Jesus is coming. . .soon! Are you ready?

Jesus is coming. . .soon! Are you ready?

Do you believe that the Bible is the TRUTH?
READ the Slide — WHY do you believe this? How can you prove it?

Do you believe that the God of the Bible is REAL?
READ the SLIDE— HOW do you know this is true? You can’t see Him, feel Him, or touch Him — so how do you know? Just because someone told you? Do you believe everything someone tells you?

Do you believe that kangaroos once lived in the Middle East?
READ the SLIDE— Yes, Kangaroos I’m just checking out your worldview here. Did you really mean it when you told me that the Bible was TRUTH? Then did kangaroos ever live in the Middle East? Of course they did, if you believe in the Genesis FLOOD account. How did they get landlocked in Australia? — we can’t say for sure, but we can say that they were on Noah’s ark and departed from that ark after the flood, and so were at one time in the Middle East. What has this question got to do with anything here in Revelation 12??? — Plenty. It establishes whether or not we really believe what the Bible has to say.

“. . .that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan . . .” Rev. 12:9
Now, what about this character? Is he real? Does he exist somewhere other than in people’s active imaginations? Here in Revelation 12:9 we find four descriptive terms for this character : “serpent” ; “Devil”; and “Satan” — all three terms give us some clues about who and what he is.

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.” Rev. 12:9 Here we get another title for this character — “the dragon.”

Dragon Devil Serpent Satan
So now we have four separate names for this character — READ the SLIDE

Dragon — literally, a dragon or a very large serpent
Devil — one who slanders, accuses falsely

Serpent — a snake,. symbolically used. to identify someone
Serpent — a snake, symbolically used to identify someone who is cunning, sly Satan — adversary OK, adding this information together we get : (1) a dragon or snake that is very cunning and sly, that accuses and slanders, spreading lies, and is in general an adversary toward all Now, is this character literally a SNAKE? Then why is the term used here? Because in the Garden of Eden God’s adversary used a snake in a tree through which to entice Eve and cause her to doubt God’s word. (Gen. 3:1-5). This sly being that is talked about here in Rev. 12 and described by these four names demonstrated all these characteristics in that first story about him in Genesis 3. God’s adversary speaking through that snake falsely accused God, and through his sly, cunning talk made Eve doubt God’s word so that she took that fruit against God’s will for her. So we find that from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible we have this cunning, deceptive character who is working at cross purposes to God.

Dragon Devil Serpent Satan
Now, why is this character angry? What has caused him to become an accuser of the brethren? Was he always this mean, or was he mistreated in some way? Did God abuse him? What does the Bible say about him?

Lucifer READ the SLIDE — “Anointed cherub” — there are two orders of EXALTED angelic beings — cherubs and seraphs; these serve in the highest positions around the very throne of God in heaven; “ordinary” angels — if there is such a thing as “ordinary” angels — make up the army of God and are messengers and agents of God who carry out His will. Their highest delight is to serve their Creator. The title “anointed” means that the individual has received a position of honor that represents increased responsibility, and the language here underscores that it is God who has been the authorizing agent in this appointment — “I have set thee so.” This exalted position was a gift from God, not something naturally possessed by this angelic being. “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.” Eze. 28:14

Lucifer READ the SLIDE — This angelic being was created PERFECT — without any DEFECT at all (just like all the rest of the angels, and everything that God has created). He was in total conformity to God’s will and Law; but something happened and “iniquity was found” in him. Where did the iniquity come from? What is INIQUITY? Iniquity means that there has been a deviation from some right or proper/true standard. It denotes behavior that is contrary to what is known to be right and true. It’s a BENT toward SELF. So, at the beginning of this angelic being’s existence he was aligned with the truth, but at some later point he CHOSE to deviate from that standard. He knew what was RIGHT and willingly CHOSE to go some other way. THEN iniquity was “found” in him. What caused him to chose some other way? “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Eze. 28:15

