Returning to the tribulation application here, we know that Revelation 12:10-11 is talking about the tribulation saints. So how were they able to overcome the devil by the blood of the lamb and word of their testimony?
Dispensational salvations
There are many people who attack dispensational salvation. Dispensational salvation teaches that throughout different time ages, different dispensations, there were different salvations. This verse is evidence that tribulation salvation is obviously different from Christian salvation. Why?
Because in the tribulation, they have to be willing to lay down their lives for Jesus Christ by resisting the mark of the beast.
How many of you are saved Christians but you’re at that point in your life where you’re willing to die for Jesus Christ, you’re willing to be tortured and starved? Some of us are, which is great, but let’s be honest, not everyone is. To some people in the church who are not ready to do so, are you going to say ‘Oh, you’re not really saved’. Obviously not, we’re saved when we have that repentant heart as a sinner. You just trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross, that’s it.
Did you see Simon Peter go ‘I’m willing to lay down my life for you, Jesus’ and God didn’t call that salvation. Tribulation salvation is obviously different because the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony is in context of “and they loved not their lives unto the death.“. When they have this as their salvation, it is where you’re laying down your life. Obviously, that is not salvation by faith alone without works. No, it takes a lot of work on your part where you have to go through torture, pain, persecution and resist the temptation of denying Jesus, resist the temptation of following the devil’s system.
Did you read how bad the Roman Catholic Inquisition was? Did you know that the torture was so unbearable that there were saved Christians who couldn’t help but sign the contracts and forms by the inquisitors that they’re willing to deny their faith? What are you going to say, that they weren’t really saved to begin with? You can’t do that. That’s obviously a lot of work. There’s no doubt salvation has to be different here at the tribulation. Not only that, it says the blood of the Lamb and word of testimony. How many saved Christians have bad testimonies? How you get a good testimony is by how you live, how your works are for Jesus Christ. So this is evident that salvation in the tribulation is much different from salvation in the Christian church age.
Revelation 12:12 “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”
“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens,”
There is rejoicing not in just one heaven, it’s heavenS. That is evident then that the dragon is not just kicked out of third heaven but the second heaven where the stars are at. Why? Cause he’s on the earth. That’s why you have to argue there are heavens where the second heaven is where the stars are located.
“and ye that dwell in them.”
Isn’t that interesting? There are people who dwell not just in the third heaven but the second heaven as well. That’s why those aliens in outer space could be truer than you think.
“Woe to the inhabiters of the earth”
Woe to the people who live on the earth.
“and of the sea!”
There are people, inhabitants, who live in the sea too.
So not just up there where the universe is, but even below where the deeps are.
So pastor taught that these UFOs do not mostly come from above, they come from below, from the deeps (sea). But why do you find them mostly above? Because they’re flying over there and they sometimes make residences up there in space.
Why woe to them?
“for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath,”
Because the devil is coming down where the earth is and he’s angry.
“because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”
Three and a half years is not a long time. So when the devil comes down, he knows he has a short period of time where he can get all the people down there so he’s going to deceive the whole world, get as many people to hell as possible.
That’s why when you read some of these stories and mythologies about Atlantis or sci-fi shows like Star Trek, you’d be surprised that though a lot of them are fiction, there’s an element of truth behind them.
At Revelation 12:12, the verse says that when Satan comes down on the earth, he comes with great wrath. This is an argument used by post tribbers (who believe that the church will go through the tribulation) that when we argue that the tribulation consists of God’s wrath, they’re going to argue that it’s referring to only Satan’s wrath, not the wrath of God. Remember that we argue that the Christian church is not going through the tribulation because they’re avoiding God’s wrath. So post-tribbers will use Revelation 12:12 to prove that it’s Satan’s wrath that we’re going through, not God’s wrath.
It’s pretty simple to debunk this, look back at Revelation 6. We see the seals opened at verse 2, 4, 5 and 8, so death, hell, famine, the Antichrist, and war coming out. Revelation 5:1, notice that he opens the book. At Revelation 5:5-6, this is the Lamb that’s opening up the seals, so you can’t just say that this is Satan’s wrath. This is referring to God’s wrath throughout the whole tribulation timeline, you just have an addition to that, which is Satan’s wrath as well.
This doctrine of the church going through the tribulation is anti-dispensationalism, it robs you of God’s promise that He gave to you, that you’d be raptured and you’d be up in heaven with Him. Who’d want to rob your blessings and your promise? Satan always does that. The Holy Spirit is known as the comforter, that’s His job. Who wants to ruin the job of the Holy Spirit comforting? That’s the devil. That’s why you got yo realize this doctrine about the church going through the tribulation is something that Satan wants to promote.
Revelation 12:13: “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.”
