I always love sunshine. Hallelujah. We have had our dreary days, but the Lord came through today. Hallelujah.
You know what, though? He was there. If it had not been for those dreary days, I probably would not have gotten to where I am this morning, because that forced me to stay inside, really, and be before the Lord more. Thank the Lord.
Lord, we are so grateful for this table. It constantly brings us back to You—to Your great work of Calvary, to that resurrection, to our ascended Lord Jesus, to the One who sits on the throne and is patiently waiting for His bride to get ready, that He might return.
Lord, we thank You. Lord, we thank You for the joy of knowing You—not only our salvation, but, Lord, just that daily encounter, those new mercies that You show us each morning. Lord, the fact that You so dearly love us, that every moment of our life is important to You.
Oh, Lord, thank You. Thank You for this blessed assurance: Jesus is mine.
Lord, we do ask that You would anoint us, and that we might share together this morning out of Your Word on Revelation 12. Lord, we just want to express Your heart this morning, and Your thoughts, and not mine.
And Lord, I just ask the covering of the blood of Jesus over all that is said and over all that is heard, Lord, that only the Holy Spirit’s voice could come through. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, saints, we will get to Revelation 12, I think, Lord willing. But as I was locked into the house, it was good because I considered this chapter.
I kept saying, “Lord, is there something I missed?” And the Lord, I believe, gave me a new perspective on Revelation 12—not a different interpretation, just a perspective.
It was like I had been looking at it without my glasses on, and then all of a sudden I put them on. I saw something that just encouraged me.
Strangely enough, the way the Lord brought it about was that I had been considering this chapter, and I usually do a little daily thing with T. Austin-Sparks—little thoughts. The one I happened to pull up, out of the thirty or forty I have on my computer, spoke of “the unfinished course.”
It was just a little short phrase in there: the unfinished course. I could not get away from that thought. What a tragedy, when we think about the unfinished course.
We have probably experienced things in our lives that we started out to do and, for various reasons, could not finish. It was a disappointment to us.
But as I thought about this, that is when I began to see something about Revelation 12—the woman and the man child. That chapter is about finishing the course. It is about finishing the course.
I said, “Lord, I just had not quite seen it in that way.” As I talked about overcomers—and, you know, last week I shared about passion—our passion for the Lord.
How we need passion. Passion is a neutral word, of course. It is what we put our passion upon that matters: a passion for the Lord.
As we shared last week, our passion for the Lord comes out when we see His passion for us: that passion that caused Him to come from the glory of heaven with the Father, as the Son of God, to this earth, to become a Son of Man.
That passion He had for you and for me, in the garden, when He was praying and settling the issue of dealing with the cross, saying, “Father, not My will, but Thine, be done,” and then going to the cross.
We saw His passion for man. We saw His passion for those who cried out, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” The first thing He said on the cross was, “Father, forgive them. They just do not see it.”
Then, for His mother—brothers and sisters—with all the wounds and slashes and beatings He had endured, and the pain He was in, He saw His mother there. Surely she was greatly grieved. But He was more grieved, and He said, “John, you need to take care of My mother.”
And the thief on the cross—was he worthy of the Lord’s thought? No. But the Lord saw him there. The thief asked that the Lord might remember him when He came into His kingdom, and the Lord said, “You will be with Me this day in paradise.” What compassion, but what passion the Lord had for man.
That is the passion He has for you and me. Now, brothers and sisters, not only do we need a passion for the Lord, but we need a passion for what is on the Lord’s heart.
We need a passion for the Lord Himself, and I believe if we do, we will have a passion for what is on His heart.
This morning, what is on my heart out of Revelation 12 is a passion to complete the course—a passion to complete your course.
Let us begin with Acts 20, verses 22 through 24. We do not have the screen up this morning, so you will have to use your Bibles, your iPads, or your memory. Please turn there. I think it is important to get your eyes on the Word.
This is Paul:
And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
save that the Holy Spirit testifieth unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
But I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
—Acts 20:22-24
“None of these things move me. I do not count my life dear to myself, that I might finish the course.” Nothing must hinder me from finishing my course.
Let me say right up front: the Lord Jesus Christ has a course for everyone sitting in this room—every brother and sister in Christ. He has a passion for you, not only to save you, but that He might see to it that you finish your course.
