The Cosmic War
Sermon Manuscript
In today’s passage we get to see the Christmas story from a heavenly point of view. We see Satan’s cosmic battle to stop the Messiah from coming. But then, when he failed at this, we see the ongoing battle against the church. Kind of the war behind the war. If you are a Star Wars fan, think about the war between the Empire and the Rebels. But really, the war behind the war is the Emperor vs the Jedi. Or in Harry Potter, you realize that Voldemort’s war is really behind all the conflict. Or in Lord of the Rings, you realize that behind the global conflict is the dark influence of Sauron.
Revelation 12 shows us the war behind the war. Satan’s battle to stop Christ’s coming and, after Jesus’ victorious resurrection and ascension, Satan’s ongoing battle against His church. Those are the two things this passage shows us and that’s how we are going to look at this cosmic war.
- The Battle to Stop Christ’s Coming 1-6
There are three major characters here. The dragon, the woman, and the child. The dragon is standing in front of the woman who is about to deliver the child so he can devour her child. The child is Jesus, the Christ and the dragon is Satan. The woman is the people of God through whom the Christ comes into the world. Satan is constantly trying to prevent the arrival of the Christ in any way he can. And when we see this, the entire Old Testament becomes one story. The story of the conflict between the seed of the woman and the dragon. Between Christ and Satan.
Just think about the initial promise in Genesis 3:15. Sin has come into the world through Satan’s influence on Adam and Eve and God curses them all. But to Satan He says, “15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring5 and gher offspring; hhe shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” From the very beginning God tells Satan that One is coming whose heel you may bruise, but He will crush your head. Revelation 12 is very clearly based on Genesis 3. The same characters are here and the same truth is proclaimed. The serpent of Genesis 3 is the dragon of Revelation 12. The woman’s seed of Genesis three is the Son of Revelation 12. Genesis three is the first announcement of the conflict that we see in Revelation 12. Just like I said last week, the Bible isn’t a book of random stories, it’s one continuous story from Genesis to Revelation of the Christ who will redeem His people.
You keep reading in Genesis and you see children are born to Adam and Eve. Two of those children are Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel and Seth is born. Satan knows Seth carries the line of the Christ and does everything in his power to destroy him. He lies to Seth’s sons that they must marry the daughters of Cain to destroy Seth’s line and eliminate the promise of a Messiah. It looks as though he has succeeded, but among the families that descended from Seth, there is one who fears the Lord: Noah. God saves this one family and the promise continues.
But the dragon doesn’t stop. The promise of the Messiah is given to Abraham and Sarah. Humanly speaking, they are too old to have children. It looks again like the dragon has won, but God intervenes and Isaac is born. But God commands Isaac to be killed as a burnt offering. Is the dragon going to win? Well, the Angel of the Lord appears, which is Christ Himself. Jesus is constantly preparing for His own birth according to the flesh. The Angel of the Lord, Christ, says, 12 He said, p“Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for qnow I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son,from me.” …. and win your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, xbecause you have obeyed my voice.” Gen 22:12,18
Then, the promise continues through the line of Isaac and Rebekah. But, Rebekah was barren. But God again performs a miracle and Rebekah has Jacob. But watch what happens. Jacob deceives his father and receives the blessing that was intended for Esau. So Jacob has to flee and live in fear of Esau. But, Esau did not kill Jacob and the promise continues.
But the dragon still stands before the woman. He attacks Jacob’s descendants: The Jews and it again feels like he is going to succeed. The Jews are enslaved in Egypt. The Lord frees them in dramatic fashion, but soon after, they reject Him for a golden calf. And the dragon would have won unless an intercessor came. Cue Moses. Moses saves the day and the promise is again saved.
So the story moves ahead. Out of the tribe of Judah God chooses one family to continue the promise: the family of David. So Satan focuses his efforts on David. David must die. An evil spirit came upon King Saul and Saul tried to kill David with his spear. But David escaped him twice. Jesus was continuing to preserve the line of his birth according to His flesh.
Then, the forces of Israel and Syria combine to destroy the tribe of Judah to get them to join an alliance against Assyria. Do you see the war behind the war? Syria and Israel thought they were fighting Judah to create a stronger army to fight Assyria, but Satan was using all this to wipe out David’s line and prevent the Messiah from coming.
