{"id":18985,"date":"2019-04-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-037-why-the-world-hates-israel\/"},"modified":"2019-04-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-28T05:00:00","slug":"revelation-037-why-the-world-hates-israel","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-037-why-the-world-hates-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 037 – Why the World Hates Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18985","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 037 - Why the World Hates Israel","sermon_date":"20190428","sermon_month":"4","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":6592,"sermon_slides":6595,"sermon_mp3":6597,"sermon_id":"42819125034650","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"12:13-17","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Andy Woods\n\nWhy the World Hates Israel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a04-28-19\n\nRevelation 12:13-17 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lesson 37\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 A happy last Sunday in April to everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 12 and verse 13.\u00a0\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is Why the World Hates Israel.\u00a0 Just this week, if I read the news report right, there was yet another shooting in a synagogue, I think this time in California last week.\u00a0 Anybody see that news report?\u00a0 What in the world is going on?\u00a0 Why is it that the Jews and the nation of Israel is so hated, so despised by so many people?\u00a0\u00a0 The nice thing about being a student\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 of the Bible, particularly a student of Bible prophecy is you don\u2019t have to guess as to the answers to deep questions like this; the Bible very matter-of-factly comes out and tells us why these things are happening.\u00a0 And we\u2019re going to see the answer to that question here in Revelation 12:13-17.\n\nLet me review a little bit, last week was Resurrection Sunday so we did a message not related to the Book of Revelation directly so you may not have been thinking about the Book of Revelation for the last couple of weeks.\u00a0 So to refresh our recollection we are in a section of the book where the trumpet judgments have been sounded and as each trumpet is sounded another judgment comes to the earth. And we have made our way all the way to the end of Revelation 11 related to trumpet number seven.\u00a0 Once the seventh trumpet is sounded what essentially is happening is there\u2019s being orchestrated in heaven a legal transfer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 11:15 concerning that seventh angel and seventh trumpet says \u201cThe kingdom of the world has become the kingdom<\/em> of our Lord and of His Christ\u2026.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Authority over the world is being transferred from Satan to God the Son.\u00a0 And what you discover when we go through the Book of Revelation is although the chronology is meant to be taken in order there are times in the Book of Revelation when the chronology stops to give us sort of a glimpse related to something specifically happening related to the chronology.\n\nAnd so the pause in the action occurs about five times in this book and we are at the third pause in the action, right at the conclusion of the seven trumpets.\u00a0 It\u2019s probably the largest pause recorded in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 It starts in chapter 12 and stretches all the way to chapter 14.\u00a0 And it\u2019s very instrumental to the chronology that has taken place.\u00a0 Revelation 12, the chapter that we are (by God\u2019s grace) going to complete today has become a chapter that I\u2019ve spent an awful lot of time studying.\u00a0 I\u2019ve often asked myself, why am I so drawn to this chapter? Well, one of the reason is it reveals (this chapter) the biblical reality of the angelic world.\u00a0 Angels are real, Satan is real, demons are real, and they are constantly involved in a conflict in the heavenlies that we can\u2019t necessarily see.\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n1.\u00a0 First Trumpet, (8:7) - 1\/3 vegetation destroyed\n\n2.\u00a0 Second Trumpet, -\u00a0 (8:8-9)\u00a0 ocean destroyed\n\n3.\u00a0 Third Trumpet, -\u00a0 (8:10 -11) 1\/3 water destroyed\n\n4.\u00a0 Fourth Trumpet, -\u00a0 (8:12-13) destroyed, 1\/3 luminaries darkened\n\n5.\u00a0 Fifth Trumpet, - (9-1-12) \u2013 demons released\n\n6.\u00a0 Sixth Trumpet \u2013 (9:13-21) humanity destroyed\n\n7.\u00a0 Seventh Trumpet \u2013 (11:14-19) legal transfer announced\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nWe looked at many of these passages on the screen which reveal this reality of the invisible war all around us.\u00a0 There are certain chapters of the Bible that simply pull back the veil and allow us to see clearly into this angelic conflict.\u00a0 Revelation 12 is one of those chapters.\u00a0 And I also appreciate so much what God has given us in this chapter because this chapter reveals to us the two great strategies of Satan.\u00a0 There is no doubt that there are many strategies that Satan uses, but these are his two main ones that he\u2019s used throughout human history, the latter of which he\u2019s using today.\u00a0 Did you know Satan has strategies?\u00a0 Paul, the apostle, in 2 Corinthians 2:11 says, \u201cso that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.\u201d\u00a0 A scheme is a strategy, it\u2019s a plot it\u2019s a plan.\n\nSatan\u2019s strategies have been, according to Ezekiel 28:17 corrupted.\u00a0 [Ezekiel 28:17] Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.\u201d]\u00a0 They\u2019re not necessarily logic based, rationally based, they\u2019re power based and it really has everything to do with Satan wanting to stay in control of things when history from a biblical perspective indicates that he will lose control.\u00a0 He will lose control of this world that he has governed since the fall of man.\u00a0 And people, when they\u2019re losing control of the situation become very\u2026 I don\u2019t know, crazy, they do crazy irrational things.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s happening here in Revelation 12, two strategies.\u00a0 The first strategy is in verses 1-5, we\u2019ve already studied it, it\u2019s the past strategy that Satan has used that has failed and it relates to his desire to prevent the birth of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 You have to understand that as you go through the Bible and you see that Messianic line in the Old Testament leading towards Christ there was an all-out war against that line trying to prevent the birth of Jesus.\n\nAnd you can\u2019t really understand this chapter until you understand what the three major symbols are or who the three principle players are in the chapter.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve gone through deciphering the symbols.\u00a0 Remember that there\u2019s a son, s-o-n; who would that son be?\u00a0 Jesus Christ?\u00a0 Secondly, there\u2019s a dragon, who is that dragon?\u00a0 Satan himself.\u00a0 Now sometimes he\u2019s called the serpent, but we know from Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:2 that dragon, serpent and Satan are all synonyms for one another.\u00a0 [Revelation 12:9, \u201cAnd the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 20:2, \u201cAnd he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;\u201d]\n\nAnd we\u2019ve also run into, this this chapter, a woman clothed with the sun, s-u-n, and the moon and the twelve stars and we\u2019ve demonstrated that that woman represents who?\u00a0 The nation of Israel.\u00a0 Now if you\u2019re confused as to these symbols and their identification go back to a couple of sermons ago and we taught exactly how each of those symbols is identifiable.\u00a0 Relative to strategy number one we read these words in Revelation 12:4, \u201cAnd the dragon\u201d who would that be?\u00a0 Satan! \u201c\u2026 stood before the woman\u201d who would that be?\u00a0 Israel! \u201cwho was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.\u201d\u00a0 Who would the child be? Jesus Christ.\u00a0\u00a0 So what it is, it\u2019s a commentary, if you will, it\u2019s a history lesson, if you will, on the events by the devil to stop the birth of Jesus.\n\nYou say well wait a minute, I read about that story in Matthew 2, I thought it was just Herod insecure over his own throne killing all of the male infants in Bethlehem and Matthew 2 simply gives you that perspective.