FAITH BIBLE CHURCH - www.faithbiblechurch.net

SERIES: THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, WEEK 51

TITLE: THE PERSECUTION OF ISRAEL IN THE GREAT TRIBULATION

TEXT: REVELATION 12:13-17

INTRODUCTION: (1) IN HIS COMMENTARY ON REVELATION 12-22, JOHN MACARTHUR HAS THESE INSIGHTFUL WORDS TO SAY ABOUT ISRAEL WHICH WILL SET THE TABLE FOR OUR STUDY OF GOD’S WORD TODAY.

* HE SAID: “ONE OF THE DARKEST STAINS ON THE HISTORY OF MANKIND HAS BEEN THE PERSISTENT SPECTER OF ANTI-SEMITISM.

** OVER THE CENTURIES THE JEWS HAVE FACED MORE HATRED AND PERSECUTION THAN ANY OTHER PEOPLE.

*** MUCH OF THAT SUFFERING WAS CHASTISEMENT FROM GOD TO TURN THE NATION AWAY FROM THEIR SIN AND UNBELIEF AND BACK TO HIM.

**** GOD REPEATEDLY WARNED ISRAEL OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF DISOBEDIENCE (CF. DEUT. 28:15-68) AND PUNISHED THEM WHEN THEY FAILED TO OBEY (CF. II KINGS 17:7-23).

(2) WITHIN THE PARADIGM OF GOD’S SOVEREIGN PURPOSE FOR HIS PEOPLE, ISRAEL ALSO HAS SUFFERED CONSTANTLY AND SEVERELY AT THE HANDS OF SATAN, ACTING AS GOD’S INSTRUMENT.

* UNLIKE GOD, HOWEVER, SATAN’S PURPOSE IN CAUSING THE JEWISH PEOPLE TO SUFFER IS NOT REMEDIAL, BUT DESTRUCTIVE. HE SEEKS TO BRING THEM NOT TO REPENTANCE AND SALVATION BUT TO DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.” (END QUOTE)

** NOW JOHN MACARTHUR CONTINUES ON IN HIS COMMENTARY ILLUSTRATING FROM HISTORY ISRAEL’S SUFFERINGS AND ATTEMPTED GENOCIDE OR EXTERMINATION.

*** HOW IN BIBLICAL TIMES, THEY BECAME SUBJECT TO FOREIGN POWERS, INCLUDING ASSYRIA, BABYLON, MEDO-PERSIA, GREECE AND ROME.

**** AND THEN IN POST-BIBLICAL HISTORY OVER THE LAST TWO THOUSAND YEARS HOW THERE HAS BEEN PREJUDICE, PERSECUTION AND THE HOLOCAUST, WITH MILLIONS OF JEWS BEING SLAUGHTERED.

(3) BUT DESPITE MILLENNIA OF HORRIFIC PERSECUTION AND GENOCIDE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE STILL SURVIVE.

* IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY 14 MILLION JEWISH PEOPLE IN THE WORLD TODAY, SCATTERED ALL OVER THE PLACE, BUT REGATHERING IN THE NATION OF ISRAEL.

** AND ONE OF THE GREAT APOLOGETICS OR A DEFENSE OF GOD’S EXISTENCE IS ISRAEL. IT’S A MIRACLE THAT THERE ARE ANY JEWISH PEOPLE ALIVE IN A WORLD THAT HAS HATED THEM FOR MILLENNIA.

*** JOHN PHILIPS WRITES IN HIS COMMENTARY ON REVELATION ALONG THIS LINE OF THOUGHT AND I QUOTE:

**** “SIGNIFICANTLY, THE TURNING POINT CAME IN MOSES’ LIFE WHEN HE SAW, IN THE DESERT, THAT MYSTERIOUS BURNING BUSH, WHICH FLAMED AND BLAZED AWAY, BUT, FOR ALL THE CRACKLING OF THE FIRE, WAS NOT CONSUMED.

(4) THAT BUSH CLEARLY SYMBOLIZED ISRAEL, WHICH CANNOT BE CONSUMED DESPITE THE CEASELESS HATRED OF HER FOES, BECAUSE GOD IS IN THE MIDST OF HER.

* ISRAEL CANNOT BE ASSIMILATED INTO THE NATIONS, NOR CAN SHE BE EXTERMINATED BY THE NATIONS. SHE IS A BURNING BUSH IN THE WILDERNESS.” (END QUOTE)

** BELOVED, MY POINT, ISRAEL’S EXISTENCE IS AN APOLOGETIC OF GOD’S EXISTENCE AND POWER. IT’S A MIRACLE THAT SHE EXISTS!!

*** AND CERTAINLY IT IS THE PASSIONATE HOPE OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE THAT THE HORRORS OF HER HISTORY WILL NEVER AGAIN BE REPEATED.

