(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're here in Revelation chapter 12, and we'll finish up the chapter here today. We went through Revelation 12 last week. We finished some of the chapter, and some of this sermon we're going to get into some deep things in the Bible. So I always encourage you on the back of your bulletin, if you have it, you can take notes there. So the beginning of the sermon, we're going to have a little bit of repetition to make sure we drive home the points of the timing of everything. But then we're going to get into some deeper things. I recommend you take some notes here. And so the name of the sermon is War in Heaven, War in Heaven. And this chapter is largely about this battle between Michael and the devil, Michael the archangel and the devil. And so point number one, I want to quickly cover as this chapter talks about the beginning of sorrows, or the first three and a half years before the abomination of desolation. Notice what it says in Revelation 12 verse six. Revelation 12 verse six, and the woman fled into the wilderness. Now we talked about the woman last week and how this is really representing all of mankind, most specifically believers, especially here as it says that the woman flees or fled into the wilderness. Now when you are fleeing or running, what it's implying is somebody's trying to kill you or capture you, and you're trying to get away. So the woman has to flee away into the wilderness, and where it says this, where she hath a place prepared of God. And so as the woman's fleeing, she doesn't really know that she has a place prepared of God, but she does, okay? Us as believers, there are times where it's not wise to just stand up for a battle. Sometimes it's best to just kind of run, okay? Now I know that sounds kind of weak because we're independent fundamental Baptists, but biblically there's plenty of times where you don't fight battles and you just say it's not worth it, okay? And so she flees into the wilderness, and this is of God because he's actually prepared a place for her, that they should feed her there 1,203 score days. And so this is in reference to the first three and a half years of Daniel's 70th week, which the first three and a half years is 1,260 days. And so us as believers, during that time period, we are going to be fleeing because this world is going to wax worse and worse and worse. And when we get there, evil governments are going to want to try to kill us. We don't know what the world's going to be like, but it's not going to be a world where they're accepting of independent fundamental Baptists, soul winners, Bible believers. They're going to hate our message even more than they do now. It's going to get worse and worse and worse and worse. Now we know it's like that in some countries now. It's going to be like that all over the world though, eventually, even before the abomination of desolation takes place. Look at verse 14, because remember the last four verses, 14 through 17, they're basically recounting what was talked about in the first 13 verses and highlighting some certain things. And to the woman, verse 14, we're given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness. And so it says that once again, she's flying into the wilderness. And I do think it mentions an eagle, obviously symbolically, but I think the reason why it mentions an eagle is because an eagle is sort of like an untouchable animal, right? I mean, they're basically can easily just drift away from anything. They're way up in the air and the Bible talks about eagles a lot and they have the ability to just kind of soar and soar and soar with minimal effort and not really get tired. And so I think what the Bible is trying to indicate is that as God's people, we are going to be protected. We're going to be on the back of an eagle that's basically just drifting away no matter what the war is, no matter what the battle is. Now obviously we're not literally going to be on the back of an eagle, okay? It's going to be warfare and mass chaos, but God's going to protect us through it. Now we know that some people will be martyred, but by and large, you know, God wants us around to preach the gospel, okay? And so it says there, into her place. So once again, this is a place prepared, into her place, verse 14, where she is nursed for a time, which is one year, and times, which is two years, and half a time, which is half a year from the face of the serpent or the devil, Satan, Lucifer. So once again, this is three and a half years and the Bible is just incredibly consistent throughout all of the books on prophecy and all the chapters here that during this three and a half years, we're going to be basically be hiding from the face of the serpent, okay? Go to 1st Kings 17, 1st Kings 17, 1st Kings chapter 17, and I want to just show you one passage in the Bible that shows you that fleeing is not necessarily a bad thing and by no means am I suggesting tonight that we flee from anything, but sometimes, you know, we make a mistake, especially as fundamentalists, where we feel like we must always take an extreme position on every topic and if we don't, then we're watered down, where it's like I either have to be all the way over here or all the way over here. Now oftentimes that's true, okay? And I understand why oftentimes we want to do that, but you know, sometimes the truth is kind of in the middle, okay? Sometimes it's not good to be all the way over here or all the way over there. Sometimes you know what, it's better to have a balanced approach, okay? The most hardcore approach is not always correct. 1st Kings 17 verse 3, this is in reference to Elijah, it says, get the hence and turn the eastward and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan. So Elijah is told to hide here. Now we're not going to audibly hear a voice in the book of Revelation, but you know, if you're serving God and following, you know, His commandments and His rules, you're being led by the spirit, the Bible says. Now you have free will to do what you want, but if you're doing what's right, God's going to lead you in the right path, okay? So us also, we might hide at times and it might be directly coming from God, okay? Verse 4, and it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan and the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening and he drank of the brook. So this is a literal story where Elijah basically flees into the wilderness and he's just prepared, you know, food by ravens and he drinks of the brook until basically there's none left and then this woman actually provides his food. And so I don't know that it's literally going to be like this because when it says fling into the wilderness, I don't think that necessarily means we find some jungle where there's nobody there, okay? What I think it means though is we're hiding from whatever the police would be or the evil people that are ruling this world at that time, okay? Now we're not at this stage right now but I think, turning back to