Transcript for:
Revelation 12:1,17 -The Wonder Cosmic Christmas- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-12-21

Revelation chapter 12, would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? 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 12 stars and she being with child cried travailing in birth and pain pain to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven crowns upon his head. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and and he did cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour 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 a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought against his angels and prevailed not, neither was their place found anymore in heaven. And the great red dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world. He is cast out of the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ 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, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. Therefore, rejoice ye heavens, neither dwell up in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea and for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath because he knows that he has but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast under 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 under her place where she is nourished for a time, at times, and a half time from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water 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 and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth, and and the woman with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of this of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for your holy word, and Lord, we pray that you'd be our teacher, that you'd open the scriptures to our understanding, that Lord, we'd be so excited to be disciples, to be those who are like the Bereans searching the scriptures to see whether those things be so. And Lord, we ask that you would just enrich us, strengthen us, let us be heavenly minded, Lord. Let us be looking for that that cosmic Christmas, Lord. That that Christmas in heaven. That Christmas with you, Lord. And let us see from the very beginning Jesus is the lamb slain before the foundation of the earth and and see the bigger picture of what's taking place here upon the earth and and that which is happening in heaven. So bless, we pray. Be our teacher. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your son. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? For many, Christmas is just a season of shopping for friends and family, getting together to express our love for one another, decorating the tree, drinking eggnog, enduring fruitcake, and rude relatives while waiting for Santa. For others, it's centers around a nativity display depicting the birth of the babe of Bethlehem, a Christmas miracle with stars and wise men and shepherds and angels and more taxes. For still others, Christmas is seen as a threat, a winter holiday for Christians forced upon everyone else whether they like it or not. I believe that God intended for Christmas to be much much more, to be wonderful, to be out of this world in scope, to be cosmic. And notice, first of all, the woman in verse one, a wonderful woman. 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 12 stars. Cosmic Israel, the woman is Israel. And in Galatians chapter 12, or excuse me, in in Genesis chapter 12 verses one through three, God told Abram, was in Ur Of Chaldeo or in the area of present day Iraq of Babylon, and he was a son of Terah and he was an idolater, but God looked down and he said, you know, I wanna bring forth a nation. I wanna bring forth a nation because I have a seed, the seed of the woman, the virgin born son of God, and he's gonna take on the form of a man. He's gonna be incarnate. He's gonna go from being the second person of the trinity, and he's gonna be the son of man. He's gonna be the last Adam because the first Adam blew it. And in order to do that, he's gonna have to be first of all, be born as a human being, being fully God and fully man. And then he's gonna be raised in a family and he's gonna need a nation and a nation that's distinctly different than all the nations around him. And so God says, I'm gonna I'm gonna bring forth this woman. I'm gonna bring forth the nation of Israel. So he told Abraham to leave his country, to leave his kindred, to leave his father's house, and that I'll show you a land. I'm gonna show you a land ahead of you and Sarah and all. And so God says, I'm gonna bless you. God says, I'm gonna make your name great, and you're gonna be a blessing. And I'm gonna bless those that bless you, I'm gonna curse those that curse you, and you're gonna be a blessing to the entire world. In thee, in your seed, all nations of the earth are gonna be blessed. And so God is bringing forth the nation of Israel as Genesis three fifteen described way back in the garden that the seed of the woman, the virgin born son of God, that one day he would be born, but what nation, what country, what people? And so God formed a people. He brought forth a nation of Israel, and we see here in Revelation chapter 12 verse one, this woman, this cosmic Israel. And then it was narrowed down from Abraham unto Isaac, so old that Ishmael might live before you, the work of Abraham and Sarah's, flesh and trying to help God out after after, years of not being able to have a child. This promise, narrowed from chapter 12 over to 15 to 17. And chapter 17, he's 90 and nine years old, and this time next year, you know, you're gonna have Isaac. Your tent is gonna be filled with laughter, and and by this time, Sarah's given up. She's past menopause. By this time, you know, Abram's given up, and oh, that Ishmael might live before you, no, and Isaac shall thy seed be called. Your tent's gonna be filled with laughter this next year. And so narrowed down further, that it would be from through Jacob that the elder would serve the younger. And so, Jacob being heel catcher, coming forth from Rebecca's womb, and and she's she's got twins there. And so, you know, with Isaac, and and so Jacob being heel catcher, he winds up fleeing from Esau. Esau had the birthright by natural birth, but God said the elders shall serve the younger, and and so Rebecca and Jacob concocted plans to have coats of skins on his arms and stuff, and you know the story. He winds up having to flee from Esau, and now he's gonna meet his match with Laban. And Laban has him, you know, working for twenty years for the hand of of Rachel and that of Leah, and then six more years for all the stuff. And so after twenty years, Jacob's leaving with Rachel and Leah and and the other kids that they got through the concubine. So he's got 12 children at this point in time and 12 boys, if you will. Not just children, but boys. And so they're leaving, and then the next day, he finds out that Esau is gonna be meeting them. It's been a long time since he saw Esau. Last time he saw Esau, Esau was promising that he would kill Jacob if he ever saw him again. So to get a good night's sleep with