The great proclamation, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. And that's what we anticipate. Today we're in Revelation chapter 12 if you would turn there with me. We are now in the second half of the book of Revelation, a book that is often neglected by so many and yet it's the capstone, the end here of the New Testament. Today I want to bring you into a battlefield, a battlefield that has engaged a war for many centuries, from the beginning of time and we still feel its repercussions today. It says in verse one, "Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days."

This last week in school my son was learning about the pilgrims and the class looked back over that era of history before and during Thanksgiving. And they learned in their class that children were named, at that time in history, according to a hope, an anticipation, that would mark the child. They would name a kid Charity or Felicity or Endurance or Faith. Some quality that they hoped would mark that child as that child grew up. And with that in mind the teacher told the kids in class to rename their parents according to a characteristic that they thought was best suited. And so my son named my wife Love. He said mom's the most loving person I know. So I'm thinking ok, umm... What is he going to name me? He said I named dad Kid because he's just a big kid. And he said dad I hope you always stay a big kid. Today we read about a panorama of spiritual warfare that takes us back from the beginning of time all the way up through the great tribulation period. The characters are familiar but they have been renamed. They've been renamed according to their characteristics of personality and we're going to introduce you to seven of them in the coming weeks. We're going to read of three of them today.

Since the fall of Satan from heaven, he came to the earth and he has wreaked havoc on the earth ever since and that long battle against God has involved the theatre of the earth and if you're a believer this morning, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You believe in the devil because you see his work all around you in this world. He's very, very active. Today and next week we're going to then look at this satanic battlefield, the devil's strategy, who's involved, and how we can face temptation and trial that come from the enemy. Now as we enter into this section we have to keep something firmly embedded in our minds and that is the winner. We already know who the winner is. The winner's been declared last week. Before the fight ever began. Before the battle is introduced here. It says in chapter 11 the kingdoms of this world have become past tense, it was written about a long time ago of a future event. The kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. He's the winner. It's been stated from the beginning and it's important to keep that in mind as we get into this battle. Yet beginning in chapter 12 and then 13 and then 14, we go all the way back from the fall of Lucifer in times past into the present into the great tribulation period and we will see also this great world dictator in the coming weeks ahead--the Antichrist. Somebody that is inspired by the devil. So what we are doing beginning here is viewing the tribulation period all over again but from the vantage point of evil, not of God but of Satan. And we're going to see this satanic trinity: the devil, the Antichrist, and the false prophet all come together. And we're going to lay all these out in the scenario.

It is important, whenever you get into a battle, to know who your enemy is and to know what he's like. You just don't go half-cocked into a battle saying, look, give me a gun, give me a shield, give me a tank. You have to know the strategy of the enemy. I was reading this week about General George Patton, one of our generals in World War II, and he was engaging in a great battle against Irwin Rommel of the German forces in the plains of North Africa. It is said, it is recorded, that during the battle sometime, as their tanks were close enough, that General Patton stood up and shouted, I read your book, Rommel! I read your book! And he had. General Irwin Rommel had written a book entitled Infantry Attacks and he outlined his entire wartime strategy. Patton read it. He was a voracious reader and he wanted to find out what the enemy was up to and it was from knowing what was in the book that helped him defeat his enemy. Well the devil hasn't written a book, but God has written a book. And in this book, He has detailed who our enemy is, what he's like, what his strategies are like, and if you read the book you'll understand how to best make your defense. If you don't, you're a sitting duck. So we have to know the strategies of our enemy. He is the archenemy of God. He is the one who caused mutiny in heaven with a third of the angels. He tried to overthrow the paradise of God in heaven. He failed. He tried to overthrow the paradise on earth in the Garden and he was cursed for it. And ever since then he's been trying to ruin everything else, including stopping the eternal kingdom from ever coming. We'll see that today.