\u00a0 But if you want to understand the whole picture, the complete story, you have to begin to factor in Revelation 12 which gives us\u00a0 glimpse into the angelic conflict.\u00a0 It was actually the devil himself using Herod as a pawn, using his insecurity over his own throne to try to stop the birth of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not just the birth of Jesus that Satan tried to stop, he\u2019s worked in history to stop Messianic prophecy, not the least of which is Genesis 3:15 where a prediction is given in the very presence that there\u2019s coming one from the woman, who would be Eve in this case, who will crush your head.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:15, \u201cAnd I will put enmity Between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d]\n\nSatan says well, we\u2019ll see about that, and that explains all of the attempts to snuff out, to destroy the Messianic line going all the way through the Old Testament.\u00a0 And Satan worked overtime to prevent the birth of Jesus.\u00a0 And guess what?\u00a0 He has lost round one, the first strategy has failed.\u00a0 And now I believe in the present and it will reach its height in the second half of the tribulation period Satan begins to pursue strategy number two, which is to destroy the nation of Israel, to destroy the Jewish race, to destroy the Jewish people, and to make sure that every Jewish person who was a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is eradicated from the earth.\n\nYou say how can you be so aggressive on teaching this?\u00a0 The answer is related to the power, Satan has been the ruler of the present world system ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden.\u00a0 All of these verses on the screen, and we\u2019ve looked at these, communicate that.\u00a0 And he likes his position of power, he doesn\u2019t want to see his power relinquished.\u00a0 And if there\u2019s something that Satan under\u00adstands he understands Messianic prophecy.\u00a0 He understands prophecies like Genesis 12:3 indicating that God has covenanted to bless the world through the Jewish nation.\u00a0 That is not my blueprint, I did not come up with this, this is the design of God.\u00a0 This is the calling on Abraham and the beginning of the Hebrew race, going back to Genesis 12.\n\nAnd think about how accurate this prophecy has been.\u00a0 \u201cAnd in you\u201d God said to Abram, \u201call the families of the earth will be blessed.\u201d\u00a0 Think of the blessings that we have today which we wouldn\u2019t have had it not been for the creator\u2019s work with the Jewish people and nation.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t have a Bible, we wouldn\u2019t have a Savior.\u00a0 Now there\u2019s a third blessing that Satan knows is coming that he wants to stop and it has to do with blessing number three, the Kingdom (Isaiah 2:2-3).\n\n[Isaiah 2:2-3, \u201cNow it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. \u00a0[3] And many peoples will come and say, \u201cCome, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.\u201d\u00a0 For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.\u201d]\n\nIf there\u2019s something that Satan wants to prevent from coming to the earth it would be the kingdom which will come to the world through the nation of Israel.\u00a0\u00a0 The Bible is very clear that when the kingdom comes it will last a thousand years, it will be headquartered in the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 This is the last and final blessing that Satan\u2019s seeks do prevent or preempt because he knows that when the kingdom comes his days are over.\u00a0 Bible prophecy indicates that he will be bound for a thousand years, Revelation 20:2-3 and at the end of that thousand year time period he will be hurled into the lake of fire, Revelation 20:10.\n\n[Revelation 20:1-3, \u201cThen I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. [2] And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; [3] and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it<\/em> and sealed it<\/em> over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.\u201d [10] \u201cAnd the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.\u201d]\n\nThis is what the kingdom and its manifestation upon the earth means to Satan himself.\u00a0 And he works in history to prevent that blessing from coming and what better way to prevent that blessing from coming than to destroy the instrument or the channel or the intermediary through which the kingdom will come, the Jewish nation.\u00a0 And why is he all concerned about this now in the Book of Revelation?\u00a0 Because of trumpet seven which indicates the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our LORD and of His Christ.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 11:15, \u201cThen the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, \u2018The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s just a matter of time, three and a half years to be exact, before the kingdom materializes and just as he worked to stop the birth of Christ he\u2019s now working in history to eradicate the Jewish nation preemptively so that the kingdom can never come.\u00a0 Now you begin to understand this and you begin to understand Revelation chapter 12 and suddenly you begin to understand what motivates Jew hatred.\u00a0 What motivates the irrational acts of violence committed on the Jewish people?\u00a0 What motivates anti-Semitism?\u00a0 Revelation 12, if we did not have it in our Bible we would have no real explanation of this reality and this phenomenon.\n\nAnd what happens now midway through the tribulation period, as we have studied, verses 6-12, is now Satan permanently loses access to heaven.\u00a0 [Revelation 12:6, \" Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.\u00a0 [7] And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, [8] and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. [9] And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. [10] Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, \u2018Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. [11] \u2018And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. [12] \u2018For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only<\/em> a short time.\u201d]\n\nYou see, Satan, in his fallen state, according to these verses that we have looked at, has the ability to still go into heaven as a fallen angel, not to worship and serve as he once was able to do as a high-ranking angel prior to his fall due to pride but now to communicate and to accuse.\u00a0 Your Bible from cover to cover teaches this reality.\u00a0 Take a look sometime at those five verses that I have on the board and you\u2019ll see it very clearly.\u00a0 [Job 1:6, Job 2:1, Zechariah 3:1, Luke 22:31, Revelation 12:10.\n\n[Job 1:6, \u201cNow there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.\u201d\u00a0 Job 2:1, \u201cAgain there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 Zechariah 3:1, \u201cThen he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.\u201d\u00a0 Luke 22:31, \u201cSimon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 12:10, \u201cThen I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, \"Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.\u201d]\n\nSee, what\u2019s happened here in Revelation chapter 12 beginning in verse 6 is he now loses that privilege and consequently what does he begin to do?\u00a0 He begins to plummet to the earth because the earth is the only domain he has left; heaven has been taken away from him.\u00a0\u00a0 And he\u2019s got exactly three and a half years left, forth-two months left to gobble up Israel to stop the birth of the kingdom.\u00a0 And so Revelation 12:6-17 is describing the second half of the tribulation period for the Jewish people from the perspective of the angels.\n\n[Revelation 12:6-17, \u201cThen the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.\u00a0 [7] And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, [8] and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. [9] And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. [10] Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. [11] \u201cAnd they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. [12] \u201cFor this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only<\/em> a short time.\u201d\u00a0 [13] And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.