Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Revelation 12:1-6

Theme: One of the central themes in the Revelation is the struggle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world that is dominated by Satan.

But during the tribulation God will assert His sovereignty over all things.

Date: 08/19/2018 File name: Resurrection27.wpd

ID Number:

The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells written in 1897.

It is one of the earliest science fiction stories that detail a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race.

It’s the story of malevolent Martians who land on earth bent of stealing all of our resources to replenish their dying planet, and they are more than willing to kill all of earth’s inhabitants.

H. G. Wells writes in the first paragraph of the book, “As humanity busied itself with their own various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.

With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter.

Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.”

As the story unwinds we see that mankind’s weapons of war are no match against the Martian “war-machines.”

Humanity appears doomed as two worlds struggle against each other.

In the end, after all man's devices had failed, the Martians are killed by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth — microbes to which they have no immunity.

It was a hugely successful book for Wells, and became the basis for two movies, and a 1938 radio drama by Orson Welles that panicked listeners across the country who believed the drama was describing real events — that America was actually being invaded by Martians.

Revelation 12 reveals a real war of the worlds.

It is a clash between the kingdom of this world led by the usurper Satan, and the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

Like the Martians in H. G. Wells story, the Devil is a cool and unsympathetic character, who regards God’s creation with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew his plans against God and God’s people.

One of the central themes in Revelation is the struggle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan that will culminate in a Great Tribulation.

During that time a satanically inspired ruler, simply referred to as “the beast” (Rev.

11:7), but better known to us as the Antichrist, will try to frustrate the rule of God on earth by gaining universal power, demanding the worship of men, and inflicting martyrdom on all who remain loyal to Christ.

At the same time God will be delivering wrathful blow after wrathful blow as he seeks, even to the very end of the age, to turn the disobedient to Him in faith.

Before the end actually comes, John is going to describe for us the appearance of the Antichrist and his efforts to destroy the church.

In chapter twelve, the Apostle parts the curtain that separates earth from heaven to depict a great warfare in the spiritual world.

I.

A GREAT DRAGON

"Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.

4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.

The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.

5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.

And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.

6 The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days."

(Revelation 12:3–6, NIV84)

A. SATAN IS THE PERPETRATOR IN THIS COSMIC CONFLICT

1. Revelation 12 puts us in touch with a very real world — one we don’t see, and to which we rarely pay attention

a. it’s a world where God, and angels, and demons, and Satan all live and move

b.

though it’s a realm we can’t see, it’s a realm that has a very real affect upon our world and upon our lives

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

(Ephesians 6:10–12, NIV84)

2. Revelation 12 introduces us to a major character in the scheme of cosmic warfare taking place in the world around us

a. we are introduced to a great red dragon who, later in the chapter, is identified as that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray (vs.

9)

ILLUS.

Most of the Medieval art depicting Satan is taken from this passage.

Even today, Satan is most often portrayed as blood-red, with horns and a tail and cloven hooves.

1) you need to understand that this is not a physical description of Satan, but a moral description

2) it speaks of his vial character — he is a dragon, implying that he is fearsome and dangerous, he is a serpent, meaning he is sly, and deadly, he the devil meaning he is "the Accuser", and he is Satan, which means “the opposer”

ILLUS.

In his classic book The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis wrote, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils.

One is to disbelieve in their existence.

The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.

They themselves are equally pleased by both errors ... “

b. vs. 9 also tells us He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him

1) in his pre-incarnate glory Jesus was a witness to that event “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

(Luke 10:17–18, NIV84)

B. SATAN’S MUTINY IN HEAVEN BECAME OUR MISERY ON EARTH

1. since the fall of Satan there has been a very real war going on in the universe

a. think of it as the real War of the Worlds

b. the opening campaign of Satan’s war of the ages took place in heaven ...

“And there was war in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.”

(Revelation 12:7–8, NIV84)

c. war between holy angels and apostate angels ... how do even begin to imagine what that looks like, and yet here it is ... right from the pages of the Bible

d. the Archangel Michael figures prominently in this war

1) in the Old Testament book of Daniel, the Archangel Michael is described as the prince who protects your people

ILLUS.

In Christian art, Michael is almost always portrayed hold a sword and shield.

2) Michael and God’s holy angels prevail, and the devil and his host are ejected from the heavenly realm

2. the Prophet Isaiah identifies the reason for that war

“How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn!

You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.

14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” 15 But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:12–15, NIV84)

a. unmitigated pride is the reason for Satan’s fall

1) as you read through the Isaiah passage you see that Satan repeatedly asserts I will rather than Thy will be done

b. when Satan rebelled, one-third of the angels foolishly and wickedly cast their lots with him

1) Revelation 12:4 tells us that his tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth

a) most conservative bible scholars believe this is a reference to the angels — who are sometimes compared to stars — who rebelled with Satan against God

2) none of them could have known what the eternal consequences of their choice would be — that eternal consequence being the Lake of Fire

3) wanting to be like God, they became as much unlike Him as possible

3. this war made its way into our lives in a place called Eden

a. when Adam and Eve plummeted into corruption by choosing to listen to Satan’s lies and disobey God, the human race became embroiled in the cosmic war of the ages

1) in fact, since the Fall the earth has been the primary theater in which that war has been fought

b. though already fallen, every member of the human race faces the same choice as the angels did in eternity past: to fight on God’s side or on Satan’s

c. remaining neutral is not an option

1) in Matthew 12:30 Jesus declared, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”

d.

Satan’s plan of attack in this war is found in vs. 9 — he leads the whole world astray

1) the educated and ignorant, the king and the pauper, male and female, Jew and Gentile, the strong and the weak, the young and the old, every race — all are deceived by him

2) all the world’s philosophies, conceived ever so brilliantly by profound thinkers — whether pragmatism, idealism, Gnosticism, determinism, hedonism, materialism, transcendentalism, existentialism, deism or any other ism, all are Satan-originated, Satan-centered, and Satan-honoring, rather than God-originated, God-centered and God-honoring

5. Revelation 12 is, therefore, a panorama of the cosmic warfare that is taking place around us

a. in this chapter we go all the way back to the fall of Satan before the dawn of creation, and all the way forward to the end of time to this period call the Great Tribulation

1) in just a few verses, we get a synopsis of the spiritual warfare that is going on behind the scene of this temporal world

b.

I believe that the events described in vs. 1-9 are not a prophecy of some yet future event, but a description of the struggle in the spiritual world which lie behind history

1) at the same time, I believe that struggle in the spiritual world will break upon our temporal world during the Tribulation