Revelation 12 — Revelation 11-13

0:00 For... As we're reading, first of all, there's gonna be a... There's three battles that are here within this text. The battle at birth, and as we're reading it, hopefully, you'll be able to pick it out. Secondly, the battle in the heavens, and that'll be pretty obvious because it'll say there was a battle in the heavens.

0:19 And then finally, the battle for survival, and that's when, the devil, unleashes all of his fury and his anger against the nation of Israel and the world. So if we're reading this, look for these three things. Also, as we're reading this, you have to keep in mind that the context is the tribulation. So most of it does not apply to us right now, but we're gonna make application anyway. And hopefully, you'll be able to make those connections.

0:51 Alright. So having said that, let's go ahead and start. Everybody got it? Revelation 12. That's easy.

0:57 The last book, Apocalypses. If you want it in Spanish, Kapitulo doce. There you go. And let's take a read. Now there is a lot of symbolic language here, and I will explain that in a moment.

1:10 But hopefully, as we're reading through it, some of it will make sense to you. So let's start. Revelation 12, and a great sign appeared... Did it did it switch? Where are we?

1:23 Where are we? Oh, wait. Something's wrong here. I'm supposed to be at number one here. There you go.

1:30 And then I'm supposed to be right there. Yes. Okay. Very good. Alright.

1:34 Ready? And by the way, I invited two families and neither of them came. And when Mason invites people, they all come. I don't know how that works, you know? But...

1:45 Alright. So... Alright. Let let... Let's go ahead.

1:48 Alright. And a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars. And she was with child and she cried out being in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns, and on his head were seven diadems.

2:22 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And there was a war in heaven.

3:10 See, there's your transition. You can see the war in heaven now. There was a war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels waged war. And they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place for...

3:29 Found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, and the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 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 brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the lamb and because of the word of their testimony.

4:15 And they did not love their life even to death. For this reason, rejoice, oh heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea because the devil has come down to you having great wrath knowing that he only has a short time. Verse 13. And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to a male a male child, and two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and a half a time from the presence of the serpent.

5:06 And the serpent poured out water like a river out of his mouth after the woman so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. And the earth helped the woman, And the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Wow. What a what a powerful section of scripture.

5:42 And as you can see, as we're we're reading through it, there's a lot of, symbolism, a lot of words, and we need to make sense out of all this. And also, it it encompasses different times, but remember that the context is the tribulation. And if you get out of that, you're gonna misinterpret a lot. So this is also a little lecture on how to properly interpret scriptures, especially when there's a lot of symbolism involved. Okay.

6:36 And the dream was there was a sun and the moon, they were under my feet, following with the 11 stars. And what was he talking about? His mom and dad, the parents of the 12 tribes, were the beginning of the nation of Israel, the 12 tribes. So we know them by looking at these words and look... Going to Genesis that they're the same exact words, and it was talking about Israel.

7:04 Israel. So if you will, Israel... The woman in the bible here in this whole text that we saw throughout the whole passage that we read, the woman is Israel who gave birth to the Christ to the world. Alright? So put that in your mind.

7:20 Who is the woman? Israel. Very good. The woman is Israel. Yeah.

7:25 And she's the one who is clover of the sun, the moon under her feet, and the 12 stars, which is the 12 tribes of Israel. Right? So the woman is Israel. And she was with child, and she cried out being in labor and in pain to give birth. Alright.

7:42 Now, what what could this be? In this case, the woman here is who? Is Mary. Very good. It's Mary giving birth to a child.

7:53 Yes. So just just keep that in mind. We'll make more sense out of it in a minute. But... So there's a play on words here.

8:01 The woman is Israel, right, who gave birth to the child. Right? And then it specifically speaks of Mary giving birth to Christ, and and we'll we'll look at that a little more detail in a minute. Alright. Now, so it's also a reference to Mary giving birth to the Christ.

8:21 Now notice that Satan stood before the woman. Satan was was at the birth trying to destroy Jesus. Notice notice in verse four, and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon, we'll get to all that in a minute, but the dragon is Satan, I'll go ahead and tell you ahead of time, stood before the woman who was about to give birth. So we know then that that's talking about Mary, about to give birth, so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child.

