In this sermon, the speaker discusses the battle between good and evil as described in the book of Revelation. He focuses on the imagery of a woman clothed with the sun and a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. The speaker emphasizes the importance of fellowship and agreement with God, as symbolized by the number three representing the Trinity. He also mentions the significance of numbers in biblical interpretation, such as four representing the whole world and seven representing perfection. The sermon concludes with a reference to the story of the wise men visiting Jesus, highlighting the importance of recognizing Jesus as the central figure.

Chapter Twelve this evening, the book of the Revelation, and we're at this great fourth chapter, and you remember that in chapter eleven, verse fifteen, the present angel sounded the trumpet. And we'll be looking at the trumpet being sounded one by one, and this is the trumpet one. This is what is known as the last trumpet. And as the last trumpet was sounded, we found out that there was great excitement in heaven. And then we got a lot of items that would take place consecutively, but the details of those items were not there. But we stop in this twelfth chapter to get the details. And here we see a woman on earth, make no hesitation about it, while the twelfth chapter begins like this, there appeared a great wonder in heaven. The word wonder is the word sign, if you look at the margin of your Bible. And this sign was given to all and sons and who were in heaven. And then a woman comes into focus. But let's get it quite clear that the woman is on earth. She's not in heaven. The sign was only given in heaven. Someone came to argue with me once and said, you know, this woman is in heaven. And I just turned the book up and read the sixth verse. Have a look at the sixth one. And the woman fled into the wilderness. And I said to my friend, would you like to explain to me how there's a wilderness in heaven? Because you look so stupid when you make a statement and somebody turns up a simple phrase. I wonder do these people not really study this before they make these tremendous claims. Sometimes I think they don't, you know, they just talk. And I'm not very merciful to people who just talk, because I think that they need to shut their mouth for good and for all. This is quite clear to any intelligent person that the woman is on earth. And of course you can see during the sixth verse that the woman fled into the wilderness where she had the feet prepared of God that they should keep her there 8,200 and feet four days. Which if you counted up is 43 months or three and a half years. And you don't have time like that in heaven. No days there, no months either. So the woman is on earth. And she's on earth in that particular period. That's how you tie it down. She's not on earth in some part of the world's history that we can't get the hold of. She's on earth after a particular part of the three and a half years of tribulation. And last week we went into the 11th chapter and found the two witnesses on earth at the same time. And the next time we're here is the Lord will be going into the 13th chapter and we'll find the beast on earth for 42 months at the same time. They're all here together. And how people get it mixed up I wouldn't know. They come and say you can get it mixed up. And you know if there are any doubts left if you go on down to verse 13 you'll find this. And when the dragon saw that he was cast onto the earth. And we'll go into the details about the dragon in a moment. It's the old devil. And he's been cast out of the heavenlies now onto the earth. He persecuted the woman. Well there'll be no persecution in heaven and there'll be no devil there. The woman is certainly on earth. And she's on earth at that particular period when the great tribulation is at its basis. And the devil will be prosecuting her. And it took a long time last Tuesday to discover who she was. And I pointed out to the class there are five great women in the scriptures. Eve, of course, who is the mother of us all in that sense, was the great woman. And of course Israel as the wife of Jehovah. She is brought before us again and again as a good woman, a woman that God called and married. She's the wife of Jehovah. Of course the Virgin Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mary was the great woman. Of course the Bride of Christ, the Church, the Bride. And you should be able to differentiate between the wife and the Bride. So Israel was the wife of Jehovah and the Church is the Bride of Christ. And then there's another woman mentioned that chapter 17, you'll come to that someday, she's called the Scarlet Woman. Because I have no hesitations in saying that this is the Roman Church. And the Roman Church is the diabolical system on this earth. Whether you like it or not, whether I like to say it or not doesn't matter. And I'll tell you God will deal with it yet and we'll find out that he will. Now out of these five, who is this woman here? Well it's quite easy for the class to know it can't be me brought back onto the earth in the midst of the tribulation. And it's certainly not the Virgin Mary. And it's certainly not the Church. Because the Church is in heaven in chapter 5, praising the Lord. Only two women left out of the five. Israel, the wife of Jehovah and the Scarlet Woman. But when we shall examine the Scarlet Woman in Revelation chapter 17, we will find that she's riding the beast. She's on the back of the Antichrist. And for a while he will allow her to ride. You know I'd be amused that some folk who say the Pope is the Antichrist. If the beast is the Antichrist then we could prove that at our dead ease. You don't think that the Roman Church will ride the Pope do