Midweek Bible Study | Revelation 11:6-12:1-6 | Gary Hamrick

[Music] [Music] for this evening we are here in the book of revelation so we're going to be in chapter 11 and uh let me orient us again on our timeline of events uh this is where we are in the book of revelation between chapters 6 and 18 this is the period of the uh referred to as the seven years of tribulation which will come upon the earth at some time in the future i believe when you look at the timeline of events in scripture that revelation chapter 4 presents the argument that the church represented by the apostle john who was taken up into heaven and thus everything else he writes he sees from if you will the mezzanine of heaven he sees what is happening on earth he's a picture of the church taken up before the tribulation period and so this is a thing that's going to come upon the earth seven years of cataclysmic events natural disasters things that god will use to awaken unbelievers one last time and in revelation 6 through 18 these different judgments are revealed through a series of events the first we've already made our way through the opening of seven seals a scroll that is opened and it details jesus opens the scroll and reads different events that are coming up on the earth in terms of the tribulation that is followed by seven trumpets that are blown angels that god assigns to blow these different trumpets every time they blow a trumpet they announce a judgment we have so far made it through six of the seven trumpets we're gonna look at the seventh trumpet tonight and then following the seven trumpets are seven bowls that are poured out these are bowls or some translations say vials that get poured out and with the pouring out of these bowls uh come more judgments and so we're not yet to the judgment of the bulls what we're where we are right now is chapter 11 and chapter 11 asks this main question who are the two witnesses and last week we kind of left with somewhat of a pretend cliffhanger because i i got through some of chapter 11 and uh we looked at a little bit of the identity of these two witnesses and then right when i said who who might they be that's when our time ran out and so left you hanging there so now we're going to revisit this but let me first pray and then we will read from chapter 11 and then i'll bring you up to speed where we left off from last week but let's first open up with the word of prayer lord as we come before you tonight we're just grateful for your grace and and your love and even though these chapters are heavy and they're they're hard to to read in many respects we know and understand that your very nature is love you are love and so you you will demonstrate these events that come upon the earth because you love people enough that you will rouse them from their their spiritual apathy and because you are wanting to reach the earth's population one last time before it's too late before there will be the ultimate heaven and earth a new heaven a new earth and and only your children only those who belong to you will be with you forever and so lord even as we read these things stir our hearts for our friends and our loved ones and our neighbors who don't know you that we would be more intentional about sharing our faith so that as many people as possible might be saved and thus escape the coming tribulation and so guard our hearts lord from fear guard our hearts from discouragement help us to read these things because you've given them to us in advance we might be ready and that we might have a heart for the lost and so stir those things in us that's our prayer lord as we read through these passages and we love you and we praise you together in jesus name and everybody said amen all right chapter 11 of revelation let me just read the first five verses that's about where we left off last week for six verses it says then i was given a read this is john the apostle writing then i was given a read like a measuring rod and and the angel stood saying rise and measure the temple of god the altar and those who worship there but leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it for it has been given to the gentiles and they will tread the holy city under foot for 42 months and i will give power to my two witnesses and they will prophesy 1260 days clothed in sackcloth these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the god of the earth and if anyone wants to harm them fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies and if anyone wants to harm them he must be killed in this manner these have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy and they have power over waters to turn them to blood and to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire and so here's where we left off i'll just quickly run through these these few things that we looked at last week we we understand from what the passage is telling us here in verse 1 where the temple is located a little bit later we didn't read it in verse 8 it says where their lord was crucified and so it gives us the location of these two witnesses it is none other than the city of jerusalem their commission is to preach a message of repentance because in verse 3 it talks about how they are called to prophesy and they are wearing sackcloth which was an outfit indicative of grief and mourning so when these guys appear on the earth in the future they will look like they've come from the past i mean they're going to be you know wearing ancient garb of sackcloth and so they're going to look very out of place which is intentional it's god's way of saying you see these guys who look really out of place like they've come from 2000 years ago or even more uh beyond even 2000 years ago that's because um they are from the past but they're in the present and i've raised these prophets up as as uh those two to speak to those who are living in the earth during that time and the duration of their ministry is 1260 days it tells us that and using the ancient babylonian calendar of 360 days a year not like ours 365 days a year it comes to exactly three and a half years and in this chapter it tells us 42 months and it tells us 1260 days and both represent three and a half years but there's a midpoint here in the seven years of tribulation which is why john is writing using two different terms 1260 days refers to the first three and a half years these prophets these witnesses will come during the first half of the seven years of tribulation and then the latter half of the seven years of tribulation the