8:59 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, and we know then that that was the Christ. Alright. So so the woman then in general is Israel as a nation, but the woman giving birth to a child is Mary giving birth to the Christ, and Satan was there at the birth trying to kill, prevent the birth of Jesus Christ, of course, which we know that Satan is the the enemy of God and and of Jesus Christ. Right. So very good.

9:30 So the woman then is Israel as a nation, but the the the woman who gave birth is Mary. Right? Makes sense? Anybody confused? Raise your hand if you are, and I'll raise my hand.

9:43 Yes or no? Yeah. You're not. Yes? Okay.

9:47 Everybody's with me. Alright. So let's continue. Very good. Now look what Matthew two thirteen says, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, arise and take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.

10:08 And we look at at the gospels and we see several times that Satan was attempting to destroy Jesus. He was trying to prevent the birth and he was trying to destroy him throughout his life. We see that when when he preached in Nazareth, his own time when he was born, that they tried to throw him over the cliff and try to kill him. And so he was trying his best, Satan, to destroy Christ, and then he also to the temptation tried to destroy his moral character and and commit him to sin against God, but he didn't. So there was a battle at birth when Jesus was willing to be born.

10:45 And the battle also happened way from the beginning when Satan was trying to prevent Jacob and Rachel and all of the children from from becoming a nation because because Satan knew that through the nation of Israel was going to come eventually the Christ. The Christ. Okay. Very good. And so the enemy, the enemy, because there's a battle.

11:28 So we see then that Satan from the very beginning, and we're gonna go... We're gonna look at that in a minute, opposes the plan of God and everything that has to do with Jesus Christ. But we also looked at the term in the text devil, and it's derived from the Greek meaning diablos or diablo, sounds like Spanish, meaning slander or accuser. So the devil is a fallen angel who rebelled against God and now seeks to lead humanity astray. And so this is the enemy here who is opposed to God.

12:03 And we saw also the great red dragon. And that is also another, word picture of Satan who's portrayed as terrifying and destructive. Alright. So who is the woman? The woman is the nation of Israel.

12:19 And the woman who gave birth is Mary. The great red dragon is? Satan. Very good. And Satan is the accuser, and the devil is the the slander and the accuser and the the obstructor who opposes God in his plans.

12:36 And so this is the enemy that we face. And then we also see in verse nine, he's called the serpent of old. Satan as a deceiver from the beginning. And that's his nature to deceive and to lie and to trick. Very good.

12:53 So now you notice also the phrase in verse four, and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven. Right. So the the third stars of heaven are the fallen angels, the demons, that rebelled against God and followed Satan. Alright. Now put a...

13:13 Put your little marker there, and let's go to Ezekiel, and we're gonna look a little bit at what happened in the beginning with Ezekiel. So go there to Ezekiel and chapter 28. And let's look at verse 14. So turn your Bibles or in your phones or however you look it up. Look at Ezekiel 28 and verse 14.

13:37 Give you a minute to find it. Alright. And notice that this is talking about the Satan when he fell, when he stumbled, when he sinned in heaven. You were the anointed cherub who covers. So Satan's position at the beginning when he was created was he was a cherub.

13:59 That was his class of angels. And I placed you there. So God created him as a cherub and he placed him in a mighty position in heaven. And you were on the holy mountain of God. You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.

14:17 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created. Notice he's a created creature. The angels are created. From the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. And so this cherub that had a mighty position was was blameless morally.

14:36 He he was he was right with god and he was in the heaven and he had a high position but there was unrighteousness found in him and first Timothy three tells us that it was pride, right, that got a hold of him. Notice verse 16, by the abundance of your trade, you were in turn... Notice, internally filled with violence and you sinned. So inside of Satan, when he was in heaven, in the throne of God protecting the holiness of God, he saw God's greatness and all the other angels worshiping him, and internally he became angry. He got proud.

15:14 He says, I want what God has. I want that position. And, so his sin was was pride. But notice that he was enraged inside because he wants to be worshiped. He wants to be worshiped.

