In the Word

Pastor Mike Warren: Father, we thank you this morning for your word. Again, it is what Amos told us in Chapter 3, Verse 7: that the Lord our God does nothing unless first he reveals his secrets to his servants, the prophets. Then you tell us in your word that we should study to show ourselves approved, workmen who need not to be ashamed, who can rightly divide the word of truth. Lord, we just want to thank you this morning because you are speaking.

The problem is never with you speaking; the problem is with listening. Lord, again, one more prophecy for the times we're living in, you said in the last days—the time just before you return to remove your church as you promised you would in John Chapter 14—you said there would be a famine in the land. That famine wouldn't be for food or drink; it wouldn't be a physical famine, but it would be a famine for the hearing of the word of the Lord. For so many years, I interpreted that to mean the word wouldn't be taught, that there would be a famine for the teaching.

But that's not what it says. You reminded me last week that's not what you're saying. You're still speaking. You still have prophets in the land that are warning. You still have pastors that are feeding. The problem won't be for the teaching and proclamation of the word; it will be for people who don't want to hear it. Lord, give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying, and give us hearts to understand it and apply it, to be warned by it and move in application concerning it. We pray these things this morning in Jesus' name. And all God's kids would say, amen.

All right, Chapter 12 is a very interesting chapter. There are things that will be revealed as we go through Chapter 12 this morning that will make more sense to you in your spiritual walk as a Christian in the time we're living in. When we came to the midway of Chapter 11, we picked up in Verse 15 the chronology again. We were on one of those parenthetical pauses from Chapter 10 to Chapter 11, Verse 14. Chapter 11, Verse 15, the chronology picks up and he's walking us through. Literally, the last half of Chapter 11 takes us to the end of the Book of Revelation.

Then when we come to Chapters 12, 13, and 14, we're in another one of those parenthetical pauses where he explains some of the events that are going to go on in this world when the church is gone during the tribulation period that's going to bring us to the very end, the return of Christ with the church. Then we'll have another in Chapters 15 and 16 that picks up the chronology again. Chapters 17, 18, and 19 have parenthetical sections that give us insight into what's going on.

So let's read the last part of Chapter 11 so we can set the stage because Chapter 12 is interesting. Chapter 12 tells us at the time that we're living in right now, just before the coming of the Lord, there's going to be tension in heaven. Do you know that currently right now Satan is not kicked out of heaven? He is the god of the air, he's the god of this world, but he's not the God of the universe. But he still has access. As we read Chapter 12, that access is denied him. Michael will stand up, as Daniel said in Chapter 12, in the last days, and there's going to be a war in heaven.

The smatterings and the saber rattlings right now, as we sit in this building, are happening in the heavens. Michael is about to kick Satan, the accuser of the brethren, out of heaven. He's going to come to the earth, and when he comes to the earth, we're going to see another one of those woes: "Woe to the inhabitants of this earth because Satan now is kicked out of heaven." He is the accuser of the brethren that accuses us right now before God day and night.

Aren't you glad that you have a high priest? Aren't you glad you have a counselor, a lawyer that's never lost a case, who stands before God and intercedes for you and me? He might even say, "Jesus, you're right. Pastor Mike did that. But that's already been paid for." Aren't you glad that Jesus has never lost a case? He's the only high priest or lawyer we've ever had that gets the guilty off every time. But there's coming a moment, and that's why we're sensing this spiritual battle going on. It's intensifying exponentially.

I've told young pastors now that have recently come into the ministry, and I've been in the ministry for 40 years as a senior pastor. I've been 30 years here. I will tell you that in the last five years, the ministry's become much more difficult. In the last two years, it's gone exponentially up. This last year, it's like I have to pray, I have to go to the mountains, I have to be alone with Jesus. I have to continually wait on the Lord to renew my strength just to keep moving forward.

So many of my pastor friends have retired, they've quit, and some have passed away. I'll talk to them and they'll say, "It's just too difficult. I'm done. I'm old, I'm tired, I've done my job." You do your job when Jesus says you're done with your job. So pray for me because I have every intention of running this thing to the end. I want to be like Paul, who was on his way to Jerusalem. The prophets were saying, "Paul, difficult times are awaiting you there. You're going to be in trouble. You're going to be arrested."

I love what Paul said: "Listen, why do you break my heart? None of these things move me, that I might finish the course that's been set before me." We've rounded the corner. Listen, guys and gals, the finish line is just ahead. Run it like you're going to win it. Fight the good fight, finish the course, defend the faith. We're going home soon. That's why this spiritual warfare is so intensified.

So let's read about it as we come to Chapter 11. Just in context, I want to start in Verse 15 and read through those verses because this takes us to the end. This takes us to the end of the tribulation period and the return of Jesus Christ with the church to set up his millennial reign. It really starts with the seventh angel sounding because when the seventh angel sounds, when we get to Chapter 16, we're going to find out that those bowl vials that come out of that seventh trumpet happen rapidly, very quick.

