031 m1-655 Revelation 12 07-17-2013

if you've ever wondered why the jews why are the jews uh the target of some so much hatred really interesting really the animosity we've seen the anti-semitism throughout all of the ages from the very beginning really the jews it wasn't long after the beginning of the jewish nation that is the father abraham uh who gave his he and sarah gave birth to isaac and then jacob and jacob his name was later called israel he was the father of the 12 sons uh that would become the 12 tribes of israel and those those right there in that generation is when they ended up in egypt and became enslaved under pharaoh pharaoh's rule 450 years of slavery in egypt interesting like i mentioned last week they uncovered a sphinx there in israel uh archaeologically in a place called hazor or hazel and um it's interesting because uh what did the israelis have to do with the sphinx why is there an egyptian uh thing in israel and by the way there there are more than those uh just the sphinx thing it's also uh the golden calf idea was something that the jews brought back with them uh from egypt and so there's there's signs of that the world tries to deny the jews were ever in egypt but archaeological digs continue to show over and over again that they were there as slaves for a long long long time so you got the the jews really hated so much so we saw some horrible things even in exodus chapter one and two we see where uh pharaoh started to be a little worried that the men of the jewish people there were becoming too strong as slaves that they might try to overtake the egyptians and so there they tried to uh sort of exterminate the jews that's what that became a common theme from that day forward uh you could talk about all kinds of different uh characters that came and went throughout history whether it be haman in the story of esther or others who wanted to exterminate the jewish people as a whole race all the way into modern times so if it wasn't antiques epiphanies or hitler himself who uh during the holocaust six million jews six million jews think about that that's that's a lot of jews that were killed in the uh ovens of uh the concentration camps and what have you a horrible thing it is interesting to me that the world many in the world are trying to diminish or totally deny the holocaust even happened they're trying to rewrite history and uh you know leaders presidents of countries like iran said the holocaust is a myth it never really happened even though there's overwhelming uh not i don't want to call it evidence as if it is even in question uh it's just proof overwhelming proof that the holocaust did in fact happen and all you got to do is go to the holocaust museum in washington dc probably the finest one in the world that will show you what exactly happened i've been to yad vashem in jerusalem which is also a holocaust museum which is amazing uh when i go to israel with our church we uh we take a little trip into the holocaust museum and it's you know our trip is a total blast we have a great time but i have to confess when we walk out of that museum you just kind of have this huge pit in your stomach you just think man how could humanity have behaved so horribly but what's interesting is some of the worst things that have happened in humanity's history somehow is always linked to the jewish people and the jews feel that uh maybe you remember the movie why don't you choose somebody else for a while uh you know and uh i remember on an airplane flight i was flying to tel aviv from uh frankfurt germany and uh we had f-15s show up on our wing tips and they weren't there to just give us an escort if you know what i mean there was a bomb threat on our plane so they were going to shoot our plane down but this lady who was sitting next to me she she was she was this kind of elderly jewish later lady and she saw those f-15s on our tips and she started running up and down the aisles of the planes like oh hey why did it always happen to the jews why i always saw the jews you know and i was like it's calmed down it's okay we're gonna be all right you know she said oh we're the jews and i was like it's kind of and it worked out okay there was no bomb on our plane and we landed in cyprus instead of tel aviv and it's long story but all that to say um you know it's true why does it always have to happen to the jews why why are there those who really seek to be uh against the jews or hate the jews anti-semitism is on the rise even today in modern times and it's an amazing thing when you really look at the jewish people as a people group they really are incredible people and and uh and yet the world still hates them uh in fact let me let me uh show you something that's just kind of interesting little tidbit of information um the global islamic population uh if you're conservative and your number very conservative they say the global islamic population is approximately 1.2 billion people or 20 percent uh when the study came out uh 20 of the world's population probably uh muslim or islamic the global jewish population is about 14 million um so 14 million that's about 0.02 percent of the world's population did you hear that 0.02 percent whereas the muslim population is about 20 percent of the world population but what's interesting is if you go to the nobel peace or i should say the nobel prize winning uh rewards that have gone out uh from the very beginning of the nobel awards uh what you'll find is kind of an interesting thing that even though the nobel award association is not known for being pro-jewish in fact quite the opposite what's interesting is how many awards have been given to jewish people now if you think the islamic you know contributions to nobel peace or nobel literature or nobel science chemistry whatever yeah what you'll find is uh throughout the uh last hundred years or years or so there's been seven uh peace or prizes given by nobel to muslim people again that's 20 of the world's population but how many of the little tiny bit of jewish people the 14 million people or 0.02 percent of the world's population have been given to jewish awarded nobel prize winning people 129. uh that's interesting when you realize there's a huge population deficit there but 129 and i've got them all listed out at home you can read the names of all these people and it includes people that you would uh recognize a lot of them but some of them so the scientists and uh musicians and those work the the work that have been done in literature is pretty astounding how much the jews have influenced and affected this country that we live and so we kind of realized that man the jews have contributed a lot the jews are not promoting brainwashing children in military training camps we don't see that anywhere in the world do we see that in islamic fundamental views of islam yes where the jews do not teach themselves how to blow up themselves and cause the maximum a number of death of jews or other non-muslims the jews don't hijack planes the jews don't kill athletes at the olympics by the way if you if you know your history remember when the jews were killed there in the olympics what was that in 70 72 um horrible thing there and does does anybody know who was the mastermind behind that yasser arafat he was one of the seven nobel peace prize winners uh that that was the muslim guy that got it one of the seven but he also killed the jews at the olympics uh we don't see jews doing that they don't blow themselves in german restaurants there's not one single jew who's destroyed a church there's not a single jew who protests by killing people the jews don't traffic slaves they don't have leaders calling for jihad or death to all infidels in fact i think perhaps the world's muslims should consider investing more in standard education perhaps rather than blaming the jews for all their problems when when we go to israel one of the things and when uh you'll you'll you'll feel very much like you're at home when you're in israel when you go with us but when we cross the border into jordan the nation of jordan the um uh the whole vibe changes pretty radically and you wake up you know at 5 00 a.m or 4 15 a.m to the mosque and the uh you know the walk bar or the guy is calling out on the big speaker and it's really early in the morning and the guy could use some singing lessons i'm just saying it's not that pleasant to the ear but what they say in those muslim prayers in that part of the world are very anti-semitic in fact one of our guides in jordan uh reluctantly told us some of the things he grew up hearing from those speakers and it had to do with the jews are descended from uh monkeys and apes and they drink blood the blood of children muslims and all kinds of rhetoric that is spewed from these speakers and it's no wonder many of these children grow up in the muslim societies hating the jews and wanting to see israel wiped off the map and jews killed why do the muslims hate the jews so badly well brett watch the news they have taken the land of the of the muslim they have taken all their land that's what you think if you watch tv but actually they've taken a tiny bit of land that was a given to them by god back in abraham's time b purchased by the jews back in the 1700s when theodore herschel and