Revelation 12 - When I Feel Trapped by Spiritual Darkness

I'm going to invite you to Revelation chapter 12 is where we're going to be together today. Revelation chapter 12, in a passage that I find if people have read through the book of Revelation, this is one of those chapters I think people highlight as one of their favorites and going through this book because of the story that's told here and the imagery that John uses to really tell a beautiful story for all of us. You know, we talk about when you look at the book of Revelation, this is a eschatological apocalyptic book, right? But at the same time, some people get very obsessive with putting this book on a timeline. But for us, I think what's also important to remember is that this book is relevant for God's people throughout all centuries. And so we certainly can pull from this what we need to understand in order to honor God with our lives, no matter where we find ourselves in history. In Revelation chapter 12 is one of those beautiful chapters that really reminds us of the importance of a Of a relationship in Jesus and what that means for us, especially as we think in light of where we've been together in this book. Because if you've read in chapter nine, you remember the destroyer came Satan and or Satan, depending on how you want to pronounce that. But he's come and he's unlocked the abyss.

And out of that became this curse upon humanity. Through through this locust plague, we saw that imagery painted for us very powerfully in chapter nine. And it's almost a despairing image that's described until you get to chapter ten. And in chapter ten, you see the greatness of who God is proclaimed to us through this angelic being. Some people think it's an angel of the Lord. It may be Christ himself. Others think it's just an angel emulating the power of God. Either way, it's representing God's glory. And in so doing, in chapter 11, then talks about these witnesses to go out and proclaim the truth of who God is. And so no matter how dark the day may be, we're reminded the greater light we have in Christ, right? The greater is he is. First John four says, he who is in you than he who is in the world. And so there's this calling of God's people to step into the power and authority that you have for Christ in Christ and proclaim that in the world, right, that we're called to push back darkness as great light because we have the light, who is Jesus? And so you see this image of these two witnesses in Revelation 11 going and proclaiming that which I use as a picture, really, of all of God's people, our commissioning into this world because of who Christ is and what that means.

But there comes this place in our life that sometimes, as we're moving for God's glory, that darkness can feel so overwhelming to us. And we may know what the truth of God's Word says, but then we might feel like we're sort of this anomaly to what God proclaims. Like we're sort of this isolated individual that, God's truth is really relevant for everyone else. But for me, in this particular situation, we might doubt that, right? Or we might just we might accept it, that the darkness is just going to have its way with us. And Revelation chapter 12 is one of those chapters that helps us consider where is God in the midst of darkness, and what's the hope that we have as people? And so we we've titled this when I feel trapped in spiritual darkness or more, we could say it more like a question what can I do when I feel trapped in spiritual darkness? And I'm going to give you point number one in our notes, and we're going to unpack this as Revelation 12 begins to unfold. But number one is this discover your deliverance in the gospel. Discover your deliverance in the gospel in you know, if this is you this morning, you're like, I know I've done that. I'm very thankful that you believe that you've done that. That's that is critical.

That is important. You know, and I and I hope we're all on that page together. And, for some, sometimes there's always a concern as a pastor that when people talk about the gospel What they describe may not really be what the Bible says the gospel is. And then there's also this worry that for Christians, someone might have explained to you the gospel as if it's like this process where there's these steps and then you embrace this point, there's this point you embrace, and then you did that, and now you move on with the rest of your life. And I want you to know the gospel is something that should enrich our lives every day, that it's not something you believe in once, and then you move on. But it's something you learn to find your life reframed in every day, right? Because it's new, it's active. It's always transforming us in what God has done for us. And so in case there's a lack of clarity in what the gospel is to us as a community, it's to understand, man. God made you for a relationship. God made you to connect to him. That's what it means to be made in the image of God. Is this idea that different than any other creature or thing that God made, That you're made uniquely, which gives you intrinsic value.

You're made in the image of God. Your worth is not based on what you do. It's based on who you are. Right? But we as human beings are all sinful. And in response to that, people have created religion to try to avail ourselves to God. Like you can do enough good to outdo the bad, and therefore God has to love you because you've made yourself so lovable. That's not Christianity. That's not biblical. That's not the gospel. Right? And to embrace that in any way is to reject what Jesus has done for us. Some people think they kind of embrace the cross and you add some things to it, and then that's enough. But to add anything to what Jesus has done for us is blasphemous to the price he's paid. Or the real gospel is to understand, I didn't do anything to rescue myself, that really the only thing I've done is the sinning which separates me from God. And there's nothing I can do to take that away. But Christ did it for me that while I made for relationship with God and my sin has made God distant from me that God didn't give up on me. He pursued me with his own life by dying on the cross for my sins. He took on his behalf what I owed as my sin debt. And Jesus liberates me at the cross by paying for my penalty of sin.