that many kids around, parents with seven, ten, twelve, fifteen kids, they don't sleep much. And so Jacob went across the brook and laid down, put his head upon a rock, and the angel of the Lord, Jesus came to him, began to wrestle with him. At w w w, whatever you wanna call it, and they're wrestling, they're wrestling, they're wrestling. And Jacob won by losing. He tapped out when the Lord dislodged his hip, and the Lord, he said, I'm not gonna let go of you until you bless me, and so the Lord caused pain and caused Jacob to, be transformed right there. He changed him from within. He was no longer heel catcher or supplanter, but the lord gave him a name, Israel, governed of God or prince of God. And Hosea describes how with strong crying in tears, you know, Jacob was just this was his breaking. And he walked away from there limping, but he walked away from there a changed man. And so here we see Jacob, and he has a son named Joseph, and Joseph is a guy that wore a coat of many colors. So two boys came forth from from Rachel, whom he loved. Leah and her concubines had several more. And so you have Joseph and then later Benjamin, the son of my right hand, and Rachel dies at Bethlehem having Benjamin, but Joseph, God's hand was upon Joseph in that his coat of many colors, but he also had a dream. So notice closely his dream, but I have a dream to dream more and behold the sun and the moon, mom and dad, and the 11 stars made obedience to me. So Joseph saw his family and that's what verse one here is saying, and there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under his feet and upon his head crown of twelve twelve stars. And so Joseph being the twelfth star, the twelfth sun. And so they they reach a place where where they sell Joseph into slavery. Reuben intervenes, and they don't kill their brother. They throw him into a pit, and he winds up being sold at about 17 years of age onto a Midianite caravan heading toward Egypt. And so Joseph, being a type of Christ, spends thirteen years being prepared for the throne, which he would take at 30 years of age being second to only that of pharaoh. So what's the purpose of God getting Joseph there? Because God was gonna form a nation. Four hundred and thirty years later, the children of Israel be released, millions of them, a couple million of them, but they went on in as 70 because of a famine that God created, bringing them all in there. And Joseph being second command, that of only pharaoh, he was able to give them real good fertile land. The Egyptians hated hated shepherds. So the area of Goshen, and they began to multiply and multiply and multiply. And so much so that pretty soon the pharaoh and the rest of them are pretty worried, but this is the four hundred and thirty years that they spent in Egypt. And as they're going to leave, as we'll see with Exodus one, with Moses drawn from the Nile that a nation had formed. And notice secondly, a wonderful womb, verse two. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered. Genesis three fifteen, like we said in 16. God said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, speaking to the serpent. In this chapter here, the serpent is described as the dragon, also the serpent, as the devil, as Satan, and within the garden, he's he's posturing himself as the serpent speaking unto Eve and unto Adam. And and you know, they they sinned. Eve sinned, Adam transgressed, and when that happened, there's a curse that's gonna come to the woman, to humanity, but there's also a curse that's gonna come to the serpent. A dragon is a flying serpent. And so God says, I'm gonna put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. The woman doesn't have a seed, so God's saying that I'm going to bring forth my son as the seed of the woman, as the virgin born son of God. And you're going to bruise his heel, and that he's gonna go to the cross of Calvary, but he's going to crush your head as the seed of the woman, as the virgin born son of God, as the babe of Bethlehem. He's gonna crush your head. He's gonna spoil all principalities and powers. He's gonna triumph over them in his resurrection. And so so we see way back here this wonderful womb, the womb of Mary, this virgin birth of Jesus, Isaiah seven fourteen prophesied again unto us, or excuse me, and the virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son and we'll call his name Emmanuel. And we see the angels describing this in Matthew's account of the virgin birth of Jesus. Matthew making sure that you guys understand that his audience, which were the Jews, they understand that this was prophesied seven hundred years before he came, and that even Joseph being espoused to marry his wife when she came and came back to him told him, hey, I'm pregnant, and that he was gonna put her away privately, and then the angels come and Gabriel involved with Zechariah and Elizabeth, Gabriel involved with Mary, and then later, the angel of the Lord, Joseph with a dream. The Lord let him know this is of the Holy Spirit, you know. You don't need to put her away. And so Joseph knew her not until the time of her after her birth, and Jesus had brothers and sisters and all later. But Satan corrupted the womb because the son of man, notice verse five, this child came forth from the virgin, speaking of Jesus. But Satan corrupted the womb in Genesis chapter six. Satan, this antagonism, this enmity, this fight, this antisemitism, and the devil hating the nation of Israel, and hating, the whole, idea that the whole truth that God, the second person of the trinity, God the son, would leave the free exercise of his deity and become the babe of Beth Bethlehem, and he'd grow up in Nazareth. And at 30 years of age, at 30 years of age like Joseph, that he'd come into his public ministry, and and that he'd lived for three and a half years doing miracle and irrefutable proofs of who he is and prophetic fulfillment over 300 prophecies fulfilled in his first coming, but he would be cut off according to Daniel nine twenty five through 27. He'd be cut off. The nation would not recognize him as their messiah, and so he would be crucified. The crucifixion of of or excuse me, of Psalm 22 written a thousand years before crucifixion. Even some of the words that he said on the cross, my God my God, why has thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from my roaring? And then in Isaiah fifty two and fifty three, in Isaiah 50, his beard would be pulled out, and, you know, he would be be crucified between two thieves, and and and by his stripes we are healed, and so many prophetic fulfillment there seven hundred years. But this one of the of the virgin birth of Isaiah seven fourteen, but also in Genesis six, the fallen angels, the DNA. And so God caused the planet to populate close to a billion people upon the planet, and Satan was trying to destroy the DNA, the same sort of thing with the mRNA vaccines and the globalists and people trying to mess with the DNA with the CRISPR machines and stuff because if people aren't human, they can't be redeemed. And Jesus, we weren't redeemed by an angel in Hebrews one, but with a man, the