last three and a half years are referred to as 42 months so that's how the language delineates between the first half and the last half of the tribulation period but that's their duration here they're coming for the first three and a half years and god calls them two basically evangelize to for the three and a half years he sends them on the earth in jerusalem in particular to evangelize the lost and they're just gonna go around preaching the gospel they're going to be talking about jesus they're going to be telling people how to get saved again in the midst of all of this chaos and and cataclysmic disaster you have to see god inserts himself and he's constantly bringing a message of grace and opportunities for people to get saved now unfortunately what we read in the in the bible in revelation is that many people will still be stubborn and refuse to yield but nevertheless that doesn't stop god he continues to get his word out to get his name out to get the message of hope and forgiveness and redemption out whether people accept it or not that's that's their choice but god is always actively working so that as many people as possible might get saved and spend eternity with them because the end of the age is about to happen at the end of the book of revelation we have a new heaven and new earth present heaven present earth is going to disappear and so it's going to be the end of the age it's going to be a new kingdom age and god wants as many people to get on board as possible so he sends these two witnesses here to prophesy to minister to share the gospel for three and a half years and for the people who try to harm them um god gives them the supernatural protection the ability to breathe fire like a dragon now you know he only is going to entrust that to people who are super spiritually mature like these individuals because if he gave that to you and me we'd go around blowing fire on everybody that bothered us so he knows you can't handle this right so he gives this ability though to these two witnesses that for three and a half years whenever anybody tries to harm them they just breathe fire and they kill anybody so how many times does that have to happen before you realize probably shouldn't mess with these guys do you know and so that's that's the ability that god has given them to for their own protection now we're going to see in a little bit that they do get assassinated so the three and a half years god divinely protects them but then things tragically turn here only for god to be glorified in in that but before i share all of that who are these guys who are these two witnesses now i will first tell you who some bible scholars some um i'm going to give you kind of the minority view and then i'll tell you the majority view um some believe that these two individuals might very well be joshua and zerubbabel now not the joshua of the days of moses but in zechariah chapter four joshua is a high priest zerubbabel is like a governor and in zechariah chapter 4 these guys are referred to as these olive trees and lamp stands when you look here in chapter 11 in your bibles of revelation chapter 11 in verse 4 it makes this reference to these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands so some think it's a reference to zechariah chapter four and that these two witnesses are the the priests joshua and the governors aruba bell brought back to life because you know they presently as followers of god would be in heaven and that god brings them to earth on assignment gives them physical form again that they might be his witnesses that's one thought another school of thought is that these two individuals are elijah and enoch because one of the things that elijah and enoch had in common was that they were both taken up to be with the lord and in a sense did not experience physical death remember elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire enoch walked walked with god and then he was no longer like god took him so these are two old testament characters and some say it could be elijah and enoch but i i will tell you where i lean and this is this is probably the majority view of what bible scholars believe based on the text and i'll explain why it probably is in fact elijah and moses it's probably elijah and moses now again we can't be definitive they're not named here but i'm i'm going to make the argument as to why they probably are elijah and moses and the first one is you can turn or you can just listen but all the way back at the in the end of the old testament the last book of the la of the old testament malachi and the last chapter of the last book of the old testament malachi chapter 4 mentions both of these guys and the last prophet of the old testament talks about how god's not done with them listen to what malachi writes malachi 4 this is malachi 4 verse 4 through 6. remember the law of moses my servant which i commanded him in horeb for all israel with the statutes and judgments behold i will send you elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the lord and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest i come and strike the earth with a curse that's the way the old testament ends the mention of moses who often represents the law and the mention of elijah who often represents the prophets and when you think about the summary of the old testament one could say it's represented by moses and elijah it's represented by the law and the prophets that's basically the summary of the old testament scriptures so that's the way the old testament ends with a reminder about moses and the law that god gave him the ten commandments and laws following and elijah the one who will he says here appear again before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the lord and how he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children the hearts of children of their fathers so there's going to be this prophetic event that is still to happen in regards to elijah and then again moses mentioned here i think another significant event that happens where both of these guys appear in your new testament is in matthew chapter 17. in matthew chapter 17 this is the event where right after matthew 16 when jesus takes his disciples up to caesarea philippi he has this wonderful conversation with them it's a teaching moment where jesus says who do men say that i am they say well some say that you're elijah some say you're jeremiah some say you're john the baptist come back to life and then he says but who do you say that i am and that's