REVELATION 12 BEHIND THE NATIVITY SCENES2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 12 Behind The Nativity Scenes

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017.

Well, this morning we are here in Revelation chapter 12, and I'm sure you can kind of guess and understand a little bit. This is not the typical Christmas passage, and maybe not what you expected when you showed up for church this morning. In fact, last week I specifically said, I don't plan to teach from the book of Revelation on Christmas Eve. But then as I was reading through the chapters this week, I

I realize that the Christmas message is here in the book of Revelation, here in chapter 12. It's the Christmas story from a slightly different perspective. I've titled the message this morning, Behind the Nativity Scenes. And it's really a behind-the-scenes look

And we're, you know, familiar with the nativity scene and the picture of Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus in the stable where Jesus was laid in a manger. And we are familiar with that. We understand that picture. And here in Revelation chapter 12, the Lord pulls back the curtain.

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I was thinking of some behind-the-scenes examples, you know, for us as far as movies are concerned. And the only behind-the-scenes examples I know are Star Wars references. So I apologize if that's not exciting to you. But in The Empire Strikes Back, Harrison Ford was about to go and be frozen in the carbonite. And as he is about to be dropped down, Leia looks to him and says, I love you. Now the script...

called for Harrison Ford as Han Solo to say back, I love you too. But Han decided, I can't say that. That's not what Han Solo would say. And so they worked through and Harrison Ford is just ad-libbing behind the scenes, you know, like, you know, off the script. You don't see this on the movie itself. In the movie, he says, I know. But that wasn't his script.

That wasn't what he was told to do. That was just what he did at the moment because I Love You Too did not feel right. And so I appreciate that behind-the-scenes look. And it gives a little bit different perspective on the character as well as the actor there in that movie. Well, in a similar way, we're looking at the nativity. And we're getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse at some of the things that were going on and the things that might not be apparent from what we know of the Christmas story.

And so the Lord is pulling back the curtain and he's revealing this scenario. Now, as he does here in Revelation chapter 12, you'll notice there's some symbolism involved. There is signs that John sees and these signs or symbols give to us great depth of understanding. Signs and symbols are a way to communicate complex truths in a simple way. And so these symbols have meanings.

It doesn't mean that we get to assign whatever meaning we want and make it say whatever we want. These meanings are given to us in the scriptures, and so we can learn a great deal about the scene and what is going on as we dig into this passage here in Revelation chapter 12. We learn what these symbols mean today.

what these symbols mean, sometimes because we're just told this is what this symbol represents. This is what this sign is showing. And sometimes the context shows us the meaning of the symbols and signs. Sometimes we learn it from other passages that correlate and correspond to what we're reading. And sometimes the signs and symbols are

We just don't know what they are. And so as we look into this, we'll see that the meanings are clear as we are looking at these different aspects of signs and symbols and what the Lord is saying here. So behind the nativity scenes, an inside look at what was going on as the Lord brought together this scene of Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus on the night that he was born. We'll jump into act one.

Found in verses 1 and 2, and that is, God prepares to reveal the Savior. The first part of this scene unfolds as John is there catching up this vision, and the Lord has opened up the heavens for the apostle John, and now he sees this sign in the heavens. In verse 1 it says, Now a great sign appeared in heaven.

Now again, John specifically says this was a great sign.

So this is not the literal, he saw a woman, and he's not specifically even saying, I saw Mary about to give birth. Mary, you know, betrothed to Joseph. I saw that woman. He's describing a sign. This is a vision, a symbol that he sees of this woman who appears in heaven. And there's some characteristics about this woman that helps us identify who she is.

He says that she is clothed with the sun, the moon is under her feet, and on her head is a garland of 12 stars.