<\/em> [14] But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. [15] And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. [16] But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. [17] So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.\u201d]\n\nBut if you want to understand the same story from the human perspective you would read Matthew 24:14-22, same story.\u00a0 Matthew 14 human point of view, Revelation 12 spiritual point of view.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Matthew 24:14-22, \u201cThis gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.\u00a0 [15] \u201cTherefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), [16] then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. \u00a0\u00a0[17] ] \u201cWhoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. [18] \u201cWhoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. [19] \u201cBut woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days [20] \u201cBut pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. [21] \u201cFor then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. [22] \u201cUnless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.\u201d]\n\nJust like verses 1-5, it gives you the story of Herod from the spiritual angelic perspective, Matthew 2 gives you the exact same story from the human perspective.\u00a0 This is the value of Revelation chapter 12, it explains so many phenomena taking place in our world.\n\nI\u2019m always looking for ways in which to better organize these chapters in outline form so I can teach more effectively and this outline may appeal to you.\u00a0 Revelation 12 is a description of three wars: war number one is a past war that Satan lost because he sought to prevent the birth of Jesus;\u00a0\u00a0 he went down in round number one.\u00a0 War number two is a war in heaven, verses 6\u201412 where Satan\u2019s final privilege of going into heaven to communicate and accuse is now taken away and he plummets to the earth.\u00a0 Spiritual war one, spiritual war two, and now what we\u2019re moving into there, verses 13-17 is spiritual war number three.\n\nAnd we know that this war is going to last about forty-two months and in the second half of the coming tribulation period he is trying to devour the nation of Israel because he knows the divine blueprint of God that the kingdom is going to come to the world through Israel and his thinking is if there\u2019s no more Jews left there could be no kingdom and if there\u2019s no kingdom then His kingdom stays intact, and that\u2019s what you see happening in the verses we\u2019re looking at here, verses 13-17.\n\nOne of the greatest wars we\u2019re reading about here, yet to come, described in the entire Bible, and this war has two cycles.\u00a0 Verses 13-14 is cycle one, verses 15-16 is cycle two, and verse 17 is sort of a summary statement.\u00a0 And in each cycle here\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen, Satan will attack and God will protect, cycle one.\u00a0 Satan will attack, God will protect, cycle two.\u00a0 Satan realizing that he can\u2019t get the upper hand is going to go away in a rage at the conclusion of verse 17 which sort of summarizes the mindset of this darkened being Satan towards the Jewish people.\n\nNotice, if you will, cycle number one, notice Revelation 12:13, notice what it says. \u00a0\u201cAnd when the dragon saw that he was hurled down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.\u201d\u00a0 Here is an attack by Satan, and you\u2019ll notice our three characters there, dragon, woman and child who represent\u2026 dragon is who? Satan.\u00a0 Child is who?\u00a0 Jesus.\u00a0 Woman is who?\u00a0 Israel.\u00a0 Don\u2019t lose sight of those three symbols and their meaning.\u00a0 Only understanding these symbols the way the Bible defines them gives you insight into this great spiritual conflict that is yet on the horizon.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice here that it says, \u201cwhen the dragon,\u201d or Satan, \u201csaw that he was been hurled to the earth\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 He is now recognized that any privilege he had of entering heaven, at least to communicate and accuse, is gone.\u00a0 He\u2019s got only one realm left in him which is the earth and he begins to pursue this woman, or Israel, upon the earth.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice what it says here, notice the word \u201cpersecuted,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cwhen the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted <\/u>the woman\u201d you ought to underline that word \u201cpersecuted.\u201d\u00a0 The word \u201cpersecuted\u201d in Greek is the Greek verb dioko\/diogmos<\/em>\u00a0and it\u2019s used in Matthew 5:11 concerning things that the world system does to us as Christians.\u00a0 Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:11, \u201cBlessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s talking about the reaction of the world against God\u2019s people, in this case persecution.\n\nThe Bible says we\u2019re blessed when we\u2019re persecuted.\u00a0 We\u2019re not persecuted because we\u2019re rude, crude and obnoxious, it\u2019s very clear here in verse 11 we\u2019re persecuted \u201cbecause of Me,\u201d because of Him in other words, because of Jesus.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s happening in your life then what happens is God calls you \u201cblessed,\u201d a badge of honor is on your life.\u00a0 And this persecution, same verb that the world has for a Christian, is what Satan himself launches against Israel in the second half of the tribulation period.\u00a0 What an explanation as to why believers are persecuted, why the Jews, no matter where they\u2019ve gone in world history always seem to be persecuted no matter where they end up.\n\nAnd what God does there in verse 14 is He performs a rescue operation, just like God stepped in providentially and sovereignly to protect the lineage leading to Christ, Revelation 12:1-5 so that Jesus could be born into this world at the expense of great warfare that took place.\u00a0 Apparently in the second half of the tribulation period God is going to do the exact same thing for the nation of Israel.\n\nNow when I say that and we read verse 14 I don\u2019t want to give you the impression that God steps in and there\u2019s no actual battle, there\u2019s no casualties because there is.\u00a0 That\u2019s what war means; war always involves a casualty count and when you look at Zechariah 13:8-9, what you\u2019ll discover is this casualty count is going to be so severe because of this spiritual war that two-thirds, think about that) two-thirds of the Jewish people will be eliminated.\n\n[Zechariah 13:8, \u201c\u201cIt will come about in all the land,\u201d declares the LORD, \u201cThat two parts in it will \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0be cut off and<\/em> perish; but the third will be left in it.\u00a0 [9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested.\u00a0 They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, \u2018They are My people,\u2019 and they will say, \u2018The LORD is my God.\u2019\u201d]\n\nThe Jewish mindset today, coming out of the holocaust and the World War II era is never again and they say that because in the holocaust under the diabolical and demonically possessed (I believe) Adolf Hitler a third of the Jews lost their lives.\u00a0 And if I\u2019m reading my Bible correctly the next go-around the Jewish nation will lose a third, this time the number will be much higher, it will be two-thirds.\u00a0 And if God doesn\u2019t supernaturally step in and do something then the whole nation of Israel could be completely eradicated.\u00a0 And so, God steps in to preserve the third.\n\nAnd the preservation of God is described there in verse 14. \u00a0Notice what it says: \u201cBut the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 12:14] Who\u2019s the serpent?\u00a0 Satan.\u00a0 Now look at verse 14 at the word \u201cplace,\u201d she\u2019s going to s special place, she\u2019s actually going to her place to receive relief from this attack.\u00a0 Now, when we were back at verse 6 I told you exactly where that place is.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think the Bible is silent as to place that the woman or Israel will flee to; we looked at seven clues in the Bible pointing to the place of geography that Israel will flee to.\u00a0\u00a0 Just by way of review and I have all of the verses on the screen that you can look up in your own study time.