when peter in matthew 16 makes that wonderful profession of faith and says you are the christ the son of the living god you are the messiah and jesus says peter flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my father which is in heaven in other words you're sharp but you're not that sharp that my father revealed that to your spirit that's why you said that and upon this rock i will build my church upon the confession of what peter said not upon peter himself as the first pope okay but upon the profession of faith that's the rock upon which christ has built his church not on a man but on the profession of faith that jesus christ is the christ he is the lord and then what happens immediately on the heels of that is matthew 17 where jesus takes peter james and john he takes those three he kind of had an inner circle among his 12 and he took peter james and john up on a mountain where he then was transfigured before them so matthew 17 is about the mount of transfiguration what happens is there's this supernatural moment where jesus is um glowing in the glory of god and it tells us this in matthew 17 i'll just read a little bit of it from verse one now after six days jesus took peter james and john his brother led them up on a high mountain by themselves and he was transfigured before them his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light and behold listen moses and elijah appeared to them talking with him with jesus and thus peter answered and said to jesus lord it is good for us to be here if you wish let us make here three tabernacles one for you one for moses one for elijah and while he was still speaking behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased hear him and when the disciples heard it they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid but jesus came and touched them and said arise and do not be afraid and when they lifted up their eyes they saw no one but jesus only so it's a very interesting thing that happens there in matthew 17 where you know moses and elijah who had been dead for centuries appear in some form such that peter who had never met them before recognizes them so by the way i think that is an indication in scripture that even though um you know when when you die and you go to heaven if you know christ as your savior and someone else in your family who has died and gone to heaven and that you will be able to recognize your loved ones because here's an indication when peter recognizes moses and elijah and he never met them and i mean they had been dead for centuries by the time that peter comes around here and yet he instinctively knew who they were by some revelation of some kind where peter recognized this is moses and this is elijah and so moses and elijah appear there with jesus and um and peter speaks up and in matthew's gospel he says you know why don't we build three tabernacles or three huts like one for you jesus one for moses one for elijah why do you think why do you think he said that i have a guess my guess is because like most of us who are enjoying a wonderful moment you want to preserve it you want to preserve it you know how it is when you you like go on vacation and it's a last day vacation like ah got to go home you know don't you want to preserve the moment and like you know and just kind of capture it and so this was the best this is the closest thing to being able to tweet out this event all right because they didn't have it then that day so so peter's just like okay i can't take a picture with my phone so how about we at least build three tabernacles and just preserve the moment one for you jesus one from moses one for elijah and in luke's gospel when luke tells the story he says in parenthesis peter didn't know what he was saying it's the bible's funny and he just didn't he just was like caught up in the moment he didn't really know what he was saying and then after this voice from heaven which was god the father saying this is my beloved son whom i'm well pleased by the way very similar to when jesus was water baptized right same voice same saying then suddenly when peter james and john looked up moses and elijah were gone but they appear there they supernaturally appear it's it's it's like they they tag team in different places in the bible the end of malachi 4. matthew chapter 17 at the transfiguration but there's another reason why i think it could likely be elijah and moses as the as the witnesses here back in revelation 11 and that's because of their particular powers if you'll notice again in verse 6 it says these have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy question how long again this is an open book test okay if you took notes you should know this how long again did these two witnesses minister on the earth how long three and a half years when do you remember the story of elijah in the bible in first kings chapter he first appears in 1st kings chapter 17 verse 1. he is elijah the tishbite that sounds painful doesn't it it's it's because he was from a town called tishby so he was a tishbite good thing he wasn't from a town called tushby but anyway think about it you get it on the way home all right he appears first kings chapter 17 verse one elijah the tishbite a prophet that god raises up in first kings 18 god sends him to mount carmel this great showdown on mount carmel against the false prophets of baal and asherah as a way to confront evil king ahab who was king of israel in the day and his evil queen wife jezebel and god uses elijah in this wonderful display of god's power to make a long story short one of the things that elijah did as a prophet of god sent to israel to rebuke them for their idolatry and their sin was to pray that god would withhold rain because rain the absence of it was a sign of god's judgment so there was a drought in israel for three and a half years the bible says that elijah prayed and it did not reign for three and a half years and then he prayed again after the people repented as a result of the display of god on mount carmel when the people repented of their idolatry and the prophets of baal and asher were slaughtered there was a revival in israel and the bible says then elijah prayed again after three and a half years and it reigned james records it in his epistle james 5 17. it says elijah was a man just like us he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain for three and a half years and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit god ended his judgment against the land of israel when they