War in Heaven!

Revelation 12:7-13 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time." Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. We hear today about a war on terrorism; we hear about Palestinian wars, holy wars, in days gone by The Great War, The Cold War and so on war after war wars and rumours of wars. Never in all of history have we had a time of war after war such as we have at this time. Never before have we had such media coverage as we do today. Within minutes of a conflict breaking out you are taken right into the hostility and the graphic details and horror are broadcast right into your living room but tonight there is only really one war as all other wars are really only battles which are by products of this great war between God, His Christ and Satan with his fallen angels. There is one war and we have read about it just a few minutes ago. Gods word of truth says in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 7... And war broke out in heaven: Now there is no doubt that the book of the Revelation is the most graphically detailed and controversial of all the books of the Bible. It is also the only book that you are promised a blessing every time you read it... Rev. 1:3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. There are truths in this book that are hard to comprehend but what you have to realise is that much of the book of Revelation is written in great symbolism. The man who wrote it, the Apostle John, was banished for being a Christian to a rugged island called Patmos in the middle of the Aegean Sea. Everything he wrote was censored and scrutinised so he wrote a lot of the time in symbols. What I want to do tonight is to define for you the meaning the message and the magnificence of this amazing portion of Gods own word. There are 3 main characters in this chapter; The Dragon, The Woman and The Child. The Dragon is identified in verse 9 as Satan... Rev. 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. God wanted you to know clearly who this dragon was. He didnt want you to be in any doubt as to his identity. Rev. 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan... Satan was cast out of heaven and 1/3 of the angels with him. There was an uprising and Satan tried to ascend to the throne of heaven. The Bible says that he did not prevail and was cast out of heaven into the Earth. Dont get it into your head the devil lives in hell because he doesnt, he will be 1

sentenced there one day soon but he is working here today, right here on earth. His seat of power is right here on earth today and thats why the Bible calls him The prince of the power of the air. Ephesians 2:2 and says that He is the ruler of the darkness of this present age Ephesians 6:12. The second character in Revelation 12 is A Radiant Woman Rev. 12:1-2 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars... All these are symbols of her position, privileges and power Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. This woman symbolises the true church Old and New Testament. Was there a church in the Old Testament? Yes there was when you understand that the church is the community of believers thats why... Acts 7:38 A.V. says This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and [with] our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: The Church this woman represents is the true church, the community of believers going right back to the beginning and right up to this present day. The community of true believers through which the Saviour will be presented to the world and continues to be presented today. Rev. 12:4 says.. ...And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. We know this from the days of Christs birth with king Herods great sanctioning of the death of all the infant males in Bethlehem. Revelation 12 told us of that and tells us that the Dragon, Satan himself, was the one behind it. Rev. 12:4 ..And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, To devour her Child as soon as it was born. Revelation 12:4 ...And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.(NKJV) The third character here then The Child is undoubtedly the Son of God Saviour of the world Rev. 12:5 says... She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron... Dont take the word woman here literally and think that this woman was Mary. It wasnt the time scales mentioned in Revelation 12 show us that this was not a literal human woman but this child was born who would be the ruler of the earth and take dominion from the Dragon and all that the dragon does cant stop Him, all that Satan possesses cant deter Him. Brothers and sisters thats just a little of the meaning of this chapter but there is a great message here that I want to centre on for a while. A message that we need to know and learn about because it speaks of our world today and what is happening in it. Look what we are told about Satan. He is cast out and he deceives the whole world 2