you? Well you need to use a bit of logic about it. Because I can tell you that the Scarlet Woman who is the Roman Church is riding the beast, who is the Antichrist. And I think there's a great lot of crap talked about the Pope. I'm not saying anything on his behalf you know. But I'm telling you that he's not the Antichrist. The Antichrist will have to be a Jew and we shall find the very tribe that he comes from and all the rest of it. And so if the Roman Church is riding the beast then we're just left with one. And we had no troubles at all last week discovering that this woman here on earth being persecuted and running into the wilderness and being preserved in the wilderness is Israel. Remember once upon a time God preserved Israel in the wilderness for 40 years. And God will keep the remnant of Israel in the wilderness again for three and a half of the very worst that this world has ever seen. So we've already done all this in the class last week and I can't take any more time with it now. I think you can see this. I want to come to the crisis of the child for a moment and we find this out. We'll read from verse one just to get the proper connection. And there appeared the great wonder in heaven a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars and we went into that very closely. And she being with child cried prevailing in birth and came to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red dragon out in seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head and we'll take time with that in a moment. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And I've called this on your notes the battle at his birth. You know it's a great study and I'm not taking time to do this this evening. From that moment in the garden of Eden when God looked at the devil and said I will put enmity between thee and the woman between thy seed and her seed it or he shall bruise thy head and thou shall be allowed to bruise his heel. And from the moment that the devil knew that someone was going to be born into this world who would absolutely destroy him he was on the lookout all the time. There was quite a time in history when he wasn't very sure where the child would come from. Because I can tell you that the first child that Eve had was King and I think that even Eve thought that this was the one that would bruise the serpent's head. She said I've gotten a man from the Lord and I think that the devil thought this too. And I can tell you this that he was behind Abel in this diabolical murder because when Christ speaks of the devil he says you were a murderer from the beginning. And I think we could face this hatred and this enmity right down through all the pages of scripture. I'm sure that the devil had something to do with the terrible thing that happened in the days of Noah when God had to destroy the whole race. Why the devil nearly accomplished what he wanted to accomplish only that arc had some preserved. I think it was the same in the days of Esther why the wicked Haman was determined to blot out the whole Jewish race. Only it didn't work. There was a man called Mordecai who opposed him in the scriptures. And you can go on down through the scriptures and you'll come to the time when Christ was to be born and death to him. And the old devil knew now, knew where the Messiah would come from and knew where he would be born and the prophets had tamed this and he had learned the truth of God. And he's before the woman to devour the child. That's what we're about to understand. Let's go back to Matthew's gospel. Chapter 2 please. The gospel by Matthew. And at the second chapter. Now for the younger ones in the class I want to do this. We did this once upon a time. I can't remember when but nevertheless the scriptures stand secure. First one. Now when Jesus was born and death to him of Judea in the days of Herod the king. Behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Now when you say from the east you're thinking right out in the far east you know. I think that these wise men came away from Babylon. From one of the Chaldees if you like. I want you to think properly. You don't come in a minute from there to Jerusalem. You know they came from Ur of the Chaldees and the queen of the Chaldees and Jerusalem or Palestine lies between deserts. Three thousand miles of burning sand. And of course in those days with camels they wouldn't make a straight beeline across the desert. They would get lost. They would have to go up by the river Euphrates and go right the way north and keep to the river bank the whole way. And when you get to the point up there you can start going south towards Jerusalem and I can tell you it would take you some time. I can tell you the time it took them actually. It took them two years. Now you watch the chapter we're in. It says behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east. They saw the star when they were away out in the east you know. It didn't happen on Christmas morning or anything like that. Your postcards are upside down sometimes. Well they had seen the star in the east and had come to worship him. There's a lot of things in that. You see the word born. Where is he that is born? He was born you know just the way you were born. Oh I know the conception wasn't like yours. It was a miraculous conception. Oh but the birth was just like yours. He was born of a woman you know. And that word proves his humanity. When you say where is he that is born king. That word proves his royalty. He was born king you know. When you say born king of the Jews. That proves his nationality. There's no argument he was a Jew. Now when they say for we have seen his star. You know these were men who studied the stars. And who knew a lot more about them than Patrick Moore will ever know. And I