The Woman Satan Couldn’t Kill
Revelation 12:13-17
January 15, 2017

As you know we are studying through the book of the Revelation,
And most recently we have entered a parenthetical section in the book.

After the sounding of the 7th trumpet all of heaven declared that “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ”
• In short, heaven announced that Jesus wins!
• It didn’t matter how angry the enemy was…
• It didn’t matter how numerous the enemy was…
• It didn’t matter how crafty the enemy was…

The enemy loses and Jesus wins.
That victory is further explained in chapters 12-14.

We’ve already seen:
THE CHILD SATAN COULDN’T STOP
In Genesis 3 God announced that the seed of the woman
Would crush the head of the serpent,
And ever since that day, Satan set out to stop the seed.

• He tried relentlessly throughout history to kill the woman so that the child would never be born, but ultimately he failed.

• He then tried relentlessly to kill the child once He was born, and for a moment it seemed as though he succeeded, but God raised Him up and seated Him at His right hand, so Satan failed there too.

Despite his efforts to stop this child, Satan lost.

Satan then adapted his efforts to attack those the child set out to redeem.
Satan sat out to condemn the elect (it is the current battle we face)

An attempt to accuse the elect before God
And to accuse God before the elect.

And last week we saw that he will fail there as well, as we looked at:
THE BATTLE SATAN COULDN’T WIN

• Satan battled in the heavens, but was ultimately thrown down to the earth, having lost all access to heaven and thus can no longer accuse the saints before God.

And that is where we left off.
Revelation 12:12 “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.”

AT THIS POINT, REALITY HAS SET IN.
HE WON’T WIN.
He couldn’t stop the child,
And now he has been removed from the heavenlies all together.
The battle is ultimately lost, and his time is short.

But that doesn’t mean he will quit.
In fact, this only spurs on a new battle for him to fight.

This morning we look at the third area of his defeat, we see:
THE WOMAN SATAN COULDN’T KILL

(13) “And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.”
• He is on the earth
• He is extremely angry
• And so he again goes on the offensive
• This time he seeks to destroy the woman.

We already learned back in verse 1 who the woman is, it is Israel.
And here we find that Satan is out to persecute her.

The word “persecuted” translates DIOKO
It literally means “to pursue” or “to chase” or “to hunt”

When Satan gets permanently removed from heaven,
He’s so livid all he can think about is striking a blow against God. Since God is out of reach, Satan goes after God’s chosen people.

He pursues them
He hunts for them
He seeks to chase them down

Now I would remind you of the TIMING of this entire event.

This event was already alluded to up in verse 6.
Revelation 12:6 “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.”
1260 days is 3 ½ years.

It is the same timeframe here.
(13-14) “And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”

So the event we are dealing with here is
A persecution that begins at the half-way point of the tribulation
And carries on until the end.

Allow me to bring all of this together for you a little bit here.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 24
• Matthew 24 is what is known as “The Olivet Discourse”
• It was a sermon inspired by the questions of the disciples.

(3) “As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

• To answer that question Jesus then gave His “end times” sermon.

According to Jesus the end times can be characterized by a few common themes.
1) GLOBAL UNREST – wars and rumors of wars
2) DECEPTION – many false christs
3) DEFECTION – many will fall away
4) TRIBULATION – hated by all nations

These are the common themes that one can expect during this end times.

There is ONE EVENT that will kick this thing off
And make it exceptionally horrific.

(READ: MATTHEW 24:15-22)

There Jesus refers to The ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION
• It is the event we have already discussed some.
• It was the event which was depicted in history by Antiochus Epiphanes when he desecrated the temple during the time of the reign of Greece.

But ultimately it is a future event when the Antichrist will enter the temple And declare himself to be God and demand that all people worship him.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”

Jesus said, when that event occurs you had better run!
(16-20) “then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever in on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in the house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.”

Jesus said this event will be bad.
The Antichrist will be out to kill you.

We linked this event with the second seal back in Revelation 6.
The first seal was that white horse who represented false peace.
It was the rise of Satan’s puppet ruler who rises and rules even over Israel.

But the second seal is characterized by world war and famine and death
In which ¼ of the world’s population ends up dying.

So to sort of bring this all together.
WHAT YOU WILL SEE ON EARTH IS THIS:

There will be a leader arise who will take Israel under his wing and who will rise to control the world with an agenda of peace.

But 3 ½ years into his reign he will completely reverse course.
• He will no longer care about putting up a good front.
• He will no longer care about offering peace.
• He will only care about destroying Israel and dominating the world.

It will be one of the strangest events ever.
• This guy will go from peace to war literally overnight.
• He’ll go from being politically correct to just being a brutal warmonger.

That is what the earth will see.
And to some extent it will be confusing as to why this guy flipped so fast.

Well, we have the luxury of seeing this event from the spiritual side
And now we know why he’ll so quickly flip his script.

• As long as Satan is allowed access to heaven and can work his plan of deception and accusation, he uses this puppet of false peace to deceive the world.

• However, when Satan gets permanently banned from heaven he is so angry he no longer cares about deception, now he only cares about destruction.

• And so Satan manipulates his ruler and sets him on a course of destruction and persecution of Israel.

Jesus saw it coming and warned the Jews ahead of time.
Satan will just be angry and will want to hunt you down and kill you.

That is what we read in Revelation 12
(13) “And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.”

Satan will be so mad at God for defeating him
That he will just seek to vent his fury any way he can.

And it centers around destroying the woman
To whom God had made so many promises.

Let me show you one (we’re studying this on Sunday nights)
Zechariah 8:1-8 “Then the word of the LORD of hosts came, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.’ “Thus says the LORD, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’ “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘ Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. ‘And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.’ “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in My sight?’ declares the LORD of hosts. “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.’”

That is just one of many promises that God made to this woman Israel.
He’s going to return to reign
And they’re going to enjoy it.

So Satan is out to mess that up.
He simply wants to hurt God by hurting those whom He loves.

And this is important to understand even for us.

ARE YOU EVER CONFUSED BY PERSECUTION?
Many in our world are.

A couple of weeks ago “The Wizard of Oz” was on television
And I was watching it with the kids.

At the end when the Tin Man gets his new hear the wizard looks at him and says,
“And remember my sentimental friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others.”

There are so many in our churches who actually believe that.
They think the love and approval and affection of others
Is the criteria which proves whether or not they are being a good Christian.

If people love me then I must look like Jesus
And if people hate me then I must be doing something wrong.

That’s just not true.
1 John 3:13-16 “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

John goes on to say that when we love like this (even when being hated)…
1 John 3:19 “We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him”

Being loved is NOT evidence that you are a good Christian.

Jesus said:
Luke 6:26 “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”

Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

That simply means that you should never let persecution rattle you
As though it is a negative indicator.

What we learn is that Satan hates those whom God loves.
• Satan hates those who glorify God.
• Satan attacks those who glorify God.
• Satan attacks those whom God has chosen.

Satan simply hated the woman because God had loved and chosen her.
It’s as simple as that.

Listen to what Jesus told the disciples:
John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”

John 16:1-4 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. “But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

Don’t let persecution surprise you.
The world hates you because it is controlled by Satan
And Satan hates Christ.

We are looking at that same senseless hatred here in Revelation 12.

Satan is angry, he has been removed from heaven,
And so he just sets out through his puppet
To hunt down and kill God’s people Israel.

It’s just pure hatred and rage.

And the Old Testament has promised it for them.
Zechariah 13:8-9 “It will come about in all the land,” Declares the LORD, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it. “And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.'”

It is going to be horrific.
• Jesus said it will be like no other time before it.
• That means that even the Holocaust under Hitler will not be able to compare to what Antichrist will do to the Jews.

Satan will simply seek to annihilate Israel
Just because they are God’s chosen people.

What we find here is that even in this attack, HE WILL NOT WIN.
God will not allow him to exterminate His people Israel.

Tribulation? Yes
Annihilation? No

(14) “But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”

Satan will set out to kill her and God will provide supernatural deliverance.

Don’t let the imagery confuse you.
It is a reference to God’s deliverance during the Exodus.

Exodus 19:4 “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself.”

Deuteronomy 32:9-11 “For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. “He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.

The nourishment spoken of is no different than the manna
Which God provided throughout the wilderness wonderings.

Satan will set out to annihilate Israel and God will supernaturally protect them just as He did during the exodus from Egypt.

Let me give you another passage to chew on here.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 25

• You already know that the Olivet Discourse begins in Matthew 24 with Jesus outlining the events of the end.

• In Matthew 25 He is still in this same discourse but He is giving parables to describe the magnitude of this time period.

• He gives a couple of parables which deal with readiness for the 2nd Coming (10 virgins, Talents)

But look at (VERSES 31-46)

Does that passage seem a little more understandable now?

• We know that during this time of tribulation Satan is going to be hunting down the Jews and seeking to annihilate them.

• And we know that God will supernaturally protect them and provide for them so that they are not totally annihilated.

• According to what Jesus taught in the Olivet Discourse it appears that the means through which God will deliver them is Gentile believers.

