The Woman, The Dragon, and The Beasts

*The sermon manuscript below was generated from the recording by AI…

Now, C.S. Lewis, commentating on the book of Narnia, The Chronicles of Narnia, he said, “The purpose of the book is not for you to work out a one-to-one ratio for everything in the book, because it doesn’t work, but rather that having read the book, you might return to your own world and see reality more clearly.” That’s the way fantasy tends to work. When you read fantasy books, you read fantasy, and you know it’s not true, right? You know it’s fake, and yet you come back to your real life, and having been in the fantasy world, it helps you understand the real world more clearly.

And the Book of Revelation functions a little bit like that. We come to a fantastical story, a fantastical vision of a woman, of a child, of a dragon, of 2 beasts, of fire falling down from heaven, and images coming to life. It’s like a whole other world, right? And yet it’s given to us that we might read it, understand it, and then know real things more clearly, that it might enable us to know Christ’s will for our lives.

Now, if you’ve been following the Book of Revelation, you might be caught off guard a little bit, because we had 7 letters, and we had 7 seals, and we had 7 trumpets, and we’ve seen them building, haven’t we? There was the first seals, which had a quarter of the world under its influence. Then there was the trumpet, which had a third, and then there was the thunders, which weren’t written down, and we said maybe that’s going to be half or something like that. And maybe you expected another set of 7, another series of sevens, and we know, if you’ve read ahead and cheated by reading ahead of where we’re going, you know that there’s another set of 7 coming, isn’t there? And yet we don’t get another set of 7. We get a vision, and it seems quite different to what’s gone before. There’s no pattern of 7, at least not explicitly. Some scholars believe there is 7 parts to this vision, much like in all the other sevens. But it’s not explicit, is it? John doesn’t say first this, second this, third trumpet, 4th trumpet. Why? Well, you might say that this is an interlude in the book. You’ve probably had this. Well, they don’t do it as much nowadays, but when I was young, you’d go to the movies, and you’re halfway through, and then all of a sudden you’d get an interlude, wouldn’t you? It was very clever ’cause then you’d go buy more popcorn. And so everyone would file out and get snacks and stuff, and then the second half of the movie would carry on. And it’s a little bit like that, but it’s not at all like an interlude at the same time because an interlude is very boring, isn’t it? No one stays and enjoys the interlude. It’s not like, “Oh, fabulous, let’s watch the interlude with the elevator music in the background.” But this interlude is, you might call it this, a central interlude. It’s in a sense the center of the book. It highlights for us the central thrust and theme of the entire vision. Everything flows into and out of this vision. You might say this is why the vision was given, Revelation twelve and thirteen. And so it’s important for us to give our attention to it.

I thought it might be helpful for us to step back and have a look at an overall picture of what’s going on here. We’ve got to try hard not to get bogged down in details because there’s many details. And I can tell you, it’s very easy to get bogged down and sidetracked. Well, it’s not really sidetracked, spend all of your time looking at one little point. But we want to just sort of have a ten-thousand-feet flight over the top of it, over chapter twelve and thirteen.

And it begins with this mysterious woman. This mysterious woman and her child. She’s in birth pains, isn’t she? In verse 2: She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And look at her. She’s oddly dressed, isn’t she? She’s clothed with the sun, and the moon is at her feet, and she has a crown made out of 12 stars. Now, if you’re not familiar with the Book of Genesis and with Joseph, you might be wondering what’s going on here. But if you go back to Genesis 37, in Genesis 37, you find that Joseph has a dream, and in his dream, he sees the sun and the moon and 11 stars bowing down to him, which was interpreted by Jacob to mean his father, his mother, and his 11 brothers. And the author here is picking up on that. He’s using that imagery, the sun, the moon, and the 12 stars, as a way of speaking of the people of God of old, the Old Testament people. And so this woman represents for us the Old Testament church, the people of God, and from the people of God is coming a child.

And as this woman is waiting and getting ready to give birth and going through the reality of all that entails, there’s a dragon at her feet. It’s an ugly picture. It’s a scary picture. I mean, woman, if you’ve given birth before, husbands, as you’ve stood at the side of your wife, you know how vulnerable a woman is in that moment and how vulnerable the child is, right? And you’re grateful for the midwife or the doctors that stand at your side and help and assist to make sure both mother and child are safe. We had a wonderful Dutch midwife. She was about 5 feet tall. Slight exaggeration, and very bossy. I remember with our first child, she had to say to Josella, “We need to go to the bed because the baby’s heart rate is dropping,” and Josella didn’t want to. And I said to her, “Well, maybe we should listen to the midwife.” You know, it’s a difficult place to be in as the husband. And Josella says, “I don’t want to.” And the midwife said, “Josella, we’re going to the bed.” She said, “Okay,” and up she got and moved on. And what a blessing. The baby was safe because of the care of this midwife.

