TOP 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Pastor Dan Bellows Celebration of Life Service // December 19 // 10am - This past week our beloved Associate Pastor, Dan Bellows, lost his two-year battle with cancer. However, we know from Scripture that he was welcomed home by his Savior. While we are heartbroken, we are looking forward to the chance to celebrate his life on Monday December 19th at 10am at CalvaryMac.
Staff Christmas Love Offering - Help us show appreciation to our CalvaryMac staff for all the hard work they do throughout the year. We are taking a special love offering to provide a gift to each of our staff members for Christmas. Give at the offering box in the back or online under the gift category of “Staff Christmas Love Offering.”
Parents, Drop & Shop Movie Night // December 16 // 5-8pm - The Drop and Shop annual event is coming up soon! This is the perfect opportunity for parents to get a few hours before Christmas to shop, go on a date, nap, or whatever they need. Meanwhile, their kids (grades K-5) are safe and sound at church watching a movie, eating pizza and popcorn, and cozy in PJs and blankets. So mark your calendars and make sure to take advantage of this great opportunity!
Christmas Services // December 24 // 4, 5:30, and 7pm - Christmas is a special time of year where we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This year, Christmas services will be held on December 24th at 4pm, 5:30pm, and 7pm. Bring the whole family for this special service! The weather forecast calls for snow in each service. This is guaranteed to be a Christmas to remember as we take time out to focus on celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. There will be no Sunday services on Christmas morning.
Writing Group // *12/14 - Second Wednesday 9:30A (*this month only) - The Morning Writing Group is meeting, Dec. 14th, on the second Wednesday (we usually meet on the third Wednesday of the month) at 9:30 am. Authors of all genres are welcome. This is a way to get feedback on your work, as well as share ideas and be inspired by other writers. For more info email Shelli Owen: s.d.a.o.writing@gmail.com.

SERMON NOTES: REVELATION 12:6-12

This is war, and there is no neutral ground.

I think I may say without exaggeration, that I have read or carefully examined several hundred books purporting to expound the Revelation. I have learned to look upon this twelfth chapter as the crucial test in regard to the correct prophetic outline. If the interpreters are wrong as to the woman and the man-child, it necessarily follows that they will be wrong as to many things connected with them. Therefore, I ask your particular attention as we endeavor to see what light Scripture itself throws upon this remarkable vision. —Harry Ironside

The woman - Symbolizes the Nation of Israel
The dragon - Symbolizes Satan
The stars in the sky swept to the earth - Symbolizes Fallen Angels
The male child - Symbolizes Jesus Christ
The offspring of the woman
The beast out of the sea
The beast out of the earth

We can be confident while interpreting prophetic signs in Revelation by simply letting Scripture interpret Scripture. Instead of wild speculation, succumbing to spiritualizing the book of Revelation, or allegorizing symbols via our own imagination: we can understand the simple meaning of the symbolic vision that John

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observed.

Satan is at

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with God and humanity. He knows there are two destinies and two judgments: the Bema Seat for Jesus Followers, and the Great White Throne for those who reject Jesus as King. Satan fights to capture people’s hearts out of venomous hate towards God in order to condemn people to the same Great White Throne Judgment he too will face.

REVELATION 12:6 // ISRAEL WILL BE SUPERNATURALLY PROTECTED

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

A great 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. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. —Revelation 12:1-2

We don’t have to guess whether this woman fleeing into the wilderness is a literal woman or a figure of speech in that John made it clear this section is full of symbols with the first six words of the chapter, “A great

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appeared in heaven.”

The nation of Israel (the woman) will flee into the wilderness to a place of supernatural

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from the persecution unleashed upon the Jewish people by Satan (the dragon) for the final three-and-a-half years of the Great Tribulation.

1,260 days = 42 months = 3.5 years = time, times and half a time

REVELATION 12:7-9 // SATAN LOSES THE WAR

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. —Revelation 12:7

God gave John this symbolic vision so he’d grasp the full weight and history of this war. Then, in the midst of John’s vision full of symbols; John sees a literal culminating battle break out. This final fight in the heavenly realms will be the righteous angels (led by the angel Michael)

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against the fallen angels who joined in Satan’s insurrection against God (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28).