want to say that he certainly knows. Sometimes I listen in to him talking about the stars and I fancy he listens to Patrick Moore. And he talks that quick I can hardly keep up with him. And let me say for him that he has absolutely no degrees at all. Nor have been to any college or university. And yet I can see him losing all the men of science at his bare knees. He's a man who knows his subject. And I salute him as such. Now these men have seen this star. This is a special star. It has never been there before. And they understood about it too. We have seen his star. If you take the word born you can see his humanity. If you take the word king you can see his royalty. If you take the word Jews you can see his nationality. If you take the new star in heaven you will see his superiority. He was different from every other child. God doesn't put a star in the sky every time a child is born you know. This was somebody who was super. And they knew that. And they knew who he was. King of the Jews. So don't call the star men out too quick. Watch this. When you take the word born you see his humanity. When you take the word king you see his royalty. When you take the word Jews you see his nationality. When you take the word star you see his superiority. When you take the word worship you see his deity. Now they knew that he was God you know. They had come to worship him. You can't worship anyone who's not God you know. When the Roman Catholics worshipped a plaster cast on the wall. My dear friend that's idolatry. But they had come to worship this person. He must be God if you can worship him. God is a spirit you know. And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And only God can worship. This is a lot of details in there. See you read far too fast. You were as stupid as me and had to go slow you would do better. So it was. Well let's get on with the story. Verse 3. When Herod the king had heard these things he was troubled. And all Jerusalem with him. They can't understand all Jerusalem being troubled. They can't understand all Herod being troubled. He was the king. They can't understand the Jews being troubled. It was their Messiah that had come. Verse 4. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together he demanded of them where Christ the Messiah the new king should be born. And they said unto him in Bethlehem of Judea for thus it was written by the prophet Micah. And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the princes of Judah. For out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. You see the old scribes and priests knew the scripture. They knew that Micah had said this and they knew that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. They had no doubts at all about it. Verse 7. Then Herod when he had privily called the wise men. He brought them into the palace you know. Brought them in privily. He wants news. I was very near going to say that they came to the palace looking for news. But that wouldn't be altogether correct. But in this day it was. Then Herod when he had privily called the wise men inquired of them diligently. Now watch how he does this. He wants to be sure about this. What time the star appeared. He says now you just tell me what time this star appeared a way out on the east. You just tell me now. How long ago is it? I want to know. And I can tell you just now that it appeared two years before that. But you'll find out as we read and see. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and set diligently for the young child. And you'll notice how the word is changed there. It is not the newborn baby now you know. It is the young child. He's two years old. But I'll have to prove that. Go and set diligently for the young child and when you find him bring me word again that I may come and worship him also. He had no notion of worshipping him but this is pure bluff. When they had heard the king they departed and all the star which they saw in the east. Always get that bit in because it's a long time ago since they thought first. Went before them and came and stood over where the young child was. And this young child when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly joy. And when they were come into the house. Oh what's the word house now? Because that is not the manger you know. It was a long time since the manger appeared. You see you get Christmas cards. I get dozens of them. With three wise men in the manger. There is nothing in this chapter to tell you they were three. And I can assure you they were never near the manger. Because you've been reading Christmas cards instead of your book haven't you? You'd better stop with these Christmas cards. You'd be better buying our wee books. You're not allowed to advertise you know. Now let's get, this is very important here. Verse 11. And when they were come into the house. Mark it's a house now. They saw the young child with Mary his mother. Is that the way you would write things? You were writing about the mother and child. Would you put the child first or the mother first? I can tell you the way the Roman church would write it. Put the mother first. I can tell you that your bible doesn't give two hoots about good grammar. It's truth that matters. And the young child is first. Now watch this very carefully. It says and when they were come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshipped her. Not on your life it doesn't. Who taught you that they worshipped her? You must have got that from some pagan source. They only worshipped him. They were not bothered two hoots about her. Not at all. They worshipped him. It's her who worshipped her. She's not God. Once we're getting round to the place where they would nearly tell you she's God. Did I tell you about the time I had the mission in