It's amazing how fast prophecy takes place. In fact, we're told in the beginning of this book, when these things begin to happen, they're going to happen in rapid succession. How many would have thought four years ago or five years ago we'd be in the position we're in today? No, it's happening quick. So he says the seventh angel sounded. I'm just reading it for context. The seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying, "The kingdom of the world has become, or is becoming of a certainty, actually, in the Greek, the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever."

Then it says this: and the four and twenty elders, which represent the church, seated on the thrones around the throne of God, they fell on their faces and worshipped. First time we see absolutely bowing to worship God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit because they know at that moment—we know because we'll be there—we know that this is it. The plan of redemption has come to its full. We're about to return with Jesus Christ to set up his millennial reign where he will rule for a thousand years with a rod of iron.

At the end of that thousand years, he's going to loose Satan for just a short season just to see if anybody else still wants to follow him. Then fire comes from heaven, smokes them, and a new heaven and a new earth. But this is the finality of God's plan of redemption where he will come to rule and reign. We fall down, as it were, before him in heaven and we worship him saying, "We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned."

"And the nations were angry." This is Psalm 2. "The nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time that the dead should be judged, and that those that have served you should be rewarded, and so should the prophets, and the saints, and they that fear thy name, small and great, and thou shouldest destroy them that destroyed the earth." The word for destroy there, as we said last week, is those that have corrupted the earth. Man, is there any corruption going on today in this world? But they're going to be judged. Make no mistake about it.

Then he ends in Verse 19 by saying, "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in the temple the ark of his testimony." Listen, inside of it, Moses made a replica of what was in heaven—the tabernacle, later the temple, with the menorah, with the shewbread, with the table of incense, and with the ark of the covenant. But that ark of the covenant represents a promise to God's people. The promises have come to the full and at that point in heaven, the temple in heaven, of which the one here on earth was a model, it's open and we see, as it were, the ark of the covenant.

There were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. That's the sign that marks it. That's it. Time as far as Satan's rule and reign goes is over. Redemption has come to its full. Those that came to faith before, looking forward to the cross, they're going to be there. Those who came to faith like the church looking back at the cross, us, those who came out of the tribulation washing their garments, they're there. Listen, the whole plan of redemption has come to an end there in Verse 19 of Chapter 11.

Now we have another one of those parenthetical pauses in Chapter 12 describing what that last few years is going to look like. Chapters 12, 13, and 14, and then again, we pick up in 15 and 16. We move through the chronology for a short period of time. We get some more chronology and then another one of those parenthetical pauses. But this is an interesting one because we get an insight into what's going on in heaven at this time you and I are living in.

We understand that when Russia attacks Israel, which is just around the corner, as it were, they do that because the demonic force that oversees that region, Gog, will be moving in them to do that. That's the hook that God will put in their jaw. Do you remember when Daniel was praying for wisdom and insight and Gabriel was sent to give him those visions? Gabriel's the one that gave him the 70-week vision. But when Gabriel got there, he said, "I was hindered because of this spiritual force that oversees this region, the demonic force."

"I fought against them and they fought against me, and that's why I'm delayed. Then Michael came and helped me and here I am. And when I leave, I've got to fight against the demonic force that oversees Greece." That's interesting because Daniel's in Babylon, the next kingdom to rule, or two kingdoms later, 200 years later, is Greece. He said, "I got to fight against that demon." There are demonic forces. That's why it says in Ephesians, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. Our battle is not here. It's not physical.

The Bible says we wrestle against principalities and powers and hosts of evil wickedness in high places. That's why prayer is so important. That's why the baptism of the Holy Spirit is so important. That's why standing on the solid word of God and the authority of God's word is so important. Jesus defeated Satan in his 40-day testing because he was a man filled with God, standing on the word of God. That's all we have to be to defeat Satan.

But as we come to the end and Satan knows his time is short, there are things that are going on in heaven. The spiritual warfare there has an effect on us in this physical realm. That's what you're sensing. I've had many of you come and say it's just increased, it's difficult. Well, of course it will be. We're closing in on the final moments. So we read here in Chapter 12, "And there appeared a great wonder." Actually, there are two. Just make note of this chapter: the great spiritual struggle from the beginning of the creation of man until man's glorification.

This is the great struggle that's gone on in every generation. But we are the generation that's coming to the climax of that great struggle. That's why it's getting worse and worse until the day of the Lord. And listen, if Satan can't keep you from becoming a Christian, he'll keep you from being effective as a Christian. That's why Paul writes to the Hebrews that are scattered abroad. Those are Christians, they're completed Jews, they're the early church.