Prior to Paul’s conversion, prior to meeting the Lord on the Damascus road, Paul had a passion. He had a passion for the law. He had a passion for religion. He thought he was right.
Brothers and sisters, he was persecuting Christians, throwing them in prison, and was most likely involved in the judgment against Stephen, the first martyr that we see in the Bible. Paul had a passion, but it was a misplaced passion.
But when he met the Lord on the Damascus road, his whole life changed. His course of life was changed.
He now had a purpose in life—a course, a purpose: the purpose of God. He was captured by it, and he had a passion that the course the Lord had put him on, he would finish.
The Lord told him through Ananias that he would have to suffer many things for His name’s sake. In 2 Corinthians, Paul lists the beatings, shipwrecks, and perils he endured: perils of thieves, robbers, Jews, Gentiles, and Judaizers. There was peril after peril.
Here in Acts, he knows something lies ahead for him. He knows that when he gets to Jerusalem, he will be taken and bound, and he will enter into afflictions. But it did not deter him, brothers and sisters.
He would not let anything get in the way of finishing his course. He did not draw back. He went to Jerusalem, and he was imprisoned. But out of prison came those precious letters—Galatians and Ephesians—that we so love and from which we receive life today.
He says, “I do not count my life dear to me, that I might finish the course with joy, and that I might finish my ministry.”
We might understand the finishing of the ministry. Paul had a ministry in particular to the Gentiles that needed to be completed. But what of the course? He talked of completing the course.
He had just spoken about bonds and afflictions waiting for him, but he said that he might finish the course with joy. How could that be when so much difficulty awaited him?
The joy in our brother’s heart—the joy he looked forward to—was the joy of pleasing the Lord, regardless of the cost. He knew that if the Lord was pleased with him, there would be joy for him as well.
I wonder, brothers and sisters, if we have considered this in our own lives personally. As we go to work, get up, take care of children and grandchildren, go here and there about our busy days and busy lives, and go to school for the younger ones, life can seem to grind on.
But I think the Lord would have us focus on our course. A course has been set for us, and we should remember that: the joy of pleasing Christ by finishing His course.
Now think of the children of Israel. God called out one man, Abraham. Out of him grew a nation, and the Lord had to take them down into Egypt and get them away from all those “ites”—the Moabites, the Jebusites, and all those who were influencing them.
He got them into a place where they could not be influenced, because the Egyptians would not have anything to do with them as shepherds. Anyway, that is a sad story. The point is that as they grew in number in Egypt, they got comfortable.
They were in the land of Goshen, and it was great for them there. The Lord had to allow Pharaoh to turn against them in order to get them in the mindset to leave Egypt. They were prepared to stay there.
They came under affliction for four hundred years, and the Lord finally delivered them through the plagues. The last one was the blood put over the doorpost. Those who believed in God and in the blood of the Lamb were spared; their firstborn was spared.
Finally, Pharaoh said, “This is enough,” and he let them go. But he chased after them in the end. The Lord divided the waters of the Red Sea, and they crossed over. It was a great deliverance.
Brothers and sisters, we have been delivered from Egypt. We have been delivered. I know Egypt represents the world, but I think sometimes the biggest Egypt is ourselves.
The Lord brought them out, brought them to Mount Sinai, gave them the law, and gave them the outline and pattern for the tabernacle, that He might dwell in their midst.
The Word of God says it was an eleven-day journey from Mount Sinai to Kadesh, the border of the promised land. That was God’s course for them: the promised land, which speaks of the fullness of Christ. He wanted to bring them out of Egypt into the promised land. That was their course.
But the Lord knew they were not ready to go in immediately. Two years, two months, and some days later, He finally brought them to the border of the promised land. In other words, they should have been ready to go in.
We remember the story from Sunday school. The spies went in, saw the giants in the land, and came back saying, “We cannot go in there. They are giants.”
But thank God, Joshua and Caleb said, “Yes, we can. These giants will just be food for us. We can well do it.” But the people accepted the other report and refused to go in.
God was greatly displeased with that generation. Let us look at Hebrews 3:17-19:
And with whom was he displeased forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient?
And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.
—Hebrews 3:17-19
God was grieved with that generation. The generation that left Egypt had to wander around in the desert for another thirty-eight years—a total of forty years in the wilderness—until that whole generation died off.