others saw that they needed a homeland of their own so they went back to their old homeland that was given to them by god and purchased it fair and square much of the land of israel was actually purchased not taken by warfare you say but brett what about the 67 borders they changed because of warfare but that was the jews protecting themselves from surrounding arab nations that were hostile to them and when they defended themselves they were able to take land that actually gave them a buffer and a barrier um before 67 there were sections of israel that were less than nine miles wide uh and uh you know it's smaller than the state of new jersey even right now in its current condition uh if you take all the muslim lands uh arab lands in that middle eastern region and you compare it to the sliver of land that israel have it's i've said this before if you looked at a football field and you see a hundred yard football field plus the end zones if you take all that space and take one little square foot corner of that football field that's how much percentage-wise the jews have of the middle eastern lands now if you look at a map of the middle east and uh the mediterranean sea northern africa you know rome and old you know europe and and some of those middle eastern if you look at that kind of section of the world it is kind of interesting because there's all kinds of arab and muslim uh states and nations surrounding israel and israel is this one little sliver of land that's a democracy and the other arab nations are not they some claim to be democracies but it's kind of a joke if you get elected it's because nobody killed you there and you made it or you didn't or you killed everybody else and got elected or something you know it's not really the democracy as we know it but um the the muslims look at israel as a dagger that divides the arab worlds and it's interesting because if you look at a map israel is shaped kind of like a dagger and so the muslims say this is the one thing that's us the thorn in our side is this nation israel that divides all these nations and countries but but why the hatred why not why not just leave israel alone well it's kind of interesting you know i told you that the jews are not destroying churches they don't traffic slaves they don't call jihad or death but regardless of your feelings for the crisis between the israel and the palestinians and the arab conflict um even if you believe there's there's uh more culpability on israel's part the following two sentences really say it all and it was spoken by benjamin netanyahu he said this if the arabs put down their weapons today there would be no more violence if the jews put down their weapons today there would be no more israel and there is no more of a a truth than that statement when you talk about the arab israeli conflict right now um and and you can see uh very clearly if you just take some time that the jews they don't want to fight what's interesting by the way is uh the palestinians in israel uh sure there's there's um there's some that are activists and what have you in the hamas down in the gaza strip the hezbollah up in lebanon there's all kinds of uh demonstration and calling for jihad and you see all the kind of little crazy things going on but what's interesting when we go to israel you do feel a certain strange peace and you're like man i feel more uh protected i feel safe safer walking around jerusalem than i do walking in downtown portland which is a pretty safe city as america goes don't walk downtown chicago but portland you feel pretty safe i feel safer in in jerusalem and walking around a town there than i do in in portland and that's the overwhelming theme of those who've been to israel how many of us have been to israel and agree with what i just said see it's kind of overwhelming how amazingly peaceful it feels now there's a couple things about that one many of the palestinians and i wish i knew the number i wish we could find out what the real number the percentage is because i think it's a little hard one to determine because if a palestinian goes on record and says this they could put them in real trouble but what you find when you talk to the palestinians on the street when nobody's looking they say man we love israel we want to be as people of the nation of israel we want to fly the israeli flag and and what's even more interesting is you'll find that many palestinians have actually there's there's actually an um a bit of a revival going on in that region of the world where uh palestinians are becoming believers in christ um but it's an interesting thing a lot of palestinians just want to be left alone they want to do their business in israel they're not being mistreated now here's the thing uh israel is not without flaw they have made mistakes and especially on kind of a smaller level kind of like the united states you know we've we've got our black eyes and our military see i'm pro-military i'm proud of our soldiers and all the work they've done and and all that but there are things like uh abu ghraib does that kind of bring a bell we kind of go man yeah that's really embarrassing we did some really stupid things taking pictures and doing the things they did to those people in that prison and you know we have our black eyes things that people did we have may lie of vietnam maybe you remember that that's where the reputation of killing women and children in villages came from it was a kind of a horrible scene there uh one particular incident that kind of almost defined vietnam even though most of our soldiers did nothing of the sort of killing women and children but that situation was a horrible one we have black ice well in the same way the jews have had soldiers who've acted out wrongly at checkpoints uh of uh where where the palestinians are going to work every day and uh admittedly the jews say yeah there's there's been some things that we have tried to control but uh and and so the jews have not been perfect however what is interesting to me is many of the palestinians say man we're just happy here we want to become israeli citizens we don't want a palestinian state which is really amazing to me most of that pressure of statehood for the palestinians is coming from outside of israel uh what's interesting is many of the palestinians of the world are from actually the hashment kingdom of jordan right uh that in fact there are uh more palestinian refugees living in jordan than there are in israel and uh one of the things we will probably this next trip drive through one of those refugee camps or near one on our way to jericho a place we go to in jordan where you see that the palestinians living in jordan are far more oppressed far more treated horribly in jordan than israel why does the world say the palestinians need a state in israel and man i've mentioned this book before but if if you're interested and you want to be sort of enlightened about the whole arab israeli conflict there's a book called from time immemorial and it's a book that i believe is probably one of the best uh historical accounts uh of how the jews came back to israel the different uh uh treaties and laws that were signed and the things that the arabs rejected and it's profound really it's quite a story uh historically to read but the ignorance of the world basically thinks israel's a bunch of occupiers over there uh and uh that they need to give the land back to the palestinians who were there before them which is none of that's true so you say but brett what's what's the point why are you talking about this well there's there's been a hatred for jews the jews have had a bullseye on their back uh from the very beginning and what's even more troublesome to me and you hear me talk about this a lot because i believe it's one of the worst things happening in the christian church today is the the church of jesus christ uh largely has been just as guilty of being anti-semitic even though we've got the bible in our hands that says i will bless the nations that will bless israel and i will curse the nations that curse israel and meanwhile whole groups of christians uh say that god has done with the jew and there's no more plan or purpose for israel and all that stuff it's all the church the church has replaced israel god has forsaken israel uh the end and uh most of christianity believes that by the way most of catholicism that's what they teach so the catholics if you hear the pope talk about the jews he only talks about them as he would talk about any other nation the pope because whether you like it or not and maybe if you come from a catholic background you probably didn't even know what eschatological view you held but if you're a catholic you generally hold the amillennial view where nothing's literal there's no literal kingdom israel's done god's done with the jew the church has replaced israel now we're going to get into this as uh as we get further into our study in revelation why that's so bad to think that way but let me just give you a real simple one god made everlasting covenants to the people of israel didn't he when you read the bible even use that word over and over again i have made an everlasting covenant and there were some conditional covenants if you don't do this then you're not going