It’s like an UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, through which
God will deliver His people from Satan’s attempt to annihilate them.

SO, SATAN LOSES AGAIN.

But of course, he is not finished.
Israel escapes the initial onslaught so Satan regroups.

(15-16) “And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.”

Here is more symbolism to be rightly understood.
Floods are pictures of destruction.

Since Satan cannot reach Israel due to her having escaped to the wilderness,
He unleashes what is called “water like a river”
To try and sweep Israel away “with the flood”

• We remember the first seal of false peace
• We saw why that transitioned into the second seal of world war.

We now understand that this war had at its root
A desire to annihilate Israel, but God protected them.

• The third and fourth seals were the next efforts of the Antichrist.

Famine and then Death represent that river out of his mouth.

The Antichrist uses famine and wild beast and plague
As a means of long range attack against Israel,
And the attack is so lethal he actually kills ¼ of the world with it.

Because he could not seem to reach them with his army,
He instead unleashes a plan to kill them
By famine and wild beast and plague.

It is an all-out attempt of the enemy to wipe out Israel.

“But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.”

In short, God miraculously causes nature
To intervene and save His people.

When Pharaoh had Israel pinned against the wall, what did God do?
• He split the red sea.

When the wilderness had Israel in danger of dehydration and death due to lack of water, what did God do?
• He commanded water from a rock

How many times in the Old Testament did we see God cause nature to shift in order to deliver Israel?
• We saw hailstones…
• We saw the sun stand still…
• We saw rivers and seas dry up…

In whatever ways Satan tries to remotely kill Israel,
God causes nature to intervene and stop it.

The direct imagery is to the days when Korah sought to rebel against Moses and overthrow him.
Numbers 16:31-32 “As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions.”

That is the kind of deliverance seen here.

SO…
• Satan sets out to kill Israel through war and God intervenes.
• Satan attempts to kill her through famine and plague and God intervenes.
HE SIMPLY CANNOT WIN

God made promises to Israel that He will keep.
Christ will reign and they will enjoy it!

That is the point you should be seeing.
• Satan cannot stop what God is doing.
• Satan’s kingdom has transferred all power to Christ and despite his rage, there is not a thing Satan can do about it.

Martin Luther penned that infamous hymn “A Might Fortress Is Our God”
“And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us. We will not fear, for God hath willed, His truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little world shall fell him.”

Satan cannot totally destroy God’s chosen people.
God has promised them an earthly kingdom,
And He is preserving that promise.
But…
Satan still isn’t done, and he never accepts defeat.

(17) “So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

This verse is really an introductory verse.
It is a verse that is described throughout chapter 13.

We find that when Satan can’t wipe out Israel,
He turns his fury toward those who helped her escape.
(I mean he’s got to kill something)

He turns his fury towards “the rest of her children”
(These are Gentile believers; saved during the tribulation)

This helps us understand why there are so many Gentile martyrs during the tribulation.

Remember what we saw in Revelation 7?
Revelation 7:9 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;”
Later in that chapter we learned that these were
Those who had been slain during the tribulation.

They are killed because Satan is mad at God
And because God has made Israel somewhat off limits.
It’s just raw, unbridled, senseless rage against God.

One thing important for you to see is how Satan knows who to attack.
How Satan spots a true believer.

• Do you suppose that when Satan goes looking for Christians that he will subpoena churches for their membership records?

• Do you suppose that when he goes looking for Christians that he will look for people with a fish on their car?

• How do you think Satan will go about identifying true believers?

Oddly enough Satan will use Biblical criteria for identifying true believers.
He will look for two attributes in people.

He looks for those “who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

These are the two undeniable characteristics of true believers.
Obedience & Endurance

They obey God, and they persevere until the end.
Those are the byproducts of genuine faith.

These attributes are so indicative of believers
That they are the criteria Satan will use
In his attempts to identify them and kill them.

In fact in chapter 13 that is what you will see.
• Satan will pass laws and make cultural realities that make it impossible to hide
as a believer.
• You will either take his mark or you will be faithful to Jesus.
• You will either obey God or you will obey Satan.

How was it that Satan was able to capture Daniel? (a law forbidding prayer)
How was it that he capture Daniel’s friends? (a law commanding idol worship)
How was it that he captured the apostles? (a law forbidding evangelism)

That is how Satan will make war with the true believers.
He will use their obedience and endurance as the trap.
He’ll use their faithfulness to God against them.

Because he knows that true believers
Would rather expose themselves to suffering than deny their Lord.

I just want you to understand the rules of the battle.
• Persecution comes because the enemy hates Christ.
• Because he hates Christ, he attacks those whom Christ loves.
• And he identifies them by their devotion and loyalty to Christ.

THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE THE BATTLE
IS TO BE UNFAITHFUL TO CHRIST.

And those who do that only reveal that
They never genuinely belonged to Christ.

Don’t deceive yourself into believing that your faith is real
If you have no obedience or endurance.

1 John 2:3-6 “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ” I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”

James 1:22-25 “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”

The Bible says a person who claims to be a Christian
But who doesn’t obey is deceiving themselves.

But you also must have endurance if you claim to be a Christian.
Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

These are the criteria by which Satan identifies believers.
And these are the very actions which will put them in danger,
As you will see in the next chapter.

But even then they overcome…
Revelation 13:7-10 “It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.”

Revelation 14:12-13 “Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘ Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

They will overcome (as we saw last week) because of “the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony, and because they did not love their lives even when faced with death.”

Satan still loses!
• He can’t stop Jesus
• He can’t condemn the elect
• He can’t annihilate the Jews
• He can’t break the genuinely redeemed

There is not a thing he can do, regardless of his rage,
Which will stop the inevitable from occurring
And that is the absolute reign of Jesus Christ upon the earth.

Psalms 2:6-12 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'” Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

Jesus will reign…Satan will lose.
Wisdom aligns itself with the winning side
Regardless of the difficulty in doing so.

God’s Vision For Israel – Part 1
Zechariah 8:1-3
January 8, 2017

I know it’s been a few weeks since we last studied together here in the book of Zechariah, but I’m confident we can get back in the flow.
At this point we are 2 years away from the completion of the temple.

As it was being rebuilt we saw in chapter 7 an event that prompted this most recent sermon by Zechariah.
• A group of delegates traveled from Bethel to Jerusalem to seek the favor of the LORD.
• Their question had to do with a ritualistic fast they had been keeping in memory of the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar.

Continuing in this fast seemed strange for them for a couple of reasons.
1) It seemed strange to continue fasting for losing the temple when the temple was very close to being rebuilt.

2) It didn’t appear that this fast was working anyway since they couldn’t see that they were reaping much benefit from their faithfulness to keep it.

And you will remember that this reality
Sparked a sermon from Zechariah about seeking God’s favor.

We saw the LORD confront this group of delegates
(and really the entire land of Israel)
With three very important truths involved in seeking God’s favor.

1) Consider Your Real Purpose
Why do you do it? Is it for God’s glory or for your benefit?

2) Consider Scriptures Reiterated Prophecies
If you want to please God, then you should start by reading the word and seeing what things He has clearly revealed as pleasing to Him. Don’t invent some new uncommanded ritual and then assume that God will honor it if you remain faithful to it.

3) Consider God’s Revealed Passion
That is to say, you should look at the past and see how God has responded to various behaviors throughout history and there you will learn a great deal about what things are important to Him.

And that is good advice for any believer
In search of living a life that is pleasing to God.

But in all of that there is something else you should know, and it is this:

THE FAVOR OF GOD IS ULTIMATELY NOT A RESPONSE TO YOUR BEHAVIOR, BUT IS IN REALITY A CONSEQUENCE OF HIS SOVEREIGNTY.

In short, God shows favor to His children not because they deserve it,
But because He has chosen to show them favor.

If we were to put it another way, we could say that
God’s favor is a consequence of grace, not works.

So, while God did answer the question as to how to seek His favor (which we should all do)
Now God is going to reveal that His favor on Israel
Has always been a certainty based upon His grace.

And regarding Israel, I think I can prove this rather quickly.

There is no doubt to us who is considered the father of Israel.
It is Abraham. (actually the grandfather of the man God named Israel)

Remember what God said to Abraham?
Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

I hope you remember this from our study of Genesis, but what did this Abram ever do to deserve such tremendous blessing from God?

-Nothing
Abram was a greedy slave owner, whose only objective was to make a buck.
He wasn’t a particularly devoted man or even a moral man.

And yet we have there the God of the universe deciding, by grace alone,
To take this Abram and make him a tremendous object of blessing.

Now some would quickly say that this blessing
Was contingent upon Abram’s obedience.
After all God did tell him to first leave his country and his relatives
And go this special land before God would bless him.

Let’s consider that:
• Abram did leave his own land, but if you’ll remember, he didn’t leave his
relatives. He actually took his nephew Lot with him which proved to be a
problem God had to solve.

• He did go to the land, but if you’ll recall he only stayed until it became difficult,
for in the first famine Abram bolted.

• And these mistakes were only followed by others such as an adulterous
affair and even a debate with God regarding the source of his descendants.