15:27 You have to understand that. That's his plan from from the beginning. Verse 16 then, you are internally filled with violence and you sinned. Therefore, I have cast you as profaned from the mountain of God and I have destroyed you, o covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom by reason of splendor.

15:55 I cast you to the ground. I put you before kings that they may see you. And so so this mighty cherub, Lucifer, that was his name at the beginning, who was so great, he started looking himself and he goes, man, I'm beautiful. I I am great and I'm powerful, and I wanna be adored and worshiped like God is adored. And the minute that happened, God threw him out, and he lost his position.

16:23 Now, he was so powerful and so persuasive that he was able to drag a third of the angels with him, which we now call what? Demons. That's right. Demons. So demons are fallen angels.

16:38 They were they were convinced somehow by Satan because they were there too looking at God and his glory and his power. But somehow he was so persuasive that he was able to drive one third of them, it's hard to believe, with them. And they all sinned with Satan, and they gave their alliance to Satan. Therefore, God threw them out of his presence. Okay.

17:34 You can look at Job and also Genesis where stars are referred to as angels. And in fact, in in Isaiah 14, also Satan is referred to as a star. Alright. So so stars here are are the angels. And so his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, the angels of heaven, and threw them to the earth.

17:56 We just read that in Ezekiel. And the dragon, Satan, stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. So Satan knew from the moment he sinned and also in Genesis three and fifteen, that great prophecy when when he also fooled and deceived Adam and Eve and they sinned he knew from from that prophecy of Genesis three fifteen that in the future, the Christ was gonna be born and he was gonna crush him. And because he knew that, he was doing whatever he could to stop the birth of Jesus. Alright.

18:36 So does that make more sense to you guys as we're reading this? Hopefully, it does. If not, you can come talk to me afterwards. Alright. Now look at verse five.

18:46 And she gave birth to a son. Alright. Doesn't that sound like Luke chapter one, two, and three, and then Matthew chapter one where he was born, the son was born, and that's Jesus, a male child who is to rule all the nation with a rod of iron. And so that pretty much reduces it down to the Lord Jesus. Now look at Matthew twenty five and forty one.

19:11 Then he, Jesus, will say to those on his left, the nonbelievers, depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. Alright? So when when Satan sinned, immediately, God created the Lake Of Fire. And the Lake Of Fire was intended for Satan and all of those angels that fell with him when they were thrown out. But because Adam and Eve and and all of us following that, chose to believe the devil because that's what they did.

19:51 They were deceived by him. They didn't believe God. So then suddenly what was intended for Satan and his angels also included the humans. And so Christ said, I'm not gonna forgive angels because they were in my very presence in heaven and they saw me and they sinned and that... So there's no forgiveness for them.

20:16 However, the the humans who are created in my image, there is salvation for them and I'm gonna come to rescue them. So Satan's even more enraged because there's no forgiveness for him and he knows it. And if the Christ is born, then he will be eternally condemned and crushed. And so he's enraged, and he's doing whatever he can, and he has from the beginning to to stop God and his plan. He's a deceiver.

20:43 He's the accuser. And so the... This is what created for him. So the Christ, the Lord, the Messiah, the King of Kings. Notice, she gave birth to a son who is to rule the nation with a rod of iron.

20:56 That means with total authority and dominion. Whenever you see that phrase, the rod of iron, that means that total authority and dominion, the king always had a scepter. When he would lift it up, whatever he said would go. And so this is saying that Jesus has his scepter, but it's a rod, and it's of iron, which means that when he speaks, it's gonna happen. When he rules the world, it's gonna be what he says.

21:27 He's not gonna ask anyone's opinion. So from the very beginning, when he was born, it's it's already... The Bible is already saying he's gonna rule all the nations with total authority and dominion, this Jesus. And that's why Satan was trying to stop him because he wants that. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne, the ascension of Jesus back to heaven.

21:53 Of course, in between that, we know that there are the gospels, right, you squeeze them in there, was was his his work on the cross where he took on sin and then his resurrection. And because he resurrected, then he went back up to God, the ascension of Jesus Christ. Alright. Everybody following me? Is it making more sense to everyone?

22:13 Yes or no? Yeah. You can move your head. You can move your body. It won't hurt.

