I'd like you to turn in your Bibles today to the book of the Revelation, chapter eleven. We'll begin with verse fifteen today, and we will enter into Revelation chapter twelve, verses one to seventeen. Verse fifteen of chapter eleven is where I begin my reading. And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah.

And he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats fell upon their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God, almighty which are and was and are to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reign. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, the day should be judged, and the thou should give reward unto thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroyed the earth. And the temple of God was opening in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant, and there were lightning, and voices, and thundering, and an earthquake, and a great hail.

Chapter twelve verse one. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she being with a child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to destroy her child as soon as it was born.

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice, saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Messiah, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. Therefore rejoice, ye heaven, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

And when the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth waters as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which kept the commandments of God and have the testimony of Yeshua the Messiah. We're reading Revelation chapter eleven from verse fifteen into Revelation chapter twelve, all the way there to the end of chapter twelve.

And today, dear brothers and sisters, I really want to be occupied with these verses in order to help us to understand these verses. We must bear in mind as we understand these verses that we are now, in the text that we have read, we are somewhere in the middle of the Tribulation. Never forget for a moment, we have already passed from chapter four all the way to where we are today in chapter eleven. We have already understood that the heavenly company, the church, is already in glory. We are surrounding Yeshua the Messiah in heaven. We are right represented by the twenty-four elders. We are the body of Messiah is in heaven, in the presence of God. But we have scenes here that Occurred during the seven year tribulation period, what is known to be, in Hebrew, Tzarat Yaakov, Jacob's trouble.

We have already covered much ground, we have already have seen that the Messiah Yeshua was opening seven seals. And every seal that He have opened, it was a judgment that came from God. And by the time He opened the seventh seal, He was really introducing seven additional judgments, which are called the trumpet judgments. Every time the trumpet was sound by the angel, it was really another judgment that was coming. In fact, there is an intensity in the judgment as they are falling here upon the face of this earth.

So at the time we have arrived to chapter eleven, we have already also seen in the first fourteen verses, we have seen the two additional witnesses which God will raise during the tribulation period. We have looked over those verses already, and we have understood that those witnesses will speak for the Messiah, will speak for God. In fact, God called them my two witnesses. They will be prophets that will prophesy here and convict this world concerning the need of repentance and the need to turn to God. And as they were preaching and they were speaking to men here in this world, they were not loved at all, as we have read, that the Antichrist, the counterfeit Messiah, the false Messiah, ended up killing them, leaving them on the streets of the city of Yerushalayim for three and a half days without to bury them.

And if you remember, as we have read also in the earlier verses, in the first 14 verses of Revelation 11, they were giving gifts. People were so happy because of those two witnesses, because their death, that they were celebrating in giving gifts to one another. And if you remember, we mentioned the fact that the only time that we find rejoicing in the Tribulation is right here over the death of the two prophets of God. Because men's heart is hard, and the message of God convicts them, and they either suffer their hearts and turn to the Lord, or they are hardening their heart and going against the Lord.

And so they were happy, they were giving gifts, but then in a miraculous way God had raised those two witnesses, and they stood and appeared in the city of Yerushalayim alive, and then God called them, and He took them up to heaven as it says in verse twelve, come up hither, and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. That's how we concluded in our last ministry meeting together. And you remember those last verses, verse 13 and 14, and especially verse 14, we also found out that this area of the reading and what happened there, it's the second woe. You notice it said in verse 14, the second woe is past, and behold, a third woe is coming quickly.

So what we really learn here, that there was seven trumpet judgment, and the last three, the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh trumpet judgment are really called in the Scripture the three woes. You know, we read in the Scripture often time, woe is me, woe is man. This is when there is fear coming, and that is when there is, in other words, God is alerting man to realize there is yet to come, there is yet more judgment to come upon this world. And so, we see that at the end, in verse 14, we really have finished the two woes, and there is only one more judgment is awaiting, and that is called the seventh judgment trumpet.

Now, the seventh judgment trumpet opened to us another seven judgments. I know it sometimes seems to be confusing, but listen, when the seventh trumpet will sound, it will introduce additional seven judgment, and they will be in the second half of the tribulation, and they are called, we're going to read it later on, the bowl judgments. There will be judgment as if God will pour, will turn over a bowl and pour that bowl, and it will come as judgment upon the face of this earth. We'll read that in chapter 15 and chapter 16 of the book of the Revelation. So we have arrived now into Revelation 11 verses 15 to the end of this chapter, to verse 19, and there are some things that are all of a sudden introduced before us in those verses.

