This sermon delves into Revelation chapter 12, exploring the symbolic imagery of a woman, a great red dragon, and a man-child, representing the church, Satan, and the overcomers respectively. It emphasizes the imminent return of Jesus and the need for believers to be prepared as overcomers who overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and by not loving their soul life even unto death.

Will you please turn to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 12. We'll read from verse 1 through verse 17. And a great sign was seen in the heaven. A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And being with child, she cried, being in travail and in pain to bring forth. And another sign was seen in the heaven. And behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadems. And his tail draws the third part of the sea of the stars of the heaven, and he cast down to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth. He ordered that when she brought forth, he might devour her child. And he brought forth a man's son who shall shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And a woman fled into the wilderness where she has there a place prepared of God, that they should nourish her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days. And there was war in the heaven. Michael and his angels went to war with the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels. And he prevailed not, nor was their place found anymore in the heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent, he who is called devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole habitable world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a great voice in the heaven saying, now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren has been cast out, who accused them before our God day and night. And they have overcome him by reason of the blood of the land, and by reason of the word of their testimony, and have not loved their life even unto death. Therefore be full of delight in heaven, and ye that dwell in them, woo to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great rage, knowing he has a short time. And when the dragon saw that he had been cast out into the earth, he persecuted the woman who bore the male child. And there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the desert unto her place, where she is nourished there a time, and time, and half a time from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth behind the woman water as a river, that he might make her be as one carried away by a river. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river, which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, as we gather here in thy presence, we are aware that the time is short, but we praise and thank thee, because we can lift up our head, knowing that our redemption has drawn nigh. Dear Lord, thou has put upon our heart a real longing for thyself, how we long to see thee face to face. We thank thee for thy precious promise, but, Lord, it has been long waited. Search our hearts to see if there is anything in us that delays thy return. Remove all the hindrances within us, and prepare us, and use us to bring in the King. So we offer ourselves to thee afresh this morning, and look to thy spirit to breathe upon thy word, and breathe into our hearts. We are not here seeking for mental understanding. We are here to be changed, transformed by thy word. So, Lord, we look to thee to work this morning, and finish thy task, we ask in thy precious name. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters, we gather together here this time for one purpose, and that is to offer ourselves to be the link that will bring in our King. It is a tremendous task, but it is something that is done by his grace only, and not by ourselves. But there's one thing that is needed in us, that we need to humble ourselves before him, offer ourselves to him, and allow him to work in us, and use us to be that link that he has been looking for. We remember that the Lord has a way of doing things. He has his principles, and when God is going to do something, even though it is his duty, he is the only one who is doing it, and yet it pleases him to draw his people with him. Just like when a father is moving a furniture, the little child, the little boy, say to his father, let me help you. So, he goes to help his father hold a part of the furniture, but actually he is putting more weight upon the furniture. But finally, when the furniture is moved, he says, father, we have moved it. And this is exactly what God is doing with us in the spiritual realm. God made known his ways to Moses, and we are here to know his way. His way is always using us as an instrument, as a vessel, even though he is the one who is really accomplish everything. So, what is needed here is, will we offer ourselves to him, allow him to work out his full salvation, and use us as the link to bring back our dear Lord Jesus. Now, this morning, we would like to go to Revelation chapter 12. Now, this is a very important chapter. The reason is because this chapter shows us what will happen at the end. How will the change come? John saw a vision, a great sign in the heaven. A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and under her head a crown of twelve stars. And being with child, she cried, being travail and in pain to bring forth. Now, I wonder if any one of you has read a book by Whatman Lee called The Glorious Church. Actually, when he was published in China, he was called holy without blameless. And he was published during the first two years of the communist rule, because at that time there was still freedom. And in this book, our brother used four women to show us the history of the church. The first woman was Eve. Eve represents the church in God's original thought. And the second woman was in Ephesians chapter 5. That is the woman that the Lord is working to gain throughout the centuries. And the third woman was the woman here in Revelation chapter 12. He