Rejoicing in Heaven, Wrath on Earth

Transcript

GR 2026
12/17/2017
Rejoicing in Heaven, Wrath on Earth
Revelation 12:10-12
Gil Rugh

We are going to Revelation chapter 12 in your bibles. There was an article I appreciated, which was shared with me this morning. It drew my attention earlier, it was on the internet, and I read it. When I went back to get it so I could download it, print it out and share it with you, I couldn’t find it. Then the Lord sent it to me with someone this morning and said, “I thought you would be interested in this.”

We’re talking about events leading up to the second coming of Christ. It’s fitting. We’re talking about the first coming of Christ. You know when He came the first time to Bethlehem, He was announced as the King of the Jews. “Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews,” the wise men ask? Someday He’s coming to reign and that’s what the Book of Revelation is ultimately about. It is bringing us to the climax of God’s plan of the rule of His Son over all creation. We are in a section in the Book of Revelation that deals with that last seven-year period. That’s what chapters 6 to 19 are about, the seven years leading up to the return of Christ to earth to establish His kingdom in chapter 19. These chapters are something of an interlude, chapters 10 through 14, unfolding the series of judgments that God is pouring out on the earth.

He is telling us about events that are going to happen in the middle of that seven-year period that will impact the last three and a half years, and lead us into the return of Christ to earth. We talked in chapter 11 about the fact that the temple will be rebuilt, because chapter 11 opened up telling us in those opening verses that the temple will be in existence and operating by the time you get to the middle of that seven-year period. We’ll talk more about what’s going to happen then when we get into chapter 13.

There is an interesting article on the rebuilding of the temple. I thought I’d just share a couple of comments with you. Not saying this is the fulfillment, because it’s not, but you see how all the thinking is focusing on matters that the bible says will take place shortly before Christ comes. I’m not supporting or disagreeing I’m just reading the article.

“While Muslims jeer, Israelis cheer President Trump’s Jerusalem declaration;” now listen to this, “prompting Jewish religious activists to suggest building the Third temple is closer to reality than ever before. This is the third temple. The first temple built under Solomon, then we had the second temple in the days of Ezra, Nehemiah and so on and then we have the third temple that is yet future but will be rebuilt during the first three and a half years of the seven-year Tribulation.” “What he did . . . referring to our President . . . was an enormous step in bringing the Temple,” said Asaf Fried, official spokesman for the United Temple Movement, an association of organizations working towards making the Third Temple a reality.

Just a reminder, things are going on that we don’t hear about often in the news. There are organizations that are joined together, Jewish organizations that have as a goal bringing the third temple in Jerusalem into existence.

He added, “This necessarily had to come from a non-Jew in order to bring them into the process, . . .” It is interesting in light of the fact the key figure in enabling the Jews to rebuild the temple will be a non-Jew. We’ll talk more about that again in chapter 13. I’m not saying this action by the President fulfills that but you see events that are very similar, preparing the way perhaps for these events.

This Jewish leader, sees Trump’s role similar to the one played by Cyrus, the Persian King who ended the Babylonian exile and helped build the Second Jewish Temple. “There have been amazing advances toward bringing the Temple this year. It was clear that Trump was part of that process, guided by Hashem, (which is the name for God), this Jewish leader said.

He is hardly alone in his jubilation, this Jewish leader; their comment is he is hardly alone in his jubilation about the possibilities of rebuilding a temple last destroyed in 70 A.D – 1,948 years ago.

“The prophets’ words of prophecy are coming forth from the Bible and becoming facts right before our eyes,” said Likud lawmaker and prominent Temple Mount movement figure Yehuda Glick, and then he shows quotes from the Old Testament about mourning over Jerusalem.

In fact, this one Jewish leader after quoting from Jeremiah says, “So Mr. Jeremiah, I’m sending you a What’s App: ‘Jerusalem is no longer alone like a widow. Jerusalem is recognized as the capital of the Jewish people.”

Rabbi Hillel Weiss spokesman for the nascent Sanhedrin . . . didn’t realize that their Sanhedrin, that religious body that was governing the Jews in Jerusalem under Herod, and under the Romans has been revived and reorganized, so the spokesman for the recently reorganized Sanhedrin . . . was cautiously optimistic.

“One year ago, the Sanhedrin called on Trump to build the Temple as Cyrus did 2,000 years ago,” Weiss said. “He is clearly moved in this direction but there is still a long way to go . . .” and I’m skipping through this article because of its length.

