©1998 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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6/14/98
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The Key Players Pt. 2
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Rev. 12:1-13:18
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6/14/98 The Key Players Pt. 2
We started something last week
and then I got side-tracked
and we didn't even come close to finishing it.
So today we're going to drop back
into our Revelation study
right where we stepped out of it last week.
If you were here
you will remember that we were in
a nine chapter section of the Revelation
that began with Rev. 8 and went through
the end of chapter 16.
It is a section that does two things for us.
It presents an overview
of the final collision of the forces of good and
evil
here on the earth
just prior to the return of Christ.
Then it gives us close-up shots
of the eight individuals
or groups of individuals
who play the major roles
in those events.
Last week we looked at the first group of two
individuals
given to us in Revelation 11:3-13,
the two Witnesses
appointed by God
for a powerful prophetic role
during the reign of the Antichrist.
I started to tell you
what we know
and what we don't know
about these two men.
€ We know that they come on the scene at some
point during the final seven years immediately
preceding Christ's return.
€We know their prophetic ministry lasts 1260
days, or 3 1/2 years.
€We know they possess supernatural power far
beyond that of any other prophets in human
history.
They can stop the rain at will.
They can consume people with fire
that pours out of their mouth.
They can turn water into blood.
They can bring all manner of plagues
on the people they prophecy to.
€They powerfully confront the people of the
world with their rebellion against God,
€they are hated because of it,
€and their death brings world-wide rejoicing.
That's what we know.
There are also some things we don't know.
€we don't know who they are, but every
evidence supports the belief that they are simply
two Christians alive at that time chosen by God
for that role.
€We also don't know whether they prophecy
during the first half or the 2nd half of the 7 year
reign of the antichrist.
The kind of destruction they seem to leave in their
wake
might possibly put them
into the last half of that 7 years,
but since it is not specifically stated by John,
I'm free once again to guess,
and I personally believe
they do their thing during the first half
of Antichrist's reign.
I think they are given to serve as a sort of
conscience for a world that has
chosen to give itself over to evil.
My main reason for believing this
is because of that comment
in Rev. 11:7-10
Rev. 11:7 ¶ When they have finished their
testimony, the beast that comes up out of
the abyss will make war with them, and
overcome them and kill them.
Rev. 11:8 And their dead bodies will lie in
the street of the great city which mystically
is called Sodom and Egypt, where also
their Lord was crucified.
Rev. 11:10 And those who dwell on the
earth will rejoice over them and celebrate;
and they will send gifts to one another,
because these two prophets tormented
those who dwell on the earth.
This huge, world-wide celebration
sounds to me like something that would take
place
when the world is still living in the illusion
that everything is going to be OK
now that these two flies in the
ointment have finally been removed.
Now that the teacher has finally left the room
we can party big time.
Now, the next 7 close-ups
are given to us in Rev. chapters 12 & 13.
They are presented in a special formate.
God puts on a symbolic play
for John in these two chapters.
It is a play designed to give John
a concise, powerful overview
of the central players in history.
The play has seven players in it.
The identities of each of them
are either stated directly within the text
or are obvious from their part in the play.
And just to give us a taste
for what's happening here
I want to read the first few verses
of Rev. 12.
Rev. 12:1 And a great sign appeared in
heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and
the moon under her feet, and on her head a
crown of twelve stars;
Rev. 12:2 and she was with child; and she
*cried out, being in labor and in pain to
give birth.
Rev. 12:3 And another sign appeared in
heaven: and behold, a great red dragon
having seven heads and ten horns, and on
his heads were seven diadems.
Rev. 12:4 And his tail *swept away a third
of the stars of heaven, and threw them to
the earth. And the dragon stood before the
woman who was about to give birth, so that
when she gave birth he might devour her
child.
Rev. 12:5 And she gave birth to a son, a
male child, who is to rule all the nations
with a rod of iron; and her child was caught
up to God and to His throne.
Rev. 12:6 And the woman fled into the
wilderness where she *had a place
prepared by God, so that there she might
be nourished for one thousand two
hundred and sixty days.
Rev. 12:7 ¶ And there was war in heaven,
Michael and his angels waging war with
the dragon. And the dragon and his angels
waged war,
Rev. 12:8 and they were not strong
enough, and there was no longer a place
found for them in heaven.
Now, those 8 verses
present and identify 5 key players
in the great drama:
1. There is the Woman with a crown of 12 stars
who gives birth to the Man-Child.
We know with certainty
who she is when we are told
who her son is.
2. The Man-Child is the one who is to rule all
the nations with a rod of iron; and her
child was caught up to God and to His
throne.
Who will rule all nations with a rod of iron?
Who was caught up to God and to His throne?
Obviously, Jesus Christ.
So, who is the woman? - The nation of Israel.
3. Then there is the Dragon.
We are told in verse 9 that the dragon
is Satan.
4. Then there is Michael - who plays himself, the
head of the angelic forces of heaven.
5. Then in 12:17 there is one final group of players
introduced in this 12th chapter:
Rev. 12:17 And the dragon was enraged
with the woman, and went off to make war
with the rest of her offspring, who keep
the commandments of God and hold to the
testimony of Jesus.
These are the offspring of Israel
who come to Christ.
In the most narrow sense
they are Christian Jews,
but in the broadest sense
they are all Christians
because we are told in Romans 11
that when we come to Christ
we are grafted into Israel.
So, in this first part of the drama
what John sees is this:
God uses the Nation of Israel
to give birth to Christ.
Satan attempts to destroy Christ
when He is here on earth.
Christ escapes and is caught up to heaven.
Satan then turns his rage
on the people of God
and seeks to destroy them.
The drama then continues
in chapter 13.
And this part of the drama
takes us right up to the time
of the Great Tribulation
and introduces the final two players
in the great drama.