These details in this sign give us some hints. Now, later on, as we look at the context, there's further hints and revelation about who this woman is, but jumping to the point, jumping to the conclusion, this sign, this symbol of a woman is a reference to the nation of Israel. We can learn that one way from Genesis chapter 37, where in the life of Joseph, not the Joseph story,

who is married to Mary, but Joseph from the Old Testament, who had 11 brothers, who was sold into slavery, who later became second in command over all Egypt. But we know that account of Joseph and that story of Joseph. Well, early in Joseph's life,

the Lord revealed to him some of the things that he was going to do through dreams. And that's one of the things that Joseph was noted for, for having dreams, but also interpreting the meaning of those dreams that were given by God. And in chapter 37 of Genesis, Joseph has a specific dream. It tells us in verse 9 of Genesis 37 that he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, look,

I have dreamed another dream, and this time the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars bowed down to me. Here the Lord gave Joseph a promise.

glimpse of what he was going to do when he would be in charge of all Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. That later on, his family would move down to Egypt and would live under the authority of Joseph. And so the sun being a reference to his father, Jacob, the moon being a reference to his mother, and then the 11 stars that he has in his vision are his 11 brothers. And

Now with Joseph, that makes 12 altogether. Now there's some important things that you need to remember. Jacob, Joseph's dad, is also named by God, Israel. And Israel, Jacob, has these 12 sons who become the 12 tribes of Israel. That is, it is from Jacob, from Israel, that we get the nation of Israel.

It's the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob who is Israel who become the nation of Israel, the Jewish people that God has been working with throughout all of history. And so you have these 12 sons represented by these 12 stars.

You have the father and mother represented by the sun and the moon. It's a reference to Jacob and his family, which becomes the nation of Israel. And so as John the apostle sees this vision of a woman who is clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head, a garland of 12 stars, there's these connections back to Genesis chapter 37, where we're reminded that

that this is the nation of Israel. God has used this imagery for the nation of Israel back in chapter 37 and now here in Revelation chapter 12. Well, it also becomes further even more clear as we work our way through the passage. But moving on to verse 2, it says, And so here you have this woman who is pregnant, right?

Now again, it does parallel very nicely with the image of the nativity where you have Mary about to give birth and the census was given and so she had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem and there there was no room for them at the inn and so she and Joseph are in the stable but it was time for her to give birth and so she brings forth her firstborn son, she names him Jesus, she wraps him in swaddling clothes and she lays him in

in a manger. And we have this picture and this understanding of what took place with Mary. And here John says, I saw this similar type of thing unfold. Again, he's not exactly picturing, he's not exactly seeing Mary, but he's seeing that parallel as the nation of Israel comes to a similar circumstance where they're in labor pains about to bring forth a child. And

And here John is speaking about the plan of God to bring forth a savior for the world. This child is that promised savior that God has been promising from the very beginning. And God specifically promised that this savior would come through the nation of Israel.

You might remember that Abraham is the father of the Jewish people. He's the father of the Israelites. And in Genesis chapter 12, verse 3, God gave Abraham a promise. He said, I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Here, God gives Abraham this promise. Abraham, in you, all the families shall

the earth, all of the families throughout all history will be blessed because it's through you that this Savior that I've promised is going to come. And again, it was Abraham and then Isaac and then Jacob and his 12 sons. And God promised to each one of them, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would bring the Savior, the Messiah, through their families.

Then later on, he promised it to David. And he said that the Messiah would come from the line of David. He was the lion of the tribe of Judah. God had a plan from the very beginning to bless all of humanity, to redeem all of humanity, to bring salvation and the opportunity of forgiveness to each one of us through the nation of Israel.

And John gets that pictured here in this woman who is with child and she's crying out now in labor pains. And the idea here is that as you get close, you know, then it's time where everything is fully developed. Everything is at the right time. And then that's when those pains begin and labor begins to produce the birth that is to follow. And in a similar way, the Lord has been moving in the nation of Israel throughout history.

And they've gone through many different scenes and scenarios and different things as a result of the working of God. And by the time of Joseph and Mary, the nation of Israel is under subjection to the Roman Empire. And there's oppression there, but there is also the key time, the key element for the gospel to spread is the roads of Rome and the one language of Rome. And so there is this exact right time where Jesus is brought forth.