What we really see is that the seventh trumpet is being sounded, and when the seventh trumpet is being sounded, there is a proclamation in heaven of the results of God's judgment against this world. Look what we read in verses 15 to verse 18, look what we read all of a sudden here. They said, And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven. Now I pause here for a moment. You will notice in those verses that we read today, from verse 15 of chapter 11 to verse 17 of chapter 12, that there is at least seven times that the word heaven or in heaven is mentioned.

In other words, John, you remember, he sees things that are happening on earth, but he also sees things that are happening in heaven and the combining of the two. You can see, he sees something that's going on in heaven, but he also sees things which indicates of events that will occur here on earth as well. So what does he do, what does he see in verse 15? There was a great voice in heaven.

And look at this, this voice now saying those words, the kingdom of this world, I become the kingdom of our Lord and of His anointed one, His Messiah. And he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats, they fell upon their faces and they worshipped God. And they said, We give to thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and which was and which is to come, because you have taken to thee thy great power and you have reigned. You see, what's happened now, in a sense what we see here in those verses, John sees the days are rejoicing that is in heaven because soon the Messiah is going to take his rightful place here in this world. Because the word you have taken, notice that in verse 15, the kingdom of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah and he will reign forever and ever.

You see now, John sees that there is a joy in heaven because the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of the Messiah. Now, I know in your Bibles you might have the word kingdoms in plural, but it should not be in plural, it should be singular. It should be the kingdom, singular, of this world become the kingdom, singular, of the Lord and of His Messiah. Why it is singular? It's because at the end of the tribulation, especially the second half towards the end, the counterfeit Messiah, the false Mashiach, he will seek to unite the world and to make the world as one world kingdom, single. He want to reign over the rest of the world. He want to take a place here in this world, and therefore it is one kingdom headed up under the counterfeit Messiah.

But at the end of the tribulation, and that's what they are singing about, about some things that yet are going to happen in the future, they are singing about the fact that this kingdom that the counterfeit Messiah wanted to take for himself is not going to be his. Because this kingdom is going to be belong to the anointed one, to the true Mashiach, Yeshua himself. And they are glorifying God in heaven. That's what John is saying here. And notice the church, this is us, the believers, in verse 16, the four and twenty elders, which we read of them already earlier in the book of the Revelation, what do they do?

They rejoice, because they know now that finally the Messiah is going to be in his rightful place. So they fell on their faces, and they worshiped God, and they said in verse 17, To you we give thanks, O Lord our God, you are the one that was, you are the one that are, you are the one that is going to come, because you has taken to thee this great power, and you have reigned. They are worshiping God, they are worshiping the Messiah, because they see the finality is heading, they are going to see the fact that he is going to finally reign over this poor world that is anticipating a time of peace, a time of blessings, and here we can see that the church, the heavenly company, is rejoicing over this fact.

Actually, where we are in chapter 11, it didn't happen as yet, but we can see a glimpse of what there is anticipation for the end of the tribulation where the Messiah will finally take his rightful place and will reign over this universe. You know, Daniel, when he was speaking in Daniel chapter 2, he was speaking about this kingdom that the Messiah will have. He said in Daniel chapter 2 and verse 44, For in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, singular, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms of men, and it shall stand forever and ever. This is the Messianic hope, is that Israel's Messiah will finally take his rightful place and be the King of kings and Lord of lords. And so here we see that glimpse of anticipation.

And then notice now, the people in heaven were happy, but look what the people on earth, we read here in the next verse, 18, and the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged. And thou should give reward unto thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, small and great, and should destroy them which destroy the earth. While the heavenly company rejoicing in the coming kingdom of the Messiah, and on earth the nations are angry at God. They are angry because God's wrath is going to fall upon them, and so they are upset with God, because God is going to judge this world in righteousness. He's going to establish the kingdom, and the Messiah is going to reign, but the unbelieving world are going to be angry at God. They are not going to be happy.

God is going to deal with them. God is going to reward His prophets, His servants, and to them He will give a reward in the Messianic kingdom. Now remember again, brothers and sisters, though we talk about the Messianic kingdom, we are not here yet, but we get glimpse about the coming kingdom in the future day. So those are the verses, verses 15 to 18, that shows us a proclamation in heaven about the future days when the tribulation will be over. Now, all of a sudden also, we see in verse 19, the last verse of chapter 11, the temple of God in heaven, and it was opened there in preparation for the coming judgment. Look, we read, And the temple of God was opened in heaven. Again, I want you to notice how many times the word in heaven. We read in verse 15, voices in heaven. Now verse 19, the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant, and there was lightning, and voices, and thundering, and the earthquake, and a great hail.