22:16 Alright. Very good. Okay. Next. Alright.

22:46 So the battle in heaven at the midpoint of the tribulation. By the way, if anybody wants to see PowerPoint, I'd be more than happy to share them with you. Alright. So, look at then what happens. Verse verse six, we're going to come back to that in a minute.

23:03 So, for now, we'll leave verse six alone. And there was war in heaven at the middle of tribulation, Michael and his angel. Now Michael is a great archangel. He's the greatest angel right now in heaven, has the most authority, and and he has all the angels under him. So then Michael, the great archangel, and his army defeat Satan and his demons.

23:27 Notice verse seven, and there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels waged war. And they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. So I don't know what this looks like, but even now, there's spiritual battles going on in the heavens that we can't see because it's invisible. And so this great war takes place in the middle of tribulation, and Satan then is thrown out of heaven.

23:57 I'll I'll explain to... That to you now. Alright. So no longer have access to heaven. What does that mean?

24:06 Right now, Ephesians six twelve, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against world forces of this darkness, that's all the demons. Right? Against spiritual forces of wickedness, where? In the heavenly places. In the heavenly places.

24:25 In other words, right now Satan and his demons have access to the heavenly places, to the heavens. And and what what do they do up there? Alright. We're we're gonna get that... To that in a minute.

24:36 But sin has two key objectives. Two key objectives. Number one is to deceive the nations. To deceive the nations. His job is to make the nation say, you don't need God, you don't want...

24:51 You don't need to bow to God, do your own thing, you have your own power, and so that... That's his job, and he's been very successful at it. The nations, for... In general, do not acknowledge God the father, God the son, or the holy spirit. He deceives, and that's his job.

25:11 And he deceives Christians into saying that you don't need to live for God, and God's trying to rip you off, and he's always deceiving. That's his job. Next, to accuse the brethren. That is, if you are born again, because if you're not, it doesn't apply to you. But if you're born again, day and night, all day long, all he does is slander you and slam you and accuse you.

25:37 So he's constantly, up in heaven where where God is. Right? He's up there. What is he doing right now? At this very moment, what is he doing?

25:46 What is Satan doing to his angels right now? He's doing what to us? He's accusing us. He's accusing us. And so it says in first John, chapter two and verse one, if we do sin, we have a...

26:00 An advocate or lawyer. So Jesus is the busiest lawyer in the world. He's constantly defending us from the slanders of the enemy, and aren't you glad that he does that? So if you're born again, he goes up there and he says, man, check out Philip. Look how he's living.

26:19 Jesus said, I saved him with my blood, and so I'm defending him right now. Get out of here with that accusation. And he constantly comes back, and he's constantly accusing over and over night and day. And so at this point, notice then that rejoice, oh heavens, verse 12, for this reason rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell on... In them.

27:09 Nonstop. Constantly accusing. And so at this point, the heavens say, finally, it's... Your time's up. And so the heavens rejoice like we're we're sick of you and your slanders and your slamming and you're accusing those who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

27:27 You have been thrown out of heaven. You lost the battle, the spiritual battle at the middle of tribulation. Get out. And he's thrown out of heaven. Wow.

27:35 Isn't that exciting? Okay. Now next, the earth will suffer the consequence of Satan's last effort to get worshiped, and he knows he only has three and a half years left. So having great wrath. Notice also this passage in Ephesians two two, according to the prince of the power of the air.

27:57 Note, at this point, he no longer is the prince of the power of the air, and he's enraged because he lost his status. So, yes, right now, Ephesians two says he's the prince of the power of the air, but at the middle of tribulation, he loses that. Wow. Isn't that exciting? Whoo.

28:16 He's thrown out of heaven. You're no longer the prince of the power of the air. You lost your status, and he he's he's like, he's so angry because he lost that battle, and he only has three and a half years left to do all the damage he can. And believe me, Satan is ruthless, he's a murderer, he's evil, and he means nothing but wrong and and has bad intentions. Alright.

28:39 So his final attack. Now notice then that his primary focus is the destruction of Israel. Alright. Notice that the the the main topic of revelation is the nation of Israel. Please understand that.

