Lessons for the Church

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Victory in Jesus!

• Lessons for the Church
• From the Book of Revelation

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The Enemies of the Cross

• Revelation 12-13

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Introduction

• We already know the outcome
• From the promises of Christ to the churches if
  they overcame
• From the fact that God sits on His throne
• From the fact that Christ overcame
• The 7 seals ending with judgment then silence
• The 7 trumpets ending with Gods temple opening
  to reveal the ark of the covenant
• Now we get a look at who Christ will overcome

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Woman, Child, and Dragon

• Rev 121-9
• Woman 12 stars a symbol of Gods people
• A man-child who rules the nations with a rod of
  iron an allusion to Psa 2
• Psa 2 Nations seek to disrupt Gods plan
• God laughs at mans foolishness
• His Son is King and will rule with an iron rod
• So the man-child is Jesus Christ, the Son of God
• The dragon is Satan
• Who wishes to kill the Christ at birth (see Mt 2)
• Seeks to overthrow Gods plan (the cross?) and
  fails when Christ arose

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Woman, Child, and Dragon

• Rev 1210
• Kingdom and authority now Christs
• Rev 1211-17
• Satan now attempts to destroy the woman
• The woman (after cross) now the church
• God prevents all Satans attempts from completely
  destroying the church
• Jewish and Roman persecutions, many died
• Satan then decides to go after the womans
  children Christians (1 Pet 58)

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Lessons

• Satan will try everything to prevent you from
  being saved
• He is an active, not passive, foe
• Satan might seem very powerful (look at the
  descriptions of the dragon)
• But God can defeat Him without even seeming to
  try, Satan is not strong enough
• He knows his time is short
• We can overcome by the blood of the Lamb
• We must not love our lives
• We must keep commandments and testimony

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The Beasts

• Rev 13 continues the story of how Satan would
  seek to destroy Christians
• 131-10 The Sea Beast
• 2,4 has great authority, power and throne
• An earthly power claiming worship by force
• Roman Empire (or human governments)
• 7-8 will war against saints
• 9-10 warning to Christians not to physically
  fight the Sea Beast
• Those who fight for the beast will get repaid

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The Beasts

• 1311-18 The Earth Beast
• It causes people to worship the Sea Beast by
  deception
• The Sea Beast used force for the same ends
• The subtler tactics used by Satan
• False religion, entertainment, education, etc
• 16-18 Marks those who follow the beast
• Some marked openly (foreheads)
• Some try to keep it more private (hands)
• All Gods people are clearly sealed on their
  foreheads (73)

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Lessons

• Satan will use anything to keep you unsaved
• Power, force, governments, laws
• Or deception, trickery, pleasant talk, economic
  incentives (jobs), pleasure, etc
• Whatever works is fine with Satan
• You can openly acknowledge you follow him
• Or you can pretend you dont
• But if you follow God, you MUST openly
  acknowledge that before all men

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Conclusion

• Satan has since Gen 3 fought against God
• He always loses, but he doesnt stop
• He tried to destroy Christ (child, temptations,
  cross) and failed each time
• He tried to destroy the church (by Jewish and
  Roman persecutions) and failed
• Now he is going after individual Christians
• He will use any means to stop us
• We have the blood of the Lamb

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