Lucifer READ the SLIDE — He became PROUD of himself, of his beauty and of his wisdom, and of his exalted position. Well, a prideful attitude is bad enough, but it always leads to something much worse . . . “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.” Eze. 28:17

will ascend into heaven . . .
will exalt my throne above the stars of God . . . will sit upon the mount of the congregation . . . He developed a serious case of “I” disease — PLAY the SLIDE — And this “I” disease became contagious and spread among the other angels. That’s the way disaffection works and why it is so dangerous. One person complaining and bellyaching and talking bad about others very soon causes problems in the whole group where no problems existed before. This is the nature of sin. It’s infectious. And due to this rapidly spreading infection from one angel to another, all stemming from the insinuations originating in the mind of that exalted angelic being named Lucifer (which means “Bright Morning Star”), there arose such a tumult in heaven that all peace was destroyed. NEXT SLIDE — will ascend above the heights of the clouds . . . will be like the most High

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.” Rev. 12:9 READ the SLIDE — We’re going to sidetrack here just a minute on an important point We’ve got war going on, but we need to know Who’s on the opposing team; we’ve got Lucifer on the one side with all His angels who have all decided that Lucifer’s accusations against God are accurate, and then we have this MICHAEL mentioned here Who is MICHAEL?? — is He an angel? Let’s see what the Bible has to say about Him — it only takes three verses to figure this out. It’s very simple to understand this correctly NEXT SLIDE

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” READ the SLIDE — This is Christ speaking on the Sabbath day in the Temple to the accusing Pharisees who had condemned Him for curing the man at the Pool of Bethesda. Jesus went on and said — NEXT SLIDE — John 5:25

“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth . . .” READ the SLIDE — ALL that are in their GRAVES — ALL those persons who have died are in their GRAVES (except Moses and those who were resurrected at Christ’s crucifixion); they are not floating around on a cloud somewhere looking down on us here on earth NEXT SLIDE — John 5:28, 29

“. . . they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” READ the SLIDE — Clearly, Jesus is the one who is going to call people from their graves at the end of the judgment. Some to eternal life; some to destruction in the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:12-15). OK — that’s the first clue as to who Michael is : He’s the one who calls the dead from their graves NEXT SLIDE John 5:28, 29

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” READ the SLIDE — Now we find that the One who calls the dead from their graves is also identified as the ARCHANGEL — not AN archangel as though there were many archangels. What does “archangel” mean? Archangel literally means “chief angel” — He’s the one who is the Prince of the angels, the leader of the angelic army; it’s this identifier that allows us to know who it was that appeared to men in the OT, such as in the story of Moses and the burning bush when the “Angel of the LORD” specifically identified Himself as “Yahweh” (Exodus 3:2, 14 — “I AM has sent me unto thee”); it was the Angel of the LORD who withstood Balaam who was going to curse the children of Israel; and then there’s the story in Zechariah 3 where Joshua stands before the “Angel of the LORD” while Satan stands beside him accusing him; — the ANGEL of the LORD is the same Person as the Archangel who calls the dead from their graves, and Jesus said that was Him. NEXT SLIDE 1 Thessalonians 4:16 Revelation Chapter 12

“Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil He disputed about the body of Moses . . .” Clue #3 — here the find that the Archangel has a name = Michael. Now, there are not a multitude of archangels. There can only be ONE CHIEF or leader of the angels in heaven. Just as we don’t have more than one president of the USA, and companies don’t have more than one CEO; there’s only ONE CHIEF or ARCH Angel, and His name is Michael. The Bible says so. And this is what caused the problem we read about here in Revelation 12; it’s what caused WAR in HEAVEN. Because a created angel — obviously, the real Archangel, who is Christ Himself, is NOT a created Being, but is the Son of the Living God, as we read in that first verse in John 5:25 — the war came about because a created angel thought that he wanted to be the chief of the angels, taking the place of the Son of God who was the Archangel. Jude 9 Revelation Chapter 12

Michael is the Archangel Archangel calls the dead from their graves
Jesus said that it was He who would call the dead from their graves therefore . . . Summary — READ the

Michael is Christ READ the SLIDE —
But, wait What if there is more than ONE Michael in the Bible? Could that be so? There are 15 verses in the Bible in which the name Michael occurs : 10 are referring to real human beings; 4 of the remaining references to Michael are in the prophetic books of Daniel (3) and Revelation (1), and the last occurrence is what we already read in the Book of Jude. In the three verses in Daniel it is clear from the context that the Michael spoken of by Gabriel, who was the angel messenger to Daniel, is the same Person as the one here in Revelation 12 who fought the war with Satan in heaven.