What we also see in verse 19, that in preparation, as the seventh trumpet sound was sounded, that now we see in heaven the true temple of God and the covenant of God. He's a covenant keeping God. Because you see here, the temple, the ark of the covenant, and there was lightning and voices and thundering and earthquake and hail in preparation of the coming second half of the tribulation period. And so that is the conclusion of Revelation 11 verses 15 to 19, the scene in heaven as the seventh trumpet is being sounded and the proclamation concerning the coming days. Now we begin with chapter 12. And in chapter 12, dear brothers and sisters, Revelation here, we are really, chapter 12 and chapter 13, we are introduced here to what you call the counterfeit Godhead. Just the same like we had God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, we see in those two chapters, chapter 12 and chapter 13, that all throughout the ages, Satan have always fought to counterfeit that which is real, to take the place of God.

And what we see here in chapter 12 and chapter 13, an introduction to those three individuals that appears to take the place of the Godhead. Satan seek to be the counterfeit God, God the Father. The first beast in chapter 13 that rises from the sea, he seek to take the place of the Son. He is the counterfeit God the Son.

And then in chapter 13, from verses 11 to the end, we have the third person. This is the second beast, which is rising from the earth. He seek to take the place of the Holy Spirit of God. So we see God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. Counterfeit God the Father, counterfeit God the Son, and counterfeit God the Holy Spirit. So let's look over now in chapter 12, in those 17 verses. Let's see what we learn here, some important things. The theme really is Satan himself. He is the subject here, and what he's going to do in the Tribulation period. He's called the dragon, and here we read of the dragon, Satan, is persecuting the Jewish people, Israel, in the tribulation period. I don't have to tell you that there is no generation in the history of our people, the Jewish people, that we didn't experience persecution.

There is no nation like the nation of Israel that have experienced so much persecution and hatred by mankind. Now we ask ourselves the question, where does this hatred came from? How come there is a hatred towards the nation of Israel that Israel is experiencing from generation to generation? Even today, you can see it around the world. Why is it that the world hate Israel so much?

Chapter 12 help us to see that the origin of the hatred towards our nation, Israel, the Jewish people, the Hebrews, is Satan himself. Satan hates God, and he hates those that belong to God. Satan want to take the place of God, and Satan want to replace the people of God, to remove them, to curse them, to judge them, because of his envy and his desire to hurt God and God's people. Well, look what we see here in chapter 12. The first six verses, we can see two wonders in heaven. Again, I told you that we read many time the word in heaven in those verses. Verses one to five take us historically to the history of the nation of Israel, to the past history, take us to the past. The first wonder that Johnny sees, he sees a wonder in heaven, and he see a woman.

And many people have an opinion about who is this woman. Some over the years said, well, this woman is the church. Others said over the years, this woman is Miriam, the mother of Yeshua the Messiah. There are other opinions that many, some says that this is saying about the church, this is Rome, speaking about Rome. This woman, according to some, they say that this woman is either the church, or either Rome, or either Miriam, but I want you to notice that the text help us to see who the woman really is. Look, again, I saw a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed, and now, notice, with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

Now if you remember earlier in our reading today, we read in Genesis chapter 37 of the dreams that Yosef, the son of Yaakov, was dreaming among his brethren. You remember one of the dreams that he had that we read in Genesis chapter 37 in verses 9, 10, and 11, we read of the dream that he was dreaming concerning the sun, the moon, and the stars. He dreamed another dream, we read in verse 9 of Genesis 37, and he told this to his brethren. And he said to them, I've dreamt another dream. And he says, Behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obedience unto me. In other words, they bowed before me. And he told it to his father and to his brethren, and his father rebuked him and he said to him, What is this dream that you dreamed? Shall I, and your mother, the mother of Joseph, was Rachel, and your brethren indeed come and bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

Jacob kept this dream in his mind. This dream was a prophetic message concerning the future day that actually that the brethren of Joseph will ultimately will recognize him and will come bow to him in the land of Egypt. You remember, after they rejected him, later on they have accepted him. And Joseph is a picture of Yeshua, the Messiah, throughout Scripture.

