VICTORY! (Revelation 12:1-12 April 2, 2010)

Transcription

1 VICTORY! (Revelation 12:1-12 April 2, 2010) Every year on Anzac Day Australians of every age gather at Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey to remember one of the greatest battles in the history of our nation. 8,700 Australians fought valiantly but lost their lives in what was ultimately a fruitless effort to defeat the Ottoman Empire and end World War 1. Every year on Easter Australians of every age gather in churches across the nation to remember what was without any doubt the greatest battle in the history of our race. One man fought valiantly but lost His life in what was ultimately a victorious effort to defeat Satan and end the consequences of sin. No battle, no war, no event in human history has ever been so important. That is why for 2000 years, Christians have gathered on the anniversary of the death of Jesus Christ to remember that day and to celebrate His victory. But it is an unusual victory. At first glance, it appears a defeat. Jesus Christ lost His life. He was crucified. But on that day at that moment the greatest battle in history was actually won and its effects are felt throughout heaven and earth now and for all eternity. It was on the cross that Jesus defeated sin and Satan once for all time. It is because of the cross that you and I have a hope of eternal life. Death is defeated. Sin is declawed. Heaven is opened wide. We gain the right to be called sons of God and to live in eternity. This is indeed a day to celebrate the death of death. 1

2 The gospel accounts of the cross and the death of Jesus describe this great decisive battle from the vantage point of earth. But in the book of Revelation the death of Jesus is described from a heavenly perspective. And perhaps the most revealing glimpse of the cross from heaven s perspective is found in Revelation chapter 12. Revelation is a book that describes the struggle of Christ and Satan the people of Christ and the people of Satan in pictorial terms. Revelation 12 pictures Satan as a beast hovering waiting, enraged out of his mind that despite his best efforts Jesus was born. It describes him as longing to kill Jesus at His birth, throughout His life and this hatred culminates in the great battle of the cross. So turn with me if you will to Revelation 12. Here we find that John has been given a vision. In his vision, he looks up and sees two great and wondrous signs appearing in the heavens. These signs depict for us The Key Protagonists in the War of the Ages: The Child vv. 1-2 The Dragon vv. 3-4 We are told that the first sign the first spectacle John sees is a woman but one who is about to give birth to a very important child! And it is that child who is the focus of the battle. Look at verses 1-2: And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. Who is this woman? 2

3 This is not a literal woman. At first you might think that the woman is Mary because in verse 5 she gives birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron and this can only be Jesus But, the rest of this chapter and the book as a whole make it clear that this woman is not Mary this woman represents a group of people the people of God. In verse 17, we find that Satan is enraged against the children of the woman and in the context these are Christians it is the church he wants to destroy. This woman represents the faithful children of God those loyal to the Lamb and it is from these people that the Messiah is born. This leads us to the second sign the second spectacle an enormous red dragon. Verse 3: And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. While some debate who the woman is no one debates who the dragon is. Verse 9 he is the serpent of old, the devil Satan himself. This dragon is red red implies he is bloodthirsty, murderous. John 8:44: [The devil] was a murderer from the beginning. Seven and ten are the numbers that represent the completeness of God and His divine purposes. Horns and crowns represent kingship. Satan seeks to stand in the place of God. He imitates God. In verse 9 we are told that he deceives the whole world. He wants the world to think of him as the true king. Look at verse 4: His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. As you read on in this passage it becomes clear that what happens in the heavenlies affects the saints on earth. Spiritual battles effect us on earth. In some sense much of the evil and atrocities and pain that happens on a global scale has Satan pulling the strings in the background. War in the heavenlies has an effect on the earth. Right from the Garden of Eden and then throughout the Old Testament Satan had tried to destroy the people of God. He had tried to stop the coming of Jesus. 3

4 But Satan could not stop the coming of Jesus. And so Jesus was born. Now we are ready for The Key Battles in the War of the Ages. These are found in verses 4 and 5: Bethlehem vv. 4-5 Calvary v. 5 Verses 4 and 5 speak of the birth of Messiah His coming at Bethlehem. Look at the end of verse 4 and on into verse 5: And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. In John s vision Satan is pictured as a great red dragon waiting hovering over the earth filled with hatred for Jesus and His people. He is red with hatred, with bloodshed. He is a dragon, a serpent the evil one. And he is filled with hate for Jesus. Any reading of Scripture shows how desperately Satan tried to kill Christ after He was born. After His birth Herod ordered the death of every male child under two in and around Bethlehem. But Joseph was warned in a dream to take Jesus to Egypt. We think of the temptations where Satan sought to derail the ministry of Christ. We think of the immense outpouring of demonic activity during the ministry of Christ. We think of the times angry crowds tried to kill Jesus. We think of Satan entering into Judas to betray the Lord. 4