Revelation 12, I think if we're honest, we could certainly see these events taking place one day though. We could certainly see governments getting oppressive and taking over. We're not at that point right now but it certainly could come to that point where all of your steps are controlled. I mean a lot has changed with technology in the last, you know, even 20 years and it's kind of scary. You know, if you ever go to Google Earth online, it's kind of scary how they can take a picture and see every single house there is pretty much in the world. And you go to Google Earth sometimes and it shows people because when they took that picture, you know, the person was there or whatever and it's like they literally can track every single movement of your life. I personally, I don't even think it's wise to study all those conspiracy theories and things like that because it will actually depress you. Because in reality, yeah, they can pretty much track whatever we do. It was 50 years ago there'd be these science fiction books that were really famous where it talked about a future society where everything is tracked. We're living in that society, okay? I mean if you literally were on the run from the government for doing something really bad and they wanted to kill you, they would kill you if they wanted to. That's my opinion. When someone is really famous and somehow they're hiding out, right, from like when Osama bin Laden was on the run from the U.S. for seven years, it's like, come on. The U.S. couldn't find him. I don't believe that. And it's like if you do believe that, that's fine, that's a whole other topic. Conspiracy is not that big of a deal. But look, the government can track your pretty much every move if they want to. And for, it's not really in the sermon, but for wisdom's sake, you do want to be careful with the stuff you put out there on social media, whether it be Facebook or YouTube or whatever. You've got to be careful with the things you say. Now we see in today's world, athletes are having posts they made like ten years ago brought up, how they made like some racist comment like ten years ago and they're getting fired or getting in trouble for something they said. And I always suggest to this church, be careful when you bash other religions on Facebook because it could affect your job status in the future. You could go into a job interview and you might lose that job because of something you said about the Pope. Now I want you to realize something, I boldly say what the Bible says and there's many reasons why. One, when you're in this position where you're preaching, it is your job to do that and not to hold back. But at the same time, you know, my job is for Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento. And so look, I wouldn't get fired for something I said about the Pope, okay? I'm not, because my job, my secular source of money, because I work a lot of hours for Verity Baptist, I do things that I did when I was still in Sacramento, I don't have to worry about getting fired. But I'm just being honest with you, some of you might have to worry if you go to a job interview and you're bashing all these false religions online. I'm not trying to make you water down, I'm just saying make sure you direct your zeal in the right area because in today's world, things are being tracked of what you say, okay? Revelation chapter 12, Revelation 12. And so we saw that we're here in the beginning of sorrows and we saw about the wilderness, now let's notice how it mentions a flood in verse 15. Revelation 12 verse 15, and the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. Now obviously, if you think of a literal woman, which this is not really a literal woman, but if a big tsunami took place and someone got carried away of the flood, they die, right? I mean, if there's a massive tsunami and that water comes crashing and you just, you're going to die, okay? I know in the movies, somehow you survive with these 20 foot tall waves. It doesn't happen in real life, okay? You're going to be, you're going to die, okay? So what it's saying when she's carried away, it's saying that basically the serpent, the devil, the dragon, Lucifer, he is trying to kill the woman, he's trying to kill believers with a flood, okay? You say, Brother Stuckey, is this a literal flood? And I would say, no, it's not a literal flood, okay? And I'll give you several verses in the Bible to explain what this is referring to. But actually go to Daniel chapter nine, Daniel chapter nine, Daniel chapter nine. What you're going to find in the Bible, for one, Revelation 12 has a lot of symbolism, but what you're going to find in the Bible is that oftentimes when it's referring to a large number of people, it's referred to as water or a storm or something such as that, okay? I asked my wife earlier today, and she had not heard this expression, but we have in America, we have an expression where we say a sea of people. Sea as in S-E-A, like, you know, dog udder, cara gatan, right? Saying a sea of people, basically what that means is it's completely packed. Like if we had 100 people here, we'd say, man, we got a sea of people here today, right? It's an expression we use because basically there's so many people that you don't even see the ground. You just see people everywhere, and water is like that. If there was like a lot of water that was dropped on the ground, it would spread to everywhere, right? That's the way water works. When there's a flood that takes place, the flood covers every bit of ground. There's no part that gets missed, okay? Everything gets hit, and so we have this expression as sea of people saying there's just so many people that you just see people, okay? And so this is kind of mentioned in the Bible. You don't see that exact expression, but you see basically the same sort of thing. Daniel 9, verse 26, and after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself, and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, okay? You say, is this a literal flood? With a flood and onto the end of the war, desolations are determined, okay? Notice how it says the flood, and then it says the war. You say why? Because when you have a war, you have armies, okay? And it's saying there's so many people in that army, it's like a flood, okay? Go to Ezekiel chapter 38, Ezekiel chapter 38, Ezekiel chapter 38, and I'm only showing you a few references. I showed you Daniel 9. It's not the most clear one, but I wanted to because of the fact, you know, Daniel and Revelation are the two books. This is mentioned throughout the major prophets, though. You actually see this. Ezekiel 38 verse 9, Ezekiel 38 verse 9, thou shalt ascend and come like a storm. Notice how it says like a storm. Thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands and many people with thee. You say, what are thy bands? Remember how it said about Saul that there was a band of men with him? It's referring to a large number of people, so when it says all thy bands, it's referring to people. Even