Another Jewish spokesman; Yakov Hayman the United Temple Movement chairman, also saw Trump’s statement as part of a major shift in modern history for Israel and the Jewish people.

Then he says, “When Jews and non-Jews go up en mass, the Temple is inevitable.” “The people of Israel are returning to their roots while simultaneously the non-Jews of the world are realizing the authenticity of our claim to the Temple Mount and our right to build a Jewish Temple as a House of Prayer for All Nations. These processes are codependent. It depends on the Jews, our actions, but the non-Jews are an essential part of the process,” and then he quotes from the Old Testament.

Then he says, “That will only happen in a Temple in Jerusalem,” fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. “The next step, the most important step, must be taken by the Jews. We need to begin going up to the Temple Mount in massive numbers. Once we do that, the Temple is the next inevitable step.”

Now note this. This will prepare us for chapter 13, “There is something very special and holy in Trump.” “Sometimes he appears coarse and not connected to religion, but every time he addresses the nation he speaks about God. This is precisely how a leader guided by God should speak.” That’s significant when we get to chapter 13 because there will come a western world ruler, leading a revived Roman Empire who will be so viewed by the Jews. Interesting you see that kind of language even being used today. Now, don’t get ahead of me. I’m not saying our President is fulfilling this. The Jews may think it is but we see things coming together. Imagine a thousand years ago. How would the Jews view—they didn’t have the land after the destruction brought by the Romans in 70 A.D., some years later the Roman Emperor removed all Jews from Israel. They made it a law they couldn’t live there, and then it became Palestine. How would they have thought a thousand years—we don’t even have the land, who could talk about a temple?

Not so unrealistic today, so we’re talking in Revelation about matters yet future, and we are in…..we’ve come to that middle period. We are three and a half years away from Revelation 19 when Christ “will descend from Heaven” as He Himself said in Matthew 24, “in the clouds and every eye will see Him.” He’ll come with power and great glory, to destroy His enemies and set up a kingdom. Awesome time! Details are being revealed here that we need to know, chapter 12 of Revelation where we are. We saw in chapter 11 that the temple would have been rebuilt and the events we talked about there. Chapter 12, they talked about the birth of Christ, Israel, the nation depicted here in the opening two verses, ready to give birth to the Messiah.

Then we saw something going on in heaven, the devil in rebellion against God, and a third of the angels of heaven following him in his rebellion. We looked at that in Old Testament passages like Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. Then we go back to the nation Israel because remember this is focused on the nation Israel. The birth of Christ in verse five. Israel gave birth to a Son, a male child who will rule the nations with a rod of iron but He didn’t start to rule the nation, He was caught up to heaven. He’s not on earth ruling over the nations of the earth.

Then you come to verse six, “the woman fled into the wilderness” referring to the nation Israel. There are 2,000 years between the end of verse five and the beginning of verse six in your bibles. The whole period we call the “Church Age” is skipped over. Christ ascended to heaven in Acts chapter one the Church began in Acts chapter two as we talked about. The Church won’t be removed from the earth before Revelation chapter six. So Israel, now when we jump to the middle of this last seven-year period in God’s program before Christ returns, will be running, hiding in the wilderness. We’ll talk more about that when we get into chapter 13, the end of chapter 12 in a future study. She’ll be there for 1,260 days, three and a half years, so we know where we are; we’re three and a half years away from the return of Christ.

Now we go back to talk about Satan, an event yet future that precipitates what happens in verse six, in verse seven. There was war in heaven, Michael and his angels. We talked about this. Satan lost his position as the anointed cherub guarding the throne of God in heaven that was referred to in verse four, but he still has access to heaven. This will come up in our study this morning. We’ve looked at it earlier, so Satan and the fallen angels still have access to heaven but in verse seven, there’s going to be a future time in the middle of these seven years, a war in heaven. It’s hard for us to grasp this.

All the fallen angels who followed Satan in his original rebellion against God, and all the angels who have remained faithful to God will be joined in a battle. Michael, the Archangel, will be leading the unfallen angels. Can you imagine? There are probably, literally billions of angels. These two forces gathered in heaven itself, for a conflict, and the result is, verse eight, “the dragon and his angels were not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven,” so he loses his access to heaven, the great dragon. If you don’t understand what we’re talking about, he is also called the devil and Satan. The one who deceives the whole world was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. This pictures and sets for us the conflict that has been going on way back to the Garden of Eden.

