Blessed Indeed

1. "The main point of these three chapters of Revelation is that we are in a world at war. It's a conflict every bit as real as the ones we've just been discussing, but it's hidden to the naked eye. It's not a physical conflict, but a spiritual one. It's a cosmic conflict, a conflict between God and Satan, between good and evil, between those who obey God and those who oppose Him."

2. "And unlike our best guesses and theories about the causes of international conflict today, this passage provides an authoritative, inspired guide to this cosmic conflict, to what causes it, the tactics that the opposing forces use, and who's going to win."

3. "When God ordains that you lose through persecution, whether losing prosperity or friends or family or work or health or life itself, God makes up for every one of those losses by the gift of his own presence."

4. "Coming to Christ also sets you into a whole new battle. It begins a conflict you weren't in before. If you're not a believer in Jesus and you become a believer in Jesus, you will now inherit a whole new set of conflicts. Your faith may well separate you or alienate you from your family. Your new faith certainly sets you against sin and Satan."

5. "Those with earthly power are perennially tempted to claim total power. Those to whom legitimate allegiance is due are tempted to claim absolute loyalty. And those who are close to power are tempted to worship power in order to get their hands on a little more of it."

6. "Idolatry can get at you through your workplace. Idolatry can get at you through your office. Idolatry can get at you through professional networking. Idolatry can get at you through your bank account, your investment portfolio, your resume, or your cv. Idolatry can get at you through whatever it is you want to gain. And idolatry can get at you through whatever it is you don't want to lose."

7. "For every believer, our part in this cosmic conflict ends with death. No more sin, no more struggle, no more opposition, no more persecution, no more suffering. This life is not where you should look for your greatest happiness. No one rests from their labors in this life."

8. "Death is the end of sin and the beginning of faultless holiness. Death is the end of disappointment and the beginning of total satisfaction. Death is the end of injustice and the beginning of abundant reward. Death is the end of toil and the beginning of perfect rest. Death is the end of exile and the beginning of being at home with God forever."

9. "Every day you are scattering and planting seeds. One day a great and final harvest will come. And the only two options on that day are being gathered in to Christ with His people or being trampled down by God."

10. "Blood is the ink Jesus used to sign the deed to your life. You belong to him irrevocably. Nothing and no one can take you away from Him. Nothing can keep him from bringing you to be with him forever."

Observation Questions

1. In Revelation 12:1-6, what are the key symbols presented in John's vision, and what happens to the woman's child?

2. According to Revelation 12:10-11, what are the three means by which believers conquer Satan?

3. In Revelation 12:17, what two characteristics mark those whom the dragon attacks?

4. Looking at Revelation 13:5-7, what specific powers are given to the beast, and for how long?

5. From Revelation 13:16-17, what restrictions are placed on those who don't receive the mark of the beast?

6. In Revelation 14:1-5, what distinguishing marks and characteristics identify the 144,000 standing with the Lamb?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does Satan's rage against believers increase after Christ's ascension, according to Revelation 12:12-13?

2. How does the beast's "mortal wound that was healed" (Revelation 13:3) serve as a parody of Christ's death and resurrection?

3. What is the significance of the number 666 in Revelation 13:18, and how does it relate to human government's attempts to replace God?

4. How does the imagery of the two harvests in Revelation 14:14-20 illustrate the two possible eternal destinies?

5. What does the repeated phrase "Here is a call for the endurance of the saints" (Revelation 13:10, 14:12) tell us about the Christian life?

Application Questions

1. When have you experienced pressure to compromise your faith for professional advancement or financial gain? How did you respond?

2. What forms of modern idolatry do you find most tempting in your own life - power, money, status, or something else?

3. Think about a time when standing firm in your faith cost you something valuable. How did God's presence comfort you during that loss?

4. In what specific ways has your faith in Christ brought you into conflict with family members, friends, or colleagues?

5. When you face mockery or criticism for your Christian beliefs, how can you maintain your witness while responding with grace?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Daniel 7:13-14 - Describes the Son of Man receiving an eternal kingdom, providing background for Christ's final victory in Revelation.

2. Matthew 10:16-22 - Jesus warns his disciples about coming persecution and the need for endurance, paralleling Revelation's message about standing firm in faith.

3. Romans 8:31-39 - Assures believers that nothing can separate them from God's love, reinforcing Revelation's promise of ultimate victory through Christ.

4. 2 Timothy 3:10-12 - Paul explains that persecution is normal for godly living, helping us understand the reality of spiritual conflict described in Revelation.

Sermon Main Topics

The Reality of a World at War and the Cosmic Conflict

Divine Protection in the Cosmic Conflict (Revelation 12)

Endurance and Faith in the Midst of Spiritual Warfare (Revelation 13)

A Sense of the End: The Final Victory and Judgment (Revelation 14)

The Certainty of Christ’s Triumph and the Believer’s Hope

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Detailed Sermon Outline

I. The Reality of a World at War and the Cosmic Conflict

• A. Global Conflicts and Human Theories

• 1. Modern conflicts reflect a world at war (Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, etc.).

