Sermon Tone Analysis

Main Introduction

Illustration

The Bible is a book of blood … wholly distinct from all other books for just one reason, namely, that it contains blood circulating through every page and in every verse.

From Genesis to Revelation we see the stream of blood.—M.

R. DeHaan*

Raise Need:

• Everything about the death of Christ was bloody—the slapping of his face must have cut his face; the scourge ripped apart his back; the crown of thorns pierced his brow; blood from his hands and ankles spurted with every blow of the hammer; blood likely oozed from his nose and mouth as he writhed on the cross; blood and water gushed from his side when the lance tore him open.

It was not a bloodless death.

It was a death designed to paint the cross crimson.

• Everything about the death of Christ was bloody—the slapping of his face must have cut his face; the scourge ripped apart his back; the crown of thorns pierced his brow; blood from his hands and ankles spurted with every blow of the hammer; blood likely oozed from his nose and mouth as he writhed on the cross; blood and water gushed from his side when the lance tore him open.

It was not a bloodless death.

It was a death designed to paint the cross crimson.

Orient Theme:

* M. R. DeHaan, The Chemistry of the Blood (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1943), 13.

State Purpose:

[Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed.

(Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 76–77.]

Main Thought

Strive to win souls from Satan’s sinking ship; Conquer the devil through faith in Christ!

Thrust - What am I saying about it?

CPS:

Sub-Introduction

Connecting Context: Review the context of Chapter 12 - Three Wonders: The Radiant Woman; The Red Dragon; The Raptured Prince.

a

• I am very tired, but must go on … A fire is in my bones … Oh God, what can I say?

Souls!

Souls!

Souls!

My heart hungers for souls!—General William Booth

Background/Intro Material:

• I would rather win souls than be the greatest king or emperor on earth; I would rather win souls than be the greatest general that ever commanded an army; I would rather win souls than be the greatest poet, or novelist, or literary man who ever walked the earth.

My one ambition in life is to win as many as possible.—R. A. Torrey

• There is a power which lies at the center of all success in preaching, and whose influence reaches out to the circumference, and is essential everywhere.

Without its presence we cannot imagine the most brilliant talents making a preacher of the Gospel in the fullest sense.

Where it is largely present, it is wonderful how many deficiencies count for nothing … The power is the value of the human soul, felt by the preacher and inspiring all his work.—Phillips

Brooks, in Lectures on Preaching

[Morgan, 85.]

I. First Main Point

I.

The War in Heaven ().

A. The Opponents ().

1.

The Captains ().

a.

Of the Armies of Heaven (v.

7a).

a

“Michael and his angels fought.”

Who is Michael?

He is leading the army of angels who are battling Satan and his angels.

Michael is mentioned five times in the Scriptures: (; ; ; ).

He seems to be the highest of all angels.

Jude calls him THE archangel.

Read and .

It seems that Michael is the leading angel having to do with the Jewish people . . . he is probably the guardian angel over God’s elect: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people” ().

That refers to Israel.

Michael shall stand up to see that Israel does not perish in the Great Tribulation - the time of Jacob’s trouble.

“He (Jacob) shall be saved out of it” ().

Michael is the militant angel who fights on the side of God’s elect-Israel.

...The struggle between light and darkness, though invisible, is nevertheless real.

Read , .

Angels and angelic influence toward Christians here on earth is accepted by most spiritual people as a Bible fact.

I believe that every born again person has a guardian angel (, ).

Angels watch over little children ().

[Oliver B. Greene, Revelation, A Verse by Verse Study, Commentaries and Writings of Oliver B. Greene (The Gospel Hour, Inc., 1963), 252–253.]

b.

Of the Enemies from Hell (v.

7b).

a

The biblical teaching that an attack against the Lord’s creation, including His angels and His people, is an attack against Christ is foundational to the understanding of this battle.

For instance, when the Lord Jesus Christ stopped Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road, He asked the poignant question, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

I am Jesus whom thou persecutest…” ().

Saul had previously led in the stoning of Stephen and attacked the Jerusalem church (), and the Saviour revealed that it was really an attack upon Him.

Since Jehovah had put “enmity” between the seed of the serpent (the Antichrist) and the seed of the woman (Christ), Satan has attacked both Christ directly and His creation indirectly through the centuries (cf.

).

The great red dragon had failed in his efforts against the precious Lord Jesus, and now his attack was upon the Jewish remnant.

In order to overcome the woman, the dragon needed to defeat the woman’s protecting angel—Michael, as Daniel predicted, saying, “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book” (cf.

).

[Thomas M. Strouse, To the Seven Churches: A Commentary on the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, Selected Works of Dr. Thomas M. Strouse (Bible Baptist Theological Press, 40 Country Squire Rd., Cromwell, CT 06461, 2013), 483.]

2. The Combat ().

a.

The Dragon Overpowered (v.

8a).

b.

The Dragon Ousted (v.

8b).

a

a

Apparently, Satan and his demons had a place around the thrown of God, as Micaiah stated, saying, “And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left” ().

John used the second aorist passive form of eurisko to denote that the Lord did not find their place and therefore excluded the satanic host from His presence.

He intensified the expulsion with the little adverb éti (“any more”) to show that the heavenly exclusion was thorough and final.

For the first time since Lucifer’s fall, heaven will have respite from the presence and antagonism of God’s archenemy.

[Strouse, 487.]

Thomas M. Strouse, 487.]

The greater question however is when this battle takes place.

Several views are generally advanced.

The first is that the war in question took place when Satan rebelled against God in ages past resulting in their expulsion from heaven.

Another view is that the war in question is conflict in heaven between Satan and God during the Tribulation.

This view posits the position that Satan apparently has still been allowed access before God down through the ages as the accuser of the brethren.

See .

A third view is that there has been a spiritual war going on ever since Satan rebelled against God and continues to this day.

The war will come to a head during the Tribulation when Satan is no longer allowed access to heaven.

Though this is not the final climactic battle with Satan, it is significant in the scope of the Tribulation in that Satan’s wrath is taken out against God’s people on the earth.