Here, John is picking up that dream, if you will, in heaven he receive or he sees this vision concerning this woman that she is close with the sun and the moon and the twelve stars. And how do we know that this woman is not the church? Because the church is already in glory. Church is not here, we are in the middle of the tribulation, and we see that this woman does not represent the church, does not represent Rome, does not represent Miriam, but it represents the whole nation of Israel, the people of Israel, the Jewish people, the whole nation of Israel. You see, this woman is depicted as a woman that is ready to give birth to a man child.

Look, again, I'm reading verse 2 now of Revelation chapter 12. It is the first wonder that John sees in heaven. She, this is Israel, being with a child, cried, travailing in birth and in pain to be delivered. In other words, that woman Israel is going to bring forth this man child, the Messiah himself. And how do we know that this man child is the Messiah? Well, look in verse five. She brought forth the man child, listen, who was to rule all nation with a rod of iron.

You see, the man child is none else but Yeshua Himself who is going to rule this universe with a rod of iron. God said through the prophets, through the psalmist in Psalm two, He said concerning the son, He says in verse seven, He says, You are my son, this day have I begotten thee, ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

You see, brothers and sisters, it is very clear, we don't need to be confusing things. The church is in heaven. We just read about the 24 elders in verse 16 of chapter 11. Israel is on earth during the tribulation period. The women represent the nation of Israel, taking from Genesis chapter 37. And the man-child is none else but the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, that Israel was bringing here into this world. He was going to rule this world with a rod of iron. He is the one that God had intended him to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Now, what happened? That was the first vision that Johnny sees in heaven. The woman, Israel, and she has this child that she is travailing to bring forth in birth.

Now let me just mention here one or two things over the years, how many times Satan sought Israel to stop to bring the Messiah into this world. Let me just tell you, for example, when Israel was in Egypt, Pharaoh sought to kill every baby from two years old and down. Every baby that was born, actually it was Herod, but I'm talking about Pharaoh now. Pharaoh sought to kill every baby boy that was born into this world.

Satan was trying to not allow Israel to bring the Messiah into this world. And then we don't have to go too far, because years later we read in the book of Matthew how Herod wanted to kill every baby boy from two years and under, in order for the Messiah not to come into this world, in order that there will be no redemption provided for mankind. Well, we see that ultimately she, in pain, she brought forth the Messiah. And we read other passages in Scripture about the woman that Israel often time is being looked as the wife of Jehovah, and that Israel will introduce the Messiah to this world. Verses that kind of flying through my mind, Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6, For unto us this is Israel, a child is born. Unto us this is Israel, a son is given, and a government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

That is the Messiah that was going to come through the nation of Israel, and this is so beautiful, dear brothers and sisters, to understand that the woman is Israel, and the man child is the Messiah. Another verse that come to my mind, I don't want to miss that in the book of Micah. In the book of Micah, Israel is looked like as a woman, be in pain. Chapter four of Micah, verse ten, And labor to bring forth a daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail.

Chapter five of Micah, and verse two, But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you this is Israel, shall come forth unto me the one that shall rule the nation of Israel. We have many verses to show us that this man child is the Messiah, and this woman is none else but the nation of Israel.

So, we are back to Revelation chapter twelve. In verses one and two we saw the first wonder, but now look at the second wonder that John sees in heaven. What is the second wonder? It is in verses three and four. We read that there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head, and with his tail he drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and he did cast them into the earth. Listen, and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, in order to devour the child as soon as it was brought forth, as soon as it was born. The second vision that John sees, he sees this red dragon.

Now this red dragon is none else but Satan himself. You may ask me, Brother Gideon, how do you know it is Satan himself? Just go down to verse 9, and Ruth 17, it says, And the great dragon was cast, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world. This red dragon is none else but Satan. And as John sees the vision about the woman, Israel, the baby boy, the man child that was going to be born, the Messiah, that's the one vision, he sees another vision, and what does he see?

Satan, and he's called here red dragon. You know, every time you read the word red in Scripture, it speaks of war, it speaks of blood, it speaks of death, and that is exactly a description of Satan. And when you think about him, he's calling here the dragon, he speak about the fact that he's vicious. A dragon is very vicious. He wants to consume. His hatred is so strong that he wants to consume, and that's what we see here, that sign in heaven, this red dragon. In the Bible, the Lord is calling him a murderer from the beginning, in John 8 and verse 44. He was a murderer, a killer from the beginning. He sought to destroy, he sought to ruin right from the beginning. And here we see him, he says here, he has seven heads, ten horns, seven crowned upon his heads. We will talk about it later on, that speaks about human governments.