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nInitial eviction from heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:12-17\n\nEden\u00a0 (Genesis 3:15)\n\nPre-diluvium world (1 Peter 3:19-20)\n\nCross (John 12:31; 16:11, Colossians 2:15;\u00a0 Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8\n\nMidpoint of the Tribulation, Revelation 12:9\n\nBeginning of millennium, Revelation 20:2-3\n\nEnd of millennium, Revelation 20:10\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nBut the place, wherever it is, it\u2019s got to meet seven characteristics.\u00a0 Number one, it\u2019s got to be a\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 place prepared by God.\u00a0 Number two, it\u2019s got to be a place where God can miraculously give Israel divine provision of food and water.\u00a0\u00a0 Number three, it\u2019s in the wilderness.\u00a0 Number four, it\u2019s in the mountains.\u00a0 Number five, it\u2019s a defensible place.\u00a0 Number six, it\u2019s in today what we call modern day Jordan, Daniel 11:41. [Daniel 11:41, \u201cHe will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.\u201d]\u00a0 And number seven, the place is identified, Micah 2:12 as Bozrah.\u00a0 [Micah 2:12, \u201c\"I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; like a flock in the midst of its pasture they will be noisy with men.\u201d]\n\nThe only place to my knowledge that fits all seven clues or characteristics is the modern country of Jordan and a place called Petra.\u00a0 In fact, when you go to the nation of Israel today you can typically take a Jordan extension and go to Petra in Mt. Seir area and see the exact place where the Jews will flee into the wilderness during this horrific spiritual battle that will take place in the second half of the tribulation.\u00a0 I\u2019ve given you this extended quote from Arnold Fruchtenbaum indicating that all of the clues point to this place called Petra in the modern state of Jordan.\n\n\u201cThe name Bozrah means \u2018sheepfold.\u2019\u00a0 An ancient sheepfold had a narrow entrance so that the shepherd could count his sheep.\u00a0 Once inside the fold, the sheep had more room to move around.\u00a0 Petra is shaped like a giant sheepfold, with its narrow passage opening up to a spacious circle surrounded by cliffs. This is not true of the town of Buseira.\u00a0 Furthermore, by modern Petra is a site known as Buseira, which retains the Hebrew Bozrah\u2026\u00a0 It will be a very defensible city located in Mount Seir\u2026.\u00a0 Furthermore, as they flee and while they are living three, food and water will be miraculously provided.\u201d \u00a0[Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah, Page 296-97]\n\nIn fact, he says here, \u201cby modern Petra is a site known as Buseira, which retains the Hebrew Bozrah\u2026\u201d or sheepfold, which is one of the clues in the Book of Micah, chapter 2 and verse 12.\u00a0 [Micah 2:12, \u201cI will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture They will be noisy with men.\u00a0 So hopefully some of this is sort of a review as we see the place that the Jews are going to flee midway through the tribulation period.\u00a0 It is so interesting to discover that God has given so much information about this end time battle, things that we should know about even as church age believers, things he wants us to understand.\u00a0 And yet how many sermons do you think are taking place in America today on this subject?\u00a0 I would estimate very few.\u00a0 Most of the ear-tickling type preaching and teaching that occurs today in your typical evangelical church will never touch a subject like this.\u00a0 And the fact of the matter is God has disclosed so much of this information to us in His Word.\n\nIf you look back at verse 14 you\u2019ll notice that the verb there, \u201cnourished\u201d is passive.\u00a0 It says, \u201c[\u201cBut the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was<\/u> nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.\u201d\u00a0 And an active verb of course is doing the action; a passive verb is receiving the action.\u00a0 So this woman is receiving or Israel is receiving in the midst of this spiritual conflict where all hell is breaking loose, she\u2019s receiving sustenance and nourishment from God.\n\nOne of the questions that comes up is who is God going to use to sustain this woman.\u00a0 Well, no doubt God Himself is acting directly because it says there in verse 14, \u201cto be nourished by God.\u201d\u00a0 It actually says in verse 14, \u201cBut the wings of the great eagle were given to the woman,\u201d who is giving these things to the woman?\u00a0 God is!\u00a0 So, God no doubt is the ultimate cause of the woman\u2019s nourish\u00adment but you know, God is pretty good at using intermediaries.\u00a0 What are some of the intermedi\u00adaries that God is going to use.\u00a0 I mean, God uses intermediaries all the time, doesn\u2019t He?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t He use Moses as His instrument during the Jewish wilderness wandering years? \u00a0I think one of the intermediaries that God is going to use are angels.\u00a0 Did you know, for example, that according to Matthew 4:11 that after Jesus had gone through the three temptations we read these words in Matthew 4:11, \u201cThen the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.\u201d\n\nIsn\u2019t that what angels do?\u00a0 Hebrews 1:14 says, \u201cAre they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what angels do, they are designed by God to minister to human needs.\u00a0 I think when you get to heaven and God perhaps allows you to look back on the course of your life you\u2019re going to be shocked at how many times the Lord dispatched angels from heaven that you couldn\u2019t see to help you in your specific time of need.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And we know from the Book of Daniel, chapter 12 and verse 1 that Michael exists, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise.\u00a0 [Daniel 12:1, \u201cNow at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s Michael\u2019s job, he protects Israel, he helps Israel out.\u00a0 It\u2019s unfathomable to me that Michael would not somehow be involved in this nourishment to the nation of Israel.\u00a0 But besides angels you know God can use anything He wants to minister to us.\u00a0 In the days of Elijah did He not use ravens, 1 Kings 17:2-7.\u00a0 [1 Kings 17:2-7, \u201cThe word of the LORD came to him, saying, [3] \u201cGo away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. [4] \u201cIt shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.\u201d [5] So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. [6] The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. [7] It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.\u201d]\n\nDid He not use a widow, 1 Kings 17:8-15.\u00a0 [1 Kings 17:8-15, \u201cThen the word of the LORD came to him, saying, [9] \u201cArise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.\u201d [10] So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, \u201cPlease get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.\u201d [11] As she was going to get it,<\/em> he called to her and said, \u201cPlease bring me a piece of bread in your hand.\u201d [12] But she said, \u201cAs the LORD your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.\u201d [13] Then Elijah said to her, \u201cDo not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it<\/em> out to me, and afterward you may make one<\/em> for yourself and for your son. [14] \u201cFor thus says the LORD God of Israel, \u2018The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the face of the earth.\u2019\u201d [15] So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many<\/em> days.\u201d]\n\nDid He not use a bird that is considered by most people to be unclean and someone that is sort of pushed out as society itself, a widow, Luke 4:26-29, to minister to Elijah during his time of need.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Luke 4:26-29, \u201c\u201cBut I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; [26] and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land<\/em> of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. [27] \u201cAnd there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.\u201d [28] And all the people<\/em> in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; [29] and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. [30] But passing through their midst, He went His way.\u201d]\n\nYou see, everybody is worried today about gosh, what if I lose my job?\u00a0 What if my stocks and 401K plan becomes a 201K plan?\u00a0 What\u2019s going to happen to my source of revenue if my business takes a downturn?