The point is that the only reason God showed favor to Abraham
Was because God wanted to show favor to Abraham.
And even Abraham’s mistakes could not nullify this decision.

Now that is NOT TO SAY that Abraham’s mistakes did not come with discipline or even difficulty, they surely did.

There is a lot of hardship and difficulty throughout the patriarchal family
And it is all a result of sin and bad decisions,

But none of that sin, and none of those bad decisions
Ever changed God’s mind about His decision to bless this family.

That blessing flowed from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob
And all throughout the generations.

And for these refugees it should still be clearly in view.

Think about their situation.
• Against all odds, after 70 years being absent from their land, and living in a foreign nation…
• Not only have they returned to Israel, but they are also rebuilding their temple with the blessing of the king who formerly ruled over them.

There is no reason this should have happened and no explanation
Except that God was choosing to show favor to these undeserving people

To make sure that these refugees understand this
They are given this remarkable chapter here in the book of Zechariah.

Zechariah 8 outlines 10 remarkable revelations from God
Regarding His plan for Israel.

So let’s begin to work our way through it tonight.
#1 GOD REVEALS HIS PASSION
Zechariah 8:1-2

You’ll find it is rather simple to identify each of these revelations
Since they all begin the same way, “Thus says the LORD”

In most cases “Thus says the LORD of hosts”

And the first one is vitally important to our understanding.
God says, “I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.”

I love this statement.
I love the emotion.
I love the implication.

God says that He is “exceedingly jealous for Zion”

Thank about that for a second.
We do have other passages of Scripture which reveal God’s “jealousy”

Exodus 20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

Exodus 34:12-17 “Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. “But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim — for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God — otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. “You shall make for yourself no molten gods.”

Joshua 24:19-20 “Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. “If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.”

God puts His jealousy on clear display there.
We might say that “He is jealous regarding His glory.”

That is to say, He does not share His glory.
Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.”

God is jealous regarding His glory.

Would we say that God has proven that throughout the ages?

Yes, I think we can say He has more than proven that.
• We saw what God did to the false gods of Egypt through the humiliation of
the plagues.
• We saw how God punished Israel with their neighboring nations every time
they stepped into idolatry during the times of the Judges.
• We saw how God eventually kicked Israel out of the Promised Land
throughout the period of the Kings for their willingness to give God’s glory
to false gods.

Scripture makes it abundantly clear that you should not cross God there.
It is an areas where He is jealous about something.

Well here God takes that exact same language and instead of applying it to His own glory, HE APPLIES IT TO ZION.

“I am exceedingly jealous for Zion”
God has the same kind of passion for His people
That He has for His own glory.

In fact, He says, “with great wrath I am jealous for her.”

That is to say, I get angry when anyone messes with Zion.
I get very angry when anyone touches My people.

Did we not already read in this book..?
Zechariah 1:14-15 “So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. “But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster.”

Zechariah 2:8 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, “After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.”

We saw this jealousy on display throughout those night visions.
• We saw Him talk of destroying those nations which plundered Israel.
• We saw Him rebuke Satan for accusing Joshua.
• We saw Him coming to the aid of Zerubbabel to finish this temple.
• We saw His promise to purify His people.

Those delegates came from Bethel to seek the favor of the LORD.
What they failed to realize was they clearly already had it.

You’d have to be blind to not be able to see how much God cares for her.

In fact, there is a word in the Hebrew that I really love.
I first came across it when we were studying Genesis.

The word is not used in this passage,
But I definitely see the evidence of it all over the chapter.

That word is CHESED in the Hebrew.
Most commonly it is translated “lovingkindness” or “kindness”
But it is more than just God being nice to someone.

I tend to think a better use of it is “loyalty” or “faithfulness”
I think you could even call it “preference”

In fact, in Hosea 6 it is translated “loyalty”
Hosea 6:6 “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

God didn’t just want His people to be kind to Him,
God wanted loyalty or faithfulness from His people.

I first became acquainted with that word in our study of Genesis
Because it became evident that whatever it actually meant,
It was obvious that Abraham had it.

Abraham clearly had the CHESED of God on His life.
And whether or not Abraham recognized it,
What is evident is that those around him certainly spotted it.

Let me show you.
It became evident on the day when Abraham began to look for a wife for Isaac and Abraham sent his servant back to Mesopotamia with strict orders not to take a wife from among the Canaanites.

It was quite a mission to be on.
Go to a foreign country and find a woman who will marry your master’s son sight unseen and who will then accompany you back to this foreign land to be with him.

Because of the difficulty of this task Abraham’s servant prayed to God,
And I want you to see what this servant prayed.

Genesis 24:10-14 “Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and set out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. He said, “O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. “Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’ — may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”

Abraham’s servant prayed that God would show “lovingkindness” (CHESSED)
To Abraham by revealing a wife for Isaac.

You know the story. At that time Rebecca showed up
And did exactly what the servant had prayed for.

After it was over the servant prayed again:
Genesis 24:26-27 “Then the man bowed low and worshiped the LORD. He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the LORD has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

He reiterated that God “has not forsaken His lovingkindness”

I don’t know if it was obvious to Abraham,
But it was certainly obvious to everyone around him
That God was faithful to him; that God was loyal to him.

This servant even banked on the fact
That God always seemed to be loyal to Abraham.

And again I remind you that this was not based upon Abraham’s works,
But upon God’s sovereign grace.

Now the reality is that this loyalty always stuck with Israel.

See Jacob:
Genesis 32:10 “I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.”

See Joseph:
Genesis 39:21 “But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.”

Listen to Moses sing after God led Israel through the Red Sea:
Exodus 15:13 “In Your lovingkindness You have led the people whom You have redeemed; In Your strength You have guided them to Your holy habitation.”

Perhaps the most famous place this is used in Psalm 136
TURN TO: PSALMS 136

Do you see what the Psalmist is doing?
He is recounting every aspect of Israel’s history the fact that God has never ceased to be faithful.

And I think this gives us a better understanding of when God says, “I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes with great wrath I am jealous for her.”

• We could say, that He is so jealous in fact that He would drown the Egyptians after crushing them with plagues.

• We could say that He is so jealous in fact that He would uproot the Canaanites and give their land to Israel.

• We could say that He is so jealous in fact that He would thoroughly punish any and every nation that ever laid a finger on Israel.

DO YOU SEE THAT?

NOW LET ME TAKE IT ONE STEP FARTHER.
• No one in here has the slightest difficulty recognizing God’s faithfulness to Israel.
• No one in here has the slightest difficulty recognizing that God is in fact jealous for Israel.
• We could go on and on and on and on about all the supernatural ways that He has cared for them and delivered them and worked for them.
• Even today the fact that they are back in their land is an unfathomable miracle.

We can see it, it’s obvious.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE HAVE TROUBLE SEEING?
God’s faithfulness to us…
God’s jealousy for us…

That was the problem of this delegation that came from Bethel.
They were seeking God’s favor as though they didn’t have it.

• Could they not recognize that God had liberated them from exile in Babylon?
• Could they not see that God had given them back their land?
• Could they not see that God was protecting them from the enemy?
• Could they not see that God was helping them rebuild the temple?

God’s jealousy for them and faithfulness to them was all over the place,
And yet it appears they had difficulty spotting it.

I think we do the same sometimes.
We see God’s favor on others
And seem to have a much greater difficulty seeing it in our own lives.

But rest assured:
“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thy changest not, Thy compassions; they fail not. As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. Great is They faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed, They hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, LORD unto me.”

And that is the first thing God reveals here in His vision for Israel.
IT ALL STARTS WITH HIS JEALOUSY FOR HER.

God has a passionate love for His people.
A love not born out of merit, but grace,
And not only is evident, but it is also absolutely unchanging.

And of course we can carry this out as far as we absolutely want to.
• We actually have the benefit of seeing God incarnate coming to earth and
dying upon a cross simply so that He might redeem these people whom
God so dearly loves.

• We can fast-forward into the book of the Revelation and study chapters like
the one we studied this morning (Revelation 12) and see God’s faithful
protection of the woman Satan so desperately wants to destroy.

It is obvious.
• God loves her
• God cares for her
• God is faithful to her
• God is jealous for her

You’d have to be blind to miss it

So, God reveals His passion.
#2 GOD REVEALS HIS PLAN
Zechariah 8:3

Because God is so jealous and passionate for this people,
We next get into the revelation of His plan for them.

“Thus says the LORD, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’”

You see God’s plan there outlined in three steps.

1) I WILL RETURN
“I will return to Zion”

2) I WILL REMAIN
“and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem”

3) I WILL RENOVATE
“Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.”

The simple point being that Israel
Is at the very center of all of God’s plans going forward.

And to them this must have been a great piece of information.

Go back to the book of Ezekiel
• See Ezekiel fascinated with the glory of the LORD.
• Then go to chapters 10 and 11 and see God’s glory depart from Israel.

It is absolutely heart breaking and gut wrenching.
It gives the picture of absolute abandonment.

And certainly it must have felt this way since after God left,
Babylon entered and Israel was exiled.

God’s commitment to Israel must have been questioned
By more than one person over the next 70 years.