to go here and you're not going to do that if some of them were based on how the jews behaved one of the conditions by the way if you forsake me and go after other gods worship idols and do all that stuff then i will scatter you among all the nations did god keep that as a promise yes but then he said because i'm gracious and kind years later i will re-gather you from out of those nations and give you a land again did god keep that promise see the lord did say if you do this then the other thing is going to happen the if-then statement so some of those promises were conditional promises however many of the promises that god made to the jews were unconditional promises they were based only on god's word alone not on the jews behavior not on whether or not they followed god with all their heart mind soul and strength it was nothing to do with that just i am faithful the lord says and i will keep an everlasting covenant with you my people israel and the problem is if you say god has not kept that promise god has forsaken the jews and the church has replaced israel what does that make god a liar let god be true and every man a liar romans tells us be careful on the whole anti-semitism thing and and watch out for that whole notion of saying god is done with the jews and there's a real slick description well the church has replaced israel so god's going to keep his promise only through the church not through the jews but read carefully romans 9 10 and 11. the book of romans nails it down airtight how god is going to do it when the fullness of the gentiles come in then it says all of israel shall be saved there's a coming time where israel will see that they've been duped we're going to see that tonight we're also going to see tonight if we get to it chapter 12 of revelation we're going to see why in the world the world hates israel why have so many attempts been made to exterminate a people group why to this day do we see a real bias against the jewish people and i think we're going to see some answers here in our text perhaps even tonight so all that to say let's get to it and i'll we'll see some of these answers i think revelation chapter 12 is maybe uh one of those chapters that people don't even think that much about but it could be one of the more important chapters in the whole bible about what god's plan is uh and and what what's coming down and as it relates to the people of israel by the way if you go into most pastors libraries uh you'll see a little series of books volume of books called systematic theology good stuff generally speaking and um i think it's a good read but here's the here's the thing that i'm just kind of amazed at there's all kinds of divisions of things that talk you talk about the inspiration uh of the word of god the authority of the word of god there's there's whole chapters that deal with soteriology or even uh some sometimes you'll read about uh the trinity and and uh things like justification and like just great heavy duty doctrines and truths of the bible but one of the things that i find amazingly absent from a lot of your books in theology and what have you is that of the plan of god for israel there there should be a study on israel i'll tell you why because five-sixth of the bible deals directly with israel and the jews five-sixth of the bible speaks to israel now when you're a church that says god's done with the jews and we're the replacement for the jews by the way if you have an old king james bible like me one of the funniest things i mean it's tragic but if you get it it's kind of funny but you read your old testament you know all those little subheadings at the top of your pages especially in the old king james you'll see this in some of your newer translations too but the king james gets it pretty profoundly bad because they were all millennials back in those days god's done with jew and stuff like that but when you read your old testament you'll see the little title on the on the top and whenever curses against the jews are talked about it says curses and and uh and judgment against god's people the jews and then in the same chapter or the same several pages when god says here's the blessings they'll say blessings for the church of jesus christ it's like they claim the blessings and then describe all the curses to the jews that's anti-semitism that's what was going on back in the king james days by the way origen was one who started talking about god being done with the jews augustine was one of the ones who's credited with coming up with a millennial view of eschatology that is that god's done with the jew and nothing's to be taken literally there's no literal no no millennial kingdom uh we have to usher in the kingdom there's all kinds of things that came from augustine which by the way i don't blame those guys back then because the jews were scattered uh during the time of augustine and it would be hard to interpret some of the newer or the more modern bible prophecies today it's much easier as god has regathered his people all the nations that are in play are poised to fulfill all of what the bible says is going to happen in the last days so so i got to give augustine and the boys a break because they they didn't see how it was going to come together and and by the way the bible says that about prophecy these things are sealed up until when the time of the end then at the end of the book of revelation it says do not seal up the words of this book the closer we get to the end the better we're going to understand so augustine martin luther martin luther did some great things to bring about protestantism and you've got to give him credit but he was one of the most anti-semitic people in all of history do you know that read the history about uh poor martin luther i bet he's up and having going oh man why did i say those stupid things about god's people that he loves very dearly uh um uh i think that he's probably really regretting that i'm gonna ask him when i get to heaven but uh fortunately figured out we are saved by grace through faith he figured that much out but but he was very he said horrible things about the jews and uh look it up just look it up and you'll find quotes everywhere of martin luther's anti-semitism and by the way that anti-semitism martin luther expressed was stuff that adolph hitler used to get a a whole nation with a world view that the jews need to be exterminated it all was part of the plan of not origen or augustine or martin luther or hitler i believe it was the plan of satan himself to destroy the jews and it's been going on from the very beginning of the jewish people and we see why that is as we look at this chapter look at chapter 12 verse 1 it says and there appeared a great wonder in heaven a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars and she being with child cried travailing in birth and pained to be delivered okay so we've got a problem first of all who in the world is this woman and so people debate as they study and interpret the book of revelation and what's interesting is a lot of your commentaries this is the church of jesus christ and i believe that's a very poor interpretation of who this woman is first of all because we've got a big problem if this is the bride of christ there's a problem she's pregnant you know what i'm saying i don't think you moms and dads like that so much if your uh bride or your unmarried daughter becomes pregnant that's an issue um but uh but the woman is not the church uh in fact uh the best commentary on the bible good see you're getting getting quicker that's great hopefully it gets even more full i went the whole sanctuary eventually say say the whole thing nice not because this is huge if you use the bible as its own commentary it's really quite amazing there's some imagery for you bible students that know your scriptures a little bit there's some stuff here that you kind of automatically go i think on who this is because we're talking about some common things here a woman that's clothed in the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars um what in the world is this about well um we can say for i believe certain that this is none other than israel the nation the people of god how do we know that well the the imagery here points us to something uh from the old testament genesis chapter 37 why don't you keep your finger here in revelation 12 and go with me to genesis 37 and by the way this man man-child that's going to come out of her is also going to be a hint as to who this woman would be but in genesis 37 do you remember joseph's dreams genesis 37 verse 5 it says and joseph dreamed a dream this is genesis 37 5. and he told it his brethren and they hated him yet the more and he said unto them here i pray this dream which i have dreamed for behold we are binding sheaves in the field and lo my sheep arose and also stood upright and behold your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance or bowed down as the idea to my sheath and his brethren said unto him shalt thou indeed reign over us or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words verse nine and he dreamed yet another dream and told it to his brothers and said behold i have dreamed to dream more and behold the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obesity