There are two, what do you call them, two groups. There is Satan, the angels who followed him in his rebellion against God, and all the unredeemed people on the face of the earth for all time, on one side and God and the angels who remained faithful to Him, and all the people who have been redeemed by His saving grace on the other side. That is the conflict that has been going on since the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter three right down to today. While we gather here to study the word of God, this conflict is still being waged. You who are here who have never experienced God’s saving grace have the devil and his angels working to blind your heart and your thinking so you won’t respond to the gospel. We who have believed in Christ, he is at work to distract us while the Spirit of God works to minister to us, he would distract us and confuse us, so the war goes on. That’s the explanation.

What is going on in our country and in the world today? Behind it are the spiritual forces of wickedness opposing the will of God; everything that Satan is doing is geared toward an ultimate end, preventing Christ from ruling over creation. Remember, in the temptation of Christ in Matthew, the devil showed Christ all the kingdoms of the world. He says they can be Yours if You fall down and worship me. You don’t have to go to the cross. We can take a shortcut. You can worship me, and rule over the kingdoms, of course under Satan’s authority. Christ simply said get behind Me Satan. You worship the Lord and Him only, so this is where we are.

Satan loses his access to heaven. This tells those in heaven we are in the final stages. It tells Satan, these are the final stages of the conflict, so this is a time marker. Heaven, the host of heaven, those who have been redeemed are in heaven, and the angels of heaven realize with Satan being closed out from heaven and access to heaven, we have entered the last phase, so when Satan is thrown down to the earth his angels were thrown down with him. Note he hasn’t ceased to function, there’s just a change that has occurred now that is a time marker. When that happens, verse 10, “then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.’”

You know we move through the study of God’s word in a simple way. We take it at face value. We call it literal, normal, like if you read part of the paper before you came this morning. Same way, you figure you take it at face value. You take it there will be figures of speech, illustrations and so on, but that’s how we communicate, that’s how we take it here. Those who don’t take the Book of Revelation literally, read all kinds of things into these passages. I take it there will be a literal war in heaven, a spiritual conflict. You might say, “I can’t imagine such a thing!” You don’t have to imagine it; God told you it’s going to happen. How it all lays out and how—I don’t know. There’s going to be these two forces that go to war in heaven. Satan loses, cast to earth.

When that happens, there is celebration in heaven. A loud voice and were not told who the voice is. Evidently, a voice coming from those who have experienced redemption, because He says “the accuser of our brethren,” and you know angels have never experienced redemption. There was no savior provided for angels who sinned, so he talks about our brethren and that’s usually a word used to refer to other believers. It may be the martyrs.

Come back to chapter 6 of Revelation. In verse nine 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, because of the testimony which they maintained, so these are individuals who, because of their testimony for Christ were executed, and they cried out with a loud voice. Now remember we hear a loud voice again in chapter 12. These are in heaven now who had experienced martyrdom on earth and they cried out with a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And they were told wait a little bit longer.

Now when you come to chapter 12, we hear a loud voice in heaven, celebrating because you know what? We’re coming to the time now when they will be avenged. Judgment is going to be poured out on the world, and it will soon climax with the coming of Christ to bring judgment, on the unbeliever. This may well be the martyrs in heaven. They are crying out, “Now salvation, the power and kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down,” so they see the connection. Those in heaven will recognize when Satan in conflict with Michael and his angels is defeated and removed from heaven. That is the step in his final defeat that moves us; we are now ready, if I could use the expression, “to wrap things up.”

Three and a half years, the thousands of years that have gone on with this conflict are about to come to an end, we are within three and a half years of the end so now these things have come. They won’t yet happen. We’re three and a half years away but it’s like when you’ve had a project that took time and you get to the final portion of that you say, well we’re just about done now. We’ve got this wrapped up. This’ll complete it. That’s where we are here, the thousands of years of history since the Garden of Eden. We’re about to wrap it up and that’s what heaven realizes, and the host of heaven, with Satan being cast to the earth.

What is to come? The salvation, the power, the kingdom of our God and that modifier, “Of our God” goes with salvation, it’s the salvation of our God, the power of our God, the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come. Salvation, this refers to the ultimate completion of God’s work of redemption, accomplished by Christ on the cross. Remember, if you were here back in Revelation chapter 5, the scroll that contained all the events that would climax with the establishing of the kingdom, only the Lamb of God was qualified to open that scroll and bring it to its appointed completion. Because, it was His work of redemption that provided for the redemption of humanity, and all creation from the curse of sin, so salvation and ultimate deliverance.