He said, "Violently cast from you." That "lay aside" in the Greek means to violently rip from you every sin and every distraction that does so easily beset you. Run the race that's been set before you, run it with endurance, and run it by keeping your eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher, the completer of your faith. So we have rounded the corner and we are sprinting to the finish line. This will be a difficult time. This will be a time where Satan's going to try to tempt you, where he's going to try to compromise you, where he's going to try to get you to look to the left when you should be looking to the right.

He's going to try to get you off track. He's going to try to confuse you, discourage you, even make you afraid, any way to dismay you, anything to do to keep you from doing what you're supposed to be doing in these final moments as salt and light in this world. Because the last few grains of the hourglass are about to fall, and we are called to labor while it's yet day because night's coming and we can't labor. So right now, he knows that the time of the church is coming to an end, so he's going to do everything he can to make you ineffective.

I'll just give you some examples. There are people that have left this church and moved other places because they didn't like the politics in California that had thriving ministries in this church. Now they write back to me and say, "We can't find a Bible-teaching church here. We don't have any ministry. Wish we'd never left." But you see, you got caught up in politics. You got caught up in the economy. You got caught up in the world. The devil lied to you. He couldn't steal your salvation but took you out of the ministry. Now you're sitting on the sideline because you weren't seeing things correctly.

Every decision we make in these last moments needs to be important because you don't have the time to recover from a bad decision before Jesus comes. That's why Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice, and they don't follow any other." Men, you need to stand up and be spiritual leaders in your homes. Ladies, you need to be helpmates to your husband who's under a tremendous spiritual battle as the leader of the home that you know nothing of.

You're under a battle as a Christian, but he's under a battle as the leader of the home. The battles he fights are not the battles you fight because his authority comes from Christ, your authority comes from your husband, and as his comes from Christ, Christ's comes from God. There's a real struggle to disrupt that in the day we're living in. We're in a battle for the souls of men in the final moments of the church. We get insight in Chapter 12 as to why this battle is so intense.

There's also a battle going on in the spiritual realm right alongside, and we're being affected by that battle in the physical. That's why we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. So he's telling us there's two wonders are going to appear in heaven, and then he's going to tell us what these two things are doing. So make note of it. He said, "There appeared a great wonder." The word for wonder is like a supernatural sign or an amazement, something that is awe-striking as John sees this thing.

He said in heaven there was a woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. Now, we need to identify as it were who this person is. It's not hard when you let the Bible interpret the Bible. I can't tell you how many commentaries I've read where they're trying to figure out who these people are. Twelve apostles? No, you go back to Genesis Chapter 37 and we're told. You remember Joseph had a dream.

You can read it there in Verses 6 through 11. Joseph had a dream and he had this dream that his father and mother and his eleven brothers—he's the twelfth—bowed down to him. The picture came in the sun and the moon, and these twelve stars gave obeisance to me. When he told the dream to his brothers, they were mad at him. He told it to his father. His father interprets the dream by challenging Joseph by saying, "Who do you think you are, saying that your father and mother and your brothers are going to bow down to you?"

So we know that what is referenced here is Israel. This is not Mary, the virgin birth of Mary; this is Israel, the Jewish race giving birth to the Messiah. Make note of that in your Bible. We serve a Jewish Messiah. We as the church are grafted into the root, which is Israel. This replacement theology is demonic. God has not replaced Israel with the church. The church is mutually and distinctly different from Israel. We're under a different covenant currently, but during the millennial reign, Israel will be under the same covenant we are when their eyes are opened to the Messiah.

That's why prophecy gets so messed up because people try to apply the prophecies that deal with Israel to the church and the prophecy that deals with the church to Israel. They're mutually exclusive. If you do that, you'll have the church going through the tribulation. That's why Jeremiah told us in Chapter 30 that the tribulation period is Jacob's trouble. It has to do with Israel; it has nothing to do with us. Israel was set aside because they failed in their mission, which was to be a light to the nations.

The Gentiles should have come to faith in the living God through the example of Israel, and Israel failed in that because of their idolatry and they crucified the Messiah, which was God's plan all along. They were set aside and this thing called the church was opened wide. Whosoever would put their faith in Christ becomes part of the church. But then the church will be removed and again, as Daniel sees it, when the Antichrist shows up, he will make a covenant with Israel for the last seven years. This is about to happen.

We've come to the end of it. So he says, "I see this wonder. The first thing he sees is the nation of Israel, the twelve tribes giving birth to the Messiah." But we're going to see from ages of old, ancient times, this battle of Satan against God's people and the Messiah trying to destroy the Messiah is an ancient battle. It's been raging for millennia. That battle is about to come to an end. That's why Satan is raging all the more because he's also seen the prophecy; he knows it too, probably better than we do.