the last Adam. He's a human being. He took on the form of a man, fully God, fully man. And so the devil's strategy here was to ruin the gene pool, and so he began to cause the fallen angels to cohabitate. The sons of God began to cohabitate with women upon the earth and ruining the gene pool. And so we have historical evidence of this. We have biblical evidence of this, the sons of God as described in Job, book of Job. In chapter 38, we see the picture of the sons of God that were watching the very creation, the foundation of the planet be made that that they were there. And so these sons of God consistent here in Genesis six speaking of the fallen angels, and so it looks really bleak. It looks bad. Satan, you know, God saw man's heart. He saw that it was only evil continually, and it repented God that he made man. So God said he's gonna destroy man, and he's gonna destroy this planet. But then it says in chapter six verse nine that, verse eight, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And then it says in verse nine, and Noah was perfect in his generations. That word perfect doesn't mean morally perfect, it means that his genes were not corrupted by the fallen angels. That he was intact with the human genome that was ready to come out of that ark with his family, the eight of them, and with all all the animals and all, and to repopulate the planet and to preserve the humanity, preserve the human gene that one day the son of God would enter into the womb of Mary, be conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, the virgin Mary, and that when he comes forth from there, that he wouldn't have that old, edemic nature, but that he'd be fully God, fully man. And so Corinthians, Paul talks about the last Adam, the first Adam, our first fell to our head, blew it, and that fall of man being separated from God with a fallen nature. And so Jesus lives a perfect life. He goes to the cross in the substitutionary atonement for us. God pouring out his wrath upon his only begotten son. So this whole plan is cosmic. This whole plan is in the heavenlies, in the universe. The angels are watching. Everybody's watching. We look at it as, you know, the babe of Bethlehem Christmas and all, but it's far vaster. It's far greater in scope than than we give it credit for and what's behind it. So we see the enmity of the devil trying to destroy this. And then in Exodus chapter one, we see once again that as the children of Israel there in in Egypt, they're prolific. They're growing. They're growing. They're growing. And the Egyptians are getting scared because earlier, there was only 70. Now there's close to a couple million, and they can't stop them. We're gonna work them harder and and slow down their birth rate, but they just keep keep exploding in growth. And so the pharaoh, inspired by the devil, this enmity, decides that all the male children that are born need to be thrown into the Nile River. And so Shifram Pua, two of the midwives, they're not gonna do that, and so they allow little Moses drawn from the water to be born, and God brings forth a nation with Moses being a deliverer to deliver them out of that womb, that womb that was that was Egypt as a nation. And so Moses was sent to deliver the woman in Exodus chapter four. And then we see another point in history where the devil tried to destroy the Jews, because if he can destroy the nation of Israel, then he can destroy the advent of Christ being born because he's a Jew. Because back in Genesis, the tribe, the kingly tribe is a tribe of Judah. So Satan knows that he's gotta come from this nation through the tribe of Judah, the kingly tribe. And we see in in Matthew one and Luke three, the lineage of Jesus that he's the root and the offspring of David. So they have the Abrahamic covenant, and that he's gonna be a Jew. And now you have the Davidic covenant in second Samuel seven that he would be in the kingly line of Judah. And so the devil knows this. He sees this, so he wants to destroy the nation of Israel every chance he can get. And so as they're in the book of Esther chapter four, Mordecai says to Esther, how do you know that you didn't come for such a time as this? Because if you don't act, if you don't go in and talk to the king, deliverance gonna come from another place because Haman had concocted a plan to kill not only Mordecai, her uncle, but to kill all the Jews, you know. And Satan's been trying to do that throughout history. Presently, we see an incredible amount of antisemitism in the, tribulation period. The entire world, according to Zechariah, is gonna turn their Zechariah 12, turn their back upon the nation of Israel. And we see it brewing up again, but we also see in recent history of World War two that one third of the Jews upon the planet were executed, genocided by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin and some of the other other nations. So we see the devil in his hatred, and two thirds of the Jews according to Zechariah thirteen eight nine are gonna perish during the time of Jacob's trouble, the seven year tribulation period. And a one third remnant is going to be preserved. So we see a wonderful woman, we see a wonderful womb, and thirdly, a wicked wonder. Verse three, and there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven crowns upon his head. And this is the counterfeit trinity where the devil wants to be as God in Isaiah 14. I will be as the most high. And so he developed a coup, a coup against God and he drew one third of the stars of heaven with him. One third of the holy angels fell, a third part in verse four. And so it says, and his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth, and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And so the tremendous antisemitism, the false Christ, the false prophets, the people that have come along to taint God's word and to confuse people, he's a liar from the beginning, and we see as we move on through this chapter that he's his his greatest weapon is that of deception. And Jesus said, take heed that no man deceive you, and that's why truth in the time in which we're living is so incredibly important. When we speak of truth, we're speaking of absolute truth. We're speaking of the word of God to lead and guide us and to make sure that we're we're on track because the existential humanistic relativism of our age with AI is creating an enormous amount of propaganda and falsehood and deceit, and even religions being changed by AI, and the image of the beast in Revelation 13, the the people being deceived. And it sounds a little close to true, but you gotta know the word of God. And and the devil, you know, can quote scripture. He can quote out of Psalm 91, you know, jump off of there, and he'll give his angels charge over you lest you dash your foot against a stone. And he twists it just a little bit. You know? And it sounds plausible, but Jesus, being the word incarnate is able to say, it is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Begone, Satan. You know? And and Satan doesn't even stop there. I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. If you take a