I would like to do the whole chapter
this evening, but I know there are so
many details and so many phrases and so
many doctrines, and it's a long, long way
to the end of the chapter.
We used to sing, it's a long way
to Tipperary.
Well, this is a long way to the
end of a chapter, and I've made up
my mind if we're not well through before
I come to the spot where we should
stop, I will stop and we'll take two
bites of this cherry.
This is something I don't like to do,
but I may be forced to do.
However, we'll get on with the job just
now, and as we get on, well, we'll
do it tonight.
I think you remember this from last week's
chapter, chapter 11, verse 15, And as seven
angels sounded, you remember way back in chapter
8, that seven angels were given trumpets to
sound, and as each trumpet sounded, terrible things
happened on this very planet of ours.
And now this is the last trumpet being
sounded.
Let's get that quite clear into our minds,
it's the sounding of the last trumpet.
And they're followed on after that, it's said
in verse 18 of chapter 11, And the
nations were angry, and thy wrath is come,
and the time of the dead, that they
should be judged, and that thou shouldest give
reward unto thy servants the prophets, and so
on.
You see, at the sounding of the last
trumpet, there was great excitement in heaven, and
then all these items are placed down, but
the details of these items are not given.
Go on to take chapter 12, and 13,
and 14, and 15, and 16, and 17,
and 18, to underline all the details.
And this is the very first one that
went up this evening, it's the desolation of
Israel, I've called this chapter, and I shall
take great time to enlighten you as to
why I'm so bold as to call this
chapter, the desolation of Israel.
So we're at chapter 12, and there are
great details.
Verse 1, And there appeared a great wonder
in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun
and the moon under her feet, and upon
her head a crown of twelve stars.
I want you to look carefully at the
word wonder.
There appeared a great wonder in heaven.
If you have a good marginal reference Bible,
there should be a little number at the
word wonder, and if you go to the
margin you'll find that the word wonder means
sign.
I think it might have been better if
our translators had put it in the text
rather than in the margin.
And there appeared a great sign in heaven.
You see, there are many books in heaven
at that time, we have been through this
in chapter 5, and then again in chapter
7, and so on.
And there's a sign given to all these
people in heaven.
But I want you to get this very
straight and careful this evening, that while the
sign is for the people in heaven, the
woman is on earth.
The woman is not in heaven, and don't
be reading it into it either.
The woman is on earth.
Just to make you sure of that, look
at verse 6 of our chapter this evening.
And the woman fled into the wilderness.
And I'm sure you would be honest enough
to say there is no wilderness in heaven,
because some strange character came to argue with
me once and said this woman is in
heaven.
And the moment I said she fled into
the wilderness, I said I would like you
to instruct me now where this wilderness in
heaven is.
Of course, Jimmy was only waking me up
now.
You can see that the woman is on
earth, and the woman fled into the wilderness,
where she is a place prepared of God
that they should feed her there.
Now watch the time factor, because that's most
important this evening.
8,234 days.
You know, when the time factor is there,
she must be on earth.
For the word wilderness, under 1,260 days,
well I'm thinking to persuade you that she's
on earth.
We're thinking to persuade you that she's on
earth at a particular period.
Because 1,260 days are three and a
half years.
Forty-two months, that's the period we're thinking
about.
So that the woman is on earth.
And if that doesn't persuade you, let me
take you down to verse 13 of our
chapter.
And when the dragon saw that he was
cast onto the earth, and he will be,
mind you, he persecuted the woman which brought
forth the man-child.
So I don't think that we're going to
have any more problems.
The sign is given for those in the
heavenlies in heaven, and the woman herself, she's
on earth.
And what we must underline before we go
any further, she's on earth at a particular
period.
During these 42 months, or this 1,250
days.
Now this class ought to remember quite easily,
and I'm sure you do, what we read
in chapter 11.
Let's go back to chapter 11.
Let's read it over again now.
Verse 1, And there was given me, that
was, given John a reed, like unto a
rod, and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and
measure the temple of God.
This is the time when the temple of
God will be rebuilt, of course.
And the altar, and then the worship therein,
and the court which is without the temple,
leave out and measure it not.
For it is given unto the Gentiles, and
the holy city shall they tread on their
foot, forty and two months.
That's the same period now.
Well, if you're not sure, we'll read the
next verse.
And I will give power unto my two
witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two
hundred and three-four days.
