Expect Victory
Advent 2018 What To Expect When You're Expecting • Sermon • Submitted
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It would be much easier to go through life thinking only about the cute little baby born in a barn, wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. It is much easier to think about those things than to consider what was actually taking place in the spiritual world. Even though the movie, The Passion of the Christ depicted the very real pain and suffering that Christ experienced physically, it could not describe what was going on spiritually! No one knows what it was like for Christ to suffer spiritually. Thankfully, we have something to help us understand what influences Jesus’ birth, death, and ascension had on the spiritual world.
depicts a woman clothed with the sun; this is not Mary, the mother of Jesus. This is likely a reference to either the believing community, the faithful remnant of Israel, that turned into, or brought about the Church, or specifically the believing Messianic community. We can be sure of this because of the crown of twelve stars, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, as well as the twelve disciples of Jesus.
This is an important concept for us to grasp. The woman represents the believing community. The believing community as a whole forms the church, not the individuals in it! The emphasis is on many, not on one!
John states that the woman was pregnant and cried out in pain, these words echo those in Isaiah and Micah, describing the rebirth of Jerusalem. And during this time of labour, whilst the woman was in pain, a dragon appeared. This is Satan. Picture the nativity scene in your head. Mary, Joseph, the Baby Jesus, the ox, the sheep, a few goats... and a dragon.
So, just as the believing community was preparing for the arrival of Christ, Satan came against them. The seven heads symbolize universal wisdom and the ten horns symbolize great power. It is not surprising then, that Satan is attractive to people. He displays wisdom and power. Two things that people are naturally attracted to! And we should be attracted to them; in fact, we have a created desire to seek out wisdom, power and influence, the only true place being God the Father. This is why we hold the rich and famous in esteem. They have the aura of being wise, they have the aura of power, and we seek to have what they have.
Satan certainly has the aura of power; here John describes him wiping out a third of the stars. Some have interpreted this as describing the number of angels that fell out of heaven with him. Satan was and always is a great impostor. He wanted to rule heaven himself, so he set himself up with power and authority. God thwarted his plans, using humility and weakness to topple Satan’s power.
The dragon tried to devour the child. Satan’s attempts to destroy Christ were numerous. He worked through Herod, who tried twice. First, Herod used the pretence of worship. Then he ordered the killing of all the children under age two. Later, when Jesus was on the cross, Satan must have thought he had finally won, but that was the moment of his undoing. On the cross, Satan was defeated. Before he could do recover, Christ ascended into heaven. Christ ascended into heaven, and God protected the believing community.
The 1260 days corresponds to the time of persecution. 1260 days is 3½ years. It is a symbol of for a specific period where God permitted wickedness to take place.
Jesus’ birth caused a war in heaven. Michael the archangel fought against the dragon and his angels. But the dragon, Satan and his demons were no match. The angels hurled them to the earth. This marked the final casting of Satan from heaven. We know from OT books that God kicked Satan out of heaven for turning against Him. It is clear from the book of Job, that Satan re-entered heaven on occasion. Now, at the moment of the birth and ascension of Christ, Satan tried to lead an attack on heaven. But he is defeated and sent to earth permanently. And this made Satan angry. His full wrath, no longer divided between God and man, is now concentrated on humanity.
But we must not despair. Satan has no power! “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.” The name Satan comes from the Hebrew word meaning “accuser.” In the book of Job, we see Satan in this role. He went before God, accusing Job of faithfulness only because of the blessings that God has given to him. He tried to convince God that Job is a believer only because life was easy. But God knows the hearts of people, He did not fall for Satan’s lies. And now he’s forever banished from heaven. No one can turn God from us! The accuser is gone! As to spiritual matters, he is nothing! But John warns us, the world still has to deal with an angry enemy of God.
This is where the rubber meets the road. Satan is angry. His attempts to take over have failed, and now he roams over the planet looking to bully those he can. He has turned his attention on the believing Messianic community. He is after the church. He wants to drag as many down with him as possible.
The picture that John describes is akin to the exodus. The dragon chases after the woman, but God helps her get away. The serpent spews water after the woman, but the earth swallowed it up. God keeps the woman safe for a time, times and half a time, in other words, a year, two years and half a year: 3½ years, 42 months, or 1260 days. It indicates the period of Satan’s attacks on God’s people. It is right now! Christ will return when the time ends.
When the dragon realized that he could not get at the woman, he began to go after “her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” So, what has happened in this passage? Where do we fit into it all?
Well, I have explained some things already, but this is it in a nutshell. We must rely on the blood of Jesus Christ, and know that Satan is already defeated. This is how we put it into practise. Just as we realise that there was a spiritual battle going on all those Christmas days ago, we must realise that there is a spiritual battle going on in all areas of our lives.
We don’t just live to check off our church attendance. Church attendance should be a time of weekly strengthening, encouragement, chastising and at times, rebuking. It reminds us that we are battling each moment of every day, through humble service to God. We are the offspring. Satan has turned his full attention on us. He spreads his lies all over. He wants us to go down with him. But he has no power over us, unless we give it to him.
How many of you have heard of the term giving the devil a foothold? If we stop doing devotions, skip out on church, forget to read the Bible or fail to keep the commandments, we are in danger of giving the devil a foothold. We must not let ourselves get “soft”. We must be vigilant. We must be prepared, always! We never know when Satan will attack.
But some people don’t want to believe that there is a spiritual war going on. They would like to go about their merry way, doing whatever they want to do. They think that as long as they live good lives, God will make everything okay. Maybe the reason we don’t think Satan exists is that we are so used to not resisting him anymore. Maybe the reason Satan doesn’t persecute the church is because the church looks more like Satan than it looks like the body of Christ. There are churches in North America that care more about the rights of individuals than they do about the truth contained in scriptures. If they no longer stand up for God, why should Satan bother fighting with them? They are already on his side!
But we must realise what God is doing. As Satan advances and battles against God’s people, God fights back. God speaks to our minds and our hearts. God tells us the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus has already won the victory for us. Jesus already lived the perfect life. Jesus did everything we need to do. So this Christmas day, what is it we really need? It is Jesus!
We expect that victory in Christ. That Jesus himself is really, truly at work within us. That the decisions we make not to study our Bible, to pray when we go to bed, when we wake up, mealtime, those are moments when Christ is working to transform us. When we gather as Christ’s body, we’re obeying the Holy Spirit’s direction in our life; we’re not just “going to church.” That through the preaching, the prayers, the scripture, and especially the music and the singing, God is at work transforming us to be more and more like Christ is.
Advent is the time of waiting for Christ’s return. It’s Christmas, we have received the greatest gift of all! Christ has won the victory! Amen.