shortcut, you know, by bowing down and worship me, you won't need to go by way of the cross. I'll give you them all. And Jesus didn't refute of the fact that Satan had that authority to do that as the as the little g god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, this counterfeit trinity of Satan seeing himself as God the father and as antichrist in place of Jesus Christ as a counterfeit god the son, and then the false prophet in the book of Revelation as the counterfeit holy spirit. And so the antisemitism, the devil's at war with God, as we see in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, this cosmic rebellion. Solelinsky, when he wrote his book Rules for Radicals that Obama and Hillary Clinton prided themselves on reading and being a part of, he dedicated his book Rules for Radicals to Lucifer. The first rebel, the first revolutionary to rebel against God. This is cosmic. This is going back, you know, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. After he created the heavens and the earth, the angels and Job are watching. In Job 38, they're watching the making of the earth, the founding of the earth. God says, where were you to Job when I was founding the earth, when I was building the earth, when I placed it out there hanging on nothing. Where were you? The sons of God were there and they were glorifying God, praising God as they're watching, you know, the creation and all. And so, even pre Earth, you see the angels of heaven that God had made were there. But then there came a point in time where, and we don't know where that time is, but a point in time where the devil and his coup rebelled against God, and he continues to rebel against God. And he's going to continue to rebel against God until the point in time that the Lord sends the angel Michael the archangel to grab hold, angels to grab hold of Lucifer. At the end of the millennium, he's held in the incarcerated in the abyss after the tribulation period, and the the antichrist and the false prophet are immediately put in the lake of fire, but the devil, the adversary, this liar, this murderer, as Jesus said in John eight, your father's a devil. He's a murderer from the beginning. He's gonna be put in the abyss, and then after a thousand years, he's loosed to tempt the people that are repopulating the planet with a perfect environment. Jesus ruling and reigning for a thousand years, And for some reason, these people, their hearts are not changed, and they're exposed to this being frauds, and they rebel with Satan to try and overthrow God. And then after that, the lake of fire for them and the great white throne judgment for all the wicked dead, and and that's that's looking future. You know, that isn't maybe a story that people wanna look at during the babe of Bethlehem, but we gotta give the broader picture. We can't say with Kurt Cameron that there is no hell or that hell's just annihilation. The good news isn't the good news unless you understand the bad news. And the bad news is this rebellion against God. There has been rebellion against God since sin was found in Lucifer, lucky Lucifer. And and the one third of the stars, the wonder of wickedness, why would they follow this guy? Why would you? What what is it he has as a exalted cherub angel that makes these other angels even think that they could pull this coup off? That they could rebel against God somehow. But but that's that's the picture here, the third part of the stars falling with him. And so this cosmic rebellion, this flying serpent, the word devil means accuser, The word Satan means adversary. And so we see a wonderful woman, a wonderful womb, a a wicked wonder, and fourthly, a wonderful man child. Verse five. And she brought forth a man child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. And so the nation produced Mary and Mary in our story about Christmas, she's met in Matthew chapter one by the angel Gabriel, and the angel Gabriel had previously visited her cousin Elizabeth and Zachariah. And Elizabeth and Zachariah, Elizabeth wasn't able to get pregnant. They were up in years like Abraham and Sarah, and the angel Gabriel said that you're you're gonna get pregnant, and you're gonna name him John, not Zechariah. And Zechariah didn't believe at first, and so he was made dumb. He couldn't speak, and he's writing on a board, and he's he's doing his priestly duties, and his portion was that of the incense and the people there praying. He didn't come out for a long time. His face is looking real weird. He can't talk. And so about seven months into it, the angel lets Mary know that your cousin Elizabeth is pregnant. She travels over there to her about the sixth month, and she travels in the high country to go visit her cousin, and the babe leaped in her womb, and then she lets her know that, hey, I'm gonna get pregnant too. The Lord has has her magnificent. The Lord has told me through this angel that I'm gonna bear a son and and according to Zechariah seven fourteen, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and we're gonna call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us, you know. And so the Christmas story, you know, right there. And she brought forth a man child, and so Jesus is brought forth the seed of the woman, Genesis three fifteen. Not Hebrews one, not not a not an angel. It's not an angel that comes as a redemption or a a redeemer, and nor is there any redemption for those one third of the stars that fell with Lucifer. There's no plan of redemption. So the wonder, the great wonder among the holy angels is that God has a plan to save humanity, and how is he gonna save that humanity is that Jesus is gonna go and be crucified. And that's mind blowing. He humbled himself unto death even the death of the cross. Not just any kind of death, but the death of the cross. He that knew no sin became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And we love the babe of Bethlehem, but this babe of Bethlehem's gonna grow up. And as he's there about two years old, Herod the great hears about this babe from the wise men that came from Babylon, and the wise men came with gold, with myrrh, and frankincense, gold for a king, the frankincense for a priest, and the the myrrh for a prophet for his burial. And so Jesus, when he ascended, it says he's caught up here. It's a Greek word harpazo. He's caught up to heaven or he's ascended up to heaven, and when he gets to heaven, he's seated at the right hand of the father, but he ever lives to make intercession for you and I in his priestly duty as the wise men knew, as the people may not have known. And then when he comes again, he's coming as king of kings and lord of lords. He's gonna rule and reign with a rod of iron from Zion, from Jerusalem, and that's his kingly role, prophet, priest, and king. And so she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations. And so this the angels are announcing that this birth of Jesus is good for all the nations. God announced to Abraham, in thee, in your seed, singular, not the broad scope of of the nation of Israel, if you could number as all the stars of the of the sky or the