repented but it had not reigned for three and a half years under the ministry of the prophet elijah it tells us here in revelation 11 6 these have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy three and a half years it also says in the next sentence and they have power over waters to turn them to blood and to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire in the book of exodus between chapter 7 and 12 god outlines a series of ten plagues that he poured out upon the egyptians who had enslaved the hebrew people and god raised up moses as his prophet and moses's brother aaron as a spokesman to go to pharaoh and demand that he release the hebrew people after 400 years of slaves as slaves the first of the ten plagues was the miracle that god produced when moses and aaron raised their staff upon the nile river that it turned to blood and so the similarities are pretty uncanny here that the powers that these two witnesses possessed very similar to the power that elijah possessed very similar to the power that moses possessed as given to them by god and so thus it is likely that these two witnesses are none other than elijah and moses so if in fact it is elijah and moses god's going to bring them back and god's going to use them in the earth as his mouthpiece as his witnesses to evangelize those who were still on the earth at the time now their ministry lasts three and a half years and then god allows something to happen here but it's going to be for his glory keep reading with me in your bibles still here in revelation 11 look at verse 7 and it says when they finish their testimony in other words when the time of their ministry is concluded the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them overcome them and kill them so here's the next thing that happens for you note takers their assassination the beast which is the antichrist we'll read more about him when we get to chapter 13. he overpowers and he kills them after their testimony is finished now don't think that the antichrist is stronger than the lord this is all part of the lord's timing he allows it it's for a purpose we're going to see here in a moment the antichrist is not comparable in power to god not even close but god allows the antichrist to in his in the display of his limited power the antichrist kills these two witnesses and and then the bible says keep reading verse 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the streets of the great city which spiritually is called sodom and egypt because they had fallen into sin where also our lord was crucified so again we know this is jerusalem and then those from the peoples tribes tongues and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves and it says and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them make merry and send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth well they only tormented them in the sense that if you mess with them you're going to die and tormented them in the sense of sometimes the truth is tormenting when you don't want to hear it when you're told to repent get right with god and you don't want to get right with god that could be tormenting like stop you know we don't want to hear this that's what they mean by being tormented but what we have here now is their celebration the bodies of these two witnesses will lie in the streets of jerusalem or three and a half days while people celebrate their death the bible says here that they even exchange gifts there's a new there's a new holiday on the calendar it's called dead prophet's day and people are exchanging gifts and they're like yes yes well you know they're not going to say thank god because they don't you know follow but they're going to be thank each other because we are so glad that these witnesses are finally dead yes thank you maybe they'll say antichrist for killing them we got tired of hearing these guys yappy yappy yappy yappy yappa turn to jesus turn to jesus turn to jesus would somebody kill them thank you antichrist that's going to be the attitude and they're going to be celebrating dancing in the streets exchanging gifts and and and in the midst of their celebration rejoicing over these guys not even giving them a proper burial three and a half days they're laying in the street of jerusalem having been assassinated not even being given a respectable burial then it says this in verse 11. i just love the way that god always gets the last word verse 11 now after the three and a half days the breath of life from god entered them and they stood on their feet and great fear fell on those who saw them i bet so and they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them come up here and they ascended to heaven in a cloud and their enemies saw them praise god for that and so this is why you know it it's almost like when when christ was crucified at first everybody's so sad and this is looking like a terrible day and this messiah that we thought was going to deliver us from oppression of the roman empire and now it's so gloomy and all of this but but god always gets the last word it's not as bad as it looks this is all part of god's design in relation to the cross for the ultimate redemption of the world in relation to this event so that god's glory can be displayed because god is going to show his power in bringing them to life and so not only are their deaths celebrated but now we have here the mention of their resurrection and ascension they will come to life by the breath of god and ascend to heaven by the way it's interesting to note and i failed to mention this back in verse [Music] 9 where it said then those those from the peoples tribes tongues and nations will see their dead bodies there lying in the streets for three and a half days and then it mentions when they rose from the dead their enemies looked on notice the language there all peoples nations tribes languages this is john saying the entire world will look on and see this if there was ever a time that it is possible for the entire world to see an event at a particular location it's now through through all the multimedia that we have it's now we're living in a day when if an event happens on the street of jerusalem it can be broadcast around the world in a nanosecond and everybody will be able to see it and so in the same way that everybody was able to see their dead bodies lying in the streets for three and a half days everybody's gonna see the breath of god come back into them and they're raised up to life can you imagine just how freaky that would