And so for the call of every person. It's this. It's this place of surrendering yourself as Jesus has given his life for you. It's to understand Jesus paid it all. And so therefore come to God and acknowledge I'm sinful and therefore I need rescued. Lord, I need what you've done on my behalf. And we ask God to rescue our soul, to save ourselves. That's that is the gospel. Now for some of us, for some of us, we might have that point in time where that message completely clicked. And we know the date and the place we were, where we surrendered our lives to the freedom that only God could bring. Right. But and some of us may understand what the gospel is, and we're not sure exactly when that happened, but we know our life is life is surrendered to the Lord because of what he's done for us. And wherever you're at, I hope you're in one of those places where you might have your date pinpointed. You may not, but you know Jesus is the way, the truth and life. Jesus is that salvation to bring you into relationship with God, which is what you've been created for. You don't earn that. Christ has done that for you. And so for a believer, not only do we find ourselves in that once and understanding, I need this liberation. I can't do this in and of myself.

Only God can rescue me. But then every day I get the opportunity to wake up and say, and this is a new day, that I get to walk in that liberation because of who God is and continuing to be my rescuer. Right? He is forever mine and belonging to me in this way. And when I when I think about that gospel picture, something interesting happened this past week that I really appreciated. And this is, I think, even making some attention on social media. But and I'm going to flash up a picture. And I don't want this to trigger anybody. Okay. One way or the other. But I want to show you this for a minute, and. And I want you to. I'm not going to make a political statement here, but I but I do I do want to highlight something something I think that was so precious in the inauguration in this image. You see this lady that kind of grabs your attention there, this lady in red, this mystery lady in red. No, I'm just kidding. Whoever this lady in red is right here, she is in this moment. And one of the things that really stands out to you is you recognize this lady is dressed a little different here she is on a stage with millionaires, millionaires and billionaires. And she's probably wearing something that any middle class person can purchase at a local department store if those things even exist anymore.

But you can go and like this. You see all the people around her and they're definitely wearing some high end clothing here and here. She is in just a regular red sweater. And you get to know this lady. This lady's name is Beverly, and she claims to be a believer in Christ. In fact, she's wearing a cross as she's standing here on Inauguration Day. But what's what's really interesting about Beverly is that Beverly also was a lady who wrestled with addiction, and she's had some demons in her past, and she's fought those demons, and she's given her life to the Lord. And but Beverly is definitely a woman. That was contrasted here to everyone else that was on the stage and just her presence. It was apparent, right? Like there's something different about her than everyone else, and she doesn't really fit the mold of what was on that stage. But the reason she was allowed to be on that stage is because she was there to support her son, and her son is the vice president, JD Vance. So if you know anything about if you've ever heard JD talk about his upbringing or, watching any of the debates or whatnot, you've heard him tell the story of his mother's battle with addiction and things, how she's overcome that. But here's this woman who's on this stage, not necessarily because she earned the position per se, but she has every right to be there because of who her son is, and she's there to support her baby.

And when I when I looked at that image, my heart gravitated to this because this is this is the gospel, right? This is what redemption looks like. The same thing is true for you and for me, that when it comes to being before the presence of God, we're not there because we're worthy to be there, or we've earned the position to be there. We're there because of the son. He's given us the reason to lift our heads, because he's paid the price for us to have that relationship with him to be there. Now, I would say a little bit of breakdown from this picture to where we are is that, she's here. She is just an just average common attire of the day. But when you think about what your relationship with Jesus is, we come to God with a sin debt. And sometimes we like to think that the way God has worked in our life as he's taken our negative bank account and he's put it back to zero balance, and now it's up to us. But that's not the way the gospel describes itself. It's not that God took your negative debt and made it zero.

