Revelation 12:7-17 "Wings of eagles"
Revelation 12:7-17
Exodus 19:1-6
“Wings of eagles”
God spoke these words to Moses, in the wilderness on Mount Sinai.
You can find it in Exodus 19: 4
“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself”
Moses had led his people, the Israelites out of Egypt into the wilderness so that they could worship God on the mountain.
And despite all the moaning of the Israelites, as they feared for a lack of water, feared for a lack or food, feared for a lack of protection, feared for a lack of guidance….and as they even fantasised to a return to slavery in Egypt……God reminded them through Moses, time after time, that it was He who brought them out of slavery, it was He who carried them through the waters, as He parted them, it was He who provided their water and food, it was He who guided them each step of the way, pillar of could by day, a pillar of fire by night.
And yes, the Israelites, had to respond to all that God provided, as they walked through the Red sea with walls of water surrounding them, as they had to gather the food that God rained down from heaven, as theyworshipped him at the mountain that God brought them to……. But it was ultimately God who carried them like an eagle on his wings.
Despite all the all attacks that came the Israelites way, it was God who kept them, it was God who protected them.
When the Israelites were trapped between the Red sea and the Egyptian Army, it was God who parted the waters for the Israelites to go safely through, it was God who collapsed those same waters on the Egyptian army- destroying them all.
The enemy of God’s people were powerful.
The Egyptian army had chariots, horses, swords, armour.
The enemy of God’s people, particularly the Egyptian Pharaoh was crafty, He lied and deceived.
Often he promised God’s people safe passage, only later on to change his mind.
The enemy of God’s people was brutal, he threw all the first born Hebrew babies in the river Nile and drowned them.
And yet despite the Egyptian army being powerful, mighty, cunning and crafty, and God’s people being anything but……. A bunch of nomads who thought they had trapped themselves between a rock and hard place, God protected his people and was victorious over their enemies.
How did this seemingly inferior people conquer the inferior?
God was protecting them, he was strengthening them, he was carrying them, like on the wings of eagles.
Often in the scriptures, God’s protection and God’s strengthening of his people is described like his people flying on the wings of an eagle.
Isaiah 40:31 says this:
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles;they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Clearly, those who wait for the Lord, shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall renew their strength, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint.
As the Israelites were stuck between the Red sea and the Egyptian army, they had to wait upon the Lord, and as they did, the Lord opened the sea and he carried them through.
Friends, as we, God’s people wait upon him, he will give is strength to keep living for Him, he will protect us, he will carry us.
God may often bring us to points in our life where we are stuck between the red sea and the Egyptian army- there is nothing we can do in our own strength. No strategy we can work out, no formula we can generate, no skills we can apply, and so in that moment of recognising our human weakness, we look to God, we wait upon Him, and as we do that brothers and sisters, he will renew our strength, renew our resolve to keep trusting in him, renew our Joy that we find in Jesus.
Now, at this point, you may be asking, well that is all well and good Paul, but what has any of that got to do with Revelation 12?
Well, everything, just look at Revelation 12:14, because you will see this same image of the wings of eagles used here too.
But the woman was given two wings of the great eagle, so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, times and half a time.
Now, we are going to spend some time just unpacking this verse, but before we do, I don’t want you to get lost in the detail, just remember this……
God will protect his church, God will protect his people……. God will give us the strength to keep believing, keep proclaiming his word, despite any opposition that this world may throw at us, and we must continue to humble ourselves and wait upon Him.
The church, God’s people, may look inferior, stuck, unimpressive, and the opposition may look powerful, but God will keep his people, he will continue to renew the strength of those who wait on him, he will continue to uplift his people.
He will give us wings of eagles.
Now, if you remember from last week, the woman here in Revelation chapter 12, represents God’s people. In verse 1 of chapter 12, the woman is described as a pregnant woman who was clothed with the sun, had the moon under her feet and had a crown of 12 stars. And if you remembered, this echoed the vision Jospeh had of his brothers (the stars) and his mum and dad (the sun and the moon) all bowing down to him. Hence the sun, moon and stars represent the 12 tribes of Isreal, which represents all God’s people who are born through the death and resurrection of Christ. Or as verse 17 tells us, all those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
The other character mentioned in this chapter is the ancient serpent, and it tells us in verse 9, that is the devil.