Satan used human governments over the ages to control, to ruin, to seek, to not allow the Messiah to enter into this world and to finish the work on the cross, on the tree. And so we see this great red dragon, vicious one, here we see him, and you know what he did? In verse 4, it says that with his tail, he drew a third part of the stars. Now in the New Testament, even in the Old Testament, the stars, even in the book of Revelation, often refers to angels.

And what we learn here from this verse, that even though we do not know how many angels God created, but what we do know from this verse, that one third of the creation of the angelic being followed Satan. In other words, every third angel, if you will, ended up to be what is known today a demon. You see, he says here that with his tail, he drew one third part of the stars, one third of the stars of heaven, and he cast them into the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, before Israel, which was ready to be delivered, in order to devour the child that was soon to be born.

Always, dear brothers and sisters, look at the line of Scripture. In every time the Lord was giving us in Scripture a prophetic message concerning the birth of the Messiah, He intended that the Messiah will be born through Father Abraham, and then Father Isaac, and then Father Yaakov, and through the twelve sons of Yaakov, the line was going to continue through Judah. And as Judah was entering into this world, Judah, one of the families of Judah, was the family of Jesse, the family of David, David, Melech Yisrael.

And when the Messiah was going to come, he was going to come as a descendant of Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob, through Jacob, the tribe of Judah, and through the family of Jesse, when the Messiah was going to enter into this world. And if you look at the history, he sought always to oppose the Hebrews, the Israelis, the Jewish people, he always hated them and sought to destroy them because he does not want the Messiah to take his rightful place here in this world. So he's standing, and this is by the way, now we are looking back, now it's history, he's standing before the woman that is ready to bring birth to this man child, the Messiah himself. But look in verse 5, he didn't succeed to destroy the entrance of the Messiah into this world because it says in verse 5 that she brought forth a man child.

This is Jesus, this is Yeshua, you remember Matthew 1 21? And you shall call his name Yeshua, for he shall save his people, in connection there with Israel, he shall save his people from their sins. This woman, Israel, brought forth this man child, Yeshua the Messiah, and then it says in verse 5, he was going to rule the nations with a rod of iron. He's the one that was going to become the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But you see, before he became King of Kings and Lord of Lords, he had to go through the cross, where he will pay the penalty for sin and for sins. And that's why he had to die. He had to be rejected by men. And that's why Satan thinks that he succeeded to allow him to die. He thought he won a victory. But actually Satan was defeated right there when Yeshua the Messiah died. And so we read in verse 5 about Yeshua the Messiah, about this man child that was going to rule all the nation with a rod of iron, we read that the man child was caught up unto God and to his throne.

And you remember we read in Luke chapter 24 and in Acts chapter 1 that after the Lord Yeshua the Messiah died and was buried and was raised from among the dead, he was taken up to heaven. You remember that in Acts chapter 1? I love these verses where the angels were talking to the men of Galilee in Acts chapter 1, and they said to them very clearly in these beautiful verses in Acts 1 and verse 11 where they said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye up gazing into heaven? This same Yeshua, which had been taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him going into heaven.

Yeshua was taken from this earth after he was rejected by men. God had been so pleased to take him to his presence, and now he's there in the presence of God in glory, waiting the day when he's going to come to rule this world with a rod of iron at his second coming. So, you see, brothers and sisters, that's what we see in the first five verses of chapter 12 of the book of the Revelation. Now, all of a sudden, and remember, we are now in the middle of the tribulation somewhere, and I said before that throughout the history of this woman, Israel, Satan, this red dragon, always were persecuting the Jewish people. He was persecuting him, them through the time of Hitler, through the time of the Crusaders, the Spanish Inquisition, and we have the Pharaoh, and we have the Antiochus Epiphany, and we can look back throughout the history of our people, the Jewish people always have been persecuted.

But I want to say that all the persecution that Israel have experienced in the past is really nothing compared to what they will experience in the Tribulation period. All what have happened historically is really nothing to be compared to what will happen during the Tribulation period. That's why, brothers and sisters, it is called Jacob's trouble. That's why in Hebrew it is called Sarat Yaakov. That's why the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, said in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 21, he says, verse 22, except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.

