By Bishop Elijah H.
Hankerson III, BA, MA, DD
LESSON NOTES:
I.
REMEMBER
THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING REVELATION HAS ALREADY BEEN GIVEN.
Revelation 1:19 19"Write, therefore,
what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
II.
THE
DRAGON.
A.
THE
WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN IS THE NATION OF ISRAEL.
Revelation 12:1-2 1A great sign appeared in
heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown
of twelve stars on her head. 2She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was
about to give birth.
1. The Abraham make covenant promised that a great
nation with spring from Abraham and that the Messiah would be produced to his
lineage.
Genesis 12:1-3 1The LORD had said to Abram,
"Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land
I will show you. 2"I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless
you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3I will bless
those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on
earth will be blessed through you."
2.
A
King was to arise from the nation of Israel.
Genesis 49:28 28All these are the twelve
tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed
them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
Genesis 49:10 10The scepter will not
depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall
be his.
Micah 5:2 2"But you, Bethlehem
Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come
for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from
ancient times."
B. THE GREAT RED DRAGON IS SATAN. Here his fall is described. The heads and horns
represent extreme powers over nations.
Revelation 12:3-4 3Then another sign appeared
in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven
crowns on its heads. 4Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and
flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about
to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.
Revelation 12:7-12 7Then war broke out in
heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and
his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their
place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down-that ancient serpent called
the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth,
and his angels with him. 10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now
have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the
authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who
accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11They
triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12Therefore
rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the
sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he
knows that his time is short."
1. This lesson series has already discussed how
Satan obtained tremendous power in the earth, due to the fall of humanity. Even the Lord Jesus Himself does not refute
Satan about this; and even refers to him as the ruler of this world.
Luke 4:5-8 5The devil led him up to a
high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he
said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has
been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7If you worship me, it
will all be yours." 8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the
LORD your God and serve him only.'"
John 12:31 New Living
Translation (NLT)
31 The time for judging this
world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out.
C. THE MAN CHILD IS JESUS CHRIST.
Revelation 12:5 5She gave birth to a son, a
male child, who "will rule all the nations with an iron scepter." And
her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
1. Many Scriptures referred to his ascension and
authority.
Acts 1:9-11 9After he said this, he was
taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10They
were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men
dressed in white stood beside them. 11"Men of Galilee," they said,
"why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been
taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go
into heaven."
Psalm 2 English Standard
Version (ESV)
2
Why do the nations rage
and
the peoples plot in vain?
2
The kings of the earth set
themselves,
and
the rulers take counsel together,
against
the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3
“Let us burst their bonds
apart
and
cast away their cords from us.”
4
He who sits in the heavens
laughs;
the
Lord holds them in derision.
5
Then he will speak to them in
his wrath,
and
terrify them in his fury, saying,
6
“As for me, I have set my
King
on
Zion, my holy hill.”
7
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are
my Son;
today
I have begotten you.
8
Ask of me, and I will make
the nations your heritage,
and
the ends of the earth your possession.
9
You shall break them with
a rod of iron
and
dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”
10
Now therefore, O kings, be
wise;
be
warned, O rulers of the earth.
11
Serve the Lord with fear,
and
rejoice with trembling.
12
Kiss the Son,
lest
he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for
his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take
refuge in him.
D. THE TIME IN THE WILDERNESS IS DURING THE GREAT
TRIBULATION. During the last 3 1/2
years of the Great Tribulation, satan will try his best to destroy Israelites
who have received Christ as Savior. However, they have been sealed. They will
have to give their lives. But, they won’t lose their testimony. This lesson series
has already discussed that fact in regard to the 144,000; the remnant of Israel
that will be saved.
Revelation 12:13-17 13When the dragon saw that
he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to
the male child. 14The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that
she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would
be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach.
15Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the
woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16But the earth helped the woman by
opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of
his mouth. 17Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war
against the rest of her offspring-those who keep God's commands and hold fast
their testimony about Jesus.
1. Paul prayed for Israel to be saved. God always has a remnant.
Romans 10:1-3 1Brothers and sisters, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2For
I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not
based on knowledge. 3Since they did not know the righteousness of God and
sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
Romans 11:25-26 25I do not want you to be
ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be
conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of
the Gentiles has come in, 26and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is
written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away
from Jacob.
Isaiah 6:13 13And though a tenth remains
in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave
stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump
in the land."
Romans 11:5 5So too, at the present time
there is a remnant chosen by grace.
Romans 9:27 27Isaiah cries out
concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand
by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
Isaiah 10:20 20In that day the remnant of
Israel, the survivors of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down
but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
III.
THE
BEAST. This is the Antichrist
that opposes God and anything associated with God. Most of the world will
receive him as a tremendous political leader.
A.
The
Antichrist has tremendous power that has been given to him by Satan. Antichrist is fierce, ferocious and effective at
all that he does. All Believer’s in the Lord Jesus Christ (who will refuse to
worship Antichrist) will be killed.
Revelation 13:1-10 1The dragon stood on the
shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and
seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.
2The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a
mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne
and great authority. 3One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal
wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with
wonder and followed the beast. 4People worshiped the dragon because he had
given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked,
"Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?" 5The beast was
given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its
authority for forty-two months. 6It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to
slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7It was
given power to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them. And it
was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8All
inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast-all whose names have not been
written in the Lamb's book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of
the world. 9Whoever has ears, let them hear. 10"If anyone is to go into
captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the
sword, with the sword they will be killed." This calls for patient
endurance and faithfulness on the part of God's people.
B. The False Prophet is also described as a beast. He is a tremendous religious leader. Because he
is able to work signs and wonders everyone applauds his spirituality. He
appears godly because he seems like a lamb. However it is Satan that empowers
him. And through his influence people worship the Antichrist.
Revelation 13:11-15 11Then I saw a second beast,
coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a
dragon. 12It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and
made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound
had been healed. 13And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down
from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14Because of the signs it
was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the
inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the
beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15The second beast was given
power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could
speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
IV. THE MARK OF THE
BEAST. With an economy that is
in shambles, famine, disease and death; what seems to be a wonderful solution
occurs. People can conveniently receive a mark and through that they can feed
their families, have their jobs, establish businesses, etc. The only catch is
that to do so would proclaim your loyalty to the Antichrist receiving him as
God. Any true believer is going to refuse to do that. Which will lead to their
death. In many languages letters also represent numbers. We do not know the
language. But, whatever language the Antichrist will use the total number and
his name is 666.
Revelation 13:16-18 16It also forced all people,
great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their
right hands or on their foreheads, 17so that they could not buy or sell unless
they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of
the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
V. CONCLUSION. Jesus is coming back. Don’t get left behind!
Receive Christ today as Lord and Savior.
A.
PRAYER
FOR SALVATION FOR YOU TO KNOW JESUS CHRIST; THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. As we close, if you have not received this Jesus
pray this simple prayer:
"Father, I know
that I have sinned against You. Please forgive me. Wash me clean. I promise to
trust in Jesus, Your Son. I believe that He died for me—He took my sin upon
Himself when He died on the cross. I believe that He was raised from the dead.
I surrender my life to Jesus today.
"Thank You, Father, for Your gift of
forgiveness and eternal life. Please help me to live for you. In Jesus' name,
Amen."
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