That's the same period now.
That was we have in chapter 12.
So that this woman is on earth during
this particular period when God's two super-witnesses
are on earth.
When the Jewish temple is built again.
Have you got that?
Because you'll need to get all those facts
in if you're going to argue with me.
Now, that's very interesting, isn't it?
And it's more interesting when we go on
to chapter 13.
Because we don't only go back to chapter
11, let's go on to chapter 13.
And watch this very carefully.
This is this horrible beast that we'll have
to deal with in the not-too-far
-distant future, and we shall take time to
do that.
It says in verse 5, And there was
given unto him a mouth speaking great things
and blasphemies.
And power was given unto him to continue
forty and two months.
Is that the same period?
And because before we start any arguments at
all, we've got to be sure that this
woman is on earth.
She's in the wilderness.
She's being persecuted by the devil.
But the most important bit is that she's
on earth and being persecuted at a particular
period of earth's history.
Make no mistakes about that.
In the three and a half years, in
the forty-two months, or the 1260 days,
and that's taking a prophetic year 360 days
as I understand it should take.
So I think that you can see that
she's on earth, and I think you can
see that she's on earth at a particular
period.
Let's go back to the book of Daniel
just for a moment.
Daniel chapter seven.
I just want to establish this very clearly
just now.
You remember this chapter when we went through
it bit by bit?
It's the chapter where Daniel saw four great
beasts coming up out of the sea.
Chapter seven, verse three.
Four great beasts.
And we don't need to take the time
to go all over it again.
But Daniel was interested in the fourth beast.
Do you see verse nineteen?
Then I would know the truth of the
fourth beast.
He was most interested to know this.
And then someone came to tell him, verse
twenty-three, Thus he said, the fourth beast
shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth.
And it's a kingdom down here, all right.
Which shall be diversed from all kingdoms, and
shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread
it down, and break it in pieces.
And the ten horns out of this kingdom
are ten kings that shall arise.
And I think that we're beginning to see
the horns appearing just now.
And Mr. Heath is doing a great lot
about this.
And it says, And another shall rise after
them, and he shall be diversed from the
first, and shall subdue three kings.
And he shall speak great words against the
Most High, and shall wear out the face
of the Most High, and speak to change
times and laws.
And they shall be given into his hand
until a time, and times, and the dividing
of time.
And I understand from the Hebrew that the
time means a year, and the times mean
two more, and the dividing of the time
is a half, and it means three and
a half, it means forty-two months.
So you see that this woman, we're going
to think about very carefully this evening, she's
on earth.
And she's being chased into the wilderness.
And she's being persecuted by the devil.
And she's here at the time when the
two super-witnesses are here.
And she's here at the time when the
beast is here.
And she's here at the time when these
ten toves are here, and this king arises
out of the midst of them.
So I think we've got our tidied up,
unless you want to argue with me.
Have a look at Daniel chapter 9 while
we're there.
Daniel chapter 9, and of course I think
this is the greatest prophecy of all prophecies,
is to save time as much as possible.
Daniel verse 24, seventy weeks are determined upon
my people, and he's talking to Daniel, to
Daniel's people, and upon thy holy city.
I don't think you've any problem with that,
except the seventy weeks.
Because the word weeks, there is an old
Hebrew word that means seven.
You know that a week is made up
of seven days.
Well what this should have said, more clearly
in English, was that seventy-sevens are determined
upon my people.
And if you multiply seventy by seventy, you
have four hundred and ninety.
And now you've got to find out from
the passage, four hundred and ninety what?
And we find it's four hundred and ninety
years.
And if you measure back from the commandment
going forth to the building of the temple
and the building of the city, to the
day that Christ entered into it, sixty-nine
sevens are gone.
And it just left one seven to go,
just one week to go.
Fourth, God called out a people after that
for his name, the church of Jesus Christ,
from every kindred and tongue and people and
nation.
And one of these days the Lord Jesus
will come to the air and take his
waiting people home.
The church will rise to meet them.
All they that are Christ's that is coming.
And of course, you'll find this out, look
at verse twenty-six.
And after three score and two weeks shall
Messiah be cut off.
Now the Jews also have been able to
count the years to the cutting off of
the Messiah, only they couldn't believe he would
be cut off.
They couldn't understand the sufferings of their Christ.
They only saw the glory that was to
follow.
Shall be cut off but not for himself.
