She Gave Birth To A Son

An Untold Christmas Story: War In The Heavens!

Revelation 12:5-6

A favorite theme of Star Trek and others space programs is the idea that there are parallel worlds, or even parallel universes. This idea is not just the active imagination of screen writers, but is actually taken from reality, a reality that we seldom hear about or look at. The reality that I am talking about is Christmas.

The Christmas story is not just the story of the Christ-Child, Mary, Joseph, barnyard animals, and heavenly portents; it is also the story of angels doing something in a parallel world. It is a story of war in the heavens! A war that was being fought right above the manger in Bethlehem.

Two weeks ago, we began a short four-message series entitled: “An Untold Story: War In The Heavens!” In these messages, we are wrestling with the parallel spiritual universe and the warfare that was going on in the untold Christmas story.

In the first message of this series, we identified the first major character in this story: the pregnant woman who is in labor. Although there are various views of who this woman might represent, we chose to see her as the Virgin Mary.

In the last message, we identified the great red dragon and its stance. It represents the devil and his stance to destroy the seed of every wife of God, whether she is His corporate, individual, national, or prophetic wife—but particularly the seed of the Virgin Mary.

(Today, we come to the major action in this untold story of Christmas. Would you turn with me to the book of The Revelation, chapter 12, verses 1-6? Let me read these verses aloud for us, as you follow along silently.)

Today’s message is a continuation of the last message. The plot or action of this narrative consists of three movements: 1) The dragon’s stance before the woman; 2) the birth and rescue of the male child; and 3) the flight of the woman. We have already covered the dragon’s stance before the woman, so we come today to the birth and rescue of the male child.

Verse six says that this woman gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule the nation with a rod of iron. Now, if we haven’t been able to tell exactly who this narrative is about, we now know it is Jesus Christ. Isaiah wrote about this male child who would rule in

Isaiah 9:6, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

John Eldredge points out, in Waking The Dead, “The birth of Christ was an act of war, an invasion. The Enemy knew it and tried to kill him as a babe (Matthew 2:13).”[1] The devil started this war ages ago, but now God counterattacks with the birth of Jesus! Because of shallowness of study and unfamiliarity with the Mediterranean culture, we have a shallow conception of Jesus Christ. But, “No pale-faced altar boy, the whole life of Christ is marked by battle and confrontation.

· He kicks out demons with a stern command.

· He rebukes a fever, and it leaves Peter’s mother-in-law.

· He rebukes a storm, and it subsides.

· He confronts the Pharisees time and again to set God’s people free from legalism.

· In a loud voice He wakes Lazarus from the dead.

· He descends to hell, wrestles the keys of hell and death from Satan, and leads a parade of captives free (Ephesians 4:8-9; Rev. 1:18). And

· When He returns, I might point out, Jesus will come mounted on a steed of war, with his robe dipped in blood, armed for battle (Revelation 19:11-15).

War is not just one of the many themes in the Bible; it is the backdrop of the whole Story, the context for everything else. God is at war. He didn’t start the war, but He is going to finish it! He is trampling out the vineyards where the grapes of wrath are stored. And what is He fighting for? Our freedom and restoration. The glory of God is Man (people) fully alive.”[2]

(All right, back to this male child in Isaiah 9:6.)

This prophetic verse sees Jesus, the Messiah, as a child who is born and an adult son who would be given. In the space of that comma there is about 2000 years. Jesus was the male Child that Mary gave birth to, but He is also the Messiah and soon coming King of kings, Lord of lord, and Prince of princes who will carry the government of the Kingdom of God and universe upon His shoulders. He is Captain of the Lord’s Hosts and His names tell us even more about who He is:

1. He is “Wonderful,” i.e. unique in divulgence, and this takes care of the dullness of life.

The Hebrew word that is translated “wonder” carries the basic meaning of unique and different (Wiersbe). But true wonder is much more than any of these words.

· “True wonder has depth. It is not a shallow emotion or passing wave of excitement.

· True wonder creates in us an attitude of humility: we are overwhelmed and sense in ourselves the greatness of God and the littleness of man. (And) Finally,

· True wonder possesses the whole person, the mind and heart and will” (Wiersbe).