represents the church at the very end days. And finally, the woman, the new Jerusalem, the consummation of all God's work. So here you find this great sign in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun. In other words, this woman is clothed with heavenly glory because she is in the design of our heavenly God. And the moon was under her feet because moon represents the law, the age of the law as a way of preparation for the age of grace. And upon her head a crown of 12 stars. And of course, that will bring us to Genesis chapter 37. You remember how Joseph dreamed a dream and he saw 11 stars with the sun and moon worshiping him. So the 12 stars represents the 12 tribes of Israel. And here you'll find how God relayed all his work throughout the centuries in that woman. And that woman was with child and he was in travail and in pain to bring forth. That tells us a story of how the church has gone through travailing throughout the centuries. And the reason for it is to bring forth a child. Then you'll find another sign. And it was the sign of a great dragon. Now brothers and sisters, we remember in the very beginning in Genesis, he was a serpent. But now this serpent has grown to be a dragon. And having said seven heads and ten horns and their guidance on his head. Now of course, we immediately know this represents Satan, the adversary of God. How he rebelled against God. And in his rebelling, he drew one third of the angelic host to follow him and cast him on the earth. And there you'll find this dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth. But strangely, you discover the dragon was not interested in the woman. Instead, his interest was in the womb. That which is going to bring forth. Now why is it so? And what does it tell us? You remember our Lord Jesus said, I will build my church upon this rock. And the gates of against it. In other words, from the very beginning of the history of the church, to the very end of her history. Satan is deadly against it. Because Satan knew that she will be the instrument used by God to bring his end. But strangely, here you'll find the dragon was standing before that woman. But his interest is not in the woman. Because he knows that a woman will not be able to affect him in any way. The woman has failed in her testimony. So his interest is no longer in the woman. But then God, in spite of that, in the woman's womb, there will be a man-child. And this is why, where his interest is. Because he knows when a man-child shall be born, that will mean his end. He's waiting there to devour him as soon as he is born. So the question is, who is the man-child? People usually interpret this man-child as Christ. They think that it is Christ who is to be born. And then he will be the end of the anime. But as you read carefully, you find when this man-child is born, he is raptured immediately to the throne. And this did not happen to our Lord Jesus. Because we know that after he was born, he was on earth for more than 33 years. And only after he died on the cross, risen from the dead, and then he ascended up to the throne. So we will ask, who is this man-child? And the Bible tells us in verse 5, and he brought forth a male child who shall shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. That is the destiny of the man-child. Now, of course, in this book of Revelation, we find this is repeated three times. One time it refers to our Lord Jesus. Because our Lord Jesus will come riding on a horse, going to the battle of Armageddon. And he is the one who will shepherd the people with an iron rod. That is referring to the Kingdom Age. But aside from this, we find both two times it does refer to the overcomers. Once we find in Revelation chapter 2, and there you find a promise to the overcomers there. And they shall shepherd the nations with an iron rod. And another place is here, where we find again it is promised that they shall shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. And that is also in the Kingdom Age. So, so far as we understand today, we feel that most likely this man-child referred to the overcomers before the coming of the Lord. Because as soon as he is born, he is raptured into heaven. Now, brothers and sisters, this brings us back to Matthew 24. If you will please turn to Matthew 24, verse 39. Noah entered into the ark, and he knew not till the flood came and took all away. Thus also shall be the coming of the Son of Man. And here you find the scripture tell us how is the coming of our Lord Jesus. The word coming here is a special word. It means it is parousia. And parousia, those who understand Greek, tells us parousia means presence. We know that our Lord Jesus so far as his body is concerned is absent, because he ascended up to heaven. Even though we know that his spirit is here with us, he has never leave us nor forsake us. And yet, when you think of his body, we know that he is sitting at the right hand of his Father. He is absent today, but one day he will be present again. Now this word parousia doesn't mean one time, one act. Parousia is a period of time with a series of events. Parousia has a beginning. Parousia has an end. And that is the way that our Lord Jesus is coming back again. You remember in Acts chapter 1, when our Lord Jesus was leaving this earth and going back to heaven. And there you find in verse 11. Our Lord, chapter 1 verse 11. Our Lord was leaving. And verse, chapter 1 verse 9 said, and having said these things, he was taken up. They beholding him, and a cloud received him out of their sight. Now how was the Lord leaving this earth? There you find our Lord Jesus ascending from the mount. And when he was ascending, the disciples looked at him. They could see him ascending. But after a while, he was taken by a cloud. Now when he was taken by a cloud, his disciples couldn't see him anymore. But he was still ascending. Now how do we know that our Lord Jesus has ascended up to the throne? It was because of Pentecost. Because at Pentecost, you find the Holy Spirit came down as a