in this verse, you can see bands is referring to people because it says all thy bands and many people with thee. It's restating what it says about bands. And so bands or many people is referred to as like a storm, okay? It's not talking about a literal storm. It says like a storm, okay? Like a cloud to cover the land. What is like a storm? What is a cloud covering the land? Lots of people, okay? So when the Bible's saying, now go to Jeremiah 46, Jeremiah 46. When the Bible's saying that the devil's sending out a flood after us, he's saying he's sending out a lot of people to try to kill us, okay? Look, if you just had a million people in an army descend on a small area, they're going to cover all the land and make sure they don't miss anything, okay? When he's saying he's sending a flood after us to kill us, he's sending out a large group of people after us to kill us, okay? And the Bible refers to a large group of people as a flood because if you looked at a major army coming your way and they're lined up in rank, all you're going to see is people. And if you try to guess how many people there are, it's like, I have no idea. You see like just millions of people. It'd be like trying to figure out how many drops of water there are in a bucket. Who knows? All you see is water. All you're going to see is people. It's like a flood that's going to cover the whole land and devour you. Jeremiah 46 verse seven, notice this Jeremiah 46 verse seven, who is this? Who is this? Now who refers to a person, right? Who is this that cometh up as a flood? Now is this a literal flood? No, because it says, who is this, okay? It's a person coming up as a flood whose waters are moved as the rivers, okay? Verse eight, Egypt riseth up like a flood. Now when it says Egypt, what it's referring to is the people in the army like a flood, okay? Egypt is rising up like a flood and his waters are moved like the rivers and he sayeth, I will go up and will cover the earth. So refers to it as a flood because water is going to cover everything and Egypt sending people out and it's like a flood because it's covering the earth, okay? And will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. Then in verse nine, come up ye horses and rage ye chariots and let the mighty men come forth. The Ethiopians and the Libyans that handle the shield and the Lydians that handle and bend the boat. So in these verses, it's referring to a flood, it's referring to water, but it's referring to people. It says like a flood and so go back to Revelation 12, Revelation 12. So when the devil's sending a flood after us in the beginning of sorrows, what that means is he's trying to kill us and how is he going to kill us? He's going to use people, okay? Because he's trying to get rid of safe people, okay? He's not trying to get rid of unbelievers. You say, why is he not trying to get rid of unbelievers? Because he's trying to get those people on his side for the battle that's going to take place. The devil certainly does not want to kill unbelievers during the end times. Why? He's trying to rally up an army on his side to take on believers, okay? We're going to see that later on in the sermon, but he's actually not trying to get rid of unbelievers at this point. Now I'm sure that in today's world before the end times, he would love to just get rid of and have people die and go to hell, but during the end times, he needs them. He wants an army on his side because he's going to use them to attack us, okay? So when he's sending out a flood, a flood would kill everybody and realize there's safe people all over the world. We're all going to be fleeing from oppressive governments, basically, okay? At least by and large, probably just about every nation before the abomination of desolation even, okay? And so a flood would just destroy everybody because we're in all kinds of different locations, not just in one big church building, not just in one big spaceship that's going to go up to heaven one day, right? No. And so here's the thing. He's not trying to kill unbelievers. And so a flood would kill unbelievers too. He's trying to kill safe people because he's getting ready for a battle and he wants to get as many people on his side as possible, okay? And so in Revelation 12 verse 16, notice the verse again, well, the verse after, it says Revelation 12 verse 16, and the earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth, okay? And so if we're going to take this literally, then literally the earth would open up and just swallow the flood. I think what that's saying is the flood is symbolism and basically God's going to destroy the flood, meaning he's going to protect us, okay? Even if people are trying to kill us, okay? This is the most, this chapter has more symbolism than any chapter in the book of Revelation though. I mean, isn't that true? There's so much symbolism in this chapter and so the flood is just symbolism here, okay? And so that's the beginning of sorrow is how the devil is going to try to kill us during that time period. But let's talk about the war in heaven. Notice what it says in verse seven. So point number one was the beginning of sorrows. We saw fling to the wilderness, we saw the flood, but now let's look at the war in heaven, which is Michael the archangel and his angels versus the devil and his angels. Revelation 12 verse seven, and there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels, okay? So it's Michael and his angels versus the dragon or the devil and his angels, okay? Verse number nine, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. So Satan is cast out of heaven. He loses that battle because the war is taking place in heaven. So this time Satan is in heaven before he gets cast out, okay? He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him, okay? We're going to go back later on to Revelation, but go to Isaiah chapter 14, Isaiah chapter 14. Now this battle, this war is not the battle of Gog and Magog, okay? Gog and Magog is talked about in Ezekiel, which is after the thousand years, we're going to cover it, you know, several weeks from now, maybe a couple months from now. But you need to understand something. In the Bible, there is an initial decision by the devil to leave heaven and he draws one third of the angels with him, but they were not cast out of heaven yet. Now that already took place. The devil's against us and he's got angels against us. People get possessed today and things such as that. That happened a long time ago, okay? But what's taking place in Revelation 12 is a battle in heaven that's going to take place midway through Daniel's 70th week, three and a half years in. And that is the event that kicks off the great tribulation, okay? Isaiah chapter 14. So why is that important to understand? Because as we look at Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel chapter 28, and you hear most people, you know, who have commentaries, you know, just general people, I'm not talking about people that are like-minded pastors, I haven't really asked them what they think about these passages, but just general things I've heard through the years is basically just that, you know, the devil and his angels, they got kicked out of heaven 6,000 years ago and they can't return. That's not what the Bible teaches because we're going to see the devil return in the Bible. Okay? So notice what it says in Isaiah 14. This is an important verse, verse 12, verse 12. And like I said, most people look at this verse in this passage and say, this is referring to 6,000 years ago, but we're going to see this is not okay. Isaiah 14, verse 12, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? Now most people think this has already happened. I'm saying it has not happened, not taken place yet. Verse 12 in Isaiah 14 is a future event. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which is similar to being cast out into the earth, as the Bible says, cut to the ground, cut down to the ground, cast out into the earth. But notice what it says at the end of verse 12, which didst weaken the nations. Okay? Now most people are going to tell you this is referring to before Genesis chapter three, before he tempts Adam and Eve. Were there any nations in Genesis chapter three? No, there was only two people, Adam and Eve. There were no nations in Genesis chapter three. So this is not referring to something that happened 6,000 years ago, because guess what? There were no nations before Genesis chapter three. So when it says, which didst weaken the nations, well that's something that's going to take place. And it kind of makes sense with the end times, because think about this. The devil's going to be weakening every single nation, and eventually the world embraces a one world government, because every nation is weak. Right? And he ends up taking over. Why? Because he weakens all the nations. That's a future event. This did not take place already. Why? If this was referring to Genesis chapter one, two, three, during that time period, look, there were no nations during that time period. This is a future event in Isaiah chapter 14. As it says, didst weaken the nations, that's something that's taking place in the future. Verse 13, now obviously the devil is in the process of weakening nations right now. But this event that it's referring to in verse 12 has not happened yet. He's not cut down to the ground yet. He still is able to go to heaven if he freely chooses. Verse 13, for thou hast set in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the cloud. I will be like the most high, yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Okay? So this passage is really referring to the battle of Michael versus the devil, when he gets thrown out of heaven, cast down to the ground. What it said in Revelation was, it said cast out into the earth. What it says in Isaiah 14, 12 is cut down to the ground. Pretty similar, right? Because he's going to be weakening the nations, and that's why they're going to embrace the Antichrist as their leader. So Isaiah 14, this is not a passage about something that happened before. It's a future passage. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 28, Ezekiel chapter 28, Ezekiel chapter 28. Now the reason why most commentators will say this has already taken place is, I don't know, I mean a lot of people just don't really understand the end times, okay? Most Baptist pastors, they actually freely admit. So I'm not just, you know, saying this against them. Most Baptist pastors will say, I don't understand the book of Revelation, okay? The book of Revelation, there are some deep things, but quite honestly, if you've been with us during this whole sermon series, I mean, it's understandable, isn't it? I mean, there's deep things, because when it talks about the flood and these things, you got to cross reference, you got to double check. It does take study. It's deeper than other things. And a lot of the things I'm showing you here, these are things I kind of learned when I was really studying for the sermons, and things I wasn't sure about, and it all just kind of clicked. But here's the thing, they don't seem to understand there's a battle yet. They seem to think that the devil can't go to heaven. He's already been cut down to the ground and cast out of heaven. He has not been cast out of heaven yet, okay? Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 13, Ezekiel 28, verse 13. Now in the book of Ezekiel, it is referring to the king of Tyrus, but it's also referring to the devil, because oftentimes the Bible will refer to someone who's a really wicked person, and there's a direct application, but there's going to be an application to other things as well. So yes, I realize this is the king of Tyrus. It is also referring to the devil, though, here. In Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 13, thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering, the Sardis, the topaz, and the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle in gold. The workmanship of thy tablets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. This is in reference to the devil, okay? Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Thou wast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. And so Satan was in heaven, he's the anointed cherub. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee, okay? Now it talks about him being perfect in his ways, or perfect in thy ways. Perfect in the Bible does not mean without sin, that's not what it means. Perfect in the Bible means to be complete or whole, okay? And so the Bible refers to people being perfect. It's not saying that they're without sin, it just means they're complete. If I were to call you a perfect Christian, okay, what that would mean is that you read the Bible, you go soul winning, you love the Lord, you're trying to do everything, right? And so when it says that he was perfect, it means that he was complete, okay? But then it says till iniquity was found in thee, okay? So basically, as we've talked about, one third of the angels decided to rebel against God in sin, and they are judged by their works. And because they chose to sin, they're going to end up going to hell, they have a reservation, okay? Now, it says that he was perfect in his ways, and some people would ask the question, well, and especially Calvinists will ask this question, okay? And I'm not going to go on too big of a rabbit trail, but they'll say, well, you know, here's the thing. I mean, if God's all knowing and everything, and Satan became bad, then obviously God created Satan bad. The Bible does not say Satan was created bad. It says he was perfect, and in God's complete and perfect creation, he gave free will, okay? And in that free will, Satan decided to rebel, okay? God did not create Satan saying, I want you to rebel. No, I mean, he was perfect, he was complete, and he chose in his free will to get arrogant and rebel. And so iniquity was found in him. Now, if you go back to Genesis chapter, you don't have to turn there, but all the way back