to me and he told it to his father and to his brethren and his father rebuked him and said unto him what is this dream the thousand shall i and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee into the earth and his brethren envied him interesting word but his father observed the saying what's that well interesting here about the stars the moon the sun and it's all in context of the of the the tribes of israel now would they bow down to joseph we know this dream did come to pass as joseph would be sold as a slave ends up in egypt becomes the second most powerful man on the whole planet and the starving people of israel these 12 sons or 11 sons i should say came and um tried to get food and they had to bow down before joseph it's a great story but we see the same imagery what do we see here uh you know the father and mother typified by the sun and the moon and the stars being the brothers and those stars in a sense sort of paying obeisance or bowing down before joseph now we know out of those 12 tribes we learned that the ultimate king of kings and lord of lords would come from those 12 tribes of israel through the tribe of judah the lion of the tribe of judah which would be jesus christ now we're starting to touch on something that might answer why so much hatred for the jews why would satan spend so much time time trying to enslave the jews in egypt or murder the little boy children of of egypt or even when herod uh slaughtered the babies uh there that were born in judah at the time of christ's birth why such a sinister horrible deal none other than satan who's going to be in our story here in revelation so back to the book of revelation what we see here is this woman uh is um is israel now by the way in chapters 12 through 14 of revelation we're going to see seven um important um personages here in our uh narrative of the book of revelation that you should kind of know about first of all we're gonna have the woman uh who represents israel uh chapter 12 verses one through five we're also going to see the dragon which is satan right we're going to see that chapter 12 verse 7 through 17 we're going to see that in 13 chapter 13 verses 1 and 2 and we're also going to see the dragon in 13 verse 4 13 verse 11 and also we're going to see the man-child the man-child and i'm going to explain how that is i believe jesus christ himself we'll see that later in this chapter and we'll also see michael the archangel who also represents the angels in verses seven through nine tonight but also we're going to see the rep the remnant of israel being brought up again who have the seal of god who how many of those guys are there 144 000 the remnant of israel we're going to see that um we saw them in chapter 7 verses 4 through 8 but we're also going to see them in chapter 14 again and then we're going to see the beast who comes out of the sea the beast who's a world dictator uh during the end times a world leader coming world leader but we're also going to see a beast out of the earth which we'll get into that and we're also going to see a false prophet so we got some characters coming up here in the next several chapters that you're going to want to know about and know who they are but the first one here is this woman who is represented really as being the nation israel uh because of the imagery it's uh uh it's it's um it's important to stick with the same themes when you see them all put together so this woman she is being with child travailing in birth and pain to be delivered now look at verse three and there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and his tail uh pardon me and seven crowns upon his head and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and had cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born you're starting to see what's going on here this is sort of uh in i believe john seeing what satan's plan has been all along why does he hate the woman why does he want her destroyed because he wants to destroy the man job that came from her and um we're going to find out who this man child is in in in next part of this section of scripture but we know it's jesus christ and we know why satan was to destroy jesus jesus would be the savior of the world uh and um we could spend all night trying to figure out why does satan hate the world so much why does he want to destroy jesus who would save humanity and there's all kinds of speculation as to why satan does what he does and i think that's all it is really speculation some people believe he's taken as many people in as he can with them maybe he's so mad he just wants to destroy people god loves some people believe that others believe uh that satan believes he can win i've heard that one and that's possible now tonight we're going to see where satan realized he's he's lost he's going to lose in chapter 12. we're gonna see that it's a good day when satan finally gets to that place where he says i'm done but you know it's interesting after world war ii after we the war officially ended hitler and the germans uh technically continued for a year warfare still happened there was still shooting and death for a year uh and in a way that's kind of what satan's gonna do he's gonna he's gonna continue uh his thing even though he knows he's gonna be destroyed but uh let's let's consider some of this stuff here now uh by the way uh if you're interested there's four main women that are uh used uh as uh allegory or pictures uh in in the book of revelation we see jezebel remember talking about jezebel in chapters 2 verse 20 when we saw her we we're going to see the harlot of revelation 17 and 18. we've got this woman who is israel in revelation 12. by the way the woman here pictured is an interesting thing about israel i told you and we've talked about how the church of jesus christ is the bride of christ the gentile church or i should say anybody jew or gentile except jesus during the church age we are identified as the bride of christ we're an espoused virgin by the way um that's why this woman can't be the church even though some of your commentaries will say this is the church we're an espoused virgin according to the scriptures in fact second corinthians chapter 11 verse 2 says for i am jealous over you with a godly jealousy for i have espoused you to one husband that i may present you as the chaste virgin to christ that's what we're called the chaste virgin to christ so that's why this picture cannot be the church it has to be i believe israel because the imagery of genesis 37 but also jeremiah chapter 3 verse 20 has some interesting things to say about the woman herself and let me just read you jeremiah 3 verse 20. it says surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband so have you dealt treacherously with me o house of israel saith the lord see that's just like one example in the old testament where god compares the jewish people to his wife israel is called the wife of god the church is called the bride of christ those are two different delineations you need to kind of remember otherwise it makes it a little bit confusing when you're interpreting bible prophecy and stuff like that this is a woman who's pregnant with child and and like i said if she's if she's the church then she's in a lot of trouble because she's pregnant now this woman israel is often described as a woman in travail in childbirth again you bible students would recognize this isaiah 54 verse 5. isaiah 66 verse 7 jeremiah 3 verse 6 and micah 4 verse 10 micah 5 verses 2 and 3. all speak of of israel as a woman who's uh in it has a pregnancy is just in travail with child and i believe that's that's speaking of the child that would come out of israel through the jews not only should we as gentiles be not against god's people the jews but we should be really thankful we should be very very blessed because of the jews do you know that why should we be blessed because thankful to the jews they brought forth jesus who was very jewish did you know that don't forget jesus was a jew and he was very very jewish he was a practicing jew uh it's funny how we've got the surfer jesus from southern california that's that's who we worship uh you know he's the one that the long flowing hair and the blue eyes and all that um i i don't think that that's jesus he was a very jewish kid from galilee uh raised as a jewish boy and he was one who came not to destroy the law but to fulfill the law and so he even looked very jewish in the way he practiced and what he did but it's because of the jews and by the way remember when peter went to the house of cornelius there in joppa and the lord told peter to rise kill and eat food that was unclean he was speaking about the gentile people and it was from there that peter went and talked to cornelius and um then sort of the uh the the jews started to say man jesus died on the cross not only for us jews but for all the gentiles as well paul would later further the ministry of jesus outside of all the jewish things even though paul wanted to minister to his own people the jews lord said nope you are the minister to the gentiles man i'm so thankful that it was the jewish people that brought forth jesus now anti-semitism you'll hear this from time to time will say yeah but the jews crucified god the jews