“The Dragon” Persecutes “The Woman”

Transcript

GR 1543
10/18/09
“The Dragon” Persecutes “the Woman”
Revelation 12:13-17
Gil Rugh

In our study together we're focused on what does the future hold for the nation Israel and there are some difficult times ahead. To appreciate and understand what God is doing and going to do with Israel in the future you have to appreciate the fact that Israel is the only nation that God has chosen for Himself. That will not change. The only nation in the past, the present or the future that God will ever select to belong to Himself as a nation. I don't think this is difficult to comprehend and understand, I'm not sure why there is so much confusion, even among professing believers. But it seems to me the Word of God is clear.

I want to take you back to the Old Testament and just review a few passages beginning in Genesis 12 with the Abrahamic Covenant. This is the foundational covenant that God established with Abraham that provided for the nation Israel to be His unique people. It also provided for a Savior and through that Savior to provide salvation for Gentiles. That was true from the beginning. Genesis 12 opens up, now the Lord said to Abram, go forth form your county, from your relatives, from your father's house to the land which I will show you. I will make you a great nation, I will bless you, make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, the one who curses you I will curse. In you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Foundational promises given to Abraham, his descendants, blessings to come to Abraham and his descendants, ultimately to the descendant who would be Christ, and blessings for all the families of the earth, not just the physical descendants of Abraham.

Over in chapter 13 we have this covenant reiterated several times. Verse 14, now the Lord said to Abram, lift up our eyes and look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward and westward. For all the land which you see I will give to you and your descendants or your seed forever. And I will make your descendants, your seed, as the dust of the earth. Now let me say something here. Some take this to mean, seed is singular, Galatians identifies this as Christ. Therefore all the promises to the seed are fulfilled in Christ and all in Christ become the people of God. And there is no future for the nation Israel. I was reading one man's book on hermeneutics, he said Christ is the fulfillment of the land because when we come to believe in Him we dwell in Him, when we dwell in Him we're dwelling in the land. Right? So you spiritualize everything. Being in the land means being in Christ. Well you note what Abraham is to do. Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are northward, southward, eastward, westward, all the land which you see I will give to you. That's not talking about the person of Christ and some kind of spiritual picture. I mean God is not trying to trick Abraham in promising something. Look around, all this land, all you can see will be yours. Oh I fooled you, I meant My Son would be the spiritual fulfillment of the land and you would be spiritually in Him and you're not going to get what you saw after all. I mean, what kind of hope do we have if that's the way God would deal with us? It's more like someone pulling tricks on someone. I will make your descendants, your seed as the dust of the earth so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can be numbered. Walk about through the land, I will give it to you. I mean, that is a physical land given to a physical people. It will be theirs.

Genesis 15. Abram is struggling because God had given him these great promises for all these physical descendants he is going to have and that's how Abram understands. Go back and forth between Abram and Abraham because he is still Abram, but we know him more familiarly as Abraham, God is going to change his name. I have a problem. Sarah and I are getting old and we've never had even one child. Don't you think you ought to get us started, Lord? I guess the heir will be my trusted servant. God tells him at the end of verse 4, the One who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir. Look toward the heavens, count the stars if you are able to count them. And He said, so shall your descendants be. You know he's not looking here at spiritual descendants because Abram thinks God should fulfill this in a nonliteral way. It will be my servant who is in my house and will have the children that will be my heirs, but I won't have any kids. No, it has to be physical descendants to fulfill this promise. So he believed in the Lord and God credited to him as righteousness, that great verse. Genesis 15:6, he believed the Lord, the Lord credited him with righteousness because of his faith.

Then down in verse 12, Abram is instructed to get certain animals, split them in two and lay one half of the animal one side and one on the other and you have a path between them. The Old Testament expression for making a covenant is literally to cut a covenant. You cut these animals and birds in two, you lay the halves on each side, you have a path, the two parties to the covenant walk through. Now they are bound by that agreement. We have our way of doing contracts, that's the way it was in Abraham's day. Verse 12, the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abraham. Terror and darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs. You'll note if you have marginal notes, all these instances for descendants the marginal note says seed, singular. And often they are referring to his physical descendants as you have it translated. They will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, they will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years. I will also judge the nation where they will serve and afterward they will come out with many possessions. This will take a while, you won't see it because the iniquity of the Amorites, the people in the land of Canaan is not ready for judgment.