• 2. Human explanations for conflict: coincidence, multipolar power shifts, resource diversion.

• B. The Unseen Spiritual War

• 1. Revelation 12–14 reveals a cosmic conflict between God and Satan (Revelation 12:1–6).

• 2. The war is spiritual, with no neutral parties: all belong to God’s army or Satan’s.

• a. The conflict’s phases: beginning (Rev. 12), middle (Rev. 13), and end (Rev. 14).

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II. Divine Protection in the Cosmic Conflict (Revelation 12)

• A. The Symbolic Vision of the Woman and the Dragon

• 1. The woman (God’s people) and the dragon (Satan) in conflict (Revelation 12:1–6).

• a. The woman’s flight to the wilderness symbolizes persecution and divine preservation (Revelation 12:6).

• b. Christ’s ascension triggers Satan’s focus on attacking believers.

• B. The Heavenly Battle and Satan’s Defeat

• 1. Michael’s victory over Satan (Revelation 12:7–9).

• 2. Believers conquer Satan through Christ’s blood and testimony (Revelation 12:10–11).

• a. Satan’s accusations are silenced by Christ’s atonement.

• b. The paradox: Christ’s victory intensifies earthly conflict (Revelation 12:12).

• C. Satan’s Earthly Warfare Against God’s People

• 1. Persecution and divine intervention (Revelation 12:13–17).

• a. Obedience and testimony mark true believers (Revelation 12:17).

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III. Endurance and Faith in the Midst of Spiritual Warfare (Revelation 13)

• A. The Rise and Tactics of the Beast

• 1. The beast (earthly powers opposing God) receives Satan’s authority (Revelation 13:1–4).

• a. A parody of Christ’s resurrection: the beast’s mortal wound healed (Revelation 13:3).

• B. The Beast’s Propaganda and Persecution

• 1. Blasphemy and war against saints (Revelation 13:5–7).

• 2. The call for endurance and faith (Revelation 13:9–10).

• C. The False Prophet and Economic Coercion

• 1. The second beast (false religion/power) enforces worship of the first beast (Revelation 13:11–15).

• 2. The mark of the beast: allegiance vs. idolatry (Revelation 13:16–18).

• a. 666 symbolizes imperfection and opposition to God’s perfection.

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IV. A Sense of the End: The Final Victory and Judgment (Revelation 14)

• A. The Lamb’s Triumphant People

• 1. The 144,000 on Mount Zion: redeemed and sealed (Revelation 14:1–5).

• a. Their song of victory reflects exclusive redemption (Revelation 14:3).

• B. Angelic Proclamations of Judgment and Hope

• 1. The eternal gospel calls for repentance (Revelation 14:6–7).

• 2. Babylon’s fall and the wrath awaiting the beast’s followers (Revelation 14:8–11).

• 3. Blessing for those who die in the Lord (Revelation 14:13).

• C. The Harvest of the Earth

• 1. Christ’s gathering of the redeemed (Revelation 14:14–16).

• 2. The winepress of God’s wrath (Revelation 14:17–20).

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V. The Certainty of Christ’s Triumph and the Believer’s Hope

• A. The Paradox of Victory and Conflict

• 1. Christ’s decisive victory ensures ultimate triumph, yet believers endure present strife.

• B. Urgency and Assurance in the Cosmic War

• 1. Eternal security for the redeemed: “purchased” by Christ’s blood (Revelation 14:4).

• 2. The call to live in light of the end: holiness, endurance, and witness.

• C. Closing Meditation on Eternal Rest

• 1. Death for believers is rest and the beginning of glory.

• a. Samuel Rutherford’s reflection: earthly suffering vs. eternal joy.

A couple months ago in the Atlantic, international relations scholar Paul Post argued that while we are not in a world war, we are in a world at war. Not just in Gaza, not just Ukraine, but hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serbian military measures against Kosovo, fighting in Eastern Congo, Turmoil in Sudan. The Uppsala Conflict Data Program, which has tracked wars globally since 1945, identified 2022 and 2023 as the years with the heaviest conflict since the end of the Cold War. Many theories have been offered to explain this uptick in deadly conflict. One theory is to kind of dismiss it.

It's simply coincidence. It's just in the eye of the beholder. It's not even a real trend. Others suggest a decline in the United States international dominance and the emergence of a multipolar world. A third theory is that Russia's war with Ukraine has sucked up the resources and attention of major powers, leaving the door open for other actors to initiate conflicts that they would not have otherwise.

Whatever the causes of these conflicts, They affect us all in very different ways. Some of us might not pay them much attention. For others of us, they might prompt anxiety or fear. But others of us are affected far more directly. Some of us have family members suffering in these war zones.