to Adam and Eve, iniquity was found in the devil 6,000 years ago, right? With Adam and Eve, obviously he's lying, he's tempting Eve and Adam, and he's subtle, he's lying. Iniquity was found in him a long time ago, okay? We understand that, but notice what it says in verse 16, okay? Iniquity was found in thee, that's past tense, verse 16, by the multitude of thy merchandise, they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned, therefore I will cast thee. Notice how it says thou hast sinned, past tense, therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God. It's pretty similar to what it said both in Isaiah 14 and Revelation 12, because the Bible's consistent. He says, I will, he says I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Now when he says I will cast thee, that is referring to the battle of Michael versus the devil and the angels, where he gets cast out of heaven. That's a future thing, because the Bible says I will cast thee. Iniquity was found in him, thou hast sinned, I will cast thee, okay? Now when it says I will destroy thee, I don't think that part is referring to being cast out. I think that's later, where he's thrown eventually into the lake of fire, is what he's referencing there, the end of everything. But those are both future things, okay? He's gonna be cast out of the mountain of God. This is what's taking place in Revelation chapter 12, when the devil loses the battle, okay? I mean, thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness, I will cast thee to the ground. Future tense. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee. And so look, according to the verses we looked at, has the devil been cast out yet? Not in the book of Ezekiel he hadn't been, because he says I will cast thee, okay? Now Isaiah chapter 14, yes, you know what, it did talk about the actual event as if it already happened, but God often speaks about things that have not happened because they're a done deal, okay? The Bible tells us about the rapture, and it talks about this multitude in heaven, and here's the thing, you know, we're gonna be up there in heaven, okay? It's a done deal, the rapture's gonna take place, even though it's a future event, it speaks about it oftentimes as if it's already happened, because it will happen for sure, okay? The rapture will be cast out, and Isaiah 14, what that was referring to is the actual event, but then Ezekiel 28 is telling you about it in the future, saying this will happen because Satan you've already sinned, okay? But it has not happened yet. Go back to Revelation 12, Revelation 12. Revelation chapter 12. I mean, to me it's amazing that even in these deep passages, they're consistent throughout the entire Bible. That there's no error, that they mesh together, because look, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, those are very famous passages, okay? I've heard them talked about, but I've never really looked deeply into them, and so it took me some time to really look at every phrase and figure out what's going on and make sure it makes sense, because, you know, one thing I learned a long time ago when I was taught was you don't preach things unless you're sure about what you're saying, okay? If you're like 70%, you just don't say it. You can always preach that six months from now once you become 100% once you're fully convinced. And so it took me some time because I said, you know what, I want to understand Revelation 12, and I was going back to Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, and these are pretty deep things in the Bible, okay? Prophecy stuff, but it's amazing. It's like a puzzle. It just fits together. Everything makes sense in the Bible, okay? So notice what it says in Revelation 12 verse 8, and it says, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven, okay? So basically the devil prevails not, his angels prevail not, their place is no longer in heaven. What does that mean? It means when they're cast out of heaven, according to verses seven through nine, they are no longer allowed to go to heaven. You say, Brother Stuckey, are you saying that the devil can go to heaven right now? Yes he can. I'll prove that to you. Go to Job 1, Job 1, Job chapter 1, Job chapter 1. And you know, when you see the book of Job, I mean, and we're going to see this actually very clearly in Revelation, but the indication seems to be that the devil often just goes up to heaven, and the Bible's actually pretty consistent with that. Job 1 verse 6, Job 1 verse 6, now there is a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. Now throughout the Bible, sons of God are people that are saved, okay, and I do believe sons of God can represent men and women. Women would be daughters of God, but it uses just the male, the sons of God, you know, children of God, and I want you to notice it mentions sons of God. Now, you know, oftentimes we'll hear people say that fallen angels are sons of God in the Old Testament, that sons of God in the New Testament are children of God, but in the Old Testament, sons of God are fallen angels. There's a problem with that in this verse, because notice how it says the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also. What does that mean? It means he's not a son of God. That's what it means grammatically. There's the sons of God, and Satan came also, not, well, Satan was one of the sons, no, no, no, Satan came also. Why? Because Satan's not a son of God, okay? Fallen angels are not children of God. Satan came also among them. The sons of God come to present themselves before God. Now look, obviously the sons of God mentioned here are the ones that are already in heaven, okay? It's not saying that, hey, we'll just go up to heaven one day. It's like we came to present ourselves. No, that's referring to the ones that are already in heaven, the children of God that are already passed away and in heaven, but Satan came also because he's not one of the sons of God, okay? Verse seven, and the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. And what's interesting here, somebody actually asked me this past week if I believe that Satan was not at our church, but outside of our church, they asked me if I believe that Satan was omnipresent, and this actually proves that Satan is not omnipresent, okay? Because he must present himself before the Lord, and he's going to and fro in the earth. God doesn't need to go to and fro because he's already here. It's like God is everywhere, okay? Satan does because Satan's not omnipresent. He's nowhere near the match of God. It's not an even battle. We just saw that Michael the archangel just beat up the devil. It's like, look, if you lose a boxing match to me, don't challenge Manny Pacquiao, okay? If you can't beat me, you're not going to beat Manny Pacquiao, okay? And if the devil can't beat Michael the archangel, I don't know why he thinks he has a chance versus God, okay? He's just that arrogant, I guess. But verse 8, and the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and is