Back up to Romans chapter 8. I’m limiting the number of other references we use this morning but in Romans chapter 8, Paul talks about this time in verse 18 and talking about in verse 17, “if we’re God’s children we are heirs with Christ, heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ, if we suffer with Him that we may be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Note, “for the anxious longing of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it.”

In other words, the trees didn’t sin. The flowers didn’t sin but the effect of sin has enveloped the whole creation. The picture is of “all creation under the weight of sin, anticipating the time when the curse of sin will be lifted but He subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” This is the hope we have; it hasn’t been realized.

When we get to chapter 19, we’ll see the Church unveiled in all its glory as the bride of Christ. That’s when, too, we will have the action of God with the coming of Christ, lifting the curse from the creation, so you have the fulfillment of passages like in Isaiah. “The lion will lie down with the lamb, the child will play on the den of the poisonous viper, and the desert will blossom like the rose or the crocus.” The curse is lifted from the creation. That’s the ultimate conclusion of the redemption that Christ provided with His death and resurrection so you come back to Revelation chapter 12.

The voice in heaven is celebrating. Now the salvation of our God, the power of our God. That word “power,” we bring it over into English it’s just transliterated, its dunamis. We bring it over in words like dynamite, dynamic, dynamo and so on. It is the power, the ability to do what should be done. God has the ability and the power, to overcome sin through the redemption He provided in His Son, to bring about that ultimate salvation, and ultimately a new heavens and a new earth when we get to chapters 21 and 22 and so we come now the salvation, the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ. That’s where we come to, that kingdom as we get into these closing chapters of Revelation.

That’s where we’re going, that’s what heaven is celebrating here. This is the final conclusion that will bring us to that awesome event, Christ returning in power and great glory to establish a kingdom over all creation. It’s the kingdom of our God. He is the ultimate authority. Satan would like to usurp that and have his authority over all creation, but it cannot happen, it will not happen. It’s the authority of His Christ. When you don’t take the bible literally, in a normal way, historically, grammatically, you just miss so much. Someday the curse that has been brought by sin will be lifted, removed, and Christ will reign with authority, the right to reign, not only the power, but also the right, the power of God to bring it about and the rightful authority belongs to Christ.

Remember what we call the great commission in Matthew 28, the closing verses of the gospel of Matthew. Jesus said, “all authority,” and that’s the word He uses here, authority, the right, the authority. He gave authority “to us to become children of God, to be called the children of God” in John chapter 1, because of our relationship to Christ, so the authority of His Christ. The kingdom is yet future even here as heaven celebrates it’s yet future. Some people allegorize prophecy and say well, it’s a spiritual kingdom existing in hearts, someday Christ will come and then we’ll just have eternity. You miss the beauty of the sovereignty of God in bringing everything about down to the details of what He has recorded here. The time has come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. This is the reason.

They say, well now we know we are ready. We’ve come to the last phase, the last half of the last chapter if you will. We’re in the seventieth week of Daniel, the last seven years and now we’re in the last half of the last seven years. The accuser of our brethren has been cast down. We talked about this earlier in chapter 12. Satan still has access to heaven, he lost his position but he still has access and he uses that access to accuse God’s people. Remember in the Book of Job and we won’t go back there because we’ve been there several times but in Job chapters 1 and 2 we have pictured Satan appearing with other angels before the throne of God. Now this is long after he’s lost his position as the anointed cherub guarding the throne of God but he appears there and God says to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?”

The first thing to note, he doesn’t say Job, whom, I mean there’s a lot of people down there I don’t know everybody. Satan’s right on it! Of course, I know Job, you’ve put a hedge around him, and You treat him special. God say he’s a righteous man; he’s one who truly loves God. Satan says, ah, you know why Job loves You he’s like a kid. This is my paraphrase it’s not in Job. You give Job candy so he likes you. Imagine the audacity of Satan to challenge God in heaven! You’re not telling the truth about Job, his love for you, his righteousness is superficial. The only reason, he serves You is you do so much for him and you keep me from making his life miserable. You let me make his life miserable and then You’ll see his true character, he really isn’t committed to You. That’s what Satan does.