The younger ones, born along the way, were the ones the Lord allowed to go in. But that whole generation did not enter the promised land. Out of the generation that left Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to go in.
It was an unfinished course. God had such great things for them—that land flowing with milk and honey—but all they could see were giants. They could not see that the Lord was faithful in their lives, so they backed off. They simply said, “No.”
“This might be God’s will for my life, but no. I am going to look out for myself.” They never finished the course.
My heart this morning is that the Lord would encourage us all to get back on the course—to be those who have a desire and a passion like Paul, to finish the course.
Hebrews 4:1 says:
Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.
—Hebrews 4:1
Not only did that generation fail to finish the course, but their failure grieved our Lord. It grieved Him much. He wanted them to enter into the promised land—His rest. His rest is His place where He is pleased. But they did not come in.
The Lord has a passion for you and me, brothers and sisters. That passion extends not only to saving us from our sins, but to our completing the course He has set before us.
In Romans 8:28, we find a very well-known verse:
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.
For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren:
and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
—Romans 8:28-30
He has called us according to purpose. Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus Christ has an eternal purpose. I do not know that there can be any purpose in life greater than God’s eternal purpose.
That eternal purpose is that we might be conformed to the image of His Son. His eternal purpose is that we might become the bride, but in order to become the bride, we have to be conformed to the image of His Son.
That is a great work that He is carrying on in our lives. Hebrews 2:10 says that He wants to bring many sons to glory. What can be more glorious than to be conformed to the image of Christ?
In other words, that conformity to Christ means that our lives would be transformed so that the character of our lives is like the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to know about the character of our Lord Jesus Christ, read the Sermon on the Mount. Read Philippians.
He calls us to glory. He wants to bring us to glory. He wants to bring us into His eternal purpose, to be conformed to His image, that we might be part of that bride who is so precious to the Lord’s heart.
Let us look at Philippians 3:10-14. Our brother Kenny shared on this not too long ago:
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death;
if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
—Philippians 3:10-14
Other versions say “resurrection from the dead,” and some say “the out-resurrection.” I will explain that in a minute.
Paul said he had not yet attained, but he was pressing on toward the prize—toward the mark—to obtain the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
This brings us, believe it or not, to Revelation 12. I really believe Revelation 12 is about finishing the course and coming to glory. It tells us what the prize is. It tells us of the high calling. It tells us what the reward is and what Paul means by this term I call the out-resurrection.
Let us read Revelation 12:
And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems.
And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child.
And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne.
—Revelation 12:3-5
And further:
And there arose war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels;
and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
—Revelation 12:7-9
And we hear the loud voice:
Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.
—Revelation 12:10-11
What do we see in this chapter? A woman clothed with the sun. She is pregnant; she has a man child and is in travail. Then we see this dragon, whom we know as Satan because the Word tells us he is.
He is standing before the woman, and he is very concerned about the man child. He is ready to devour it as soon as it comes forth. But we see that the man child is immediately caught up to the throne.
This man child, caught up to the throne, is to rule the nations with a rod of iron.
Who is this woman? Brothers and sisters, I think it is pretty obvious—though many scholars have different points of view—that she represents the church.
I believe there are four women in the Word of God who typify the church. The first is Eve. In Genesis 1, the Lord gives us an outline of the creation, or restoration, of the earth in preparation for man. But in Genesis 2, He goes into greater detail about Adam and Eve.
Eve came out of Adam. Most people say it was a rib that was taken. We do not really know, but the Lord took something from Adam’s side. When the Lord built the woman, He brought her back to Adam, and Adam said, “Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.”
Adam knew she was like him, though she was different. Yet she was like him, and Adam loved Eve. The Lord said to Adam, “It is not good for you to be alone. You need a helpmeet.”
Brothers and sisters, this is a picture of God’s eternal purpose from the very beginning of Genesis: Christ and His church, His bride.
As we know, on Calvary’s cross, our Lord’s side was pierced, and water and blood came out. Those are the elements through which the church is built: His blood and His life. It is a picture, a type, and it shows us what God’s purpose was from the very beginning—a helpmeet for His Son. That has been on His heart from eternity.
The second woman is found in Ephesians 5:25. It says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word.”