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels . . .” READ the SLIDE — I’ve got a question : do you think there were swords and shields in heaven? What about light sabers, like in the popular movies (and even a recent video on this very verse we’re studying here today)? Do you think there were ANY kind of weapons or instruments that could injure someone or take the life of someone? WHY NOT? — because there had never been a NEED for such instruments in heaven, where all had been peace, love and perfect harmony between all the inhabitants who dwelled there. The only sword that would have been used in heaven was the SWORD of TRUTH, that double-edged sword that discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12). So here in Gustave Dore’s fanciful illustration of this war in heaven we find swords, but that is not the way it was. It’s just an artist’s imagination.

“. and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven
“. . . and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan.” Rev. 12:9, 10 And Satan and all the angels who believed all the lies that Satan had told them about God and about Michael the Archangel lost that battle in heaven, because TRUTH prevailed / triumphed over the LIES, so Satan . . . READ the SLIDE —

“And I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven . . .”
READ the SLIDE — These are the words of Christ spoken to His disciples when they had returned from their first missionary journey. They bragged to Jesus that “devils were subject unto us through Thy name” and Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” (Luke 10:17, 18). Satan and his angels “prevailed not” against the sword of truth; they could not stand in the presence of TRUTH with their hearts now turned to EVIL because of their rebellion against God. The Bible tells us that iniquity (or sin) is a mystery. But at its root is SELF and the desire to EXALT self over others.

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend [in] heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God . . .” READ the SLIDE — The literal translation here is “I will go UP in heaven” – ladder climbing idea; it is not saying that Lucifer will rise up INTO heaven, as though he were not already IN heaven; but that he desired in his heart to rise in position. This is borne out with the next phrase : “I will exalt my throne.” And the “stars” are not those glowing globs of fire in the sky; they’re angel leaders — those cherubs and seraphs that we mentioned already. Once Lucifer (Satan’s God-given name when he was created) decided that he was unhappy with the already exalted position God had given him, rebellion began to build in his heart; resentment took hold of his mind and festered like a nasty boil. Soon he was going around to the other angels whispering his discontent, raising doubts in the other angel’s minds about the character of God, and especially about that ARCHANGEL, Michael, who seemed to have more privileges than anyone else in heaven. It just wasn’t fair and that’s just how easy it is to spread discontent through gossip. Character assassination is very easy to do, and often is very costly to remedy. In this case, it cost the LIFE of the Son of God to remedy the problem created by this wagging tongue in heaven. Isaiah 14:12, 13

Invasion from Outer Space
Became lord of this world — usurped Adam’s place, stole the brithright which includes ownership of this world When Satan and his evil angels were cast out of heaven, where did they go? The whole universe was before them, they just needed to find a suitable place to invade. Someplace where they could continue their rebellion against God unhindered. Well, what do you know There just happened to be a brand new world, newly created from the Master’s hands. It was inhabited by only two persons, Adam and his wife, Eve. Invasion from Outer Space

Invasion from Outer Space
Became lord of this world — usurped Adam’s place, stole the brithright which includes ownership of this world “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth . . .” Rev. 12:13 READ the SLIDE — Now, I stopped the verse right where I did because the persecuting of the woman is not referring to what I’m next going to say about Satan; the rest of the verse is referring to Satan’s persecution of God’s church — that virtuous Woman we studied about in the last lesson. I just wanted to use this part of this verse to emphasize that Satan was cast down out of heaven to this world. There are three distinct CASTING DOWN events for Satan. (1) Casting down out of heaven to this world after he lost the war in heaven (2) Casting down at the Cross (vss. 10, 13) (3) Casting down into the abyss for the 1000 years (Rev. 20:1-3) Invasion from Outer Space

Work of the Devil on Earth
“And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1 READ the SLIDE — Cleverly worded question Do you suppose that Satan, now posing as this snake in the tree, knew EXACTLY what God had said? Was he confused about what God had said regarding the tree in the midst of the Garden?

“. . .but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Genesis 3:3 Eve said, Oh yes, we can eat of every tree , but — READ the SLIDE Did Eve get this right? Is this EXACTLY what God said to Adam?

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:17 What did God say? — READ the SLIDE —

“. . .but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Genesis 3:3 What did Eve add to what God said? Did it make a difference adding these words? It’s just a very minor thing Does it make a difference if we add to or subtract from God’s Word? I mean, that was what God INTENDED to say, wasn’t it? It was IMPLIED in what God said, right?