Well, now imagine you don’t have a midwife, but you have a lion waiting. To do what? Well, to eat the baby, right? And that’s what this dragon is doing. The dragon, a great red dragon, clothed with authority and power, with 7 diadems, kingly rule upon its head, is waiting to devour this child. But it’s not just any child, is it? For verse 5 tells us that she gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all of the nations with a rod of iron. Well, who is this child? Well, it’s the Messiah, isn’t it? As we remember in Psalm 2, that we’re told that the Messiah shall come, and he will rule the nations with a rod of iron.

And this child, what happens as the dragon sits there? Well, the dragon goes away hungry, doesn’t he? He tries to capture this child that he might devour it. But God catches up the child to his throne, and the woman is fled into the wilderness for twelve hundred and sixty days to be kept safe, to be nourished and provided for.

What is this picture a picture of? What is going on here? Well, it’s a picture of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, isn’t it? It’s a picture of the earthly ministry of Jesus. From out of the Old Testament people Israel, came a Messiah, and as the Messiah came forth, what happened? Do you remember? What happened in Bethlehem and in the surrounding area? What did Herod do? He sent forth his armies, his soldiers, and what did they do? They butchered every child 2 years and under. What was he doing? He was doing the work of the devil, wasn’t he? He was trying to extinguish the Messiah on the spot. “There will be no king but Herod,” Herod said. And yet, what did God do? He sent his Son to Egypt. He said, “Out of Egypt I will call my Son. I will keep my Son secure.” He caught up his Son, he took him to Egypt, he carried him through his ministry, and when Jesus’ race was done, what did he do? He took him back to heaven, didn’t he? He ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and he ascended to the throne.

And what we’re seeing here is this picture of God’s faithfulness to keep his covenant, God’s faithfulness to carry out salvation, that in spite of the work of the devil, the Lord will achieve his salvific purposes. But not only that, we see the safety and security of the people of God, don’t we, for twelve hundred and sixty days? These people, this lady, this woman is taken off into the wilderness to be kept safe and secure. Why twelve hundred and sixty days? Well, it’s twelve hundred and sixty because it’s the same as 42 months further down in the passage, and it’s the same as a time and times and a half a time. It’s those same metrics that we saw in the previous chapter. It’s a metaphorical expression to communicate the working of God in this time and in this place until the purposes of God are accomplished. In other words, the church will be safe until Christ’s work is finished, until the day of victory comes, as we sang. That final day when Jesus comes.

And so what is John seeing here? Why is he seeing this vision? Well, you’ve got to remember the church’s situation. I mean, he’s on Patmos as an exile. The church is harassed, the church is persecuted, the church is fearful. The church is tempted to give up its testimony. And he sees, in keeping with Genesis 3, verse 15, there is enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, and yet the seed of the woman will always be victorious, won’t it? God’s people, God’s church is safe.

And I think this encourages us to look not with human eyes, but look with the eyes of faith when we look around us. We’re tempted, aren’t we, to look around at our situation with human eyes? I mean, you imagine sitting in Rome at this time or in outskirting land where a governor has decided he doesn’t like the believers, and the believers are being persecuted and plundered. It would be tempting to look with human eyes and to think, “We’re gonna lose. We’re losing.” And this is a call for us to open our eyes and look with the promises of God, that yes, the seed of the serpent will bite the heel of the seed of the woman, but the seed of the serpent will be crushed. The serpent will be crushed by the seed of the woman.

And so we see this woman and this child, and then the vision shifts again in verse seven, and now we’re introduced to the dragon and his beasts. The dragon and his beasts.

Now, you realize, don’t you, that a defeated enemy that has not been destroyed is far more terrifying than a regular enemy, right? Or a wounded enemy, you might say, is far more terrifying. It’s really striking when you look at Adolf Hitler towards the end of World War II when it became quite clear that he was going to lose. He knew he was losing. But what’s really striking is, at that moment, when it started to look like he was going to lose, he did not send more resources to the war effort. He sent more resources to murdering Jews. He knew he was gonna lose. Rather than trying to change the situation, he just sought to do as much damage as he possibly could before he lost, before it caught up with him and he was destroyed.