So he sees the twelve tribes of Israel. It says, "And she being with child cried travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." Then there appeared another miraculous sign, another wonder, another amazement in heaven, and behold a great red dragon having seven heads—now don't get caught up in this; when we get to Chapters 13 and 17, we'll get more detail about the seven heads and the ten horns—but for now, we just want to look at this great struggle this morning.

There's this great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head. His tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven and they were cast to the earth. So we know who this great red dragon is. It's going to be even clearer as we go through this chapter because he's going to be named as the accuser of the brethren, he's going to be named as the devil, he's going to be named as the destroyer. We're going to get his names.

But he's saying that in heaven in times past, and most of the ancient rabbis believe that the thing that caused Satan to raise his throne above the Most High—we read there in Isaiah Chapter 14—is his jealousy toward God's creation of the human race. Because we are the apple of His eye. We have been created higher than the angels. In God's economy, if you can wrap your hands around it this morning, you are more valued.

You are a royal priesthood, you are a holy nation, you are a peculiar—that word peculiar means you are a treasured—people, that you should show forth the praises of Him that called you out of darkness into this marvelous light. The church is the ruling class in heaven. The church is promised to be clothed in a white raiment wearing the stephanos upon their heads, the crown of victory, and they're going to be seated on Christ's throne as he's seated on his Father's throne. There's not a more valued people on the planet ever have been or ever will be than the church, than you and me this morning.

You place value on something by what you're willing to pay for it. What God the Father was willing to pay for you to bring you back into this relationship with Him, not into a religion. Jesus didn't come and suffer and die to create a religion. That already existed in the world in multiple different forms—4,200 religions in the world today. But God the Father was willing to sacrifice His only begotten Son, the eternal word of God, to come to this planet, be rejected, spit upon, beaten, and ultimately crucified to pay for your sin and my sin. To bring justification upon us, make us just as though we never were sinners so that we could come back into the presence of the Father.

Satan has tried to do everything he can to stop that plan of redemption. We'll see a few of those this morning as we go through this, but there's a lot. He doesn't want you to be redeemed. Listen, Satan hates you. He's not your friend. He wants to destroy you. He's come but to steal, kill, and destroy. He is the enemy of the souls of men. He wants to ensnare you into the same prison he knows one day he will be cast into forever.

You need to be wiser than that. He almost had me. Thank God that God stepped in at the last hour and rescued me. So there is this struggle going on, there is this battle happening, and it's between God's people and God's Messiah, God's redeemer, and Satan, this dragon who, by the way, when he fell to the earth in Isaiah—this is not the same one. He wasn't completely cast out of heaven, but there was a battle when he tried to raise his throne, as we saw there in Isaiah 14, against the throne of the Most High. He lost that battle and he took a third of the angels with him when he fell.

That's why some believe, maybe you've heard the teaching, and I'm not real sure about it, but that Michael, Gabriel, and Satan were the three generals of heaven that oversaw as it were the three groups of angels in heaven. That would kind of make sense because when he fell, he drew a third of the angels with him. Then it says in the rest of Verse 4, "And his tail drew a third part of the stars from heaven and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, before Israel, which was ready to be delivered to devour her child as soon as he was born."

Let me give you some chronology about this. It's interesting back in Genesis Chapter 6. How many have heard of the Nephilim? Enoch, one of the lost books that didn't make it into the Bible, speaks of them. But our Bible speaks clearly of the Nephilim. The Nephilim were a race of human beings, hybrid, that when these fallen angels that were kicked out of heaven, they saw that the daughters of men were attractive, were beautiful. They began to have relationships with these daughters, as it were, and through that union came this offspring of giants, men of renown, called the Nephilim.

It says they were before the flood and they were after the flood. The reason why the flood came is this was Satan's plan to so pollute the gene pool that Jesus could not come as a pure man. You see, by one man's sin came into the world; Jesus had to come into a pure human being. Because by one man, sin will be taken out of the world. So Satan's first attempt to thwart as it were the plan of God with the Messiah was to pollute the gene pool.

But he found Noah and his family to be righteous and he destroyed the rest of the world because of it. As you move through history, then you come to Esther. We've studied the Book of Esther. Haman had a plan, almost got to execute it, to destroy the Jewish race because he felt if he could destroy the Jewish race, then the Messiah couldn't come. You read there that the plan didn't work because Esther, for such a time as that—can you imagine? The whole plan of redemption rested in one woman, Esther.

As she goes in before the king, not knowing if he would kill her or accept her because she wasn't invited, she went in to intercede for God's people. God used her to change the mind of the king and Haman was hung on his own gallows. Many times on the verge. Then you come to Matthew. When Jesus was born, he's two years old then. You remember when the wise men came when he was two years old to bring him gifts, they met with Herod.