For others, these conflicts might bear directly on your work. Sometimes in dramatic ways, sometimes in ways you can't talk openly about. International military conflicts like these have obvious and devastating consequences. Huge numbers of people forced out of their homes, families separated, lives lost, entire ways of life and historic traditions under threat. The damage and suffering are so great that it can be both hard to keep looking and hard to look away.

This morning, we're going to study the book of Revelation, chapters 12 to 14. The passage is on page 1034 of the Pew Bibles. I should say it begins on page 1034 of the Pew Bibles. The main point of these three chapters of Revelation is that we are in a world at war.

It's a conflict every bit as real as the ones we've just been discussing, but it's hidden to the naked eye. It's not a physical conflict, but a spiritual one. It's a cosmic conflict, a conflict between God and Satan, between good and evil, between those who obey God and those who oppose him. This whole universe is a battlefield. This whole world is a theater of war and there are no civilians.

In this war, there are no noncombatants. Everyone belongs to one army or the other. Chapter by chapter, Revelation 12, 13, and 14 focus on the beginning, middle, and end of this conflict. Chapter 12, beginning, chapter 13, middle, chapter 14, end. And unlike our best guesses and theories about the causes of international conflict today, this passage provides an authoritative, inspired guide to this cosmic conflict, to what causes it, the tactics that the opposing forces use, who's going to win and how.

So the question for you this morning is, what does it take to win? In this ultimate cosmic conflict. What does it take to win in this ultimate cosmic conflict? Point one, divine protection.

Divine protection.

We see this divine protection throughout chapter 12 as the battle begins. So, Revelation 12 really begins the second half of the book in topical terms. In this second half, it's going to focus more on the conflict between God and Satan, the conflict between God's people and the rulers of this world. So, chapter 12 introduces a new theme that's really going to carry us throughout the second half of the book. Look at the very first verse and the very first phrase in chapter 12.

And a great sign appeared in heaven. Revelation is challenging for us to read, kind of like Mark mentioned about the book of Daniel, because we're not used to dealing with apocalyptic imagery and symbolism. It can seem so different from the rest of the Bible, even from other maybe prophetic parts. We're not used to it. But this phrase, a great sign, gives us an important clue.

Revelation is teaching us how to interpret itself. What John sees is a sign A sign is something that stands for something else. So this is not a vision in the form of a newsreel from the future. It's symbolic imagery. We have to ask, what does it stand for?

What does it point to? So look with me at chapter 12, verses 1 to 6.

And a great sign appeared in the sky. In heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains in the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns and on his heads seven diadems.

His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so 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 has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

One of the key biblical texts that enables us to understand this image is Genesis 3:15 where God promises to put enmity between the offspring of the woman and the offspring of the serpent. This is where in a historical sense this conflict begins between the woman and the serpent. And here the dragon is standing for that ancient serpent, Satan. I think the woman here represents the entire people of God, both before and after the birth of Christ. So this symbolic story begins before Jesus's birth and it continues after his ascent to heaven.

And it sets up a conflict between God's people and Satan who tries to destroy and devour them.

When Christ comes, Satan tries to devour him. We see a very gruesome instance of that in the way Herod tried to kill Jesus when he was very young and slaughtered all these other innocent children. And then when Christ is off the scene, when he's ascended to heaven, Satan sets his sights on God's people instead. He tried to devour Christ and failed. Well, now he tries to devour Christ's people.

Verse five is another key to the story here. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. That's a close paraphrase from Psalm 2:9, the promise that God's Messiah is going to rule the nations. And then the way this tells the story of Jesus' life, it skips straight from his birth to his ascension. What happens to God's people once the Savior has come and gone?

Where are we now? We're left with Satan attacking us. So we have to flee into the wilderness. And the length of time we spend in the wilderness, which adds up to three and a half years, is John's way, as we've seen over and over again. It's John's way of naming the whole time between Christ's ascension and his return.

That's why in the story it's keyed off of Christ's ascension. In a sense, while the Savior is with us, we're more protected. When he leaves, we're left exposed. So from the time of his departure to the time of his return is this time of wilderness testing, persecution. Opposition.

In verse 6, the wilderness is a place to which we are driven by persecution and where we experience God's preservation. This is the very same theme we saw in chapter 11. Throughout this age, God's people are both persecuted and protected, exposed to the world's hatred and preserved by his love at one and the same time. As we've sung earlier, preserve us, Lord, in this world's strife. In the wilderness of persecution, God prepares a place for his people.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. So verse 6 is teaching us that when God sends you into the wilderness, especially the wilderness of enduring opposition for Christ's sake, he meets you there, he goes before you there, He comes to you there and He comforts you there. When God ordains that you lose through persecution, whether losing prosperity or friends or family or work or health or life itself, God makes up for every one of those losses by the gift of His own presence. Verses 7 to 12 give us another perspective on how this conflict begins.

Look at verses 7 to 12. Now war arose in heaven, Michael 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, that ancient serpent who is 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.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and 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 by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.