5 From the moment Jesus was born Satan and all the forces of evil tried to destroy Him. But that would have doomed the plan of God to save us. So Satan failed. The plan of God could not be thwarted. And now it is us who gain the benefits of Jesus victory and Satan s failure. Ultimately, these skirmishes lead to the great final battle on Calvary. Look at the end of verse 5: But her child was caught up to God and to his throne. This is a poetic way to describe the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus. Calvary Good Friday this is truly the great battleground. Satan is finally and completely defeated and Jesus is glorified. He ascends to rule over this world from the heavenlies. But that is not the end of the story. Last night an epic battle of Easter was fought. The result hung in the balance but ultimately the mighty Lions defeated Carlton. Last night, the Lion s fans were happy. But next week the battle is on again. And the Lions might well lose. But the battle won at Calvary has effects that ripple throughout this world and heaven and that battle never has to be fought again. It was a decisive battle that once and for all time defeated sin and Satan. But the death of Jesus was no tragedy. It was the plan of God. Because of His victory on the cross, Jesus won for His people the right to: 5

6 Save us from Satan vv. 6-9 Save us from sin vv This is why this is a day of victory and celebration. Jesus ended the battle. He triumphed. Look at verses 6-9 Jesus saved us from Satan: And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. When Jesus ascended into heaven the only target Satan has left is us the people of God. He hates us because we worship the Lamb not Him. Satan is a very powerful being with many tools to attack us, to tempt us and to ruin us. But because Jesus won the victory at the cross he cannot defeat us. Verse 6 is a poetic way of saying that the church is in the wilderness of this world but Satan can t have us. The picture is of the dragon wanting to devour us and Jesus says no they are mine I bought them with my blood and you cannot touch them. I will protect them and nourish them they are mine. Deuteronomy 8:15-16 sums up what happened to Israel in the wilderness: [The Lord your God] led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He 6

7 brought water for you out of the rock of flint. In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. It was in the wilderness that Jesus was tempted by Satan. This world still has its sin and failings. We are still under attack from the world, the flesh and the devil. But by the power of the cross Jesus shepherds us, strengthens us, feeds us, encourages us and protects us He enables us to persevere to the end. As Greg Nelson and Phill McHugh put it so pointedly in their hymn Lamb of Glory: On the cross God loved the world While all the pow rs of hell were hurled. The cross was a battleground. But Jesus won the victory. Satan s doom is sure. He has lost the decisive battle. He will be thrown into the lake of fire to burn forever. After the death of Christ after the cross the victory of Jesus is pictured as a war in the heavenlies which is won decisively by Michael and his angels as Satan is cast out of heaven. The origins of Satan are shrouded in mystery. When was he created? What role did he have? Was he an angel who fell? We don t know the answers to these questions. Scripture just doesn t tell us. What we know for certain is that in the Garden of Eden Satan is present and has access to Eve and manages to deceive her. But even then, his doom is sure. In Genesis 3:15 the Lord addresses Satan and says: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. The seed of the woman Christ will bruise Satan on the head a fatal wound from that time on Satan has known his doom is sure. And this crushing of Satan begins at the coming of Jesus and culminates at the cross. At the cross Satan bruised Jesus but in doing so his head was crushed. Listen to the words of Jesus in John 12:31: Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. As we know, Satan did not go without a fight. He opposed Jesus. He tried to kill Jesus. He entered into Judas to betray Jesus. But ultimately, he lost. Good Friday the death of Jesus the cross becomes a triumph and a celebration. Death, sin, Satan all defeated. 7