And the people of the prince that shall
come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary,
the people that ruled.
Because the prince that shall come after Christ
was cut off was Titus.
And the end thereof shall be with a
flood.
And unto the end of the war desolations
are determined.
And he, this prince that shall come from
this revived Roman Empire, these ten foes if
you like, this common market if you like,
he shall confirm the covenant with many for
one week, for seven years.
And in the midst of the week he
shall cause a sacrifice and the oblation to
cease.
What's the half of seven now?
Three and a half.
Forty-two months it is.
They don't want to go into this prophecy.
It would waste my time.
What I want to say to you, we
are going to look at a woman this
evening in the chapter.
While the sign is in heaven, the woman
is on earth.
She's being pushed into the wilderness.
She's being persecuted by the devil.
She appears on this earth in this persecution
at the time when the two witnesses are
here, when the beast is here, when this
revived Roman Empire has appeared, when this man
of sin is here, in the very time
when he breaks the covenant with Israel.
Surely all these things are too clear to
get you mixed up.
Forty-two, three and a half, one thousand
two, one hundred and sixty.
So I think you can see that the
woman is on earth and I think you
can see the period in which she will
appear.
Let's go back to the chapter now.
We're back to chapter eleven, chapter twelve.
Now have we established that she's on earth
and being persecuted and running into the wilderness
at this particular period that we have so
many details of in so many parts of
this book?
Now we've got to decide now, who is
this woman?
What's God talking about?
Yes, we've got to decide that.
Now there are five outstanding women in the
scriptures.
Five.
Of course there are many great women in
the scriptures.
I have given bible readings on the seven
lilies of the New Testament and they're all
great.
Last year at the convention I gave this
bible reading on the seven lilies of the
New Testament and I don't think I had
ever so many letters in my life about
the blessing that this was and there are
many women in the scriptures.
But there are five outstanding ones.
Well, of course, Eve is an outstanding woman.
She's the mother of us all.
You know, I know that some of the
modernists, they don't believe the Genesis story.
They don't believe there ever was an angel.
They think it's a sort of eastern mystic
fable of some kind.
In fact I heard about one of the
high schools teaching this.
Now let me turn you to the New
Testament just for a moment, to 2 Corinthians
chapter 11 and you young folks pay attention
and if they will do this in your
school will you please stand up and read
this to them and don't argue with them,
just read it and leave it with them.
I heard about the master in one of
the high schools who's the modernist and he
comes off with some of this nonsense sometimes
and some of the boys and girls that
are here tonight just stand up you know
and say, I'd like to say this and
he said the other day, now you sit
down, you go to the bible class and
he has you inoculated.
Here I have them inoculated with the truth.
And if he's afraid of that, it's a
pity of him.
Don't you take any nonsense with him.
But what it says here, 2 Corinthians chapter
11, Paul writing, and remember the book's inspired,
Would to God ye could bear with me
a little in my folly?
And indeed bear with me, for I am
jealous over you with godly jealousy.
What a lovely thing to say about the
flock.
For I have espoused you to one husband
that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ.
But I fear less by any means of
the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtleties.
Did Paul believe that?
Well I can tell you he believed that.
He believed there was the garden of Eden,
he believed the serpent, he believed the subtlety
was there, he believed Eve was there.
Some of these boys coming up seem to
think they know better than this inspired book.
I fear less by any means of the
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtleties.
So your minds should be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ.
Ah, let's make no mistakes about it, Eve
was there all right.
Yes, and she was created for the man,
this book says.
And did I underline the word created for
you?
Ah, she wasn't evolved, oh no.
She was created for the man, the book
says.
That is not evolution, that is creation.
And in that day this book says God
created them male and female.
Paul, yes he did, you know he is
the faithful creator.
But Eve is one of the great characters
of this book, isn't she?
Then I think we've got to get this
into that Israel, the nation of Israel is
pictured as the woman in this book.
As the wife of Jehovah.
What an honour she has.
Let's go back to Isaiah 54 please.
Prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 54.
And God writing to the Jewish nation through
this Jewish prophet Isaiah.
And here is what he said to them
in verse 5.
For thy maker is thine husband, Isaiah 54
verse 5.
Thy maker is thy husband, the Lord of
hosts is his name, and thy redeemer, the
Holy One of Israel, the God of the
whole earth shall he be called.