**** BUT SAD TO SAY, THEY WILL!

(5) FOR THE WORD OF GOD DECLARES THAT A TIME OF SUFFERING IS IN THE FUTURE FOR ISRAEL THAT WILL BE WORSE THAN ANYTHING THE NATION HAS ENDURED IN THE PAST.

* JEREMIAH THE PROPHET CALLED THIS FUTURE TIME, “THE TIME OF JACOB’S DISTRESS” IN JEREMIAH 30:7, LIT. THE TIME OF JACOB’S TROUBLE.

** AND DURING THIS TRIBULATION TIME ON THE EARTH, SATAN, THE DRAGON WILL MAKE HIS LAST DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO PREVENT THE PROMISED REIGN OF JESUS ON THE THRONE OF DAVID, AND THUS NEGATE OR CIRCUMVENT THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL AND THE KINGDOM PROMISED TO HIM.

*** BUT SATAN, THE DRAGON WILL NOT SUCCEED IN HIS DIABOLICAL PLAN.

**** FOR ISRAEL WILL “LOOK ON (THE ONE) WHOM THEY PIERCED AND MOURN FOR HIM, AS ONE MOURNS FOR AN ONLY SON…WEEP BITTERLY OVER HIM LIKE THE BITTER WEEPING OVER A FIRSTBORN SON” AS JESUS RETURNS IN ZECHARIAH 12:10.

(6) AND PRIMARILY JEWS, BUT ALSO GENTILES ALSO AT THAT TIME, FOR REVELATION 1:7 SAYS: “BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, AND EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM, EVEN THOSE WHO PIERCED HIM; AND ALL THE TRIBES OF THE EARTH WILL MOURN OVER HIM. SO IT IS TO BE. AMEN.”

* AND MANY WILL BE SAVED AT CHRIST’S COMING WHO HAVE BEEN SOVEREIGNLY PREPARED FOR SALVATION THROUGH THE TIME OF JACOB’S TROUBLE, THROUGH THE FULFILLMENT OF DANIEL’S SEVENTIETH WEEK.

** BUT SPECIFICALLY GOD WILL DEAL WITH ISRAEL IN A PROFOUND WAY AND THE RESULT WILL BE A BELIEVING REMNANT OF ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED IN ROMANS 11:25-29 AS THE DELIVERER OF ISRAEL, THEIR MESSIAH COMES BACK TO JERUSALEM.

*** FOR ROMANS 11:25-27 SAYS:

V. 25 – FOR I DO NOT WANT YOU, BRETHREN, TO BE UNINFORMED OF THIS MYSTERY – SO THAT YOU WILL NOT BE WISE IN YOUR OWN ESTIMATION – THAT A PARTIAL HARDENING HAS HAPPENED TO ISRAEL UNTIL THE FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES HAS COME IN;

V. 26 – AND SO ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED; JUST AS IT IS WRITTEN, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.”

V. 27 – “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”

**** NOW I WANT YOU TO LOOK AT ANOTHER PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE IN THE O.T. THAT DANIEL WAS ENABLED TO SEE. IT IS FOUND IN DANIEL 12:1-11, A LARGE PASSAGE, BUT VERY INSIGHTFUL.

(7) FOLLOW ALONG ON THE SCREEN PLEASE:

V. 1 – NOW AT THAT TIME MICHAEL, THE GREAT PRINCE WHO STANDS GUARD OVER THE SONS OF YOUR PEOPLE, WILL ARISE. AND THERE WILL BE A TIME OF DISTRESS SUCH AS NEVER OCCURRED SINCE THERE WAS A NATION UNTIL THAT TIME; AND AT THAT TIME YOUR PEOPLE, EVERYONE WHO IS FOUND WRITTEN IN THE BOOK, WILL BE RESCUED.

V. 2 – MANY OF THOSE WHO SLEEP IN THE DUST OF THE GROUND WILL AWAKE, THESE TO EVERLASTING LIFE, BUT THE OTHERS TO DISGRACE AND EVERLASTING CONTEMPT.

V. 3 – THOSE WHO HAVE INSIGHT WILL SHINE BRIGHTLY LIKE THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE EXPANSE OF HEAVEN, AND THOSE WHO LEAD THE MANY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, LIKE THE STARS FOREVER AND EVER.

V. 4 – BUT AS FOR YOU, DANIEL, CONCEAL THESE WORDS AND SEAL UP THE BOOK UNTIL THE END OF TIME; MANY WILL GO BACK AND FORTH, AND KNOWLEDGE WILL INCREASE.”

V. 5 – THEN I, DANIEL, LOOKED AND BEHOLD, TWO OTHERS WERE STANDING, ONE ON THIS BANK OF THE RIVER AND THE OTHER ON THAT BANK OF THE RIVER.

V. 6 – AND ONE SAID TO THE MAN DRESSED IN LINEN, WHO WAS ABOVE THE WATERS OF THE RIVER, “HOW LONG WILL IT BE UNTIL THE END OF THESE WONDERS?”