It came about, verse 17, when the sun had set that it was very dark and behold there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. That's tremendously important. Abram is asleep, he doesn't pass through these divided sacrifices. God does in the form of a smoking oven and a flaming torch. Do you know what that means? God alone has obligated Himself for the fulfillment of all the provisions of the covenant He made with Abram. That should take care of any issue—well Israel was unfaithful, Israel crucified their Messiah. Therefore the promises now are fulfilled differently than they might have otherwise been fulfilled. No, you don't understand. God Himself is solely responsible for the fulfillment of this covenant. If it fails to be fulfilled as He stated, God has failed. There is no question that Abraham failed himself, his descendants failed. But understand that doesn't change the fact that God has to fulfill the covenant. Can't change it, can't alter it. It has been fixed. And on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying, to your descendants I have given this land, from the River of Egypt as far as the Great River, the River Euphrates. Can God get anymore specific here? Then He goes on to enumerate the peoples who are populating the land, but you are going to get it. I mean, these are concrete, tangible land promises. The Jews never understood it any other way. The prophets who would prophesy hundreds of years after Abraham only understood these promises one way. Additional revelation cannot change or alter these promises. They might clarify them, they might add to them, but they can't change them.

Look at Genesis 17. We don't have time to read all of this because Abraham is now 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. I am God Almighty, walk before me and be famous. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, I will multiply you exceedingly. God changes his name in verse 5 from Abram to Abraham, he's going to be the father of a multitude of nations and that happens through children that he will father, apart from the child of promise. Like Ishmael and then with his second wife in Genesis 25, Keturah, he fathers children who become the fathers of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, I will make nations of you, kings will come forth from you. Verse 7, I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your seed after you. I will give to you and your seed after you the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. I will be their God. Abraham can understand having a child with another woman, but God says that can't fulfill the promises. He's going to make Ishmael a great nation, but that can't fulfill the promises. It has to be the child that is born to you and Sarah.

This is My covenant, verse 10, that you shall keep between Me and you. The sign of the covenant now is given, the sign of the covenant is circumcision. And that's to mark Israel off as belonging to God. This is the sign of an everlasting covenant with them, the end of verse 13. As for you wife, Sarah, verse 15, her name as Sarai is changed to Sarah and He is going to bless her, she'll have a son and so on. And then the whole account, this is amazing, and Sarah is dumbfounded that such a thing could happen. And so you have the sign of the covenant. All that, you see the promise, you see how tangible and concrete they are, the promises of blessing to the physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah. That includes the provision of land. Now the nation Israel will rebel, will be disobedient. That's not new. God will punish and judge them, but He can never abrogate His covenant that He has established.

Turn over to Deuteronomy 4, in anticipation of going into the land after the deliverance from Egypt and so on. Verse 1, now oh Israel, listen to the statutes and judgments which I am teaching you to perform so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord your God has given you. You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandment of the Lord your God which I command you. Now come down to verse 25, when you become the father of children and children's children and remain long in the land, and act corruptly and make an idol in the form of anything and do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God so as to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live on it but will be utterly destroyed. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you. There you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. Note this, when you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. That's getting us down to where we are in the book of Revelation, in the latter days. For the Lord your God is a compassionate God, He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them. That can never be off the table, so to speak.