posterity, the spiritual posterity, but in your seed, singular, like Genesis three fifteen, the virgin born son of God. In your seed, all nations of the earth are gonna be blessed. He's the savior of the whole world. So although we recognize antisemitism today, building and and the craziness of people hating Jews, we recognize that our savior's a Jew, that Jesus is a Jew. We love Jews. But not at the expense of Iranians. The fastest growing church in the world is in Iran. I don't hear a whole lot of pastors or media or anybody talking about the enormous amount of people who are having dreams and visions in Iran and coming to faith. We're taught to hate. We're taught to take a side. We're we're and and eventually, like I said in Zechariah 12, the whole world's gonna abandon Israel. Presently, Israel's trying real hard with with a lot of programming to try and make sure that people don't get mad at them for what they did in Gaza, you know, and the Palestinians and all. And they're trying to they're trying to justify, if you will, or sell war with Iran. And where Jesus said there'd be wars and rumors of wars. But Jesus is the savior of the whole world, and we're in the church age presently, and so the priority's been to the Jew, to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. But as the nation of Israel rejected the Messiah, it doesn't mean a replacement theology. It doesn't mean the church replaced Israel. It just means that we're in a different dispensation now, which is called an age of grace or the church age. The church starts all Jew, and then eventually spreads predominantly to Gentiles. So blindness in part has happened unto Israel in Romans eleven twenty five until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so we as Christians, we recognize that Abraham, God had told him that in your seat, all nations of the earth would be blessed. And that the announcement, the angels announcing the birth of Jesus in Matthew one and in in Luke chapter two, the announcement is that is that peace, goodwill, you know, to everyone, to the whole world. He's a savior of the whole world, you know, especially to those who believe. All your sins, past, present, and future have been paid for. Every single sin's been paid for. But you've gotta appropriate that free gift by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. You need to grab hold of that gift by grace through faith. So if you're opening presents this year and you're participating in Christmas, what kind of Christmas are you participating in? Do you understand the the heavenly implication? Do you understand the future implication? Do you understand pre incarnation in eternity past the implication? God's intention of sending his son to save you? That he's the unspeakable gift that God's given to us? For God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son. That though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. He emptied himself with the free exercise of his deity there with his father. That we would become rich, that we could be born again, that we could have our sins forgiven, that we could be redeemed, that he would pay the go well price and redeem us from from our sins. And so the man child here, a wonderful man child is born and Messiah. And it says in Isaiah nine six, unto us a child is born. That speaks of his humanity. He'd be a human being. Unto us, a child is born. Unto us, a son is given. That speaks of his humility. That he would empty himself in the incarnation of the free exercise of his deity, and be the god man, the son the son of son of God. Unto us a son is given. God gave his son. And it says, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. In verse five there, it says he'd rule with a rod of iron. The government's upon his shoulder which speaks of his destiny. He's the Messiah. He's the Christ. He's the anointed one. He's gonna rule and reign as we said from Jerusalem for a thousand years. And David's gonna be his prince, and the nation of Israel's gonna no longer be a part of or subjected to the times of the Gentiles, but instead the Gentile nations are gonna be subservient in the millennium to the nation of Israel, and you and I will rule and reign with Christ as kings and priests or a kingdom of priests, and we're gonna rule and reign with him as part of his government. The 12 disciples, the apostles, they're gonna be ruling from 12 thrones, you know, and we've got the tribulation saints there. We've got the old testament saints. Four types of saints, old testament saints, church saints, tribulation saints, and millennial saints. And you're either a saint or you're an ain't, so get in the boat, get in Christ, as J. Vernon McGee would say. And his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace, which speaks of his deity. And the everlasting father and Philip, show us the father and that'll suffice. And Jesus said, have I been such a long time with you, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the father. This speaking of his deity, the prince of peace. And of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. And upon the throne of David, so you have the Abrahamic covenant, you have the Davidic covenant. The Davidic covenant is second Samuel chapter seven, where God told David, through Samuel the prophet, David had an idea that he wanted to, build God a house. And the prophet said, hey, that's a great idea. It's a great desire that you have. And and David, that's really good. And and God spoke to the prophet and said, no. I think it's Nathan, the prophet, and said, no. Go back and tell David that his hands are too bloody. He's too bloody. He's a man of war. But let him know that I'm gonna build him a house. I'm gonna build him a dynasty. And let him know that the messiah is gonna come through his loins, the kingly line, as the babe of Bethlehem, the home of David was Bethlehem. So Ruth the Moabites, if you look in Matthew one, the lineage, there's women in that lineage, which is contrary to Jewish lineage, but God is letting us know that there's some sordid things that happen along the line, the lineage line, that can happen. And so Ruth the Moabitess, she's from Moab. Now, where were the Moabites created? They were created through an incestuous relationship with Lot after Sodom and Gomorrah. His daughters went in unto him, the Ammonites, the Moabites. Out of the Moabites comes David's great grandma, Ruth the Moabites. And Ruth, along with Naomi, Elion, Chili, on Melon, they all died. And so Naomi is coming back. Oprah Oprah, she decided to go back to her own people. But Ruth decided to go with Naomi back to the house of bread. They've been gone for ten years. And so as she comes to the house of bread, she goes out into the field, and she sees a guy there, a wealthy guy, and he sees her. His name's Boaz. And he pays the Goel price. He prays the price of redemption for the kinsman redeemer so that Naomi could get her land back and so that Ruth could be married and have all the benefits of redemption. And and she's a foreigner. She's a Gentile woman. And so Ruth and Boaz, they get together, and then they have Obed, and