“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life” Revelation 22:19 READ the SLIDE — So we see here that changing the Word of God has some serious consequences. It could mean eternal destruction to the person who does it. We must be extremely careful how we handle the Word of God, how we interpret His Word, and how we relate the Word of God to others so that we don’t misrepresent what God has said in the Bible. Because Satan is ready and waiting to capitalize on our abuse of the Word of God. Just like he did Eve . . .

“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof . . .” READ the SLIDE — NEXT SLIDE

“. . . then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4, 5 READ the SLIDE — Did Satan tell a lie here? Christ called Satan a liar and the father of lies; and murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). So, did he lie here? Well, yes, and No. No, he didn’t lie when he said that Eve would NOT die for TOUCHING the fruit. He merely capitalized on her misstatement of God’s word and used it to cause Eve to doubt the Word of God. But, yes, Satan lied when he contradicted the Word of God by saying that Eve would NOT die if she ATE the fruit. He took the Word and twisted it, adding his own interpretation and then fed that back to Eve. Part lie, part truth. It only takes a small amount of some kinds of poison to kill. And lying is one of those deadly poisons. MORE COMMENTS on NEXT SLIDE —

“. . . then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4, 5 Were Eve’s “eyes opened” so that she knew good and evil? Yes indeed. Before she disbelieved the Word of God she had only known good; but now having listened to the sweet and logical sounding words of Satan and believing them instead of the Word of God, she now knew evil, too. She learned evil from Satan. He infected her with his evil mind. She no longer had the “mind of Christ” working in her. She had the mind of Satan and it brought an immediate change in her attitude toward both her husband and God. After Adam and Eve get through accusing everyone except themselves for the mess they were in, God stepped forward with the reality of the matter. It was no MINOR thing that had occurred. Serious damage had been done in more than one area. NEXT SLIDE —

Sold his birthright possession Became slave to Satan and sin Lost the “mind of Christ” Had enmity toward God READ the SLIDE — That’s quite a lot of damage from one little piece of fruit — or rather from one little LIE. The COST of that one little LIE was the life of the Son of God. It cost the precious life of the Son of God to give you back the freedom to choose whether or not you will believe God or believe the Devil.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. . .” READ the SLIDE — This verse is from the first chapter of Job, and it tells us several things : (1) There are other worlds with their “Adams” who are called “the sons of God” (2) There are occasional council meetings held in heaven and these representatives from the other unfallen worlds attend these meetings (3) At least at this one meeting, Satan was in attendance Do you believe the Bible is true? I ask this because the current view of the Book of Job is that it’s an allegory rather than a true story about a man named Job who lost all this children and livestock in one day. The modern theologians are teaching that this is a “universal” story that is meant to teach the universal theme of suffering, and can apply to any and every person at some time or another in their life.

“And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou
“And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD . . .” READ the SLIDE

“and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
Job 1:6, 7 READ the SLIDE — You see, Satan could make this claim because after he stole the birthright possession from Adam, he also assumed the role of representative of this world. When Adam sinned and placed himself under Satan’s control his lost the dominion that had been given to him by God from the creation of this world, then Satan became lord or prince of this world. Adam handed it over to Satan when he accepted the mind of Satan instead of the mind of Christ. From then on, whenever there were heavenly councils held in heaven, all the “Adams” from the other worlds were called to the meeting, but instead of Adam from this world attending, he was replaced by Satan who showed up as representative of this fallen world. And Satan is the Accuser of the brethren, and that’s exactly what he did when he went before the throne of God : unjustly accused God’s people, like he did of Job.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed . . .”
But God was not caught off guard by Adam’s fall. The everlasting covenant was in place from the foundation of the world. When Adam sinned that plan of salvation immediately went into effect, and Adam and Eve took another breath of fresh air and their hearts keep beating — they did NOT die because the Son of God stepped in to save them right then. The first Gospel promise was given right in the Garden of Eden. Speaking directly to Satan, the originator of the sin problem first in heaven and now on earth, Christ foretold of His own death as the atonement for sin. That Gospel promise is — READ the SLIDE —

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; He shall bruise [crush] thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15 READ the SLIDE — The same Hebrew word for BRUISE is used in both places and is translated in the KJV as “bruise” but the grammatical nuances indicate that the first use should mean CRUSH, as in “trample underfoot” and the second use of bruise means “grasping after.” “Heel” in the Hebrew means a rear area that is vulnerable to attack and in this usage of the word refers to the nature which Christ would assume in His incarnation : the fallen nature of Adam that was vulnerable to Satan’s attacks because it now had a bent toward evil. Satan could strike against Christ at that point — the fallen nature that He would take upon Himself, just as you and I as children of Adam all have; but Satan was unable attack Christ’s mind because Christ’s mind was submitted to His Father’s will. And therein was the source of Christ’s victory — and our victory, too — submission to our heavenly Father’s will.