To understand this section we have to understand the characters. There are seven main characters in chapters 12, 13, and 14. I'm going to introduce three of them to you today. But let me give you a list of all seven. First of all there's the woman. Secondly, there's the dragon. Thirdly, there's the male Child. Fourthly, and we'll pick it up next week, there's Michael the archangel. Fifthly, there is the beast that comes from the sea. Sixth, the beast that comes from the land. And seven, there is the remnant, the believing remnant, saved remnant of Israel. This morning though beginning in verse one and we're just going to look through verse six, we're going to talk about the first three characters, these names that have been changed. And first of all we want to look at the splendorous woman in verses one and two and then the scandalous dragon and then finally, the sovereign male Child in verses five and six. In verses one and two, we're introduced to this first sign, this first character, this woman. It says, "Now a great sign appeared in heaven". I want you to notice the word great. It now appears here and it appears in several verses afterwards for the first time in his vision he sees something that's great--awesome. It's also mentioned here in verse three. "And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon". It's also mentioned in verse 12. It says, "Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath". Also in verse 14, "But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle". Everything John sees here in this vision is massive. The Greek word mega. This is a mega-woman. She is Broomhilda in the sky. This is mega-wrath; this is a mega-dragon. These things are massive. They're bigger than life. It's great. It fills his vision as he sees it. It says it's a great sign. I want you to mark that, too. Now this woman is not a literal woman, she is a sign. She's not a flesh and blood with hair and fingernails and eyelashes. This is a sign. A sign is a symbol that points to the reality. If I'm driving west and I drive through Arizona and I see a sign that says California ten miles, I don't jump on the sign and say I'm in California. That's simply a sign of something up ahead--of a reality. This great woman was a sign that he saw which points to a very important thing about interpreting the Bible. The Bible, even Revelation, is to be taken literally unless it is stated as symbolic, or a sign. And so this isn't a literal woman as we've seen literal things happen before in tribulation, this is a sign that he sees appear in heaven. By the way, there are four symbolic women in Revelation. It's important that we know who they are. We've read about one of them already in the second chapter her name was Jezebel. And she represents paganism. Then we're going to read about, in chapter 17, the scarlet woman who's called a whore, a harlot. And she represents apostate religion in the end times. A final coming together of world religion. Thirdly we read about in Revelation 19:7 the wife of the Lamb. And who's that? It's the church. It's the bride that's turned to the wife in Revelation 19. And here we come to a woman that represents something else. Not the church.

I have been amused actually trying to read on who this woman is, what different interpretations of this. There is one solid interpretation. I'll give that to you in a moment but in looking back, Christian Science has said that the woman is Mary Baker Eddy; the founder of Christian Science, which it's really, to me, Christian Science is an oxymoron. It's neither Christian nor is it science but it's called that. But they said that this is Mary Baker Eddy and the child is Christian Science. And it's the Scriptures that she gave, science and health. The dragon, they say, is the mortal mind trying to destroy the Scriptures written in health and science by Mary Baker Eddy. That's one interpretation. Another interpretation by the Roman Catholic Church is this is the Virgin Mary. And one of the Spanish artists Murillo has painted the Virgin Mary ascended into heaven with a crown of stars and the moon and the sun under her feet in several different depictions. Some Protestants have said, no, this is the church. This is the church, this is the mother church. Well that's not true because never in the Scripture does the church, is she called a woman or is she called a wife. If she's spoken about in female terms it's always a bride. She becomes a wife only in Revelation 19 at the marriage supper of the Lamb. But this is not the church. And besides that, the church never brought forth Christ. Christ brought forth the church. I don't contend that this is the church but this is none other than the nation of Israel depicted with the sun and the moon and the twelve stars.