That's why Yeshua the Messiah said there will be such great tribulation, such that was never since the beginning of this world, even to this time. In Revelation chapter 12, we are in the middle of the tribulation period. We are going to begin, in a sense, the second half of the tribulation, and you're going to see this right now in the next verses. Look at this. In verse 6 now, we read of something that will happen during the tribulation to the Hebrews, to the Jewish people. It said, And the woman, she fled into the wilderness, where she, this is Israel, have a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Now, brothers and sisters, we just read about this number one thousand two hundred and sixty days in chapter eleven and verse three. This one thousand two hundred and sixty days are the first half of the tribulation, where the two witnesses have been witnessing during the first half of the tribulation. But here we find out the second half of the tribulation, 1260 days, this is three and a half years, the woman had to flee from the city of Jerusalem, from the land of Israel, into, notice there, the place called the wilderness, notice that in verse 6? She fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there for these three and a half years.

Now I want you to note a few things here. The first thing, we notice that she had to flee. Why does she have to flee? This is the woman, this is the nation of Israel. Why does the woman has to flee? We're going to read about it in the next verses in a few moment. That's the first thing. The second thing you notice that we read wilderness here. If you look at the map of Israel today, you will see the, the north Syrian Egypt in the south. Look in the west, you see the Mediterranean Sea, and in the east, you see what is known to be Jordan. You know, the west bank, west side of the east bank of the Jordan River. In the east is really Jordan, what is present-day Jordan, known to us today. And that's the wilderness that the woman, Israel, is going to flee to. God is telling the people of Israel, this woman, that she will flee in a time of persecution to what is known today, through this verse, as the wilderness.

Now, go with me back to Matthew 24. I just want to show you there in connection with this chapter. Matthew chapter 24 is what is known today the Olivet Discourse. And in the Olivet Discourse, Yeshua the Messiah was explaining to His disciples about events that are going to occur during the Tribulation period. And Yeshua said to them in Matthew 24 verse 15, When ye shall therefore see the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, this is in the temple, whosoever read, let him understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. You notice that? The word mountains is mentioned here, the word wilderness is mentioned in Revelation chapter 12, it is the same place. The mountains, what is known today, present day Jordan, is the wilderness that is a present day Jordan today. It is the area that we know today that called Bosra in the book of Isaiah.

It is the wilderness area. And then he says, Whosoever read, let him understand, let them which be in Judea flee into the mountain. Let him which is on the housetop do not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to his own house to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with a child, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray that your flight, you see the word to flee, Revelation 12, that your flight be not in winter, neither on a Shabbat day, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world.

You see what Yeshua is telling to the future remnant of Israel, he says, listen. When you're gonna see the abomination of desolation standing in the temple in Jerusalem, this is when the Antichrist gonna situate himself in the temple, you better know that that is a sign for you to run. Run for your life. Don't come back home. If you're in the housetop, don't go down to take clothes. If you're in the field, don't come back to your house to take anything. But run, because this is the sign that the greater part of the tribulation is going to begin. And you have to make sure that you flee, and he used the word mountains here. In Revelation chapter 12, he used the word wilderness. Brothers and sisters, it is the same place. The area that is known today, that some of us understand it to be Petra, Bozrah, in the wilderness area in Jordan, present day Jordan today.

And they are to flee because something is going to happen to them. Now also, taking us to the prophet Hosea, and I gotta read this verse as well, because in Hosea chapter two, God said through the prophet Hosea about the future day when he's going to restore Israel, he says in verse fourteen of Hosea chapter two, Therefore behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak comfortably there unto her. Again, he used the word wilderness. He's speaking the fact that he's going to draw the woman, to draw Israel to the wilderness where he's going to preserve this nation in a difficult time, in a time of a tribulation period.

And so here we see the woman in verse six flee into the wilderness, and there she will be fed and protected by God for three and a half years, one thousand two hundred and sixty days. Now immediately you ask the question, why does the woman have to flee? What is the reason that she is going to flee now into the wilderness, into the mountains, to be protected and kept by God for 1260 days? Why does she have to do that? Why? The next verses tells us why. In verses 7 to 12, we see why. And the reason is, Satan is now going to be cast down to this earth. You see, right now, as you and I sit here today, even though Satan has a lot of influence upon men on earth, yet Satan is in the, what you call, the atmospheric realm. He is no longer in the immediate presence of God, well, he can appear before God, like we read in the book of Job, but Satan is still in the atmospheric realm.