Rev. 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world... Satan deceived the world from the beginning. We see it with Eve in the garden and with Cain in the murder of his brother. In the people of Noahs day where the Bible says that none of them did good, no not any and with Sodom & Gomorrah creating a entire homosexual society; they even tried to rape angels. Deceived! And we still see it today deceiving intelligent men into believing that they came from monkeys, deceiving young people into thinking that they have to waste themselves, deceiving men into thinking that they were born of the wrong gender, deceiving those who have been abused, into thinking that they must abuse in return and deceiving millions into assuming that life is about making money and hording material possessions. All being deceived thats the truth tonight, thats what is going on in the world right now. We see it way back in the Old Testament with Gods people Israel. No matter what miracle God brought their way, no matter what sign or wonder the devil succeeded in deceiving them. They constantly turned their back on God and they constantly listened to other voices. He came into the camp introducing idols and they would worship those idols and even said these are the Gods which brought up out of bondage. How deceived they allowed themselves to become and Satan succeeded in destroying a whole nation that had seen and witnessed the greatest miracles in all of history. They were all totally deceived and when you trace it all down through history you find how Hinduism came along 4000 years ago, then Buddha, Confucius then Mohamed and the rise of Islam and in modern times with the various cults there are around and how many millions of people there are who are have been deceived into following these things, all being deceived, all the deception of the devil. You trace it into the precincts of even the so called present day Christian church where many are deceived by the modern day doctrines of good works, religiosity and even the prosperity teaching we have around at the minute. Watch it closely enough and you can see the deception of the enemy diverting people from the cross, diverting from the way of repentance, thats his strategy, thats his plan and I tell you its all from one source and we need to understand that and waken up to it. Rev. 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives The whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. But not only is he bent on deceiving he also tries to devastate the woman mentioned here i.e. The Church. Rev. 12:15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. This is a flood of evil and let me tell you for some of you dont know it. There has never been the like of what has befallen on the Christian church across the pages of time. An estimated 50 million Christian martyrs. They were burned at the stake, fed to lions, set on fire to light Neros garden. Millions of them 10s of millions of them. Rev. 12:13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. Rev. 12:15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.

And Look at the onslaught against the church today. People might not be dying as martyrs today in this country but in many other lands thousands are dying for Christ every year. Im thinking about another angle of attack closer to home and that is the slur on the Church. Have you noticed how many clergy men are being identified and convicted as paedophiles today? Men of the cloth, leaders of the church and people out there who are lost and who know something is missing in their lives are looking at that and saying that the last place I want to ever go is a place of worship, the last place I want my children to go is there. Im telling you its from the dragon these men are of the devil no question about it 100% they are, I dont care what they were, I dont care what they call themselves Jesus said... Beware of wolves in sheeps clothing Matthew 7:15 Listen to this verse... 2 Cor. 11:14-15 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. Look what they are called his ministers not Gods ministers they are of the evil one. What we have seen infiltrating the church is what we have read about in Revelation 12 Rev. 12:15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. Have you noticed that every Christian ever portrayed on soap opera is weird? Its all against the church, why? Because he doesnt want her to present the Saviour to the world with any kind of effectiveness. Not only that but the flood of evil we are witnessing in the world is coming from the dragons mouth. He knows his time is short... Rev. 12:12 ...Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time." And evil upon evil upon evil is spewing from him right now. Thats what you are reading in your news papers and thats the images your seeing on your local news I saw something on Thursday night that appalled me; a pensioners face beaten so much that her family couldnt even recognise her thats what you are listening to at your tea time news hour. Almost every report and incident and we wonder what is going on, what on earth is happening? Im telling you what is going on Satan is on the earth today and he is busy! Thats the message people need to know, thats what they need to be enlightened to. So where is God in all of this what is God doing and why doesnt God do something. Thats a question thats asked 1000 times every day. Friend God has done something! What did He do? Send an army from heaven, send Michael (the Arch Angel) swith legions of celestial warriors with him? No He sent a baby! God came down in the form of a baby and notice where He came down to; He came to the earth, He came to were the battle is raging and this is what I have called the magnificence of this portion of Revelation because Satan couldnt stop the child being born. All the powers of darkness couldnt stop it. God Himself came down and took on flesh and entered the battle for us right into the middle of the devils territory, right were he had been successful for centuries and thats the day the battle changed and God said Im taking command, Ive got me a captain and Im going to raise up an army and then something else happened because on the cross He bled for the world and His blood fell and it fell on to the battlefield and thats what made the difference, thats what turned the tide. 4

Hebrews 2:14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil... Rev. 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony... The devil was destroyed on the earth right in the midst of his territory. The devil was destroyed by the sacrifice of the cross and thats why he will do anything to divert people away from there because the cross is the place of victory. Satan is not sentenced yet; his sentence is in stages until we read... Rev. 20:10. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Now we are in a time when men, women and young people who are born might hear the gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ and what He offers and might believe it and live forever more. The evil rages today but our deliverance is not far away... Romans 13:11 ...knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. You might think Im crazy talking about dragons and the like but Im not. Heres the magnificence of this. Rev. 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And let Living Hope do what she was called to do. To present her Saviour, to present Him well and introduce Him to a lost world. Lets do it even though the fury of Satan is against us because He will not stop us He cant stop us!

Amen