For the Lord hath called thee as a
woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a
wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith
thy God.
For a small moment have I forsaken thee,
but with great mercies will I gather thee.
I know that some of the old expositors,
the old puritans even, they tried to read
the church into that.
They tried to go around the temple and
say God will forsake the church.
I hope you're not.
Because I'll tell you what the Lord says
to every believer in this place.
And he said it on the day you
were saved.
He just stepped into the road in front
of you.
He said I will never leave you.
And there's no talk at all about gathering
the church.
That will never be scuttled, my little boy.
Oh no, this is Israel.
This is Israel, the nation of the wife
of Jehovah.
And this is the great woman that's in
the scripture.
You know, the Virgin Mary is the great
woman.
Let's get the hold of that now.
Luke Gospel chapter 1 just for a moment.
Verse 26.
Luke Gospel chapter 1 verse 26.
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel
was sent from God onto the city of
Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin.
And that's a very special word that's there,
you know, in the Greek.
And that version of Luke's gospel that they're
giving out through round the doors is baloney,
you know.
Because I think some of you don't even
know that.
Because when you take it and look at
it just there, it will say, Thou art
held.
And they took away the word virgin and
put girl.
And who gives them the authority to do
that?
No.
I don't think that they have the authority
to do that.
I think it's a perverted version that they're
giving out.
Why didn't they do it right when they
were doing it?
I wonder what the Bible society's playing at.
They're not allowed to do this with God's
word.
He has exalted it above his name.
So I'm not throwing it in the fire.
If you want to give out a decent
one, get one and give it out.
This woman is a virgin.
I wonder that the Roman Catholic Church gives
you that.
I think they're so goofy they don't even
know what's in it.
Because I think if they knew, they wouldn't
stand for it.
Now have a look at this.
To a virgin, not to a girl, to
a virgin is the inspired word.
Espoused to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David.
And the virgin's name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her and
said, Heal thou that art highly savoured.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among them.
And you're quite correct when you call her
the blessed virgin Mary.
You have no trouble with that at all.
Because I think you've got to always remember
this, that she was blessed among women, not
above women.
That's what the pagan church has done.
She's just blessed among women.
But she was really blessed.
She's a very special character, you know, and
we need to not let anybody play along
with this word virgin.
Because this virgin birth is one of the
fundamentals of the faith.
Won't ever let anybody touch it, you know.
Some of the boys say to me, you
know, you could do away with a virgin
birth and go to heaven.
Can you not?
Not a bit of you.
You'll go to hell.
I don't think they know what they're saying
sometimes.
If this child, the Lord Jesus, was not
virgin born, do you know what you're saying?
You're saying that Mary prayed about in the
dark with some man and she had a
child to.
Well, I'll tell you what you're making the
child.
You're making the child a bastard.
Oh, it's a word that arouses you a
bit, doesn't it?
Well, if a girl has a baby and
we don't know the father, the child's a
bastard according to the English language.
I hope you're not calling Christ a bastard.
Well, if you do this, then you're calling
Mary a bad woman.
If you don't believe in the virgin birth,
where does the child come from?
If you're praying about in the dark with
a German, let's hope it is.
What would he know about it?
I'd be amazed if a man standing 2
,000 years away from the thing, he knows
the shape and size of the German.
God pity us.
Why didn't we put up?
If Mary was praying about with somebody, she
was a bad woman.
I'll tell you this, if the child's a
bastard and Mary's a bad woman, this book
is a farce.
This book is not true.
We might as well go home and burn
it.
And I'll tell you this, if Mary is
a bad woman and Christ is a bastard
and the book is a liar, then that
plot is nonsense.
Jesus Christ is the sinful son of a
sinful woman by a sinful father.
He can't be your savior, can he?
Oh, you're stuck where they preach this, are
you?
Hell, you were useful.
But don't be waiting too long, because we
haven't too long to wait.
Get out!
And stay out.
Yes.
I'll tell you this, that Mary, yes, she's
a very important woman.
She was chosen of God to be the
mother of the Messiah.
What a job!
So Eve was an important woman, and Israel,
after the wife of Jehovah, was an important
woman, and Mary is an important woman, and
let me say this, that the church of
Jesus Christ was an important woman, so she's
the bride of Christ.
Let's go to the letter to the Ephesians,
chapter 6.
Ephesians, chapter 5.
Great portion here, all leads up to the
truth.