This woman represents the church in what we call the age of grace, from Pentecost until this present day. The Lord has been washing her with the water in the Word—His life and His Word—not just the written Word, but the Holy Spirit within making this Word alive to us.
As we read and come to the Lord, our lives begin to be transformed as we see who our Lord Jesus is and as He makes that practical in our lives. That is the work that has been going on.
This third woman is found in Revelation 12. She represents the church age at the end of the church age, which we are pretty close to.
The fourth woman is seen in Revelation 21 and 22: the New Jerusalem coming down as a bride for her husband. That is the fourth type: the completed bride. Hallelujah.
But this third woman, whom we see in Revelation 12, is clothed with the sun. She has Christ. She should be glorious, but she is not glorious, brothers and sisters. The image of Christ is faint in her.
She should bear the image of our Lord Jesus Christ’s character and nature. The sun is there, but it is not glorious. In fact, the enemy does not seem to be very concerned about her.
But he is very concerned about the man child within the woman, within the church. There are some brothers and sisters—some—and we know they are called overcomers.
They are the ones who bear the image of Jesus Christ. They are the ones who hold the testimony of Christ in their lives. They are the ones being transformed into the image of Christ. They are the ones on the course, following the course.
The woman herself, unfortunately, has an unfinished course. But praise the Lord, there are some who, on behalf of the whole church, will press on, stay on the course, and, praise the Lord, finish the course.
Brothers and sisters, I want to finish the course. I want you and me to finish the course. I want us to consider it, because we get so busy in our lives that we may not get off course entirely, but we can sit down on the curb, so to speak.
It is like running a 10K. Imagine running 9.9 kilometers and getting to the very end, but you just cannot do it. You do not have what it takes to get over that finish line. What a disappointment.
I believe the Lord wants to use Revelation 12 to encourage us to finish the course, that we would have a passion to finish the course. Paul said, “I do not know if I have succeeded yet. I forget what is behind, and I press on.”
This woman was weak. The image of Christ was not strong in her. She was not prepared to be the Lord’s helpmeet. Is that not the condition of the church in general, brothers and sisters? Maybe that is the condition of our own hearts.
I think the Lord would say, “It is time to either get back on the course, or it is time to get off the curb. It is time to press on.”
The enemy greatly fears the man child because he knows that when they are manifested, it means his end. His time is short. That is why those three and a half years that follow are so furious and full of fury.
For the woman in general, it was an unfinished course. But the Lord is looking for the man child to finish the course.
Revelation 12:5 says:
And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne.
—Revelation 12:5
This man child was caught up to the throne, and his destiny was to rule the nations with a rod of iron, which we know will occur in the kingdom age.
Revelation 2:26-27 says:
And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations:
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.
—Revelation 2:26-27
And Revelation 3:21 says:
He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne.
—Revelation 3:21
Brothers and sisters, the course ends at the throne.
Our course started at Calvary. The course God intends us to finish is to be at the throne with Him.
Paul’s passion was that he might finish the course. Your purpose and my purpose are the same: to be conformed to the image of Christ. That is the high calling of which Paul speaks. To finish the course—the high calling—is to be conformed to the image of Christ. That is your vocation.
Brothers and sisters, it is not always huge events in your life that cause you to advance in Christ. Most of the time, it is the little things. It is the daily being before the Lord, the daily looking in the Word, the daily going to the Lord and worshiping Him.
Stay on course. Be concerned that you might get off course, but want to finish that course.
It is important that our lives continually be conformed to the image of Christ. That is the cross in our lives. The cross occurs in your life when your will crosses the Lord’s will, and you can say, “Lord, not my will, but Thine, be done.”
The Lord said, “Deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow Me.” If you will not do that, you are not worthy even to be His disciple.
Denying yourself means that when self arises in your life, you can say, “That is crucified. The Lord took care of self on the cross. I do not have to follow self’s course anymore. Self’s course is not the Lord’s course. I choose to follow the course the Lord has set me on.”
Being conformed to the image of Christ—if that is not glory, what is? Can you think of anything more glorious? It says that when we see Him, we will be like Him. But we are working on that today: to be like Him.
This is God’s desire for you: to finish the course. He wants you to be conformed to His image. He wants you with Him at the throne.
Your reward—the prize of the high calling that Paul speaks about—is to reign and rule with Christ during the thousand-year millennium, when He returns to reign as the earthly King.