Herod said, "Now when you find him, tell me where he is. I want to come and worship him." What he wanted to do was kill him because he was his rival. Herod was no doubt demon-possessed. So when he found out that he was mocked, he killed every child—we just read about that in Jeremiah because Jeremiah prophesied about that—he killed every child from two years old and under in that whole region, trying again to kill the Messiah, the redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, before his ministry could ever start.

We move through time and we come to Nazi Germany. The Messiah's already come, but they want to absolutely destroy God's plan of bringing the nation of Israel back to their homeland to fulfill prophecy. How did that work out? Every empire from the Babylonians to the Medo-Persians to the Greeks to the Romans have tried to destroy the Jewish race, every one of them to bring them into subservience to them, to wipe them out.

Titus Vespasian, when he rode into Jerusalem to quell the uprising, what he did is he cast the Jews to the wind, just like Ezekiel said they would be. Then he renamed their land Israel after their perennial enemies, the Philistines. Palestine is a derivative of the Philistines. There is no Palestine; it's a made-up term by the Romans, again, trying to shame the Jew. When you go to Israel today, it's really interesting. You have a Jewish guide, because you can only be a tour guide unless you're a Jew. You have a Jewish guide showing you Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman ruins, but the Jew is still there.

What you saw back in 1948 when they came back to their land was a fulfillment of prophecy from Amos. "Once I plant them back in the land, nobody's going to uproot them." You don't have to worry about them. They fought a war in 1950, they fought one in '67, the six-day war. In six days, they fought this battle against three other nations, destroyed their military, destroyed their air force, and the Jew remained after six days.

You can read a book about the six-day wars. I used to have one on the miraculous things that took place. Listen, some of those people coming from Jordan saw angels blocking the road so their tanks couldn't get there in time. There were things that went on that were miraculous. But listen, the conflict has always been, suffice to say, there has been a battle between God's people and God's Messiah and God's redemption and Satan trying to destroy it. He's still doing that today.

So, we shouldn't... that's why Peter said, "Don't think it a strange thing when you fall into fiery trials that come to test your faith, as though some strange thing..." No, this conflict that's going to be revealed to us in the 12th Chapter of Revelation is an ancient conflict. We're just privileged to be at the end of it when it gets worse. Aren't you glad? It's like a little guy gets in trouble and gets caught, and now he wants to rat everybody else out and get them in trouble too. This is where we're at prophetically.

So he sees these two wonders. He sees the nation of Israel giving birth to the Messiah, the redeemer, the savior of the world. Then he sees this great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head. His tail drew a third part of the angels when he fell. He's waiting to devour, as it were, the Messiah, our redeemer, when he is given birth. Verse 5 says, "And she brought forth a man child who should rule all the nations with a rod of iron."

So let's just turn real quickly. I want you to look at Isaiah again. Isaiah is seeing this. He's prophesying about this. Isaiah Chapter 9, Verses 6 and 7 says, "For unto us a child is born." Isn't it amazing the way God entered the world? God the Son, he didn't come in great fanfare or some great parade or just come out of heaven in a way to intimidate us. He came in the form of a baby, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin.

"A child is born unto you, a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And the increase of his government and of his peace there shall be no end." When he finally comes, he will be the final ruler upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it, to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth evenmore, and the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. This is what we're seeing.

We are in preparation for the Messiah to come the second time, first to remove the church and then come with the church to establish his millennial reign. Isn't that exciting? Don't let enemy distract you. So we read, but he says this child was caught up unto God, to his throne. He had done his work. He had fulfilled his job. He had suffered and died for the sins of the world. He was buried, he rose again the third day, and he ascended to the Father.

This is why he told Mary, "Don't touch me, I am not yet ascended to the Father," because he ascended to the Father in that tabernacle that is in heaven to offer his blood upon the testimony. Because God said, "When I see the blood, then my judgment will pass over you." And when Jesus had fulfilled his ministry here and went back to heaven, he put his blood upon that which we're seeing now open, the ark of the testament. There, when his blood hit that, your sin, my sin, our sins, whoever puts their faith in Jesus Christ, could receive the gift of eternal life.

By one sacrifice, Hebrews 10:14 says, "By one sacrifice, he has perfected." Turn to your neighbor and say, "You're perfect." This helps me in marriage counseling. Perfect. He has perfected those that he made holy. Tell your neighbor you're holy, but don't forget to say "in Christ Jesus." He not only perfected you, he made you holy by one sacrifice. Then we move down to Verse 17, and it says, "And your sins and your iniquities he remembers no more."

We are past that point, and now we're at the point where he's going to come and remove the salt and light, the church, the witness of his truth in this world, and deal with Israel again. But the Messiah was caught up. Remember what Jesus said in John Chapter 14: "Do not let your heart be troubled." Listen, guys, things are not falling apart. I have people calling me, Christians that are freaked out because they don't know their Bible. I said things are not falling apart; they're falling into place.