How do we know this battle is literal and not another symbol?
1. Because Michael is named and is a very real angelic being throughout Scripture. He is no symbol and instead appears to be some sort of General of God’s angelic forces.
2. Because of the literal results, consequences, and responses at the battle’s conclusion.

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

In order to ensure perfect justice, God has allowed his created angel, Satan, legal standing in heaven whereby Satan has acted as the

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, the prosecuting attorney against humans (Job 1-2, Zech 3), while Jesus has acted as our personal defender. But at the sounding of the midpoint of the Tribulation, a war breaks out in which Satan permanently loses access to heaven and can no longer accuse humanity.

But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 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. —Revelation 12:8-9

devil - noun - / dĕv′əl / The title “devil” is from the Greek word diabolos, from the verb diaballo, which has the meaning of ‘defaming’ or ‘slandering’ through ‘deception’

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that —and shudder. —James 2:19

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. —1 John 4:4

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. —Philippians 2:9-11

God has allowed Satan dominion over the earth and permitted Satan’s role as accuser for one purpose: so that as many people as possible could be saved by grace through faith, without eliminating

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(our ability to freely choose or reject God). However, at the mid-point of the Tribulation God will say, “Enough! It’s time.” and Satan will loose all access to heaven and will no longer be The Accuser.

REVELATION 12:10 // THE ACCUSER IS GONE!

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down. —Revelation 12:10

Notice this loud voice doesn’t come from an angel. It says Satan had been accusing “our brothers and sisters” This voice was coming from one of us—the

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. Or, quite possibly all of us, who were caught up (Greek = Harpazo, Latin = Rapturo, NIV = “Caught Up”) to heaven right before the Tribulation began, shouting in one voice, “He’s GONE!”

Satan doesn’t accuse non-believers because he already owns their heart and has them destined to be judged at the Great White Throne judgment. He only accuses Jesus-followers because we deserve to be judged for our sins right alongside him (and he’s

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!). But God says, “No! My Son paid the price for their sin on the cross. They are redeemed. They are forgiven. They are mine!”

This accuser, this “snake,” has been constantly slandering believers before the Father from the beginning of time. And now? He is finally done. Satan has been categorically cast out of heaven and is

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limited to the earth.

REVELATION 12:11 // HOW GOD’S PEOPLE OVERCAME THE ENEMY’S ACCUSATIONS

They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb —Revelation 12:11a

Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. —Revelation 5:5-6a

How to Overcome #1:

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the gift that Jesus’ died for you.
The moment Jesus died in our place on the cross, His blood overcame any of Satan’s accusations. Those accusations are empty because Jesus already paid the wage we earned from our sin. In fact, we may be even worse than Satan accuses us of, but we are still made perfectly righteous by the blood of Jesus on the cross.

They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony; —Revelation 12:11a

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. We overcome his accusations with faith! —Ephesians 6:16

How to Overcome #2:

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God’s Truth and proclaiming how He’s worked in your life to protect against Satan’s deceptions.
Because we have experienced the promises of God’s Word in our lives it strengthens us against the deceiving lies Satan’s attempts to tells us.

They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death. —Revelation 12:11

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” —Mark 8:35-38

How to Overcome #3:

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for eternity, not for this world.
If you live for this world, then you have much to loose when you face Satan’s accusations, threats, or violence. However, if you don’t cling to this earthly life and live for eternity rather than what this world offers, then Satan’s threats and accusations will be powerless against you.

REVELATION 12:12 // WARNING: SATAN’S TIME IS SHORT

Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.” —Revelation 12:12

Satan will be furious understanding that he has lost and that his time is short. Thus, he will spend these last three-and-half-years before his thousand year incarceration (Revelation 20:6-7) just ripping the world apart out of rancorous

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towards God.

This is war, and there is no neutral ground.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE END TIMES?
Bring your toughest questions to The Gathering // Tuesdays // 7P - You may have questions or feel the need to process the book of Revelation. Join us on Tuesday evenings at 7pm in the auditorium to discuss how end times prophecy relates to current events. Wondering about the End Times? Join us Tuesdays at 7P in the Auditorium.

If you want to take the next step in your relationship with Jesus take Planted, our online Christianity 101 course that is also our baptism class. Just go to CalvarMac.com/baptism to get started.