This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day three of our look together through Revelation chapter 12. We are
walking through what this chapter has to say to us about how God is at work in
this world and the answer to the question of not only why is there evil in the
world but what is God going to do about the evil that's in this world? A couple
of days ago we looked at the truth that Satan is real.

You got to face it. There is evil in this world. There is a source of it and
it's here.

Yesterday we talked about the fact that God will be victorious. You have to face
that too. There is a cross and Jesus gave his life for us on that cross.

But now, where do we live right now? Because we see the victory is won in Christ
but there still are battles going on. June 6, 1944 was D-Day.

That was the day that on that beach at Normandy the powers came against Nazi
Germany that were going to defeat it. That was the day that assured victory in
the war. But before the war was finally over there were still a few more
battles.

The cross of Christ. That is our victory day, our V-Day. That's the day that
assures that evil will not prevail.

There is no way that it can prevail. It's finished. The victory has already been
won.

We're just waiting for the party to enjoy this for all of eternity. But there
are still some battles on the way and that's the third truth. Truth one, Satan
is real.

Truth two, God will be victorious. But if you want to understand evil in this
world you have to understand that there is no victory without a battle. And you
see this in the book of Revelation.

It is about this battle. You see it in your own life. You battle over evil and
sin, don't you?

I do. Do you ever all of a sudden face physical problems in you or your kids or
your husband or your wife totally unexpected and your life is torn apart in a
moment? And it was nobody's fault.

It wasn't because of my sin. It just happened. At least that I know.

We face this battle of living in an evil world where things are not perfect as
yet. And how do I struggle through it? You realize that there is no victory
without a battle.

In fact in Revelation chapter 12 there are four specific battles that are
mentioned in this arena of good and evil. And you need to understand all four of
them. As you and I walk through these battles, and we will the next couple of
days, they give us a pretty clear picture of the battle that you and I are in
with Satan on a daily basis.

This is an awesome chapter about the battle, the characters involved, but it's
also a very personal chapter about God's victory in your life. You have Satan,
you've got the people of God, you've got Jesus, and you've got the victory
assured. But what about you?

What about the battles that lead the way to this victory? As we look at these
battles you're going to see that we go back and forth between heaven and earth.
And time is not the same in heaven as it is on earth.

In fact heaven, in a sense, is without time as we know it. It has time but a
different kind of time. It's more a place of events than minutes.

It's important to understand that as we look at this next battle because it
doesn't come necessarily in chronological order. The next battle is in
Revelation chapter 12 verses 3 to 6. This is the battle against Jesus.

This is where the dragon attacks the male child. Let me read those verses for
you. "And then another sign appeared in heaven, an enormous red dragon with
seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.

His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.
The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that he
might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male
child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.

And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. " Now yesterday we
looked at these heads and horns and the indication of complete power that Satan
has been given for a time. And then here you see this picture of a child who was
born and then caught up immediately.

You have all of Jesus' life summed up in those two phrases. He's born, then you
skip his whole life, and 33 years later all of a sudden he's caught up in the
ascension. This picture of the woman in the birth of the male child shows that
the battle against Jesus began long before his birth.

In fact, all the way back in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, "When sin first enters
this world, God is telling us even there that someday there will be a child that
will crush the head of Satan. " And that is Jesus that is being looked forward
to there. Throughout the Old Testament, the battle is going on.

In one sense, Satan is always trying to prevent the birth of this Messiah.
There's always a dragon standing by waiting to destroy Israel or to destroy the
ancestors of the Messiah, destroy the Messianic line. Pharaoh is called a dragon
in Ezekiel chapter 29 verse 3 because he tried to destroy the people of God.

Nebuchadnezzar is called a dragon in Jeremiah 51, 34. He tried to destroy the
people of God. There is a battle and Jesus wins the battle.

He is not defeated by Satan. We see in the Christmas story this idea of a child
being born and there was one standing there ready to devour the child. We see it
inherit in a very practical, historical way, but there's more here than that,
than even that.

There is the fact that Satan wanted to prevent this from happening, but he could
not because God's will is going to prevail. And this battle has been going on a
long time. The first battle talked about in Revelation 12 is this battle against
Jesus.

The second battle in verses 7 to 9 is a battle in heaven, a war in heaven
between Michael the angel and this dragon. If you didn't know this was in
Revelation, these are going to be very interesting verses to you. Revelation
chapter 12 verses 7 to 9, "And there was a war in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels
fought back, but he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
The great dragon was hurled down. That ancient serpent called the devil, or
Satan, who leads the whole world astray.

He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him. " Now remember this is not
in chronological order. We're going back to heaven now where time is different.

A number of people on our research team asked, "I'm confused as to when Satan
and his demons were cast out of heaven. " One person said, "This chapter seems
to say it's happening after the birth of Christ, but I thought it was before the
creation. " Yes it was.

We're going back now to a battle that took place apparently before creation
because Satan already existed in Genesis chapter 3. And in this chapter we hear
about this war in heaven. War in heaven, isn't heaven a perfect place?

Not yet. Not yet. There is a war in heaven where Satan, Lucifer, the angel
Lucifer decides he wants in some place to be in the place of God.

The pride raises up in him and because of that Satan and all the other angels
who followed him are thrown to the earth. Satan and a third of the angels who
then become demons are thrown to the earth. And they're given power for a time,
but that power is going to be taken away by the end.

Here is a battle, a battle in heaven, and God wins that battle. There's
something interesting about how God wins this battle. In Luke chapter 10 verse
18, Jesus says to his followers after they had a victory in their witnessing, "I
saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

" There was something about the way that they shared their faith, there's
something about the way that these early followers of Jesus Christ were serving
Jesus even at the very beginning that Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall because of
what you did. " This is an awesome truth. It reminds us that somehow in the
mystery of God, what you and I do when we witness, what you and I do when we're
faithful to God is a part of this victory in heaven.

I don't understand how all this works. I don't understand the timing of it, but
I do trust what Jesus said. And you and I in some way, our faith plays a part in
this victory.

Now, by the way, do you remember why Satan fell? It's because he thought he
could be like God. It's the same temptation as he gave to Adam and Eve, the same
temptation that he gives us today.

Be like God. Do your own thing. Do it your own way.

Don't let anybody tell you what to do. And then Michael comes and he defeats
Satan. You know what the name Michael means, by the way, the name that's given
to that angel?

It means who is like God. God gives this angel who's going to defeat Satan the
name who is like God. No one is like God.

He is the victor in the end. He's the victor in this battle that happened in
heaven. He's the victor in this battle that happened on earth.

There is a battle. God allows that battle to unfold, but his is the victory in
the end. Let's pray together.

Our Father, we don't like battles. I'd like it to all be settled. I don't want
any more battles with evil or Satan or any such thing.

But for some reason that we don't understand, I don't know if we'll ever
understand, you're allowing this world to unfold in a way where those battles
happen. So as they happen, our battle with temptation, our battle with doubt,
our battle with discouragement, our battle with truth, our battle with another
person, help us to remember that the victory is yours. And instead of trusting
ourselves for victory, to trust you.

Lord, when the battle gets, seems to be very long, and we wonder if the victory
is ever going to occur, remind us that we're on this earth such a short time,
and we're going to enjoy the victory with you in heaven for an eternity. So help
us to hold on to that, that hope today. And thank you for your power.

Thank you, God, that you are the victor. In your name, in your name we pray.
Amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to look together at two more battles on the way to
victory.