And of course it was not that God had “unchosen” Israel,
It is merely that she needed to be disciplined for her sin
And purified through that discipline.

God punished Israel, but He never forsook her.
• Watch Him protect Daniel and those other Hebrew boys time after time.
• Watch Him use Esther to protect them from Haman.

God hadn’t forsaken them, even though it must have felt that way.

The beauty here is that God has now promised to:
• “return to Zion”
• And “dwell in the midst of Jerusalem”
• And turn that city into “the City of Truth”

What is He referring to?
JESUS

I would imagine that when God said He would return to Zion,
That most of the Jews probably expected another cloud.

You remember the glory cloud that filled Solomon’s temple and forced everyone out…

I would imagine that this is what these Jews probably expected.
They probably figured another cloud was coming.

But God has something much better in mind than a cloud.
God wrapped His glory in human flesh.

John said:
John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The glory did come, not in a cloud, but in the form of a bond-servant.
God did return, and He returned to renovate Israel
And redeem Israel into the nation for God’s own glory.

Of course you know how the story unfolded…
• Israel rejected their Messiah just as they had rejected God’s glory in the Old Testament.
• And Israel nailed Jesus to a cross and killed Him, thus delaying the fulfillment of this promise.

And many have said that because of this God is now finished with Israel.
It is called Amillennialism.

But those who hold that view seem to have forgotten that
God’s favor to Israel has never been performance based.

In fact shortly after Jesus rose and ascended to heaven we have Peter preaching in Jerusalem and he says:
Acts 3:17-26 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. “Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you. ‘And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ “And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. “It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’ “For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

• Peter reminds these Jews in Jerusalem that Jesus had done everything necessary to fulfill the prophecies regarding His suffering and atoning death.

• The only thing now delaying the promise is the repentance and faith of Israel.

• But once they repent and turn to Christ God will again send Him from heaven to do in Jerusalem exactly what He is promising here in the book of Zechariah.

WHY WOULD GOD STILL DO THAT FOR THEM?
Well listen to what Peter said:
(25-26) “It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’ “For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

It is because God is passionate about you.
God is jealous for you.
He made promises regarding you
He is loyal to you and those promises.

Paul said the same thing:
Romans 11:25-29 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation — that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

God’s plan for Israel hasn’t changed, because God is jealous for her.
• He promised to return to her and He will.
• He promised to dwell with her and He will.
• He promised to purify her and He will.

This is all part of the plan because God is faithful, God is loyal.

And, according to the theme of Zechariah, THE LORD REMEMBERS

Now we’ll stop here for tonight,
But I think some great points are made here for you and me.

• No, we are not Israel.
• We are Gentiles.
• We are a wild olive shoot that has been grafted in.

But we are, just as they, great recipients of God’s amazing grace.
We also are recipients of God’s favor, God’s loyalty, God’s jealousy.

And like Israel we receive those things not based upon our own works
But because the sovereign God of heaven chose to be gracious to us.

And just as God is seeking to quiet the anxiety of these refugees
Who are living in an unsettling time,
We can take great comfort in exactly the same way.

GOD IS FOR US,
And if you’d open your eyes you’d see that His favor is obvious.

That may not mean the absence of hardship (it didn’t for these refugees) but it certainly does mean the presence of grace.
• God was watching them as He is watching you.
• God was defending them as He is defending you.
• God was atoning them as He is atoning you.
• God was aiding them as He is aiding you.

They came questioning God’s favor and in reality
That is the last thing they should have ever questioned.

And it is the last thing you should ever question too.
God has been nothing but faithful, our entire lives are a testimony to it.
He is at work on our behalf continually.

It is not to say that we do not seek God’s favor, or seek to do the things that please Him; we most certainly do.

What you must understand however,
Is that His favor is not conditional upon our faithfulness.
Rather He shows us favor because He is faithful.

Rest in that for a little while.
Romans 8:28-31 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

The Battle Satan Couldn’t Win
Revelation 12:7-12
January 8, 2017

As you know we are studying through the book of the Revelation and last Sunday morning we began our third parenthetical section of the book.

In chapter 11, after the 7th trumpet sounded all of heaven rejoiced at the now evident reign of Christ.

Revelation 11:15-18 “Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

We learned from heaven that Christ reigns.
And He does so despite the rage and rebellion of the enemy.

This most recent parenthetical section illustrates that reality.
Chapters 12-14 reveal to us how Christ reigns despite the rage and rebellion of Satan.

I told you last week that this section reveals 4 major events.
1) THE CHILD SATAN COULDN’T STOP
2) THE BATTLE SATAN COULDN’T WIN
3) THE WOMAN SATAN COULDN’T KILL
4) THE THRONE SATAN COULDN’T KEEP

WE SAW THE FIRST LAST WEEK

Way back in the garden God revealed to the serpent
That the seed of the woman would crush his head.

That woman is Israel and that child is Jesus. So Satan did everything he could to try and kill that woman before she could give birth to the child.
• He tried to use Pharaoh to annihilate them
• He tried to use Sennacherib and Tiglath Pileser of Assyria
• He tried to use Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
• He tried to use Haman of Persia
• He tried to use Antiochus Epiphanes of Greece

And each time God delivered the woman from his grasp.

Satan then resolved to wait for the child to be born and then kill him.
• This plan began early as Herod ordered all the babies of Bethlehem to be slaughtered, but again God delivered.

Satan did finally succeed in killing this child, but God simply raised Him up again and then successfully seated that child on His throne.

And we learned that despite Satan’s rage and efforts
He was unable to stop this child from coming or from reigning.

HOWEVER we know that despite the crushing blow rendered to Satan
HE DID NOT GIVE UP ON HIS BATTLE.
We know that he rages on, even today.

• Today his rebellion is seen through the accusation and the temptation of the
saints.
• Today his rage is revealed through deception and the instigating of sin and
rebellion against God.

Having failed in stopping the child, his goal is now
To turn sinners against God and to turn God against His children.
IT IS A BATTLE TO CONDEMN GOD’S ELECT

Now, to some extent this battle is absolutely necessary.
• Similar to the days of Job; Satan incited God against Job and God was willing to afflict Job at Satan’s request, but only to prove that the power God had to save Job was greater than the power Satan had to destroy him.

The rage of Satan today against Christ’s work of redemption
Only accomplishes that same end.

Satan’s battle only illustrates how great the work of Christ really is,
Since Satan has not been able to “undo” or even “prevent”
The salvation of one single person who are among God’s elect.

Despite Satan’s efforts God is saving every single one of them.

John 6:37-40 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

That passage reminds us that, despite his efforts, Satan isn’t winning. The cross is greater still.

Romans 5:18-21 “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

And again:
Romans 8:28-39 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Despite Satan’s rage and rebellion, the work of the cross;
The work of the child remains totally effective.

Satan is losing and he will lose forever.
Romans 16:20 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

This morning we see the day when
He will permanently lose this current battle he is fighting.

He already permanently lost the battle to stop the child.
This morning we look forward to the day when
He will permanently lose the battle to condemn God’s elect.

We’ve seen the child he couldn’t stop.
Now let’s look at the battle he couldn’t win.

There are three main points
#1 THE DRAGON EXPELLED
Revelation 12:7-9

When you read those three verses, regardless of the detail,
THE MAIN OBSERVATION IS CLEAR.
SATAN IS KICKED OUT OF HEAVEN PERMANENTLY.

This reality has caused confusion for some. I actually remember a 2 hour debate about this in one of my seminary classes.

So in case you have any confusion regarding what is going on,
I want to take a moment to see if I can clarify it for you.

LET’S JUST TALK ABOUT WHAT WE KNOW IS TRUE.

1) We know that Satan is a created angel, and therefore he must have been created perfect.
• When we read God’s creation account in Genesis, we see that God did not create anything that wasn’t perfect. It was all good. Satan certainly fit this bill.

• Beyond that Satan was in heaven with God, and this would not have been permitted if Satan were not one of the holy angels.

2) We know that Satan fell sometime before Genesis 3.
• Obviously something occurred because in Genesis 3 Satan shows up in the form of a serpent and he is a liar and a deceiver and a slanderer of God.

• This can only indicate that at some point in history this holy angel indeed fell into sin and rebellion against God.

In fact, we read about that event last week.
Revelation 12:4 “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.”

This would be his demonic army, who are also fallen angels.
And they have been present on earth throughout history, which again gives us indication that Satan fell long ago and has been at war with God ever since.

(Incidentally, as a side note, there are many people today who do not believe in the security of the believer. There are many who claim that a saved person on this earth can in fact lose their salvation.

But I don’t know a single one of those people who does not believe that this salvation can be lost after a person enters heaven. In short, they believe security of the believer begins in heaven.

And yet we find here that their theology is flawed. If salvation can be lost then even heaven cannot secure it since even the devil and his angels fell from heaven.

The reality is that salvation is only secure in heaven
Because our security is not based upon our location
But rather upon the finished work of Christ.
This makes us secure not only in heaven but also on earth.

But we know that Satan fell long ago
And has been at war on the earth with his demonic army.