This heavenly battle scene of Michael and his angelic army against Satan and his army, especially in verses 7 to 9, seems to reflect on the cosmic significance of Christ's earthly saving work. It's showing us the heavenly consequences of what Christ accomplished on earth. And we know that's the case because of the power, the force, by which Satan is thrown down is verse 10, that the salvation, the power, the kingdom of God, and the authority of Christ have come because Satan's been thrown down. In other words, Christ triumphed over Satan in his saving work on our behalf. Verses 10 and 11 compress and telescope together our being reconciled to God and forgiven by God, our faithful witness to him, and ultimately, that some of us will enter into our triumph through giving our lives for the truth.

Again, as Revelation often does, it's using martyrs as models for all believers. These different elements of the victory Christ has won for us, our forgiveness, our access to God, are ultimately triumphing over Satan. Some of us doing that even through giving our lives. They're all presented as a package deal here.

We win through Christ's victory. That victory plays out in our faith and it plays out in our witness. Look again at verse 10 where it says, the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God. Satan is presented here as the kind of ultimate heavenly prosecuting attorney.

There's a legal basis to his opposition to us. He can present charges before God accusing believers, but not anymore. How can that be? How can he go from having a basis on which to accuse believers to being thrown out of heaven, like getting thrown out of court? He has no more standing there.

He can't say anything. He doesn't have any access. How did that happen? What happened is in his death, Christ paid for the sins of everyone who trusts in him. The victory that God is achieving through Christ and enabling all of his people to participate in is rooted in Christ doing away with all of our sins so that Satan has nothing more he can say.

He's silenced in heaven. Jesus paid the full price for the sins of all those who would turn from sin and trust in him. And then he triumphed over death and rose from the grave. Now he calls all people everywhere to repent of sin and trust in him so that you will have a fully righteous standing before God and Satan will have nothing he can say about you to God. That's the promise of the gospel.

That's the good news. That's the kind of engine at the heart of this victory. It's not a physical one. It's not about might. It's not about power.

Ultimately, it's about the forgiveness of sins. Destroying Satan's power.

Notice then the split consequences of this victory of Christ and his people. Verse 12 tells heaven and earth to, excuse me, verse 12 tells heaven and those who are in heaven to rejoice. But then it pronounces woe on the earth and sea. Why? End of verse 12.

The devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short. He's been defeated and cast out of heaven and now he's rattling around down on earth, angry, frustrated, looking for people whom he can devour.

Satan now is going to be all the more furious because he knows he's defeated. He'll be all the more desperate to inflict whatever damage he can in whatever battles he can win because he knows he's lost the war. Verses 13 to 17 then, rounding out the chapter, describe the warfare that Satan wages on earth against God's people once he's been cast down out of heaven.

And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the 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 and times and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that 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 keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

And he stood on the sand of the sea.

The pattern here is that Satan keeps trying to devour and destroy God's people and God keeps providentially intervening to protect them. The time period is the same. Verse 14, time, times, and half a time is another way of saying three and a half years. The distinction here between the woman and her children seems to just be a symbolic way of saying that God's people are both individuals and a corporate whole. It's like when John addresses the elect lady and her children in 2 John.

It's two ways of describing a church. Now, verse 17 shows us both what we must be and what Satan hates. Look at verse 17. He went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. That's how to resist Satan.

That's how to fight and win this war. That's how to be on the right side of this cosmic conflict. Obey God and hold fast to the gospel. Submit to God and publicly proclaim his truth. Devote yourself to God and demonstrate that devotion by telling the truth in public.

A clear conscience. Leads to bold witness. Obedience undergirds evangelism and obedience powers evangelism because what you're saying is backed up by what you're doing. The Christian life has always lived under pressure. Pressure to forsake God's commands for something else that brings more pleasure or power.

Pressure to be quiet about the claims of Christ so that you don't offend that friend or family member or boss. There's no escape from the pressure. Your only choice is either to give in or to grow spiritually stronger under the pressure. And every concession only weakens you. It doesn't make the pressure go away.

It only invites more of it. Where are you most tempted to give in to Satan's spiritual pressure offensive. Where are you most tempted to cave under Satan's onslaughts? The message of this whole chapter is that Christ's decisive victory in his cross and resurrection was at the same time the beginning of a whole new conflict. That's the surprise of this chapter.

That's the paradox of this chapter. The cross and resurrection are like D-Day. V-Day won't happen until his return. There is a whole new beachhead opened up in this cosmic conflict. There's a whole new front in the war and it is decisive and it is going to lead to a final victory but the whole victory hasn't been implemented yet.

Christ's victory on the cross therefore triggered a whole new phase in Satan's campaign against God's people. In one sense, it heightened the conflict, bringing it into its climactic stage. What does all that have to do with you? It shows us that the Christian life is a startling paradox. Two things that seem to be contradictory are true at the same time.

What's the paradox? Victory yet conflict. Peace yet war. Sometimes people try to sell Christianity using techniques that are borrowed from marketing consumer goods. Accent all the upsides, minimize the costs, show how much better your life will be if only you buy this Lexus or that shampoo or go on this cruise or whatever.