Everything is fully developed. God's plan is in, you know, on target and everything is in line up to this point. And so now there comes the crying out in labor. Now is the time. Now is the time to bring forth the Savior that God has promised. And the coming of Jesus there on that night with Joseph and Mary fulfilled hundreds of prophecies.

in the Old Testament. Details about this promised Savior, where he would be born and how he would be born and the circumstances of his life. And there was the fulfillment of all of these things that God has said because it was that exact right time where the Savior was to be born.

And so here in act one, we see that preparation. God prepares to reveal the savior. He brings the nation of Israel to the point where now it's time to bring forth from Israel, the one who will save all mankind, the one who will die upon the cross for our sins. Well, that brings us now to verse three and four. And here we get act number two, and that is Satan tries to destroy the savior.

It's not that surprising that there is an enemy. Not that surprising that there is an attack against God and his work. And as much as God loves mankind, loves you and I, and wants to bless us and forgive us and give us his best, there is an enemy who tries to prevent that. And we see that unfold here in verse three. It says, and another sign appeared in heaven.

Here is the nation of Israel is brought to this point where the Savior is ready to be revealed and

Satan has readied himself to put an end to God's plan so that as soon as it happens, he's ready to bring destruction. John says, I saw another sign.

And so here we have the sign of the woman. And now there's another sign, a new sign that appears in the heavens. And it's this fiery red dragon. It gives us this picture of imminent danger, great threat, bloodshed, and hatred, and animosity, right? Now we have the antagonist to the story here as the red dragon comes on the scene.

He has seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his head. And I'm not going to get into the details of all the elements of this vision. But he has great authority. He has great power. And he is coming against this plan of God.

Now, this dragon's identity becomes very clear as you skip down a couple verses to Revelation 12, verse 9. Here it tells us, 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.

And so we don't have to wonder and be really perplexed about who this dragon is because the Lord reveals it in just a few verses. This dragon is that serpent of old. That serpent of old is a reference. It's a call back to Genesis chapter three, verse one, where there is Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. They're in this perfect garden with perfect fellowship, perfect harmony with God, perfect communion with God.

But then this serpent comes on the scene and he begins to cast doubt upon the word of God and what God has said. And he approaches the woman and said, has God indeed said that you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And so the scene unfolds and Adam and Eve disobey God and lose their perfect status with God, perfect standing with God and are broken in their fellowship with God because this serpent of old is

This is the dragon. He also goes on to clarify here in verse 9 that he's called the devil.

We use this name still to this day. We call him the devil. Now, it's not just his name, but it really is a description. The word devil means accuser. He is the accuser of the brethren, we're told throughout the scriptures. You can see an example of that in the book of Job.

where Satan goes before God and says, have you, or God says, have you considered Job? And Satan says, Job only worships you. He only honors you because you bless him. But if you don't bless him, he will curse you. He's accusing Job of not being faithful. He's accusing Job. He will not survive the test. And God allows the test. And Job passes the test.

But it's the devil who is there accusing Job and continues to accuse the brethren. He continues to accuse you and I before God and saying, no, they're not right. They don't deserve your grace. They don't deserve your goodness and so on and so forth.

He's also called Satan, it says here in Revelation 12, 9. Again, Satan is not just a name, but it is a description of how he operates. The word Satan means adversary. He is, as we often refer to him, the enemy. He is the one who is working against us.

the people of God, the work of God, the plan of God. He is the enemy, the ultimate enemy, the one who wants everything that God doesn't want and wants to destroy everything that God does want. He is working and doing his best to defeat and destroy the plans of God, including the work of God in bringing forth the Redeemer, the Savior, through the nation of Israel.

And so it tells us here in verse four, the dragon stood before the woman who is ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. It gives us this picture of Satan, all set, ready. He's set himself up so that as soon as the Savior is revealed, as soon as the Savior is born, he'll be able to take him out.