Turn over to Deuteronomy 30. Now what leads up to chapter 30, read chapters 27 and 28, verse 58. If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you. All kinds of plagues, sicknesses, illness, diseases, judgment, devastating punishments and so on. Come down to chapter 30 verse 1, and it shall be when all these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you and you call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. Again here is Israel under the judgment of God, removed from the land, scattered among other places in the world. And you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, have compassion on you, will gather you again from the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. And verse 6, moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your hearts, the hearts of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul so that you may live. No matter how devastating and complete the judgments are, there will be a remnant. They may be few in number, but the ultimate end for Israel is salvation, physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah will experience the salvation of God, will have their hearts circumcised. That speaks of their cleansing, their purifying. And they will inherit all the promises including the land.

Jeremiah, we'll limit ourselves to this. I know we are studying Revelation, but hopefully our repetition will help fix things in our minds so that we'll not be led astray. In Jeremiah 30, anticipating the time that we are picking up on in Revelation. Verse 5, thus says the Lord, I have heard the sound of terror, of dread. There is no peace. Ask now and see if a male can give birth. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in childbirth? Why have all faces turned pale? Alas, for that day is great, there is none like it. It is a time of Jacob's distress. Now we see the worst of the worst, where we are in Revelation 12. That's what is prophesied here. And he'll be wiped out and never exist again. No, and he will be saved from it. And it will come about on that day declares the Lord of Hosts that I will break his yoke from off your neck, will tear off their bonds. Strangers will no longer make them slaves. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king whom I will raise up for them. Fear not oh Jacob my servant, declares the Lord. Do not be dismayed oh Israel. For behold I will save you. And on the promises go.

Come over to chapter 31, the promises of the new covenant. Verse 31, the days are coming declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. See this is not a replacement for the Abrahamic Covenant, an irrevocable covenant. It's a replacement for the Mosaic Covenant, the Mosaic Law which was added 400 years after the Abrahamic Covenant and was temporary until the coming of the Messiah, who would establish the foundation for a new covenant with the nation Israel.

Verse 33, this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them, on their heart I will write it. Same thing as we read in Deuteronomy, I will circumcise their heart. I will be their God, they will be my people. You'll note he makes this covenant with, verse 33, the house of Israel. I was reading work this week and the man was saying the problem with dispensationalism, they interpret everything literally. I think that's the thing that is right about it. We see distinction between Israel and the church because God has made promises to Israel. Look at verse 31, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Verse 33, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel, put My law on their heart, write it. I will be their God, they will be My people. And then they won't have to teach about the Lord because everybody will know it, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their iniquities, their sin I will remember no more. Note this, thus says the Lord who gives the sun for light by day, the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night and stirs up the seas so its wave roar. The Lord of Hosts is His name. You understand I am the God who controls it all. When I say something it stands. If this fixed order departs from before Me, declares the Lord, then the offspring of Israel will cease from being a nation before Me forever. Thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured, the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off the offspring of Israel for all they have done, declares the Lord. I mean, you can't sever My relationship to Israel. People are confused about that today, the devil is not confused about it. He knows he cannot break the relationship God has established with Israel so his whole purpose is to try to destroy the nation Israel, futile as that is.

Come over to Revelation 12. Matthew 24 speaks of this time, but we'll go right to Revelation 12. We are in the last seven years leading up to the return of Christ. God is completing His program with the nation Israel so that the kingdom He promised to them can be established. The 70 seven-year periods that will result in Israel being ready to enter into a kingdom of righteousness on this earth, as Daniel 9 talked about. Satan has battled in heaven with Michael and he has lost, so Satan and his angels have been cast out of heaven. They no longer have access to heaven, no longer can be in the throne room of God accusing the people of God before God. When Satan loses this battle in heaven he knows that time is running out, verse 12 told us that. For this reason rejoice oh heaven and you who dwell in them, woe to the earth. I mean, heaven rejoices because heaven realizes time is now short, we are near the kingdom. Woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you having great wrath, knowing he only has a short time. But he still is not willing to concede. Understand, people in hell won't even be wishing they would repent. I mean, the devil is relentless. That has become clear as we see him bound for a thousand years and the first thing that happens to him when he is released from the abyss where he has been bound for a thousand is he tries to lead a rebellion against God and against His Christ.