Now remember we saw in our previous study, Satan was created by God, Lucifer at that time, the anointed cherub guarding the throne of God, full of wisdom. This is important with perhaps billions of angels and billions of people on the face of the earth and Satan is managing everything. We talk about computers and their power and ability. He does not need a computer. He is full of wisdom. He’s not omniscience as God alone is but he has a wisdom far beyond--you can be sure if Satan brings up your name before the throne of God in heaven Satan doesn’t say, who are you talking about? He can be right on it. Let me bring a little trouble into their life and see if they are really going to be people that are faithful to You.

It is hard for us to grasp a being the bible says God created; him full of wisdom. Outside of God, there would be no created being who would have greater wisdom than the devil. He can manage an army of billions of fallen angels. He can manipulate the leaders and people of the world through his emissaries and here he’s the accuser of our brethren. I take it the examples we have from Scripture as we’ve looked at, that’s what he does, he’s there to undermine the credibility of the salvation that God has provided for sinners. What’s he saying about Job? He’s not really righteous.

We were in Zachariah 3, what did he say about Joshua the high priest? He’s got dirt on his garments, filth on his garments, he’s not qualified and God says, “I provide the garments that qualify him.” That’s it, Satan undermining. Undermining in any way he can. If he can undermine the effectiveness of the saving work of Christ, he’s made impossible a kingdom of redeemed people. I mean, it’s all geared toward that. He’s the accuser of our brethren who accuses them before our God day and night. He is persistent. He is relentless. We as God’s people need to remember we are in a spiritual conflict. The devil is there to make us stumble, to bring up obstacles. By God’s grace, He picks us up but the devil is there to point it out.

He could make Job’s life very difficult. He couldn’t take away Job’s salvation. Job may not have realized and there’s no indication he does, that he is part of a major spiritual conflict. Sometimes we get caught up in what is going on around us and we lose perspective. We are God’s children. That makes you a marked enemy of the devil, doing everything he can to frustrate your life, to derail it, to undermine it. It’s his work, that’s what his servants do along with leading the host of unbelievers under the control of the devil. Part of his servants pride themselves in being their own person which simply means they are in rebellion against God but they can’t escape the authority and power of Satan at work in their life along with their own sin, so he’s the accuser of the brethren day and night.

Verse 11, now this is sort of like a parenthesis verse 11 is somewhat of a parenthesis because he’s expanding here and he accuses the brethren but he’s not successful. He doesn’t bring them down, if we can say it that way. “They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb.” Now remember there’s a promise to the overcomers in each of the seven letters to the churches in chapters two and three of the Book of the Revelation and in 1 John 5 verses four and five. “Who is he who overcomes but he that believes that Jesus is the Christ?” Our faith in Christ and the work He has done on the cross has brought cleansing, forgiveness and new life. That’s why we overcome the devil, because of the work God has done for us in Christ and our faith in Him. They overcame him, the devil the accuser.
The “One who represents us” in Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25, “as our high priest ever living to make intercession for us, in heaven.” Remember First John 2, “if any man sins, we have an Advocate,” the One who represents us. We have “an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One, and He is the propitiation, the satisfaction, the One who has turned away the wrath of God from us,” so there’s a conflict.

Yeah, there’s Gil he stumbled again. You call him Your child? Doesn’t seem like Your child to me, he did what I wanted, he said what I wanted to say. Christ is there, but I’ve redeemed him! What’s going on here? They overcame him “because of the blood of the Lamb” and that’s not all, and “because of the word of their testimony.” Two reasons given. Romans 10 says “with your heart you believe, with your mouth you confess.” That’s what we have here, the word of their testimony. You know every time we speak for Christ, every time we share the gospel, that’s a defeat for the devil. That’s part of the victory we have in Christ that we’re not defeated. You’ll note here, these being martyrs; they did not love their life even when faced with death or even to death. In other words, they loved Christ more than life.

Remember Christ said, when He was on this earth, “if you love your father, mother, brother or sister, anyone else more than me, you can’t be My disciple.” Think carefully, before you say yes, I want to place my faith in Christ and follow Him. It means everything! That means your allegiance is not partially moved, you are now totally committed to Him no matter what your parents say, your kids say, those close to you say or do, no matter whether they lead you to execution. The word of their testimony overcomes the devil. It’s a battle, that doesn’t mean we don’t stumble but believers don’t stay stumbled, they don’t stay there. Those who turn away and remain there indicate what, they never were.