\u00a0 What\u2019s going to happen to me if all of a sudden, I\u2019m the owner of an apartment building and I can\u2019t get people to rent.\u00a0 And we\u2019re all worried about our source of revenue and income as if God is somehow worried about that.\u00a0\u00a0 God can provide to you through a job, through a career but you think God\u2019s hands are somehow handcuffed.\u00a0 Oh no, the economy went south, the interest rates went up, inflation went up, the business had a downturn\u2026poor God, what\u2019s He going to do now.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is God has a plethora of intermediaries and avenues open to Him.\n\nI mean, we\u2019re told that God will meet our needs, not necessarily our greeds, but our needs, and it\u2019s interesting that when God makes that promise He doesn\u2019t tell you exactly how He\u2019s going to pull it off, does He.\u00a0 I mean, we assume He\u2019s going to use that path or that route but God is not bound by that, He never promises to use that path or that route, He simply promises to meet our needs.\u00a0 And that\u2019s clearly what He did in the days of Elisha.\u00a0 I also think this, that the Gentiles living on the earth at the time, those that happened to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that they will be many, I think they will play some kind of role in ministering to Israel during her darkest hour.\u00a0 I\n\nIsn\u2019t that the whole basis of the sheep and goat judgment which takes place at the end of the tribulation period when the Lord returns, Matthew25:37-40?\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThen the righteous will answer Him, \u2018Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something<\/em> to drink? [38] \u2018And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? [39] \u2018When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?\u2019 [40] Then King will answer and say to them, \u2018Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even<\/em> the least of them,<\/em> you did it to Me.\u2019\u201d Have you ever stopped and thought about the context of that, as who these brothers might be?\u00a0 The last time I checked wasn\u2019t Jesus Jewish?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t His genealogical brothers be Jewish?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t the Jews need a lot of help during the biblical time considering the warfare that they\u2019re going to be under.\n\nAnd isn\u2019t it interesting that the Gentiles who stepped forward during this time period, kind of like Oscar Schindler, the movie Schindler\u2019s List<\/em> and actually step forward and help demonstrate what\u2019s really in their heart.\u00a0 And born-again Christians amongst the Gentiles on the earth at the time will have a natural desire to bless Israel, to help Israel and the Lord will actually look at that in the sheep and goat judgment and see that as what James 2:10 says, your faith is revealed by what you do by your works.\u00a0 [James 2:10, \u201cFor whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.\u201d]\u00a0 Faith without works is dead!\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that we demonstrate what\u2019s really inside of us by our hearts and our desire to help the Jewish people.\u00a0 I would think angels God would use, perhaps ravens, perhaps widows, but He\u2019ll use the Gentiles as well.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice that the expression here in Revelation 12:14, all of this is taking place \u201cfor a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 12:14b]\u00a0 A \u201ctime\u201d is a Jewish year; times is two\u00a0 years, half a time is half a Jewish year.\u00a0 Add up 1 plus 2 plus \u00bd and what do you get?\u00a0 Three and a half years.\u00a0 Sometimes this time period is called (we saw it back in verse 6) \u201cone thousand two hundred and sixty days.\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s called, Revelation 13:5, forty-two months.\u00a0 [Revelation 13:5, \u201cThere was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.\u201d]\n\nThese are all time increments indicating the second half of the tribulation period after Satan has been removed from heaven and is attacking Israel with everything that he\u2019s got.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice this expression here, verse 14, that the woman will be protected \u201cfrom the presence of the serpent.\u201d\u00a0 The serpent of course is Satan. God is shielding her, protecting her, helping her.\n\nAnd isn\u2019t it interesting that in the darkest place of human need for the believer God has already provided the pathway out.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 Did you know that you may be walking through in your life perhaps the darkest time period you\u2019ve ever walked through.\u00a0 And what you\u2019ll discover is that through the valleys of life you\u2019re going to discover something that you can\u2019t discover any other way, you can\u2019t even understand it on the mountain tops what you\u2019re going to see is the faithfulness of God.\u00a0\u00a0 No matter how severe it gets God is always there to provide needs, not necessarily greeds but certainly needs and boy does He come through in the second half of the tribulation period for the nation of Israel.\n\nAnd why wouldn\u2019t God come through?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that His character?\u00a0 \u00a0Isn\u2019t His character that of faithfulness?\u00a0 And doesn\u2019t the Bible say that God cannot change?\u00a0 God cannot lie?\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t the Bible say He\u2019s the same yesterday, today and forever.\u201d [Malachi 3:6<\/a>, \u201cFor I the\u00a0Lord\u00a0do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 James 1:17, \u201cEvery good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. \u00a0Hebrews 13:8, \u201cJesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Why wouldn\u2019t you expect God to show up in your life, to minister to you in your most difficult time.\u00a0 Clearly, He\u2019s doing that here for the nation of Israel.\n\nAnd this whole process of provision and protection is analogized, verse 14, to what?\u00a0 The \u201ctwo wings of the great eagle were given to the woman so that she could fly to the wilderness to her place.\u201d Eagle\u2019s wings!\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cBut the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, [where she was nourished for a time and times and times and a half a time, from the presence of the serpent.\u201d James1:17] Eagle\u2019s wings.\n\nLet me tell you how not to understand that verse because there\u2019s a lot of people out there teaching prophecy that get an A+ in imagination and an F- when it comes to accurate Bible interpretation.\u00a0 There are many people that would tell you, you know what, the eagle is the symbol of the United States of America, and so we know that the United States of America is going to Israel\u2019s rescue at just the right time, just like Israel America has always helped Israel, right?\u00a0 I\u2019m about as patriotic as you can get, if you cut me open I would probably bleed red, white and blue, I love the United States of America so much I want that to be true. \u00a0But here\u2019s the reality of the situation folks. God doesn\u2019t need the United States!\u00a0 Can I say that here in Texas without getting stoned to death?\u00a0 Do we understand that God got along real well before this country was founded a couple hundred or more years ago?\u00a0 And God is going to do just fine after the United States goes its own way.\n\nWho then is this eagle?\u00a0 Well, if you go into the Book of Exodus, chapter 19:4 you\u2019ll see exactly who this eagle is and what this imagery represents.\u00a0 Remember we talked about the rules for interpreting symbols in the Book of Revelation?\u00a0 You search the immediate context, if that doesn\u2019t work you go into the Old Testament.\u00a0 And when you go back to the Book of Exodus, chapter 19 and verse 4 it says this: \u201cYou yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore\u00a0 you on eagle\u2019s wings and brought you to myself.\u201d\n\nYou know the whole process of the nation of Israel coming out of four hundred years of Egyptian bondage, passing through the Red Sea, being sustained in the wilderness, being taken care of even while they were in rebellion for forty years until they finally entered the land under Joshua.