It's as Ephesians one says, he's given you all the riches in the heavenly places that you are. You are sons and daughters of the King, and the wealth of the Lord has made known to you the richness of Christ in you. That's the gospel picture that we get to walk in that freedom every day, not because of anything that I'm doing, but each day I wake up, I step into that identity because of what Christ has done and continues to do for me. So there's this liberation that no matter the darkness that is around me, to understand the significance of that identity, because this woman on stage, she could wear what people might think about her, but that's not why she's there. Right? And her reasoning for being there is a different identity than that. Or her identity is because of the son or her son. And the same is true for us. It's this question of where do you find your merit as a human being? Is it this religious performance of what you think you do makes you matter? Or is it the worth that God has already given to you by making you in his image and remaking you at the cross? And in Revelation, chapter 12 starts with that story for us to help us understand through this incredible imagery who we are in light of who God is, to discover your deliverance in what the biblical gospel is.

And so let me read this to you, it says, and a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. And she was pregnant, and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven, behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadems, and his tail swept down a third of third of the stars of heaven and cast them into the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth. And so second half of verse four, that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she was a. She has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1260 days. Now you might look at that and think, now how is this connected to the gospel, right? It's certainly powerful imagery. And here you are, a pregnant lady giving birth and a dragon with seven heads and ten horns trying to devour. That is a that is an incredibly interesting moment. No matter what your thoughts are.

This passage, John, is it's very rich with Hebrew motifs and what he's saying here. But when you think about this imagery, I think it's just it's important to identify, the Bible does this over and over and especially in the book of Revelation, just rich pictures for us that when just as John is writing, the idea of what he's saying here is just you can see it, right? It's this is a very powerful and the early church had this way of as God would give us these stories throughout the Old and New Testament to capture these stories in art. In fact, if you study early Christianity, you discover that the way the story of Christianity was often told and biblical, different biblical stories and accounts that the church would draw these illustrations or these mosaics. And part of the reason they would do this is because most of human history, people were by and large illiterate. And in fact, if you go back before the Gutenberg press invented in the 15th century. The percentage of our population that could read. Always fluctuated somewhere, usually between about 12 to 20%. Never, never really higher than 20% until the printing press. So the majority of population was typically illiterate. And so the way that stories were told in the early church would paint pictures of gospel imagery and share that with those around them through things like mosaics, you can go back and see all sorts of early church history or even think of maybe the Sistine Chapel.

I mean, the point of that is to tell the story for people that could not read some of the images that I have, I love, I have the one on the right of my office at home and upstairs, but some people are necessarily big fans of the left because they feel like it deals more with the veneration of Mary than than the importance of Jesus. But I want you to understand how imagery is important to really being able to share gospel picture. Like on the left, you see this image of Eve. And one of the reasons you know that is one she probably don't have any clothes on, but also she's got a, she's got a fruit in her hand and she's got a serpent wrapped around her leg. And if you know the story of the Garden of Eden and she rather than believe God's truth, she bought into the lie of Satan. And she ate of the fruit that destroyed her. And so her expression on her face is one of lamenting and sorrow, because she knows the results of her decision, and the serpent that's wrapping itself around her because it wants to kill her. But in the same chapter where the serpent deceives, there's also the promise that God gives that a woman will give birth to a child, and that child will crush the head of the serpent, though he will suffer a mortal mortal wound with the biting of his heel.

And she knows that Mary in this picture is that one. That's why she's touching her womb, and Mary's as if hugging her, and consolation, knowing there's still hope because of what Jesus has done. Very rich gospel imagery. And you And you see kind of the idea of the Garden of Eden there. And then when you turn to the that next picture, you see that really the fulfillment of that through the cross of Christ, because that child has come and he's given his life for us. And I love this picture, because what's tacked on the cross is the law of God, the old covenant and the old covenant is really what pointed to our fallen nature, our sinfulness. It's not our liberation, but it's a reminder of why we fall short. And Jesus nailed it to the cross by fulfilling the old covenant demand for us. In Hebrews chapter eight verse 13 is saying, he obliterated the old covenant law to introduce the new covenant. So while the law might condemn us, Jesus at the cross has freed us. That's why it's nailed to the cross. And then you see the power of God made known in his people, because there's the picture of the temple with the veil torn and behind.

That's the ark of the covenant, where God was to rule and to reign, but that his presence is now no longer in the temple, but rather because the veil is torn us this image because of the cross that God dwells with his people. Rich imagery to think about the gospel expression. And this is what John's doing for us in Revelation chapter 12. Now, I do find this rather interesting. The dragon's tactic. Satan is referred to as a wise serpent, but I don't think he's always wise. There's a little bit there's something about him that has to be a little bit stupid when you read when you read this, because I, when I look at this, I think just common knowledge should be anyway, there are certain things in life you don't mess with, right? And one is, if I just thought about my top five this week as I was reading this, I'm like, I definitely don't mess with like, hungry bears. That's a that's the one I avoid. Or sometimes I don't know if you ever watch those people that kayak in the Pacific Northwest with orcas. I don't know what those dumb people are thinking, but you don't. Great white sharks and orcas. You don't kayak with those, right? That's not a good idea. Or I have a phobia of birds, I don't.