Now what gives me the liberty to make that interpretation? Simply this. There's only one other time it's mentioned in the Bible and it's depicted as the nation of Israel. And whenever we interpret the Scripture, we have to interpret it with other Scripture. And fortunately all of the signs written about in Revelation, their unlocking are found in the Old Testament. And if you were a student of the Old Testament, you would immediately think back to Genesis 37 when you would read this. A kid by the name of Joseph had a couple of dreams. Now Joseph was sort of naïve because he had a dream his brothers didn't like but he kept telling it to them. First dream he had is that there were these sheaves of wheat and there were twelve of them and all eleven of the sheaves, his brothers' sheaves, bowed down to him. And he told it to them. He said listen I had a dream last night. All of your sheaves bowed down to me. And they didn't get excited about that. They said, what do you think we're going to bow down to you punk? Well that's not in there but I'm sure they thought that. It's the Skip version. And he goes, oh wait, I had another dream last night. I dreamt of the sun and the moon and the twelve stars and the eleven stars and the sun and the moon all bowed down to my star. His father heard that one and he piped up and he said these words: shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you? So his dad, Jacob, interprets the dream as the twelve sons that became the twelve tribes and the mother and father of those twelve tribes. Jacob, Rachel, and the twelve sons. This then is a vision of Israel. This great woman, and you say, wait a minute, Israel depicted as a woman? All over the Bible she's called a woman, she's called the wife of God, she's called an unfaithful wife, God even says I'll divorce you because you've been unfaithful to Me. She's called the woman throughout the Old Testament.

Well we're not surprised, are we, to find Israel as sort of at the center stage of redemptive history? After all, God promised a Messianic kingdom to the nation of Israel. God made them His chosen people and because they've been God's chosen people, they've become God's hassled people throughout generations of time. Here's a woman, she's in pain. She's in travail even as Jeremiah called the time of tribulation the time of Jacob's trouble. And Daniel was given the vision, the 70 weeks of Daniel, which referred to Thy holy people and to the city of Jerusalem. So it revolves, redemptive history, around the Jews. God's chosen people. Whether you like it or not the Jews are an amazing group of people. They occupy one-tenth of one percent of the earth's population. It's not much. Yet 25-30% of all Noble prizes are held by them. And 30% of awards given in music, science, and literature belong to them. A couple examples: the Wasserman test for syphilis, digitalis was discovered by Dr. Nussland, a Jewish doctor. Chlorohydrate for convulsions discovered by another one. Streptomyathin was discovered by Dr. Abraham Waxman. The polio pill by Dr. A Savin and the polio vaccine by Dr. Jonas Salk. Why the Jew? Why did God choose this woman, this nation? And there's been a lot of conjecture about that. It's not because they're bigger than everybody else--one tenth of one percent of the world. God said in Deuteronomy 7, the Lord set His love upon you, He did not set His love upon you nor did He choose you because you were more in number than any people for you were the fewest, but because the Lord loved you. I like that. God why did You love us? Because I love you. That's it. You have nothing in yourself that attracts Me to you. I've just chosen this nation to demonstrate My grace, to bring forth the holy Scriptures, the promises, the covenants, and eventually the Messiah. When Queen Victoria ascended the throne she asked her prime minister, show me one thing that proves the Scripture is valid. He said the Jew, Madam. The Jew. They have survived according to God's promises unlike any nation on the face of the earth.

In verse two this woman is pregnant, that's why I contend that she's not the church because if she's the church, she has a problem being pregnant in heaven. This here is Israel giving birth to a Child. The male Child is introduced in verse five. Israel is seen as a mother and what was the hope of every Jewish mother to have? A child. Which child? Hopefully the Messiah. Every Jewish mother in her wildest dreams thought maybe I would bring forth the Messiah. Certainly the nation, as a nation, longed for the Messiah. A Child. That's why Isaiah said unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given. When Simeon received Jesus in the temple at His dedication, he looked at Him and he said this Child, this Child is destined for the fall and the rising of many in Israel and a sign which will be spoken against. Here she is in labor and pain to be delivered, to deliver a Child. Now let's go to verse three and see this dragon that comes on the scene. the woman stands before John in his vision and we come to this scandalous dragon. "And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads." Now this is who? The devil. We don't have to guess about this. Down in verse nine it says, "So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world". So here is the woman, Israel, giving forth her Child, the Messiah, and we have a dragon who hates the woman and who's ready to kill the Child. The devil is portrayed as a sign. He's not a dragon but that is his personality. He's called the serpent; he's called many things, walks around like a lion to devour people. but here he is seen in the most ferocious of his characters--a dragon. A red dragon. I think red speaks of bloodshed because remember back in Revelation 6 the second horseman that comes forth, the second rider comes on a red horse and he took peace from the earth that people should kill one another. Jesus said he was a murderer, a killer, from the very beginning.

