Revelation 12:7-14:5

The Four Beasts of Revelation
#1. The Great Red Dragon
(Continued)

__________________________________

page l 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l 6 l

-3-

But, he could not destroy the saints of God. He could only chase them out of the church of Rome through persecution. So, the devil set up a great church/state system. This cruel system of government lasted 1,260 years and Lucifer devilishly used it to torment human beings with either the fear of God’s wrath or fear of being burned at the stake. Whether in or out of the church, life was unbearable.

 

Revelation 12:14   The woman (the saints) was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. (These are the same 1,260 day/years mentioned in verse 6.)

 

Against all odds, the church invisible survived. (God had prepared a place for her.) For 1,260 years, the devil, working through the Roman Catholic Church, persecuted the woman in the wilderness. Some historians claim that during the Dark Ages, more than 50 million people were beheaded or burned at the stake because they refused to obey the demands of popes and/or prelates.

 

Revelation 12:15   Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent.

 

Have you seen a flash flood in the desert? Nature’s most powerful force is a wall of water. (At 8 pounds per gallon, nothing can withstand a rushing wall of water.) Everything in the path of a flood is either destroyed or washed away.

 

The phrase, “the serpent spewed water like a river,” might be compared to a tsunami of persecution. The devil wanted to eliminate God’s saints from the Earth, and a 1,260 yearlong holocaust was conducted against the saints by the devil working through the Roman Catholic Church.

 

During the Dark Ages the devil made it illegal to own the Bible or any portion of it. He made it illegal to worship according to the dictates of conscience. He made it impossible to disagree with current church authorities and live. The devil did everything he could do to terminate the presence of the saints through the power and control of the church visible – which claimed to speak for God!

 

What a predator.

 

Revelation 12:16   But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.”

 

The Earth helped the woman.

 

After Noah’s flood, God reserved a great landmass that would one day help the woman. The land mass eventually became the United States of America. Near the end of the 1,260 years of the devil’s persecution (1798), God raised up the United States. He gave this nation a new form of government that was unlike anything western civilization had seen.

 

This new government was born in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed. [just 22 years before 1798] God, working through honest, intelligent and spiritual men, gave this nation a constitution and Bill of rights never before seen. God did not merely do this for the benefit of those who would someday live in this nation, No! God established the United States for a divine purpose.

 

Go planned that this Protestant nation would tear down the veil of darkness that Catholicism had put around the Bible. God wanted Bible truth to shine throughout the world and God needed a variety of people to translate and distribute the Bible to the four corners of the Earth. (If you recall our study on the first three seals, this is the time frame when the first three seals were opened.)  

 

In years past, the United States has sent out more Christian missionaries, published more Bibles and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ than all the other nations on Earth combined. In years past, this wealthy nation has given more generously to spreading of the gospel of Jesus than all other nations combined.

 

So, Yes! The Earth helped the Woman. When the French Revolution terminated, the power of the papacy over Europe ended, God had a spot of ground ready to receive those who wanted to own Bibles and read them, a place on Earth had been prepared for people who wanted to worship according to the dictates of their consciences.

 

Millions of Protestants immigrated to the United States of America to experience the joy of religious freedom. The point here is that Earth itself helped the saints and the United States became a powerful influence for good upon the world for a period of time. But alas, those days are over.

 

The United States is no longer a Protestant nation exalting God. The United States has turned its back on God and it is in decline. Many of its leaders (political and religious) have become corrupt. The love for money has replaced love for God and man. Integrity has faded. Honesty and transparency in business and government is disappearing fast.

 

In the process, this country has lost many of its international friends, it had squandered much of its wealth, and soon, I believe it will be a bankrupt nation: both morally and financially.

 

When the devil saw the power of the papacy broken in 1798…. The devil realized that God would not let him destroy the woman in the desert, so he sat down to rethink his final strategy against the woman.

 

Revelation 12:17   Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off [to prepare] to [make war] against the rest [KJV: the remnant]of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

 

Now hear this:

 

The devil knows all about the Great Tribulation.

The devil understands the book of Revelation.

The devil knows that he has one final chance to ruin mankind and to thwart all that God is doing to save mankind.

The devil is preparing for his last war against the saints.

 

This war described in Revelation 13:7:

 

“He [the composite beast] was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them.  And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.”

 

Revelation 13:8   All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”

During the Great Tribulation, two key features will identify the saints:

 

1.   They will uphold the Royal Law of God, e.g., the Ten Commandments, including the fourth commandment that demands rest on Saturday, the seventh day of the week.

 

I should also mention here a time is coming when resting from work on Saturday will be a punishable offense. When the devil appears during the fifth trumpet, he will demand work on Saturday and all who refuse will be targets of execution. [More will be said about this matter later on.]

 

2.   The second thing that will identify the saints during the great Tribulation is this:

 

“The saints will hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

 

What is the testimony of Jesus? The testimony of Jesus is anything spoken by Jesus. In John 1, Jesus is called “The Word” because He speaks as God and for God. Whatever He speaks, that is His testimony. The angels obey the testimony of Jesus!

 

Revelation 19:10   “…. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

 

page l 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l 6 l -3-

[TOP]