\u00a0 That whole process according to Exodus 19:4 is analogized to the imagery of being sustained on the wings of an eagle.\u00a0 And what it\u2019s saying is this: God is saying just like I protected the Moses\u2019 generation from a relentless assault by Pharaoh himself, who after Israel left he had a change of heart and tried to recapture them and they went through the Red Sea, a wall of tall water on each side and the Egyptians pursued and God just closed the Red Sea, end of problem.\u00a0 Just like I did that miracle I\u2019m going to do similar miracles for Israel in the second half of the tribulation period to such an extent that a third of them will be saved and the kingdom at the end of that forty-two-month period will finally materialize.\u00a0\u00a0 And so that\u2019s cycle number one in this war. \u00a0Now we move into verses 15 and 16 where you see cycle number two.\n\nNotice, if you will, Revelation 12 verse 15, here\u2019s the second attack.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cAnd the serpent\u201d who\u2019s that\u2014Satan \u201cpoured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman\u201d who\u2019s the woman? Israel, \u201cso that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Persecution doesn\u2019t work let\u2019s try a flood.\u00a0\u00a0 You say well what\u2019s the flood?\u00a0 Is the flood actual water?\u00a0 It very well could be but remember the basement for the Book of Revelation is the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 Remember what Daniel 9:26 predicts after the nation of Israel\u2026 this is predicted six hundred years in advance after the nation of Israel rejects her king and look what Daniel predicted, \u201cand the people of the prince who is to come\u201d this is Titus of Rome in A.D.70 to destroy the city and the sanctuary, \u201cthe people\u201d forty years after the life of Christ, \u201cthe people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary and its end will come with a\u201d what? the armies under Titus coming into Jerusalem is analogized to a flood.\n\nI would say this, either Satan is trying to physically drown the Jews or perhaps he\u2019s unleashing an army, an army of a size and a capacity the world has never seen and is so profound that it looks like a tidal wave coming against the nation of Israel.\u00a0 You say well gee, pastor, do you respect anything about Satan and I do, he\u2019s a hard worker!\u00a0 Satan has a work ethic that you can\u2019t even believe. First of all he tries persecution, verse 13, that doesn\u2019t work let\u2019s try the army or the flood, let\u2019s see if that works, verse 15.\u00a0 Satan never gives up, that\u2019s part of who he is, part of his nature.\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019m reminded of the verse where Jesus experienced the three temptations in the wilderness in Luke\u2019s account says this: \u201cSatan left him for a more opportune time.\u201d I simply lost this round but I\u2019ll win the next one.\u00a0 And you may have had a victory or two spiritually in your life this week but the fact of the matter is that doesn\u2019t mean that the conflict is called off.\u00a0 In fact, the conflict now intensifies because you now are a greater threat to the kingdom of darkness because you\u2019re walking in obedience under the power of the Holy Spirit.\n\nAnd what does God do?\u00a0 Satan attacks, doesn\u2019t God always show Himself faithful in life\u2019s valleys?\u00a0 You\u2019ll see the rescue operation, verse 16, \u201cThe earth helped the woman\u201d who\u2019s the woman? Israel, \u201cand the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon had poured out of his mouth.\u00a0 Now the chapter in the Bible that you want to study to get the background of this is Numbers 16, and it relates to Korah\u2019s rebellion where a bunch of people got together and they didn\u2019t like what their pastor was doing and he preached sermons, and they were refurbishing their sanctuary and some of them were mad about the color of the carpet and the color of the chairs and we\u2019re not getting our way here, we\u2019re not getting our preferences met here and they ganged up on Moses and they began to grumble against the established leadership and God says to Moses, don\u2019t worry about it, this one\u2019s on Me, and the whole ground opened up and all of the disgruntled churchgoers went right into the ground.\n\nAnd I say wow Lord, would you do that today\u2026. I\u2019m just joking around with you.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s almost like a pastoral dream, I don\u2019t have any problems at this church so I\u2019m not threatening anybody but I do know an awful lot of pastors that are basically under siege by their own congregation.\u00a0 And it\u2019s like my goodness, Numbers 16, grumbling against established leadership you\u2019d better be very sure that you\u2019re doing that under God\u2019s direction because it\u2019s not something that God takes very lightly.\u00a0 And so God is very good at opening the ground to dissolve enemies and apparently this whole army coming in like a flood is swallowed up into the earth as God again is proving Himself faithful in the second half of the tribulation period.\n\nSo cycle one, cycle two, and then we have a summary of the whole thing, Revelation 12, verse 17, \u201cSo the dragon\u201d who\u2019s the dragon?\u00a0 \u201cwas enraged with the woman,\u201d who\u2019s the woman?\u00a0 Israel, \u201cand he went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 If I don\u2019t have Israel then I will attack the two things I hate the most, people that are commandment keepers of God, people that are not only saved on the basis of faith, that are making progress in their spiritual growth, the middle tense of their salvation, and I don\u2019t want them to give their testimony about Jesus because once they start to talk about their testimony about Jesus people are going to start to think and they\u2019re going to start to understand that God changes people\u2019s lives.\u00a0 That\u2019s what a testimony is.\n\nSatan doesn\u2019t want your testimony out there, he doesn\u2019t want you talking about what God has done in your life because that might give somebody else hope.\u00a0 And he certainly doesn\u2019t want you to be following the commandments of God and growing in the middle tense of your salvation.\u00a0 You\u2019re a Christian that\u2019s a testimony Christian, you want to talk about what God has done in your life and you\u2019re a Christian that wants to grow in their faith and you become in the process and opponent of Satan.\u00a0 The church, we believe, won\u2019t be here during this time period, but those that have been positively impacted by the Israeli message of the gospel will have a target on their back. And the reason I like verse 17 is it summarizes the satanic hatred for the woman. It\u2019s right there, folks, for the world to see.\n\nThe descriptors that I have on the screen reveal a mindset of Satan towards Israel.\u00a0 He pursues them with great wrath, verse 12. He persecutes them, verse 13.\u00a0 His whole ambition is to sweep them away, verse 15.\u00a0 He is enraged at them.\u00a0 Now the Greek word for enraged there, verse 17, is orgiz<\/em>\u014d<\/em> think of the words that are derived from orgiz<\/em>\u014d <\/em>or orge<\/em>, a sexual term communicating unrestrained passion.\u00a0 But here the word is not being used in the sexual sense; it\u2019s being used in the anger sense and it\u2019s talking about what goes through the devil\u2019s mind when he looks at Israel?\u00a0 And anger comes over him that he can\u2019t even control.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot like when you\u2019re working in the garage and your hammering away and you miss the nail and you whack yourself right on the thumb and for an instant you\u2019re just so angry that you could be so dumb.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost like an uncontrolled anger.\u00a0 Now you guys don\u2019t look at me all spiritual like it never happens to you.\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\nAnd you\u2019re so angry you could take the thing and throw it right through the window.\u00a0 That\u2019s how Satan is when he looks at Israel.\u00a0 And then the word \u201cwar\u201d is used; the word war is polemos<\/em>, where we get the word polemical, or a polemicist, someone who is warlike. It\u2019s the opposite of someone who is eirenic<\/em> or peace like.\u00a0 Satan hates the nation of Israel; he hates the Jewish people.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s through the nation of Israel that the world has been blessed and will be blessed.