His authority is also seen. He has seven heads and he has ten horns. Now seven heads, seven being a number of completeness, totality, it could be that it speaks of his comprehensive intelligence. He's no idiot. Every now and then I'll hear in some church services, not ours, but I'll hear in some where somebody will stand up and shout at the devil, you dummy, and he'll start calling him names like he's an idiot. He has great comprehensive intelligence. He's been studying humanity for centuries. The Bible says even the archangel dared not bring a railing accusation against him but rather said the Lord rebuke you. He has seven heads. I think he has an IQ that runs off the chart. He's clever in his disguises but he's seen here as he is for being a dragon. We see also that he has ten horns. That represents strength. The animal's strength is in his horn. The crowns represent kingdoms. We'll read about that later on in chapter 13, chapter 17, they are called kingdoms. Clearly this intelligent dragon has a kingdom. And his kingdom is this earth. He's called the god of this world. He's called the prince of the power of this air. He rules with power centers on earth and, I would say, that the devil is getting more mainstream these days. You know, 20, 30 years ago, if you mentioned Satan worship to somebody that was relegated to the backwoods, it was never publicized. There are registered churches of Satan all over the place. In fact, the New York Times tells us that there are over 8 million witches that are registered in the world today. 8 million witches. So it's becoming mainstream. And yet, I think Satan is more dangerous in his disguises. He doesn't come on like a dragon. He doesn't go roar with horns and a red pitchfork. That's his characteristic in this sign but Paul says he disguises himself as a what? Angel of light. That's where he's more dangerous. He holds out a temptation. He holds out something and says look, this is good, this is ok, take it! And we might think that it's harmless but peel off the disguise and see what's underneath. 2 Corinthians 11 he disguises himself as an angel of light.

I was reading about what polar bears do to allure their prey whenever they want to eat. Polar bears eat seals, seals eat fish. Polar bears know this. They study the seals and they notice that out on those frozen lakes in the tundra, the seals will gouge out a little hole and when the fish come scratching by, that seal will go down and nab it. What the polar bear will do is take a deep breath and go underneath the ice and scratch with his paw around that hole and so the seal thinks, great, I've got lunch! And he goes down and discovers he's the main course. It's all a trick; it's an entrapment. And Satan is just like that. He is the great red dragon wanting to destroy and at the end times more so, but he disguises himself as an angel of light. Then it says, concerning him, about his hatred, "And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born." The dragon, Satan, hates the woman, Israel, because of this Child. And in Satan's mind, if I can destroy this nation, I can destroy the plan of God. I can make God a liar and His kingdom can never come, for God has always said in His Word, it must be incorporated in this nation called Israel. So if I can wipe out these people, I can outsmart God and overturn His plan. I want to quickly kind of go back in a thumbnail sketch, looking at the panorama of spiritual warfare this morning throughout the ages. It really is in verse four--it's a sum up statement. "His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven". This is when Satan fell from heaven and brought a third of the angelic beings with him to the earth and that's not always good because we live here and we're involved in it. "And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth". This verse then takes us into eternity past and shows us what happened in heaven. It gives us a glimpse, we have to take other Scriptures and put it together.

You know a lot of people will ask, why did God create this meathead? He's so wicked! He's so deceptive! He's so malevolent! Why did God make such a wicked being? Answer: God didn't make such a wicked being. God created a beautiful being with a free will and he chose against God and he probably conned a third of the others to go in with him. and he's been trying that scheme ever since, even on the earth. There are a couple of passages, Ezekiel 28 is one of them, where it says God tells this being, your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness and I will cast you to the ground. Another key passage is in Isaiah chapter 14 where, concerning the devil, God says, for you said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will ascend about the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. You see this devil, this spiritual being, was not satisfied to worship God. He wanted to be worshiped. He was like the ultimate temper tantrum kid. He wanted to be the center of attention. And since Jesus said he's a liar and the father of all lies, he probably lied to the angels and said, look, come with me, invest early in this thing, and I'll give you a position. And he probably convinced them that if they fell from God's favor and went in this rebellion that he would give them power and authority and they would rule. Well a third of them did and they were lied to. They fell from heaven and they came to the earth.