V. 7 – I HEARD THE MAN DRESSED IN LINEN, WHO WAS ABOVE THE WATERS OF THE RIVER, AS HE RAISED HIS RIGHT HAND AND HIS LEFT TOWARD HEAVEN, AND SWORE BY HIM WHO LIVES FOREVER THAT IT WOULD BE FOR A TIME, TIMES, AND HALF A TIME; AND AS SOON AS THEY FINISH SHATTERING THE POWER OF THE HOLY PEOPLE, ALL THESE EVENTS WILL BE COMPLETED.

V. 8 – AS FOR ME, I HEARD BUT COULD NOT UNDERSTAND; SO I SAID, “MY LORD, WHAT WILL BE THE OUTCOME OF THESE EVENTS?”

V. 9 – HE SAID, “GO YOUR WAY, DANIEL, FOR THESE WORDS ARE CONCEALED AND SEALED UP UNTIL THE END TIME.

V. 10 – MANY WILL BE PURGED, PURIFIED AND REFINED, BUT THE WICKED WILL ACT WICKEDLY; AND NONE OF THE WICKED WILL UNDERSTAND, BUT THOSE WHO HAVE INSIGHT WILL UNDERSTAND.

V. 11 – FROM THE TIME THAT THE REGULAR SACRIFICE IS ABOLISHED AND THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION IS SET UP, THERE WILL BE 1,290 DAYS.”

* NOW GET THIS: DANIEL, LIKE JEREMIAH AND PAUL HAD A GLIMPSE OF THE SAME SETTING AND SCENARIO THAT JOHN SEES IN A VISION IN REVELATION 12:13-17 SPECIFICALLY A FUTURE TIME OF UNPARALLED DISTRESS, PERSECUTION AND SATAN GOING AFTER ISRAEL AGAIN.

** AND OUR TEXT TODAY DESCRIBES SATAN’S PERSECUTION OF ISRAEL IN THE LAST HALF OF THE TRIBULATION, THE GREAT TRIBULATION.

*** AND ALL OF MY INTRODUCTION TODAY WAS GIVEN TO FRAME AND PAINT SOME BACKGROUND FOR REVELATION 12:13-17, WHICH I’VE TITLED: “THE PERSECUTION OF ISRAEL IN THE GREAT TRIBULATION.”

**** AND UNDER THAT TITLE WE’LL LOOK AT 3 MAIN POINTS.

(8) NO. 1 THE CAUSE OF ISRAEL’S FLIGHT – PERSECUTION BY THE DRAGON, V. 13; NO. 2 THE CARE OF GOD FOR ISRAEL IN THE MIDST OF THIS PERSECUTION, VV. 14-16; AND NO. 3 THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE DRAGON’S RAGE, TO MAKE WAR AGAINST ISRAEL.

* AND WITH OUR LONG INTRODUCTION IN MIND TO SET THIS TEXT UP, LOOK AT REVELATION 12:13 WHERE WE’LL SEE OUR FIRST POINT TODAY, THE CAUSE OF ISRAEL’S FLIGHT.

I. THE CAUSE, V. (READ V. 13)

A. NOW IT’S IMPORTANT FOR US TO GO BACK TO V. 6, TO HELP US IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF V. 13.

* AND REVELATION 12:6 SAYS: THEN THE WOMAN FLED INTO THE WILDERNESS WHERE SHE HAD A PLACE PREPARED BY GOD, SO THAT THERE SHE WOULD BE NOURISHED FOR ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY DAYS.

** NOW V. 6 MAKES IT CLEAR THAT THE WOMAN FLED INTO THE WILDERNESS WHERE GOD HAD PREPARED A PLACE FOR HER TO TAKE CARE OF HER FOR 3 ½ YEARS.

*** AND I MADE MY CASE TWO WEEKS AGO ON WHY THIS WOMAN IS ISRAEL, WHICH I WILL NOT DO AGAIN, BUT IT’S CLEAR TO ME.

**** NOW AS WE COME TO REVELATION 12:13, THE REASON IS GIVEN TO WHY ISRAEL WILL FLEE TO THE WILDERNESS AND NEED GOD’S CARE FOR 3 ½ YEARS.

1. AND THAT CAUSE OR REASON IS, THE DRAGON – SATAN PERSECUTED THE WOMAN.

* AND THE VERB PERSECUTED BASICALLY MEANS TO PURSUE. AND HERE IN THIS CONTEXT TO PURSUE IN A HOSTILE SENSE, TO CHASE TO HUNT DOWN TO HURT, HOSTILE PURSUIT.

** AND THE CAUSE FOR THIS PERSECUTION WAS FOLLOWING THE DRAGON’S DEFEAT BY MICHAEL AND HIS ANGELS, HE WAS THROWN DOWN FROM EARTH (WHICH I TALKED ABOUT IN DETAIL LAST SUNDAY).