Verse 22, Ephesians 5, 22.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands.
Are you listening?
As unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the
wife, even as Christ is the head of
the church, and he is the savior of
the body.
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ,
so let the wives be to their own
husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also
loved the church and gave himself for it,
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, that
he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any
such thing.
You see, he's viewing the church here as
the bride of Christ.
He says in verse 31, For this God
shall among you his father and mother, and
shall be joined unto his wife, and they
too shall be one flesh.
This is the great mystery.
But I speak concerning Christ and the church.
You see, the church is the bride of
Christ.
And there's going to be a marriage supper
one day, and we'll come to it in
the book of Revelation, and you'll see the
details.
Have you got these?
Are they on your fingers, because we want
to put them there?
There's these, you know, and there's Israel, the
wife of Jehovah.
And there's the Blessed Virgin Mary, and there's
the church, the bride of Christ.
Now, there's another woman very important, and it's
Revelation 17, and we'll have to have a
night or two of that when we come
to it.
But I want to show you this now
for a very important reason.
Revelation 17, verse 1, And there came one
of the seven angels, which had the seven
vials, and doth with me, saying unto me,
Come hither, I will shew unto thee the
judgment of the great whore.
That's not a very nice name, is it?
Verse 3, So he carried me away in
the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw
a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast,
full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads
and ten horns.
And the full of names of blasphemy, having
seven heads and ten horns, refers to the
beast, of course.
Of course, when we look at this great
figure, this man of sin that's coming, we
shall see that this is him.
But notice that the woman is riding the
beast, she is.
I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet
-coloured beast.
Verse 5, Upon her forehead was a name
written, this is her name, it's in big
letters, mystery.
Babel and the great, the mother of harlots.
Abominations of the earth.
Verse 6, I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints.
I'm sure, I'm perfectly sure that this is
the Roman Church.
I will have no trouble at all in
proving it, but I'll take my time to
do it for you when we come to
it.
Yes, if you look back down through history
and see the inquisition at work, you'll know
who was drunk with the blood of the
saints.
Now, here are five outstanding women, the outstanding
women of the Scriptures.
There's Eve, there's Ephrael, there's Mary, there's the
Church, there's this great whore, this scarlet woman,
as I call her.
Now, let's go back to a chapter again.
We've actually started yet, in fact we're not
really started.
It's all night, are you?
Well now, we see that there is a
woman on earth in the wilderness here in
that particular period of the 42 months when
the beast is here, when the two witnesses
are here.
Now, who is this woman?
Now, I listened to one of the commentaries
the other day, and they said it was
Eve.
Wouldn't that make you laugh?
Do they really think that God is bringing
Eve back to that particular period?
I don't think it deserves to be even
talked about.
One of them said that this is the
Virgin Mary, and this is all her troubles.
This is the troubles that she had in
life.
Well, we're going to examine this in a
moment.
You'll find that this woman is clothed with
the sun, and the moon is under her
feet, and on her head a crown of
twelve stars, and do you ever remember the
Virgin Mary being clothed with the sun at
any time?
You know, I'll tell you this, that when
Christ hung on the cross, and there was
standing by the cross three women, Mary Magdalene,
Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary the wife
of Cleopas, you know, as our Lord hung
in agony, what a wonderful person he was.
He looked down at her, and he could
see her, you know.
She must have been aged now, after all,
he's thirty-three and a half.
And I think Joseph is dead.
And you know, over a little bit he
saw John standing, the apostle, and he just
lifted his landward eyes, and he looked at
John, and he said, Son, behold thy mother.
He couldn't move his hand, he just said,
Son, behold thy mother.
And he looked at her, and he said,
Mother, behold thy son.
And the scripture says, John took her home
from that moment on.
Like all the Roman Catholics denote that.
That John looked after Mary.
Mary didn't look after John, you know.
He took her home and looked after her.
As she hadn't anything, she was just a
poor Galilean.
But she was blessed of God.
She was the mother of the Messiah.
She'll not be coming back into that period.
Oh, not at all.
You know, friends, in this book that we've
been going through, we have noticed that the
church is already at home in heaven, in
chapter five, singing, Thou art worthy for Thou
art slain and hast redeemed us to God
by Thy blood out of every kindred and
tongue and people and nation.
So they'll not be there.
They'll be home by that time.
England won't be there, and New England won't
be there, and the Dutch won't be there.