\u00a0 The patriots, the Law, the prophets, the Messiah Himself, Jesus, (who by the way was not a Southern Baptist).\u00a0 I can get myself lynched in Texas for saying that.\u00a0 Jesus was not a Southern Baptist, He was not a Presbyterian, He was not a Methodist, He wasn\u2019t even a member of a Bible church.\u00a0 He was as Jewish as they come.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t have Jesus or His proper name, Yeshua, had God not worked providentially through the Jewish nation.\u00a0 The apostles were all Jewish.\u00a0 Every writer of this book is Jewish.\u00a0 The only one they debate any more is Luke, and some people think Luke was Jewish too, but I would make all of them Jewish.\u00a0 All of the early church was Jewish; no Gentiles in the early church.\u00a0 The early Christian martyrs, like Stephen, all Jewish. Paul, where would we be without Paul?\u00a0 The missionary journeys, the two-thirds of the New Testament letters that he wrote, all Jewish, and the future kingdom.\u00a0 That\u2019s the blessing that Satan hates is the Jewish kingdom headquartered in the city of Jerusalem.\n\nDo you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 23:37-39?\u00a0 Jesus said to the Jews who were rejecting them, the nation that is, \u201cJerusalem, Jerusalem,\u201d there\u2019s no doubt who He\u2019s talking to here, \u201cwho kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!\u00a0 How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. [38] Behold, your house\u201d their temple, \u201cis being left to you desolate!\u00a0 [39] For I say to you,\u201d watch this now, \u201cFor I say to you from now on you\u201d Israel, \u201cwill not see Me again\u201d second coming, \u201cuntil you say, \u2018BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!\u2019\u201d\u00a0 This is not the rapture, this is the Second Advent where He comes to rescue Israel at the end of the tribulation period.\u00a0 I\u2019m not coming for you until you say \u201cBlessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s Psalm 118:26 which is a Messianic Psalm.\u00a0 Translation, \u201cI am not coming back for this nation until this nation acknowledges Me as their Messiah.\n\nNow what would you do if you were the devil? The devil says I\u2019ll stop this from happening.\u00a0 I\u2019ll just kill every Jew.\u00a0 If every Jew is dead and the earth no longer has any representatives from the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, this conversion can\u2019t happen, the second coming will never occur and I continue reigning over the world as I always have since Genesis 3.\u00a0 \u00a0What\u2019s the title of this sermon?\u00a0 Why the World Hates Israel.\u00a0 It explains an awful lot, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 It certainly explains that guy in the middle, Adolf Hitler.\u00a0 It explains the Middle Eastern Islamic fundamentalists abhorrence for the nation of Israel where in their very charters it\u2019s revealed that they want to drive Israel into the sea, in this case the Mediterranean.\u00a0 How do you make a deal for peace with someone like that?\u00a0 You CAN\u2019T!\u00a0 In fact, whatever ground is given they will take it as a beachhead to launch another attack, and another attack\n\nAnd you say well, wait a minute, they promised they wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 Hitler made that same promise of a similar kind, did he not, to Neville Chamberlain.\u00a0 In the Middle East they don\u2019t operate by Biblicist principles.\u00a0 They don\u2019t operate in good faith.\u00a0 They follow something called Takeo, where you are allowed to lie to advance your agenda.\u00a0 Do you understand that?\u00a0 Every time the United States sits down with Israel over here and the Muslims over here carving out some kind of deal, land for peace, you have to understand something, that one of the sides is lying right through their teeth, as is called for by their own religious system, Takeo. And isn\u2019t it tragic when antisemitism enters the ranks of Christianity?\n\nThere\u2019s a lot of wonderful things that Martin Luther, the great church reformer did but let me tell you something---the man had a dark side and he wrote about it in a tract that you can find online for free and download it to your Kindle, it spans 80 pages, it\u2019s The Jews and Their Lies<\/em>.\u00a0 You want a few snippets of this?\u00a0 First, their synagogues should be set on fire\u2026\u00a0 Secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed.\u00a0\u00a0 Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayer books and Talmud\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0 Fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach any more.\u00a0 Fifthly, passport and traveling privileges should be forbidden to the Jews.\u00a0 Sixthly, they ought to be stopped from charging interest on loans.\u00a0 Seventhly, let the young Jews and Jewesses be given the flail, the axe, the hoe, the spade, the distaff that\u2019s in both; let them earn their bread by the sweat of their noses\u2026. We ought to drive the rascally lazy bones out of our system.\u00a0 Therefore, away with them.\u00a0 Sum up your princes and nobles who have Jews in your domain and this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that you and we may all be free of this insufferable devilish burden---the Jews.\u00a0\u00a0 [Martin Luther, Concerning The Jews and Their Lies<\/em>, cited in Michael Brown\u2019s Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, pp. 14-15.]\n\nI\u2019m to a very large extent a fan of Martin Luther for the good things that he did, but I\u2019m not one of those people that will whitewash something and cover up something because he may have scored some points for God in one game\u2026 what about the rest of his career and the rest of his life?\u00a0 In fact, today when you go to Israel you can go to a place called Yad Vashem. It\u2019s the Holocaust Museum.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the smartest things the Jews ever did is put that museum together because today you know what we have?\u00a0 Holocaust deniers.\u00a0 That museum shows you that it\u2019s a fact, the holocaust happened.\u00a0 Here are the names, here are the lives that were lost.\u00a0 It is documented history and in fact here are the names, here are the lives that were lost, it is documented history.\u00a0 In fact, when you walk into the Holocaust Museum do you know one of the first pictures you run into in Yad Vashem?\u00a0 Martin Luther.\u00a0 The Jews understand exactly what this man was saying in this horrific book that he wrote, The Jews and Their Lies.\u00a0 <\/em>In fact, encyclopedia Judaica says this: \u201cShort of the Auschwitz oven and the extermination, the whole Nazi holocaust is pre-outlined here.\u201d\u00a0 [Martin Luther, in Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 8, 693.]\n\nIn the same encyclopedia Lucy Davidowitz says this, \u201c\u2026 both Luther and Hitler were obsessed by the demonologized universe, inhabited by the Jews.\u00a0 [I\u2019ve talked about this openly and every time I do I get a bunch of people mad at me because they want to protect their guy.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is the Lutheran denomination itself, Luther\u2019s spiritual descendants offered an apology for what he said.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the way it reads: \u201cWe Lutherans take our name and much of our under\u00adstanding of Christianity from Martin Luther.\u00a0 But we cannot accept or condone the violent verbal attacks that the Reformer made against the Jews\u2026.\u00a0 The sins of Luther\u2019s anti-Jewish remarks, the violence of his attacks on the Jews, must be acknowledged with deep distress.\u00a0\u00a0 And all occasions for similar sin in the present or the future must be removed from our churches\u2026.\u00a0 Lutherans of today refuse to be bound by all of Luther\u2019s utterances on the Jews.\u201d [Lucy Dawidoowicz, \u201cMartin Luther in Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol 8, 693.]\n\nThey\u2019re acknowledging what he did do to them positively but they\u2019re distancing himself from some of the other things that he said.\u00a0 I\u2019ve done this talk and talks like this and people say well, Luther, you know, towards the end of his life he was just grumpy, he was angry, he was mad at everybody, grumpy old man syndrome.