And it’s that type of a picture that we see in this next vision. The devil, the dragon, is cast down from heaven. We have this huge picture of the devil making war. You know, it’s following on from the last vision. The child, the son, has been caught up into heaven and is safely there, and so the devil comes to make war, and yet the devil is summarily thrown out. He’s defeated, and he’s cast down to Earth. And as he’s cast down to Earth, in his fury, with his angels with him, he seeks to pursue the woman, but he can’t find the woman because God is protecting the woman. And so what does he do instead? What does the dragon do? Well, in verse 17 we’re told that, “The dragon becomes furious with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.”

Who is the offspring? Who is the seed of the Old Testament church? Who does he make war on? Well, it’s you. It’s me. Do you remember the words of Paul in Galatians and in Romans? Who are the children of Abraham? Those of the faith, right? Those who believe in Jesus Christ are children of Abraham. Jesus said that if there were no sons of Abraham, what could he do? He could raise up sons of Abraham from the rocks, and He’s done it. In you and in me, men and women whose hearts were stony and who had no desire to follow Christ, plucked out of the Gentile world and made children of God, children of Abraham by faith. And the offspring here is you and me, the offspring of Abraham that are in the gaze of the dragon.

And so the dragon makes war, and you see a glimpse of this in the song that the saints sing in verse ten and eleven. “The accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night. They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” And at the end of that song, we then enter into the reality of that story, the reality of the devil seeking to destroy the church of Jesus Christ in his fury. Because he cannot destroy the seed of the woman, he cannot destroy Jesus Christ, he strives with all of his efforts and striving to destroy his offspring, the church of Jesus Christ.

And how does he do this? Well, he does it through these beasts, and it starts getting very odd, doesn’t it, in the vision now? You’ve got a dragon, and the dragon, which was once a serpent but has now grown fat and has become a great dragon, this dragon is now bringing up beasts. We’re introduced firstly to a sea beast and then later on in verse 11, an earth beast.

Well, what is going on here? Well, let’s just walk through it quickly and see if we can look at some of the clues, pick up what’s being communicated to us.

We’re introduced to firstly the sea beast. And the sea beast, you might say, is a little bit like the son of the dragon. He’s a son to the dragon. And so he comes in verse 2, and he comes with “power and a throne and authority” that belongs to the dragon. The dragon bestows upon this sea creature a throne and authority.

But notice what happens when you look at the sea beast. When you look at the sea beast, there’s something particularly interesting to note in verse 3. He has a wound. Well, not just any wound. He doesn’t have a cut on his arm. He has a mortal wound. Well, you trust you know what a mortal wound is, right? It’s a wound that kills you. And yet, though he has a mortal wound, he is miraculously healed. And so he has a mortal wound, but he still lives.

But not only that, he in verse 4 receives worship on behalf of the dragon. He accepts the worship of those under the authority of the dragon over all, verse 7, of the nations — every tribe, every people, every language, every nation. That’s a phraseology we’ve heard before in the Book of Revelation, isn’t it? We see a creature, a sea beast who was made in a sense, you might say, in the full likeness of his father, the dragon, one who has been killed and yet lives.

Well, what’s going on here? It sounds a whole lot like the Lord Jesus Christ, doesn’t it? The attributes, the way he’s spoken of, the worship, it all reflects our Lord and Savior. It’s so similar, it’s uncanny. And did you notice what they say about this beast? “Who is like the beast and who can fight against it?” Now, you may not recognize those words, but they’re words that are repeated over and over and over and over again in the Old Testament for Yahweh. Who is like the Lord? Who is like the Lord? And the Lord says, “Who is like me? Who is like me?” And of course, the answer to that is always, there is none like me. There is no other. “I am the rock,” the Lord says in Isaiah. And yet now, the work of this dragon, the nations cry out, “Who is like the beast? Who is like the sea beast?”

And so we get a picture of a dragon bringing forth one who is remarkably like the Lord Jesus Christ, and then the vision shifts again, and we’re introduced to another beast, the earth beast in verse 11 onwards.