Obed has Jesse, and Jesse has David. Jesus is the root, the source of David, and the offspring of David. He's the Messiah. And so we we see that Davidic line that the Messiah is also not only a Jew through Abraham, but specifically in the Davidic covenant, the kingly line. And interestingly, in in Matthew's gospel, the legal line comes through Joseph, but it had to change because of Koniah, Jeconiah, a curse upon Jeconiah, through a different son of Solomon, that of Nathan. So it's the legal line. Joseph is a stepdad of Jesus, but there's a legal aspect to the right to the throne in that lineage that's presented there. Mary's lineage in Luke chapter three goes all the way back to Adam, and Heli is the father of Mary, and he also comes along the line of of Judah, the line of David. And so two different ways to prove. Now in seventy AD, when all those records are destroyed, there's no records of any Jews anymore. We have Matthew. We have Luke. We have the lineage of Jesus proving to us he's the promised Messiah through the seed of the woman and that he's a Jew. Pretty fascinating. Very fascinating. And so so the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. And then in Micah five two, where is he to be born? He's to be born in Bethlehem, the house of bread. Thou Bethlehem of Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me. He that is to be ruler in Israel whose going forth have been from of old, from everlasting. And so, this cosmic aspect of this, Revelation one verse eight, Jesus said, I'm the alpha and I'm the omega. I'm the beginning and the end. I'm omniscient. It's all about me. And the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, which was, which is to come, the almighty. And so the the eternal aspects of Christmas, from Christmas past, Christmas future. So everything's happening according to God's will, according to God's plan. Now, if five hundred years before Jesus is to be born, how is God going to get Mary and Joseph out of Nazareth, be willing to go to Bethlehem 90 miles away? Luke chapter two verse one, and Caesar Augustus made a decree that all the world should be taxed. And it was a time when Cyrenius was the governor of Syria. And so Joseph and Mary were of the lineage where their hometown was Bethlehem, and it says all. All means all. So they had to saddle up the donkey, and she's great with child. They're gonna go 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem because God says this baby is gonna be born in Bethlehem. And when the wise men come from Babylon and they see the star, the Shekinah glory of God moving and hovering over the house. He's two years old by that time when they're bringing the gifts and all. But when they're in Bethlehem, when he when the child's born, he's born in a manger. Right? Because there's no room for them them in the inn. There's so many people traveling and all. So the same thing is happening in the day in which we're living. If you look at Revelation seventeen seventeen, God is putting into the hearts of the globalists, of the world leaders, to do according to his will. It's all coming together for the soon return of Jesus Christ. The beast systems being put in place where the nation of Israel, that woman, two thirds of the nation of Israel is gonna die in the time of Jacob's trouble, the 77 of Daniel. The devil's hatred, as he knows it, we're gonna see in a few minutes, as he knows he's losing, his objective is to exterminate, to genocide all the Jews so that Jesus has no reason to come back. Right? In fact, they they're so insane, these globalists, with their technology. They actually, according to Psalm two, oh, how the heathen rage and imagine a vain thing against the Lord and against his anointed. They actually think they can stop Jesus from returning with their armies and their technology. And he just laughs in Psalm two, he laughs. God laughs from heaven. You guys are delusional, man. You're delusional. And just a crazy time. Everything's happening according to plan. And then we see a wonderful, the wonderful wife of Jehovah in verse six. The wife of Jehovah. The church is the bride of Christ. The nation of Israel is the wife of Jehovah. And at times, he had to give a, in Hosea, a writing of divorcement, but then there's a future in Jeremiah thirty one thirty one, where there's an unconditional covenant that God brings forth to that one third remnant. Where his love for them is an everlasting love. All along, I've loved you and there is no replacement theology. There is no 70 a d fulfillment or a predatorist that all happened in the past. Know that many of these prophecies that we're looking at are future. They're gonna happen. Jesus hasn't ruled and reigned from Jerusalem yet. So it can't be predators. It can't be in the past tense. It's future tense. The millennium in chapter 20 of the book of Revelation is a 1,000 rule and reign of Jesus upon this earth. Okay? So there's no way that you can you can say that's past and the church has taken its place. So there's a different distinction as you meet read in Matthew 24 when he says, except those days be short and no flesh should be saved. But for the elect's sake, if you make the wrong distinction, say the elect is saints or the elect is the church, you're not interpreting Matthew 24 correctly. It's the nation of Israel except those days be shortened. No flesh would be saved during the tribulation period. So it takes Jesus intervening to preserve that one third remnant that's gonna be there in Petra, Basra, Mount Seir, Southern Jordan, where God's gonna preserve this one third remnant. So the wife of Jehovah, and the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And so Jesus spoke in Matthew 24 verse 15 of the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, which is at the midpoint of the tribulation period. The tribulation period starts not with the rapture, preacher rapture, but with the signing of the peace treaty or a covenant that's reconfirmed as the antichrist signs this peace treaty with the nation of Israel according to Daniel nine twenty six and twenty seven. And so this peace treaty, you start the clock, you go twelve hundred and sixty days into this peace treaty or a covenant. At the midpoint of that covenant, the two witnesses in Revelation 11 are are slain. And at the midpoint, the antichrist goes into the temple, declares himself to be God, demands to be worshipped as God. The Jews eyes are open who signed this covenant with him, and then commentators would call the second half of the tribulation period, the the three and a half years, the forty two months with thirty days each month, or twelve hundred and sixty days from that midpoint to the end of the second coming of Christ as the great tribulation period. And so we're gonna see the the seal, the trumpets, the bowl judgments throughout the entire seven years, and intensifies in the in the final three and a half years. And Jesus said, when you see this happening, you need to flee. And so they when seventy AD when it happened, the Christians that ran about Jerusalem remember Jesus saying that, and they fled and they preserved