\u00a0 Let me tell you something, to go on for 80 pages line after line after line after line after line in such detail shows me there\u2019s something far more going on than just someone in a bad mood, that didn\u2019t have enough coffee that morning or was having a bad hair day.\u00a0\u00a0 There was something whispering in his ear.\n\nAnd that same something is alive and well in the second half of the tribulation period.\u00a0 How can you attribute this to grumpiness when Luther\u2019s own denomination distanced themselves from his remark?\u00a0 And you say well, I\u2019m glad we have John Calvin, he was better, wasn\u2019t he?\u00a0 Well Calvin was a little smarter in how he said things but he was just as bad.\u00a0 John Calvin says, criticizing a rabbi, \u201cBut here [the rabbi] not only betrays his ignorance, but his utter stupidity, since God so blinded the whole people that they were like restive dogs.\u00a0 I have had much conversations with many Jews and I have never seen a drop of piety or a grain of truth or an ingenuousness---nay, I have never found common sense in any Jew.\u201d\u00a0 Could you imagine today saying something like that about a race of people?\u00a0 \u201cBut this fellow, who seems so sharp and ingenious, displays his own impudence to his great disgrace.\u201d\u00a0 [Commentary on the Prophet Daniel (Vol 1, p 185).\u00a0 Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.\u00a0 Commentary on Daniel 2:44-45.\u00a0 (2010)]\n\nWhat did Calvin call the Jews?\u00a0 Profane, unholy, sacrilegious dogs, describing them as a barbaric nation; he says the people of Israel are rejected by God.\u00a0 \u00a0I don\u2019t think you can trace antisemitism all the way back to the fourth century but they sure carried it over.\u00a0 And they may have made some great contributions to Christianity but they didn\u2019t do a lot to stem this problem.\u00a0 In fact, what does your Bible say?\u00a0\u00a0 Your Bible says, \u201cThe day will come,\u201d God says, \u201cwhen I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for\u201d who? \u201call peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.\u201d\u201d Zechariah 14:2, the same prophet, Zechariah, \u201cFor I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished\u201d do you understand that in Islam a man has a right to rape his wife?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.\u201d\u00a0 Your Bible predicts a pretty difficult time that\u2019s coming when all the nations\u2026 last time I checked \u201call\u201d means \u201cALL\u201d doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 That would even include the late great United States of America wouldn\u2019t it?\u00a0 I hope and pray it doesn\u2019t happen on our watch but it\u2019s in the cards because all means ALL!\u00a0 This explains the total irrational mindset of antisemitism.\n\nYou see those countries up there, those are Islamic countries.\u00a0 Do you see that little red dot, it\u2019s so small you can\u2019t even see it, I had to draw arrow to it. That\u2019s Israel. Do you know what the United Nations thinks?\u00a0 If Israel just gave up a little more we\u2019d have world peace, which is insane, it defies logic.\u00a0 Benjamin Netanyahu put it this way, (and I\u2019m very happy, by the way, he got re-elected).\u00a0 \u201cIf the Arabs put down their weapons today there would be no more violence.\u00a0 If the Jews put down their weapons today there would be no more Israel,\u201d because it\u2019s spiritually motivated.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Well, gee pastor, this is pretty heavy-duty stuff, what do you want us to do about it?\u00a0 Six quick things:\u00a0 Who are we? We are those unnatural branches that have been brought in; the natural branches broken off of Israel, the unnatural branches brought in is us, Gentile Christians.\u00a0 You know Paul gives some pretty specific instructions to those unnatural branches as they think about the natural branches?\u00a0 You know what he says?\u00a0 Romans 11:18, \u201cDo not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.\u201d\u00a0 You would have nothing spiritually speaking if God hadn\u2019t worked providentially and sovereignly through the Jewish people.\u00a0 And you Gentiles never forget that!\u00a0 You should NEVER develop in your mind a calloused and hardened heart towards the nation of Israel, even while they are in unbelief because God says, Romans 11:28-29, from the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God\u2019s choice \u201cthey are beloved for the sake of the fathers; [29] for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.\u201d\n\nIs that how you look at the nation of Israel that has been such an irritant to Christians and Christianity?\u00a0 Do you understand that maybe they are enemies now but they are beloved for the sake of the patriarchs?\u00a0 Number one, don\u2019t be arrogant towards them.\u00a0 Number two, love them.\u00a0 And by the way, love doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t give them the gospel; there\u2019s a mindset in Christianity today that says the Jews have been beaten down so far that we\u2019re not even going to give them the gospel any more.\u00a0 You know what that is?\u00a0 That\u2019s your ultimate act of antisemitism.\n\nIf you deprive a Jewish person of the gospel that is not love.\u00a0 Number one, don\u2019t be arrogant towards them.\u00a0 Number two, love them.\u00a0 Number three, regarding antisemitism recognize its source, the devil, it\u2019s from the pit of hell.\u00a0 Number four, do not take part in it!\u00a0 Don\u2019t laugh at the stereo typical joke that makes fun of a Jewish person.\u00a0 Don\u2019t support and promote churches that cut Israel off.\u00a0 In fact, when I was living in the Dallas area\u2026 I am getting ready to wrap up, believe it or not, I had to make a choice related to a church that I was going to leave that particular church and believe it or not I can be pretty tolerant, I can put up with an awful lot of stuff but the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back is when they brought a missionary speaker into the pulpit and he sat up in front of the congregation and he said the modern state of Israel is not Isaac but it is Ishmael.\n\nIn other words, the modern state of Israel has nothing to do with God, it\u2019s a work of man. And I said to my wife, we\u2019ve got to leaven, we can\u2019t support this through our finances, we can\u2019t support this through our attendance, because that puts us on the wrong side of the angelic conflict, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t take part in it, expose it.\u00a0 Ephesians 5:11 says \u201cDo not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.\u201d\u00a0 And then finally, number six, don\u2019t be surprised by anti-Semitism, isn\u2019t it a shock that you can have anti-Semitism in our world today so close to the holocaust?\u00a0 How could it happen?\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 12 tells you exactly what happened.\u00a0 It\u2019s not logic based at all, it\u2019s related to Satan and his desire to retain power and a position in the angelic conflict.\n\nYou know, God said this in Genesis 12:3, \u201cAnd I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will\u201d what? \u201ccurse.\u201d\u00a0 Did you know that there\u2019s one of Abraham\u2019s descendants that you have to bless to get to heaven?\u00a0 And who is that?\u00a0 That\u2019s Jesus of Yeshua.\u00a0 If you won\u2019t bless Him by believing in Him then you\u2019ll be under a curse which is hell itself.\u00a0 You see the outworking of Genesis 12:3 in the proclamation of the gospel. If you won\u2019t bless Him you don\u2019t get in.\u00a0 How do you bless Him?\u00a0 You believe in what He\u2019s done or you trust in what He has done. We call this the gospel, good news, He did everything necessary to bridge the gap between fallen humanity and a holy God.\u00a0 Everything that can be done has been done, He simply asks you to bless Him and you bless Him by believing in Him, trusting in Him.\n\nIf the Spirit of God is convicting anybody within the sound of my voice to bless that descendant of the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our exhortation to you is to do that today; to do that now, even as I am speaking and to move out of the curses of the Abrahamic promises into the blessings.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\u00a0\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for Revelation 12 and what it speaks to us, what it reveals to us about the angelic conflict and why the world hates Israel.\u00a0 Help us to be a people in these last days on Your side.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t