Portobogli? I used to go preaching with the fishermen in the middle of the night. Sometimes you know I went away down the old harbour there and sat on the wall waiting on the bus. And I was there about four one morning sitting on that wall when the priest came along. Came along past me and had a look at me. Knew right well that I was no fisherman. Walked back again had another look at me as he went back again. Came back again and this time he said you're a stranger. That's right I said. I don't believe you. Said what do you do? I said I'm preaching the gospel in the little hall up the way there. Oh he said you're a gospel preacher. There are some things you wouldn't agree with me on. I said sir I would agree with you on no thing never mind something. He's a dear old fellow. He was taking it all right. He said there's just the two of us. Would you like to tell me some of the things you don't agree with me about? I said I would love to. Get up on the wall beside me. I was fearful he'd come along and find me. It was an old priest that tore in the morning. So he got up on the wall beside me and I said well let me ask you this sir. I said do you pray to the Virgin Mary? He said I do. I said do you think she's God? No he said I don't think she's God. I think she's the mother of God. I said do all the Roman Catholics in Porto Volte pray to her? Oh yes we do. I said and all the Roman Catholics in Valley Halberd and Valley Walter and Malire and Bangor. Then I went the other way. All the Roman Catholics in Ulster pray to her and all in Ireland and all in Scotland and all in England and all in France and all in Germany and all over the world. They all pray at the one time. He's a bit quieter now you know. I said you know sir she's going to hear them all at the one time. She'll need to be gone. Well you never saw an old fellow getting off a wall as quick in your life. But off the wall he said stood out a bit. He said you would disturb my faith. You get up and I'll fix your faith for you. I know these men never worshipped Mary. I have all the respect of the day for the Virgin Mary you know. Don't you make any mistakes about that. I detest that book that some of you are given up because it takes the Virgin's name out of it. How dare you call her a girl. The Holy Ghost inspired this word Virgin. How dare you destroy what God has inspired. I think she's a blessed Virgin Mary. It's what I respect for us. Now watch this very carefully. And then they will come into the house. They saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures they presented unto him gifts. Gold, frankincense and myrrh. I suppose because there are three things mentioned they must have thought there's just three men here. Now watch what God did with them. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod they departed into their own country another way. They went back to the east another way. And when they were departed behold the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying arise and take the young child. Mind you angels are very careful how they put things. The angel said take the young child and his mother. And the young child is always first here. And flee into Egypt and be thou there until I bring thee word. For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. You know the devil was in Herod. And when the child was born he was seeking to destroy him. That's the word we had back in chapter 12. It took me a long time to get round to that. But I think this is worth doing for the young people. Verse 14. Then He arose he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt and was there until the death of Herod. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying out of Egypt have I called my son. Then Herod when he saw that he was not of the wise men. That's a great phrase. Was exceeding wrath and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in the coasts thereof from two years old and under. Why? Why did he do it from two years old and under now? Because he had inquired diligently the time. And these men told him the time. And it took them two years to go right off the Euphrates and right down again. And if he's going to get this child at all he'll have to kill all the children from two years old and under. And he did you know. The devil was in him. It's the old legend that should work. I hope that's an exhibition of how to read the scriptures for me. Because there's a lot of things you would see if you took your time. Let's get back to the chapter. Yes this is the battle that is birth I was saying about. You see the old legend in verse four at the end of the verse. He's standing before the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child. No trouble about that. Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And if you can't see who the man child is I don't think I'm going to be able to help you. And who brought forth Christ. Israel according to the fact he came from Israel. This is the woman that he is. Not the virgin. And you know this child that's to rule all nations. When we come to chapter 19 have a look at it just now. Chapter 19 it says verse 11. And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon them was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth judge and make law. It says down there in verse 13. Out of his mouth doth a sharp sword and up with it he should smite the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. That's the same person. Because that's her child you see. So there is no problem at all. This is Israel that's in the chapter. This is Israel who according to the flesh, from whom according to the flesh Christ came. And you see the devil was there to devour him when he came. And you see that he will eventually rule the nations with a rod of iron. What a day it