killed jesus on the cross and that's one of the things martin luther said that's one of the things hitler talked about that the jews crucified jesus so that when mel gibson came out several years back with the passion of the christ do you remember what happened a bunch of jewish people got really upset because it looked like the jews killed jesus and the jews were upset about that now here's the here's the tricky part uh the jews did kill jesus uh and so did the romans and so did you we all are guilty of the the crucifixion of our savior and lord jesus christ because it's my sin and your sin and the sin of all the jews and all the romans we all we all pinned him to the tree we have to understand that we need to take ownership of that but to blame the jews for it is just nonsense if it wasn't the jews it would have been us uh you have to understand that so you can't really blame the jews for crucifying christ jesus talked about how this was just what needed to happen and it was the plan of god to save the world from its sin and he used the jewish people it would be his own brothers who would crucify him and slay him on a tree which makes it even more crazy the the betrayal all this to say this woman is described as a woman in travail with the man child she gives birth to the man child coming up here in just a minute and we'll see how that goes do you remember this isaiah 9 6 4 unto us a child a child is born remember that who's the us there all of us but in isaiah's context it was the jewish people and the messianic line begins even in genesis 3 15 we start to see mention of this man-child that would come from the seed of a woman which is an amazing thing so this woman some people say it's it's the church you'll hear some say it's mary but i i don't agree with that at all i think we're talking about israel and we'll see why here in a second now let's let's uh let's look at this for a second um the the dragon the red dragon red uh often equals well in the book of revelation we've already seen red and does anybody remember what did it mean warfare and death right which is kind of similar which is interesting the great red dragon maybe should see that imagery of death but it says here that uh he he has 10 horns and seven heads now uh the seven heads are kind of an interesting thing we're going to get into that in greater detail in revelation chapter 17 verse 9. uh what are the seven heads that are being talked about here and for sake of time i want to give it a little more time when we get into chapter 17 because we're going to come to this again but we also see 10 horns does this 10 horns remind you of anything there's all kinds of types in the book of daniel that unlock the book of revelation and the 10 horns are talked about in the book of daniel and it speaks of these uh 10 nations that are sort of led by a little horn you guys remember the little horn um and this little horn is going to pluck out three other horns it's kind of an amazing story but uh i believe this the satan will have some kind of a linkage or leadership over ten confederate nations and most agree when you read the book of daniel it talks about in daniel chapter two remember the ten toes that's that's from the world's perspective chapter two of daniel's from the world's perspective when you go to daniel chapter seven you get god's perspective and it's not a golden statue with silver arms belly brass legs of iron we talked about that a couple weeks ago but from god's perspective it becomes what an ugly beast uh that's contorted and twisted and ugly and it has ten horns uh very different view from god's perspective we're gonna see that uh when we get further into it but these ten horns daniel chapter seven is the reference there versus seven and eight uh speak of that and the seven crowns upon his heads which speaks of uh leadership of areas and regions now uh it is interesting because the seven heads i'm going to give you a sneak preview of some possibilities but um one is speaks of perhaps the seven different uh kings who ruled the people of israel from the beginning uh it's an interesting theory i'll just write out because i'm not going to spend a lot of time with this one uh when we get to chapter 17 but you know the egyptians ruled for 400 plus years over israel the assyrians took the northern ten tribes so that's two the babylonians took in 586 bc the rest of the jews and ruled over them nebuchadnezzar then came the medo-persian empire then came the greek empire alexander the great and then came the roman empire that's number six but the seventh one will be according to the daniel two prophecy and the daniel seven prophecy is israel will be somehow ruled by these ten toes or the ten horns um now remember that this little horn's gonna take out three which leaves seven 10 minus three equals seven right so there's some interesting theories and stuff about the nations that have ruled over israel but satan has very much a plan and a plot against i believe israel when you see hatred for jews when you see anti-semitism in the world what you need to understand it's the red dragon that's all it is it's satan doing his thing wanting to destroy the jewish people and you say but brett i've got a problem though you know i can understand him wanting to destroy the jews before the messiah jesus comes that makes sense but but why would satan continue to try to destroy or be against the jewish people as a group and there's there's a reason because they are god's chosen people and i believe god loves the jews but also there's still plenty to be done with the jews during the tribulation period and even in the millennial kingdom the messiah jesus promised to the jews that someone from the throne of david a descendant of david king of the jews would come and one would sit upon the throne and rule and reign with a rod of iron that's coming and it's going to be very a jewish thing so again those that are against the jewish people or could care less about the jewish people i don't care who you are you will care about the jews someday because the king of kings and the lord of lords will be a jew ruling from where jerusalem okay you understand what i'm saying okay just just a little little reminder for you now so uh now there's some interesting things about this guy verse 4 his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and it cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born um have you ever heard that that satan drew a third of the angels with him when he was you know lifted with pride and said i will be as great as god and all that stuff um and people say that very dogmatically well a third of the angels fell with satan don't be quite so sure about that the reason why i say that this is the only place in the bible that i can find this that implies that maybe a third of the angels fall do you see how it is kind of encrypted here so i wouldn't die on the battlefield and say absolutely satan pulled the third of the angels to that were fallen angels with them i wouldn't die on that battlefield although that's this is where they get that that that somehow when satan um uh was lifted up with pride and he was uh you know hurled down to the earth or whatever that he drew a third part of the angels because of what it says here that when he when he when he goes he a third part of the stars of heaven uh and did cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to deliver that'd be the jews getting ready to produce jesus who would be the messiah and he wanted to destroy that child even as it was being born now verse 5 it says and she brought forth a man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto god and to his throne interesting this this child would be caught up this man child would be sort of caught up um now first of all we know this child is going to rule with the rod of iron but be caught up and go to the throne of god hmm do you see the evidence here of this being jesus christ in fact psalm chapter 2 jot this down in your notes maybe even next to that verse psalm chapter 2 verse 9 says this um it says thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel what's the context well earlier it says i will declare the decree the lord hath said unto me thou art my son this day have i begotten thee ask of me and i shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession and thou shalt break them with a rod of iron this is a prophecy concerning jesus christ who would come to rule now if you say but that doesn't sound like jesus ruling with a rod of iron he's a shepherd to the sheep and he's kind and compassionate yes but this is why the world needs to realize that god who sent his son he is he's compassionate kindhearted patient and tenderhearted for sure and he'll save anyone who receives the saving grace of jesus christ but don't forget there's a part of god that we need to remember he's still righteous for him to be righteous also means that he needs to be that of just and when he comes he will rule don't don't you know i think some people might even not even recognize jesus when they see him i'll tell you why because you'll hear a lot of sermons that leave out part of his nature and character that he does have that side of him the ruling with the rod of iron now by the way when he rules with the