be the whole the whole time you you know you're sitting around as the enemies of these guys just so glad dancing around exchanging gifts and then whoa what is going on as these guys are just like wow what an incredible moment praise god for that well verse 13 says in the same hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell in the earthquake seven thousand people were killed and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the god of heaven now notice what this is this is telling us the contribution of these witnesses many of the survivors become believers in the lord jesus christ giving glory to the god of heaven because when this earthquake happened and all these events are transpiring these guys were dead and then three and a half days later they were raised to life and we saw them ascend up into heaven and then the earthquake and seven thousand people die when it talks there about and the rest were afraid the rest were afraid meaning the fear of god gripped their hearts and they gave glory to god and so people will turn doesn't say how many but people will turn and give glory to god and they will get saved as a result of the ministry of these guys and the events that the people witness in regards to how god raised them from the dead and it says verse 14 the second woe is past behold the third woe is coming quickly and now in the last part here of chapter 11 your bibles might be subtitled as mine is the seventh trumpet the kingdom proclaimed because we've made it through six of the trumpets and then there was this kind of intermission here while god talked to us about the witnesses and now the seventh trumpet is going to be blown here and so let me read verses 15 down through the end of the chapter then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our lord and of his christ and he shall reign forever and ever and the 24 elders who sat before god on their thrones note that fell on their faces and worshiped god saying we give you thanks o lord god almighty the one who is and who was and who is to come because you have taken your great power and reigned the nations were angry and your wrath has come and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that you should reward your servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear your name small and great and should destroy those who destroyed the earth and then the temple of god was opened in heaven and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple and there were lightnings noises thunderings an earthquake and great hail this is all happening in heaven john john writing about this spectacular moment here of sights and sounds and and and all of this experience of you know lightnings noises thunderings this is just like the presence of god shaking even heaven in this moment here but it mentions the this seventh trumpet and here's basically a summary of the seventh trumpet where an announcement is made that god is going to take over the earth as judge and king that's what is being declared here that god is announcing through the blowing of this trumpet that he is about to take over the earth as judge and king and it mentions the 24 elders now the 24 elders are symbolic of the raptured church that is in heaven and they fall on their faces here and they worship god and that's when they declare what we just read there between verses 17 and 18 and it's interesting to note with me that there are three times that revelation talks about the elders the 24 elders falling down and worshipping the first time was back in chapter four when they were praising god as creator the next time was in chapter 5 when they were praising god as redeemer and then you have it here in chapter 11 when they are praising god as judge and king over all the earth so you see the 24 elders symbolic of the church representing the church falling down on these different occasions before the lord and worshiping him let's get into chapter 12 see how far we can get in the next uh 10 minutes or so but it tells us a chapter 12 at the beginning of the chapter the woman the child and the dragon and it's and i'll read down through verse 12 and then we'll we'll back up and take a look here it says now a great sign appeared in heaven a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a garland or some translation say a crown of 12 stars and then being with child she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth and another sign appeared in heaven behold a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his head his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman and was ready who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up to god and his throne and then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by god that they should feed her there one 1260 days and war broke out in heaven michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought but they did not prevail nor was the place found for them in heaven any longer so the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and satan who deceives the whole world he was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him and then i heard a loud voice saying in heaven now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our god and the power of his christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our god day and night has been cast down and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to death therefore rejoice o heavens and you who dwell in them woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea for the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows that he has a short time all right so let me try to get into this as much as i can we'll probably have to pick it up here next week but we have here a the story about a woman a child and a dragon and i want to identify each of these three characters in the story one of the things you have to keep in mind in the book of revelation again is that this is a this is an eastern mindset versus how we often think as westerners we think very chronologically we like points one two and three but eastern mindsets are different they think uh circularly and and so sometimes even in communication uh people from different cultures can have a difficult time understanding each other just because of the way you either think sequentially or not and when you read the book of revelation for the most part it is sequential so it appeals to our western minds once in a while however it's written very easternly which is to say that this is a chapter that is not