will be. And it says here her child was caught up unto God unto his throne. Well that should settle the matter. I don't know that we need to go on with this. Because remember the church even wasn't put on the throne. Oh no there's just one on the throne at the right hand of the majesty and high. It is our Lord Jesus. You know when he rose from the dead and eventually ascended and went through the clouds and then entered heaven itself. Why all the angels fell down before him. What a scene this is as he went up through the millions of millions of God angels right to the throne. And a voice came out of the excellent glory and said sit down here. That's who we're thinking about in the chapter. Thinking about his friends. Thinking about the bottle at his breast. Thinking about the right of his rulership. Thinking about the gleam of his glory just now. Now let's get some of the details in of this old dragon that's here. Just to make sure what we're doing. That's a thing. And there appeared another wonder in heaven. Another sign in heaven. And behold a great red dragon. Now why is the word red there? For the younger ones if you want to know who the dragon is without much preaching look at verse 9. And the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and satan which deceived us the whole world he was cast out. That's the devil. Another name for him just dragon, serpent, satan, the devil. Now why red? Because that's an inspired word. Not allowed to do away with inspired words. Can I talk to the students in the class? You know commas in the scriptures and numbers in the scriptures are perhaps the most difficult of all subjects. You know I know all about the numbers and I know about what all the numerical prophets say about the numbers. I learned my lessons there. You see one is is that unity. You remember that they were all of one accord. One mind. This was unity. Of course two is relationship. You see how can two walk together except to be agreed? And if we're going through house fellowship and continual fellowship with God we'll have to agree with him. Because three is trinity isn't it? Always trinity. See numbers say things. Unity, relationship, fellowship as you like. They say trinity. Four you know when we talk about four we talk about the four winds of heaven. We talk about the four corners of the earth. We're talking about the whole world you know when we talk about four. When we talk about five this is what the numerical prophets do. They say this is one and four. They say this is God ruling the whole world. When you talk about six they say this is up the limits. Six days out my liver this is as far as it can go. When they talk about seven they say this is the perfect number. I can go on and all the numbers. I should tell you it's the most dangerous thing you ever did. Because when they talk about five they say four and one hour but I can make it three and two. And I can upset your apple cast you know quite easily. Because I can divide the numbers a different way from you want to. So you've got to be very careful when you come to numbers. And don't go off the high springboard thinking that you know it all because you know one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve. Just take your time you young fellows. Now it's the very same with colors. The very same with colors. I think it's more difficult. You know supposing we were to take all the colors in the book of the revelation alone. Do you know the colors in the book? Oh we're up to chapter 12 you ought to know a lot of them. It would make you stand up now to see how you've been getting on. Well you know there was a white horse don't you? And there was a red one too. And there was a black one. White, red, black. There was a green one. There was an emerald rainbow a green rainbow. You know colors are tremendous and you can get terribly mixed up. Let me do this for you. Where are we? Let's go to chapter 19 again just for a moment. I didn't intend to do all this but just this is what the Lord wants to do with things. Now this is the marriage supper. Verse seven. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white. There's your there's your color. For fine linen is the righteousness of saints. So that some of the prophetic numericalists, that's what you call them, they work in numbers and they work in colors. They say that white always means the righteousness of the saints. At the marriage supper of course white means the righteousness of the saints. I remember going into a place in Canada where an old fellow was getting elected from a Sunday school class and he was talking about colors. And he was talking about whites you know. And white everywhere in the pictures is the righteousness of the saints. And then he left it open for questions you see. And I suppose I shouldn't have done this but then I'm supposed to teach all in Sunday you see. And I said you said that white is always the righteousness. He said yes yes this is Revelation 19 I knew that. I did the white mosque in Revelation 6 because that's the hunt of Christ. I said you know when the Pharisees were here the Lord Jesus said they need clean the outside of the thing. And he said whited sepulchers was this the righteousness of the saints. Because if you started to argue with me about colors I would fix you. You'd be color blind when I had finished with you. So don't go off your bean end about either numbers or colors. Try and get it a wee bit more clear in the scriptures and you'll not fall into any trouble. But there is one thing that sticks out in the book of the Revelation and it's this. Let's go back to chapter 6. And here are these four horses. And this is this second one verse 4. And there went out another horse but it was a white one. And it was a white one. And it was red. And it