“We no longer need to live on the cheap substitutes of the world in order to have excitement and enjoyment. Jesus Christ makes everything wonderful” (Wiersbe):

· He makes marriage wonderful;

· He makes singleness wonderful;

· He makes parenting wonderful;

· He makes work wonderful;

· He makes leisure wonderful;

· He makes all things wonderful.

(Not only is He unusual in His divulgence:)

2. He is Counselor who is unerring in His decisions, and this takes care of decisions of life.”

Proverbs 3:6 (NASB-U), “In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”

(We have seen that Jesus is unusual in His divulgence because He is “Wonderful,” and unerring in His decisions because He is “Counselor.” But, He is also:)

3. He is Mighty God and therefore unquestionable in His Deity, which takes care of the demands of life.

The Hebrew is more literally El Gibbor, i.e. The God Hero. He will be the irresistible battle champion (as this word for ‘mighty’ implies) who will obtain the final victory in the arena of history. No matter what demands we face, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. “Did you sense the warfare?”

(Christ is unusual in His divulgence because He is “Wonderful,” unerring in His decisions because He is “Counselor,” and unquestionable in His deity, because He is “Mighty God.” But, He in addition:)

4. He is Eternal Father, or more literally “Father of Eternity,” who is unending in His days, and this takes care of the dimensions of life.

The word “dimensions” in this context denotes ‘the particular set of circumstances or environmental factors within which something or someone exists” (Webster’s Dictionary). Jesus takes care of the dimensions of life. We don’t live under the circumstances. We live with our Friend and Elder Brother above and beyond the circumstances of this life.

(He unusual in His divulgence, because He is “Wonderful:” that takes care of the dullness of life. He is unerring in His decisions, because He is “Counselor:” that takes care of the decisions of life. He is unquestionable in His deity, because He is “Mighty God:” that takes care of the demands of life. He is unending in His days, because He is “Eternal Father:” that takes care of the dimensions of life. But beyond that:)

5. He is Prince of Peace, or more literally “the chieftain of shalom,” and as such is unrivaled in His domains, which this takes care of the disturbances of life.

No demonic disturbance can undermine “peace with God” or “the peace of God.”

(All right, let’s get back to the text in The Revelation.)

Remember that the great red dragon was standing before this woman’s child to devour it. This scene is representative of so many situations in history:

· The devil tried to destroy the possibility of Jesus, by destroying the seed of Eve, in the Garden of Eden.

· The devil tried to destroy the geneology of Jesus through Pharaoh, when he tried to kill Moses.

· The devil tried to destroy the baby Jesus, when Herod killed every boy baby in the environs of Bethlehem.

But it is also prophetic of what is going on right now! The devil is standing before you waiting to devour anything that God might birth through you with respect to Christmas!

(All right, let’s get back to the text, in The Revelation. The next phrase is stirring.)

The next phrase is, “and her child was caught up to God and His throne.” Now you should be wondering, “Where do we see this child caught up to throne?” Well, Luke tells us about this in

Acts 1:9 (NASB-U), “And after He (Jesus) had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”

Is that not what Isaiah said about the child? He said, “A son will be given to us; and the government shall rest on His shoulders!” When and where will that take place? Answer: When He is caught up to God and His throne!

But how do we know that He was caught up to God and the throne? Well, we get a peak of Jesus on the throne in the story of Steven, the deacon. As Steven was stoned for His life and testimony concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he looked in to heaven and he saw something. As he gazed intently into the heavens, he saw the thing that is of most interest to us concerning this sermon. Steven said, “I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Steven saw Jesus standing, probably on the throne, next to Jehovah God. This is what we are looking for: “He was caught up to and standing next to or on the throne with God!” Perhaps we also see this in

Matthew 26:64 (NASB-U), “Jesus said to him, ‘You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’”

Jehovah God is the omnipotent Power of the universe. And Jesus prophesied to the high priest that there was coming a day, when he would see Him sitting at the right hand of power. This is a special position of trust and where would this be, except on the throne of Jehovah God!!!

This child was caught up to God and to the throne!!!

(Now some of you may be lost! What is this all about? Well, remember what this series is about: “The Untold Christmas Story: War In The Heavens!”)

There was war in the heavens, right above the manger in Bethlehem! The Child is born, but the great red dragon is waiting to devour this child as soon as He is born. We are looking at the manger, but there is a war in the heavens between the great red dragon and the Child who would become a Son. Right above the manger, the devil is trying to destroy this Child, but God catches up the Child to Himself and to His throne. War in the heavens!!!