And he's in the coming days he's going to be cast down and he's literally going to have three and a half years according to these chapters I'm going to show you this in a moment when he's going to be cast down to this earth and this expression this earth will experience hell on earth that's what's going to happen look it says in verse seven there was a war in heaven and Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels And he prevailed not, neither was there place found for him any more in heaven.

See, Satan was fighting against Michael. Now it is also beautiful, brothers and sisters, the word Michael here. It is so beautiful to see how the word of God is so clear. Michael is an angel that is always associated with our nation Israel. In the Bible, Michael is often is associated with the people of Israel. Read Daniel chapter 10 and so on. And Michael is fighting against this dragon. And the dragon and his angels fighting against Michael, and there was no room anymore in heaven for Satan and his angels. In other words, Michael won the fight against the dragon and his angels. Now you remember the dragon being Satan. He wanted to take the place of God. You remember he says, I will be like the Most High in Isaiah chapter 14. And yet it is important to see that Michael is the one that fought against him because the meaning of the word Michael is in Hebrew, who is like God.

You cannot replace God. Who is like the true and living God, Michael? He fought against Satan. He fought against the dragon. The dragon prevailed not against Michael, and there was no more room for him found in heaven, and so notice in verse 9. And this great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Now, can you imagine if there are such a demonic activities throughout the ages that have happened here in this world, where there is such an evil that is going on in this world, even in the present day dispensation. Can you imagine what's going to happen in the tribulation period, when Satan and his angels are going to be cast down to this earth, where he will have these three and a half years, the second half of the tribulation, when he is no longer in the heavenly spheres, he is no longer can approach God anymore, he is right here on earth, and all the demonic activities are right here in this universe, in this earth.

It says here called the dragon, the serpent, the devil, and Satan. Those four words that we have here in verse nine. Dragons speak about his viciousness. The serpent speaks about his lying. He's a liar from the beginning. The devil speak of him as the accuser. And Satan is the one that is the adversary. He's against the people of God. Here we have a summation of who Satan is. He is vicious, he is a liar, he is an accuser, and he is an adversary of the people of God. He's against the people of God. And he's cast down into this earth.

And all his angels were cast with him. Now we are talking about the second half of the Tribulation because we are already talked about 1260 days when the Jewish people are going to be preserved in the wilderness, in the mountains, in the area of Bozrah Petra. And here we can see that he is cast down. And now notice, brothers and sisters, it says in verse 10 that there is a loud voice in heaven. Listen, what he said, And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

You know, Satan did all the time in the history of men. He accuses, he's standing before God and accusing men, accusing us, pointing to every fault that man has, in order to stir up God to judge men. He's called in the Bible the accuser of the brethren. But in this context, the brethren are none else but Israel, the nation. He's accusing the nation of Israel before God, constantly he's accusing them before God, and he's called the accuser of the brethren.

No wonder there's so much happening against Israel throughout the ages. All the time accused the nation, the Jewish people accused for doing so many things. Even Christians with lack of understanding sometimes accuse and they say, well, the Jewish people killed Jesus. Accusing the nations, not realizing that Yeshua, the Messiah, died for their own sin and sins, and that we all are guilty in the death of the Messiah.

But he's called the accuser of the brethren. He was cast out. So in heaven, it says here again, the word heaven in verse 10, I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now comes salvation and strength. In other words, they're anticipating the last three and a half years where finally there will be this salvation in this world. And they say, the kingdom of our God and the power of the Messiah, now Satan is cast down to earth. No longer any privileges anymore in the presence of God in heaven. He can no longer appear like he appeared in the time of Job, and he's still appearing in this present day before God, but he will never have anymore that opportunity to appear and to accuse the people of God.

And so it says here at the end of verse ten, he was cast down, he accused them before our Lord day and night. That's what he does. And so in verse eleven now, look how the people who overcame Satan, it says in verse eleven, the overcoming of Satan by those who have trusted in the Messiah. Look, it says in verse eleven, very beautiful, they overcame Satan, or him, by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their life even unto death. You see, they overcame Satan, those remnant who believed in the Messiah, how did they overcome Satan? Number one, by the blood of the Lamb. They simply trusted the work of the Messiah, not their own works, but the blood shed of the Lamb.

Just the same like you and I became overcomers because we have trusted the Messiah. John tells us in Epistle, who is he that is the overcomer? But he that believeth that Yeshua is the Messiah. See, we have overcome Satan because we have trusted Yeshua the Messiah and accepted his bloodshed for us. The same thing for Israel in the future day. Secondly, in verse 11, they overcome him by the testimony, by the word of the testimony. In other words, they simply took the word of God and the word of God had effect in their lives.