proof that he has ascended to the throne. Anointed as the Lord and Christ. And there the ointment fall down into his beard and into the whole body. So that's the assurance we know he has arrived. But strictly speaking, after he ascended in the cloud, the disciples couldn't see him. But they were still looking up. And while they were looking up, in verse 10, and as they were gazing into heaven, as he was going, behold also two men stood by them in white clothing. Two men appeared, who also say, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, shall thus come in the manner in which you have behold going up into heaven. In other words, the returning of the Lord from heaven to earth is the reverse of the same process of his ascending. His ascending is in two parts, although they are closely related. The first part is from the mount to the cloud, visible. The second part is from the cloud to the throne, invisible. And if his departure is like that, his presence will come in like manner. In other words, when our Lord Jesus shall come from the throne to the air, invisible, from the air to the mount is visible. But brothers and sisters, how does he start? And that's what we find in Revelation chapter 12. He was the man-child. When a man-child is born, he is raptured immediately to the throne. And in Matthew chapter 24, we find that as the days of Noah shall be the coming of the son of man, verse 39. Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not till the flood came and took all away. Thus also shall be the coming of the son of man. And then in 40, then two shall be in the field, one is taken and one is left. Two women grinding at the mill, one is taken and one is left. Here you find when this shall happen, when the presence of the Lord shall begin, then there will be a rapture. Two women, they are grinding the mill, and we know that means in the morning. And two are working in the field, that means the daytime. And also in Luke, you find Luke 17, you find two are sleeping, and one is taken and one is left, that is night. It doesn't mean you have six here, only two. But because the earth is round, so in some place is at night, they are sleeping. In some place is morning, the women are grinding the mill. And in other place is noon time, people are working in the field. But our question is, who are the two? You know, when you come to the church, the complete number of the church is 12. But here you have two. Now, where is the 10? You'll find that in Matthew 25, because here you have 10 virgins going to meet the bridegroom. And the 10 virgins, strictly speaking, refers to those saints who have died throughout the centuries. Because the Bible tells us they took their torches and went to meet the bridegroom. But the bridegroom carrying, they all grew heavy and slept. And the sleeping here is referring to death. Thank God, even in the first century, people are looking forward to his return. I believe the disciples in the early days, when they heard the Lord said, I'm coming to receive you to myself, and how they expected the Lord to come in their lifetime. They waited, but the Lord seemed to delay, and they passed away. They died. And every century, you find there are people waiting for the return of the Lord. The Lord can return at any time, if his bride is ready. But he is delayed. And because of the delay, many saints passed away. So these 10 virgins represents the saints of the centuries that passed away. The Bible never called people of the world as virgins, because in the sight of God, they are as a duty race. Only those who are redeemed by the Lord are called virgins. You remember in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, how Paul said, I have presented you to Christ as chaste virgins. So we who have been cleansed by the precious blood of the Lamb, we are considered as virgins. But virgins who are engaged to Christ Jesus. And if we are chaste virgins, what will be our attitude? What will be our interest? Our attitude, our interest is centered upon the Lord, our bridegroom. We are prepared for himself. Whatever we are doing, our question is, is that what our Lord is pleased with? The virgins live for their future. So you find these are virgins throughout the centuries that have gone out to meet the Lord. That is their attitude. And this is our attitude. We are just passing through. We are not dwellers upon this earth. We are strangers and sojourners. We are passing through. We are waiting for the Lord to come. We are going out to meet the Lord. That is our attitude. And because of the delay of his return, they all go to sleep. But thank God, one day, they will hear the voice, the bridegroom comes. And they will all be raised up. But you find the result is the same as the two. Because of the two, you find two are sleeping, one is taken, and one is left. Two are grinding, one is taken, and one is left. Two are working, one is taken, one is left. Outwardly, these two look the same. But inwardly, they are different. Because the Lord does not look at outward appearance. He looks upon the heart. He knows who is really waiting for him. So here you find one is taken, and one is left. You know, brothers and sisters, the songs where we are singing, you know, sometimes we sing music without thinking of the meaning. But there are a number of songs concerning the coming of the Lord. And in these songs, you find it often said, when the trumpet is sounding, then the Lord shall come. But brothers and sisters, will a thief come into your house blowing the trumpet first to let you know that he's coming? Never. You find it is very strange. He seems to know when you are not watching. And suddenly, quietly, he comes and leaves. And when the thief is coming, what will he steal? He will not steal your garbage. Now, if he does, we'll welcome him every night. But strangely, he knows exactly where your treasure is. And that he is aimed at. So that is the way the Lord is coming. Brothers and sisters, by all indications around us, we know that the Lord's coming is very, very