You better start looking up because your citizenship already exists in heaven, as Paul tells the church at Philippi. We are looking up, not out, because we're waiting for our Messiah to come for the church. Because when he comes, we get a body like his, we go to meet him. This is what Paul says, the rapture, we go to meet him and we will be with him forever and ever. We have a break there at the marriage supper of the Lamb for seven years while the tribulation's going on down here.

I used to suggest, "Well, you can see it from the mezzanine." Nobody's going to be interested in what's going on down here. We'll be too involved in what's going on up there. Then at the end of that, the Lord will say, "Okay, mount up. We're going back. We're setting up my reign that there will never be an end." Then it says this: "And he shall rule the nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up, as it were, to the throne of God."

And he's just waiting for the Father to say, "Go get your bride." "Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me," Jesus said, because "in my Father's house"—that's where we're going, gang—"in my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it weren't so, I wouldn't have told you. Now, I'm going away." That's why he didn't want your heart to be troubled, because he also promised when he went away to send us another comforter, the Holy Spirit. "But I'm going away to prepare a place for you, and if I go away, I'm coming back."

You think Arnold Schwarzenegger invented that? "I'll be back," the Terminator. No, the true Terminator told us a long time ago, "I'm coming back, and I'm coming back for you." Nothing in hell can stop that. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise unto the day of redemption if you are born of the Spirit. You are sealed, and that word sealed is the same word that's used when Satan is put in the bottomless pit for a thousand years and there's a seal on it and he can't break that seal.

It's the same word used for the 144,000 that are sealed in the tribulation, and as they go through the tribulation, guess how many are standing on the mountain when Jesus returns? 144,000. When Jesus sealed you, he made it clear to us in the scripture that no one can break that seal. No one can pluck you out of my hand. What I began, I will finish. "Now unto him who's able to present us faultless before the Father glory with exceeding joy."

Peter puts it this way: "You have an inheritance, this morning, you have an inheritance that's incorruptible, undefiled, it fades not away. It is reserved in heaven for you and me this morning, who are kept by the power of God unto salvation." Listen, Satan is not your equal; he's not even Jesus' equal. He's a created being, and we've been given through the Holy Spirit authority over him. You can say to Satan, "Get out of here!" Now, he might come back, but he's got to go because greater is he that is in you than he that is in this world.

The same power that raised Christ from the dead, if you are born of the Spirit this morning, if you are born again, blood-washed, spirit-filled Christian, that same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in you, it's in me, it's in us. So you can actually say to the devil, "Neener, neener, neener." In fact, when he's locked away for the thousand years, we read here, "mighty angels, Michael, Gabriel..." you know what it says? An angel, a buck private Horace—Horace the buck private angel—grabs a hold of Lucifer and in the name of his God puts him in prison.

Satan knows his time is short, gang. Listen, he's prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Be smarter than that, be wiser than that. Oh my gosh, the time is gone. Let's go on some more. It says this: "And the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared by God, that she should feed her a thousand two hundred and three score days." So the indication here is in the middle of the tribulation.

We know that Satan goes in, as Jesus said, as Daniel said, and offers the abomination of desolation in the rebuilt temple, which is about to take place. All the materials necessary are already in storage, ready for the Antichrist to give them, as Daniel said, the affirmation to rebuild the temple. That's where we're living. But the last three and a half years, their eyes will be open and they're going to flee. Now, when we were in Israel, we visited Petra. At one time, over 200,000 people lived in Petra. It's in Jordan.

Years ago, Chuck Smith had a bunch of businessmen that spent millions of dollars putting Bible, New Testament Bibles and tracts and all this stuff like we're doing for those that are left behind in sealed 55-gallon drums, and they are waiting for them in Petra. Because Zechariah says their eyes will be open. They realize they crucified the Messiah. They're going to find out about the Messiah with a whole bunch of New Testaments. Thousands of them over there waiting for them to uncrank the barrel that they're sealed in.

For the last three and a half years, he will protect them. Now here's the point I want to make and we might not get all the way through this, but Verse 7 says, "And there was war in heaven." This is yet future. This war happens just maybe a few years, halfway through the tribulation. If we go to be with the Lord this week, we're three and a half years away from this great battle in heaven. So the stage in heaven, in the heavenlies, in the spirit realm, this battle is already waging.

It's on the precipice. The saber rattling is already going on. There is tension, as it were; there is spiritual tension in heaven. Michael is just waiting for the commandment to say that God would say to him, "Okay, kick him out finally. Get rid of him, do your deal." Because again, in Daniel Chapter 12, Verse 1, it says in the last days, Michael, that great prince, will arise, and he's going to protect Israel.