So that's where we are, the devil has come down, he has great wrath. This will be a time when the devil can pour forth, he's called the dragon here, his fierceness, his awfulness in attempting to a degree never before allowed by God to destroy the nation Israel because he understands. People claim to be Bible students, Bible scholars, talking about that God has replaced the nation Israel with the church. The devil is not fooled, he knows the only hope for frustrating God's plan is to prevent the kingdom from being established. The only way to do that is try to get rid of the Jews. He tried to get rid of the Messiah but that only accomplished the purposes of God.

We talked about the fact that all anti-Semitism is rooted in this and every unbeliever is anti-Semitic at heart because they are all children of the devil and even the good things done to the Jews ultimately are not the true expression of a fallen heart. And that will become clear more fully in the tribulation.

We pick up with verse 13, and when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. This picks up what was said in verse 6. Now verse 5 said, the woman, now the woman remember was Israel. It's not Mary, it's not the church, it's the nation Israel. The woman gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God in heaven. That's what happened with the ascension in Acts 1, after the crucifixion and resurrection He was caught up to heaven. Now the devil can't attack Him anymore. There is to this point a period of about 2000 years between verse 5 and verse 6 of Revelation 12 because we're carried now to the persecution of Israel. There has been persecution down through the last two millenniums, but we're carried to the end time.

The woman fled into the wilderness where she would have a place prepared by God, there she would be nourished for 1260 days. That's where we pick up in verse 13 with the persecution of Israel who gave birth to Christ the Messiah. But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place. So much of the Jewish nation flees to the wilderness where she was nourished for a time, times and a half time from the presence of the serpent.

Come back to Matthew 24:15. We'll get to the details of this. We're getting pieces, in chapter 13 we'll more of the pieces about what is talked about by Christ in Matthew 24:15. Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the Holy Place. Let the reader understand. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not get down to get things out of the house. This is how urgent it is. If you are fixing the roof or you are sitting up on your flat roof relaxing and you hear about the abomination of desolation in the temple, don't even go back down into the house to pack a quick bag and get out. You just start running now. That's how quickly the persecution is going to overtake you. Verse 21, then there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world unto now nor ever will be, and unless those days have been cut short no life would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect Christ will intervene.

So when you come back to Revelation 12, the two wings of the eagle were given to the woman so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place. We'll talk about the two wings of an eagle in a moment. Where she was nourished for a time, times and a half time. That time, times and a half time comes from the book of Daniel. It is the same period of time as at the end of verse 6 in this chapter. There in the wilderness she would be nourished for 1260 days. The time, times and a half time is that half of 7—3½ -year period, or 1260 days. Or when we get to chapter 13 verse 5, the one who set up the abomination of desolation in the Holy Place that Christ talked about in Matthew 24, 42 months. You see we're talking about a literal period of time. People think, you don't take the numbers in the book of Revelation. I mean, how did God get through to us? Time, times and a half time, we would get the idea that's half of the seven-year period we're talking about. If you don't get that, 1260 days. If you don't get that, 42 months. It couldn't be any clearer. This will be God's time when wrath will be poured out from Satan to attempt to destroy the Jews with an intensity that has never been seen. And in the ravaging of the earth, others will be destroyed.

We get a glimpse of it in our recent history with Germany under Hitler and the destruction. I've shared, in one of the recent history programs we're talking about he's in his bunker, Germany is destroyed, he's on the brink of his own destruction, he's consumed with trying to get the Jews destroyed still. I mean, there is an irrationalness about it. So this destruction and wrath is the same, it's going to impact the whole world. You understand he has one purpose. Because until I have annihilated the Jews I can't stop the plan of God. And I have to destroy the world as long as I get the Jews destroyed. I can go from there. There is turmoil and destruction, you add to this the wrath of God from heaven being poured out on an unbelieving world, and it is going to be time like we've never seen.

