Revelation 12

Revelation 12:1

There are three that bear testimony. For notes on how these three (the water, blood, and Spirit) bear witness, see 1 John 5:6. These three agree in one. They bear testimony to the same end.

Revelation 12:2

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. We do receive human testimony. We have human testimony of many and unimpeachable witnesses to the facts of the life of Christ, but we have also the greater witness of God. We have the Father’s testimony on record, and we have it constantly repeated in his transforming grace. Every one born again to a new life is a new demonstration.

Revelation 12:3

He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He hath the witness in his changed heart and life. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar. He makes God a liar by rejecting the witness God gives to the Son.

Revelation 12:4

This is the record. God gives us eternal life through this Son. We know that we have it because we know that we have a new life.

Revelation 12:5

He that hath the Son hath life. We lay hold of the Son by faith in him and thus come to life.

Revelation 12:6

These things have I written unto you. He writes that they may understand how they may know that they have eternal life. Tests have been given. For example, see 1 John 5:1,2 4:13. That ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. Put the fullest trust in the name of Christ.

Revelation 12:7

And this is the confidence that . . . if we ask anything. We may be assured our prayers will be granted, if we ask according to his will. There is this condition.

Revelation 12:8

If we know that he heareth us. Hear us with open ears. Then we may know that we have what we ask. It will be granted.

Revelation 12:9

If a man see his brother sin a sin. Then a brother can be overtaken by sin. Not unto death. There is a sin not unto death, and one unto death. The sin described in Hebrews 6:4-6 is evidently unto death; that described in Galatians 6:1 is one not unto death. In the latter case the sinners can be restored, and we may pray for them with the assurance that they will be. This implies both work and prayer.

Revelation 12:10

All unrighteousness is sin. All wrong doing is sin, but the condition of soul that sets it against righteousness and against Christ as steel is a sin unto death. Such a soul repels Christ the life.

Revelation 12:11

Whosoever is born of God sinneth not. Does not live a life of sin. He will not sin unto death, though he may be overtaken in a fault. See PNT 1Joh 5:21. That wicked one toucheth him not. Cannot lay hands on him so as to hold him.

Revelation 12:12

We know that we are of God. The church is God’s temple in which he dwells, and around it the world of wickedness.

Revelation 12:13

And we know that the Son of God is come. Not only by testimony from men but by God’s witness. We have life in Christ, and Christ dwells in us. This is the true God, and eternal life. In Christ the true God is revealed to us, and in him we have eternal life.

Revelation 12:14

Keep yourselves from idols. Flee from idolatry, the besetting sin of that age. So too we need to flee from the idols of our age. Whatever takes our worship from God is an idol. NOTE.–SIN IN THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. A comparison of passages will show that an extreme and false doctrine might be reached by pressing one class to the exclusion of another class.

I give a list: I. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8). If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins (1 John 1:9).If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar (1 John 1:10). These things I write to you, that ye sin not (1 John 2:1). If any man sinneth (“man” is not in the Greek), we have an Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1). If any man shall see his brother sin a sin [which is] not to death (1 John 5:16).

There is a sin not to death (1 John 5:17). These passages all refer to Christians; they teach their liability to sin; show how they may obtain pardon, and show how also they should labor to save an erring brother. One the other hand, there is another class which teaches that the Christian is freed from sin. II. The blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth from all sin (1 John 1:7). Whoever abideth in him sinneth not (1 John 3:6).

He cannot sin because he is born of God (1 John 3:9). Whoever is born of God sinneth not (1 John 5:18). If this second class of passages was alone considered, they would teach apparently the absolute holiness of the saint. The two classes are to be interpreted in the light of each other. They teach that the germ of sin, dormant, perhaps, remains in us as long as we are in the flesh. “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit” (Galatians 5:17). We “may be overtaken in a fault”, the dormant germ waken, and we be betrayed into sin for the moment (Galatians 6:1).

The sin is due to the temporary revival of the old nature. The new nature, the spiritual being born of the new birth, is not disposed to sin, and will be destroyed if the sin is willful and continued. One born of God cannot engage in willful sin. Nor can he who abides in Christ. He who becomes a willful sinner does not abide in Christ, nor remains a child of God.

Revelation 12:16

This commandment have we from him. It is God’s will that he who loves the Father should love the children also.

Revelation 12:17

SUMMARY OF II JOHN: The Address to an Elect Woman and Her Family. The Commandment of Love. Antichrists. Godspeed Not to Be Given to These Opposers. Greetings. The elder. John, unlike Peter and Paul, nowhere in his writings speaks of himself as an apostle. Peter also speaks of himself as an elder. John probably uses the term here, not officially, but in reference to his great age, as the only survivor of the apostles, and perhaps then the only personal disciple of the Lord living. Unto the elect lady. The term is “Kyria” in the Greek, a term which we know to have been a female proper name. Hence many of the best commentators from the time of Athanasius have held that this is the name of the sister. If not a proper name “Kyria” would be the feminine form of “Kurios” (Lord), the term applied to Christ, a worldly title unaccountable in the church, which does not recognize artificial distinctions of rank. To avoid this difficulty some have held that by “Kyria” the church is meant. It is better to regard the term a proper name. Whom I love. That is, the mother and her children.