*** AND AS WE GO BACK TO V. 12 OF REVELATION 12 WE SEE THAT A WOE IS GIVEN TO THOSE ON EARTH AT THIS FUTURE TIME, “BECAUSE THE DEVIL HAS COME DOWN TO YOU, HAVING GREAT WRATH, KNOWING THAT HE HAS ONLY A SHORT TIME.”

**** SO FRUSTRATED AND ENRAGED BY HIS EJECTION FROM HEAVEN AND DESPERATE KNOWING THAT HIS TIME IS SHORT, THE DRAGON GOES AFTER THE WOMAN WHO GAVE BIRTH TO THE MALE CHILD – CHRIST.

2. AND IN ESSENCE WHEN THE DRAGON SAW HE COULD NOT REACH THE WOMAN’S SON, HE TURNED TO THE MOTHER TO TRY TO HURT THE SON THROUGH HER.

* AND BELOVED YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT ISRAEL IS HATED BY SATAN BECAUSE SHE IS THE CHOSEN OF GOD AND ESSENTIAL TO THE OVERALL PURPOSE OF GOD FOR TIME AND ETERNITY.

** TO EXPRESS IT ANOTHER WAY, NOT ONLY DOES SATAN HATE ISRAEL BECAUSE THROUGH HER THE MESSIAH CAME, BUT NOW GOD’S PROPHETIC PURPOSE IS TO SAVE HER AND SHE WILL HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN THE KINGDOM WHEN CHRIST RETURNS.

*** SO SATAN IN HIS DELUSION AND RAGE GOES AFTER HER TO TRY TO THWART GOD’S PROMISES TO HER ABOUT ALL THE KINGDOM PROMISES HE MADE TO HER IN THE O.T. AND KNOWING THAT HIS DOOM IS TIED TO THAT IN REVELATION 20, HE GOES AFTER HER.

**** AND I MUST PAUSE HERE FOR A MOMENT AND EVEN REMIND YOU FROM THE N.T. THAT RESTORING A LITERAL KINGDOM TO ISRAEL IS CLEARLY A PART OF THE PLAN OF GOD FOR THE FUTURE.

3. FOR EVEN IN ACTS 1, AFTER CHRIST’S RESURRECTION, JESUS WILL TEACH HIS APOSTLES THINGS ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD FOR 40 DAYS, AND HERE WOULD BE HIS OPPORTUNITY TO SAY TO THE APOSTLES, YOU’VE GOT IT ALL WRONG ABOUT A FUTURE LIT. KINGDOM TO ISRAEL.

* LOOK AT WHAT JESUS SAID IN ACTS 1:1-7.

** V. 1 – THE FIRST ACCOUNT I COMPOSED, THEOPHILUS, ABOUT ALL THAT JESUS BEGAN TO DO AND TEACH,

V. 2 – UNTIL THE DAY WHEN HE WAS TAKEN UP TO HEAVEN, AFTER HE HAD BY THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVEN ORDERS TO THE APOSTLES WHOM HE HAD CHOSEN.

V. 3 – TO THESE HE ALSO PRESENTED HIMSELF ALIVE AFTER HIS SUFFERING, BY MANY CONVINCING PROOFS, APPEARING TO THEM OVER A PERIOD OF FORTY DAYS AND SPEAKING OF THE THINGS CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

V. 4 – GATHERING THEM TOGETHER, HE COMMANDED THEM NOT TO LEAVE JERUSALEM, BUT TO WAIT FOR WHAT THE FATHER HAD PROMISED, “WHICH, “ HE SAID, “YOU HEARD OF FROM ME:

V. 5 – FOR JOHN BAPTIZED WITH WATER, BUT YOU WILL BE BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT NOT MANY DAYS FROM NOW.”

V. 6 – SO WHEN THEY HAD COME TOGETHER, THEY WERE ASKING HIM, SAYING, “LORD, IS IT AT THIS TIME YOU ARE RESTORING THE KINGDOM TO ISRAEL?”

V. 7 – HE SAID TO THEM, “IT IS NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW TIMES OR EPOCHS WHICH THE FATHER HAS FIXED BY HIS OWN AUTHORITY.”

*** NOW JESUS DID NOT CORRECT THE APOSTLES AND SAY GUYS, YOU’VE GOT IT ALL WRONG, HE JUST TOLD THEM, YOU DON’T KNOW WHEN THIS WILL HAPPEN.

**** AND BELOVED, SATAN KNOWS IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN FOR HE KNOWS WHAT THE WORD OF GOD HAS TO SAY, AND HE’S A BETTER INTERPRETER ON THIS ISSUE OVER SOME OF OUR DEAR BROTHER.

4. AND KNOWING WHAT HE KNOWS, HE WILL FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL TO THE BITTER END BY DESTROYING ISRAEL TO INTERRUPT GOD’S PLAN TO RESTORE A KINGDOM TO HER.

* AND HERE IN V. 13, WE SEE THE CAUSE OF HER FLIGHT. BUT MOVING ON, BEGINNING IN V. 14, WE WILL SEE GOD’S WONDERFUL CARE OF HER, GOD’S PLAN WILL BE FULFILLED. LOOK AT V. 14 PLEASE WHERE WE’LL START TO SEE OUR 2’D POINT TODAY, THE CARE OF GOD FOR HER.