And it’s striking what we see here too. We’re told that this earth beast exercises all the authority of the first beast. So you might say he represents the sea beast. The earth beast is sent by the sea beast and by the dragon to carry out the will of the sea beast. And we’re told that this earth beast directs worship to the sea beast. He’s busy glorifying, you might say, glorifying the first beast and the dragon. His goal is not to draw attention to himself, but to cast a spotlight on the other beast. He does miracles. He calls down fire from heaven, just like in the Old Testament. He calls down fire from heaven. He does miraculous signs in order to win worshipers for the beast and the dragon. Not only that, he gives life to things, doesn’t he? There’s this image that’s made, and he breathes the breath of life into this image so that it might draw worshipers to the dragon. And then lastly, don’t miss this in verse 16 to 17, it seals the worshipers of the dragon and the beast. It puts a seal upon them, the number, the name of the beast upon them so that they might never be taken away.

I wonder if you’re able to pick up the imagery here. Who does this sound like? It sounds a whole lot like the ministry of the Holy Spirit, doesn’t it? The Holy Spirit who comes from the Father and the Son, and who glorifies the Father and the Son, and who breathes life into people, and who seals them for adoption so that they might be safe and secure. He puts the mark of God upon the people of God so that they might not perish, but have eternal life.

So what are we seeing here between the dragon and the sea beast and the earth beast? Well, I think we receive the answer in the last verse of the passage. In the last verse of the passage, we read these words: “This calls for wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

And you might say to yourself, “Well, that’s not very helpful though.” Maybe you’ve heard it referenced in movies and books. And we could probably spend the rest of our time talking about all of the fantastical ways that this number has been dealt with. I think my favorite preacher put it well. He said, “If I got $100 for every single time someone’s told me what 666 is, I could retire early.”

What is this? John tells us. It’s the number of man. I think better translated, the number of man. Why 666, the number of man, just after hearing about 3 different beasts? Well, if you were to write the number of God, what number would you write? Well, 7, 7, 7 is the triune God, and 7 is the number of perfection. It’s the number that’s used to attribute things to God in the scriptures. But here we have a human number which is completely short, completely not like God.

And this is the thing that John is seeing here, that what the devil is doing is raising up an unholy trinity, a false trinity, to array it before man in order to draw people away from the living God. He is creating a false kingdom with a false god in the kingdom of men in order to draw people away from God, in order to kill and steal the worship of God’s people. He’s using 3 forms of attack as the Antichrist pushes forth an Antichrist kingdom.

He uses 3 forms of attack. He uses destruction, and we’ve already commented on it. He goes about destroying. And we see this all throughout the world, don’t we? We see saints laying down their lives. We see saints having their heads removed, dying in prisons, being tortured, starving to death because they are part of the Kingdom of Christ for no other reason but because they love Jesus and because they will not bow to an unholy trinity.

But he also uses deception, doesn’t he? He raises up false worship. He raises up false messages, false signs in order to deceive people away from the truth. That’s why these 3 beasts are so much like, but not quite the same. The devil’s not stupid. I hope you realize that. He’s never gonna catch a Christian sleeping if he presents a god who is made up of 1,000 gods, is he? You know no one’s gonna fall for that if you’re a believer, if you’re in the church. But notice how uncannily similar these are. In order to steal from God through deception what is rightfully God’s alone.

But then his last method of attack is what you might call defilement, the defilement of true worship. He seeks to defile true worship and render to himself what is exclusively the right of God alone.

And this is a really important reminder for us, brothers and sisters, because we often forget that there is only 2 kingdoms in this world. There is the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of His beloved Son. That’s the way Colossians puts it. In chapter one, “You are transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His,” the Father’s, “beloved Son.” There is no third kingdom. There is no third alternative. There is no other option. Everything in this world is either a representation of Antichrist or a representation of the Messiah. There’s nothing in between. Nothing is neutral in the world, brothers and sisters. Everything is promoting God’s kingdom or is seeking to destroy it.

Now, praise God, due to the common grace of God, it is not as bad as it could be. And even those in the kingdom of darkness are able to do good in this world because of God’s common grace. But when it comes to the spiritual war, there is only 2 camps. It’s Matthew 16, verse 18 in movie form. You can imagine this, these chapters being a movie, couldn’t you? Fighting and CGI and dragons and everything else roaring. It’s the movie version of God’s promise, “I’m gonna build my church in enemy territory, and the gates of Hades will never overcome it.”