When you apply that tactic to Christianity, the messaging can go something like this: Trusting in Christ and His commands, obeying His commands, will give you a whole new sense of freedom, purpose, meaning, satisfaction, happiness, community, friendships. You name it, Christianity's got it. Now, there's a sense in which all that's true. Much of it in a spiritual sense that takes newborn eyes to see. There is an element of truth in that sales pitch, but it's not the whole story.

Coming to Christ also sets you into a whole new battle. It begins a conflict you weren't in before. If you're not a believer in Jesus and you become a believer in Jesus, you will now inherit a whole new set of conflicts. Your faith may well separate you or alienate you from your family. Your new faith certainly sets you against sin and Satan.

Sometimes people are surprised by this. A brand new Christian shows up. You have a whole new sensitivity to sin. All of a sudden it's like, wait a minute, I just became a Christian. Now I feel like I'm a worse person.

Well, it's not that you objectively became a worse person. It's that now you're sensitive, you're aware, you're discovering stuff that was there all along but you didn't see it. You have a whole new awareness. Not only have spiritual battles raging around you, But now spiritual battle's raging within. You weren't fighting before, now you are.

Christ's victory begins a conflict with Satan. So does coming to faith in Christ. The battle begins. What do you need to win this battle? Chapter 12 shows us you need divine protection.

What else do you need? Point two, endurance. And faith, endurance and faith.

Chapter 13 shows us the middle of this conflict. It reveals the forces through whom Satan wages war against God's people. It shows us their rise, their tactics, and what it takes to overcome them. Look first at verses 1 to 4.

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.

One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed. And the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like the beast? And who can fight against it?

So we know from chapter 12 that the dragon is Satan. And here he gives his authority to the beast. Who's the beast? On one level, it's clearly referring to the Roman Empire. Its seven heads seem to represent the seven hills of the city of Rome.

And Rome's worldwide dominion at the time is reflected in the fact that the whole earth marvels at the beast. But I think the beast is not only Rome. It is not merely Rome or exclusively Rome. Instead, I think the imagery here is meant to stand for every earthly power that oppresses God's people and demands total allegiance and even worship. It's every totalitarian political power.

It's every earthly authority that claims an allegiance that is rightly given to God alone. Looking at verse four, they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. This is the dark side of civil religion.

We might even say this is civil religion unmasked. People worship the false god Satan because of the earthly power he has set up. They worship Satan as the one who deified the state, making state power into a god. Not only that, but this is a parody of Christianity. Just as Christians worship God the Father because he sent us a savior and king, So these unbelievers worship Satan who made the state into a pseudo savior.

There's a profound warning here about the idolatrous potential of politics. Those with earthly power are perennially tempted to claim total power. Those to whom legitimate allegiance is due are tempted to claim absolute loyalty. And those who are close to power are tempted to worship power in order to get their hands on a little more of it.

Verses 5 to 10 show us the beast's tactics.

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them, and authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes.

If anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The beast's tactics against God's people include a continual verbal assault. In verse 6, the beast speaks blasphemies against God and his people. The beast engages in a propaganda war. A misinformation campaign. Sometimes words can undermine a cause far more effectively than bombs or missiles can.

Satan tries to demoralize Christians by broadcasting messages that mock and undermine the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus. What are some of those messages today? What are some of those anti-God slogans that receive official sanction or command lots of public airtime? And how can you resist them? Those would be good questions to discuss over lunchtime today.

Kids and teens in the congregation, be prepared if you profess faith in Christ to receive regular verbal opposition for being a Christian. Be prepared for that. Expect it. Expect that you'll have to kind of muscle on through it and endure through it. Be prepared to humbly, quietly endure verbal abuse for your faith, even in middle school or high school.

These days, kids and teens, be especially prepared to endure slander because you intend to affirm and practice God's commands. Twenty years ago, high schoolers made fun of Christians for being goody two-shoes, for refusing to drink or do drugs or go to parties or engage in other kinds of immorality. But these days, high schoolers condemn Christians for being bigots. That's a harder slur to bear up under. Many of you who are 14, 15, 16, You've already been faithfully enduring this for years.

You keep confessing Christ and obeying God's commands. Keep going. Your parents and your pastors are proud of you.

Verse 7 shows us another tactic.

Not just words but weapons. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. Verse seven shows us that the beast is permitted to kill Christians. We see this happening throughout history. We see it around the world today.

Verse eight goes on to say that everyone on earth will be sucked into this idolatrous worship except for God's elect, except for those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Don't be intimidated by being in the minority. Whether in your faith, in your morality, whatever it might be. Don't be intimidated. What's right isn't always what's popular.

The truth is not determined by popular vote. Verses 9 and 10 are slightly cryptic, slightly enigmatic, but they seem to make the same point as when there's the martyrs in heaven in chapter six. And we learn that God has ordained by his mysterious will that more of his people are to be put to death for their faith faith. That's why verse 10 summarizes, Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. That's the practical message of Revelation in a nutshell.