in chronological order um it is giving us a backdrop to events that happened even before some of this is referencing even before adam and eve were created that there was an event that happened in heaven where lucifer who was you know one of the chief angels rebelled and was expelled from heaven this is referencing even that which happens before adam and eve were created and so in chapter 12 that it has to be understood this way this is not happening in chronological order this is giving us a backdrop of information now first of all who is the woman let's let's talk about who she might be in this story there's been many unusual attempts in the past to try to identify this woman the roman catholic church just so that you know the roman catholic church believes that the woman in revelation chapter 12 is representing the virgin mary it is common in roman catholic art you might have noticed to represent mary as standing on a crescent moon with 12 stars around her head taken right here from revelation chapter 12. the problem with that is that it tells us at the beginning here that this is a great sign or some of your translations say a wondrous sign it's not a literal woman that this is figurative this is a sign so right out of the gate in verse 1 this is not a literal woman this is a great sign this is a wondrous sign that appeared now many protestants believe that she represents the church that mary is a picture of the church the problem with that is that whenever the church is referred to in female terms in the book of revelation it's only as the bride of christ not as a woman giving birth it's quite the opposite god has given birth to the church the church doesn't give birth so it's not a good analogy that this woman represents the church either in fact mary baker eddy who was the founder of christian science which by the way is neither it's like grape nuts you ever had grape nut cereal it's not grapes and it ain't nuts christian science is neither christian nor science it's actually a cult and she claimed to be the woman of revelation chapter 12. now you really know it's a cult and she believed that the child that she gave birth to is the religious system of christian science all right so who is the woman in order to understand the woman her identity you have to let scripture define itself the best commentary on the bible is the bible so when you look here in verse 1 look in your bibles again in verse 1 where it tells us that this great sign appeared this woman is a picture of something that she was in verse one clothed with the sun circle that with the moon circle at and under her feet and on her head a garland of 12 stars so you have the sun you have the moon you have 12 stars in the margin of your bible you can write down genesis 37. in genesis 37 between verses 3 and 11 joseph remember that jacob had 12 sons among them was joseph joseph was betrayed by his brothers sold into slavery to the midianites remember taken down to egypt all right joseph had dreams god gave him dreams now joseph he was um he was an interesting character he was a little full of himself and um you know the bible says that he was the favored son of his father and remember dad made him that coat of many colors and joseph went around wearing it like you know would you take the rest of his brothers were jealous take off the bathrobe why do you have to you know display that you were dad's favorite so they were jealous of him that's why they sold him into slavery and then they pretended that he had died and all this stuff okay joseph had different dreams that god had actually given him to show him in advance how god was going to use him the problem is and he's young at the time he's probably like 17 years of age the problem is he shouldn't have gone around talking about his dreams but nevertheless he did and on one of the occasions he gathered his brothers around in genesis 37 and he said guys i've had a dream i had a dream that the sun bowed down to me and the moon bowed down to me to me and the stars bowed down to me and guess what guys the sun represents dad the moon represents jacob okay the son jacob that is represented the father the moon is mom rachel and the stars are all of you bros and you're all gonna bow down to me one day now in reality what happened if you remember joseph god used joseph to basically save the jewish people because there was a great drought and god had taken joseph allowed this to happen he's in egypt he had stockpiled resources when his starving family who had betrayed him go down to egypt to get resources because they're starving under this famine lo and behold there's joseph and they're reunited that's a whole other bible study but the point is that that joseph had this dream the sun was a picture of his father jacob the moon was a picture of his mother rachel the stars were a picture of his brothers and all of it together represents the nation of israel because jacob and the 12 tribes of israel that emerged as a result through the seed of jacob among them was joseph the woman is a picture of the nation of israel it is consistent with the dream of genesis 37 this woman clothed with the sun and the moon and the stars here in revelation 12 is the same as genesis 37 of the dream that god gave joseph it is a picture of the nation of israel and in other old testament passages israel is often represented as a woman in isaiah 54 and jeremiah 3 and ezekiel 16 in hosea chapter 2 the nation of israel is often represented as a woman and and so that is consistent with scripture so the woman is represented here representative here of the nation of israel who is the child and who is the dragon you'll have to come back next week because our time has escaped us so let's pray and then we'll we'll leave you there to read ahead and we'll talk about it more from chapter 12 lord willing next week let's pray father thank you for this time together in your house and for your word that you've given us these things we might be ready that we might be prepared for your imminent return lord we long for your appearing and we love you and we thank you lord that you first loved us and sent jesus christ to die on a cross for our sins be glorified we pray in jesus name and everybody said amen you

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

Views: 57,923

Rating: 4.8490567 out of 5

Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg virginia, great sermons by great preachers

Id: rijMVJQWfIM

Length: 44min 22sec (2662 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020