Satan is doing everything that he can up to that point to try to be prepared and be in the right place and have everything set so that he can destroy the plan of God. This is something that Satan has tried over and over and over again. One of the classic examples of that is in the book of Esther, right? There was the plot to destroy all of the Jewish people.

because Haman, one of the leaders at the time, was upset because Mordecai, a Jewish man, would not bow before him. And so he writes a law. He gets the king to sign it. All right, it's legal. It's lawful. It's encouraged. Everybody kill the Jews around you. That's what unfolds there in the book of Esther.

It's not just Haman's plot. It's not just, you know, Haman's issue. This is a work of the enemy because if the enemy wipes out the nation of Israel back in the book of Esther, well, then the Savior never comes on the scene.

Then God's promise of a savior is never fulfilled if the Jews are killed off before that comes to pass. And Satan has been trying this over and over and over again. And here on this day, as Joseph and Mary are there and Jesus is about to be born, Satan is poised. He is set to bring an end to the plan of God. He is set to try to overthrow God's work. He stands before the woman saying,

who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. Now we see a plan unfold to that end. As, well, your nativity scene, perhaps if you have one set up in your home or maybe in your yard, you have the picture of Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus. You probably have the stable. You might have the shepherds there. And you also probably have the wise men, right? Those three wise men.

of our traditions. Now, we don't actually know that there were three, but there were three gifts that they brought. The Magi, the wise men. We learn about them in Matthew chapter 2.

They see this star come on the sky that is unique and unusual, and they recognize this is the work of God. This is a signal of something that God has done. And so they begin to travel far from the east to Jerusalem. They arrive in Jerusalem, and it is something that is noteworthy. It catches everybody's attention. And all of Jerusalem is stirred up because here is this caravan of these men from the east traveling.

these wise men, these magi, and they come before Herod and they say, where is the king of the Jews that has been born? We've seen his star. Now Herod, who is the ruler of the area at the time, he was not a good guy. And he, when he was threatened in his authority, he always dealt with it very severely and harshly. And he is noteworthy as far as his cruelty towards

people were concerned. And he was paranoid. It was said that it was safer to be a pig than a relative in his household because he wouldn't eat pig, but he would kill his relatives, no problem, if there was any hint or threat of them turning against him. And so he was not a good guy. But these wise men don't know that. So they come and they say, where is the king of the Jews? We heard that he's been born.

Now, Herod is not happy about this whole idea of someone else being the king of the Jews. No, my authority, that's what matters. But Herod plays along. He calls in the Jewish leaders. He says, all right, where is the Messiah? Where is the Savior supposed to be born? And they look up in the book of Micah that the Savior is to be born in Bethlehem. And so Herod comes back to the wise men and says, all right, here's what the scriptures say. The Messiah, the Savior is going to be born in Bethlehem. Go there.

But when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him also. But Herod had no intention of worshiping Jesus. He wanted to find out

So that he could put an end to this one who is called the king of the Jews. But the Lord warns the wise men. And in Matthew 2, verse 16, they go a different way. And it says, Then Herod, who when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry. And he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts from two years old and under, according to the time which he determined from the wise men.

This great massacre happens. Now, again, calling your attention back to verse four, the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. Here is not Herod's plan. Yeah, it's Herod's plan to some extent, but this is inspired by the dragon who is seeking to take out the savior, God's plan, God's messiah.

And so Herod, because the wise men didn't come back and tell them exactly where Jesus was, he says, okay, just to be safe, we just got to take them all out. We got to kill all the kids in the area. Everybody in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas, two years old and under, just kill them all.

Now, we don't know exactly how long it took for these wise men to get there. We don't know how old Jesus was at this point. I would suggest Jesus was probably around a year old, and then Herod just rounded up, just better safe than sorry, right? Let's just cover our bases, make sure it's, you know, we catch everyone that is potentially this king, because I don't want anybody challenging my throne. And because the dragon is there seeking to wipe out the plan of God. So right there,

The birth of Jesus Christ soon after

There is this attack. Now, the Lord had warned Joseph, and so they had escaped to Egypt before this attack took place, and so they were nowhere around, and they were safe during this incident. But this was the workings of the dragon of the enemy. Now, it wasn't just that. Remember, these are signs and symbols, and so as he sees this woman and the dragon trying to devour the child as soon as it's born, that's not just that moment, that night or the several months that followed, but

But this extends to the life and the ministry of Jesus Christ. Satan failed in this attempt, but he did not give up. And as Jesus began his ministry in Luke chapter 4, we see Jesus led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. And it tells us there that in the wilderness, Jesus is tempted by the devil for 40 days. He goes through this time of testing, this time of tempting in the wilderness for 40 days.

