelites became slaves in Egypt.  In that place, the fates both of the nation and of its human deliverer hung by a slender thread.  ‘8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, "Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.’

            ‘15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah; 16 and he said, "When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live." 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?" 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them." 20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. 21 Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive."

    ‘1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

    ‘5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews’ children." 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, "Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?" 8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, "Go ahead." So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."’”

            Now as we look at this rather long portion of Scripture we might think that Pharaoh wanted to get rid of the people is Israel because they were a threat, but Satan was behind this as he was trying to stop the birth of the Messiah who could only come through the people of Israel.  Now even though the Messiah has come Satan still wants to get rid of the Jewish race completely because this would stop the plan of God that He has for them, plans in the Tribulation Period, the Millennial Kingdom, and also the Eternal Kingdom.

            Now as we look closely at our verse in Revelation we see that Satan tried to have the Messiah killed once He was born, and then after His birth by using Herod who killed all of the babies in Bethlehem two years old and younger.  However we read the following from Matthew 2:13 and 16 which shows how God protected Jesus “13 Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."”  “16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.”

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing “At the outset of our Lord’s earthly ministry, Satan tempted Him to mistrust God (Matt. 4:1-11).  But the devil’s efforts to get Jesus to abandon His mission did not succeed.  Satan tried to use the people of Nazareth to kill Jesus (Luke 4:28-30), but their enraged attempt to ‘throw Him down the cliff’ (v. 29) ended in failure when He calmly ‘pass[ed] through their midst, [and] went His way (v. 30.’  Satan’s other attempts to cut short Jesus’ earth ministry also ended in failure, ‘because His hour had not yet come’ (John 7:30; 8:20).  Even the devil’s seeming victory at the Cross was in reality his ultimate defeat (Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14; 1 Pet. 3:18-20; 1 John 3:8).”

            Satan will once again fail to destroy the nation of Israel even though that nation is surrounded by enemies at this present time and many or most of them do not yet believe in their Messiah, God will protect them as He always has.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Since the Lord saved me in 1974 He has put a love in my heart for the people of Israel, and I pray for them most every day that God will  continue to protect them and prepare them for what is coming their way.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, and all of my soul, mind and strength, and to live in the love of Christ.  To remember that obedience is better than sacrifice.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus appeared to him in a great light”  (Acts 9:3-9).

Today’s Bible question:  “The Jews asked Jesus if it was alright to give tribute to whom?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/3/2015 8:17 AM

 

 

The Dragon (Satan) (Rev. 12:3-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/2/2015 8:34 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The Dragon (Satan)

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Revelation 12:3-4

            Message of the verses:  “3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.”

            I wrote the following short section about these verses on 08/06/2005 “These verses are surely speaking of Satan, and as far as the seven heads and the ten horns this will be brought up again and will be dealt with then.  It has always been the desire of Satan to destroy the way for the Messiah to come, but he failed at that and even though He may have thought he succeeded  when he had Christ killed in reality that is what sealed his eventual fate of spending eternity in hell. Verse four seems to be speaking about a time in the past when Satan rebelled against God and took a third of the angels with him. There are times when it is difficult to understand all of the symbolism that John wrote about in this book; however the best commentary for the book of Revelations is the rest of the Scriptures.”  I want to expand on what I wrote then in the rest of today’s SD.

First of all we want to be reminded that John saw another sign and this sign is the emergence of a new character that is called the “great red dragon.”  John says that this sign appeared in heaven.  Now we realize that Satan is not a dragon, but as we learned earlier these signs represent different things and in this case the sign represents Satan as the first sign, the woman represents the nation of Israel.  John MacArthur writes “The symbolic language used to describe him pictures the reality of his person and character.  Only in Revelation is Satan referred to as a dragon; before that he is called (among other names) a serpent (Gen.3:1ff; 2 Cor. 11:3).  A dragon is a far more terrifying symbol.  In the Old Testament the same Hebrew word translated dragon (Isa. 27:1; 51:9) is also translated monster or sea monster (Gen. 1:21; Job 7:12; Pss. 74:13; 148:7; Jer. 51:34; Ezek. 29:3; 32:2).  It pictures a large ferocious and terrifying animal.  Red, the color of fiery destruction and bloodshed, further stresses Satan’s ferocious, deadly, destructive nature.  In the words of Jesus, ‘He was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).  The Hebrew word for ‘serpent’ (nachash) used in Genesis 3:1 is used interchangeably in some texts with the Hebrew word for dragon (tannin) (cf. Ex. 7:9, 15).  So the animal Satan used in the Garden of Eden was a reptile, but one not yet cast down to its belly (Gen 3:14).  Likely, it was more upright—a dragon standing on two legs, cursed to walk on four legs close to the ground, or slither like a snake.  Red is a fitting color for the dragon, since he attacks both the woman and her child.”  I never thought of the term “cast down” to the animal that Satan used to speak to the woman, but that does make sense when you think about it as that animal was cast down to the ground and we will see later in our text that Satan will be cast down to the earth never to return to heaven again, for when he will be cast down to earth the next step will be the lake of fire shortly after that, but we are getting ahead of ourselves as we will speak of this later.

In the book of Ezekiel and chapter twenty-nine, verses 1-5 we read of Pharaoh who was the enemy of God, and as we read this section we will see that it captures the essence of the frightening imagery which is used to describe Satan:

“1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh King of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3 "Speak and say, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, The great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers, That has said, ’My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.’ 4 “I will put hooks in your jaws And make the fish of your rivers cling to your scales. And I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, And all the fish of your rivers will cling to your scales. 5 “I will abandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers; You will fall on the open field; you will not be brought together or gathered. I have given you for food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the sky.”

Let us now speak of the dragon having seven heads and ten horns and also on those heads were seven diadems.  In order to understand this we have to understand that when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden Satan has been allowed by God to rule the world.  Now he will continue to do so up until the sounding of the seventh trumpet which we saw in Revelation 11:15.  Now remember that once we began to study chapters 12-14 we have gone back in time looking at the Tribulation Period through the eyes of antichrist who will be led by Satan.  The word diadem speaks of royal crowns which symbolize power and authority.  Satan has headed up seven consecutive world empires beginning with Egypt, and then Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Antichrist’s future empire which will take place during the Tribulation Period. This final kingdom headed up by antichrist will be a ten-nation confederacy and this is seen by the ten horns.  Let us look at Daniel 7:23-25 “23  "Thus he said: ’The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 24 ’As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25  ’He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.”  For more on these verses in Daniel you can look at my Spiritual Diaries dated 09-06-2013 and 09-08-2013.

I mentioned that God has allowed Satan to be the ruler of the world since the fall of man, and we also must realize that God is the One who is completely in control, but when we look at the temptations of Jesus in both Luke and Matthew we see that He did not argue with Satan when Satan offered Him his kingdom.  Satan has been allowed to get into the governments of the world over time and will surely get into the government of the rule of Antichrist during the Tribulation Period.  We will look at this more in detail as we continue our study of this 12^th chapter of Revelation.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that the Lord Jesus provided me a way to get out of the kingdom of darkness and be brought into the Kingdom of Light through His life, death, burial, and resurrection from the dead.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord, with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to understand more of His love and thus live in the love of the Lord today.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “His eyes were put out” (2 Kings 25:7).

Today’s Bible question:  “What happened to Saul of Tarsus near Damascus?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/2/2015 9:34 AM