I believe that fall is specifically spoken of by the Old Testament prophets.
Isaiah 14:12-14 “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! “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. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”

Ezekiel 28:11-16 “Again the word of the LORD came to me saying, “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. “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. “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. “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. “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.”

So we know that Satan fell and is now at work with demonic armies
Who are clearly seen throughout the New Testament
And who continue even to this very day.

3) We also know that despite his fall Satan currently maintains some sort of strange access to God.

We see this in the book of Job.
Job 1:6-7 “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 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.”

Even in our test today down in verse 10 we read that Satan is “he who accuses them before our God day and night.”

So he currently has some sort of strange access
Whereby he continually accuses us before God.

4) Along with his work of accusation he is also engage in warfare continually with us on the earth.

Ephesians 6:12 “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.”

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.”

Not only does Satan accuse us before God,
He is also at work accusing God before us.
We call this TEMPTATION

Remember the wilderness when Satan tempted Jesus?
• He did so by accusing God of being a bad provider, “If You are the Son of God command these stones to become bread…”

• He accused God of being a bad protector, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself from this temple…”

• He accused God of having a selfish plan, “If You bow and worship me I will give you all the kingdoms of the earth…”

Like what Satan did with Even in the garden he did with Jesus in the wilderness, seeking to drive a wedge between Christ and the Father.

Beyond his work of temptation we also know him to be a liar,
Continually distorting truth to secure the destruction of sinners.

But you get the point: HE IS CURRENTLY AT WAR
He fell from heaven; he fell from holiness;
And he has been at war with God and God’s people ever since.

THE EVENT WE READ OF HERE IS THE END OF THAT WAR.
Here we read of him again falling from heaven.
This was not his original fall, this is his final fall.

This is the day when his access to God is forever revoked
And he can no longer continue in his work of accusation.

(READ 7-9)
• This type of warfare is not uncommon, it is also alluded to in Daniel 10.
• But here we find that Michael has had enough.
• Satan went on an all-out attack to regain his status in heaven and Michael thumped him.

“there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.”
• That is not just “heaven” but the heavens.
• We read in Ephesians that he is “the prince of the power of the air”, but on this day that access is revoked.

He is removed from the heavens and is relegated solely to the earth.
No longer will he ever be able to accuse God’s children before God.

We also learn a great deal about his warfare
Through the names he is given here.

“the serpent of old” is a reference to the garden and no doubt refers to his work of deception and blasphemy against God.

He lies about God in order to tempt and deceive people into sin.

“who is called the devil”
This is a word that means “accuser” which, as we have seen, is what he does relentlessly.

“Satan” is a word that means “adversary” and that probably sums him up better than any other since his only objective is to oppose whatever God is doing.

NOW WE ARE READING ABOUT THE DAY WHEN HE IS THROWN DOWN.
(He will still be a tempter and a liar, but his opportunity to be an accuser is over)

The timing of this event is also made clear to us.
Revelation 12:13-15 “And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.”

This final fall of Satan occurs at the half-way point of the tribulation.
This is simultaneous with the timing of the opening of the second seal.

• Remember the first seal is 3 ½ years of deception and false peace.
• Halfway through comes the abomination of desolation and world war

Here we see part of the reason for that world war.
Satan is kicked to the earth and so he begins a revolt on earth
Like has never been seen before in all of human history.

The Dragon is Expelled
#2 THE VICTORY EXPLAINED
Revelation 12:10-11

This event is NOT YET THE FINAL DESTRUCTION of Satan,
That will occur after the 1,000 year millennial reign of Christ.

But this event does sort of seal the deal.
• It’s like that touchdown to go ahead by 21 with 2 minutes to play.
• All of heaven (and Satan too) knows it’s over.

Jesus wins!
And that reality is what causes the celebration to begin.

“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come…”

Everything we’ve been waiting for.
• The judgment of Satan
• The removal of the curse
• The glorification of all believers
• The full demonstration of the power of God
• The total reign of Christ

All of God’s children whom he has been accusing are totally secure.

WHY?
“for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.”

Satan no longer has access to God
Whereby to accuse the brethren any longer.

If you are football fan, it’s like when your team is losing and there is two minutes left, but you don’t have any timeouts and the other team is just taking a knee.
The game is not technically over yet, there is still time on the clock, but there’s nothing you can do about it because you don’t even have the ball.

That is the predicament Satan is in.
He can accuse no longer.

Ever since the ascension of Jesus, when Satan lost that battle,
His main objective has been to condemn God’s elect
By accusing them before God.

It didn’t work, and on this day he’ll never be allowed to do it again.

But that is not all that is revealed to John,
THE MEANS OF THE VICTORY OF THE SAINTS is also revealed to John.

It is as though heaven wants John to know
How these saints managed to survive the battle
That was waged against them.

And I think this is very important and very relevant information.
Spiritual warfare is a popular topic among some circles of Christian life,
But I run across very few who have any clue how to wage it.

Many think it has something to do with rebuking the devil or commanding him to flee.
• You know, you’ve got to raise your hands in the air and command him in the name of Jesus to flee.
• I even had one pastor tell me about how in one of his services a man came down to the front of the church and started doing karate moves during the singing service. When the pastor asked him what he was doing, he said he was engaging in spiritual warfare.

But you don’t overcome Satan by karate kicking the air. You don’t overcome the enemy by giving him orders.
• Paul taught us to “put on the full armor of God”. Things like truth, righteousness, faith, assurance, readiness, and the word of God.
• Peter taught us to “resist” the devil.

Here the loud voice in heaven
Reveals how these saints defeated the enemy.

(11) “And they overcome 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.”

This is how you fight spiritual warfare.
Let me explain it a little more.

There were 3 reasons given here as to
Why these saints were able to overcome the enemy.

1) THE WORK OF CHRIST
“the blood of the Lamb”

This is nothing short of the sacrificial atonement of Christ on our behalf.

Do your best live right and live good, and all of that stuff,
But the good you do will not outweigh the bad.

I don’t care how many dollars you give, or how many hours you pray,
God does not judge on the “good enough” system.

God judges by the standard of perfect holiness.
• One sin is enough to condemn you for all eternity and no amount of good deeds will ever undo that.

• Someone who commits a murder goes to prison regardless of how much money they’ve given to the Salvation Army.

• Guilt is guilt

And since Satan’s objective is to accuse the brethren before God,
You should know that there is not the slightest chance
That one of your sins will ever go unnoticed.
He is the ultimate tattle tale. He points out your flaws
And demands that God punish your sins just as God punished his.

So how do we overcome the “devil”; the “accuser”?
“the blood of the Lamb”

Romans 8:33-34 “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

When we sin and Satan points out to God,
Jesus steps in and intercedes on our behalf.

He does not intercede based upon His fondness of us,
He intercedes based on the fact that He already paid the debt for His elect.
(Go read Zechariah 3)
His blood was shed as payment for our sin.

If you don’t have “the blood of the Lamb” you don’t have a chance.
• You will not be saved
• You could not stay saved
• And you couldn’t lead anyone else to salvation either

Without “the blood of the Lamb” there is no defeating Satan.

THESE SAINTS OVERCAME THE ENEMY
BECAUSE JESUS HAD REDEEMED THEM WITH HIS OWN BLOOD.

2) THE WORD OF CHRIST
“and because of the word of their testimony”

I hear this verse quoted all time as some sort of proof that
The power to overcome Satan is found
In you sharing your own personal testimony.

Now look, I’m certainly fine with people sharing what Christ has done in their life through His work of redemption.
• You can read Paul’s testimony in several places in Scripture.

But here WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT the power of a personal testimony as the secret to overcoming Satan.

What are we talking about?
Well, throughout the Revelation
We are told what “the word of their testimony” actually is.

Revelation 1:1-2 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”

Revelation 1:9 “I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”

Revelation 6:9 “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;”

The testimony being referred to here was not their personal testimony,
It is “the testimony of Jesus”

John 15:26-27 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”

That’s why I showed you that video to begin today.
• “We Preach Christ”
• “We Preach the Gospel”

That is how you overcome Satan.
The gospel is the power of God for salvation,
Not your own personal testimony.

• Is your testimony useful? Certainly
• Should you give an account of the hope that is in you? Without a doubt

But more than that, preach the gospel.
Preach Christ
This is the message that leads sinners to salvation.
This is the message that cuts through the lies of the deceiver
And brings about redemption.

• You don’t waive your hands in the air and rebuke the devil.
• You don’t karate kick the air in some sort of frenzy.
• You don’t command or declare or break or any of that nonsense.

If you want to overcome the devil then you preach Christ.
You tell sinners about the finished work of the One
Who can set them free from the snare of the devil.

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

If Satan is going to be overcome it will require the work of Christ, the word of Christ
3) THE WORTH OF CHRIST
“and they did not love their lives even when faced with death.”

What does that mean?
It means they loved Christ more.
They valued Christ more.

What did Jesus say?
Matthew 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

Matthew 16:24-25 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Luke 14:26-27 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

Jesus could not have been clearer in His preaching.
There is only one way to come to Him
And that is with absolute devotion.