rod of iron when he comes he's going to come to conquer we're going to see that as we get further in the book of revelation we're going to see a sickle as if a wine guy's reaping a harvest and sort of a bloodbath of grapes that's talked about and we're going to see that christ coming is going to be kind of heavy duty but notice it says this that her child would be caught up would you mark those words caught up because it's an interesting word in the greek it's harpazo is that ring a bell to seize to carry off by force to claim oneself eagerly to snatch away now there's an interesting theory we would say when was jesus caught up what would you say to that right the ascension a lot of you say okay that's ascension now many scholars agree and say that's the ascension but it is an interesting theory that somebody put out g.h pember was among the first to suggest that this verse might actually refer to the body of christ even as we are the body of christ as being those who would be raptured because you say but breth this is the middle of the tribulation but did you notice how in chapter 12 we sort of stepped outside of the tribulation for a bit we're talking about something of much greater scope and sequence where the the woman the woman is israel who brings forth a man child which is jesus that didn't happen in the tribulation period that happened already and then jesus ascended and then he's going to return the second coming of christ so we've kind of stepped out of the time frame of the tribulation in chapter 12 to describe a greater thing that jesus was coming through the jews the woman satan wanted to destroy the woman and wanted to destroy the man child it's really that simple but it is an interesting suggestion i wouldn't fight or argue it that much but it is interesting that one has said the catching up here it's the same word used in first thessalonians chapter 4 in dealing with the rapture and it's for that reason some of the mid-tribbers and even pre-wrath people i've heard talk about this as maybe being the rapture in the middle of the tribulation uh i don't see that for many reasons but it is out there some people suggest this catching up here of the body of christ in the middle of the tribulation i sure hope that's not true if you're a pre-wrath person i understand your theology and it if you made me be not be a pre-tribber then i'd probably defer to pre-wrath uh but uh you know the first half of the tribulation has it been petunias and butterflies so far no it's going to be horrible the first half is going to be horrible the last three and a half years are going to be even worse but i wouldn't want to be there at any of the seven years of the tribulation amen amen pray that be counted worthy to escape these things that's what it says the lord says that well uh so you got this the the the man child being jesus being caught up if that's the ascension uh it would make sense or the rapture or both uh who knows uh verse six and the woman fled into the wilderness where she uh half a place prepared of god that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days or 1260 days or three and a half years you know what's interesting probably the most well-documented time period in the history of the whole world as it relates to the bible is the last three and a half years of the tribulation have you thought about this this is an interesting thing because sure we read about the millennial kingdom being a thousand years but that's mentioned far less than the last three and a half years of the tribulation uh we even read about the whole seven years of the tribulation there's a lot about that but it's interesting one of the most documented periods of time in all the scriptures are this 1260 days or 42 months or three and a half years the reason i say that is why would god in his holy word take so much time to talk about these last three and a half years of the tribulation and by the way it's not just here jesus talked about it daniel the prophet talked about the last three and a half years jesus called it the time of great tribulation i think jesus made a differentiation the tribulation is seven years but he called the last three and a half years the great part of the tribulation it's gonna be great not in yay great like more like who great trouble and great peril is the idea so just kind of heads up on that when you come to that uh another way of putting it by the way you'll hear it is time times and a half time is that ring a bell if you read the bible and come across that phrase time times and a half time its time is one year times is two years and a half time is three and a half years altogether so that's another red flag when you come to that phrase time times and half time uh not to be too cryptic but that's the idea now we see this woman which is who and she's fleeing to the wilderness for how long so we're still talking about the middle part of the tribulation now by the way there's a gap between chapter f uh chapter 12 verse 5 and chapter 12 verse 6. and i would i would tell you the reason the gap there and boy i wish we had more time to get into this but it's the same gap we read in daniel chapter 9 in the 70 weeks of daniel where we see the first 69 weeks and then there's a gap and then the 70th week of seven years that happens after a variable gap that we don't know the time or the the the span between that what is that gap period that we that we lack and we don't know the time of that gap it's the church age because nobody knows when the rapture of the church is going to happen but when the rapture of the church happens i believe that's when the 70th week or seven year period of daniel comes out daniel chapter 9 that's when the tribulation period starts and i think that same gap could be seen here between verse 5 and 6 just for you bible students something to be thinking about if you're not getting all this by the way you will as you just keep going through the bible it all kind of over the years just starts to make sense and you see it and it's pretty cool when you realize the bible is this massive uh matrix of information that all fits perfectly together and it's kind of astounding really that 44 different authors over a 1500 year period write a book saying it's inspired by god and yet it fits perfectly together that that's an amazing thing to me now why in the world would israel flee to the wilderness for three and a half years well um this is interesting because um let me show you a couple things here that you should know about first of all keep your finger here and turn with me to matthew chapter 24. jesus was talking about um the end of the world the disciples you know of course asked him at the beginning of matthew 24 tell us what will these things be and what shall be the sign of your coming the second coming of christ and the end of the world that's a pretty clear question right and so jesus talks about um wars and rumors of wars earthquakes and diverse places stuff we see all the time in the world today but then he starts talking about this event that's kind of crazy and it's not crazy if you've read the book of daniel in fact jesus says in matthew chapter 24 verse 15 matthew 24 15 jesus said when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by daniel the prophet stand in the holy place who readeth uh whoso readeth let him understand in other words if you read your bible you'll understand this then let them which be in judea flee into the mountains let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes and woe unto them that are with child and to those them that gives suck in those days or nursing pray that you be that that your flight be not in the winter neither on the sabbath day for then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time no nor ever shall be what's that jesus says when the abomination have happened desolation happens he says um that was spoken of by daniel and then and then he says in um uh when he stands in the holy place that's remember we already talked about this the temple and this coming world leader antichrist also called the beast he's going to stand in the temple we're going to get to this here in a real just a next week probably where he's going to stand in the temple and be really demanded to be worshiped that is when i believe the jews will say oh we've made a deal with the devil remember they signed a contract daniel chapter 9 that probably has to do with the building of the temple so now this antichrist coming world leader is going to stand in the temple and say worship and the jews will realize that that is not their savior that is not their messiah and that's when they will as jesus says they will flee into the mountains that's what the book of revelation john's talking about in our text uh it says verse six and the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of god that they should feed her there for three and a half years do you see the correlation here that we're talking about the woman we're talking about israel fleeing now the question is where are they going to flee does it really matter that much not so sure but it is an interesting thing especially if you go to israel with us because i believe that they're going to flee to a place called petra let me show you this go to isaiah if