There's only two left.
And they'll both be there.
Oh, Israel will be there, and the scarlet
woman will be there, but she'll not be
getting chaste.
She'll be on the back of the chaser,
won't she?
There's only one left.
That's why I call the chapter The Desolation
of Israel.
Oh, it's a lot of things to tie
the ultimate chapter in, eh?
Yes.
This is Israel.
Now, as you look at this chapter, you'll
have to see it like this.
You know, God is telling us here what
the nation will be like when he hath
finished with it.
Oh, you know, he's going to put Israel
into the melting pot, and he's going to
squeeze all the unbelief out of them, and
he's going to bring a remnant right through
this tribulation period, and he's going to bring
them into the great millennial reign of this
redeemed, ransomed people.
You know, in that day, this phrase can
be said, they'll be clothed with the sun.
Let's go back to the last chapter of
the Old Testament, Malachi.
Malachi, and we're at the very last chapter.
Chapter 4, it is.
Malachi, chapter 4.
Now, listen carefully to what it says.
For behold, the day cometh that shall burn
as an oven, and all that do wickedly
shall disturb.
And the day that cometh shall burn them
up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it
shall not leave them neither root nor branch.
A terrible day that we've been thinking about
in chapter 8, when these trumpets were being
blown, when this fury of the fire came.
Let's go, but unto you that fear my
name.
And remember, he's writing to Israel.
Unto you that fear my name shall the
sun of righteousness arise with healing in his
wings.
You know, our Lord Jesus Christ is presented
in this book under two heavenly figures.
He's the bright and morning star, and the
sun of righteousness.
For those of you who know about the
stars, you know that just before the morning
really breaks, that the bright and morning star
is seen.
You know, friends, the Lord Jesus is coming
for the church of the bright and morning
star.
This is our blessed hope.
And of course, this period of tribulation will
run on this earth, and this nation is
going to be put into the melting pot.
Ah, but the Lord will come as the
sun of righteousness.
For Israel, yes.
And this remnant will go into this millennial
kingdom clothed with the sun.
Have a look again at what is said
back in chapter 12 in Revelation.
And there appeared a great sign in heaven.
A woman clothed with the sun and the
moon on her feet.
You know, you know about the moon, don't
you?
Well, you know, the moon was given to
rule the night.
That's to do with the darkness of the
night.
There will come a day when the Lord
Jesus will take this nation of Israel and
clothe her properly.
And every conceivable form of darkness will be
put on to her feet.
And I'll tell you that in that day,
she'll not only be clothed with the sun
and the moon under her feet, but upon
her head a crown of twelve stars.
There'll be no lost tribes, you know.
All but there, and I'm not the British
Herald, I see that.
Yes, this is the picture of her when
God has finished with her.
This is why all heaven gets excited when
they see this.
But God not only tells us here what
she will be like when he has finished
the job, God tells us and reminds us
what he has done through this nation.
Let's never forget it was through this woman,
through this nation, that our Saviour came to
this world.
But let's forget that.
Now, let's see it now.
We're at chapter 12, we're into verse 2
now.
And she being with child tribes, and prevailing
in birth, and came to be delivered.
And there appears another sign in heaven.
Don't let's go on with this sign too
much for a moment.
Behold a great red dragon having seven heads
and ten horns and seven crowns upon his
head.
And his tail drew the third part of
the stars of heaven, the angels, and after
him.
And he cast them to the earth.
And the dragon, this is the bit we
wanted in just now, stood before the woman
which was ready to be delivered for to
devour her child as soon as it was
born.
You know, down through all the years from
God said in the Garden of Eden to
the devil, I will put enmity between thee
and the woman.
And I know a lot of them thought
it was between the devil and Eve, and
a lot of them think it's between the
devil and Mary.
Just go through the life of Eve and
find where the enmity was, and go through
the life of Mary and find it too.
The Lord was talking about Israel.
Because this was the woman that he would
bring the seed through.
You go through the history of Israel till
you see the end of that.
Why the Lord tried to dissolve the seed
in every age right down through.
The devil tried to destroy the seed.
All the devouring was always there.
And on that day when Jesus Christ was
born, he made one great attempt.
Why the child had to go down to
Egypt.
And then they killed all the children from
two years old and under.
It was the devil.
He was trying to devour.
But what God wants us to see just
at this moment, don't bother too much about
the dragon just now.