And after those 40 days, he has not eaten. He's hungry. And then come the final three temptations of that time.

And those are the ones that usually, you know, we see and we focus on. The stones, Satan says, why don't you turn those to bread because you're hungry? Then Satan shows him all of the nations of the earth. He says, I know you love them. I know you came for them. You're the Savior. You're the Messiah. Okay, well, just worship me, Satan says, and I'll give them to you. You don't have to die. You don't have to go to the cross. You don't have to suffer. I'll just give them to you right now. And then the third temptation is,

He takes them up to the high point of the temple and he says, why don't you jump off? Because the angels will protect you and everybody will know that you are that promised Messiah. They'll see and understand that you are the promised savior and they'll pay attention to you because they're ignoring you right now. And these three temptations are the conclusion of this 40 days of temptation where Satan is seeking to devour the child.

He's testing on every side, on every level, trying to find a weakness in Jesus that the plan of God might be destroyed, that Jesus would turn from obedience to God and to follow the suggestions of Satan. But it doesn't end there either. In Luke 4, verse 13, at that conclusion of that time of temptation, it says, now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until...

and opportune time. Satan departed, but not for good. Like, okay, well, I tried that. I gave it my best shot. Okay, well, I guess, you know, I just got to let you be now. No, Satan departed

Goes, okay, those strategies didn't work. Those techniques didn't work. I tried all the tricks in the book. Now I got to go write a new book of tricks to come back and try on you. And so he goes away to come back at an opportune time to try to tempt Christ, to try to keep God's plan from unfolding. He, the dragon, is still trying to devour the child throughout the whole life and ministry of Jesus. And he did not give up.

all the way to the cross. You might remember one of Jesus's own disciples agreed to betray him to the Jewish leaders, to set up a scene, to set up a scenario where the Jewish leaders could take him and kill him without the crowds knowing about it and revolting because the religious leaders were really scared of the opposition of the crowd.

And so Judas was going to make arrangements. I can get them to you secretly and nobody's going to get worked up. There's not going to be any riots. Now, why did Judas do that? Was that his plan? This was a continued work of the dragon. Another attempt to devour the child. It tells us in Luke chapter 22 that,

That Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the 12. And he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains how he might betray him to them. It was Satan who inspired Judas. And Satan entered into Judas and entered into these negotiations with the chief priests because all the way to the cross, the dragon was seeking to devour the child, seeking to destroy the plan of God, seeking...

to eliminate the option for you and I to be forgiven and to have the promise of everlasting life. And so Satan tries to destroy the Savior all the way until the very end. Now, it's important to note as we consider these things that Satan is not God's equal. And sometimes we get that picture. This symbol of the dragon, as ferocious as it is, Satan is not ferocious to God.

As far as God is concerned, Satan is a created being like all the other created beings. He's an angelic being like all the other angelic beings. He is not a threat to God. God can handle him.

And so Satan is doing his best and trying every option, trying every route to try to defeat the plan of God, but he will never be able to. I think it's interesting to look also at verse four, just briefly again. It says, his tail, talking about the dragon, drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

And here we have a reference most likely to the idea and the understanding that when Satan rebelled against God, he brought one third of the angels with him.

And those angelic beings decided to follow Satan instead of God. We often refer to them now as demons, right? Those fallen angels, those angelic beings who followed Satan. In verse 7 here of Revelation chapter 12, it tells us that there was a war that broke out in heaven that Michael, the archangel, and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought.