The two wings of an eagle, this picture is drawn from the Old Testament. It pictures God's intervention to provide His supernatural deliverance for His people. Come back to Exodus 19. Verse 1, in the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out from the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. And then Moses goes up to meet God on the mountain and the end of verse 3, thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel. You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to Myself. Now then obey My voice, and so on. You see that picture of God's deliverance. It is symbolic, a picture. Like an eagle swooping down and picking them up and carrying them away so that their enemies couldn't get to them and destroy them. Here are the Egyptians.
Look in Deuteronomy 32. Here is the song of Moses and a similar picture about the faithfulness of God and how He has cared for His people and delivered them. We'll just pick up with verse 11, like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young. He spread His wings and caught them and carried them on His pinions. Picturing God's care and deliverance of His people. Again we read about the two wings of a great eagle and people come up with some marvelous ideas about that. We ought to just go back to the Old Testament and what is pictured here, how God delivered His people. He did it in the past and He'll do it again in the future. It will be divine intervention that will enable a remnant in Israel to be spared the destruction that Satan and his antichrist have determined for the nation Israel.

She'll be carried to the wilderness, flees to the wilderness. But it's not her ability to flee, it's God's supernatural intervention that enables her to find hiding in safety in the wilderness, perhaps in the region of Edom, perhaps the city of Petra. The rock city of Petra that some of you have visited. We're not told the specific location but that region with its mountainous areas and terrain could be a possibility because you are fleeing from Jerusalem and the land of Israel. That would be a region that would be reasonable. But that kind of area at least, God has provided as a sanctuary. And He is going to deliver a remnant of His people that will be spared the destruction that the devil and his antichrist are pouring out on the world.

Come back to Daniel 7. We are in the prophecies relating ultimately to the establishing of the kingdom on the earth. We'll be in this section when we get into chapter 13 as well, but you see where we are carried to in this vision in verses 13-14. I kept looking in the night vision, behold with the clouds of heaven One like the Son of Man who was coming. He came to the Ancient of Days, was presented before Him. To Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, His kingdom one which will not be destroyed. It replaces earthly kingdoms. We're not talking about a spiritual kingdom in the hearts of men, this is an earthly reign that replaces the prior kingdoms of the world.

You come down to verse 25 and here you have the Antichrist, the little horn, the beast that we're going to see in Revelation 13. He'll speak out against the Most High, wear down the saints of the Highest One. He'll intend to make alterations in times and in law. They will be given into his hand for a time, times and a half time. That's the same period noted in verse 14 of Revelation 12—time, times and a half time. But judgment will come on him and then the sovereignty, verse 27, the dominion, the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the saints of the Highest One. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, all the dominions will serve and obey Him. I mean, these are things that are going to take place on this earth. To spiritualize it and somehow with the death of Christ all this stuff now is redone. No, it's just in line, the book of Revelation telling us, here's where we are now. We come down to the last time, times and a half time.

Go to Daniel 12. And Michael the great prince stands guard over the sons of Israel, Daniel's people, verse 1. You come down to verse 7, how long here until the final completion of this and preparation for the kingdom? It would be for a time, times and a half time. And when you get down to verse 11 we're told there will be 1290 days, and blessed is the one who comes to 1335 days. I thought it was 1260 days. Well, we'll talk about why there is an additional 30 days, an additional 45 days. We have judgments that take place and all of that before the kingdom, following the return of Christ. But you see the time span we are talking about. They are all closely linked together.

Come back to Revelation 12. So Israel flees to the wilderness, to her place where she was nourished for a time, times and a half time in the presence of the serpent. In I Kings 17 Elijah was fleeing from Ahab and Jezebel and Jezebel's wrath. And what happened? He was taken to the wilderness and God commands the birds of the air to bring food to Elijah. They nourished Elijah, took care of him in that period of time. What happened to Israel in the wilderness? God provided manna, God provided quail in Exodus 16. All pictures of how God would provide. So here in this wilderness, how are they going to eat? God will provide nourishment for them. They are in her place, the place God has prepared. They will be nourished, protected and cared for by God. From the presence of the serpent. The serpent according to Revelation 12:9 is the dragon, the devil, Satan. And his desire to destroy the nation.