Just as Satan came to the earth himself and lied to Eve in the Garden. Hey, take this fruit. God didn't say it's bad, God said really this, but go ahead. He lied to Eve and that's what the devil does to this day. He lies to you. He holds something out and says, look! Take this! God's trying to keep this from you! He's trying to keep this relationship from you! He doesn't love you! If He loved you, He'd let you have it. Please, take it, indulge! It'll feel good. You can say you're sorry later. He is a big liar and sin is a deception. You know why it's a deception? It promises but it never delivers. It promises fulfillment. The devil promises life but death is behind it. Behind the angel of light is that dragon ready to kill you. We have friends who love to go to white water rafting. I've also wanted to do it and one of these days I'll get enough guts to go out and do it. I'm sure it's a thrill. And I'm sure that the rapids just above Niagara Falls are a thrill. In fact, I bet going over the Falls in a raft would be the biggest rush of all. I mean, imagine you're suspended in air with all of that foam and water belching out and you're just taking it, it's like, wow! But it doesn't last very long. Eventually you're going to hit the bottom and then it's over. And that's exactly what the devil does. He holds something up and says, do this! Yeah! Looks good! But in the end it's death. The Bible says sin is pleasurable for a season. I know, I've sampled much of it and I'll be the first to say sin is a blast. It's a lot of fun! You'd be an idiot to say it's not fun but it only is pleasurable for a moment. It destroys. It debilitates and it drives you further and further from God but this is the lie of the devil and he's tried it since his beginning.

Well why is this woman the brunt of the dragon's hatred and ire? Because of this Child. That's why. It all revolves, the story revolves, around the birth of this Child because this Child is the Messiah. Let me go back in history and tell you how it unfolds. As soon as Satan fell to the earth and Adam and Eve were in the Garden and the lie has already taken place and the Fall of man has caused sin to pervade across the earth, God promises the ultimate death of the devil. It's in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. God says I will enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her Seed. He shall bruise your head and you, the devil, shall bruise His heel. So the devil was forewarned that, eventually, through the Holy Seed, somebody would be born to destroy him, crush his head. Now if I were to tell you before this church service, let's say we met before it, I shook your hand and you were to say, Skip, listen. God bless you. After this service, I'm going to crush your head. If I believed you weren't joking and you were really serious, I would do everything that I could to prevent that promise from being fulfilled. I would figure out every way to thwart your plan so that I don't get my head crushed. So the devil was forewarned, your kingdom will have an end, you will be crushed, though you will bruise the heel of the Seed, He will eventually destroy your authority completely. Thus, from that point on throughout history, the devil and all of his allies have sought to kill this Seed. This Child. And the woman who would deliver Him. let me tell you how it happened. First of all, the devil motivated Cain to kill Abel, thinking, well this is the righteous seed, I'll destroy it. But God raised up Seth as the righteous seed and the lineage continued. But then later the devil inspired the world to become so wicked because he knew how God would deal with that, that God judged the world and flooded it and destroyed everyone except eight people. and so He preserved the Seed through Noah and his family. They repopulate the earth but we see the battle continuing. He motivates Esau in an attempt to kill Jacob because God said it will be Abraham and Isaac and Jacob that the Seed will come through. And then we read later on about a guy named Pharaoh who has the bright idea to kill every single Hebrew male child. He says, you know, I don't like these Jews. There are so many in my kingdom. In fact, tell the Hebrew midwives whenever a little boy is born to kill it. If it's a daughter, let it live. Well they didn't do it because they feared God so he tried Plan B. He said to the people, as soon as these kids are born, dump them in the river if they're boys. If they're girls, let them live. It didn't happen. There were some who feared God. One was Jochabed and her husband and Moses was born, preserved. The Seed was kept. But why did Pharaoh, why would Pharaoh want to destroy all of the Hebrew male children? Because he's an agent of the devil trying to kill the Seed, trying to kill the woman, the nation of Israel, before she could have this Child. Later on, Saul tries to kill David. Why? Because it was prophesied that through David would come the line of the Messiah. Well let's destroy the Messianic line from the beginning. Later on, Haman was so filled with antipathy for the Jews, a huge genocide to kill all of the Jews in the kingdom. It didn't work. God had him hung on his own gallows and the nation persisted. You see traces of this warfare throughout the Bible. And when you see the Bible through the lens of chapter 12, you'll never see the Bible the same again. You see this invisible war that comes to the earth at different times. In fact, one of the most amazing Scriptures of all is found in 2 Chronicles chapters 21 and 22. Don't read it right now but later on you might want to look it up. All of the royal seed of Judah is completely wiped out by a wicked woman named Athaliah. All of them--except one. His name is Joash. He's hidden for six years until he grows up. The point is this: one child away from extinction. All Messianic hope was one baby away from complete obliteration. But God preserved the Seed.