“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”
John 12:31 READ the SLIDE — God gave Adam DOMINION over the whole earth, but when he sinned he handed control of this world over to Satan. When Christ died on Calvary’s cross He Redeemed what Adam had lost. Satan could no more enter the heavenly courts as representative of this world. Now, Christ is Representative and when the judgment is complete, Christ will give Adam back rightful ownership of this world. At the Cross the “accuser of the brethren was cast down” (Rev. 12:10). This is the SECOND “casting down” of Satan. The FIRST was from his heavenly position as the highest created angel, the second was his losing the right to enter heaven as the representative of this fallen world. There will be a final casting down when Christ comes to redeem His people. During the millennium Satan will be cast down and “chained” to this desolate earth for the 1000 years; no one left for him to tempt, to place to go that is not absolutely ruined by his evil. And he’ll have a 1000 years to think about all the damage he has done.

Work of Christ in Restoration
Atoning Sacrifice Liberation from sin Kinsman Redeemer That promise to Satan in the Garden included several components (more than we will cover here in this lesson) that all centered in the work of Christ as our Redeemer, Saviour, and King. READ the SLIDE — Work of Christ in Restoration

Christ Jesus is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” Rev. 13:8 READ the SLIDE — As soon as there was sin, there was a Saviour from that sin. God told Adam that “in the day” that he ate of the forbidden tree he WOULD DIE. God does not lie, God does not say things that have double or hidden meanings. Adam SHOULD have died that day. The only reason he did not die was because the Son of God, in keeping with the everlasting covenant that was made BEFORE sin entered, stepped between Adam and result of his rebellion — the death penalty. Christ took the punishment upon Himself and Adam (and thus the whole human race) was given a second probation. Work of Christ in Restoration

“And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:2 READ the SLIDE — Work of Christ in Restoration

“He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives”
Luke 4:18 READ the SLIDE — Without the work of Christ in behalf of the human race we would all still be slaves to Satan. But at the moment Christ’s promise in Gen. 3:15 was spoken, freedom of choice was restored to allow us to decide if we will listen to God’s WORD or to Satan’s word. We have freedom of choice to decide whether or not we want to remain slaves to Satan or to become servants of the Lord.

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Romans 6:16 READ the SLIDE — We have the choice whether we want to continue in sin or be free from sin through the power of the Gospel working in our lives. If we still have sin in our lives it’s only because we are unwilling to give that up to the cleansing power of God. Christ paid for that sin, if we keep it we are keeping back something that the Lord has already paid for and wants to take away. But He can’t take it away if we’re not willing to let Him have it.

Work of Christ “Heaven’s glorious ladder is let down in every man’s path, barring his way to vice and folly. He must trample upon a crucified Redeemer. . .” READ the SLIDE

Work of Christ “. . .ere he can pass onward to a life of sin But He who is infinite in wisdom compels none to accept Heaven's most precious gift . . .” READ the SLIDE

Work of Christ “. . . compels none to walk in the path which has been cast up at such a cost.” READ the SLIDE — You can throw away what Christ has already done for you and continue to live in a life of sin and misery if you want to, even though it makes no good sense to do so. But God forces no one; force, coercion and deceptive words are Satan’s way of compelling you into a life of sin. It’s how he trapped Eve in the Garden of Eden. Or you can cease your rebellion against the One who truly loves you enough that He gave His precious life for you that you might live eternally with Him. Since the penalty has already been paid, for you to continue sinning you will need to stomp all over that cross that has been placed as a barrier between you and your life of sin. It’s your free choice . . .

The Revelation of Jesus Christ
We’ll continue our study next time with Revelation chapter 12 taking a look at the remnant who hides in the wilderness.

Jesus is coming. . .soon! Are you ready?

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