28:56 The the church has been raptured. It doesn't mention the church at all. It's out of the way. The bride of Christ is not there. It's about Israel and the people who are earth dwellers who did not trust Christ as savior.

29:09 And that distinction has to be made. Notice then, verse six, and then we'll go to to verse 13. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there might be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, which is equivalent to what? Three and a half? Three and a half years.

29:35 You can say something. Nothing will happen to you. Alright. Verse... I'm not gonna...

29:42 I don't have anything to throw at you anyway if you do say something, so go ahead, you know. Alright. Verse 13. And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child, to the nation of Israel. And two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent.

30:12 That's the third time it says it. So it's the the middle of tribulation, three and a half years to go before Christ returns. Alright? Yes. Everybody with me?

30:23 Okay. Very good. So why is he focused so strongly on destroying the nation of Israel? Alright. Here it is.

30:33 Because if he eliminates the Israelites, then hundreds of Old Testament prophecies will not be fulfilled and thus rendering Jesus God and his word as untrue. Because he says it all over the Old Testament that he is going to rule the world and he's gonna be... He's gonna have his throne in Jerusalem and the people of Jerusalem will be exalted. They'll be the exalted nation during the millennium. And it's all over the place, all over the old testament, and and even coming up in Revelation chapter 20.

31:06 And so Satan knows that. And I'm gonna keep Jesus from ruling the world. I'm gonna keep him from from fulfilling all these old testament by destroying Israel. And so when he gets thrown out of heaven, the middle of the tribulation, he's enraged and he goes, I gotta... I have to stop them somehow, but God supernaturally protects them as you noticed.

31:26 You see that? He was given the wings of an eagle. It's just symbolic language that saying that God supernaturally protected them so that Satan couldn't get to them. That is the believing remnant. Because at the middle of the tribulation is when Satan through his antichrist is gonna demand the mark in the forehead and the hand.

32:10 So then, he supernaturally protects them the final three and a half years, and the verse 17 notice, and the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring. So there was a group of them that were protected from God, there was others and then, Satan says, well then I'm gonna go get them since they're supernatural predicament and I can't get to them, I'm gonna go get the rest of them. And a lot of the commentators believe that it includes all of the, all of the people who won't get the mark, not just Jews, but other people who will not get the mark, he goes after them to martyr them. So I I called it the believing remnant. Okay.

32:53 Now, let me make reference to Matthew 24 so you could connect it here and it'll make sense to you if you read Matthew 24. You see when the abomination of desolation, that is the middle of the tribulation when the Antichrist says, I break the covenant with Israel and and from now on I get worshiped, I am God and me alone. Second Thessalonians chapter two. That's when this happens, the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet. Standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

33:31 Why? Because Satan was thrown out of heaven. He's enraged, and he's coming at Israel with everything he has. So flee at that time. Anybody who was in Israel, you better start running.

33:43 You better flee. Let him who's on the housetop, not go down to get his cloak. You don't have time. You better get out of there. But woe to those who are with child who nurse babies in those days.

33:56 But pray that your flight might not be in the winter or in the Sabbath, for for then there will be a great tribulation. Notice, the middle of the tribulation from that point was called the great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be. So those who say, we're in the tribulation, you have not read your your Bibles. Because at this point, so there's never gonna be anything else again. Look look how bad it is, the final passage.

34:26 And unless those days had been cut short, that is the 3.5, no life would have been saved. That's how bad it's gonna be. That's how bad it's gonna be. At the end, there's gonna be very few people left even from other wars and other destruction, other nuclear bombs going off. It's gonna be so bad that God says, if I don't stop it, no one will be alive.

34:51 That's how bad it's gonna be. And that this fits in from the middle of tribulation on. That's where we fit this passage in there. Alright. Christ's victory.

35:03 Christ is to rule the nation with a rod of iron with total authority. He's caught up with God and with his throne. And so we know then that Jesus is up in heaven right now awaiting the day when he's going to return to take take over the whole world and destroy the Antichrist. Notice Revelation eleven fifteen, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. Notice also that he is victorious over sin and Satan and death.

35:41 He crushed sin at the cross. He he defeated Satan at the cross and crushed his head. Genesis three fifteen. Right? That the great prophecy comes true right there.