Birds are weird to me. I don't want to get near birds. I want to avoid those terrorists. I don't want to make terrorists angry. But. But most important, the crowning of it all is like, I don't want to mess with pregnant women, right? Like Satan. I don't know what he is thinking here. Right. But that's what's happening in this story. You see this woman, that's pregnant. But then if you think as this story unfolds and you're seeing here she is in pregnancy, pregnancy. But not just that she's giving birth, she's giving birth. And this has got to be the most vulnerable moment. I mean, you can't do anything in this moment other than than have the child. And so Satan knows this. He's capturing this vulnerable moment in order to seize the opportunity. And his intentions have been clear to us. He is known as the destroyer. We read that in chapter nine. And could you imagine being the child as you come into this world, the first thing you see, a seven headed dragon with ten horns like this is a terrible situation to be in. And really, this can be a picture of the turmoil in our own spiritual state in life. We can look at chapter nine, chapter ten, chapter 11 and be in agreement with that.

Step out into this world and want to live for God's glory. But our experiences can feel like this moment, completely vulnerable darkness around you. What do you do? And the idea of the gospel becomes important for us to understand, to enrich the soul, even in the darkest of days, knowing who we are. Right? You may identify as a Beverly in the way that you've come to Jesus, and I think all of us are. But you have the ability to stand. And the reason you get to stand is not because of who you are, but because of who he is. And so when you look at this is this is the motifs that are being painted in these first few verses that as he's talking about this woman I want you to see in the very first verse, he refers to it as a great sign. This is a significant sign to understand. He's saying to us, right. And part of understanding this sign is to understand that the prophetic fulfillment of this woman who would bring a deliverer from the seed of the woman, not from the seed of the man, they would become born of a virgin, a child who would bring the liberation for all of us. Who was the Messiah? Right? In Genesis chapter three, verse 15 and 16 is painted that picture that the Messiah would crush the head of the serpent.

And when you read throughout the Old Testament over and over again, Israel is described as a pregnant woman. This that imagery continues to be talked about, even Jesus. In Matthew chapter 24, it talks about the idea of birth pains. And so there's this there's this motif of this picture of this woman who ultimately would bring about the great deliverer. And you see this deliverer described for us in verse five. He says he will rule the with the nations with a rod of iron, which is this picture of Psalm chapter two, verse seven and nine. Psalm chapter two is this prophetic sign delivering to us the importance of who the Messiah will be. And so it's saying, this is who the Messiah is. And he's come for us and to rescue us. And then and he goes on to describe that he's been caught up to God's throne. And so by the time you get to the end of verse five, you have encapsulated in that really the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, that the child has been born, the child has accomplished, he has conquered, and the child is ruling and reigning. And so this woman becomes this important picture, and she's described as this with this sun above her, the moon below her, and these 12 stars, which goes back to the book of Genesis, chapter 37, when Joseph had this image of how God would continue to work through the children of Israel.

And those 12 stars represent the 12 tribes. But now, through this Messiah who is to be born, he's the he's one that's greater than Joseph. And we've looked at in the book of Revelation how 12 represents the people of Israel in the Old Testament. We saw that described and also in the New Testament it's described as God's people through the apostles. And so here you have this imagery of really all of God's people encapsulated in this woman because of this Messiah who would be this ultimate deliverer. But it's not to miss the fact that there's still an enemy. Right? And so there is this dragon whose desire is to meet you in the most vulnerable of moments, to destroy you. And there's this specific way it is referring to this Messiah. Right. The dragon's desire is to stop the mission of the Messiah, to rescue his people. But. But the Messiah has been victorious. But. But on a greater degree. Agree. I want you to know that wrapped up in this picture of the Messiah is also all of us. Because if this Messiah is destroyed and his mission is thwarted, not only is the Messiah taken away, but so is all of our hope. And that's what the dragon desires to do in each of our lives.