That's why John repeats this at regular intervals. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. This is also a good argument against interpretations of Revelation that would assign all of these events to a narrow, specific, one-off realization right before Jesus comes back. These visions call all of us, the saints, to faith and endurance because they're showing us a conflict that's always ongoing. We're not always in Rome, but there are always earthly powers that demand a loyalty that belongs only to God.

We're not always being put to death, but we're always under pressure to abandon God and his ways in order to please people. What does it take to win this war? Endurance and faith. Especially because the enemy, sadly, has still more tricks up his sleeve. Look at verses 11 to 18 for more of those tactics.

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound and was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak.

It might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

So now there's a second beast, a third link in the chain. Dragon, beast number one, beast number two, three figures. This is an unholy trinity, a parody of the Trinity. What's going on here is that in a parody of the way that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Son whom the Father sent as a savior, here we have what Revelation 16 names as a false prophet. Who as it were bears witness to the beast at the behest of the dragon who is Satan.

And through what the false prophet does on the beast's behalf, we learn more about the identity of the beast. So for instance, there's a clue here in verse 12 that the beast's mortal wound was healed. I think this is showing us that the beast is not only Rome but it also focuses in on an emperor of Rome, namely Nero. Nero was a particularly wicked emperor who ruled Rome from 54 to 68 AD. Now, revelation was likely written two or three decades after Nero died.

So the point is not so much Nero himself, but what he stands for, what he represents. That clue that the beast's mortal wound was healed links up with Nero because Nero died by suicide and yet there were rumors throughout the empire that he was actually in hiding. He didn't really die, he just went away to some obscure place and he would come back to resume his power. So this detail parodies those rumors. Nero's mythical death and resurrection is a parody of Christ.

Revelation parodies the parody. It mocks the mockery. So this second beast, who's like a false prophet, sets up an image. That people have to worship on pain of death, just like Nebuchadnezzar did in Daniel 3. And it makes this image of the beast talk.

That seems to point to a kind of demonic influence or sorcery, some kind of evil, magical power. This fits very closely what Jesus says in Matthew 24:24, For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Not all spiritual powers are good. Not all miraculous events have God as their source. In verses 16 and 17, we encounter the famous Mark of the Beast, which has had a long and varied career in popular culture. I don't think this Mark of the Beast is a credit card or microchip. Or implant, or even a vaccine.

Remember, these are symbolic visions. There's not a one-to-one correspondence between every detail and some kind of physical, real world reality. And this mark of the beast, I rush to assure you, for those tender conscience, raised on Left Behind believers, I rush to assure you, This mark of the beast is not something you can get by accident. It is not something you can get without knowing it. Oh no, I didn't mean to get the mark of the beast, but I did.

Throughout Revelation, throughout these chapters, throughout the whole book, all the people of the world are split clean in two. All those who belong to God and are sealed by him, as we saw in chapter seven, as we saw in chapter nine.

All those who belong to God and are sealed by him, marked by him, as we'll see in even more detail in a minute. And then those who belong to the beast and are marked as his. It's just a mark of ownership. It's a mark of belonging. Who is on God's side?

Who is on the beast's side? That's all that this mark of the beast is. It just identifies what side you're on, who belongs to whom. But notice the consequences of this, verse 17, no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark. This is probably generalizing from some of the practices of trade guilds in the Roman Empire, where the whole guild would get together for meals and they would offer sacrifices or incense to various gods, sometimes even including the emperor, so that idolatry was baked in to some of your professional networking.

That's a sobering warning. If you didn't go along with those idolatrous practices, it could cost you your livelihood. The lesson is, idolatry can get at you through your workplace. Idolatry can get at you through your office. Idolatry can get at you through professional networking.

Idolatry can get at you through your bank account, your investment portfolio, your resume, or your CV. Idolatry can get at you through whatever it is you want to gain, And idolatry can get at you through whatever it is you don't want to lose.

Whether you are a believer in Jesus or not, notice that the first beast operates through power. The second beast also through power but it starts to focus more on money. You can't buy or sell unless you buy in with the beast. Power and money are Power and money. Power and money.

Whether you're a believer in Jesus or not, have you ever done something you regretted to get one of those two things?

Very briefly on verse 18, what does the number of the beast mean? We have no time for a detailed discussion which I'm sure will be a relief to some of you and a disappointment to others.

In brief, I think this number is another riddling symbolic way of pointing to Rome and specifically its emperor Nero. John here is employing a technique called gematria or numerology, which was a common way of constructing riddles and symbolism in ancient Judaism and even in the ancient world more broadly. Basically every letter of the alphabet would have a number value assigned to it, and so you could make riddles by putting a name together and corresponding it with a number. So if you put Caesar Nero into Hebrew letters, which John knew Hebrew and he sometimes refers to Hebrew words elsewhere, if you put Caesar Nero into Hebrew letters, total up the numerical values of each word, it comes to 666. And that's a highly symbolic number.