you're interested or jot it down your notes isaiah 16. does anybody know what the word petra means rock kind of interesting because they're going to flee and hide in the rock moses hid in the rock as god passed by we hide ourselves in the rock of jesus christ this is a common theme isn't it the rock well check it out isaiah chapter 16 verse 1 says send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from salah anybody's margin tell you what salam means petra okay means rock and petra also called basra by the way for you bible students goat says send you the lamb to the ruler of the land of salah or petra to the wilderness unto the mount of the daughter of zion for it shall be that as a wandering bird cast out of the nest that so the daughters of moab shall be at the forwards of arnon take counsel execute judgment make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noon day hide the outcasts beray him not that wandereth let mine outcasts dwell with thee moab be thou a covert or covering to them from the face of the spoiler for the extortioner is at an end the spoiler ceases the oppressors are consumed out of the land and in mercy shall the throne be established and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of david judging and seeking judgment and hastening righteousness what are we talking about there well isaiah's passage is a little more cryptic when you just first read it but we're talking about when christ comes to rule from jerusalem from the the throne there but before that it says that let the lamb that is the jews flee to the wilderness of moab now here's what's great again this is the bible being perfect there's only a couple nations or people groups or geographic regions that the antichrist will be unsuccessful against this coming world leader is going to dominate much of that world remember he's going to worship with munitions that is military stuff he's going to be really into military stuff according to the bible but there's one little area in the middle east that is going to be untouched by him he will not be able to touch ammon and moab which is kind of an interesting thing and if you just read that by something like why can't god touch you moab i'll tell you why because that's where petra is it's in the ammonite moabite region when we go to israel you'll still hear people say we are in the moabite land they're proud of that uh when we go to jordan and um and that's where petra is uh and i believe the reason this coming world leader won't be able to touch ammon or moab or what we would say jordan today modern day jordan is because that is where israel will flee and be hidden by the lord what's going to happen well let's go back to revelation that's why i believe it's petra this place now by the way petra if you don't know where that's it was a a mysterious city that was only found again in the 1800s because there was the people there were guardians of the lost city almost like atlantis the lost city of petrus petra it almost became like a legend going is petra really even a place well this one um archaeologist wanted to find it he was sure he knew where it was but the region he thought it was in there was a strange religion where these people worshipped aaron the brother of moses and um and unless you were a worshiper of aaron you were not allowed to go into that region of what is now known as jordan or ancient moab and um this guy uh i forget his name um but he he went in and he wanted to go see if he could find petra but they said no way we don't let outsiders in well then he realized you have to say i worship aaron i'm a follower of aaron so he walks up since i'm a follower mayor and you guys have to let me in and they're like okay so they let him in and that's when he brought this you know this guy who was able to artfully draw pictures of what they found and that's where they found the lost nabataean city of petra and and that's where by the way for you indiana jones fans the last crusade remember they rode the horses in the very last part of that movie and you see the carved uh petroclips there or the car the walls that are there like temples carved in cliffs that's petra and there's tons of those as you walk through there there's even a huge amphitheater that was carved in there and all kinds of tombs and it's an amazing thing for you younger generations transformers there was a big fight in front of the temple treasury in petra by the way and this is for you sci-fi geeks uh i'm i'm throwing you a bone here that scene uh in the transformer movie and i can't remember is it the second i didn't watch the second one but i think that's the one where they show petra but um they fight in front but what's interesting is the door of this this temple treasury uh is gigantic i've got this one picture i like to show people because i it's hard to when you it's just desert rock and these these big temples are carved in the sides of these cliffs but when you have just a picture of that it's kind of hard to tell how big they are you know how sometimes you lose the scale of things with a photograph and so i show this picture i say so if i was standing in that doorway how tall do you think i i would be and people look at it well you'd probably be like that tall or something and i say i am standing in that doorway they look closer there's a little speck which is me and it's hard to make me look like a little speck you know what i'm saying and i'm standing there in that little doorway uh right at the step there and uh and and that's why they made a good transformer movie because this huge door uh is where they go into this by the way that's where we do our teaching in that very uh tomb uh we go in there and talk about petra and get in the word a little bit and uh it's kind of fun but i digress petra is this crazy place um which we could talk a long time about how the nabataeans were able to survive the flash floods their their technology for those days was amazing to divert water that would normally cause great trouble and they made it so that they they could survive there and not be attacked interesting stuff but we got to finish this up real quick so wow verse seven so we know that the woman's going gonna run for her life but when well look at verse seven there was war in heaven michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought against his angels we got a war in heaven is that weird to anybody kind of weird if you ask me but you got michael the archangel and his his angels fighting with satan now if satan took a third of all the angels that means michael's got them outnumbered two to one so that's good if that's truly what happened i like that good odds but verse eight it says the dragon fought it with his angels and prevailed not neither was their place found anymore in heaven question does satan have access to heaven right now we we know that from job chapter 1. it's an amazing thing that satan can accuse you before god the bible says he's the accuser of the brethren day and night and he still does that he still has access to heaven it'll be at the middle point of the tribulation where satan will no longer have access to heaven why because there'll be a war in heaven michael and his angels will fight satan and his angels and will subdue them a huge theological point here god does not hopefully beat satan god is so much huger so much bigger than satan it's not a war a cosmic war begotten satan the war is between michael and satan and michael wins do you see that so those people that go around oh we hope the devil doesn't win man we've got to pray that god has victory no god has had victory and we fight from victory not for victory satan is a defeated foe he's only just uh squirming around for a little while longer and michael the archangel is going to be the one who subdues satan and he uh it says verse 9 and the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and satan which deceiveth the whole world he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with them so he'll no longer have access to heaven he's going to be sort of isolated or in captivity in this world now do you think this is going to make the dragon happy well verse 10 and i heard a loud voice saying in heaven now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our god and the power of his christ for the accuser of our brethren which is cast down which accused them before our god day and night satan no longer is going to be able to stand before god in heaven and accuse the brethren day and night he's been doing that all along he's called the accuser of the brethren and by the way we looked at verse nine on sunday if you missed that we talked about satan the deceiver very important but it says verse 11 and they those that were accused that's us and anyone who believes in christ they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony that they loved not their lives unto death you know we don't get to heaven because we've been good people because satan can accuse you before god and you know what's amazing he's got a good point satan's got a really good argument doesn't he um that's something that people wonder about man if when i stand before god say he's gonna be old but do you know what brett really did do you know what kind of thoughts brett really had and he's