You think all that stuff going on over there right now is just Israel being smarter and brighter and having better weapons? Where do you think all that technology comes from? Who do you think is protecting them? We are in the midst of a great battle that's about to take place. It's already raging in the heavens. That's why we sense this spiritual warfare. We're about to be taken out. That's why he says in the last days, seducing spirits... felt any of that lately? Doctrines of devils. People preaching a false gospel, the spirit of Antichrist.

Again, we think of Anti as something against Christ; that's not the word in the Greek. It is instead of Christ. Look at all the religions offering you something without Christ. Isn't that what Satan offered Jesus in the 40-day temptation? When he took him up on a high mountain and said, "All of this you can have, just bow down and worship me. You can have it without a cross. You can have it without the shedding of blood." What did Jesus say? "It is written."

He used the word. You better be using the word because Satan will try to deceive you. He is the deceiver. He is the accuser. He's the master of distraction. He's the liar. He's the father of lies. That's why you need to know truth, so you don't listen to the lies. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought against his angels. See, the stage for that... three years in heaven is nothing. The battle is already in array in the heavenlies. That's why it's affecting us here on earth. That's why we sense these things.

If you're spiritually born again, then you discern these things. You have a sense about these things. How many have felt the spiritual warfare intensify in the last few years? Well, this is what's going on because it's coming to its finality. He says and they fought. Now watch this. This is Satan: and he prevailed not, neither was there place found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole earth, who was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of the brethren is cast down who accused them before God day and night." And they overcame—can I just do this?—and they overcame by their works and their church attendance and how they tithe and they went through a class to become a membership of that particular church... what does it say? By their works? By their goodness?

No, they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. Can I just have a couple minutes to just give commentary on that, that I think is so important? What I see going on as a pastor today and what is called the church is the church is too engaged in this life. They're living for the moment. They're deceived. They've bought into this idea that life is just going to continue on the same way tomorrow as it was today.

The Bible says they're willingly ignorant because they don't understand as God interrupted human history in the days of Noah, he's going to interrupt it again. He measures time morally, not by minutes and seconds and hours and weeks. It's reached its fever pitch, and he's going to have to judge it. Every time he judged, he removed, like in the days of Noah, the righteous; in Sodom and Gomorrah, the righteous. He's about to remove us.

Make no mistake about it. But there seems to be this carnality in the church where they want to live for the lust of the flesh. In fact, that's why John warned us. John saw all of this; he wrote it. He listened to Jesus, and after he wrote this and was let go from Patmos, the exile was over, and he finds himself in Ephesus. He writes 1 John. That's when he writes, "Love not the world." Actually, in the Greek, it's more emphatic than that: "Stop loving the world."

Because we have a propensity for that. How many have a propensity to love this world? How many have actually even thought, "I'm going to be bummed when Jesus comes because I sure like my life"? Don't ever think that. Because you might still be here liking your life, or not liking it so much. Love not the world nor the things that are in this world: the lust of the flesh, sexual immorality; the lust of the eye, materialism; the pride of life, not willing to submit to the lordship of the Father.

All this is of the world, John would say, and the world is passing away. But he that doeth the will of the Father shall abide forever. So the question this morning is, are you washed in the blood? Because they overcame by the blood of the Lamb. It's the only thing that can cleanse you of your sin. Secondly, what is your testimony?

My testimony is simple. Sometimes I'm going up to the mountains today to get away for a couple days because I really need to be praying. Got a lot gonna be happening in the next week or two, I think. I want to just go and be alone with my Father because I need to know what he's saying to me so I can say it to you. But my testimony is, and sometimes I get in the mountains and I scream it: "I believe in God the Father, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in the eternal word who took on human form, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary death for my sin and my transgression on Calvary's cross, was buried and rose again the third day, ascended to the Father, offered his blood upon the testimony of the ark of the covenant in heaven, and because of that I am forgiven and now ever lives to make intercession for me and my stupidity before the Father. One day he's coming back for me." That's my testimony.

It's what Paul wrote to the Colossians when he said—and by the way, out of Colossae came all of the false teaching of the day, antinomianism and Gnosticism came out of Colossae—yet Paul writes to Colossae, "If you then be born of the Spirit, then you should be seeking those things which are above, and not the things of the earth. You should set your affections on things above, and not the things of the earth, because your life is dead. It's hidden in Christ, who is your life. Who is your life." Not part of your life. He didn't come in to bring you salvation; listen, if he's not the Lord of your life, he's not the Lord at all if he's not Lord of all.

He is the Lord. I'm glad to be serving him because I served a different master for a while. The ambition of this life is to find the right master. There's only two: the god of this world or the God of heaven. I found the right master. I'm glad to serve him because he's a benevolent master. He has my best interest at heart. The other guy doesn't. The other guy tried to kill me; Jesus saved me. Amen?