So the dragon trying to kill the woman before the Seed could come, but the Seed was born and as soon as the Seed is born his attempt was then to kill the Child. And so we have a guy by the name of Herod who tells these wise men, hey, tell me where the Baby is, I want to worship Him, too. Yeah right. Creep. He wanted to kill Him because He was another king, he thought. When the wise men left, being wise, and didn't go back to him and Joseph and Mary went to Egypt with the Baby Jesus, Herod was so filled with rage he said, every male child two years and under--kill. In Bethlehem and the surrounding regions, I want to cover all my bases. Why? Because he's an agent of Satan to kill the Child, the Seed, that would come. Later on, Jesus stands in the synagogue in Nazareth and says I have fulfilled these Scriptures. I am your Messiah. They dragged Him outside. They wanted to throw Him over a cliff but it says He passed through the midst of them. Then there was the time when Satan tempted Jesus and Satan said, hey, tell You what, why don't You just jump off this building right here and don't worry because the Bible says that God will give His angels charge over You. They'll catch You. I think the devil wanted Him to jump in hopes that He would die. That the Child would be killed. That the promise of the head crushing couldn't be fulfilled. He was always there to kill the woman and then to kill the Child from the very beginning.

But, it says here, in verse 5, "She bore a male Child who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and His throne". Now after all of that failure, he failed in corrupting heaven, he was cast out and a third with him, he corrupted the earth with sin but he tried to kill the Seed that would crush him, all of that failure, he still persists in afflicting the woman, Israel, because God promised that in the end, He will use Israel to reign from. He will reign geographically from Mount Zion in Jerusalem and will fulfill all of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve tribes. So now the plan is destroy any remnant of the Seed so that a kingdom can't even come. I'll just destroy anyone who would receive or inherit the kingdom in the future. And so we see remnants of that through history. In England over a thousand years ago, every Jew was banished from the borders. In 1350, Jews were blamed for the Black Plague in Europe. Half of the Jews in Europe were exterminated. In 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, what was going on in Spain? They were ousting Jews from their borders. They drove them out of the nation. In the Roman Catholic Inquisition, they slaughtered the Jews in the name of Jesus Christ. They killed so many they couldn't even keep track of how many they killed. Then there was Adolph Hitler who killed over 6 million of them in the ovens of Germany. And now today the Arab nations look for any provocation at all. Oh there's a tunnel being built! Well let's just kill people then. Why? Because you've got a nation of 4 million people surrounded by 100 million enemies and they still exist by the hand of God.