Verse 15, and the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman so that he might cause her to be swept away with a flood. What does this mean? Well it could be a literal flood. We know from the book of Job that Satan has power over the elements. He sent a storm, a great wind, and destroyed the house where Job's children were so that they were killed. He has that kind of power. So that's possible. But I think there is reason to believe that this is a picture drawn from the Old Testament as well. In the Old Testament a flood is used to picture the army of the enemy coming and overwhelming the land like a flood overwhelms the land.

Come back to Jeremiah 46:7, who is this that rises like the Nile, like the rivers whose waters surge about? So a picture of the Nile and a flood, how it overruns its banks and floods the land. Egypt rises like the Nile, even like the rivers whose waters surge about. He has said, I will rise and cover that land. I will destroy the city of its inhabitants. Go up, you horses, drive madly, you chariots that the mighty men might march forward. You see it’s a picture of the armies of Egypt coming out like the flood of the Nile and like the Nile in flood stage before they did the dams and so on. It would flood out over its banks and cover the land. And so the armies of Egypt are going to come out and flood out like flood waters to bring destruction.

In Jeremiah 47:2, thus says the Lord, behold waters are going to rise from the north. Evidently here talking about the armies of Babylon who would come across over the Fertile Crescent and down from the north into the land. The waters are going to rise from the north and become an overflowing torrent and overflow the land and all its fullness, the city and those who live in it. And the men will cry out and every inhabitant of the land will wail because of the noise of the galloping hooves of his stallions, the tumult of his chariots, the rumbling of his wheels. So you see that picture of invading armies just coming like a flood overwhelming. And Psalm 124:2-5 give a similar picture. We won't take time for that.

So you come back to Revelation 12. I think with that picture there is reason to interpret this again as a picture drawn from the Old Testament. Just like the wings of the eagle were used in the Old Testament to picture God's deliverance of His people from their enemies as He swoops down and carries them off, so the flood here coming out from the mouth of the serpent probably refers to the armies of the beast in Revelation 13 that will be sent out in full force to try to overwhelm the fleeing Jews and destroy them. It wouldn't be any problem if there is a flood that comes from Satan power, a literal water flood, but from the pictures of the Old Testament being used here it would seem that most likely it refers to the armies of the beast who as the counterfeit Christ has one task, one primary task as the agent of Satan. And that is to destroy the Jews so Satan can establish his kingdom with his people. And that can't happen until the Jews are destroyed.

Verse 16, but the earth helped the woman, the earth opened up its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. Again, if it's a literal water flood, the Lord causes cracks in the earth and the water goes down. But again the picture here would seem to come from the Old Testament, we're not going to go back there. You remember Korah and his family, the enemy of Moses and Aaron's leadership in Israel, Numbers 16:30-33. There God opened the earth and swallowed them up. Numbers 26:10, Deuteronomy 11:6, Psalm 106:17 all refer to that event. And that may be a picture of God opening up the earth to swallow the armies and the armies of the antichrist move in an attempt to overwhelm the Jews and God brings an earthquake, splits the earth apart supernaturally and armies are consumed that way. Their plans are frustrated and God is determined His people will be protected. I mean, you just can't overwhelm God and God is determined to put His protection on Israel. What did Satan say about Job? I can't touch him, you put a hedge about him. As powerful as Satan is, when God puts the hedge it's done. When God determines to protect His people and here it would seem that He may use the supernatural means of opening the earth and thus devouring the armies so that they are frustrated in their purposes.

Verse 17, so the dragon was enraged with the woman, who is Israel. His rage is still there because Satan knows that as long as the Jews exist, the promises of God for a kingdom for His Son to rule over can be fulfilled. So he's enraged with the woman, so he went off to make war with the rest of her children. We're still talking about Jews here who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus. Basically his attempt is to destroy the Jews wherever he can find them. He may not be able to get to this remnant. Some commentators think this is the 144,000 that as a result of their testimony have now fled for the supernatural protection of God and that's why when we get a little later over to chapter 14 we will see the 144,000 on the mountain with the Lamb because they have been supernaturally preserved. And that's why I think there is a reason to say that, we'll see that when we get to chapter 14. That protection.