II. THE CARE, (READ V. 14)

A. NOW SATANIC PERSECUTION IS ANSWERED BY DIVINE INTERVENTION.

* FOR GOD HAS A PLACE FOR HER THAT HE HAS DESIGNATED WHERE HE WILL NOURISH HER FOR 3 ½ YEARS, FOR TIME, AND TIMES AND HALF A TIME.

** NOW THIS EXPRESSION IS USED BY DANIEL IN DANIEL 7:25 AND AS WE READ EARLIER IN DANIEL 12:7.

*** AND THE WORD TIME IN DANIEL AND IN REVELATION, TALKING ABOUT TIME, TIMES AND HALF A TIME IS AN EXPRESSION OF A UNIT OF TIME.

**** TIME BEING ONE UNIT, TIMES BEING TWO UNITS, AND HAVE A TIME, HALF A UNIT, SO WE HAVE 3 ½ UNITS, WHICH MUST BE A LITERAL PERIOD OF TIME.

1. FOR THESE UNITS OF SPECIFIC TIME CORRESPOND TO THE SAME PERIOD ALREADY DEFINED IN REVELATION 12:6 IN THIS CONTEXT 1,260 DAYS OR 3 ½ YEARS.

* AND THIS DURATION OF ISRAEL’S HIDING IN THE WILDERNESS ALSO CORRESPONDS TO THE TIME PERIOD TALKED ABOUT IN REVELATION 11:2 AS 42 MONTHS – 3 ½ YEARS AND REVELATION 11:3 AS 1,260 DAYS – 3 ½ YEARS AND WHAT WE WILL SEE AS AN EXACT AMOUNT OF TIME GIVEN TO ANTI-CHRIST TO ACT AND DO HIS EVIL WORK FOR 42 MONTHS – 3 ½ YEARS.

** SO AS YOU PUT THE CONTEXT OF REVELATION 12:6&14 TOGETHER ABOUT ISRAEL AND WHAT DANIEL SAID ABOUT ISRAEL, AND THE TIME REFERENCES IN THIS CHAPTER BEFORE AND AFTER THIS IN REVELATION, REVELATION 11&13, IT IS CLEAR THAT TIME EQUALS A YEAR, TIMES EQUAL TWO YEARS, AND HALF A TIME EQUALS HALF A YEAR, PUT TOGETHER: 3 ½ YEARS.

*** THE TIME FRAME OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION, THE LAST 3 ½ YEARS OF DANIELS 70TH WEEK, THE TIME OF JACOB’S TROUBLE.

**** AND THAT’S HOW LONG GOD WILL SUPERNATURALLY PROTECT ISRAEL FROM THE DRAGON’S PERSECUTION TO FULFILL HIS ORDAINED PURPOSE.

2. BUT ALSO NOTICE HOW GOD WILL SUPERNATURALLY CARE FOR HER IN GETTING ISRAEL TO “HER PLACE.”

* “TWO WINGS OF THE GREAT EAGLE WERE GIVEN TO THE WOMAN, SO THAT SHE COULD FLY INTO THE WILDERNESS TO HER PLACE.”

** NOW ISRAEL WILL GO TO HER PLACE, GIVEN TO HER BY GOD ALMIGHTY.

*** AND THE EXPRESSION “TWO WINGS OF THE GREAT EAGLE” IS AN EXPRESSION, A PHRASE THAT EMPHASIZES DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL, AND I COULD SAY ANOTHER DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL.

**** FOR EXODUS 19:4 USES THE SAME BASIC EXPRESSION TO TALK ABOUT A DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL AT AN EARLIER TIME IN ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT.

3. AND EXODUS 19:4 SAYS: “YOU YOURSELVES HAVE SEEN WHAT I DID TO THE EGYPTIANS, AND HOW I BORE YOU ON EAGLES’ WINGS, AND BROUGHT YOU TO MYSELF.”

* AND THEN MOSES USES THIS PICTURE AGAIN TO SHOW GOD’S CARE OF HIS PEOPLE IN DEUTERONOMY 32:9-11 WHERE IT SAYS:

V. 9 – FOR THE LORD’S PORTION IS HIS PEOPLE; JACOB IS THE ALLOTMENT OF HIS INHERITANCE.

V. 10 – HE FOUND HIM IN A DESERT LAND, AND IN THE HOWLING WASTE OF A WILDERNESS; HE ENCIRCLED HIM, HE CARED FOR HIM, HE GUARDED HIM AS THE PUPIL OF HIS EYE.

V. 11 – LIKE AN EAGLE THAT STIRS UP ITS NEST, THAT HOVERS OVER ITS YOUNG, HE SPREAD HIS WINGS AND CAUGHT THEM, HE CARRIED THEM ON HIS PINIONS.