Here's the point. Point A: whatever God loves, Satan hates. That's it. If it's chosen by God, it's going to have the devil and his attack all over it. Secondly, anti-Semitism is different than prejudice. It is borne in the pit of hell like nothing else because it involves something against God and what He loves and what God plans. Now I want to apply that because seeing this warfare helps us understand our own warfare, our own temptations. It's why you get so much grief as a Christian. Do you ever wonder why does the devil hassle me? Come on--figure it out! Because God loves you. You're Jesus Christ's. You belong to Him. He purchased you with His blood. Do you think that when you say I'm going to follow Jesus that hell's going to give you a standing ovation? Yay! Good choice! They're going to go, oh really? The devil will do everything he can to keep you from Jesus Christ and if you say, forget the devil, I love Jesus Christ, he will do everything he can once you're a Christian to keep you impotent. Not to evangelize, not to be fruitful, just to veg out. It's all the plan of the devil against us. I was reading about a 16 foot shark that attacked a boat in Japan. Now coming from a surfing background, the word shark--it's not a good word. A 16 foot shark left his teeth, three or four of them, in the hull of the ship and 30 slashes all over it. This boat was manned by a 71-year-old fisherman who was fishing all by himself off the coast of Japan. His name was Yoshiyuki Ouida. He said I thought I was going to die. I was sure the shark, because he kept coming back, so I just kept poking him as much as I could in the nose and he finally went away. When was it that Yoshiyuki had problems with the shark? Only when he was fishing. When is it that we have problems with the dragon? Only when we're fishing. Fishers of men. Trying to bring men and women to Christ, trying to serve Jesus to be involved in His kingdom. He will attack those who love God and who want to serve Him.

Now let's quickly close with the third character found here, the sovereign Child, the male Child, Jesus Christ. "She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne." So we have the birth, the incarnation, we have ruling the nations with a rod of iron which will come later on, it's sort of out of chronological order, and we have the ascension of Jesus into heaven, caught up to God and His throne. "Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days," or three-and-a-half years, the last part of the tribulation period. Now a Child is born. This Child is Jesus Christ. It couldn't be any clearer from the description. This is exactly how Isaiah saw it. Unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given; the government shall be upon His shoulders, His reign shall never end, He will order it with justice and equity from this time forth even forevermore. He rules ultimately. This Child grows up as the King of kings. So Satan couldn't stop Him from being born, Satan couldn't stop Him from accomplishing His redemption on the cross, Satan couldn't stop Him from rising from the dead and ascending into heaven, and Satan will not be able to stop His rule over all the earth. That's good news. In the midst of all of the temptation that you face, the discouragement that comes your way, the voices that say give up, give up it's not going to get any better, God doesn't love you, read the end of the book! Satan is a defeated foe! You say but you don't know about my temptations in my life. And besides that it's not the devil, it says a third of them fell. A third of the angels are on his side, these demons. That's got to be a lot. Probably we couldn't even number them all. But don't forget two-thirds didn't. one-third fell but there are two-thirds of the good guys left which means Satan is way outnumbered--two to one. Why do we always focus on the one-third, the demons, the devil? You've got God on our side. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in this world. Yes you will be attacked. Just like this woman will be attacked and we'll read more about it next time as the midpoint of the tribulation, the abomination of desolation, takes place, in the temple of Jerusalem the Jews have to flee out of Jerusalem as Jesus predicted in Matthew 24. But God protects them for three-and-a-half years out in the wilderness. But you and I are involved in this battle. We wrestle not against flesh and blood but principalities and powers. And I'm sure you're nodding your head meaning yes, I get hassled by these demons, in many, many areas of my life.

A few things as we close. Number one, know your enemy. Read this book--over and over and over again. Not just select little phrases but know the scheme of Scripture because as you do, you know your enemy, you know his strategies, you know what he tries and what you can do to avoid and to win in temptation. Number two, see past the disguises. When an allurement comes and he whispers, do this, take a shortcut, be fulfilled over here, see the dragon behind the angel of light. And number three, pray. Pray. Let prayer be one of your greatest defensive and offensive weapons. Remember when Jesus came to Peter and said Peter, listen, the devil's been asking for you lately, he'd like to sift you like wheat. I'm sure he was sweating bullets at that point. Then Jesus said but I've prayed for you. He's out for you Peter, he wants to just wipe you out, but I have been praying for you. Therein lies your defense. Who? Jesus Christ. I love how Martin Luther put it. In one of his songs after being hassled by the devil, he wrote, "And though this world with devil's filled should threaten to undo us we will not fear for God has 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 word shall fell him." When evil runs its course and He judges and we'll read about it and he is cast out. Finally! And certainly. Will you stand in that protection?