sheweth evil? I love verse 8 because realize the reason why the devil's in heaven is to criticize Job and God brings up Job first. He's like, did you think about Job? It's like that's the exact reason why the devil's in heaven because the devil's ready for his answer and he gives accusations against Job. He's roaming to in the earth and he was focusing on Job because he's a very righteous person. The devil comes to heaven to criticize Job and God brings up Job first. It's like, yeah, you're not that powerful, Satan. God is all knowing. He knows exactly what you're going to talk about, okay? Verse 9, then Satan answered the Lord and said, doth Job fear God for not? He's saying, I mean, is the only reason why Job fears you is because he knows nothing will happen. He's accusing Job. Hast not thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side? Thou has blessed the work of his hands and his substances is increased in the land. But put forth thou thine hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. And so obviously we know the story. The Lord allows Satan to harm Job, okay? Go to Job 2, Job chapter 2. Now in Job chapter 1, the devil basically takes away all the money of Job and his children instantly, okay? Now one thing we need to remember in life, you know, because when your life's going well, you know, you obviously love God and everything like that, you know, but when things are taken away from you, you have to realize everything we have comes from God anyway, okay? And so look, if you become really rich, like if you don't listen to my advice and you gamble and win the lottery or something like that and you become really rich, hey, realize, you know what? That money can be taken away. You don't know what's going to happen, okay? And look, I understand this is a story in the Bible, but in secular history, this stuff happens all the time to people. People have a lot of money. There's many famous athletes that retired and then all of a sudden they lost all their money because they made a bad investment and they had to come back to play or whatever like that. It happens all the time, okay? And so look, it can happen to you in your life even if things are going well, you don't know what could happen. I mean, your house could catch on fire. I mean, whatever. I mean, any number of things could happen that you aren't even aware of, okay? Job chapter two, verse one, Job two, verse one, again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. So once again, in Job two, verse one, that shows Satan's not a son of God because he's also coming as well as the sons of God, okay? That's showing he's not a son of God. Verse two, and the Lord said unto Satan, from whence comest thou or where did you come from? And Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. And once again, Satan did the same thing in chapter one. God asks a question and Satan just gives a really vague answer. Where did you come from? I was just going to and fro in the earth. It's like, no, he was just actually bugging Job, okay? So he's lying there. He's not going to and fro in the earth, he was just pretty much bugging Job, okay? And so verse three, and the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil, and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him to destroy him without cause. And so notice what it says in verse four, and Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. And so what the devil says is, well, the reason why Job stayed faithful is because you didn't harm his body. You took away his kids and his money, but you didn't harm his body. Now, you know, there's a great debate about what is the most important thing to people, you know, health, wealth, and happiness, right? I mean, people order it like, I prefer this and people have different opinions of this. Look, I promise you, and we can look at the example here, the devil smart, your health is more important to you than you realize, okay? Somebody would trade and say, I'll take a million dollars and just, you know, lose one of my eyes, right? I mean, you wouldn't trade your eye for a million dollars, right? I mean, your body's precious to you, okay? And I think of Andrew Carnegie, who was a rich millionaire from a hundred years ago, which would have been billionaire in today's world if he wasn't back then. And he lived most of his life in a wheelchair, or at least a lot of his life in a wheelchair. And it's like, look, I wouldn't trade and have all the fancy cars and the houses and things. If you have health problems, that's part of life. We get older. The Bible speaks about that. That's not what I'm saying. Here's what I'm saying, that, you know, your health is very important to you, okay? And the devil realizes this, and he says, well, Job's only faithful because you didn't harm his health, okay? Verse five, but put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face, okay? Once again, he's accusing Job, he says, Job will curse you. And the Lord said unto Satan, behold he is in thine hand, but save his life. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot onto his crown, okay? Now go back to Revelation chapter 12, Revelation 12. So once again, we're seeing that Satan is able to go up to heaven, and he's not omnipresent. He's going everywhere, and he's accusing Job, and, you know, he was focusing on Job, and Job is aware of what he's going to talk about and everything like that. But it's interesting because the Bible actually mentions this. Well, first look at verse eight, Revelation 12, verse eight, and prevailed not, neither was there place found any more in heaven. So in the book of Job, the devil's still able to go to heaven, which proves he was not cast out of heaven yet, okay? But once he gets cast out, he can't just come up with the sons of God, come also with the sons of God to present himself before God and accuse the brethren. He's not going to be able to do that, why? His place is no longer found in heaven. It's gone, it's done. This has not taken place yet. Notice verse 10, and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, referring to the devil, which accused them before our God day and night, okay? So the devil's going to be cast out of heaven. What's interesting in this verse, you say, Brother Stuckey, what is the main ministry of the devil, so to speak? Accusing the brethren. That's what the Bible tells us. He's the accuser of our brethren is cast down. Notice he accused them before our God day and night. You know what that tells us? It means every single day, throughout the day and throughout the night, the devil's up in heaven accusing us to God. He's the accuser of our brethren. That's the number one. If there's one ministry the devil has, it's accusing the brethren because he does it day and night, and the devil's not everywhere. He can't just do everything. He accuses the brethren. Now here's what I would say. Oftentimes you'll see a lot of things attributed to the devil, like the devil tempted us and things such as that. What I personally believe