** NOW BEYOND WHAT MOSES HAD TO SAY, THE PSALMS REPEATEDLY USE THE DESCRIPTION, THE PICTURE, THE IMAGERY OF WINGS TO DESCRIBE GOD’S PROTECTION OF HIS PEOPLE.

*** FOR EXAMPLE IN PSALM 17:8 THE PSALMIST SAID: “KEEP ME AS THE APPLE OF THE EYE; HIDE ME IN THE SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS.”

**** IN PSALM 36:7 THE PSALMIST SAID: “HOW PRECIOUS IS YOUR LOVINGKINDNESS, O GOD! AND THE CHILDREN OF MEN TAKE REFUGE IN THE SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS.”

4. PSALM 57:1 SAYS: “BE GRACIOUS TO ME, O GOD, BE GRACIOUS TO ME, FOR MY SOUL TAKES REFUGE IN YOU; AND IN THE SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS I WILL TAKE REFUGE UNTIL DESTRUCTION PASSES BY.”

* PSALM 61:4 – “LET ME DWELL IN YOUR TENT FOREVER; LET ME TAKE REFUGE IN THE SHELTER OF YOUR WINGS.”

** PSALM 63:7 – “FOR YOU HAVE BEEN MY HELP, AND IN THE SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS I SING FOR JOY.”

*** AND THEN PSALM 91:4 SAYS: “HE WILL COVER YOU WITH HIS PINIONS, AND UNDER HIS WINGS YOU MAY SEEK REFUGE; HIS FAITHFULNESS IS A SHIELD AND BULWARK.”

**** AND BELOVED WITH ALL OF THESE SCRIPTURES IN MIND WE SEE IN PICTURESQUE LANGUAGE, THAT GOD CARES FOR HIS OWN, AND HOW IN REVELATION 12:14 WE SEE GOD’S SOVEREIGN CARE OF ISRAEL AND PROTECTING HER AS SHE FLIES INTO THE WILDERNESS TO GOD’S PRESCRIBED PLACE FOR HIM ON TWO WINGS OF AN EAGLE.

5. GOD HAS A REFUGE FOR HIS PEOPLE AND I REMIND YOU, HE IS OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH, A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TIME OF TROUBLE, PSALM 46:1.

* AND WHAT A JOY TO KNOW THAT, MAY WE REST IN THAT TRUTH, AND MAY IT BRING US GREAT JOY AND PEACE.

** THE LORD CARES FOR HIS OWN. BUT NOTICE AS WE MOVE ON TO V. 15, SATAN IS NOT A QUITTER, HIS RAGE DRIVES HIM AND HE DOESN’T GIVE UP IN TRYING TO DESTROY ISRAEL. LOOK AT V. 15 PLEASE.

B. READ V. 15. NOW WE CONTINUE WITH SOME FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE TO DESCRIBE LITERAL TRUTH IN THIS VERSE AS HAS BEEN THE CASE IN REVELATION 12 TALKING ABOUT SIGNS OR SYMBOLS AND PERSONAGES TO REPRESENT EVERYTHING FROM ISRAEL TO CHRIST, TO SATAN.

* AND HERE IT CONTINUES, THE DRAGON IS CALLED THE SERPENT AGAIN, WHICH IS SATAN, NOT A LIT. SNAKE, AND OUT OF HIS MOUTH COMES A GREAT FLOOD OF WATER, WHICH APPEARS TO BE SYMBOLIC ALSO.

** AND THE IMAGERY ONCE AGAIN DERIVES FROM THE O.T. AS A FLOOD SYMBOLIZES AN INVADING, DESTROYING ARMY.

*** FOR EXAMPLE, GOD DESCRIBES THE MILITARY MIGHT OF ASSYRIA ABOUT TO OVERWHELM ISRAEL IN THE DAYS OF ISAIAH AS A FLOOD OF MIGHTY WATERS OVERFLOWING IN ISAIAH 28:2.

**** THEN SIMILAR LANGUAGE IS USED OF THE BABYLONIAN ATTACKS ON JUDAH IN JEREMIAH 46:7&8 AND JEREMIAH 47:2&3.

1. AND THEN IN DANIEL 9:26, IN TALKING ABOUT THE PRINCE WHO SHALL COME (THE BEAST) AGAINST ISRAEL IS THE STATEMENT, “AND THE END SHALL BE WITH A FLOOD.”

* AND IT APPEARS TO ME THAT THIS FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF A FLOOD IS TALKING ABOUT AN INVADING ARMY THAT GOES AFTER ISRAEL.

** THAT THE SERPENT WILL SEEK TO CAUSE ISRAEL TO BE SWEPT AWAY WITH THE FLOOD; TO BE DROWNED BY IT, TO BE CONSUMED AND DESTROYED, TO ATTEMPT TO MASSACRE ISRAEL THROUGH AN INVADING ARMY.