It is a reward for those who overcome: those being conformed to the image of Christ, those who are on the course and willing to stick it out to the end, to finish the course, to reign and rule with Christ.
I want to say a few words about this resurrection, because a lot of saints get confused over that Scripture. Paul said he wanted to attain to the resurrection. That is what Revelation 12 is about.
A lot of times we think 1 Thessalonians 4 is about resurrection, and it is. It is the resurrection of the saints. It says that before the Lord breaks through the clouds, He will raise the dead in Christ first, and those who are alive and remain will be caught up to meet Him.
We will come before Him at the judgment seat of Christ. For those whom He looks at and sees His image there—when He sees His character there—He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.”
They will be considered the overcomers of whom we have talked so much, and they will enter the joy of the kingdom age—their reward, the prize.
But brothers and sisters, that general resurrection is not something you attain to. What you attain to is the out-resurrection. Every Christian, regardless of condition, will be raised before the judgment seat of Christ.
But out of that resurrection, there will be some who have the prize—those who have finished their course.
Those who have not finished the course will be sent to remedial school—that is the way I see it, anyway—for a thousand years, and they will finish the course.
But the privilege of those willing to lay down their lives today, to be conformed to the image of Christ, is that the kingdom age will be theirs. They will be able to rule and reign with Christ in the kingdom age. He wants you there at His throne with Him.
Is that not amazing? We are not talking about a small thing here. We are talking about governing the nations of this world during the kingdom age. He wants you there with Him. He wants every Christian there. He wanted the woman in her entirety to be there, but only a few—the man child—will be.
More specifically, the out-resurrection occurs at the end of this church age. The Lord will begin His return to earth, as we have been taught, descending from the throne to the cloud. But before that happens, the man child will come forth from those Christians who are alive when the Lord begins His return.
That is where we are today, probably. The man child will come forth and go through to the throne: the out-resurrection.
Paul wanted to finish the course. He wanted the prize. He was looking forward to the Lord’s return. For Paul, it could have been any day.
I know that the real prize for us is Christ. I do not want to get away from that. The real prize is being with Christ. But for the faithful, the Lord has a reward: throne life—to live with Him on His throne and reign and rule with Him over the nations for a thousand years. A special reward, a special prize.
Some might argue, “Jerry, we are saved by grace, and attaining to this resurrection does not seem like grace.” But it is. There is no way to obtain it without grace.
Kenny shared on grace just recently. You might want to go back and listen to that. It is grace that finishes the course. It is giving yourself totally over to the grace of God.
But this morning, I want to end with this thought. I really believe the Lord put on my heart this matter of passion—passion for Him. I think He wants us to express that passion.
It comes out of an inward passion, but I think He wants it expressed. That is what this table is about. That is what your daily life is about. If that passion is expressed, others around you will see Christ.
Brothers and sisters, I want us all to have a passion to finish the course. I do not want us to be satisfied with just our salvation, or even knowing that one day, eventually, we will get there. I want us to have a passion.
For those who finish the course, it will bring great joy to our Lord’s heart. For those who do not, it will grieve His heart. But He loves us, and if we do not finish the course, He will put us in a thousand-year remedial time to bring us through.
What love! He will not give up on you, brothers and sisters. But please, my heart is this: I read this and say, “Lord, this is about finishing the course. This is why this chapter was put here.”
He wants us to be overcomers. He wants us to finish that course. He wants us to be with Him on the throne.
And that is not impossible, because all things are possible with God. Maybe next time we will share a little more about the life that finishes the course.
Lord, we just come to You. We are so grateful, Lord. You love us so much, and You have such great things in store for us.
Lord, You have not hidden these things from us. Your Word says there are many things we do not yet know, things we cannot even fathom that You have in store for us. But Lord, here You are saying, “I have this in store for you. Pursue it. Have a passion for it.”
Lord, I remember Paul. At the end of his life, I think it is in 2 Timothy, he says:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.
—2 Timothy 4:7
Lord, Paul knew at the very end that he had finished the course. Lord, we do not know that yet.
But Lord Jesus, I really pray today that passion would fire in our hearts—not to be satisfied with where we are, but that we might stand up and press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Lord, by Your grace and mercy, touch our hearts. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.