Let's see the woman, how she will be
when God has finished with her.
Let's see the woman, what God has done
for her.
You know this man-child came through her.
She brought forth a man-child.
No troubles with the sex there is there?
Who was to rule all nations with a
rod of iron.
If you can't see Christ you must be
terribly blind.
Ah now you must be sure it's Israel.
This woman is Israel.
This is the woman that brought forth the
man-child.
The man-child that was to rule the
nations and will rule the nations with a
rod of iron too.
She is only talking about Israel and what
he has done through her.
She is not talking about the church or
Calvary just now.
And look you can see this.
She brought forth a man-child who was
to rule all nations with a rod of
iron.
And her child was caught up unto God
and to the throne.
Isn't that correct?
Ah yes he was born as regards the
flesh of Israel.
Yes he ascended to high.
He's on the right hand of the majesty
of high.
And he'll come back to rule the nations.
Let's never forget that God used this nation.
And he used them right down through all
the ages.
And he preserved that royal line until Christ
was born.
And we can see the genealogy going back
to Adam.
Yes God used her.
But God in this chapter is not only
telling us what she will be like when
he has finished the job with the nation.
And he's not only telling us what he
has done through this nation for this world.
But he's going to tell us what this
nation will have to suffer in the not
too far distant future.
That's what he's telling us.
Let's have a look at some of these
things.
You see verse 6.
And the woman fled into the wilderness where
she hath a place prepared of God.
You know God will save a remnant of
this people.
You know no matter what happens down in
this old planet of ours, there's always a
hiding place for those who are the children
of God.
Way back in those days.
And you can see it.
And that's what I'm preaching on on Sunday
night.
Finding this hiding place right through.
And there'll be a place for the nation
of Israel.
When the whole world will gather against her.
And it will be the devil that will
be energizing.
And she'll be in that place where God
will save the remnant for three and a
half years.
Should feed her there for one thousand two
hundred three score days.
I don't mean to bother again about Michael
here for a moment.
There was war in heaven.
Michael and his angels fought against the devil.
And mind you I think you should underline
the word war there because I get into
trouble for this sometimes.
Mind you Michael the archangel goes to war
here.
Sometimes you know that he has to go
to war against evil.
I come from a large family you know.
There were sixteen boys of us.
My father was killed at the first world
war.
And a great many of my brothers went
to the war.
And some of them were terribly wounded and
all the rest.
And if some nation should come against this
province and declare war.
I will go to war.
Yes.
I haven't anything to hide there.
I'll fight any day they come.
And we had no quibbles you know when
Hitler was coming.
My father told me if I hadn't gone
we wouldn't be in this building.
We had to fight Hitler.
You know what's funny you're so holy about.
Oh I'll tell you this.
Michael the archangel is more holy than you'll
ever be.
And he went to war.
But I don't want to get into this
with Michael just now.
I can see the time is going to
beat me.
We'll go back to dealing with the devil.
We'll go back to dealing with Michael.
Just want you to notice who this dragon
is here.
Verse 9.
And the great dragon was cast out by
the old serpent called the devil and Satan.
Seems the Holy Ghost has put all the
words in so that you'll not trip over
it.
The dragon, the serpent, the devil and Satan.
If you can't get it then I can't
help you.
You're too dumb.
Yes.
Now I want you to get this.
He the devil was cast out into the
earth.
And his angels were cast out with him.
Now I know that he goes about these
days as a roaring lion seeking whom he
may devour.
But I know he has his headquarters in
the heavenlies.
You know we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, against principalities and powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, wicked spirits
in heavenly places.
That's where he has his parliament just now.
It is a day not far just when
the Lord is going to shift them out
of the earth and come to the earth.
Demons and the angels, the whole army, the
whole parliament, the church shall not be here.
But when he comes to earth with all
his forces, Israel is going to be the
target.
I think you've got that.
That's what God is trying to say to
us.
You know it says in verse 10, the
moment that this sort of sign came to
heaven, I heard a loud voice saying in
heaven, these are the people in heaven you
know, now is come salvation and strength and
the kingdom of our God and the power
of this Christ.
For the accuser of our brethren is cast
down which accused them before our God day
and night, and they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb, by the word of
the testimony, and they logged not their lives
unto the death.
Now that's tremendous.
Because it matters not what dispensation you take
now.