is usually the devil's basically running the show with these false angels. He gets other devils and demons to do that. It's still attributed to the devil because he's the one running the show. If the CEO of a company basically gives orders, he's going to get credit if the company makes a lot of money, even if he's not the one who's actively doing it. Do you understand that? What the devil's job is, what his ministry is, he just accuses the brethren. Basically he accuses the brethren, and then outside of that, he's just giving commands to the false angels to do things. What he does day and night is he accuses the brethren. It makes you wonder about that. Has the devil ever gone to God about me? It's like, I don't know. He accuses Job, and what you can see from that is the devil will accuse those that are pretty godly because we know Job is pretty godly. Obviously the devil can't be everywhere, so what he does is he goes to and fro in the earth and he finds somebody to accuse, and that's what he's doing over and over and over again. Obviously God is different than us, because look, if somebody came to you day after day after day accusing someone of something and lying, because obviously the devil's a deceiver. He's lying about it. You'd start to believe it, wouldn't you? If somebody comes to you every day and accuses somebody while lying about them by being dishonest, if they lie and lie and lie, you will believe it. All of us will, because we naturally assume people are telling the truth. But the devil is the father of lies. He abode not in the truth from the beginning. Once iniquity is found in him, he just lie, lie, lie. Realize this, though, that he accuses us all the time and lies about us and says we're going to deny him or whatever, but obviously God's aware of that and God allows Satan to do that. But one day Satan's going to be cast out of heaven. He's no longer going to be accusing the brethren. Once he gets cast out of heaven, he kind of changes his mission. Now it's an all out attack on the brethren. Before what his strategy was is all just accuse the brethren to God. But then the devil's just going to do an all out attack. Why? He can no longer go to heaven to accuse us before God. So now he's just going to attack us and this is the great tribulation. Now chapter 13, we will see the abomination of desolation next week. We're going to see that. But the Bible's giving reference to this because once he gets cast out of heaven, that kicks off the great tribulation. Here's what you need to understand. The devil doesn't want to kick off the great tribulation. You say why? Because the world's getting worse and worse and more sinful and wicked and he's getting more and more people into his army. He does not want to kick off the end times. He wants it to last as long as possible because the world's getting worse and worse and as it gets worse and worse, there's more reprobates, more evil people out there, less people that love God. He's getting more and more power and influence by each and every passing week. So the devil does not want to start the battle. Now the three and a half years, you know, basically he's going to be persecuting people and then the devil would let it just keep going, but what happens is he gets cast out of heaven. So what does the Bible say? He knoweth he hath but a short time. Now he realizes, okay, I've got to just go to battle because I can't let this drag out anymore. I'm no longer allowed to go to heaven. Okay, so let's see Revelation 12 verse 12, Revelation chapter 12 verse 12. Now we're going to see mentioned the war with the remnant, the war with the saved people. Notice what it says in verse 12, therefore, rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down onto you. Okay, having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. The devil has been kicked out of heaven. Now he's very angry. Okay, he's got a lot of wrath. Why? He doesn't have much time left. The devil didn't want this to take place. He didn't want to get kicked out of heaven. But basically, you know, I don't know how this battle got initiated between Michael and the devil. I don't know if God just said, okay, Michael, just take him out or whatever. Or if Michael just knew this is my time and just went for it, not really sure. This is something I would love to see. I mean, I would love for this to happen after I'm already gone so I can be up in heaven. Maybe I get to watch it or something. This battle is taking place. I don't know if it's boxing or what exactly UFC fight, you know, who knows how it goes. But once he gets thrown out and cast down, he knows he has a short time. Okay, he only has 75 days as we've seen in other weeks before Jesus is going to come back. Okay. And so verse 13, and when the dragon saw that he was cast onto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. Notice the change of how he's persecuting the woman. Okay, like never before. Because before what he was basically doing is he was basically accusing us. Okay, he was accusing us before God. And now as he's cast out, he's just persecuting the woman and just all of his ministry or whatever you want to call it is here focused on earth. Okay, verse 17, and the dragon was wroth with a woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So this is referring to basically three and a half years in he's cast out of heaven, then he makes war with the remnant of her seed. Next week, we'll see the, or the next few weeks, the abomination of desolation. And what you're going to see is an all out attack on God's people that don't take the mark of the beast. So the remnant of her seed are basically all saved people. Now look at verse number, go to Revelation six, Revelation chapter six, Revelation chapter six, and as your turn to Revelation six, let me just read this to you because, you know, obviously all of the Bible is good. And if I do believe there's certain things God doesn't necessarily tell us, because quite honestly, sometimes it's better not to know. Okay, knowing everything would not necessarily help us. Okay. I think, for example, of, you know, think of devils and demons because there's devils and demons that are all around us, you know, throughout the day, it doesn't necessarily mean here in this church building, but you know, they're out there, there's people that are possessed and things like that. And you say, well, it'd be cool to kind of get to see this and have a better understanding. Actually, it's probably better for us not to know that. You know why? You'd probably never sleep again. Okay, you'd probably be so scared. Okay. Sometimes it's better not to know everything. But when it's in the Bible, God wants you to know it. Okay. Now, some of these events can sound scary, because this is an all out persecution against us, especially if this does take place in our life. Okay. I don't think this will, but it might. It certainly could. I mean, it could change really quickly. We don't really know. But look, if this happens in our life, it can be kind of