They could overcome Satan when they appropriated the word of God into their lives. You and I are the same thing. We can overcome Satan when we appropriate God's word into our lives and he has no power against us. And thirdly, they love not their lives even unto death. In other words, they trusted God and his plan for their lives. That's how they overcome Satan, who was cast down to earth. And the last thing that we read here, there is a joy in heaven, but there is a preparation of sorrow here on earth. In verse twelve it says, Rejoice ye heaven, and ye that dwell in heaven. Rejoice! Satan is no longer there. But look at the other side. But woe to the inhabitants of this earth, and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that his time is but short.

You see, to heaven when Satan is cast down, is joy, because he is no longer there. But on earth, for these one thousand two hundred and sixty days of the second half of the tribulation, is gonna be hell on earth. Satan is here, there is a woe that is coming upon this earth, and Satan is angry. He's angry, it says here that his wrath, why? At the end of verse twelve, because he knows that he has but short time. He doesn't have much time, he has short time. And you know, because he has such short time, he intensing his persecution of the nation of Israel. There will be an intensity in his persecution of the Hebrews, of the Israelis, of the Jews during the Tribulation period.

And when it says he have short time, how does he know? It says that he knows that he has but short time. Why does he know that he have very short time? Because at the end of Matthew chapter 23, Yeshua said to his people Israel these words. I say unto you, Yeshua said to Israel, to the leaders of Israel, You shall see me henceforth no more, until you shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Yeshua said to Israel, to our nation, He said, You are not going to see me anymore until you are going to say, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai.

In other words, Satan knows that as long that Israel is not going to say Baruch haba b'shem Adonai, there will not be an end to him. He also know that when Israel is going to say Baruch haba b'shem Adonai, that will be the end of the devil and his authority over this world. And he knows that he has short time, and that's why he's angry, and that's why look at the wrath of Satan at the end of the chapter. We're going to conclude from verse 13 to verse 17. Look at the wrath of Satan. Look what he's doing during the second half of the tribulation.

When the dragon saw that he was cast into this earth, he persecuted the woman, this is Israel, which brought forth the man child, this is Yeshua, and to the woman were given two wings of great eagles, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place where she is nourished for a time, this is one year, times, another two years, and half a time, this is three and a half years, from the face of the serpent.

And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as flood, after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Yeshua the Messiah. In these last verses, dear brothers and sisters, we can see the anger and the wrath of Satan. He's down here on earth, he's persecuting Israel, knowing that he have only three and a half years. And that's why he's intensing the persecution against the Jewish people, but in a miraculous way, in a supernatural way, God is going to prepare a place for the remnant of Israel to be preserved in the wilderness for three and a half years of the second half of the tribulation.

It says here that the woman will be given to her two wings of great eagle. It is the same expression that we have in the book of Exodus. I have carried you on eagles' wings, God said to his people Israel. I have brought you forth to the land of Israel. I protected you as a mother eagle with my wings, and I watched over you and took care of you. That is exactly what's going to happen here, dear brothers and sisters. When Israel is going to be persecuted by Satan in the second half of the Tribulation, the people of Israel will be preserved by God in a place. Notice, it says here, a place. We do not know where it is. We assume it may be Petra, Bozrah, of this present-day Jordan. But God gonna protect Israel for three and a half years.

And the serpent cast out of his mouth as water as flood, and often time in the Bible when we read of flood, it speaks about armies of the Antichrist that are going to come against Israel. The flood of what is known the outpouring hatred, and flood of hatred from the Antichrist, and he is going to run after the woman who will flee and be preserved for three and a half years, and God is going to protect the nation of Israel. And at the end of this chapter we read that the dragon was wroth with the woman, and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which kept the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Yeshua the Messiah.

This verse seventeen we can divide it into two groups of people among Israel. The woman, and make war with the remnant of her seed, there are two groups if you will, from among the people of Israel. The woman is the nation of Israel, and the remnant of her seed are believers from among the Jewish people. That already came to faith in the Messiah during the tribulation, because it says here that they kept the commandments of God, and they have kept the testimony of Yeshua and the Messiah. Well, it's gonna be an evil, terrible time that's gonna happen during the second half of the tribulation, but God is going to preserve the nation of Israel and protect them until the second coming of the Messiah, when Yeshua gonna come in Israel, we're gonna say, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.