35:54 And when he returns at the end of millennium, he'll put an end to death. And so he's going to reign forever. Notice, he will return return at the end of tribulation and reign with total dominion, with a rod of iron. Notice Revelation two eleven. And they overcame him because of the blood of the lamb.

36:34 Just hold on. Alright? They overcame him because of the blood of the lamb and because of the word of their testimony and they did not love their life even to death because Satan is unleashing all his wrath on those who would not take the mark. So that's how they overcame him. Because of the blood of the lamb, of Jesus' blood, his work on the cross, because of the word of the testimony, they were testifying that they believe in Christ, they won't take the mark, and they did not love their life even to death.

37:12 Alright. So their salvation was the blood of Jesus. To make application, what is our salvation? What is our salvation? The same.

37:22 The same. Why are we saved? How are we saved? Because of the blood of Jesus. Brother Dunmore fretted this morning at the Lord's Supper.

37:29 Right? We're not redeemed with with money or with anything, but with the blood of Jesus Christ, he purchased us. And so that's how we're redeemed. They're redeemed the same by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and his shed blood on the cross. Amen?

37:43 And so their salvation is the same as our salvation. The blood of Jesus is what saves us from our sin. Alright. And what was their conviction? They were testifying to what Christ meant to them and how he saved them.

38:00 So what is the difference? There is no difference. When you witness, when you talk to someone, you can say, look what Christ did in my life. This is my testimony. This is how he transformed me, how he changed me, made me different.

38:14 And so why aren't you taking the mark? Why are you risking your life? Because of the blood of Jesus, and this is my testimony that I believe in him and not on the antichrist. And then finally, as you can see, they're sacrificed, and I'm willing to die for this truth. I'm willing to die for this truth.

38:36 In the tribulation, there's there's gonna be just a black and white. If you're a believer, you refuse to get the mark. Chapter 13, you can read and you'll see it explained. If you're not, you're gonna get the mark and you're gonna worship the antichrist as the devil wants. Right?

38:53 Because he's gonna empower him, and that's what he's wanted from the beginning to be worshiped. And so how do we get saved through the blood of Christ? What is our testimony that Christ means everything to us, and we are then finally willing to to die for this truth, to die for the truth of of Jesus Christ. So God then, in this text, has revealed to us what's gonna happen in the future. The chap...

39:21 The the church is raptured, and out of the picture, the tribulation is unfolding. The the earth dwellers, you can see that pass that phrase throughout Revelation, the earth dwellers, those who did not believe in Christ, the earth dwellers. And then the Jews who refuse to acknowledge Christ as their Messiah, but then there's a group of them that do believe and God supernaturally hides them as Satan unleashes his wrath on the world knowing he only has 3.5 left. And then he's gonna be thrown into the pit and chained up. Right?

39:58 But but for us, we're like, wow. We wanna live for God. We wanna... Knowing that this is true, then Lord, thank you for saving me through your blood. Lord, my conviction is is real.

40:29 Maybe you'll laughed at. That's all right. So there was a bunch of people going to go to a bar. And they say, Ray, why don't you come with us? Right there where I where I work in Avon Lake.

40:43 I said, no. I'm not going. So the one lady comes and tells me, Ray, why won't you come? Tell me the truth. I had witnessed to her already.

40:52 She heard the gospel growing up but hasn't believed it. I said, because you know that Jesus Christ is my Lord, and my Lord tells me not to go. And so therefore, I'm not gonna go. She goes, okay. I understand now.

41:06 And, yes, they avoid you, and they make fun. That's alright because the blood of Jesus cleansed me, and I have a testimony, and I'm willing to die for this truth. Father, thank you for this passage. Wow. To think that Satan from the beginning has been trying to to stop your plan.

41:26 He tried to kill Jesus. He wants to get worshiped. But Lord, you have saved us through the blood of Jesus. And we have a testimony that's real. And help us, Lord, to live this conviction and to be willing to suffer for you.

41:45 And thank you that at the end, you're gonna rule the world when you return. Thank you that Satan has defeated foe and that he cannot touch us. We give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus' name. Amen.