*** BUT DIVINE INTERVENTION AND PROTECTION COMES THROUGH GOD’S CREATION – THE EARTH. LOOK AT V. 16 PLEASE.

C. READ V. 16. NOW ANOTHER SUPERNATURAL PROVISION PROTECTS THE WOMAN FROM THIS NEW THREAT FOR THE EARTH HELPS ISRAEL, THE EARTH WILL OPEN ITS MOUTH (MORE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE FOR THE EARTH DOESN’T HAVE A MOUTH), BUT THE EARTH OPENS ITS MOUTH AND DRANK UP THE RIVER WHICH SATAN – THE DRAGON POURED OUT OF HIS MOUTH.

* AND IT APPEARS TO ME THAT GOD USES THE EARTH AND CAUSES AN EARTHQUAKE, AND EARTHQUAKES ARE FREQUENT IN THE TRIBULATION, THAT GOD USES AN EARTHQUAKE TO SWALLOW UP THIS ARMY COMING AFTER ISRAEL.

** AND IMAGERY LIKE THIS IS USED IN THE O.T. AGAIN TO PICTURE GOD’S JUDGMENT ON THE ARMY OF EGYPT IN THE RED SEA AND THE DRAMATIC STORY OF KORAH AND DATHAN.

*** AND FIRST OF ALL WITH GOD’S DESTRUCTION OF PHARAOH’S ARMY IN EXODUS 15:12 SAYS: “YOU STRETCHED OUT YOUR RIGHT HAND, THE EARTH SWALLOWED THEM.”

**** AND THEN IN NUMBERS 16:31-33 WE SEE THAT AFTER MOSES FINISHES SPEAKING TO THOSE WHO REBELLED AGAINST HIM WERE CRUSHED BY GOD THROUGH THE EARTH OPENING AND SWALLOWING THEM UP.

1. NUMBERS 16:31-33 SAYS:

V. 31 – “AS HE FINISHED SPEAKING ALL THESE WORDS, THE GROUND THAT WAS UNDER THEM SPLIT OPEN;

V. 32 – AND THE EARTH OPENED ITS MOUTH AND SWALLOWED THEM UP, AND THEIR HOUSEHOLDS, AND ALL THE MEN WHO BELONGED TO KORAH WITH THEIR POSSESSIONS.

V. 33 – SO THEY AND ALL THAT BELONGED TO THEM WENT DOWN ALIVE TO SHEOL; AND THE EARTH CLOSED OVER THEM, AND THEY PERISHED FROM THE MIDST OF THE ASSEMBLY.

* NOW MY POINT IS IT MAY BE ONE OF THE FREQUENT EARTHQUAKES DURING THE TRIBULATION THAT WILL CAUSE THE EARTH TO SPLIT OPEN AND SWALLOW SATAN’S FORCES.

** BUT WHATEVER THIS FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE PICTURES, WE KNOW FOR SURE ABOUT THE TRUTH THAT GOD SUPERNATURALLY PROTECTS HIS PEOPLE THAT HE IS PREPARING TO SAVE AS JESUS RETURNS, SPEAKING OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS.

*** GOD WILL PUT HIS PEOPLE THROUGH THE FIRE AND PROTECT THEM IN THE PROCESS TO PREPARE FOR SPIRITUAL SALVATION THAT I TALKED ABOUT EARLIER IN MY INTRODUCTION WHEN ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED.

**** BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, THERE ARE JEWS THAT HAVE ALREADY BELIEVED, AT LEAST THE 144,000 ELECT JEWS IN REVELATION 7 AND REVELATION 14 AND SATAN WILL TURN HIS FURY TO SAVED JEWS AFTER THIS ATTACK FAILS.

2. LOOK AT V. 17 PLEASE WHERE WE’LL SEE OUR LAST POINT TODAY, THE CONSEQUENCES OF SATAN’S RAGE.

III. THE CONSEQUENCES, (READ V. 17)

A. NOW THE DIVINE PROTECTION GIVEN ISRAEL ENRAGED SATAN EVEN MORE, SO WHAT HE DOES IS HE REDIRECTS HIS ANIMOSITY.

* AND UNDERSTAND, THINGS HAVE NOT GONE VERY WELL FOR THE DRAGON.

** HIS PLAN TO DEVOUR THE CHILD – CHRIST FAILED, SO HE TURNS TO THE WOMAN, AND HIS DESIRE TO DESTROY ISRAEL FAILED, SO NOW HE GOES OFF TO MAKE WAR WITH THE REST OF HER CHILDREN, LIT. THE REST OF HER OFFSPRING, THE REMNANT OF HER SEED.

*** NOW OBVIOUSLY THIS REMNANT CONSISTS OF BELIEVERS, FOR THEY “KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND HOLD TO THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS.”

**** SO WHAT WE HAVE IS A REMNANT OF SAVED JEWS THAT HAVE ALREADY TURNED TO CHRIST AND RECEIVED HIM AS HER MESSIAH, ELECT JEWS SAVED AND SEALED BY GOD.