So there is this dragon, the serpent of old, Satan, and he has his angels. And then you have Michael, the archangel, and his angels. But God is not an angel. He is the creator of all angelic beings. He is, you know, far above and not threatened by them. But it's interesting to note, as threatening as Satan might appear to be, and a third of the angels went with him,

But if you stop and reflect, that means that two-thirds of the angels remained faithful to God. That means that there is twice as many angels as there are demons.

That means that if God needed to, which he's not necessarily needing to, but if God wanted to, he could double team two angels on every demon, again, thwarting every plan of the enemy, of this great dragon. Satan tries to destroy the Savior. He tries to destroy the plan of God, but he will never be victorious and successful in doing so.

And we see that unfold in verses five and six now for act three of this behind the nativity scenes look at what we see here. In verse five and six, it says this, she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.

and her child was caught up to God in his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her their 1,260 days. Here we get the third point, the third act, and that is Jesus ascends to the throne in victory. You get the picture. There is the dragon ready to devour the child. But then in verse five, she gives birth to the child.

In the nativity scene, Mary gives birth to the baby Jesus, wraps him in swaddling cloths, and lays him in a manger. Israel has now brought forth the Messiah. And this Messiah tells us in verse 5 was the one who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in just a moment. He's not just the Savior. He is the ruler that has been born in

In verse 5, it also tells us, though, her child was caught up to God and his throne. You can see here, again, these are signs which are communicating. There's a lot of stuff going on in these signs. It jumps right from the birth of Jesus to the ascension of Jesus, that he was caught up to God and his throne.

In Luke chapter 24, verse 51, it says, when it came to pass while he blessed them, that he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. Jesus, after he resurrected from the dead, ascended into heaven. Now it's interesting to consider that Jesus, as he ascended, this is his victory, right?

He has accomplished what he set forth to accomplish in that he died upon the cross for our sins. From his birth to the cross, he lived a perfect and sinless life. And there at the cross, receiving the penalty and the punishment for our sins made the way for you and I to have forgiveness because he was sacrificed on our behalf. But as he resurrected...

and then ascended into the Father. It marks the end of that segment of his ministry. Successful, completely flawless, perfect execution of the plan of God. And he is now established there at the throne of God. He is victorious. Now, as you consider this victory of Jesus, it's easy for us to begin to wonder, well,

why don't we see that yet? I mean, why isn't the enemy just defeated already? Why do we still have to wrestle with temptation and his attempts to destroy the plan of God? Well, why aren't we seeing all of this victory yet? And I would suggest to you, it's kind of like when we elect a president. Now, we had an election not too long ago, right? And it was maybe more memorable than other elections for some that it was quite dramatic and tumultuous. You know, there was all kinds of things going on and

Kim and I were actually up with my parents when the results were coming in for the election. And we were like, well, at least if the world ends, you know, we're here with family. You know, it's good to be up there. But it's interesting because, okay, so election happens. The next president is announced, but he's not the president yet. It's not until a couple months later that the inauguration happens. And he takes that role of being president. Okay.

And so from the victory to the actual taking the office, there's a gap. There's a time period. And in a similar way, we find Jesus having the victory. He is the ruler of all nations and he has accomplished the victory. It has been done. It has been declared. It's final. He has ascended and he's at the right hand of the throne of God, but he has not yet taken the position of ruler of the world.

Because it's not yet time. And there is this gap of time where there is the plan of God unfolding. And what plan is that? Well, David gives us some insight in Psalm 110. He says, Here's what's happening in the meantime. The child, the promised Savior, Jesus, he's in heaven at the right hand of God. And God says,

Have a seat, Jesus. You did good. You accomplished everything that we sent you forth to accomplish. Good job. Have a seat. Your work is done. Now, I'm going to do my work, the Father says. And here's my work. I'm going to make all your enemies, including that dragon, your footstool. So you sit here. I'm going to do that. And the Father has been at work since the crucifixion up until, well,

This is fulfilled and this is finished. Revelation chapter 19, when Jesus comes back to establish his kingdom upon the earth, the father is at work.