• You don’t come to Jesus half-way.
• You don’t come to Jesus half-hearted.
• You don’t come to Jesus with rocky soil that will only follow when it is easy.
• You don’t come to Jesus with weedy soil that wants Jesus amidst all your idols.

You have to love Jesus more than life.
If you don’t, you will not overcome the enemy.

WHY?
Because his weapon is one of temptation.
And his target is the desires of your flesh.
If your goal is to gratify the flesh and love the flesh and love yourself
Then Satan will topple you every time.

That is why Peter said:
1 Peter 4:1-2 “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”

When you determine to love Christ more
When you determine to value Christ more
That is when Satan loses his grip.

These Saints were victorious over Satan…
• Because of what Jesus did on the cross
• Because of the gospel they preached
• Because they chose Christ over the world

That is the victory explained.
And it’s the same for your life.

The Dragon Expelled, The Victory Explained
#3 THE BATTLE EXPECTED
Revelation 12:12

Satan battled for years to stop that child,
But when he lost he began a new battle in the heavenlies accusing the saints.

Here he lost that battle too,
But that doesn’t keep him from starting a new one.

Once Satan is permanently removed from heaven,
He will start a new war on earth.

Now certainly heaven should rejoice at this.
“For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them.”

Absolutely, the accuser is gone, that is cause for rejoicing.
We win.

“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.”

He’s going to wage all-out war on the earth,
But even he knows the cause is lost.
He knows his time is short.

And the point we are making is that SATAN IS THE ULTIMATE LOSER

Since the day he first fell from heaven
He has scratched and clawed and worked and manipulated
To kill Israel, or kill the Christ, or destroy the redeemed
And he hasn’t succeeded yet.

And he never will.
OUR GOD REIGNS

That means we take the truths learned here
Regarding how to overcome him and we apply them to our lives
Knowing that victory is certainly ours as well.

Romans 16:20 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

The Child Satan Couldn’t Stop
Revelation 12:1-6
January 1, 2017

This morning we return to our study of the book of the Revelation,
And we return with yet another parenthetical section.
(I realize our return to the chronological flow was short-lived, lasting only 6 verses)

After the 6th seal was broken we heard the sinners of earth crying out, “Who is able to stand?”

That question was answered in our first parenthetical section of chapter 7.
Those whom God causes to stand by the atonement of Christ
And the preaching of the gospel.

After the 6th trumpet was sounded we saw that humanity still wouldn’t repent.

Faced with this reality we saw the second parenthetical section of 10:1 – 14:13 which taught us to “prophesy again” whether they listen or not

Because we don’t want their blood on our hands
And because we may not realize how God is going to use our preaching.

Most recently we heard the blasting of the 7th trumpet,
But BEFORE ANY DETAILS of that trumpet were given,
We heard a loud declaration in heaven.

(15b) “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

• We learned that at this point there is a great transfer of power. The world will fall and Christ will reign.

• Furthermore we learned that Christ will reign in spite of the great wrath of His enemies.

(17-18) “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

And this is where we left off.
There was a heavenly announcement that Christ wins and reigns upon the earth despite the great wrath and rage of His enemies.

Certainly that is good news;
No matter how hostile this world or that devil becomes toward Christ,
Nothing will stop Him from taking His throne and ruling the world.

IT IS A GREAT TRUTH.
And it is a truth that is illustrated in this next parenthetical section.

In fact, that is the purpose of this next section;
To reveal how Christ reigns
Despite the wrath and efforts of the enemy.

This section runs from chapter 12 all the way through chapter 14.
When chapter 15 begins we actually see
The effects of what happened at the sounding of that seventh trumpet.

But here we are given 3 chapters
To reveal the victory of Christ despite Satan’s opposition.

From a time standpoint,
• The section begins with the birth of Christ in 12:2
• And it ends with the return of Christ in 14:1
• And ultimately the battle of Armageddon in 14:17-20

So we are looking at that time period
From when Messiah arrived on earth, until He returns again,
And specifically we are seeing the failed efforts of Satan to stop His reign.

This section illustrates that glorious claim of chapter 11.

What I also want to do is allow you to see this SECTION AS A WHOLE,
In order that you better understand the parts.
In this 3 chapter parenthetical section there are FOUR MAJOR EVENTS that are highlighted.

And I want to give you them right off the bat.
They are all major defeats that Satan has suffered and will suffer.

1) THE CHILD HE COULDN’T STOP (12:1-6)
• We are looking at this event this morning as we remember Satan’s foiled plans
at stopping Jesus when He came to earth.

2) THE BATTLE HE COULDN’T WIN (12:7-12)
• This event is yet future for us, but it deals with Satan’s final attempt to
overthrow heaven, which will end in his being totally removed from the
heavens and relegated only to earth.

3) THE WOMAN HE COULDN’T KILL (12:13-17)
• This of course deals with Satan’s attempts to destroy Israel (God’s chosen
people) and his miserable failure in that regard.

4) THE THRONE HE COULDN’T KEEP (13:1-14:20)
• The last two chapters deal with Satan’s attempt to establish his throne on the
earth, only to see that throne utterly destroyed with the return of Christ.

I just give you that ahead of time
So you can see the purpose and the point to this section.
We are talking about the absolute and guaranteed defeat of the enemy
And reign of Jesus Christ.

And by now you realize that this is one of the major events of Scripture.
Throughout the Old Testament we are continually looking for the Messiah
And His promised reign upon the earth.

So it is only fitting that we enter a section
Which gives great detail to the fulfillment of this promise.

It is the event which is loudly proclaimed at the end of chapter 11
And the event which is clearly illustrated in chapters 12-14.

For us this is still great news!
Our God Reigns!
Our God wins!
And Satan is the ultimate loser!

Well, let’s begin with that first of the four major events, which is:
THE CHILD SATAN COULDN’T STOP

There are 4 main points here
#1 A WOMAN IN LABOR
Revelation 12:1-2

“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;”

Let’s address who this is.
Many assume that this woman is the Virgin Mary. (IT IS NOT)

This woman is actually not a woman at all.
John said she is a “sign”.
She is a symbol, she is a picture.

And she is representative of the NATION OF ISRAEL.
Perhaps you will remember Joseph’s dream before his brothers.

Genesis 37:9-11 “Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.”

• Jacob = the sun
• Rachel = the moon
• 12 sons = 12 stars
This woman is Israel.

(2) “and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.”

This woman is “with child”

That means that this woman has A VALID EXPECTATION
That someday a child will be born to her. She is “expecting”.

Correctly understood then, we know that Israel
Is eagerly looking to the arrival of a very important child.

We are talking about the “seed”, the Messiah.

The FIRST TIME this “seed” was mentioned was in the garden.
After Eve sinned, God responded to her:
Genesis 3:14-15 “The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

It was obviously someone born of a virgin,
For women don’t have “seed”, and whoever this “seed” would be,
He would cause major problems for Satan.
He would be the One who would crush Satan’s head.

That prophecy obviously pointed to the virgin birth,
BUT IT WAS ALSO A PICTURE OF ISRAEL.

Israel had many promises in her past
That someday the “seed” would come.

Perhaps the most famous:
Isaiah 9:1-7 “But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian. For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

So this woman has an expectation of a coming child
To deliver and reign upon the earth.

And we see that this has become AN URGENT CRY.
“and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.”

The tense here is actually in THE HISTORICAL PRESENT
Which better reads, “and she is crying out, being in labor…”

This was not a one time cry, but a continual cry for relief.
She is in turmoil and is desperately begging for the deliverer to arrive.

It is the cry often sang about at Christmas time.
“Oh come, Oh come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel; who mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appears.”

“Come, Though long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free. From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee. Israel’s strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth Thou art; Dear desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart.”

Incidentally this is why the angels told the shepherds at the birth of Christ:
Luke 2:10 “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;”

• That doesn’t mean that all people everywhere would have joy in their hearts regarding Christ’s birth (Herod certainly didn’t), but joy would be the response of every heart in turmoil who had been longing for in labor and heavy burden.

This was most specifically Israel who was in constant turmoil
And constant labor eagerly waiting for their deliverer.

And her cry is heard many times in Scripture.
Psalms 89:46 “How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire?”

Psalms 80:4-6 “O LORD God of hosts, How long will You be angry with the prayer of Your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears, And You have made them to drink tears in large measure. You make us an object of contention to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves.”

Psalms 90:13-17 “Do return, O LORD; how long will it be? And be sorry for Your servants. O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, And the years we have seen evil. Let Your work appear to Your servants And Your majesty to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.”

Psalms 94:1-7 “O LORD, God of vengeance, God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth, Render recompense to the proud. How long shall the wicked, O LORD, How long shall the wicked exult? They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly; All who do wickedness vaunt themselves. They crush Your people, O LORD, And afflict Your heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger And murder the orphans. They have said, “The LORD does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob pay heed.”

The cry for Israel was continual for God to send the one they expected.
They were waiting for “the seed”.

And we understand her turmoil.

The writer of Hebrews had this to say:
Hebrews 2:5-8 “For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere, saying, “WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? “YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”

When God created this world, He did not give angels rule over it,
He gave rule over the world to man. Man was given dominion.