1. AND IT APPEARS TO ME FROM WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED UP TO THIS POINT IN OUR STUDY OF REVELATION, THAT THIS JEWISH REMNANT IS THE 144,000 SEALED BY GOD, 12 THOUSAND OUT OF EACH OF THE 12 TRIBES IN REVELATION 7:1-8.

* AND WE COME BACK TO THIS GROUP IN REVELATION 14:1 WHERE IT SAYS: “THEN I LOOKED, AND BEHOLD, THE LAMB WAS STANDING ON MOUNT ZION, AND WITH HIM ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND, HAVING HIS NAME AND THE NAME OF HIS FATHER WRITTEN ON THEIR FOREHEADS.”

** NOW IT APPEARS TO ME, THIS GROUP OF CHOSEN AND SEALED JEWS IS NOT TRAVELING WITH THE REST OF HER PEOPLE FOR THIS GROUP IS ON A MISSION AND ARE JEWISH EVANGELISTS COMMUNICATING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM.

*** SO SATAN CAN’T GET TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL BEING PREPARED FOR SALVATION IN THE WILDERNESS, SO HE GOES AFTER THE REMNANT WHO IS SAVED, AND POSSIBLY OTHERS BESIDES THE 144,000 WHO ARE TRUE BELIEVERS IN CHRIST.

**** AND HE DOES THIS FOR HE “WAS ENRAGED WITH THE WOMAN” ACCORDING TO V. 12 HERE.

2. AND THE WORD ENRAGED LIT. MEANS WROTH, FURIOUS, TO FLY INTO A RAGE. AND SATAN HAS GREAT WRATH AND IS DESPERATE KNOWING THAT HE ONLY HAS A SHORT TIME.

IN WRAP UP: (1) IT IS CLEAR AGAIN, GOD’S PROGRAM IS ON TIME AND HE WILL SAVE THOSE HE HAS CHOSEN, JEW AND GENTILE ALIKE AND HIS DIVINE ORDAINED PURPOSES WILL NOT BE FRUSTRATED BY HIS ARCH ENEMY – SATAN – THE DRAGON.

* BUT TO ME IT IS VERY INTERESTING TO SEE GOD’S SPECIAL WORK WITH HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE ISRAEL SPECIFICALLY IN THIS CONTEXT.

** AND THAT ISRAEL EXISTS IS AN APOLOGETIC THAT GOD EXISTS.

*** AND IF YOU GET ISRAEL RIGHT, YOU GET PROPHECY RIGHT. JOHN MACARTHUR MADE THAT STATEMENT IN HIS OPENING MESSAGE AT SHEPHERD’S CONFERENCE TO PASTORS THAT ARE A-MILL AND PRE-MILL.

**** IF YOU GET ISRAEL RIGHT, YOU GET PROPHECY RIGHT.

(2) AND FOR THOSE OF YOU DEAR BRETHREN WHO ARE STRUGGLING WITH A LITERAL KINGDOM FOR ISRAEL, LET ME ENCOURAGE YOU TO REVISIT THE MANY TEXTS DEALING WITH ISRAEL AS A NATION AS MEANS OF A KEY THAT UNLOCKS THE DOORS OF A CONSISTENT HERMENEUTIC FOR ALL THE BIBLE.

* TAKE THE SIMPLE PLAIN MEANING OF SCRIPTURE AT FACE VALUE UNTIL CONTEXT AND LANGUAGE COMMUNICATES THAT WE CAN TAKE IT FIGURATIVELY, LIKE OUR TEXT TODAY, BUT THAT UNFOLDS LITERAL TRUTH ALREADY COMMUNICATED IN THE O.T.

** BELOVED, THE BATTLE FOR THE BEGINNING IS ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT, AND WE TAKE GENESIS 1-3 LITERALLY OR YOU GET ALL MESSED UP AND INTO THEISTIC-EVOLUTION AND ALL KINDS OF THINGS.

*** DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, THE END IS IMPORTANT ALSO, IT IS NOT MUDDLED, AND WE TAKE THESE LITERALLY AND LOOK FORWARD IN HOPE TO CHRIST’S KINGDOM AND THE ETERNAL RULE AND KINGDOM OF GOD.

**** LASTLY, BE ENCOURAGED FROM THE TRUTH TODAY THAT GOD PROTECTS HIS PEOPLE, HE CARES FOR HIS PEOPLE AND HIS PLAN FOR HIS PEOPLE WILL NOT BE FRUSTRATED.

(3) STAND UPON HIS PROMISES WHEN YOU FEEL FORSAKEN, TURN TO HIS TRUTH AND LET HIM BE YOUR STRENGTH IN TIMES OF TROUBLE AND CALL UPON HIM AT ALL TIMES AND TRUST IN HIS GOOD PLAN.

* I CLOSE WITH 4 QUICK VERSES FROM THE PSALMS. READ PSALM 46:1, PSALM 50:15, PSALM 55:22 AND PSALM 62:8.