bringing all of the enemies of God to subjection to be the footstool of Jesus. This is the time period that we are in right now. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven, and God is dealing with the enemies of the Lord. That continues on into the tribulation period, which we discussed a little bit last week in the first few chapters of the book of Revelation. And

And that's where the subject returns as you move forward in Revelation chapter 12. In verse 6, as it talks about the woman fleeing into the wilderness, now this symbolism is moving on to discuss and deal with things that take place in the middle of the tribulation period. There's a big time gap between verse 5 and 6.

which is really common in prophetic writings, that there is this gap of time as Jesus ascends and he's at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Now there is this other time period that is going on, this other segment of the plan that is unfolding, which will continue into the tribulation period, the seven years where God is pouring out his wrath upon the earth. In verse six, there's a reference to the 1,260 days.

That is a reference to three and a half years or really the last three and a half years of that tribulation period. That leads up to Revelation chapter 19, where you have Jesus coming back in victory on the horse with the armies of heaven to establish his kingdom upon the earth. And so here in this scene, we see Jesus ascends to the throne in victory.

We're gonna be reading that this week. I would encourage you, even if you haven't been with us so far, join with us. Revelation chapter 17 through 22. As we finish up the Bible in three years this week, we'll be reading these final chapters, finishing up this tribulation period and on into the victory of Jesus, the kingdom of Jesus, and then on into eternity and the new heavens and the new earth. There's great things that God has in store for us in that time.

But we see now the victory of Jesus as we look behind the nativity scenes. We see the preparation that God had in the revelation of the Savior and the attempts of the enemy to destroy the Savior, to put an end to the plan of God and the work of God. But that through it all, God is victorious and Jesus ascends to the throne and is established on high so that now, Paul tells us in Philippians 2,

that God has given Jesus a name above every name. In Philippians 2, verse 10, Paul says that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus has ascended to the throne in victory, has accomplished all that God has set before him,

And so he has the name that is above every name. And it is at the name of Jesus that we will bow. And every one of us will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Even the dragon will confess. And all those who oppose God will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. As we consider this time, this Christmas season and the birth of Jesus Christ this year, I wanna encourage you to remember the bigger picture.

We do celebrate the birth of Jesus, and that is appropriate. We do celebrate that manger scene and that nativity scene. That is appropriate. There's also much more to the picture. As you see, the whole plan of God from beginning to end to bring salvation to humanity, to bring to us the opportunity to be forgiven and to be saved. I overheard a conversation this morning earlier at Farmer Boys that

this guy was lecturing this other lady and saying, Christmas is about family and you shouldn't be working because Christmas is about family. Now, the funny thing was he was working even though he was lecturing her about not working for Christmas, but it's about family. And I appreciate that. There's great, good family time to come today and tomorrow as we celebrate Christmas. But it's also not about the family.

It's about what Christ has done for us, the bringing forth of salvation, the opportunity for us to be set free and to have the hope of everlasting life. It's really important to remember the big picture because the dragon is still out there trying to defeat the plan of God. And listen, he can't overthrow God's plan. But what he does in the meantime, what he does in between is he is seeking to convince you and I

to give up on God's plan, to not follow God's plan. And he can't be victorious against God, but he can be victorious in our lives to the extent that we allow him to have that influence, to the extent that we allow him to deceive us and dictate to us the disobedience that he wants us to follow, just like he did to Adam and Eve and just like he tried to do with Jesus. And so as we celebrate Christmas this year, I want to encourage you to remember the big picture.

We have an enemy. There are real things at stake and eternity is at stake, but God has provided the Savior. That's what this day is all about. So that we can bow before him and everyone who bows before him and surrenders themselves to Jesus Christ has everlasting life. Jesus said in John chapter 10, verse 28, I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. Amen.

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let's surrender ourselves to Jesus because he protects us. No one can take us away from him. We must follow Jesus all the way to the very end. Amen? Let's close out in a time of worship and just rejoice and celebrate in the work of Jesus Christ and the salvation that he offers.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.