Now while there is war in the heavens, there is also war on the earth! “…the statement that the child will be caught up to heaven (v. 5) indicates that the confrontation between the dragon and the woman takes place on the earth.”[3] This is a warfare, but praise God that we are on the winning side.

(The next verse seems to be prophetic—not exactly of the Child, but of the Child’s offspring, posterity, or people.)

The next verse reads:

Revelation 12:6 (NASB-U), “Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

“The motif of the wilderness was extremely important in Israelite and early Jewish literature. For the Qumran community, the desert retreat was a prelude to the final eschatological battle; see 1QM 1:1–3 (P. von der Osten-Saken, Gott und Belial, 30–41). The desert was traditionally regarded as a place of refuge in times of trouble (1 Kgs 17:2–3; 19:3–4) and had a variety of theological associations in early Judaism (Yarbro Collins, Combat Myth, 120–22; Hengel, Zealots, 249–53)”.[4]

Now, Joseph and Mary were warned of God about Herod and fled into Egypt, which could be considered a type of wilderness! But, this Scripture may also be about the ideal woman, the people of God, who have fled into the wilderness to escape from the great red dragon on a number of occasions:

· The Children of Israel were delivered from Egypt and fled into the wilderness.

· When Elijah was being chased by Jezebel, he fled into the wilderness.

· When the Jews fled from the Greek tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes, in the 2nd century B.C., they fled into the wilderness. And,

· When Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70., Christians again had to flee into the wilderness.

(But what should we learn from the details of the place prepared by God, the nourishment that this woman receives, and the time frame that is given?)

Knowing that she had done God’s will and that the devil was angry, she fled to the wilderness. She fled to a solitary place; to a place where she could be with God. And God anticipated her flight and had a place prepared for her in the wilderness. God Himself nourished her there for a specific period of time. “This symbolic apocalyptic number for a divinely restricted period of time consists of three and one-half years, variously expressed as ‘a time, times, and half a time’ (Rev 12:14), ‘forty-two months’ (Rev 11:2; 13:5), or ‘1,260 days’ (Rev 11:3).”[5]

Because of time, let me simply state that the times and duration of the specific things that happen to God’s children are in His hand!!! And God took care of this woman, the Virgin Mary, the Israelite people, and other symbolic women in the Bible, until the warfares surrounding them were over.

Certainly, God will take care of us, The Bride of Christ, until the war is over!!!

(Are you getting this typology Christian?)

The seed of Christmas, which is the seed of the Kingdom, is inside you, but the devil is waiting to devour anything that we birth. He wants to kill the love, hope, and peace that will be birthed through the seed of Christmas.

But, don’t worry! Jehovah God is on our side and He will catch up our offspring to Himself and to His throne. What we give birth to will be translated and protected in heaven.

Then we will need to flee!

· Flee from this untoward generation.

· Flee from the hustle and bustle of civilization.

· Flee from the commercialization of Christmas.

· Flee from the attack of the evil one.

· Flee to the wilderness.

“Flee to the wilderness—flee to a place where we can be alone with the Lover of our souls. He has already prepared a place for us. He wants to take us into His presence and nourish us until this war with Satan is over!!!

I’m so glad that trouble don’t last always! I’m so glad that one day the war is going to be over, but until then flee to the wilderness where you can be with God and the offspring of Christmas, who is Jesus Christ, the Lord!!!

(Now is the Day of Salvation! Come to Jesus, Now!)

Invitation

Call to Discipleship

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[1] John Eldredge, Waking the Dead, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 2003, p. 16.

[2] John Eldredge, Waking the Dead, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 2003, p. 16.

[3] Aune, D. E. 2002. Vol. 52B: Word Biblical Commentary : Revelation 6-16. Word Biblical Commentary . Word, Incorporated: Dallas

(War Scroll) from Qumran

[4] Aune, D. E. 2002. Vol. 52B: Word Biblical Commentary : Revelation 6-16. Word Biblical Commentary . Word, Incorporated: Dallas

[5] Aune, D. E. 2002. Vol. 52B: Word Biblical Commentary : Revelation 6-16. Word Biblical Commentary . Word, Incorporated: Dallas