Revelation 12

The Four Beasts of Revelation

#1.   The Great Red Dragon

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The point here is that a great struggle over each human being is under way and it is intensifying. Demons will tempt you to give into the desires of your carnal heart in hopes that you will exchange the illusion of pleasure for your power of choice.

 

During the Great Tribulation, demons will eventually control every person that rejects the gospel of Jesus. Those taking the mark of the beast will commit the unpardonable sin, and every one of them will be demon possessed. 

 

Those choosing to obey God will have their faith tested before they are sealed. The sealing is the removal of the sinful nature, but the sealing does not remove the power of choice.

 

On the other hand, the devil accepts forced worship because he wants control at any cost. The last resort of false religion is always force.

 

God knows that we don’t understand the spiritual dimension very well – the dimension in which the devil and the Holy Spirit function. This is one reason why He has given us Two Witnesses, the Bible and the Holy Spirit. God wants us to understand spiritual things because there is a spiritual dimension to life. The spiritual realm is a reality just like time and space are realities.

 

There are invisible spiritual beings on Earth who are superior in every way to human beings and we can’t see them!

 

1 Corinthians 2:14   “the man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

 

If there could be one “telltale” piece of evidence that distinguishes between mental illness and demonic possession, I would say it is “predatory violence.”

 

Lucifer and his demons are violent predators and when they possess an individual, that individual becomes a violent predator. (I think this is the number one problem in Iraq today. Demons are at work. Destroying thousands or innocent people.) Remember the demon-possessed man in Luke 8:26-39? “…This man was so violent that no one could pass that way.”

 

The video game industry is a $30 billion a year industry and many, if not most, video games are based on violence. Something in our carnal nature rejoices when an opponent is defeated or destroyed. This feature is the essence of sports – although to a lesser degree. Video games are big sellers because our carnal nature is excited by the drama of violence.

 

During the Great Tribulation, you and I are going to be shocked to see whom Lucifer is able to control – including people we know and love! Once you understand the reality of Lucifer, you will discover that things aren’t the way they are because human beings are stupid, ignorant and arrogant. 

 

No! It’s much worse. Things are the way they are because Lucifer has gained control of an increasing number of human beings! More and more people are becoming demon possessed and this epidemic is not yet detected nor understood by most people. I think demonic possession is a greater problem than nuclear proliferation. It goes without saying that when put together; these two developments are catalysts for an enormous disaster.

 

Ok, now that my introduction on Lucifer and his demons has been presented, let’s begin reading Revelation 12 and notice how these matters apply to Bible prophecy. As we read verses 1-6, notice two things:

 

First, notice there is commentary in verses 1-4. John “sets the stage” in the first four verses of Revelation 12 by introducing three characters: the woman, her male child, the great red dragon.

 

When we get to verse 5, the chronological order of the prophecy begins and it ends in verse 6. The apocalyptic sequence is simply stated in two verses. I’m also going to read verse 7 to show you when chronological order is broken a new prophecy begins…

 

Second, as we read through the two prophecies in Revelation 12, I want you to observe that we are studying a dram that specifically concerns Lucifer’s hatred for Christ and Christianity. I want you to notice that from it’s beginning, Christianity has been especially hated by Lucifer.

 

[Commentary]

Revelation 12:1   A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

 

Revelation 12:2   She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.

 

Revelation 12:3   Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous reddragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.

 

Revelation 12:4   His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth, The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment that it was born.

 

[Chronology begins – Rule 1]

Revelation 12:5   She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.

 

Revelation 12:6   The women fled into the desert to a place prepared for her from God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

 

Chronological Sequence:

1.   Woman in pain, dragon ready to devour child

2.   Woman gives birth

3.   Dragon tries to kill Jesus

4.   Jesus taken to Heaven

5.   Woman flees to desert for 1,260 days

   

[According to Rule 4, the 1,260 days have to be translated as 1,260 years because they occur while the Jubilee Calendar is operating. We learned in our study of Daniel 7 that this 1,260 day time-period began in A.D. 538 and ended in 1798 and to eliminate any confusion, this time-period is mentioned a third time in verse Revelation 12:14 (as a time, times, and half a time). During these 1,260 years, the devil, utilizing the powers of church and state, attempted to “wear out” the saints of the Most High.] 

 

Now, look at verse 7:

 

Revelation 12:7   And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

 

We will see later on, this war took place on Resurrection Sunday. Because verse 7 does not chronologically follow the end of the 1,260 years in 1798 (verse 6), Rule 1 forces the beginning of a new prophecy with verse 7.

 

So much has been said in just six verses! Revelation 12:1-6 is a short story summarizing Lucifer’s hatred for Jesus.

 

Consider this: After Adam and Eve sinned; Lucifer learned that God had a plan to save man from the penalty of sin. 4,000 years later, Lucifer saw the wise men searching the Scriptures. He saw them leave home to find the Savior of mankind. Lucifer saw Jesus born in a stable. Lucifer was determined to ruin God’s plan to save mankind from the penalty of sin by killing Jesus at birth. 

 

This tiny prophecy highlights a serious contest between God – who is endeavoring to save man – and Lucifer – who is determined to destroy God’s plans.

 

 

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