“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth,”
Satan’s now on the earth, he’s cast in there.
“he persecuted the woman”
The Jews that are left behind.
“which brought forth the man child.”
There’s no doubt again that Jews have to go through the tribulation whereas the church has to be out of the tribulation.
Revelation 12:14: “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”
“And to the woman”
That’s Israel.
“were given two wings of a great eagle,”
This woman was able to fly.
“that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place,”
The Jews are given two wings of an eagle where she can fly to the wilderness. If you are to think about today, what is the natural thing that the Jews will do to run away from the Antichrist? They’re going to take the first airplane ticket and fly out of there.
Why doesn’t it say flight Boeing 737 etc? You got to realize that no one in the first century knew what an airplane was. If the Bible mentioned the flight number and the engines etc, people will look at you like you’re crazy during that time. That’s why God had to give a language for the people of that timeline.
Matthew 24:19-20: “And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:“
“woe unto them that are with child,” That’s kind of similar to the woman with child at Revelation 12.
“flight” your King James Bible is way ahead and it’s prophetic and scientific. This is the kind of technology they’re going to have and it’s possible. These Jews are going to take an airplane and get the first flight out of there, but look at something interesting here.
“pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:” Why did it say to pray that you don’t fly on the Sabbath unless they’re Jews? This proves undoubtedly that the woman is Israel, the Jews because Jews observe the Sabbath system. It was practiced back then that flights don’t go out during the weekend on the Sabbath day for the Jews. Remember that the Jews are reinstating their temple and sacrifice, obviously, they’re going to reinstate the Sabbath.
“where she is nourished” She’s fed with manna.
“for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” Could this be similar with three and a half years?
A time (one year), times (two years) and half a time (half a year). So that’s three and a half years. That’s why we say three and a half years because all the other wordings in the Bible is going to match that number, whether it’s 1260 days, 42 months, a time, times and half a time, you’re going to find that it’s going to fit three and a half years everywhere throughout the Bible.
Revelation 12:15: “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.”
“And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood”
This leviathan, remember Isaiah 27 says ‘dragon in the sea’, because of that he’s able to pour out water out of his mouth. With these water, he wants to attack Israel.
“after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.”
He wants to carry Israel away with the flood.
If you believe in the doctrine of Genesis 6 and the Genesis gap, how did God judge Lucifer and the fallen angels? A flood. How ironic, Satan can’t do that to God so the closest people he can do that against God’s face is His people.
This flood is literal. The first rule of interpretation is that unless it’s impossible to make it literal, then you can make it metaphorical. If it’s not impossible then the first rule is to take it literally as it says. So, is it possible that Satan can pour out flood out of his mouth? Especially since this leviathan is a dragon that is in the sea? Of course that’s possible but for scholars this seems to be too hard for them to understand so they make the flood metaphorical and refer to that as a prevailing army.
Jeremiah 47:2: “Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.”
Notice here that the Lord raises up one day at the future timeline of the tribulation, a flood that comes out.
Daniel 9:26: “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”
“Messiah” This is speaking about Jesus Christ. “the people of the prince” This is switching, this is not referring to Jesus, this is referring to Satan. Why? “that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;” Remember the Antichrist’s army at Revelation 11? Gentiles ruining the temple and the sanctuary. Remember the context of Matthew 24, abomination of desolation. The Antichrist has to persecute the Jews. See, this all matches up.
“and the end thereof shall be with a flood,” That’s speaking about Satan, that’s happening at the future.
Revelation 12:16: “And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”
“And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth,”
The earth helped Israel, the earth opened her mouth.
“and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”
When the dragon spewed out this flood, the earth helped out the Jews by opening up the ground so that the flood can go inside the ground, the flood does not have to drown out the woman.
Revelation 12:17: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman,”
Satan has a lot of wrath against Israel. Remember Revelation 12:12, Satan comes down with a great wrath right.
“and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,”
Look at the wording here, it’s very important. Satan is battling the Jews, and he went to make war with the ‘remnant of her seed.’ Remnant means survivor, leftover of her people. Why? Because the Antichrist was slaughtering Jews left and right, so there’s a remnant that’s left over.
Look at this, that’s why we know Revelation 12:11, word of testimony and blood of Lamb are correctly defined as works and faith. In the tribulation, it is a faith and work system, a salvation that is different from the church age where it is faith alone, not by works.
“which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
See that, works are involved over here, that’s keeping the commandments.
You could argue that because you’re saved in the Lord Jesus Christ that you have the testimony of Jesus Christ in you, sure you could argue like that as a saved Christian by faith but what are you going to do with ‘keep the commandments of God’? So there’s no doubt that this is defined here that you cannot escape a work system.
Why is that? Because these are Jews, Jews are supposed to keep the commandments, the law of Moses.