8 This battle is described as a heavenly battle and Satan is cast out. Defeated forever. Paul put it this way in Colossians 2:15: When [Christ] had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. As well, because of His victory on the cross, Jesus won for His people the right to: Save them from sin. Verses 10-12: And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short! The battle that rages is a battle for the souls of the saints a battle for your soul. And the great weapon of Satan is his ability to accuse the saints of sin. This is a powerful weapon. The wages of sin is death. God s eyes are too pure to look upon evil. Satan has merely to point to the sin in our lives to accuse us to declare that we are not worthy to be the people of God. This was what Satan did concerning Job. Satan accused Job of merely having a shell of righteousness. Touch his kids, take his wealth, ruin his health and then you will see how sinful his heart is. He will curse You to Your face. And Job was a godly man. This is what the Lord Himself said of Job There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. (Job 1:8) If Satan would seek to accuse such a man what would he say of less godly men? Satan is the accuser of the brethren. And let me tell you every one of us has given Satan plenty of ammunition. Not one of us goes for a day without an impure thought, a flash of anger or lust, a selfish action. We are sinners. We have given Satan all the ammunition he needs. And he uses that ammunition. This is what he does. In Zechariah 3:1, the prophet had this vision: 8

9 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. But, here is the great wonder of the cross. Here is how Jesus triumphed. At the cross, Jesus robbed these accusations of their power. He Himself bore our sins. He made us holy. There is no longer anything to accuse us of. Colossians 2:14: Jesus cancelled the record of debt that stood against us... This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Listen to that again: Jesus cancelled the record of debt that stood against us... This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. This is the greatest news in history. Our sins are washed away. We are no longer guilty. The blood of Christ washed us clean and availed for us. Our sins are nailed to the cross and we bear them no more. No accusation against us can stand. We are righteous. We are the people of God. And nothing can change that. The battle is over. Christ has won. We are holy. Look at verses 10 and 11 again and just imagine this ringing throughout heaven after Calvary: Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. This is why we gather on Good Friday. The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ has come because we have conquered not by anything we have done but by the blood of the Lamb. The blood of the Lamb is the ground on which our victory is won. The wounds of Christ, the blood of Christ, the death of Christ has already won the victory. Our sins are forgiven and we cannot be accused. Every blessing we have is based on the blood of the Lamb. The gift of the Holy Spirit, eternal life, encouragement, joy, peace every blessing flows from the blood of the Lamb. 9

10 It is also in the blood of the Lamb that we find the strength to resist temptation, to live holy, to persevere in this fallen world. It is not that we don t suffer, or we defeat every temptation it is just that our final victory is assured because of the blood of the Lamb. Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ has come. The accuser of our brothers has been thrown down. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb. The war is over. Satan has lost. Sin has been conquered. Satan s greatest weapon in fact his only weapon of any eternal consequence was to point to the sin in the lives of saints and declare we are unworthy of heaven. But, today he can say nothing about you or me. For we are righteous. We are holy. We are fit for heaven. At the cross we were granted the righteousness, the holiness of Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:21: He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. On the cross Christ took our certificate of debt, the list of our transgressions, every single sin past, present and future and bore them and the penalty so that we might become the righteousness of God. As the Apostle John said: He Himself is the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2) As Philip Bliss so wonderfully put it: Guilty, vile, and helpless we; Spotless Lamb of God was He; Full atonement! can it be? Hallelujah! What a Saviour! Satan was right we were guilty. But, now Satan is wrong. We are no longer guilty. Our sins, our guilt, our shame Christ took them all. Satan has no weapon. He has no accusation that he can make. Paul summed it up in Romans 8:33: Who will bring a charge against God s elect? 10

11 No one! There is nothing left to accuse! The blood of Christ has cleansed us from all unrighteousness! We are clean. We are fit for heaven. Christ paid it all. The power of Satan is broken. That is why we celebrate today. If you are here this morning and you don t know Christ then every accusation Satan levels against you is true. Every sin, every evil thought, every inaction dooms you. You are unfit for heaven. The wages of sin is death. But, the glory of Easter is this. If you trust Christ. If you ask Him to wash you clean. If you claim His righteousness. Then you too will join the ranks of those who are free from the taint of accusation. Charles Wesley summed up this truth in his marvellous hymn Arise My Soul Arise: Arise, my soul, arise. Shake off thy guilty fears. The bleeding sacrifice In my behalf appears. Before the throne my Surety stands. My name is written on His hands. He ever lives above For me to intercede, His all redeeming love, His precious blood to plead. His blood atoned for all our race, And sprinkles now the throne of grace. Five bleeding wounds He bears, Received on Calvary, They pour effectual prayers; They strongly plead for me. Forgive him, oh, forgive, they cry, Nor let that ransomed sinner die. The Father hears Him pray, His dear Anointed One; He cannot turn away The presence of His Son. His Spirit answers to the blood, And tells me I am born of God. My God is reconciled; His pard ning voice I hear. He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear. With confidence I now draw nigh, 11

12 And Father, Abba, Father, cry. 12