That’s the point, so they overcome with two things. We ought to be more bold with our testimony. If you love your life, worse than death why do we shut up so quickly? I don’t think people want to hear this, I’d better not say anything. Why? Would you say it if they were leading you away to be burned at the stake? Oh yeah, I’d stand with the martyrs but I don’t want people saying nasty things about me. I don’t think I will be burned at the stake, if I am intimidated, by the little things; going on. Our word of our testimony, stop and think about a week. How’d my week go? How many times do I speak for Christ if it’s the word of my testimony? That’s where it goes, that overcomes him. They didn’t love their life even when faced with death.

Look at verse 12. “For this reason,” now this connects back to the end of verse 10, so he did a little elaboration there when he said that, the devil accuses them night and day before God, so let me explain. They overcome the devil. The devil doesn’t win because of the blood of Christ, and they have a testimony for Christ and that’s why the ones he’s talking about are in heaven, they’re the martyrs particularly. They were willing to go to the ultimate end. That is good. I recommend periodically that you read some of the testimony of the martyrs. You don’t have to sit down and read the whole volume at one sitting and say, wow, this is discouraging. It ought to be encouraging seeing those who stood and were giving testimony while the fire is starting to consume them, speaking out while their voice would still be heard.

That’s part of what he’s saying, but now you connect “he accuses them before our God day and night” at the end of verse 10. Verse 12, “for this reason, the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down” and because he’s been thrown down, for this reason, “rejoice O heavens and you who dwell in them.” Why? Up in verse 10, “the salvation, the power, the kingdom of our God, the authority of His Christ has come!” How do you know? “The accuser of our brethren has been thrown down,” removed from access to heaven. Well no, that means we’re in the last phase, three and a half years after the thousands of years that have transpired. “For this reason, rejoice it’s a cause of joy. O heavens and you who dwell in them the heaven and the heavens.” When Satan is cast to earth, indication, you know how vast our universe and heaven are, and then the third heaven, the heaven of God, but Satan is now confined to the earth, and the people who belong to the earth picture the unbeliever. There’s rejoicing and joy in heaven resounding.

We should rejoice and those who have heaven as their home rejoicing but “woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you.” You say he’s come down from what we call the third heaven through the stellar heavens, now he is on the earth, this is where he is confined and his work is confined. Woe to the earth and the sea, the devil has come down to you, not that he hasn’t been present here but now he realizes we’re near the end and you see the end of the verse. “Having great wrath,” knowing that he has a short time. All those in heaven realize they’ve come to the last three and a half years. You know who else recognizes it and knows it, the devil.

Now why doesn’t he just skip over to chapter 19, see he loses, and surrender? Sin doesn’t work that way. There’s been no redemption provided for him. He is by choice and by nature committed to rebellion against God wherever it takes him and that can be understood. Some of you have heard the gospel so many times you could give it back, but have never believed it. It makes no sense. Read the end of chapter 20, it tells you where you’re going, to an eternal hell. Somehow, there’s something in the deceptiveness of sin. We think we’ll win. If it is totally foolish for the devil to think he can defeat God, what is it for a mere puny human being to think he can win? There’s no rationale to sin so the devil knows he has a short time. He’s going to devote that time to doing what? By trying to destroy every Jew, so you see all that’s involved in the devil.

The kingdom is Jewish in nature. It was a kingdom promised to Israel. We will be part of it but it is a Jewish kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem with its Messiah ruling who is a Jewish man, Jesus Christ. So if he (the devil) could destroy every Jew, you can’t have the promises of God fulfilled. If God can’t keep His word, He loses. This is Satan all the time so in heaven he’s trying to discredit the salvation Christ provided by throwing dirt at those who have trusted in Christ, accusing them that their salvation is not real, it hasn’t changed them and all their righteousness is phony, whatever, which is discrediting the salvation Christ provided. At the same time, he’s aware because all I have to do is frustrate God’s plan and I win.

You say that’s not going to happen. Here he has thousands of years, since Genesis 3, of losing. He knows everything is gone even as God has unfolded it. He’s full of wisdom. I have no doubt he could quote the bible from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation and not miss a beat and even quote it in the original languages. He’s full of wisdom but it’s corrupt. His wisdom was corrupted by sin so it’s always used for sinful purposes, so the earth is in trouble because now the devil is down in fury.