To destroy your hope, right? To not watch you become who God has made you to be in him. And so this moment is important, and especially to understand his intentions, as it says in his life, he's one with seven heads and ten horns. And this idea of seven is the number of completeness. And we see again and again how the Satan tries to mimic Jesus in the way that he lives his life. But he's he does so but denies the greater power that is God himself. He wants to deceive. He wants to lure. He lure. He wants to pretend like his kingdom is like God's kingdom, only better. But as you come to understand him, you realize God is the true seven, the one that really is complete. But here's Satan that's mimicking this. And what's interesting when you look at Satan, and we'll see this play out throughout Revelation as we move forward, is that the city of Rome was known as the City of Seven Hills. And so this number seven very much connects to the idea of a fallen, broken Babylon, a kingdom that will not sustain before the presence of a glorious God. And so seven is representing his rulership. The idea of horns is a demonstration of power. Leaders are often seen throughout the Bible as one reflected as people of horns or people of power.

So we're talking about Satan here as a ruler with power. But it's also critical to understand how does that power make itself known? How does it how does is that power impacting me? And can it impact me if I have position in Christ? Because his desire is to destroy. But you see, at the very end of this verse that this woman, she fled to the wilderness and the picture of wilderness is very much conjuring up the Exodus story. Remember in the Exodus story, in the book of Exodus, God's God's people were slaves in Egypt, but God set them free in liberation. And they went into the wilderness only for them. The wilderness didn't work out the way that it should have, because they walked in disobedience, and because of that they wandered. And so in this passage, there is now painted a greater a greater wilderness of liberation for us when we find and discover the true freedom that we have in Jesus. And so this woman is prepared and says she's nourished for 160 days. And we looked at this number last week. So I don't want to dive in great detail of detail of it, but this is a repeating of Daniel chapter nine, verse 24 to 27. And if you remember Daniel nine, this was a picture of the greatest jubilee. And for Israel they celebrated years of jubilee every 49 years.

And a year of jubilee was a place of healing and restoring. It's a healing and restoring of the land. It's a healing of restoring of people as debts were forgiven, slaves were let free. And so Israel saw this holistic healing of this jubilee. But in Daniel, there's more than just a jubilee described. It's the ultimate jubilee. Daniel talks about these 70 weeks. Each week represents seven years. It's a total of 490 years. And when you read the book of Daniel, you discover the very end of those 490 years didn't come to complete fruition. And so John is now describing the tail end of Daniel's final portion of this last week and saying that last liberation now is being made known because of who Christ is. So for us, this is this gospel enriching story of freedom in the Lord because of what he's done. That's why we deserve to be where we are, not because of what we've done. So that point number two, then it helps us in this way to stop reviving what has been defeated, to stop reviving what has been defeated. So the important point is you get into verse seven then is to recognize in this next section that Satan, even though he's been defeated, he's still fighting. His days are numbered. He's been defeated, but he's still fighting. However, when we're made aware of his tactics, we rob him of his opportunity to war against us.

And so verse seven starts to tell us this story. It says, now war arose in heaven. Michael and his And his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down the ancient serpent, who was called the devil, and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. If you had any question whether or not the dragon was actually Satan, it very clearly tells you in verse nine, it gives them all the all of his titles. Here you can recognize who he truly is. But I want you to see one one very important phrase that John tells us here about the dragon as this cosmic battle has taken place in heaven, in this spiritual warring with Michael and the angels. Right. It says in verse nine and verse eight, the very beginning of this verse, that Satan was defeated, not it's going to be defeated, but has been defeated, right? So victory has been has been declared over him because of what Christ has done. Satan has been defeated. However. We, as those who find ourselves in Christ, can revive what has been defeated by empowering him through through what it tells us in verse nine and ten.

Verse nine and ten, even though he's been defeated, we see in these verses that he still desires to work in our in our lives and destroy what Jesus has accomplished for you and for me. And the way it says that he does this, the first thing it says to us, verse verse nine gives us the first point and verse ten builds off of verse nine. But it says to us that the great dragon was thrown down the ancient serpent who was called the devil, and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. Satan's desire to destroy what God has accomplished is seen through deception, right? He desires to twist the truthfulness of the gospel Support so that we will buy into some sort of lie. That is not really what the gospel is, right? That we wouldn't understand, that we deserve to be on that stage, not because of us, but because of the Lord. And so he wants to pervert that, whether it be by simply adding religion to it, something that might look good but still deny the power of what Christ has accomplished, or just subtle perversions of the truth. And sometimes when Satan comes in to deceive, sometimes it might look very obvious to us. Other times it could be subtle to us. But his desire is made clear.