close. As the Bible says, even at the doors, he will be coming at any moment. But we do not know the time, the hour, the day. We do not know. Throughout the centuries, you find people try to figure out when will the Lord be coming. And when they figure out on a certain day, you know what happened? People were closing wide, go to the wilderness and waiting for his coming. They would leave their job and everything, waiting for the Lord to come. And a number of times, the prediction did not come true. Because the Lord has warned us. No one knows the time. Only the Father knows. But we are given to know the condition is telling us that his coming is imminent. So brothers and sisters, we are living at the very verge, as it were, of the coming, the parousia of our Lord Jesus. And then when this should happen, the first thing it happens upon this earth will be suddenly, without any notice, people throughout the earth, some in the morning, some in the noontime, some in the evening, someone will disappear, taken. And those who are taken are those who are ready for the Lord. And this is represented by the man-child. So the man-child is not just one person. The man-child is a collective term. Because if you read Revelation 12, you can see that they overcome the accuser. In other words, it is a group of overcomers. Those who are ready and prepared and looking forward and be the link of the coming of the Lord. And as soon as one is taken, one is left. As soon as the man-child arrived at the throne. Now brothers and sisters, we know when you try to penetrate to the throne in the third heaven, you have to go through the first heaven, the cloud. And the cloud is where the headquarter of the adversary God is. Satan has his headquarter in the air. And he's looking upon this earth, watching everything that is going on, trying to deceive and to kill. But here you find these overcomers. They can get through the air. In other words, in their lives on earth, they have overcome Satan already. And on the basis of their victory, they can go through the air and touch the throne. In other words, they are the welcoming party of the coming of the Lord. What a privilege. What an honor. And brothers and sisters, in one sense, we live as it were in the most difficult time. But in another sense, we are living at a thrilling time because there is a chance that without going through death, we may be raptured alive to the throne, to welcome. That is the work of the overcomers. And when they reach the throne, what happens? In Revelation 12, we find immediately there will be war in the heaven, that is in the air. Michael and his angels will come and fight with Satan and his followers. And the result was Satan is thrown down from the air to the earth with his fallen angels. The air is clear. Now, why is it so? Because it is clear for the Lord to come from the throne to the air. But when Satan was thrown upon this earth, what will happen upon this earth? I think it is very clear. If Satan is thrown upon this earth, there will be the three and a half years of great tribulation. What can you expect? Since the thrill of evil will be on this earth. And even then, he tried to persecute the church, but he could not. But God had prepared a place for the church to go through a time, times, and half a time, three and a half years. Brothers and sisters, we know that according to prophecy, interpretation of prophecy, there are differences of opinion. Some believe the whole church will be raptured before the great tribulation. Others believe the whole church will go through the tribulation and be raptured. And there are others who believe that some will be raptured before the tribulation, and others will be raptured after the great tribulation. Even though there are differences of opinions, but brothers and sisters, whatever will edify us most is not an expectation that those who are faithful to the Lord will be privileged to be raptured before the great tribulation. And in a sense, the great tribulation you find in Revelation 12. Satan will turn to those who have the word of God, words of God, and the testimony of Jesus. In other words, he will make war with the remnant of her seed. And the remnant of her seed are those who keep the commandments of God. That refers to the pious Jews, as you'll find in Revelation 7. A hundred forty-four thousand of the twelve tribes of Israel, they have been sealed. For what? To go through the great tribulation. And also who have the testimony of Jesus. Now who has the testimony of Jesus? The church. So this shows that the three and a half, so far as the Jews are concerned, it is Jacob's trouble. But so far as the church is concerned, it is the great tribulation. But dear brothers and sisters, even the great tribulation is something that God has given his church a second chance. Haven't you seen what has happened? What you will feel, of course, you will be awakened. And thank God, even through the great tribulation, some are willing to sacrifice their lives for the testimony of Jesus. And they will be reigned among the overcomers. So God has given, as it were, his church another opportunity. And that's what you find in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. The trumpet will sound. And those who are dead in Christ will be raised from the dead. And those who are still living on earth. They will be changed. And where will they be caught to? They will be caught to the air. Not to the throne. Because our Lord Jesus has already come from the throne to the air. So they will be caught to the air. And the whole church will be gathered there in the air. And when they are gathered together in the air, what's going on? That's what the Bible says. The judgment seat of Christ. Dear brothers and sisters, thank God, we who are the Lord, we will not appear before the great white throne judgment. Because it is a throne judgment. It's a judgment of life and death. But because of what our Lord Jesus had done for us, our Calvary's cross. He has died for us, that we may not die anymore. He has