was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth that they should kill one another. You remember when we were doing that I said kill one another that's not war that's civil war. This is murder again. And this is what Ulster is on the verge of at times. Civil war, murder. And I would think if it is Mr. Heath or Mr. Wilson ever dared to give this land away there would be the greatest civil war of all history. He mustn't have been sure of that. And it's a thing I wouldn't like to see. And it's a thing I would preach against. But it's a thing that if you're sensible you must see it would happen. However I think that while they may be foolish in many ways both the two of them have a lot of sense not to do anything stupid. I would think that. Now this means murder here. Now let's go from there to chapter 70. And I don't want to waste time here. This is this scarlet woman on this scarlet coloured beast. You see verse 3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast. And the beast is full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns. And you can easily identify the beast. And it is the Antichrist. And the woman is riding the beast. Now what's the woman? The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour. That's why I called her the scarlet woman. Now if you never knew who she was here is her name in verse 5. Upon her forehead was the name written. This spirit. Babylon the great, the mother of Pilate and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs. I would only need to ask this class. Go down through history. Take out your encyclopedia Britannica. And find out who is drunken with the blood of the saints. Go back and do it. And it's not the communists. I know they murdered one or two. Maybe a hundred or two. And it's not Judaism. I know they stoned Stephen and a few others. I'll tell you who's drunken with the blood of the saints. The Roman church. The Roman church burned more men than I can remember from the inquisition. Just you go back and take out the book and have a look at it. Look up the word inquisition. And you'll know I didn't write Britannica and encyclopedia. They wouldn't allow me in there. No. You'll find out that millions, millions, millions of the best men and women who were ever walked this earth in shoe leather were burned. That's murder. You see what I'm getting at. This red horse. This red woman. This red dragon. Why did God say red? Because he is a murderer. And he's a murderer from the beginning. There is no problem in that. Let's get back to chapter 12. You've got the word red. You've got the word dragon. You know that. Having seven heads. Seven they say is the perfect number. Well this is a scheme of the wisdom. And you remember when we were doing the devil. You remember I pointed out that when he was created. And he was created you know. It says in the day that thou was created thou was full of wisdom. Oh yes of course. He isn't a common private you know. He's full of wisdom. He's too much for all of us. And apart from the truth of this book and the grace of God we wouldn't be able to manage it. If seven heads do you see the ten horns. And horns always speak of power you know. Yes he's got mighty power. And he's got crowns upon his head. You see the company that's with him. His field grew the third part of the stars of heaven. And we're not talking about the stars that the wise men looked at now. We're talking about the angels. And the fallen angels. A third part of all the angels seem to fall with the devil. And this is the place where they're coming down to earth. You can see this. Look away down at verse 9 and you get the whole details. The great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil and satan which deceives the whole world. He was cast out into the earth. And the angels were cast out with him. Look down at verse 12 quickly. It says therefore rejoicing heaven to ye that dwell in them. Because the saints are in heaven at this time. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea. The folk that we leave behind when the church goes. For the devil is come down on to you out of great wrath. You can see his cruel face. Because he knows that he has but a short time. You know when he's cast out into the earth and won't be allowed to go into the heavens or into heaven anymore. My dear friends, he will know that his time is short then. He knows what's in his book you know. You know sometimes we go way back to the book of Job and we see all the angels standing before God in heaven and they're going to report about their service. And we find that satan is standing with them. Now in those days in the book of Job, that's a good bit back. It's a very old book you know. In those days satan could go into God's throne and he could accuse. God said that there came a day when Jesus died and made the atonement and the sacrifice for sin and rose again and went back again and sat down again. And from the moment he sat down, satan comes to him. Satan is in the heavenlies. We're talking about heaven and the heavenlies. His whole army is in the heavenlies tonight. My at this moment I wrestle not with flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the rules of the darkness of this world in heavenly places, wicked spirits. And they all gather in round me to try to cloak my thoughts and disturb my thinking and my way of going. That's who I buckle with up here. He's in the heavenlies. I'll tell you this. You see when Christ went right back in the end the devil must be under his feet from that moment. Therefore he's in the heavenlies now. But you know the Lord is going to leave the throne and come to the earth. Get up the heavenlies. And the moment he comes to the earth, satan goes to the earth. Oh look, that's quite an idea isn't it? And I'll