Michigan Camp Meeting 2024: As For Me and My House

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Understanding Revelation 12-14

Tom Shepherd

01 How to Interpret the Book of Revelation

02 Revelation 12: The Woman, the Dragon, and the Baby

03 Revelation 13: The Two Beasts Part 1

04 Revelation 13: The Two Beasts Part 2

05 Revelation 14: More Than Three Angels

You are about to enjoy a presentation recorded at the 2024 Michigan Conference Camp Meeting held at Cedar Lake, Michigan.

We pray that the Lord will bless you as you listen.

Lord, we thank you for the opportunity again to open your word and we pray that you'll guide our study today.

Now, I'm going to start with a little bit about Revelation 12 because Yesterday we talked about Revelation 12 and the timing of the war, the great war in heaven, and suggested probably something that was a little new to some, the idea that maybe this war is what happened when Jesus rose from the dead and placed all the demonic powers under his feet.

And that shows up in various places in the New Testament.

But we've always taught that there's, this is actually before creation that this war happens.

And of course, there's, you can say, well, verse 4 where it says the dragon swept down a third of the stars, You know, you can say, well, that's that part of the war, and this part of the war is the other part.

Now, the question is, where does Ellen White come out on this?

I want to share with you 2 quotes from Ellen White on this topic, which may surprise you, all right?

So, the emphasis in the quotes I have added, so it's my emphasis, but it's, of course, her words.

At the death of Jesus, the soldiers, this is from 3rd Spirit of Prophecy, page 194, at the death of Jesus, the soldiers had beheld the earth wrapped in profound darkness at midday.

But at the resurrection, they saw the brightness of the angels illuminate the night, and heard the inhabitants of heaven singing with great joy and triumph.

Thou hast vanquished Satan and the powers of darkness.

Thou hast swallowed up death in victory, and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down who accused them before our God day and night.

The casting down of Satan as an accuser of the brethren in heaven was accomplished by the great work of Christ in giving up his life.

Notwithstanding Satan's persistent opposition, the plan of redemption was being carried out.

Man was esteemed of sufficient value for Christ to sacrifice his life for him." All right, so there's evidence in Ellen White pointing in the direction of what we said yesterday.

Here's 1 Thessalonians selected messages, page 222.

This work of opposition to the law of God had its beginning in the courts of heaven, with Lucifer the covering chair.

Satan determined to be first in the counsel of heaven and equal with God.

He began his work of rebellion with the angels under his command, seeking to diffuse among them the spirit of discontent.

And he worked in so deceptive a way that many of the angels were won to his allegiance before his purposes were fully known.

Even the loyal angels could not fully discern his character nor see to what his work was leading.

When Satan had succeeded in winning many angels to his side, he took his cause to God, representing that it was the desire of the angels that he occupied the position that Christ held.

The evil continued to work until the spirit of disaffection ripened into active revolt.

Then there was war in heaven, and Satan, with all who sympathized with him, was cast out." Well, that's the word there, isn't it?

Satan had warred for the mastery in heaven and had lost the battle.

God could no longer trust him with honor and supremacy, and these, with the part he had taken in the government of heaven, were taken from him." So Ellen White connects the words of Revelation 12 with both the time before the creation of our world and with the time of the cross, the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus.

Just hang on, questions, we'll give you time for questions.

Well, We have posited that the war in heaven narrative of verses 7 to 12 particularly links to Christ's ascension and defeat of spiritual forces.

What we have not mentioned up to this point is verse 4, which says, his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child, he might devour it.

The text alludes to Daniel 8, verse 10, where the little horn power boasts of great power, even up to the heavenly beings, casting down stars.

We will see in our study of Revelation 13 that the little horn power is an earthly representative of a spiritual power it is allied with.

So, but perhaps we can suggest that Revelation 12 verse 4 presents Satan dragging down angels in his original rebellion against God, and that after the cross, Satan was defeated in the heavenly realm by the risen Christ.

That is to say, from now on, Satan has no more access to the heavenly courts or the heavenly realm as he did during the time of Job.

Now he is confined to earth and soon his final doom will come.

I can understand why he was cast out of heaven.

I can understand why God wouldn't just eliminate him because of the point he brought up and yet God needed everybody to inverse the seed that he wasn't the bad guy after all.

What I don't understand is how come he didn't take away his powers?

Because it's the same reason as if he had destroyed him.

You aren't giving me a chance to show what my realm would be like.

In fact, Jesus said, he's the father of lies.

When he speaks a lie, he's speaking his mother tongue.

That would be my answer, maybe it's not satisfactory.

Okay, there was a question, not back here.

Okay, so that actually, Revelation 12 does not complete the story.

So many times over a lifetime you hear of this battle and we think like war.

But it could very much be more like a chess game.

What 1 of intellect going back and forth, not necessarily a physical battle that has to end.

And if Job is, you know, like he had access to heaven for a while and then he's out and cast out.

So there doesn't necessarily have to be that kind of warfare, but more of an intellectual type of warfare.

I moved this over here so our sister here can see.

I didn't know there was something up there.

You didn't know there was something up there, yeah.

Yeah, so I do not define what the war was like exactly.

All we know is it was a war, and I think it's probably better not to say, you know, were they using weapons, were they shooting lasers, were there atomic bombs?

And- Well, I'm simply implying that it can take over a period of time.

Not necessarily 1 quick battle and now he's out.

It is a battle that's been going on for thousands of years.

So it is not a short battle, but there are different key moments of that battle.

Him thrown out of heaven, the cross, and of course then the second coming of Jesus.

Yeah, it was my understanding that he and the fallen angels, speaking of Lucifer slash Satan, was cast out to earth, but still wasn't guaranteed him back access into heaven until he was able to make our Father Eve and Father Adam fall.

So then he became the prince of the earth when they did that, and that allowed him now access.

That would answer the question of why now.

He was cast out, but he had access now because he was able to conquer earth by them following.

And then there was also a vision by Ellen White when she went to a world and asked, oh you guys look so great, how are you like this?

And she gave the biggest slap in the face to earth people, it's because we kept the commandments of God.

Series

Understanding Revelation 12-14

03 Revelation 13: The Two Beasts Part 1

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Health Ministries Workshop

07 The Nuts and Bolts of a Great Cooking Class, Part 01

52m

Studies in 1 Corinthians

04 Foods Offered to Idols

53m

Bible Manuscripts and Translations

01 Are Bible Manuscripts Reliable?

1h 3m

Berry Bounty: A Guide to Growing Your Own Delicious Berries

03 Growing Blueberries

58m

Creative Outreach for Everyday Life

04 Called to Serve I

55m

Bible Manuscripts and Translations

02 What Variants Do Our Manuscripts Have? Part 01

57m

The Coming Sunday Laws

03 Enduring the Sunday Law

1h 7m

Creating Joy in Everyday Life

03 Creating Joy in Everyday Life

46m

Evening Plenary

04 Spiritual Weapons for the Crisis Ahead

1h 15m

End-Time Events & Religious Liberty Implications

Secularism’s Role in End-Time Prophecy: Revelation 11

1h 2m

Becoming a Visitor-Friendly Church

03 From Greeting to Serving Part 2

1h 1m

From Shame to Grace

05 A Biblical Journey of Healing

1h 1m

Sound Doctrine