But there are Jews to be found in other places, we have to get them. We may not be able to get to this group, but we'll get to the rest and we'll come back and get these. I mean, the plans to get this Jews hidden in the rocks and mountains and the wilderness have been frustrated by God. So now he turns his attention to finding Jews wherever he can find them. And this will be a persecution of Israel like nothing has ever been seen. This will come as close as Satan could have come to annihilating the Jews. Only the divine intervention of God prevents it.

You'll note, the rest of her children, the Jews, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. We're talking about salvation occurring among the Jews here and the result of the judgments of God. That's what is going on. Remember, these seven years are to bring the nation and bring the Jews to salvation. And there are Jews turning to Christ, but many of them will pay with their lives, as many people who are saved from other nations are going to as well. But this is particularly a time of God preparing the nation Israel to receive the Messiah and through this period of time many of those are going to see the hand of God in this, the fulfillment of their scriptures and they're going to be turning to the Lord. But there is a small group relatively speaking who are under the divine protection of God in those preserved wilderness areas.

These believers are associated with those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. The word commandments here doesn't mean they are keeping the Old Testament. The Greek word for commandment here, entole, it's used by John 14 times in I John. It never one of those times refers to the Old Testament law. It's talking about the commands of Christ here. You remember in John 14-15, if you love Me you will keep My commandments. Not talking about the Mosaic Law, not if you love Me you will keep the commandments of Moses. If you love Me you'll keep My commandments. The obedience to Christ because we have come to believe in Him and now serve Him as their Lord, as their Messiah, as the One who will be their king.

They hold to the testimony of Jesus and they're going to pay with their lives. There will be a remnant of Israel saved, but many Jews are going to die during this time of wrath. But many of those Jews who die will have placed their faith in Christ.

This prepares the way for chapter 13. Remember what we're getting is the picture for the key things during the last 3½ years. Now we have to look in chapter 13 and see the little horn, to see the prince who is to come that is going to have an agreement with Israel that he will break, the one responsible for the abomination of desolation in the temple, the one who is the false Christ that all in the world must worship, must declare their allegiance with a mark that will identify the people as his followers, his subjects or you won't be able to buy or sell. Now we get an idea of how that could take place in the world with where we have come today. That picture, piece of the picture now will be elaborated. Much of it is drawn from the book of Daniel and now there is a more complete picture given. Doesn't change anything in the book of Daniel, understand. Later revelation does not alter or change prior revelation. It may clarify it, it may add to it so we have a fuller understanding of it. But understand when we are done with the book of Revelation we'll find that nothing was changed that was prophesied in the book of Daniel. Now we understand more fully what was prophesied in the book of Daniel, for example, but nothing is changed. We just keep some of these simple principles in mind, the scripture comes together. God intends it for simple people like us. You don't have to be a major scholar with multiple doctorate degrees and so on to understand the Word of God. You understand it was given for His people to understand. It takes the ministry of the Spirit in the heart of a believer to get that understanding, but God wants us to know. Remember the blessing is promised to those who read the book of Revelation and obey it, live in light of it.

So that's a great encouragement. Marvelous, the plan of God that is unfolding. So all the plans for peace in Israel, we'll see they are just fragile, superficial plans of the devil to try to lure the Jews into his trap so that he may by some means frustrate the plans of God. But our God is sovereign, His kingdom will be established.

Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you that you are sovereign over all and in the turmoil and confusion of the world as we would look at it, your hand is at work and every piece is in place as things are moved along to the climax of history. We look forward to the return of our Lord and Savior to gather us into your presence so that this final stage of your plan for your people Israel can be brought about, the end result being your Son will rule and reign in the kingdom on this earth, with the Jews as the central people. And we'll rule and reign with Him. We live our lives each day of the week before us in light of what you have told us about coming events. We pray in Christ's name, amen.