Here in this chapter, it tells us that the angel Michael and his angelic army, had a war in heaven with Satan and his angels.
Michael and his angels won and Satan and his angels were thrown out of heaven and cast down to earth.
Now, Michael and his angels only won that battle against Satan because Christ defeated him at the cross.
And so in Revelation 12, when it is talking about the war in heaven which Jesus won, it is specifically talking about the time when Jesus died and rose again.
When Jesus died and rose again, there was no longer any room for Satan in heaven, because Satan’s job became obsolete.
And what was his job?
Look at verse 10 with me:
And 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 brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
Satan’s job in heaven was to accuse God’s people of being sinners, who deserved death.
Satan knows that God is Holy and righteous, he knows that God has to punish sin, and so day and night he accuses God’s people before God….. “he did this…he deserves death, she did that…she deserves death” – and his accusations have merit.
In the book of Job, we see that Satan approached God’s throne and he accused Job of having a “genie in a bottle type” love for God.
Satan accused Job before God that Job had a very shallow faith if any at all.
“Job only loves you because he is rich and has a big family and you look after him”
Satan, the created being, appeals to God’s character in order to kill and destroy God’s people. Jesus called Satan a thief, a killer and destroyer (John 10:10)
And yet praise be to God, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, Satan’s accusations against us no longer stand in the throne room of God.
Satan can no longer accuse us, because when Christ died, he took the punishment we deserved, he satisfied the wrath of God. At the cross, God justified sinners like me and you.
Yes, we are sinners
Yes, we deserve death
But, but but…….Christ has taken our death for us
Christ has paid for all our sins
Christ has justified sinners like me and you.
And just like Job, God may allow Satan to cause us trouble, but he will never eternally hurt us, because Jesus has already defeated him.
And because Satan knows he cannot accuse us any longer, this makes him furious and he will try all he can to draw us away from the safety of Christ.
He will lie, deceive, manipulate…..anything to pull us away from the safety of Christ.
Look at verse 17 with me:
17 Then the dragon (Satan) became furious with the woman (us- God’s people) and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.
Friends, Satan hates it when we gather here in the name of Jesus.
He will try all sorts of tricks to stop you meeting together as God’s people.
Satan hates it when you pray.
He will try all sorts of ways to stop you praying
Satan hates it when you read your bible.
He will try may ways to stop you picking up your bible.
And the main way he will try and pull us away from Christ, is the same methods he has been using since the beginning of time, through lies and deception.
This is what verse 15 is referring to: look at verse 15 with me:
The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood
Satan’s weapon is his mouth.
Satan will bombard us with lies and deception to try and draw us away from Christ, and as his time drawers closer to an end, for he knows his time is short, compared to eternity, he will try harder and harder.
Friends, this is why it crucial that we must know the truth of God’s word.
It is a matter of life and death.
We must soak in God’s word.
We cannot keep treating God’s word like a genie in a bottle, something we can get out once in a while if we want something, NO, we must know the truth of God’s word, it is a matter of life and death.
1 Thessalonians 5:20-22
Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
Friends, let me encourage you today, to test everything.
Test what I am saying to you now through the lens of God’s word.
Let me encourage you to test when people say “this is what the bible says”-
“Does it, in what context?
Test everything that you see on your news feed.
Is it AI generated?
And yes brothers, test everything, but and this is what I want to leave with you today, do not be overcome with anxiety.
That is another trick of the devil, he will throw many things at us, like raging flood waters bursting through the banks, but do not fear……know this…..this is one thing, one thing that you hold onto in the current, hold on to this one truth and don’t let go…..
We have conquered Satan through the blood of the lamb
Revelation 12:11 has the audacity to say that we conquered Satan.
So intwined is Christ and his people, so intwined is Christ and you and me, that his victory over Satan is counted as ours.
Christ has already defeated him, his time is running out.
The enemy may seem overwhelming, but he is defeated.
We may seem weak but we are victorious.
Victorious, not through any of our own efforts, but through Christ and his blood.
Friends, whatever struggle you may face this week, whatever persecution, whatever difficulty, take it to the Lord, wait upon him, and he will renew your strength, we He will mount you with the wings of eagles.
Let us pray.
Comments