666 would be one less than seven, the number of perfection. It may well be signifying a kind of absolute imperfection. Here's how Tom Schreiner puts the broader point. The point is not so much for us to identify one figure as to identify the power and enforces at work. Here's what Shreiner says, wherever human government takes on divine pretensions, we find 666 instead of 777.

The totalitarianism of human government that deprives people of human rights, that insists on absolute devotion and allegiance. This enemy rises through politics and money. Through getting people to worship what they think will bring them peace and security. Through propaganda campaigns against God's people. Through waging a demoralizing war of attrition on those who confess faith in Christ and obey God's commands.

What does it take to win this battle? Endurance and faith. What else does it take? Point three, turn over to the next page, chapter 14, a sense of the end. A sense of the end.

That's what the series of visions and proclamations throughout chapter 14 give us. Look first to chapter 14, verses 1 to 5.

Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

It is these who have not defiled themselves with women for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb. And in their mouth no lie was found for they are blameless.

In verse 1, that reference to Mount Zion is talking about the name of the mountain where the temple was built. It's a symbol throughout scripture of God's presence with his people. So in this vision, where are we and when are we when God comes to have this presence with his people? I think the best answer is that this is a preview of the new creation. Jesus is with his people in the kingdom that has now come to earth.

That's why they're standing on Mount Zion. This is where and when Christ has come to be with us forever. Wiping away every tear and filling our hearts with his love. As we sang earlier, the Lamb with his fair army doth on Mount Zion stand and glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land. In verse one, of course, you'll notice the number 144,000.

We saw that before in chapter seven when it was 144,000 out of all the 12 tribes of Israel sealed. And then I argued that the numberless multitude from every nation is the same thing seen from a different angle. Well, now here we go, 144,000 again, and they seem to represent the fullness of God's people. This doesn't seem to be a subset, this seems to be the completeness, the end, the end of the story when everybody's together. This 144,000 have Jesus' name and his father's name on their foreheads.

That is, they have the mark of the triune God. Contrasted with those who have the mark of the beast. You're marked either by one or the other. And I think that confirms that this 144,000 stand for the total of God's people, all those who bear that mark of belonging to God. Verses 2 and 3 describe the singing of these redeemed victors.

This is the song that all God's people and only God's people will sing on that day. Sometimes in popular depictions of heaven, singing with harps is portrayed as the ultimate snooze fest. See, heaven is so boring. Why'd you want to spend your whole life trying to go there? That's a classic case of completely missing the point of a biblical image.

Here we have harp singing, harp singing in heaven or more specifically, the new creation.

What sort of music is it? It's a deafening roar. It's like the sound of mighty waters, the sound of loud thunder. John is reaching around for whatever natural phenomenon he can find that is loudest and most overwhelming. It's like a Niagara Falls of praise.

It is the complete opposite of boring. It's the complete opposite of little tingly, chiming music you can barely hear. This is electrifying, invigorating, enlivening. This is a sound that could wake the dead.

If you believe in Jesus, that will be your song in eternity.

So what a good reason to sing loud and hard now. What a good reason every time we gather to blow the roof off this building with our voices. Because that's what it's gonna sound like on that day.

In verses four and five, John describes the spiritual and moral faithfulness of these redeemed victors in a few different ways. He asserts their virginity but that doesn't mean they're all unmarried. Again, it's a symbolic sense. It's a metaphor rooted in our relationship of being betrothed to Jesus. Every single believer is engaged to be married to Jesus.

That's what Paul says to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11. So we show our faithfulness to Jesus as we wait to be married to him by not committing spiritual adultery and worshiping any false gods. That's what that metaphor is saying. And then in, later in that same verse, the phrase following the Lamb wherever he goes is a one sentence summary of what it means to be a Christian. Just as we've read out loud earlier from Matthew 10, to be a Christian is to do what Jesus does.

To be a Christian is to do what Jesus says. To be a Christian is to follow Jesus wherever he leads, even if that's into flames, or flood, even to a cross, to follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

Verse 4, into verse 5, this metaphor of firstfruits doesn't mean that these are the first to be redeemed and there's more to come. Sometimes in Scripture, the metaphor of firstfruits is used just to say that it's an offering totally devoted to the Lord. It's an offering that becomes the Lord's special possession. So these are those who have persevered in faith and obedience and now belong completely to God. The point here is that for all who trust in Christ, this is how it ends.

This is the outcome of the world at war. This is the outcome of the cosmic conflict, fellowship with God, praising him forever. And the means and the ends must fit. We will be perfectly holy on that day and so we must be holy now. We must strive for greater and greater holiness now.

That's the first picture of the end in chapter 14. The next one in verses 6 to 13 is this series of mini sermons preached by angels sounding from heaven to earth. Look at verses 6 to 13.

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people, and he said with a loud voice, Fear God, and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. Another angel, a second, followed, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality. And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or or on his hand. He also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints.