This is when God calls the prophet Isaiah to encourage King Ahaz of Judah. Ahaz, though, is an evil king and he refuses to even consider asking Isaiah for a sign as proof of God’s support of Isaiah and Judah. I mean, if the dragon was ever going to win, it seems like it would happen now. But Isaiah responds with these famous words, 14 Therefore the cLord himself will give you a sign. dBehold, the evirgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name fImmanuel. - Isaiah 7:14 Immanuel, God with us, will be born. The line will continue.
Do you see what Revelation 12 is doing? It’s taking the entire Old Testament and pulling back the curtain so you can see the same dragon behind every story. This brings us to the fifth century BC and King Ahasuerus of the Persian Empire. The king issues a decree that every Jew under his vast domain would be put to death. The decree is sealed with the king’s ring and it seems like nothing can change that. The dragon can’t take out the line with a sniper’s rifle aiming at individuals, so he changes tactics and tries to take all the Jews out with a nuclear bomb. But, the decree of Genesis 3:15 was sealed with the oath of the King of kings. And Esther saves the day.
Now we come to the final act in this drama that has been unfolding for thousands of years. We are in Bethlehem. Christ has been born and lies in a manger. But, even though He has been born, that doesn’t stop the dragon. And Revelation 12 specifically speaks to these events. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child nhe might devour it. Rev 12:4b Herod orders the wise men to report as soon as they have found the child so he might worship Him, but his plan is really to kill Him. But God warned the wise men and after seeing the child, they returned home using a different route. When ruthless King Herod realized this, he ordered the death of every child in Bethlehem under two years old. But God appeared to Joseph telling him to take the child to Egypt and the child was spared.
Satan tried to entice Jesus to worship him, but He would not. So in one final effort, Jesus is arrested. He is mocked, He is beaten, and He is crucified. But, has the dragon finally won? No. Jesus resurrects from the dead proclaiming forgiveness of sin and the defeat of death for all who put their faith in Him. The dragon has lost. Revelation 12 says that the child was caught up to God and to His throne. This was Jesus’ ascension into heaven. And the woman who brought Him forth, the church, flees into the wilderness.
Advent isn’t just a sentimental time of year, it is the announcement that the true King has invaded enemy territory and against all human odds and prevailed. The dragon bruised Jesus on the cross, but on the cross Jesus crushed the dragon’s head. But, the rest of Revelation 12 shows us that the cosmic battle is not over. If the first six verses show why Jesus had to come, verses 7–17 show why we still need Him now.
- The Battle After Christ’s Coming 7-17
After Jesus’s ascension, there is a battle in heaven and a battle on earth. In verse seven we see the battle in heaven in verses 7 through 12. A war arose in heaven between the dragon and his angels (or demons) on one side and the archangel Michael and his angels on the other. Satan is defeated and he and his army are hurled down from heaven.
The nice thing for us is that this is fully explained in the passage. This battle in heaven and the hurling down are not to be taken literally. The voice explains to John that this is a picture of Satan losing his position as the accuser of those who put their faith in Christ. He still tries to accuse us, but he has no grounds to do so. This is the fulfillment of Romans 8: Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? The answer is no one. Not even Satan himself. Jesus has paid the price for our sin and given us His righteousness. Satan is no longer able to point to the unaccomplished work of Jesus our Savior because it has been fully accomplished.
And in so doing, God’s power is vindicated and God’s people will triumph even in death and this makes Satan furious! He knows his time is short and he is going to ravage whatever he can. This isn’t a battle at the end of time, it’s the spiritual battle that is going on now. Jesus’ finished work on the cross isn’t just a nice comforting thought, it’s the basis for the heavenly war going on now.
In Revelation 20 John says, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, nholding in his hand the key to othe bottomless pit1 and a great chain. 2 And he seized pthe dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and qbound him for a thousand years, - Rev 20:1,2 When we see that Revelation isn’t chronological, but one story repeated seven times beginning with Christ’s first coming and ending with His return, we can see that this binding of Satan isn’t something that happens in the future, it’s what we are reading about in our passage. It happened just after Jesus’ ascension.
And I used to resist this idea because it sure feels like Satan is very much unbound today. What I didn’t realize is that bound and dangerous can both be true at the same time. Satan is like a wounded dog chained to a tree. Would you go near that dog? No! He is extremely dangerous. But, as long as you don’t give yourself to him, he can’t take your soul. This doesn’t minimize the reality of suffering, it clarifies the limits of the enemy.