“He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”

Man was supposed to be in control, but it is obvious that he is not.
In fact, in the garden, our control was usurped by an angel,
And he now is the god of this world.

And so Israel is crying out, she is in turmoil, she is in despair.
Things are not the way they are supposed to be.

Adrian Rogers once said:
“The world is in such a mess today because things are out of place. The King (Jesus) belongs on His throne. The bride (the church) belongs with the groom. The criminal (Satan) belongs in prison. One of these days, when the King is on the throne, the bride is with her groom, and the criminal is in prison, we will understand the way things are meant to be.” (Adrian Rogers, Unveiling the End Times in Our Time [Nashville, TN.: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2004] pg. 7)

That is precisely why this woman is crying out.

So we see A Woman in Labor
#2 A DRAGON IN REBELLION
Revelation 12:3-4

Now, it was not a literal woman, this is not a literal dragon.
He is painted as a “great red dragon” to reveal his cruelty and brutality.

This dragon is none other than the serpent in the garden,
He is Satan himself, who is of course a fallen angel of God.

And we are given some important descriptors about him.
FIRST WE ARE FACED WITH HIS CONSTANT CONSPIRACY
(John wants you to see who this dragon is, and what he’s been up to)
(He wants you to understand the continual battle that has been going on.)

“having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.”

If you read further into the book of the Revelation we learn:
Revelation 17:9-13 “Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. “These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.”

These horns are symbolic of the kingdoms Satan has controlled. Five are over, one is presently in charge, and one is coming.

The seven kingdoms referred to are the seven kingdoms
That have specifically targeted the destruction of Israel.

THE FIRST FIVE (which are over) ARE:

EGYPT under the reign of Satan’s puppet – Pharaoh
Exodus 1:22 “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.”

ASSYRIA under the reign of Satan’s puppet – Shalmaneser
2 Kings 17:5-6 “Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”

BABYLON under the reign of Satan’s puppet – Nebuchadnezzar
2 Kings 25:8-11 “Now on the seventh day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the LORD, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire. So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Then the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the people, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile.”

MEDO-PERSIA under the influence of Satan’s puppet – Haman
Esther 3:8-9 “Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain. “If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries.”

GREECE under the control of Satan’s puppet – Antiochus Epiphenes
Daniel 11:31-33 “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. “By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. “Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days.”

All five of those did their best to completely annihilate the Jews.
But they were not merely human empires.

They were empires controlled by Satan himself.
The final two kingdoms represent Rome and the kingdom of Antichrist.
The “ten horns” is the European confederation which will give their authority to the Antichrist.

But the point is that all of those nations that had continually oppressed Israel and caused her to suffer
Did so because they were under the control of Satan.

Satan knew about that prophesy that the seed of the woman
Would one day crush his head and he was doing everything he could
To annihilate the woman so that she never bore that child.

We also read:
(4) “and his tail swept away a third of the starts of heaven and threw them to the earth.”

Here we learn that the dragon’s animosity for Israel
Really began as animosity for God.
He hates God’s people namely because he hates God.
(Incidentally this is also why the world, which is under the power of Satan, also hates God’s people)

BUT FIRST SATAN HATED GOD
The Bible teaches that Satan was an anointed cherub
Who was cast out of heaven.

Isaiah 14:12-15 “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! “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. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.”

And when Satan fell, he took a third of the angels with him,
With them, he has manipulated 5 kingdoms to try and annihilate the Jews.

THE MAIN GOAL WAS TO ANNIHILATE THE JEWS
SO THAT THE “SEED” WOULD NEVER BE BORN.

However, Satan was not able to accomplish his goal.
Moses delivered Israel from Egypt
Cyrus set God’s people free from exile.
Esther delivered God’s people from Persia
Judas Maccabeus delivered God’s people from Greece

Despite his hatred for the woman and her seed,
Satan was not able to prevent the birth of the promised child

That moves to the 6th kingdom,
This kingdom did not seek to prevent the birth, but rather to kill the child.

ROME under the Satanic controlled Herod
Matthew 2:16 “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.”

All that Herod did was the scheme of Satan.
(4) “And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.”

Satan couldn’t stop the “seed” from coming
So his plan was to kill Him instantly.

But of course that plan failed.

A Woman in Labor, A Dragon in Rebellion
#3 A CHILD IN VICTORY
Revelation 12:5

In this verse we find the shortest gospel account in all of Scripture.
In one verse we go from birth to ascension.

Obviously the verse leaves out a lot of information.
• Nothing about the miracles of the child
• Nothing about the preaching of the child
• Nothing about the death of the child
• Nothing about the resurrection of the child

BECAUSE THE FOCUS HERE IS SIMPLY ON THE FACT THAT
THE CHILD WHOM GOD SENT, DID SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE HIS MISSION AND RETURN TO GOD UNFAZED BY THE ENEMY.

Despite all the attempts of Satan
“And she gave birth to a son, a male child”

After years of suffering under the curse, the “seed” finally arrived.

The destroyer of Satan had come.

It is in fact the miraculous incarnation of God.
John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Colossians 2:9 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,”

And then John shows us in one short statement
Why Satan (and the world) oppose Him so much.

“who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron;”

Satan doesn’t hate Him simply for being a Savior.
Satan hates Him for taking back what is rightfully His.

THE WORLD DOESN’T HATE THE BABY IN THE MANGER.
THE WORLD HATES THE KING ON THE THRONE.

THIS CHILD CAME TO RULE THE WORLD.
The world will let Christ be Savior, they just don’t want Him as Lord.

But He did not just come to be Savior, HE CAME TO BE LORD.

Listen to the Old Testament prophecies about Him.
Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

Micah 5:2-5 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” Therefore He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel. And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. This One will be our peace. When the Assyrian invades our land, When he tramples on our citadels, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men.”

No wonder Satan and the world today wants Him dead.

And yet even after successfully killing the “seed”, we read.
Acts 2:22-24 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”

Satan succeeded in killing Him, he just couldn’t keep Him dead.
The “seed” arose from the dead.

And the verse 5 says:
“and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.”

After God delivered Him, God accepted Him.
Not just to His presence, but also to “His throne.”

It was determined that this seed would crush Satan and rule the world, and that is precisely what He will do.

Acts 2:32-36 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.”‘ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Psalms 2:1-9 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'”

Satan did everything He could to stop this child, but he failed.
This is the child Satan couldn’t stop.
This reality brings about a major shift in Satan’s rebellion

A woman in labor, a dragon in rebellion, a child in victory
#4 A WORLD IN TRIBULATION
Revelation 12:6

Here we have fast-forwarded from the ascension of Christ
To the final 3 ½ years of the tribulation.

You will see in the following text why this time is significant.
• Namely because currently Satan is attacking by accusing the brethren before
God, but half way through the tribulation Satan will be kicked to the earth and his only objective will be to destroy Israel.

Revelation 12:12 “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.”

Once Satan is confined to the earth,
His plan will be worldwide persecution of the woman.

WE KNOW THAT THE TRIBULATION IS GOD’S WRATH ON THE EARTH,
And yet, it is ALSO A TIME when God accomplishes that wrath
By allowing Satan to torment and attack.

• We’ve already seen the working of Antichrist with his false peace, world war,
famine, and death.
• We’ve already seen the torment of that demonic locust army.
• We’ve already seen the death of that 200 million strong demonic army.

Yes it is God’s wrath, but it is also Satan’s attempt to destroy Israel.
His goal is to destroy her so that the child has no reason to return for her.

The problem for Satan is that God will not allow that to happen.
The woman is supernaturally cared for by God.

Revelation 12:13-17 “And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

What we find is that despite Satan’s efforts throughout the ages
• He was unable to prevent the child from coming.
• He was unable to stop the child when He did come
• He was unable to corrupt the child when He came
• And even after killing the child, he was unable to keep Him dead

Revelation 11:17-18 “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Heaven declared that Christ reigns despite the wrath of the enemy,
And that is certainly holding true.
Here we learned about the Child he couldn’t stop.

Next time we’ll talk about: The Battle he couldn’t win.

This morning I encourage you again that our God reigns.
I encourage you again that Christ is King!

Worship Him, Honor Him, Obey Him, Serve Him, Trust Him

The Cost of Christmas
Philippians 2:5-11
December 25, 2016

This morning, as you can see, I want to take just a moment
And discuss with you about THE COST OF CHRISTMAS.

And of course I’m not talking about your credit card balance
Or how much you spent on gifts this year.

Rather, we’re talking about the very initial cost of Christmas,
Dealing with what Christmas cost Jesus.

FIRST, I WOULD REMIND YOU THAT
The idea of COST IS A CONTINUAL THEME throughout the gospels.

We often talk about salvation being free,
And that is true in the sense that there is nothing you can pay for it,
And that Christ does freely offer it.
However, that does not mean that it comes without a cost.

I could illustrate that very easily this morning by giving every kid in this room a “free” puppy. And every parent in here would turn it down because you know that it is not free. It will in fact come with great cost.