Those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.

Verses 6 and 7 call people to repent of sin and start worshiping the one true God. The message is called gospel because it implies that the Creator will receive and restore those who have rebelled against him but now repent. That's the point of the angels preaching, is to bring people to repentance. Verse 8 denounces Babylon as soon to fall under God's judgment. We'll see much more about Babylon later in Revelation, but we can and just note here that it stands for Rome and not only for Rome, but for all human societies that glorify themselves and reject God's ways.

Verses 9 through 11 are a sobering picture of the final judgment that awaits all those who persist in sin and do not turn to Christ in faith. The fate coming to all who do not believe in Christ is eternal conscious torment. These verses teach that explicitly. The severity of these images is meant to warn us. If you're tempted to judge God for punishing people in this way, you're looking through the wrong end of the telescope.

Turn that thing around and look in the opposite direction. Instead of letting your heart judge God's word, let God's word judge your heart. The only way to avoid this judgment is to trust in Christ. The only time to trust in Christ is in this life. Following Jesus is urgent and costly and worth it.

So believe in him today.

Verse 12 repeats the drumbeat of calling for faith and endurance. And then verse 13 promises a blessing on those who die in the Lord. That is, every single believer who dies trusting in Christ. Let's look again at verse 13.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them. For every believer, our part in this cosmic conflict ends with death. No more sin, no more struggle, no more opposition, no more persecution, no more suffering. This life is not where you should look for your greatest happiness.

No one rests from their labors in this life. For a Christian, death is not the end, but it is an end and it's a beginning. Death is the end of sin and the beginning of faultless holiness. Death is the end of disappointment and the beginning of total satisfaction. Death is the end of injustice and the beginning of abundant reward.

Death is the end of toil and the beginning of perfect rest. Death is the end of exile and the beginning of being at home with God forever.

The lovely hymn we sang earlier, the Sands of Time Are Sinking, is a paraphrase of some of the letters of Samuel Rutherford. Who wrote many letters from prison 400 years ago who was suffering for his faith. Here's what Rutherford said, a fitting meditation for this verse: When we shall come home and enter into the possession of our brother's fair kingdom, that when our heads shall find the weight of the eternal crown of glory, Then we shall look back to pains and sufferings, and then we will see life and sorrow to be less than one step or stride from a prison to glory.

Our little inch of time suffering is not worthy of our first night's welcome home to heaven.

Verses 14 to 20.

Then I looked and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe. So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.

So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press as high as a horse's bridle for 1,600 stadia.

In verses 14 to 16, the one seated on the cloud with the appearance of a son of man is Jesus. He's fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel 7 that one like a son of man would come and receive universal worship. Here specifically, he's completing the task of redeeming his people this harvest of the earth is not an act of judgment, but of ingathering. The grain is ripe and dry. All his people are ready for their final reward, so he gathers them to himself.

One might even say, the hay is in the barn.

By contrast, in verses 17 to 19, We have a picture of final judgment. Here are angels sent to reap the world's grape harvest, gather it and trample it. The image is a gruesome one, a severe one of God's wrath trampling people down. It's meant to shake us, it's meant to scare us, it's meant to wake you up to just how huge the consequences of your sin really are. The main point of these contrasting destinies is this, in this life, every action you take, every word you speak, every thought you think is a seed.

That becomes either a harvest of holiness or a vintage of wrath. Every day you are scattering and planting seeds. One day a great and final harvest will come and the only two options on that day are being gathered in to Christ with his people or being trampled down by God. What does it take to win in this cosmic conflict? It takes a sense of the end, constantly living in light of that coming end, both the threat and the promise.

It takes remembering that if you trust in Christ, your destiny with him is secure, that all you need to do now is have faith and endurance. And even that is not finally what's responsible for saving you.

Look back at verse four of this chapter, very end of Revelation 14:4. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb. That word for redeemed is literally purchased. If you're in Christ, it's because he bought you with his blood. Will he fail to finally possess you?

Will he fail to make good on that purchase? Will he fail to bring you to be with himself so that he can obtain all that for which he labored on the cross? Blood is the ink Jesus used to sign the deed to your life. You belong to him irrevocably. Nothing and no one can take you away from him.

Nothing can keep him from bringing you to be with him forever.

When it comes to predicting how current military and political conflicts will resolve, nothing is certain. Polls sample opinion, pundits pontificate, even scholarly authorities like Professor Paul Post offer educated guesses at best about what's going to happen next. How will all these conflicts that are raging around the world end? No one knows for sure. No one can say.

But we do know how this conflict will end. God himself has told us by sending his angel to his servant John, how will this war, world at war conclude? He shall return in robes of white. The blazing sun shall pierce the night and I will rise among the saints.

My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this promise. We thank you for this revelation into the true conflict, this battle that's raging all around us and within us. Father, we pray you would enable us to persevere in faith and obedience to your commands. In Jesus' name, amen.