going to be able to accuse and he's not going to even have to do the lying thing he could just talk about stuff that really happened but how am i going to overcome that accusation how am i going to overcome that condemnation that satan is trying to to push against me i'll tell you hebrews chapter 9 verse 12 puts it this way neither by the blood of goats or calves but by his own blood he entered in once to the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us it's the blood of jesus man that's why we go to the table of communion when we drink that cup we know that our sins are covered by the blood of christ and so satan will no longer have any ability to condemn for there is therefore now no condemnation for those are in christ man in the blood of christ that's why we celebrate communion so that's how you overcome him by the the blood of the lamb but also by the way the word of their testimony um and and uh boy we get into this we'll get into this further for example the book of life is a part of that i think in exodus 32 32. there's an interesting little scripture there where it says um and moses was arguing for the people of israel god said i'm going to destroy israel which he was saying that more rhetorically but moses says in exodus 32 32 says yet now if thou wilt not if you will forgive their sin but if not blot me i pray thee out of thy book which thou hast written moses talks about his name being blotted out we're going to see that coming up even later in the book of revelation that our names are in a book but there's a idea of blotting out of a name that's an interesting idea was your name always in the book of life and would it would it have been blotted out or is it written in the book of life we're going to answer that question as we get further into the story but part of that's the word of their testimony verse 12 therefore rejoice ye heavens and you that dwell in them woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea for the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knoweth that he have but a short time he's ticked man the red dragon is getting redder he's mad and he's going to hit the earth at the last three and a half years that's why i'm so glad we're not going to be there during that time the earth is going to go through horrible time he's going to be sort of captivity on earth for the three and a half years of the tribulation but he knows he has just a short time this is where we know that satan will know he's doomed but he's going to keep going how do we see that well verse 13 when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth he persecuted that woman which woman is that israel which brought forth the man child which was jesus and to the woman we're given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nursed for a time and times and a half time from the face of the serpent there it is three and a half years time times half time and they're going to be brought by a great eagle of wings and so what's the great eagle i've got yeah i'm not saying anything uh on that one because we haven't talked about the eagle some would like to say it's america oh beautiful you know it's like the great eagles coming to the rescue you know um i wish that were true but i doubt it i don't believe uh this great eagle is america as much as i i wish that to be true now the the fact is um the eagle that's being talked about here is not a new thing by the way exodus chapter 19 verse 4. let me just refer again commentary on the bible is the bible exodus 19 4 says you have seen what i did to you to the egyptians the lord says how i bear you on eagle's wings and brought you unto myself so the lord himself compares his bringing the people of israel out of egypt to being born on his innings as a weegle is an eagle yeah exactly what's a wiggle that's a new biblical character i just made up okay well verse 15. so so keep in mind uh there's the lord is going to supernaturally bring the the jews to petra where they're placed in moab where they're going to be kept for three and a half years verse 15 and the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause or to be carried away of the flood and the earth helped the woman and the earth opened up her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth what in the world is that all about the answer i have no idea but satan's going to cast a flood now what's this flood who knows it could be a flood of water and maybe the earth is going to open up and swallow up the water instead of kill all the people in petra some people will say but you know i'm here we are in petra and i i read the book of revelation but man how is the lord going to protect the jews if bombs come from the sky because the earth is going to help the woman the idea is petra the place itself is going to somehow help the woman um but you know we really don't know for sure what this means maybe this flood out of the serpent's mouth is none other than just rhetoric media that spin on who the jews are and his hatred for them maybe it is a flood maybe it's radioactive fallout maybe it's uh whatever who knows but we know that the earth's gonna help her but the earth is gonna swallow up this flood that the dragon casts out of his mouth so whatever it is the earth is going to help her now again the book of revelation is not hard to understand or believe if you believe the old testament because do you recall when the earth opened up her mouth in the old testament and swallowed up cora nathan in a byrum if you recall that and that was in numbers chapter 16 verse 31 and 33 and micah chapter 7 verse 15 talks about how the lord's going to do supernatural things like the old testament during the last days so whatever's gonna happen it could be very supernatural some horrible thing coming out of their mouth somehow the earth opened up saving israel in that place called petra but uh all we can do really is speculate by that i've been told that somebody put tons of bibles in petra and marked all the scriptures that the jews would need to know um i've been to petra five times and i've yet to find a pile of bibles so i don't know if that's true or not but uh we'll see well verse 17 finally the dragon was wrathed with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of god and have the testimony of jesus christ that's the 144 uh he's going to make war with them and we're going to see more about them later on in chapter 14. so there you have it uh we're in the middle of the tribulation satan's really ticked the jews seemingly are in big trouble but the is going to do kind of this amazing protection for those jews for those three and a half years um you know if there's something we go away with it's this there's still protection in the rock of jesus christ man we you you might be frustrated with the world right now and you see what's going on you know russia is doing their biggest war games ever right now uh hundreds of ships many airplanes they're doing all these war maneuvers uh and and if you read the articles they're acting like they're doing a war against the united states and japan and these war games are big and some people say man that's kind of troubling uh china's got just like last week they talked about some new sea vessels that carry these huge nuclear weapons that china can bomb portland oregon if they'd like to and we wouldn't even really have much to say about it congratulations we see the trayvon martin case and the world going nuts we see rioting in the streets like you know not that much like different than the rodney king thing or other other things that happen we just see all kinds of crazy stuff and and instead of being all freaked out we get to say you know what we're going to hide ourselves in the rock of jesus christ and be protected but at the same time let other people know that man the rock is there come on in to jesus where there's safety and blessing a surefooted foundation it's all jesus when you when you really are tucked away safely in christ then all the stuff in the world just bounces off of you and you go you know this world is kind of a tough place but praise be to the lord we have jesus the rock of our salvation amen lord we pray tonight as we close up this chapter that you'd help us to just hide ourselves in the cleft of the rock even as moses was hidden lord as these jews will hide in petra and somehow you'll protect them during this time but lord ultimately we know that you have the plan and the purpose that your word says is going to unfold and as we read your bible cover to cover it really does fit to see the way things are going to come down in the last days i pray that you'd give us hearts to share the truth with people while we can that the gospel will be on the tip of our tongues and that people would come to know you and be saved so we thank you for your word lord bless these people who put in this this time tonight may be rewarded back to them i pray that each person in this room would have extra energy even for tomorrow to do whatever you've called them to do lord and give them strength we pray in jesus name amen

Channel: Lean-into-God

Views: 104

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: dGK4v66I_Qk

Length: 80min 37sec (4837 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 08 2020