That’s important for us to realize because it challenges us to ask the question, whose side am I on? Whose kingdom am I in? Whose kingdom am I seeking and building? Am I, in my personal life, in my workplaces, in my family, among my friends, am I advancing the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness? And what about in your hobbies? As you spend your relaxation time, what is it advancing? Is it building up the kingdom of God, or is it building up the kingdom of darkness? Because there’s no third kingdom to build, is there? There’s not a miniature Logan kingdom within the kingdom of God that I can advance. There’s only the kingdom of Christ.

So are you serving your captain? Are you dedicated to your king wholeheartedly? Not half-pie, not 90 percent, not 99 percent, but are you one hundred percent in the Lord’s army in everything you do? Whether it be feeding your children breakfast, or making your wife a meal, or going to your workplace and serving your employer with all godliness, whether it be going to the supermarket and talking to the cashier, are you doing all these things as one who is in the king’s army, one who is in the army of the Lord? Or do you do it as your own king?

You see, this is part of our problem so often, isn’t it? You see, there’s one throne over our life with one king already sitting on it, but we try and find subtle ways to just push him off the throne a little bit. “I wouldn’t mind sitting on the throne myself. Lord, you can have everything, just leave me this. You can have every throne in my life but I just want this one chair. This one’s for me.” And it’s a challenge to us, isn’t it? Because every time we say, “This one’s for me,” what we really say is, “This one is for the unholy trinity of darkness.”

So who are you serving today? Who will you serve tomorrow?

And so we see this fantastical vision. It’s bright, it’s colorful. But we need to remember, brothers and sisters, that this vision is here for the church. That’s why it started with the woman. It didn’t need to. It could have started halfway through chapter 12. But it doesn’t. It starts with a picture of the people of God because the vision of Revelation is written for a purpose for the Church of Jesus Christ.

And so we see a woman and her child, we see the dragon and his beasts, and then we see the church and its call. You see, this is seen by John for a specific purpose, to call the first century church to faithfulness, and it’s kept by his Spirit to today to call RBC to faithfulness.

So what does this call entail? There’s 3. There’s 3 exhortations or 3 calls that sound forth to the Church of Jesus Christ.

And so you might put it this way, so what? Okay, I get it. The devil is waging war, Jesus wins. But so what?

Firstly, this is a call to determination in the face of destruction. It is a call to determination in the face of destruction. Now, for you and I, who live here in peace and tranquility by and large, this point rolls off our back very easily, doesn’t it? I don’t have to lay down my life. And therefore, brothers and sisters, ought we all the more to be filled with determination to do so? I mean, if the persecuted church is doing this, and if they must determine not to give up their testimony to the point of death as they sing in the chapter, how much more you and I? I mean, let’s just be honest, brothers and sisters, isn’t it a little bit sad that our brothers and sisters will have their tongues cut out before they stop confessing Christ, and yet we will silence our testimony because we’re worried our workmates might make fun of us? For shame. Right? For shame that the testimony of the persecuted church is louder than the church which is free and open to proclaim the gospel of Christ as much as they want. I mean, brothers and sisters, no one’s stopping us. No one stops us. And what’s the worst they will do? They’ll make fun of you. And yet, to our shame, do we not cover our mouths? And I say that of myself. Do we not rush to think to ourselves, “Oh, now’s not appropriate”? And when people say to us, “Oh, that’s just your opinion. Everyone’s allowed their own opinion,” we are very quick to say yes.

Brothers and sisters, we must determine. We must be determined, no matter the consequence. Even unto death and destruction, to boldly proclaim the name of Jesus Christ, never to give up our testimony.

That was one of the big issues facing the early church, and let’s be honest, it’s just as much of a problem in the West, isn’t it? We’re tempted to give up our testimony because of the pressures upon us. It may not be death for us right now, but it’s the same principle. So let us as a church determine, no matter what, to sound forth the gospel of Jesus Christ as a church family, but also as individuals in every place we go. To willingly or joyfully, as the writer to the Hebrews puts it, be plundered for the sake of Christ.

And so firstly, it’s a call to determination in the face of destruction.

Secondly, it’s a call to discernment in the face of deception. Brothers and sisters, he is called the father of lies for a reason. And what was true then, that he seeks to deceive, is just as true today. If anything, the poignancy, the thickness of his deception is all the more loud, isn’t it? I mean, you’re just surrounded by media, by messages, by internet, by billboards. Everywhere you go, the voice of the kingdom of darkness, the devil’s voice, is shouting at you to deceive you, to hoodwink you with false gods, to convince you to be satisfied in something that isn’t the Lord, to love something that isn’t God, to seek hope and confidence in workplaces, to deceive you to a false theology through dangerous internet preachers. Through people who are one degree off.