He wants to destroy, right? He wants to devour through the picture you saw of the child. And so the importance of the truth becomes critical for us, because it's that foundation that we find our basis to walk in who God is. And throughout church history, we've seen time and time again where people have attempted this. Whether it just be saying something that's wrong or even trying to do things like to change the Bible. Now let me just tell you, in case anyone's concerned, the Bible has been changed through textual criticism. Manuscripts we have today. I think it's easy to determine that the Bible that you have today is the Word of God, right? But when you go back through history, you can see individuals who have warred against God's Word. And for you and for me. I think it's important to recognize that if you have a God who agrees with everything that you think, you probably don't have God as much as you have an image of God that you've conjured up for all of us, we should expect that if we follow the one true God, there is something about my life that is contrary to him. And rather than make God bow down to me according to what I want, that my heart would bow down to him according to what he wants. I mean, when you wrestle through God's Word, you should be wrestling with your understanding of who God is.

Like God, there's what I what I think. But then there's what your word says, and there seems to be a disconnect there. Help me. Help me understand who you truly are. As I as I go through your word, there are some people that when they have approached God's Word, you can go see these images on the screen at the Bible Museum in Washington, DC. But there are some people as they approached God's Word because they don't like it. They just take stuff out. And one of those is pictured there on the left. That's actually Thomas Jefferson's Bible. Thomas Jefferson didn't really like passages that proclaimed the deity of Jesus. And so when he would read the Gospels, he would take a razor blade and he would just cut it out. That was his way of understanding Jesus. He was recreating in his mind the Jesus he wanted rather than who Jesus really was. The one on the right is known as the Slave Bible. It was published in, I believe, in England. But when slave owners would think about giving, let's say, God's word to their slaves, one One of the things they were concerned about is they could get passages that talk about freedom and liberation. And so rather than get those ideas in their mind, they actually ripped out pages of the Bible and republished the Bible in a more condensed way and gave them a copy of that.

And there is power in the Word of God to understand who we are through the truth that he proclaims to embrace it. I mean to read it like a child and just pretend. Pretend, no matter where you've come from to just each day, open it up and say, Lord, teach me who you are, I am. I am just a canvas for you to paint your truth on. And through eyes like a child. Just rediscovering God again and again. This passage reminds us that Satan has been defeated. But we can empower what's been defeated by letting deceit, deception creep into our hearts in our lives. And then it goes on from there that the other way that we can empower that deceiver. Verse ten it says, and I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the slave and the power of the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him. Let me just stop right there and let me just say this. Look, it's saying in this verse, God's power and glory and kingdom have been made known. And while that's true, there's also the accuser of the brethren who accuses day and night. And the picture here is one of a courtroom.

And the idea is this, that you're put on trial and you're standing before the judge, and there's one who is accusing you, and the one who is accusing you is Satan. And the way that he's accusing you, one is getting you to forget the truth of the gospel. But then he's drumming up your past, your guilt and your shame, and he's throwing it on you right now. And as he's asking the question, what are you going to do about that? You're not worthy to be here. Don't you know what you've done? You shouldn't be standing on this stage. How can you, as a person with your past, even think that there's even a possibility that God cares about you or that God wants you? It's those sort of things throws on us over and over and accuses us and we as human beings, we can panic in that moment because, well, nobody wants their pride hurt, for one. But also you've been exposed and our tendency as human beings, we want to either do one of two things. Try to hurry up and cover it up, pretend like it's not there, maybe talk about all the good things we've done, even though people might be aware of those bad things. Yeah, that might have happened, but. But look at all these things or we want to justify it. Yeah, but and we try to pretend like it wasn't that big of a deal because.

Well, if you only knew why I did what I did, it justifies my behavior. But the But the truth is, you still did it. And so when we get before those moments and we feel exposed, our tendency is to kind of panic. And we look at ourselves like, what was I thinking and why did that happen? And how could that be? And we look deeper and deeper in ourselves and you spiral. But the problem with that is you're looking deeper and deeper in yourself. The problem with that is you've lost perspective on the answer. It's not you in defending you. It's Jesus and what he's done for you. So rather, rather than run away from the accusations Satan has against us, we just acknowledge it. I mean, that's what the cross of Christ is about. I'm not here to put on a front God. And before you, I don't even have to because you already know what I've done. And you died for me anyway. So why do I have to defend myself against anybody because you've already been my defense. You've already shown up and covered my sin. You've already liberated me and brought me freedom in you because of your grace. And so when Satan hurls accusations against you, we get to look back at them and say, yeah, buddy, and you don't even. You haven't even named half of it, right? Like, not only have I done that, but if you only knew, right? Listen, I'm not in this list to try to impress you with me because my life has already been transformed by him.