These two players
are the two individuals satan enlists
as his key tools
in his final great effort
to destroy the people of God.
But if you are new to the study of Biblical prophecy
I need to give you a little background
to help you understand what's happening
here.
Some of what we see here
can only be understood
through knowledge of prophetic passages in
the Old Testament book of Daniel.
If you want to do some reading on your own,
I would encourage you to read the 7th chapter of
the Book of Daniel.
In that chapter Daniel is given a vision
in which God reveals to Daniel
an overview of the entire future of the human
race
from the time of Daniel
up to the second coming of Christ.
He sees a vision in which it is revealed to him
that there would be a total of four world
Empires from his time
until the end of the age.
The first of the four was in existence
at the time Daniel lived - it was the Babylonian
Empire.
Following the Babylonian Empire
came the Persian Empire,
followed by the Greek Empire
and then finally the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire was never conquered
by another world Empire.
It rotted from within
and gradually fell apart.
I bring this up because there is a fascinating aspect
of that fourth Empire,
the Roman Empire,
revealed to us in that Daniel prophecy.
And without that background
these two chapters in Rev.
will not make sense.
So I want to read the section of that 7th chapter of
Daniel
in which Daniel asks for
and receives the interpretation
for the meaning of the part of the vision
that represents the Roman Empire.
This is Daniel 7:23-25
Dan. 7:23 ¶ "Thus he said: 'The fourth
beast will be a fourth kingdom on the
earth, which will be different from all the
other kingdoms, and it will devour the
whole earth and tread it down and crush it.
That is a prophetic description
of the Roman Empire in its glory -
a huge, crushing, military machine
that subdued the entire known world.
But the vision of this 4th beast
did not stop there.
The beast Daniel saw in the vision
had 10 horns
and then another smaller horn
that grew and devoured 3 of the existing
horns.
The angel goes on to offer
the following interpretation:
Dan. 7:24 'As for the ten horns, out of this
kingdom ten kings will arise; and another
will arise after them, and he will be
different from the previous ones and will
subdue three kings.
Dan. 7:25 'And he will speak out against
the Most High and wear down the saints of
the Highest One, and he will intend to make
alterations in times and in law; and they
will be given into his hand for a time,
times, and half a time.
So what do we know from this?
1. We know that the last great world Empire in
history will be the Roman Empire.
2. We know that when it first comes on the scene
the Roman Empire will be one massive
crushing, devouring machine
that conquers the known world.
This was the Roman Empire
into which Christ was born.
3. We know that out of that Roman Empire
will come ten nations
and then an 11th power will come on the
scene
and conquer 3 of those 10 nations.
Now, with that as background
lets return to Rev. 13.
The drama continues
with the dragon on the seashore:
Rev. 13:1 And he stood on the sand of the
seashore. ¶ And I saw a beast coming up
out of the sea, having ten horns and seven
heads, and on his horns were ten diadems,
and on his heads were blasphemous names.
Rev. 13:2 And the beast which I saw was
like a leopard, and his feet were like those
of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a
lion. And the dragon gave him his power
and his throne and great authority.
Rev. 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as if
it had been slain, and his fatal wound was
healed. And the whole earth was amazed
and followed after the beast;
With these verses we are right back with
the vision given to Daniel 700 years earlier.
We have the same beast
with the same horns.
But we also have some added information-
we are told that this 4th beast
receives a deadly head wound,
and then that it miraculously recovers
and its recovery amazes the world.
Satan then gives this restored head
tremendous power
that enables him to once again
establish his rule over all the world.
This, of course, is the Empire of the Antichrist.
So what do we know?
1. We know that the power base of the Antichrist
will grow out of the Roman Empire.
2. We know that before that happens
the Roman Empire will take on the form of 10
united kingdoms.
3. We know that the Antichrist
will establish his dominance
by either conquering
or in some other way bringing 3 of
those ten nations under his control.
Nearly 1600 hundred years ago
the Roman Empire ceased to exist.
Dozens of little people-groups
and nations grew up out of its ruins,
but all efforts to attempt to reunite it by force have
always met
with disastrous consequences.
Napoleon tried it and failed,
the Kaiser tried it and failed,
Hitler tried it and failed.
But for several decades now
students of Bible prophecy
have been fascinated to watch
the gradual but ever growing
political and economic unity
that has been developing in Europe.
Was it just two or three weeks ago
that for the first time ever
all of Europe has now gone
to a unified currency?
When the world sees three European nations
somehow united
or dominated by one charismatic leader
we have our Antichrist.
And just a comment about that head wound thing.
I am aware of two suggestions for what that may
mean.
1. There are many who believe
that it is a prophecy that the Antichrist himself
will sustain a deadly head wound
and then miraculously recover from it.
2. There are also students of Bible prophecy
who feel that the head being referred to
is the actual political head of the Roman
government,
and that the deadly head wound being referred to
is the apparent death of the Roman Empire
1600 years ago,
and that the prophecy of recovery
from that head wound
will be fulfilled when the old Roman
Empire is resurrected
and reunited under the Antichrist.
The final key personality presented in these two
chapters
is the Beast out of the Earth
talked about in the last half of chapter 13.
He is a satanic prophet/magician
who works with the Antichrist
to help keep him in power.
So where does all of this leave us?
It leaves us with some solid places
and a whole bunch of guesses
and yet-to-be-answered questions.
But most of all
it leaves us with the knowledge
that we have a God who,
nearly 2700 years ago, revealed to Daniel
what would be taking place
in Europe in 1998 A.D.
You all know that I strongly resist
the hype approach to Biblical prophecy.
But at the same time
it is impossible to look seriously
at what God has told us about the future
without recognizing
the huge pieces of the puzzle
that are clunking into place
in our generation.