taken all our sins away. He has delivered us from the judgment of the great white throne. But that doesn't mean as the family of God, we will not be judged. You know, in the old days, they have big family. When I was young, I mean, I came from a big family, four generations living under one roof. And in the old days, it was like that. And from time to time, the family father, he will gather the whole family to him for a meeting. Only those who are of the family were invited to attend. And the elder of the family, they will sit on a lifted place called Bima. And the rest will be standing before him. It is a family judgment. Because those who have honored the family, they will be praised before and rewarded. And those who had brought shame to the family, they will be disciplined. But that doesn't mean because they are disciplined, they are no longer in the family. They are still in the family. Brothers and sisters, discipline is necessary. Without discipline, you cannot grow. You cannot grow properly. And that is a problem in this world today. Our heavenly father will discipline his sons because he loves them. He loves us. And out of discipline, we will be perfected, will be partakers of his divine nature. So here you find in the Bima, in the judgment seat of Christ in the air, the family of God will be judged because judgment shall begin with the house of God. But what happened upon this earth? That's the seven vials. The wrath of God will pour upon this earth. Brothers and sisters, so far as we understand, this is what is going to happen on this world. Now the thing is, how did, how does these overcomers overcome Satan, the accuser? You know, Satan is the accuser. He is accusing all the time us before the Lord, just like he accused Job before God. When God challenged Satan with Job, he accused Job. And Satan is always doing that. And whether his accusation is real or unreal, unfortunately, something sometimes is real, but most of the time is unreal. And because of his accusation, our conscience bothers us and we become weak spiritually. I remember how Martin Luther dreamed a dream as he was going on with the work of reformation. He dreamed a dream. He saw Satan coming to him and show him a screw full of words, within and without. And that screw is the sins of Martin Luther. And Satan said, how dare you do this work of reformation? Look at yourself. But thank God, Martin Luther took out a pen and wrote upon it, the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sins. And Satan disappeared. Brothers and sisters, he is the accuser. Now how do we overcome him? And there in chapter 12, verse 11, and they have overcome him by reason of the blood of the Lamb. That is the first thing. Brothers and sisters, do not think you have outgrown the need of the blood of the Lamb. The closer you are walking with the Lord, the more you treasure the precious blood of the Lord. Even the tears of our repentance need to be cleansed by the blood. They know the value of the blood and they apply the blood upon their life. The overcomers are not the special ones, the perfect ones. They are the same as we are, but they know the preciousness of the blood. They depend upon the cleansing of the blood throughout their life. And that's the reason why they are always pure and righteous in the sight. And number two, you find they overcome Satan by reason of the word of their testimony. Brothers and sisters, we have been entrusted with the testimony of Jesus. We are here to testify that Jesus is Lord, not by words only, but by life. And if it's by life, that our word will be powerful and effective. I think it's very funny when you read Acts chapter 17, and you'll find the seven sons of the Jewish high priest, they are exorcists. They try to drive out the evil spirit. And because they saw what Paul has done in the name of the Lord Jesus, so they try to imitate and do the same. And two of the sons, they were exhausting people and say, in the name of Jesus that Paul preached, we cast you out. And the demon said, Jesus I know, Paul I'm familiar with, but who are you? And they jump upon these two men, and they escaped naked. Brothers and sisters, unless our word agrees with our life, it has no power. But if our life bears the testimony of Jesus, that he is really Lord of our life, then when we say Jesus is Lord, that's power. The enemy cannot stand it. And then thirdly, they love not their life, even unto death. And the word life here is soul life. The Lord Jesus call us, deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow me. And these brothers and sisters, they deny themselves. They do not cater to their own desire, or wish, or intention. But they are willing to lay down their soul life and allow the life of Christ to rule their life. They love not their soul life, even unto death. And with that kind of attitude, the enemy is defeated. So that's the secret of the overcomers. And praise God, this secret is an open secret. It is for every one of us. So brothers and sisters, God's desire is that everyone who is redeemed is an overcomer, because he is the overcomer. And as First John said, we overcome him, Satan, by faith, by faith in our Lord Jesus. It is available to every one of us. And this is the link that will bring back the king. So may the Lord help us. Dear Lord, how we praise and thank thee, because thou hast not only called us to be overcomers, thou hast also shown us how to be an overcomer. So Lord, we just want to avail ourselves of all the provisions that thou hast provided for us. Lord, we are despair of ourselves. Our all hope, expectation is upon thee. So this day, we want to rededicate our lives to thee, surrender ourselves totally to thee, and say, Lord, take us and work in us, deliver us and fill us with our own self, that we may be those who have the testimony of Jesus. We may be those who will bring you the king. We may be those who are the link that thou is looking for. We thank and praise thee, because it is all of grace, all of mercy. We worship thee in thy precious name.