So when those accusations come against us, what we do in that next moment is critical to understanding where I really am in the gospel. Because if my reaction is to try to defend myself, it's to say, man, I'm not even looking at the right place because it's not about me, but about what he's done for me. But I take the opportunity to resurrect what's been defeated by taking the lies of the enemy through the deception that he's taught me, rather than embracing the gospel that frees me. And so when we think about this idea of spiritual darkness and that oppression of the enemy. It's to remind ourselves. Wait a minute. He's already been defeated. And who I am in Christ is what matters. And then I have every opportunity to stand before the presence of God. Not because of who I am, but because of who the son is. And that is not only liberating for me, but for everyone around me. And so that's why it says in verse verse 11, it says, and they have conquered. Look at this. And how do they conquer? They conquered him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.

They conquered him because of the price Jesus has already paid. And they have clung to that as their identity. That is their witness, that when the accuser comes against them and they're standing before this judge, they're saying, you want to know why I'm free? It's because of Jesus. And so in verse 12, then this is why it starts. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath. Yeah, yeah, he can have his way for you in you. If you don't have your identity where it's intended to be found. But if you're in Jesus every day, you step in the richness of the gospel with the heart of rejoicing to be in his presence. Because the wealth of heaven is made known in you because of him. You have this relationship with Christ. So I need to give you this last point and end. So therefore stand confident in God's provision, staying confident in God's provision. And you see this here at the very end. And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down on the earth, he pursued the woman who had been given birth to the male child. But the woman was given these two wings of the great eagle, so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, times, and half a time.

That's the picture of Daniel again. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the flood, but the earth came to came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river, and the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who kept the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. I love that in because Jesus we know Jesus is the rock, but Satan is the one standing on the sand and that will pass away. But here in this picture, it's this image of saying this woman has been made free. In fact, she's mounted on wings of eagles. And it's indicative of Isaiah 40 verse 31, which says this. And they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not grow faint. It's saying, no matter how much the enemy might try to come against you, God is your deliverer. He's your rescuer. You can see this through the picture of the flood. The flood came to try to destroy this woman, but God swallowed it up Because of who he is.

You know, as I I'm going to close with this as we think about this really gospel story for us and moving in the midst of a of a world of darkness. If you don't identify with a Beverley guys, I know that you may not want to call yourself Beverley. So let me give you a different picture. How about we call you Brian? And that's the name of this guy on the screen. This is a guy named Brian. And if you know anything about Brian, this is Brian. Brian Welch, who was lead guitarist for the band called Korn in the 1990s, early 2000. They were a wildly popular heavy metal rock band. But in the climb of their fame and all the wealth that they achieved, Brian was an individual that was struggling deeply, so much so that he had serious bouts of depression. He was an addict on methamphetamine, his relationship with his daughter was falling apart, and in desperation he cried out to God for help and one of one of his friends invited him to worship with his local church. And Brian went and he heard about the grace of God. And he went home that day, and he started to read God's Word. And he got to Matthew chapter 11, verse 28 that says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now I want you to know by talking about Brian, I'm not telling you to go get all your theology from Brian.

I have no idea the depth of Brian's theology. Okay? But when Brian read that passage, he dropped to his knees before the Lord and he cried out that the Lord would rescue him. And Brian said, in that moment his life was changed. And from that moment he actually left the band in. And all the advantages he had from a worldly means and he focused on his new faith in the Lord and reconciling his relationship with his daughter. And Brian went on. On the left hand side is a picture of him, where he's standing at some signing of a book that he wrote that he titled Save Me From Myself. And there you see him with him with his daughter in that picture. But I think this is an incredible, an incredible reminder for us of what the gospel is. And we don't come before God because we're worthy. We come before God because he's worthy. And the devil's intention is to destroy us, no matter Christian or not. He wants to devour us. He wants to deceive us. He wants to accuse us. But who Jesus is our liberation. And we discover that when we walk in its richness, not only do we refrain from resurrecting the what's been defeated, but we walk in the provision and richness of who God is.