scary. But you know, we should realize that the Bible says that, for one, God called us to battle and he expects his people to go through persecution. But number two, God can and will protect you as you're going soul winning and trying to serve God. Okay. I believe the people that are persecuted and killed during the great tribulation, but I believe by and large the people that are actually serving God are the ones that are going to last through it. And what you're going to see is the most exciting event that you've ever had in your life if it happens during your lifetime. Okay. Nobody wants to be inside of a ship that's going through a major storm and you're afraid that you might die. But boy, you've got a good story to tell afterwards if you make it, right? And so it's like, here's the thing. You know, if this happens during our lifetime, yeah, you know, I could see where we could be afraid. You know, the Bible says the only person we're supposed to fear is God. Okay. And here's, here's the amazing thing, and it doesn't make logical sense at all and it's because it's a spiritual thing. When you're honestly living for God, you don't have any fear. Okay. I mean, you're pretty much fearless and it's like when you're really serving God, I mean, you're just like, you know, you know that God's going to protect you through things. And I remember one time I was on an airplane and there was a lot of turbulence and I just, because I've been on planes before where I was a little bit scared because there's turbulence and you're like, you know, even though it's unlikely, you know, it's going to crash. There's always that chance. But I remember I was really living for God at that time. I was reading the Bible and going soul winning and I was just thinking in my head, there's no way God's going to let me die in a plane crash. I was like, you know, if I'm serving God and going soul winning, I just don't believe he's going to let me die. Okay. And considering how many things could happen, especially what's going on now, you don't know what's going to happen. If you're serving God, God's probably going to protect you. Okay. So that's encouraging to us. And what it said, you're in Revelation six, I'll go there in a second, but let me just quickly quote you what it said in Revelation 12 where it said, and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives onto the death. What does that mean that they love not their lives onto the death? Basically they didn't spend their lives just worried about themselves. They love not their lives under the death. They said, you know what? I'm called to be, as the Bible says in Romans, a living sacrifice, meaning whatever you want me to do, God. If you want me to be a soul winner until I'm 80 years old, you want me to live a long life, but you know what? Hey, if you want me to be like Stephen and be a martyr, you know, so be it. Okay. They love not their lives onto the death. Okay. Revelation chapter six, verse nine. And you know, this is pretty similar. I mean, this, this is the same thing in Revelation six where it says, and when he had opened the fifth seal, this is after the abomination of desolation, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice saying, how long O Lord, holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? People are being murdered and they're saying, how long O Lord? When are you going to avenge our blood? And white robes were given onto every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled. And so when the fifth seal is open, you're seeing people that are saying, hey, we were killed for the cause of Christ. How long is it going to be? Okay. This is what's being referred to in, in, in Revelation chapter 12. Okay. And so we need to realize something, especially, you know, I think it can be good to know a little bit about history of our brethren. And this Sunday, actually, we're going to talk about the Anabaptists in our Protestant Reformation. And that was a time of major, major persecution to God's people. But look, we live the life of luxury here in the Philippines. We can go soul winning and we don't have to worry about anything, right? I mean, in lots of parts of the world, right? I mean, I mean, let's ask Sister Abby after the service, how open it is in Saudi Arabia, right? I mean, do you really believe that you can just have a soul winning marathon there and nothing's going to happen? Of course you can't. Okay. I saw a poll recently that said Saudi Arabia was the second most religious country in the world. I mean, third was India. I was like, more religious than India? I mean, I don't know. I've never been to Saudi Arabia, but like, man, that's going to be a scary place for a Christian then. Right? I mean, when some, when some, when, when, when a country's really religious, that's usually a bad thing. Okay. And so there's lots of places in the world where you couldn't freely go soul winning today. And you know, throughout history, large parts of the world, the Catholic church would have just killed you. Okay. So we have to realize as God's people, we don't get this special place since we're near the end. We get to escape the tribulation. Okay. No one's ever gotten to escape tribulation or persecution. That's why the preacher rapture is so ridiculous because you're never going to find any time throughout the Bible where God's people escape persecution. And in the world we live in today, I mean, try to, try to talk about a pre-trip message to people that are living in North Korea and these Muslim countries that are going to kill you. It's ridiculous. It's like, I mean, talk about feeling entitled, like, Oh, we get to just escape everything. Okay. Because we live in a Christian country. It's never been like that. Okay. And in Revelation 12, we're seeing it basically the heat turned up and it's going to be the most biggest persecution the world has ever seen. Okay. We'll start that next week in Revelation 13. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear heavenly father, thank you for allowing us to be here in your house today and getting to read about these things in Revelation chapter 12. And many interesting events and things maybe that we weren't all aware of and some deep things in the Bible. And it's good to have an understanding of all the things that are mentioned in the Bible, God, help us to love your word, even the deep things in the Bible and help us just to continue to study and learn more and more and more God. And we do ask that if we were to live during that time period, we just ask you God to allow us to live through it so we can go soul winning until the very end. And even in today's world with all the persecution and things going on today, God, we ask you to help us to still be able to serve you during this time period and realize it's only a temporary thing and things will return back. At least where we're able to preach the gospel and people are able to come to church freely and things such as that. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.