That is true of salvation throughout the gospels.
In fact Jesus continually reminds us of the cost of salvation.

There is the cost of your REPUTATION
Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

There is the cost of your RELATIONSHIPS
Matthew 10:34-36 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.”

There is the cost of your EARTHLY COMFORT
Matthew 8:19-20 “Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

There is the cost of your LIFE
Matthew 16:24-25 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

And those verses are just the tip of the iceberg.

In fact continually when speaking of the cost of following Christ,
We hear it spoken of in terms of “EVERYTHING”. It costs everything.

What I want you to understand is that
Christ can so easily make such demands
Because He was One who first gave everything
In order to offer this salvation.

2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”

AND SO THIS MORNING I want us to briefly consider
Exactly what this great cost which He paid was,
And even more importantly what our response to that should be.

We do so by looking at this amazing passage
Found in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

• It is primarily a passage which speaks to your responsibility to love your brother unconditionally.

• In order to motivate the Philippians to quit walking in selfishness and considering their own needs, Paul lifts high the example of Jesus.

• Saying, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus”

So we understand that this is NOT ONLY A THEOLOGY LESSON
It is ALSO A MANDATE; an example of how we should live.

And in this we find a tremendous picture of the price Christ paid
In the event we refer to as Christmas.

PAUL BEGINS WITH A FOUNDATIONAL STATEMENT.
Before you can measure cost you first have to understand what a person has.

• For example, the two mites that were given by the widow doesn’t sound like
much of a cost until you find out that this was all she had to live on.

• On the flip side a gift of 1 million dollars might sound like an enormous
sacrifice until you find out that the giver had billions.

So cost can only be measured once you we have some idea
Of the level of riches and that is what Paul establishes first.

Paul says of Jesus (6) “who, although He existed in the form of God,”

And this is a phrase that must be examined a little.
The phrase “He existed” is HYPARCHO (hoo-parr-ko) in the Greek.
And it means “to be”

So we are talking about the very being of Christ.
And I must submit to you that a person’s being is unchangeable.
You, for example, are a human being and nothing will ever change that.
It is what you are.

Well we find of Jesus that in His very being He is God.
That is unchangeable, that is immutable, that cannot go away.
That is who He is.

And it’s important that you understand that
(also why I showed you the RC Sproul video at the beginning)
To help you understand the dangers of the past when men
Sought to use Christmas as a means to remove the deity of Jesus.

Whatever Christmas cost Jesus, it did not cost Him His deity.
That is who He is and it cannot change.

Now Paul also says that “He existed in the form of God”

“form” there is MORPHE (mor-fay)

This refers to: “The essential characteristics that belong to someone”
It is not just appearance, which you will see later in verse 8.
It speaks to His essential being and attributes.

• What are the things that make you human? (life, soul, emotion, communication, skeleton, muscles, etc.)

• What are the things that make Him divine? (omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, etc.)

SO WE UNDERSTAND WHERE JESUS BEGAN.
• In His very being He is God.
• And as such He has all the attributes of God.

Now that is the starting place.
Next we get to exactly what cost He paid to come to this earth.

(6b) “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,”

Again let’s think about this for a moment.
We find here that being equal with God
Was not something that He thought needed “to be grasped”

Now that can mean one of two things.
• TO GRASP can either mean to take hold of something, or it can mean to keep hold of something.

We are aware of Satan, who Isaiah tells us sought to make Himself equal with God.
Isaiah 14:13-14 “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. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”

Satan sought to grasp equality with God.
(As do many humans today)

But we just learned that Jesus already had that,
So for Him it was not something to take hold of,
But rather something to keep hold of.

And we find that although Jesus had equality with God,
He chose not to hold on to it.

WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HERE?
WHAT DID HE LOSE?
Let’s look at the rest of this text, and see if we can figure it out.

The CONFUSING PHRASE for many is found in verse 7
When it says He “emptied Himself”

And many, like Sproul talked about, assume that
Jesus at this point relinquished all of His divine attributes.

They say that Jesus was in the form of God, and then emptied Himself, therefore He must have emptied Himself of His deity.

But we already established that this is impossible.
Deity is His very being, and you can’t change what you are.

SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Well first let me tell you what He did, and then I’ll explain what He lost.

We are talking about the cost of Christmas
And yet what we actually see here is not Jesus losing something,
But rather JESUS ADDING something.

Jesus Emptied Himself By:
#1 TAKING THE ATTRIBUTES OF A SLAVE
Philippians 2:7

Notice the verb in verse 7 “taking”
It DOES NOT say “but emptied Himself, losing the divine form”

It says, “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant”

Whatever He lost, He lost because He took “the form of a bond-servant”

“form” there is the exact same word that it was in verse 6, MORPHE (mor-fay)
Which again speaks to “the essential characteristics that belong to someone.”

Furthermore we know that in the New Testament a “bond-servant” was really a SLAVE (that’s what the word literally means)

• Jesus clearly stated that He was a slave of God, coming only to do the Father’s will.
• Jesus even stated that He was a servant of men:
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

So we have this Jesus who in His very being is God
With all of the attributes that go along with it
And now we find that He added to those attributes
The attributes of a slave.

“taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”

There is that idea of “being” again.

Jesus has not relinquished His being as God, but He has added another “being” which is what?
HUMAN BEING

“being made in the likeness of men”

• So we have here God.
• We have here One who enjoys all the privileges of being God.
• And He makes a decision to take, in addition to His divine being, also the being of humanity;
• And even more startling is that He takes the attributes of a slave.

This is what we call the hyper-static union.
Fully God and at the same time Fully Man

Jesus emptied Himself by:
Taking the Attributes of a Slave
#2 TAKING THE APPEARANCE OF A MAN
Philippians 2:8a

“Being found in appearance as a man”

“appearance” is the word SCHEMA
It’s where we get our word schematic

Even though Jesus was God in every sense of the word,
He added to that the appearance of a man.

HE LOOKED HUMAN.

Isaiah 53:1-2 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.”

You see all those medieval paintings of Jesus with this golden halo over His head…not true.

Jesus didn’t look impressive at all.
• There was nothing about His appearance that caused you to think He might be anything other than just another man.

Listen to the crowd:
Matthew 13:55-56 “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? “And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”

In fact that was part of the problem.
The Pharisees couldn’t figure out how such a normal human
Could conceivably make Himself out to be God.

He took on a non-distinguishable appearance.

So we are talking about how He “emptied Himself”
And He did that by Taking the attributes of a slave
And He did that by Taking the appearance of a man
#3 TAKING THE ASSIGNMENT OF A CRIMINAL
Philippians 2:8b

“He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

You are aware that the cross was a SHAMEFUL DEATH.
We find in the O.T. that cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree.

There could not have been a more humiliating way to die
Than the way that Jesus died.
AND YET HE SUBMITTED TO THAT MISSION.

And of course we know He did that
In order that He might redeem God’s elect from their sins.

NOW HERE IS THE QUESTION

We see that Jesus “emptied Himself”, and He did so by:
• Taking the Attributes of a Slave
• Taking the Appearance of a Man
• Taking the Assignment of a Criminal

SO WHAT DID JESUS LOSE?
• He didn’t cease to be God (He couldn’t)
• He didn’t lose His divine attributes (He obviously used them)

SO WHAT DID HE LOSE?

HE DIDN’T LOSE HIS DIVINE NATURE,
HE LOST HIS DIVINE PRIVILEGE;
HIS DIVINE WORSHIP, HIS DIVINE BENEFIT, HIS DIVINE GLORY

Jesus emptied Himself by taking on a humiliating role.
He didn’t quit being God, He just stopped being treated as such.

He stepped out of privilege into poverty.
He stepped out of glory into humiliation.
He stepped out of esteem into disgrace.

WHAT HE EMPTIED HIMSELF OF WAS GLORY.

Listen to Jesus praying the night before He was crucified.
John 17:1-5 “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

Jesus didn’t cease to be God, He just stopped being treated as God.
And there He prayed that the Father would restore His glory to Him.

Which Paul assures that God has done:
(9-11) “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The book of Revelation certainly confirms that reality as well.
We’ve seen all of creation worshiping Him.

BUT WE WANT TO APPLY THIS TO OUR LIVES.

Now obviously, to be TRUE TO THE TEXT, you see how Paul is using that as an example for how you and I should treat one another.

• Don’t quit being a human, don’t quit being good at things, just quit seeking your benefit in who you are and what you do. Seek the benefit of your brother.

But REGARDING CHRISTMAS, I want you to understand.

CHRIST GAVE UP HIS GLORY that He might come to earth and save us.
At the very least we should make it the ambition of our lives
To GIVE HIM BACK WHAT HE LOST.

We couldn’t give Him deity (He didn’t lost that anyway)
We couldn’t give Him sovereignty (that was always His)

What He lost was glory, and that we can most certainly give.

“Haste, haste, to bring Him laud! The babe the Son of Mary”

“O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant…
O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!”

Christ walked out of His advantageous position that He might save us. The very least we can do is give Him the glory He deserves.
And to make sure the whole world knows what He did on our behalf.