Satan is on this earth wounded because Jesus has taken his greatest threat against us away. His just accusation of our sin. Martin Luther once wrote, “When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to say: ‘Yes, I indeed deserve them, but what of it? I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God.’”
This is what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 12. 29 Or fhow can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strongman? Then indeed ghe may plunder his house. - Matt 12:29 Jesus is talking about His binding of Satan after His resurrection and ascension. He does this in John chapter 12 as well. 31 zNow is the judgment of this world; now will athe ruler of this world bbe cast out. - John 12:31
Satan was bound at Jesus’ first coming and Revelation 12 describes that event in symbolic form: Satan losing his accusing power and being thrown down when Christ ascended. Binding does not mean Satan is inactive. Revelation 20 says that he is bound so that he might not deceive the nations. Before Christ, only Israel had the light of God. After Christ, the gospel goes global. Satan has no power to stop it. But that doesn’t mean he has no power at all. That is why verse 12 says, 12 Therefore, crejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But dwoe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because ehe knows that his time is short!”
So what does that mean for us now? This is where John shifts from the battle in heaven to the battle on earth. The battle on earth is Satan taking his rage out against the church. Verse 13 says that the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth and he pursued the woman who gave birth to the child. Who is that woman? The church. He is unable to reach the ascended Christ so the dragon turns his rage toward the woman. This is the age we live in. The wilderness period between Christ’s ascension and His return. But even in this wilderness and war, God is protecting His people.
John writes that the woman was given two wings of the great eagle. He’s showing us an Exodus like deliverance. God carrying His people when they cannot carry themselves. God takes His people into the wilderness to a place He has provided and nourishes her for a time and times and half a time. What does that mean? This phrase appears in Daniel 7, Daniel 12, and Revelation 12. As we talked about last week, in apocalyptic literature, numbers have meaning. Not a secret meaning. Not a secret code that we have to break. They have known, clear meaning. So to understand this, we have to look at the meaning of the number. A time is one unit of time. Times is two units of time. Half a time is ½ of a unit. So, you add them together and you get 3 ½ units of time. Which is half of the number seven which is the number of completion. So what this means for us is that God is allowing this persecution, but He has set a timer for its end. This unit of time we have here for Satan’s persecution of the church is the entire time between Christ’s first coming and His return. Which makes total sense because the one story being told seven times in Revelation is that exact period. We are living in the current age of tribulation.
Satan hates the woman that has brought forth Christ and he is going to take that rage out on her offspring until his dying breath. And we are that offspring. But, God is going to take care of us. He is going to nourish us with the manna of His Word and the presence of His Spirit. Revelation 12 says that we reside ‘away from the face of the serpent.’ That means that we are spared his most direct and deadly attacks. Satan is going to try and engulf the Church in a stream of lies, delusions, philosophic falsehoods, and political promises, but the Church is not fooled. The world, though, is ready to swallow the entire river. This is what verse 15 means. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 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. - Rev 12:15
Satan continues to attack the offspring and Revelation 12 ends with the dragon standing on the sand next to the sea. In apocalyptic imagery, the sea represents chaos. The nations in turmoil. The sand of the sea is the boundary between the earth and the sea. The place where evil begins its assault on humanity. And when you look at the first verse of chapter 13, who comes on the scene? The beast rising out of the sea. Satan is summoning the first beast from the chaos of the sea. The antichrist-like political power. This shows Satan taking his position to raise up worldly political, cultural, and institutional powers to wage war against Christ’s church.
Do you realize that, in a sense, the most dangerous thing we can be doing this whole week and worshiping here together. Praising God, confessing that Jesus is our Lord, receiving the gosple, taking communion, giving our money. And not just our regular gifts, but giving that will invest in truly building this church into the stronghold that dragon hates and fears so much. From the dragon’s point of view, this is the most dangerous and defiant thing anyone in this whole city is doing right now.
But from Jesus’ point of view, this is the safest place in the world for you to be. When you gather in His name, He does not stand back at a distance. He stands among His lampstands. He receives your worship, He strengthens your faith, He delights in your generosity, and He feeds you with His own life at this table. What the dragon fears, Jesus cherishes. What Satan sees as rebellion, Jesus sees as devotion. And every act of obedience you offer…your singing, your praying, your giving…is gathered up by your risen King as something precious, something He uses to build and protect His church until the day He returns. Not because our grip is on God, but because His grip is on us. And as Jesus says, no one will snatch us from His grip. The Church lives in cosmic conflict, but always under cosmic protection.