Set your affections so that when Christ returns, you and I will be found in him. The great struggle that you're sensing right now here in the physical is a reflection, it's an overflowing of the great struggle that is going on in the heavens right now because we're coming to the finality of it. We're coming to the climax of it. Soon, Michael will forever cast Satan out of heaven and his fallen angels. They will come to the earth, they will be here causing havoc for seven years, and at the end of that seven years, they will be locked in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, only to be loosed for a short time. God's going to use them again to test humanity and then destroyed. A new heaven and a new earth.

This is why you are sensing these things, Christian. If you're in tune with what's going on, you're in tune with the great struggle. Oh, by the way, spoiler alert: God wins. We win. Yes! We win! So here's where we're at: we're going home soon. The questions are, are you ready? Well, how do you get ready? You've come to Jesus and are you washed in his blood? Is your testimony the truth, and that you love not this life more than you love that one? Amen?

I've been praying lately, "Lord, we're told in the last days there would be seducing spirits, there would be religion but not relationship." You see that in the apostate church where it's all about a social gospel, it's about your best life now. So I've been asking the Lord, "Lord, what is the measure? How do you know? What is the fruit? What should you look for to know if somebody is in Christ Jesus, born of the Spirit, washed in the blood, name written in the Lamb's book of life, or somebody who's just religious?"

The reason I've been asking that question is I know when Jesus returns, and I think he's on the way, he said of himself: "Many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, haven't I done all of these things in your name?'" They list a bunch of them, and then Jesus will answer and say, "Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you." Well, that scares me because I examine myself often to say, "Am I in the faith or am I one of those?" Which am I? Then I start out in the camp and scream out loud my confession: "I am washed in the blood! This is what I believe! I believe!"

I had a guy pull up on me one time worshipping after just doing that. He was working for Hansen Brothers, they doing some logging up by where I was at. I didn't see him because he came from around my camper, and there he was, tears running down my eyes, snot coming out my nose, my hands raised in the air, screaming what I believe. He looked at me like, "Okay, lunatic, move on." I did get to witness to him on the way out. I said, "You're probably wondering what you were seeing, huh?"

But this is what we believe, and we love not our lives. Jesus said, "When I return, will I find faith, saving faith, on the earth?" So there will be those who profess. That's why John, when he gets off the island of Patmos back to Ephesus, he begins his 1 John in Chapter 1 by saying, "If you say you have fellowship with the Father and you live in sin and in darkness, you're a liar and the truth is not in you. But if you walk in the light as he is in the light, then you have fellowship with the Father and with us."

The measure is, do you love the truth? Are you broken and contrite for your sin? John goes on to talk about that: "I write unto you, my little born-again ones, that you sin not. But if you sin, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus the righteous, who's become the propitiation for your sins." The true believer doesn't want to sin. He may fall into it, but that's not where he lives. He may visit his old life, but he doesn't live there anymore. No, his hope is heaven. He owns him.

You go to bed thinking about him, wake up thinking about him. You're thinking about him a lot now as you look up. Get up in the morning, turn on the news—all right! Mikey likes it. Going home soon. Amen? Are you ready? "And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and they loved not this life to the death."

Amen. Let's stand. Let's get the worship team up, we'll sing one last song. I used to apologize when I went over, but I'm not going to do that anymore because this might be the last message you get to hear. This might be it. I might go over more next week, and if you love the Lord and love the word, you'll still be here. I don't know how many more times we get to meet. Do you understand we're at the end of it? I mean, really, has that gripped your heart yet?

You are seeing what the prophets wrote about 3,000 years ago taking place. You're seeing what Jeremiah wrote about. You're seeing what Asaph wrote about in Psalm 83. You're experiencing what Ezekiel wrote about. Isn't that amazing to you? And we are going to lock the door and turn out the lights as far as the church is concerned and we're going home. Amen. How many ready for that? How many want a new body? How many need new eyes, new bones? I tell you what, I did some work in the garage on Friday; I could hardly walk yesterday. My muscles were... I'm saying, "Lord Jesus, come quickly." Tossed and turned all night because every... I'm getting old. Don't say amen. I've been here 30 years, but some of you are getting old. And it's a good thing my eyes are getting bad because I can't tell you're getting old.

But one of these days, we're going home to our Father's house. And he's going to wipe every tear from our eyes. And there's not going to be any more sorrow, or pain, or death. He said, "Behold, I make all things new." That's just ahead for us, guys. Hang in there, run it out to the end, man. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know one day it won't be in vain. Father, thank you. I set my wake compass to heaven 50 years ago, and I am going to make it by your grace and through that work of your Spirit. So help us, Jesus, we pray in your name. And all God's kids would say, amen. Let's sing one more song.