Sermon Notes - Revelation 12:1-6 - The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon - Littleby Baptist Church - October 10, 2021

 1.     Chain of Events

a.      Seven Letters to the seven churches

b.     Six Seals

c.      A pause to look at the Sealed of Israel, 144,000 Jews from twelve tribes.

                                                    i.     As well as the multitude form every nation, tribe, people, and language that are sealed by God.

d.     The Seventh Seal with triggered the Seven Trumpets.

e.      Which the first Six hit the earth hard.

f.      Another pause as we looked at the Mighty Angel and John eating a scroll.

g.     Followed by the Two Witnesses who prophesied for 42 months.

                                                    i.     Were killed by the antichrist, but God raised them from the dead after 3 ½ days, then called them to Him.

h.     Then the Seventh Trumpet was blown.

                                                    i.     Instead of a Woe we see a high-level summary telling us that ‘the kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ’. (Rev 11:15)

                                                  ii.      A lot of details are skipped in chapter Eleven, but some will be revealed in chapter Sixteen.

2.     Chapters Twelve to Fourteen flow a little differently.

a.      They introduce those who play key roles in the Great Tribulation.

b.     The events described are believed to take place during the period of time that the Seven Trumpets are blown.

3.     Revelation 12:1-2

a.      A great sign appeared in heaven – a sign, a miracle, something that alerts people to pay attention as something is about to happen.

b.     A woman wearing the sun, moon, and twelve stars – Sound familiar?

                                                    i.     Genesis 37:9-10

                                                  ii.     If the sun is Jacob, the moon Joseph’s mother Rachel, and the 12 stars are Jacob’s 12 sons.

                                                iii.     The woman represents the people of God, with a strong case for it specifically being the Israelite people.

                                                iv.     Some will point to the fact that New Testament believers, us, would be grafted into the family of God so the woman would represent the whole of the Church.

                                                  v.     While I whole heartedly believe that we are grafted into God’s family, as we study this section of Scripture I think we will see that the woman is the Nation of Israel not all who believe in Jesus.

c.      The woman was pregnant and cried out as she was about to give birth – Some might say this is symbolic to the virgin mother giving birth to the baby Jesus.

                                                    i.     The symbolism might work if these two verses stood alone, but as we continue to work through this chapter that just does not fit.

                                                  ii.     The agony tied to the woman, the nation of Israel fleeing for 1,260 days as found in verse 6 tells us that the pain is the suffering that the 144,000 Jewish believers will face as time draws near to the Lord’s Second Coming.

4.     Revelation 12:3

a.      Another sign appeared in heaven.

b.     Great fiery red dragon – Satan, Revelation 12:9

                                                    i.     Red – representative of his fiery rage as a sower of hate and discontent.

c.      Ten horns – Daniel 7:23-25

                                                    i.     The fourth beast of Daniel.

                                                  ii.     Ten kings who reigned with the coming world ruler, the antichrist.

                                                iii.     Ten kings who ultimately give their authority to the antichrist.

                                                iv.     The antichrist is Satan’s henchman.

d.     Seven crowns – for each of the seven heads, the seven heads from the 4^th beast.

                                                    i.     In most of our translations the woman and the seven heads are all wearing ‘crowns’.

1.     The seven heads are wearing crowns as royalty would wear.

2.     The woman is wearing a crown or wreath as a victor would wear.

3.     Symbolism is lost in our translations, the kings may wear crowns but the woman, Israel, will be victorious in the long run.

5.     Revelation 12:4

a.      The dragon swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth.

                                                    i.     Satan wants to own the world for all of eternity.

                                                  ii.     He lashes out, and like other prophesy that has yet to play out there are a couple of thoughts on it.

1.     Satan knocks the stars from the heaven is a sign of him having some success in defeating angelic forces.

2.     Others say that John would have seen this as a representation of Satan’s power.

                                                iii.     Either way, Satan will wield power to influence the world and those in it during the end of days.  

b.     Dragon attempted to devour the woman’s child.

                                                    i.     Herod tried to kill Jesus when he slaughtered the male children born in and around Bethlehem around the time of Jesus birth.

                                                  ii.     Satan temps Jesus in the wilderness in hopes of getting Him to turn away from the Father.

                                                iii.      Satan wants to stop Jesus at all cost and will use every ounce of power that he is given to do it.

6.     Revelation 12:5

a.      Psalm 2:7-9 – Jesus is the Son in Psalm 2 and these verses in Revelation.

b.     A male who is going to rule – Jesus is eventually going to rule over all of creation.

                                                    i.     After His Second Coming He will be the Great Shepherd for everyone.

                                                  ii.     Every tongue will confess, and every knee will bow.

c.      Rule with an iron rod – When Jesus rules, He will not deviate from the Only Truth.

                                                    i.     He will rule as a righteous Lord.

                                                  ii.     He will not tolerate sin.

                                                iii.     He will not tolerate any form of wickedness.

                                                iv.     Grace will abound to those who have turned to Jesus, but Justice will fall on those who turn their back to Him.  

d.     Child was caught up to God to His throne.

                                                    i.     After Jesus birth, ministry, death, and resurrection He was taken up to heaven.

                                                  ii.     Mark 16:19 – Jesus was taken to heaven and sat at the right hand of God.

1.     He was caught up to God and to His throne.

7.     Revelation 12:6

a.      We are living in what is seen as the church era, which will come to an end.

b.     Here the woman, who is represents Israel, will flee into the wilderness, for 1,260 days.

                                                    i.     The woman = the remnant of Israel, the 144K from the twelve tribes.

                                                  ii.     The wilderness = a safe haven for those who have been afflicted.

1.     A place of rest for those facing persecution.

c.      1,260 days, a time, times, and half a time, 42 months, 3 ½ years = the second half of the Great Tribulation.

d.     The remnant of Israel will flee.

                                                    i.     They will be protected by God.

                                                  ii.     They will be nourished, meaning they will be prepared for what is to come.

1.     We normally think of this as rest, food, etc…

2.     But more importantly these will be Jewish people who have come to faith since the rapture or maybe their eyes were opened when the antichrist desecrated the temple of God.

3.     They will be nourished by learning the Word of God and truly seeing who Jesus is.

4.     I am sure the food, rest, and supplies will come with it, but the main focus is on them learning to trust in and follow Jesus.

8.     The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon.

a.      Israel, Jesus, and Satan.

b.     They all have pivotal roles in the future that is before us.

9.     We to have pivotal roles to play.

a.      2 Timothy 2:22-26

                                                    i.     We need to be pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace.

                                                  ii.     We need to be gentle, we need to teach, and we need patience.

b.     Pray for God to work in each of us as we go about His business.

c.      Pray that the Holy Spirit will open the eyes of those who still need to see His Truth.

d.     Pray for strength for those who are facing persecution.

                                                    i.     Pastor arrested in Canada for not shutting down the church.

                                                  ii.     People around the world being tortured and murdered because they will not renounce Jesus.

Pray for the Lord’s will to be done on this earth.