You know the problem with a person that’s one degree off? Well, in 100 years he’s gonna be a whole lot more off. And the devil, as I said, is not dumb. He does not seek to convince you with the message of Buddhism because you’re not that daft. But he comes to you with something that looks and smells the part, but it’s 1% not true. It’s like the false gold that’s 90% true gold, but 10% false. It won’t last through the fire, will it?

Brothers and sisters, we must have discernment. We must train our theological ears, and this is important, we must see with our ears attuned by the Word of God, not with our eyes. I wonder if you noticed something very subtle about the second beast. We’re told in verse 11 that it had 2 horns like a what? A lamb. But it spoke like a dragon. Because he comes as a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing, doesn’t he? When you look with eyes, you see the lamb. But when you listen with the ears of the Word of God, you realize it’s a dragon. We must learn to see with eyes of faith and ears informed by the scripture. It’s the only way, is to take up the Word of God and saturate ourselves upon it, feed upon it day and night, Sunday by Sunday, meditating upon it. Let it be our daily bread. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from my Father’s mouth,” Jesus says. So take up the Word and read it so that when the devil comes with deception, you look at it and go, “You stupid? I know better than that. Why would I want that when I’ve got the real thing?”

And so are you meditating upon the Word of God day and night? It’s the only way.

And so we’re called to discern, we’re called to be determined, and then lastly, this is a call to devotion. It’s a call to devotion in the face of defilement. The devil is seeking to defile worship, isn’t he? Oh, we can see it in much of the church, sadly, where clowns are preferred to preaching, where people bow down to trees and apologize to Mother Earth for the damage we’ve done to creation, where people bless animals instead of humans. There is much defilement in the church, and the solution to defilement is not to get your axe out and start cutting things down. It’s to devote your heart solely to the living God. Because if your heart and life is devoted in ceaseless praise, when a cheap knockoff comes along, you won’t buy it.

It’s similar logic to what I often tell people in premarital counseling. It’s the logic of Solomon, which he failed to heed. “Enjoy the wife of your youth.” Why? Because if you enjoy the wife of your youth, you’re gonna have no need for any other woman. If you delight and devote yourself to worshiping God, and you are satisfied in God, in worship, through praise and adoration, you will never be tempted to worship something else, because your heart will be full, satisfied in Him.

And so it’s a challenge for us, isn’t it? To live lives of worship. To be, as Paul would say, living sacrifices in adoration to Him.

You know, brothers and sisters, it can be a scary thing to think of dragons and beasts making war against the kingdom of light. And yet in Romans, there’s this wonderful passage, and you think about this. This is Paul writing to Rome, a church which would so much suffer at the hands of evil emperors. Nero would use them as torches for his garden. And Paul, in chapter 16, writes to them and says, “Very soon, the Lord will crush Satan under your feet.” Isn’t that a glorious picture? That though the snake is prowling, the lion is roaring, the dragon is seeking to consume, ultimately, the Church of Christ will stomp upon the devil. And like that picture in the Book of Joshua, where Joshua comes with all of the elders, and they put their feet upon the necks of the kings before they execute them, we’re being given this picture of the church placing their feet upon the devil because she has conquered. She has overcome.

And so this is ultimately a calling for us to be more than conquerors, isn’t it? To conquer unto death, as he says in verse 11, “They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

But I think there’s one more very brief thing to see here, brothers and sisters, in closing. In The Chronicles of Narnia, there’s a striking word in the last book where it says, “Susan wasn’t there.” And why wasn’t Susan there in heaven? Because she got distracted with boys and clothes and makeup, and she doesn’t believe in Narnia anymore. And I think we’re challenged here. This is a challenge for all of you who do not believe in Narnia anymore, who do not put your trust in Christ. If you do not trust Christ, by definition, you are of the devil. I’m not speaking of your character. I’m not speaking of your earthly goodness, your helpfulness to your family, or anything else. I’m speaking positionally. Since there is only 2 kingdoms, if you have yet to bow the knee to Jesus Christ, you are positionally in the kingdom of darkness, which shall finally be destroyed.

And the question is, how long will you wait? How long will you serve Satan before you bow the knee to Jesus Christ? Because this is an invitation to be a part of the victorious kingdom.

---