Between the worst judgments from God on His throne being poured out on the earth, and the activity of Satan trying to destroy every believer on the face of the earth, and he doesn’t care how many unbelievers are destroyed either, because the whole goal is to keep God from having His kingdom. It’s a terrible time. Jesus said if He didn’t put an end to it at the end of this seven-year period there wouldn’t be a survivor on the face of the earth. We have seen nothing even to compare in a little way with this. We’ve already seen when we get to the middle remember over three billion people die and now it’s going to get bad. Half the earth is gone, half the people are dead and now Satan comes to pour out his wrath.

All right, just let me review what we’ve covered this morning, quickly. Put these points up if you would.

Number 1. Satan’s removal from heaven anticipates the kingdom.
That’s the context; everything’s going toward the kingdom here, so when he’s removed from heaven, that precipitates the final phase here, the kingdom will be established.

Number 2. Satan persistently accuses believers before God.
We don’t want to get careless and forget we’re in a spiritual battle. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies.” We Ephesians 6, “therefore put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand.” It doesn’t say put it on in case the devil ever attacks you. He will and he’s relentless.

Number 3. Believers have victory over Satan because of Christ’s death. This is not discouraging to us. We have the Holy Spirit within us and “greater is the One who is in you than he who is in the world,” 1 John tells us. The victory we have in Christ is a permanent victory. “Nothing that can separate us from the love of God, which we have in Christ Jesus,” as Romans 8 tells us.

Number 4. Not only will we have victory because of our faith in the finished work of Christ, believers have victory over Satan because of their testimony for Christ. This is what God is using in the world to bring light into the world. We are lights in darkness Scripture tells us. We don’t put those lights under a bushel. We give off the knowledge of Jesus Christ in every place.

Number 5. Believers love Christ more than life. I must be faithful to Christ. What about friendships you’ll lose? What about dividing your family? Jesus said I will divide your family. He made that clear. We get this fanciful idea of how people are going to like us because we’re doing good things. The devil hates you. The demons hate you and I have to say the followers of the devil hate you. There can be no love between the children of God and the children of the devil. That doesn’t mean we don’t have family relationships. It doesn’t mean we can’t get along with people but never lose sight of where we are. Why aren’t we more bold and more clear with our testimony for Christ everywhere including in our own family circles when they’re unbelievers? Because it will stir thing up so we just want to keep a true perspective; that doesn’t mean I want to be mean spirited. It doesn’t mean I want to make myself annoying by just talking about this every time the conversation comes up but I don’t want to be quiet. Believers love Christ more than life.

Number 6. There will be rejoicing in heaven when Satan is cast out.
Stop and think about it. We’ve read this is going to take place in heaven. You know what? If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, you will be there, I will be there. You know what we’ll be there. Now the salvation, the power the kingdom. We’ll be part of the celebration. We’re in heaven. Stop and think about that. Here I am, I’m talking about what’s going on in heaven and I say hey Gil, you’re there, me I’m part of this group in heaven that’s celebrating. You know this is what we talked about, wow remember that. No, I don’t remember that sermon but I know where we are. We’re three and a half years away. That’s it, it’s right on schedule. Well, what if something goes wrong? Nothing ever goes wrong in God’s plan so three and a half years. All right.

Number 7. There will be wrath on earth when Satan is cast out.
Make no mistake about it, things aren’t going to get better on this earth. They are going to get worse than the world has ever seen. People say you’re pessimistic. No, because I know how it finally ends but if you’re not a believer in Jesus Christ your future could not be any bleaker. The future of this unbelieving world could not be any worse but amazingly, God restrains things. Why are we where we are today? Why hasn’t God dealt with it? I mean I know some of you are frustrated by our own political situation because you talk about it. Of course, I never do but my wife does. What are they doing, what are they thinking? Why doesn’t something…. yep, where, what? Then we pause and say you know what, relax, take a deep breath, we’re right on schedule. That doesn’t mean we’re glad for a lot that’s happening but we’re looking for the final outcome and for us it’s glory, it’s the Rapture, then it will be the Tribulation, then it will be the kingdom.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for the riches of Your word. How gracious You are, You blessed us with salvation in Christ and Lord You’ve told us word by word, what You’ve done, what You’re doing and what You will do. How blessed we are through Christ to be able to be called sons of the living God, heirs and coheirs with Jesus Christ, destined to rule and reign with Him in a kingdom over all creation. Lord give us a boldness beyond ourselves. May we be lights even as the darkness seems darker and our desire is by Your grace many we come to know You. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen
.