tell you what's more. The Lord will one day come to the earth and his feet shall stand on the mount of olives and the devil will go to the bottom of the mountain. He'll always be going down as the Lord comes. He'll never be above the Lord again. Always under his feet. No mistakes about that. But the day that the Lord takes the church home and comes to the air and the devil comes to the earth, I can tell you he's going to stir up things and he's going to make it a hell for Israel. It will be the day of desolation for Israel. Just have a look quickly at Michael. You know this is something that's really thrilling to me. See verse 7, and there was war in the heavenlies that word is. There was war in the heavenlies. And Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought against his angels and prevailed not. Neither was there a place found any more in the heavenlies. And he was down to the earth. You know the word war is in there. And I can tell you that Michael will go to war one day. Let's go back to the book of Jude for a moment. Get a hold of who Michael is who we're talking about. Verse 9, Jude is only one chapter, verse 9. Yet Michael the archangel. I want you to have a good look at the words. And remember there are no archangels. You know if you looked at the word you would never make the mistake. You see the word arch? Well you would know it means the highest don't you? The highest angel. There's only one of them you know. It was just one archangel. Now you would know by reading that just now that Michael the archangel is a great personality wouldn't you? You're in no trouble with that. You would know this was a great personality. God created the archangel Michael. Now it says yet Michael the archangel contending with the devil disputed about the body of Moses. Now it's funny that some of the boys who admit that the archangel is a person will not admit that the devil is a person. And I can't understand their mentality. Because if you admit that the archangel is a person who do you think he's contending with the women? That's what they try to tell me you know. No devil. It's just an end quote. So this great personality is arguing with something that's not there. I wouldn't like too much of that reasoning in this class. The boys that talk like that have notes. You can see Michael is a personality. He's the archangel. Then if he's contending and disputing if you get the word contending and disputing with the devil then the devil must be a person too. You know they were contending and disputing about the body of Moses. If he's the body of Moses something that's well worth thinking about. I wonder when this argument took place. You know I believe this. Of course you know that Moses there was nobody at the funeral. Only God. Now if God's at your funeral you're all right. In fact it was God that buried Moses. Nobody knows exactly where it was. It was God who buried him. And you know this is the time when they're going to raise his body. And the archangel is on the job. Why? Because he's a Jew. Because you'll find that the archangel has a commission from high heaven to look after the Jews. Even their dead bodies. Don't make any mistakes about that. I believe that God was going to bring the body of Moses out of the grave so that he would be on the mount of transfiguration with Christ. He liked it was there. He had been there. He went to heaven with us. Our Moses would need his. And you know the old devil came around to argue. And I think the argument was this. He says you know you can't raise him because the purchase price is not paid. And the archangel wouldn't have juked him at all. He just says well the Lord deal with you. You see the thing was settled in the mind and heart of God. Actually they were going to the mount of transfiguration to talk about Christ's decease. Talk about Christ's death. But do you want to get this bit into your mind that he is the great prince for the people of Israel. Let's go to the book of Daniel for a moment. We'll not be back for another two weeks so we might as well have a night out of it now. Daniel chapter 12. Now if you know Daniel chapter 11 you remember we were through it. And it talks about the antichrist. Look at verse 36. Chapter 11 verse 36. And the king shall do according to his will. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods. That's the man of sin in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. Now see verse 40. Armed at the time of the end shall the king of the skies push at him. Now chapter 12 begins. Armed at that time. That's the 42 months you know. That's the tribulation. At that time shall Michael stand up. The great prince which standeth for the children of thy people. Who's God talking to here? Daniel. He's Daniel's people. The Jews. You won't find Michael in this book except he's connected with Jews. You see he's the prince of Daniel's people. He looks after them. Even their dead bodies. I'll tell you when they're in the tribulation and the devil is going to give them what for. It will be Michael who will be fighting. He'll cast them out. Because he knows that he's just got a short time until the Lord comes and puts him into the bottomless pit. That's the desolation of history. Now when we come back on the 1st of May. We're going to think about the Antichrists themselves. This great beast of Revelation chapter 15. Because God's given us all these items together. 566 griefs is a lovely hymn for us. 566 amid the trials that I meet, amid the thorns that pierce my feet. One God remains supremely sweet. Thou thankest Lord of me. 566 griefs. 566 Dear Lord we thank thee again for thy holy word. Help us to prize it and ponder it and prove it. 566 Part us in thy fear and with thy blessing take us to our home safely for thy holy name's sake. Amen.