You can take the dispensation of grace if
you like, or you can take the tribulation,
or you can take the dispensation of law.
I'll tell you, we think.
There was only one way of ever overcoming
the devil in this world from the beginning.
And the first thing is the blood of
the Lamb.
You know, the sooner we get it into
our hides and into our bones, that nothing
can forstain atone nothing but the blood of
Jesus.
The sooner you get that into your hide,
the better.
Because it's only the blood of the Lamb
that will take us out of Egypt.
It was the blood on the door, wasn't
it?
You get redeemed by blood.
And even when you're in the wilderness and
you're the people of God, you know, it's
only the blood of the Lamb that can
take you on with God.
It may take you out of Egypt, but
only the blood takes you on.
You know, we wouldn't be in fellowship with
God tonight at all only for the blood
of Jesus.
For so many things go on inside you.
You don't know how much you're depending on
the blood.
That's your trouble.
And it's the blood that takes you out,
and it's the blood that takes you on.
And let me tell you this, it's the
blood that will take you in.
We are dependent for every moment and every
step to the glory of the Lamb on
the blood of Jesus.
Now watch this very carefully.
The blood of the Lamb.
See that phrase, the word of the testimony.
I don't know how many conventions I've been
through and I hear men talking about the
word of the testimony.
And they seem to think it gives it
your testimony.
Oh, blabbers.
Friend, I want you to see this.
It's that word there, the word word, it's
a Greek word, and it means the sayings.
You know, we were to up the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of
God, and Sunday morning I was preaching on
the sword of the Spirit.
Which is the saying of God, not a
book, the saying, a special saying out of
the book is the sword of the Spirit.
Now what we're doing here is, how are
we going to get through this warfare?
By the blood of the Lamb, by the
sayings of the testimony, by the sayings of
the book.
Look, if you've got it in one word,
what you need is the blood and the
book.
You've got that now, because you're not getting
through without that.
You need the blood, and you just despise
the book and make little of it, till
you see who'll get the holding, the devil.
You'll need to obey the book there, and
there'll need to be no nonsense out of
you about the book, and that's why I
stand up against these supposed to be translations
that subtly tear the book apart.
Why do you think they bring people to
this place, or my place, or anywhere?
Oh, I know I'm brutal.
Helena said to me tonight, I say, you're
looking lovely, you know, all Roman texture, Jim
Irvin said.
She was looking at me and blinking, I
think she was taking a notion of me
again.
When I was held up for a week,
I rattled it in to her now and
again, but she was all pleased to be
back, she's a lovely child and all.
Listen friends, apart from the little bit of
fun, and Helena and I can have this
without any bother.
Let me say this, the only thing that
attracts people here is the word of God.
That's all.
Through old-fashioned things, and it's the word
of God.
This is how we'll beat the devil, you
know.
We'll beat the devil by the blood, and
by the book.
Now, we can get this bit over to
you, we must get this bit done.
You see, they overcame him, they overcame the
devil, by the blood of the man, and
by the word of their testimony.
And they loved not their lives unto the
death.
You see, it'll take blood, and books, and
bravery.
You need to take your stand for God.
Some of us have got no guts for
nothing.
You need to be brave, you know, you
need to stand up for Jesus, not fiddle
about like an old woman, like looking for
soldiers, you know.
Warriors.
Yes, this is how you'll defeat the devil
all the time.
By the blood of the man.
By the book.
By taking your stand for God, and for
Christ, no matter where you are.
I think we'll save the rest of the
chapter, and we'll do the rest of it
next week.
We'll have a look at the devil, and
have a look at Michael, and the things
that are going to happen to Israel.
Try and save your notes for next week,
or maybe we'll print you another lot anyway,
if I take the notion of change, you
know.
Six hundred and eighty, please.
Six hundred and eighty.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus.
Ye soldiers of the cross, this power is
royal banner, it must not suffer loss.
We'll sing the first and the last verses.
First and last, six hundred and eighty, please.
Lord, we thank Thee for the blood of
the Lamb.
We thank Thee for the words of Thy
grace.
And we thank Thee for the strength that
Thou dost impart to those who need strength
to stand.
Lord, we thank Thee for all that Thou
hast put into this book, for our advocation,
and for our exhortation, and for our comfort,
part of now, in Thy fear, and with
Thy blessing, and take us to our homes
in safety, for Thy dear name's sake.
Amen.