Revelation 12

The Four Beasts of Revelation

#1.   The Great Red Dragon

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As I said earlier, the prophecy in Revelation 12 is a Lucifer versus God prophecy. The male child is Jesus. The woman represents the bride of Christ, the people of God. The great red dragon represents Lucifer, that ancient adversary of God who caused 1/3 of the angels to be expelled from Heaven!

 

Revelation 12:4   “His tail [tale] swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.”

 

After failing to destroy Jesus, and after failing to keep Jesus in the tomb, Lucifer turned his wrath on the followers of Jesus. The followers of Jesus split into two groups…. I call these two groups:

 

1.   The church visible

2.   The church invisible

 

The church visible is an institutional church. Institutional churches have definition and form. They have buildings, creeds, members, and budgets. The church visible gives the appearance of spiritual life, but inwardly, it is often dead.

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Revelation 3:1   “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

 

On the other hand, the church invisible is an unseen body of believers. They have no buildings, creeds, definition or form. This church is widely scattered and it has no visible organization or budget. To the naked eye, it doesn’t even exist! If it weren’t for the gift of the Holy Spirit who constantly keeps the invisible church fed and alive, this church would have vanished long ago.

 

Now that you know there are two churches, this statement should make some sense: When the Bible says the dragon chased the woman to the desert for 1,260 years, the Bible us talking about the devil chasing the invisible church.

 

History [and Daniel 7] clearly tells us what happened to the visible church. By the fourth century A.D., Christianity had become rich, powerful, and arrogant. It had assumed the prerogatives of God. It thought to ‘change times and laws” and it ruled over the kings of Europe until the French Revolution deposed the pope.

 

The point here is twofold:

 

1.   I often hear people saying, “But Larry, every Christian needs to attend a visible church or people will lose their faith!  They will soon fall away and forget the Lord. The apostle Paul says we shouldn’t stop meeting together.”

 

My response is simple: I say, let the dead prop up the dead. If the essence of Christianity is so weak that it has to be sustained by “cheer leaders” and church services, then it stands to reason that visible Christianity will disappear when church services are no longer available!        

 

2.   We need to know that Revelation 12 isn’t concerned with the visible church. This prophecy is focused on the church invisible – the church in the desert is full of lonely people, people isolated from one another, but not from God. This is the church that matters to God!

 

The devil did everything possible to shut down the church invisible between 538 and 1798, but he failed! The flame of God’s truth did not go out, and in 1798, Protestantism finally burst the iron chains of Catholicism and the truth about God and His will became clearer and brighter than ever before! The church invisible overcame the church visible! If you remember our earlier study on the seven seals, you will recall that 1798 is the year when Jesus was found worthy to receive the Book of Life, and He began opening the seven seals that year and as each seal is broken, a brighter revelation of Jesus occurs.

 

Ok, let’s take a final read of Revelation 12:1-6 before moving to the next one:

 

Revelation 12:1   A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun [the righteousness of Christ], with the moon under her feet [God’s covenant promise to save man] and a crown [stephanos – crown of victory] of twelve stars on her head [12 tribes].

 

Revelation 12:2   She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. [Its ironic, the birth of one baby caused the death of a hundred. The joy of one woman was hushed by the sobbing of a hundred.]

 

Revelation 12:3   Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. [These crowns = diadema, these heads = religious systems, indicating the devil would use religion and religious leaders to put Jesus to death and persecute the church invisible]

 

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 it was born.

 

Revelation 12:5   She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. [4 B.C.] And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. [A.D. 30]

 

Revelation 12:6   The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days [1,260 years]

 

So, the dragon chased the woman [the church invisible, the people of God] to the desert for 1,260 years, but they survived the hardship! But wait! The devil isn’t finished with the woman….

 

Coming down to our day…

 

Revelation 12:17   Then the dragon was [outraged] enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest [or the last] of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” This will occur during the Great Tribulation.

 

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.”

 

Ok, we have examined the prophecy of Lucifer versus God in verses 1-6. Actually, we have read an overview on demonic possession.

 

Now, we have examined the next prophecy: Lucifer versus the invisible church. This is a lengthy prophecy (Revelation 12:7-14:5); so try to stay on track. This prophecy begins with 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.

 

Revelation 12:8   But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.

 

Revelation 12:9   The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”

 

When did this war in Heaven occur? We will examine this question in our next segment.

 

End Text:

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