Revelation 12:12-17 Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them… I. MIGHTY AS IS THE MASTER-FIEND OF EVIL, HE IS NOT PROOF AGAINST DEFEATS. "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens." 1. Here is a defeat implied. There is nothing permanent in error, there is no stability in wrong. As light extends, and virtue grows, all schemes of wrong, political, social, and religious, crack to pieces and tumble to ruin. 2. Here is a defeat righteously exultable. It is the joy of the prisoner quitting his cell, of the patient returning to health. II. GREAT AS HIS DEFEATS MAY BE, THEY DO NOT QUENCH HIS ANIMOSITY. "Having great wrath," etc. Like the ravenous beast of the desert, his failure to fasten his tusks in one victim whets his appetite for another. Evil is insatiable. III. HIS ANIMOSITY IS ESPECIALLY DIRECTED AGAINST THE TRUE CHURCH. "He persecuted the woman," etc. 1. Wherever the spirit of Christ is, the spirit of tenderness, humanity, self-sacrificing love, this he hates and seeks to destroy. 2. Who shall say what he pours forth from his mouth? False accusations, pernicious errors, social persecutions, etc. IV. THE TRUE CHURCH, EVEN IN TRYING CIRCUMSTANCES, IS UNDER THE SPECIAL PROTECTION OF HEAVEN. 1. The Church is in the wilderness. The way of Christly men on this earth has always been — (1) intricate; (2) dangerous; (3) gloomy. 2. Though in the wilderness, it has enormous privileges. (1) It is endowed with heaven-soaring power. (2) It has the whole earth to serve it. (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters 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. |
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