themselves. The Jews that stayed in Jerusalem, over 2,000,000 of them died with general Titus surrounding the city and put a siege upon it. But in the tribulation period, as the antichrist looks behind him and Babylon's being hit and there's a smoke going up, just billowing up, Revelation seventeen and eighteen, And the mariners and everybody are watching, and they're they're moaning and wailing because all their stuff is gone as in a moment. Literal Babylon is is history, and the antichrist takes his armies, and this anger intensifies toward Jerusalem, and, he begins to try and genocide the Jews, and the Jews flee. And and we're gonna see here on wings of eagle, they flee. They fly into the wilderness. That wilderness is prepared for them in Daniel 11, the description. There's a certain area called Ancient Moab, which today is Southern Jordan, that's off limits to the Antichrist. Also, there are a 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe that have a mark on them off limits. And then there's a one third remnant that survives, but they flee to Petra, Southern Jordan. The bible describes this place in Isaiah 63 as Basra. And Jesus, except those days be short and no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's sake, for the nation of Israel, Jesus intervenes and rescues the wife of Jehovah there at at, Basra. And then we see the wonderful angels, and there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, a cosmic war. And the dragon fought and his angels. So you've got good angels, you've got bad angels. There's only four angels we know their names. We've got Gabriel, protector of the nation of Israel. We got Michael the archangel. We got lucky Lucifer. And we've got a fourth one named Clarence who got his wings. Those are the only names of any angels we know. And that's it. So angels in general, different different ranks of angels, Seraphim, m is plural, Seraph angels in Isaiah six. We've got cherub, and they're not the Christmas kind of chubby little angels. And none of the angels are feminine. They're all males, you know. Cathy would like to point that in the Sunday school. And then you have angels in general who are messengers sent of God. And so you've got these good angels. Satan fell with one third of the stars, one third of the angels going with him. And so now they're fighting against Michael and his his band, and we see in Daniel chapter 10 that Daniel's praying for twenty one days, and Michael comes and lets him know that, hey, we've been battling with some angels. The prince of Persia, the fallen angel that has the sphere of responsibility. Ephesians six, we see there's principalities and powers that we're fighting against, and so we have angelic help with Michael and with Gabriel represented there watching over Israel. And then we see Michael when contending for the body of Moses, dared not make a railing accusation against the devil, but said the Lord rebuke you. We see Jude describing Michael and his role there. And so these holy angels, these wonderful angels, the angels that were there at the birth of Christ, the angels that were there when the shepherds were there, the host of angels, you know, singing and praising God, and the shepherds wondering what's going on, you know, and go into Bethlehem and see this holy thing that's happened, you know, and then they go and and then this whole host, huge host of angels singing and praising God. Glory to God in the highest. Peace on earth and goodwill toward men is God's intention, you know, in giving the son. We see Gabriel, you know, letting Zechariah and Elizabeth know. We see Gabriel letting Mary know. We see the angel of the Lord with a dream letting letting Joseph know that that which conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Don't don't put her aside. Don't put her away, you know, and all. And so we see the huge involvement of the angels in the story of of Jesus, in the account of Jesus, the first Christmas there in Bethlehem. And so we see these angels all along. We have guardian angels watching over you and I, and so these are ministering spirits sent of God to help. And so it says, and there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. So a dragon is a serpent, a flying serpent, one of the names for Lucifer. And the dragon fought in his angels and prevailed not. Praise the Lord. Greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. Since God is for us, who can be against us? We have a respect for the devil and his authority and his his power. I don't battle the devil directly, know. But like Michael, the example in Jude, the Lord rebuke you. I wanna keep Jesus between me and the devil. But God has given me an extended authority as a Christian that in the name of Jesus, we can take authority against the principalities and the powers when they seek to try to dominate or lie to us. And the greatest sword that we have is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Devil hates for a Christian to be a bible thumper, a person that can take that sword out and use it. A person that can take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Every thought that comes into your head, every propaganda, every lie that the devil says, you bring that back to the word of God. You're a Berean, and you make sure that you're not being deceived. Take heed that no man deceive you. Lot of deception taking place out there. Greatest weapon of the devil is deception. And so, and prevailed not, neither was their place found anymore in heaven. Verse nine, and the great red dragon was cast out, cast out of heaven. Jesus said he saw Lucifer fall as lightning fall from heaven. That old serpent, so all the way back in Genesis three, the serpent that beguiled Adam and Eve, this is a long story, called the devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world, the whole world. And part of what we see, part of the deception is sorcery, pharmakia, drug drug use, witchcraft, the occult, which deceives the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. And so I remember when Jesus went to the Tomb Of Gadara, and there were two demoniacs there, two men that that were uncontrollable. They were insane, and no chain could hold them and all. And they're cutting themselves, and they're naked, and they're shrieking, and Jesus is coming that way. And you hear the demons speaking through these guys and they say, we know who you are Jesus. You're the just one. Have you come to torment us before our time? The demons know their destiny, don't they? And they're asking what time it is. Is this time? And Jesus said, what's your name? We're legion for we're many. And they don't wanna be unembodied spirits, so they ask for permission to go into these pigs. And the pigs rush over the the cliff and they drown there. And and what's so cool is to see these demoniacs that nobody could help. A lot of people try and help. We try and help people. A friend of mine, text me yesterday and said that his stepson committed suicide last night. Now, how much of suicide do you think is demonic in nature? It's not the holy spirit trying to convince people to kill themselves. Bill Gates is inspired by demons. His population reduction, the genocide, all the different things they do to to toxic food and air and all these things is an objective to destroy humanity. And Jesus come to seek and to save those who are lost. Right? And so we we see a complete opposite, the good verse evil and all. And and so the good angels against the unholy angels. In Job thirty eight seven, all the sons of God shouted for joy at creation. They're shouting for joy when when in providing a service to the Lord when the 10 tablets, when the 10 commandments, the two tablets were given to Moses on Mount Sinai, the angels involved. And then we see a wonderful witness, verse 10. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren, the devil is an accuser. Right? He's the one accusing. So you think of a court of law where God the father's the judge, and you've got the prosecuting attorney, the one that wants to enslave you and incarcerate you and put you to prison or put you to death, and that would be Lucifer. And he uses he doesn't have to lie in heaven. He can tell the truth about you and I. He simply uses the letter of the law. The letter of the law kills. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If we say we have no sin, we're a liar and the truth isn't in us. The wages of sin is death. But Jesus comes in there to finish the verse, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So Jesus just shows his dad his hands. Dad, look at the scars. I died for this one. I paid for his sin. I pardoned him, paid in full to Talistai. He's one of mine. Devil hates that, hates that, hates that. How do I get around this justice of God? How can he how can God get around his own justice, his own holiness? By providing his son, by giving his son to be the propitiation, the substitutionary atonement, where it's the blood of Jesus would pay for our sins. And so he's cast out of heaven, and he's accusing. And if you hear him in your head accusing you, remember the cross. Set your mind on the cross for God so loved you in the past tense, pointing to the cross. There's now therefore no condemnation. He's condemning you. He wants to drive a wedge between you and God. Don't allow him to drive a wedge between you and God. There's now therefore no condemnation of those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Enjoy your freedom that's purchased by Jesus with his blood upon the cross of Calvary. Let it be your best Christmas ever. Enjoying the benefits as pluto plutocrats, the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. And so the devil knows his time is short. So I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strengthen the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him. How do we overcome the devil in first John five? By believing, first of all. But their belief is shown here, demonstrated here for these tribulation saints. How do they overcome the devil's assault against them when in Revelation 20 verse four, people refuse the mark of the beast. We watched on my birthday, Thief in the Night with the grandkids and, you know, the first and second movie, and boy, they were enthralled. They were they were just so amazed because all somebody had to do is to take the mark of the right hand of their forehead, and they could live. They could have food. They could move about freely. But if they did that, that was eternal damnation. And there's a couple of them there. One girl in particular, she's not gonna do that. And so in Revelation six and seven, there's an innumerable multitude of people beneath the throne of God who refused the mark of the beast, the mark of the antichrist. I'm 66 years old now. Six six six. No. Don't take it. I'm not gonna take it. And then I find out next year, my next year, my birthday, 06/07 isn't good anymore. Somebody messed that up. I don't know how they messed that up, but the mark of the beast. You know? And so I'm I'm aware of that. Road 66, how many more Christmases do I have? How much longer am I gonna be here and all? How am I gonna overcome the wicked one? And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb. It's the blood of Jesus. By the blood of the lamb. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son cleansed the man of all sin. If I confess my sin, he is faithful and just to forgive me of my sin and to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. And the blood of Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, continually cleanses man of all unrighteousness. So you have a positional righteousness of aorist tense verbs in in Romans eight, and that he called, those he foreknew, he called. Those he called, he justified. He glorified. Right? Already finished. Already done. You you those he foreknew, he predestined. He called. Justification, just as if I've never sinned. I paid in full. He's already got you glorified in your new glorified body. And the blood of the lamb, they overcame by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, testifying of Christ. Great witnesses here. And they love not ultimately, they love not their lives unto death. They were willing according to Revelation 20 verse four to be executed. Why? They didn't fear death. To be asked in the bodies to be present with the Lord. Death for the Christian is just moving. You move out of this body into your new glorified body immediately in your new glorified body, and they didn't they weren't afraid. They didn't fear death, and and that's how they overcame. So the leverage, the leverage of the wicked one, the leverage of the devil, the leverage of the of the antichrist and his government is always, you're gonna lose your job. You're gonna lose your house. You're gonna lose lose lose lose lose. Well, what do I gain? Eternal life. My life's not negotiable. It's not negotiable, but already been purchased, already belong to Jesus. What's it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what would a man give in exchange for his life? I'm not for sale, Satan. It's Jesus' way. It's his way. It's I wanna glorify him in death, whether in death or in life. And so the time of my departure is at hand, Paul knew that his tent, his temporary abode, it was time for his body to take the tent stake and break camp. The time of my departure is at hand. Nero's gonna execute me real quick here. I fought a good fight. I finished the course. And there's now laid up for me a crown of righteousness. And not for me only, but for all them that love his appearing. And I like what Jesus said to Peter, because we're facing a time where Jesus said, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Are there gonna be believers during an intense time where prosperity is no more? Where it's a time that Jesus said the world's never seen nor will ever see again? Will there be faith on the earth? And so he's looking at Peter and he says, Peter, Satan desires you that he may sift you as wheat, which means to beat you to a pulp, Peter. But I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you, Peter. And what's he praying for Peter? That your faith fail not. The most important thing you and I possess is our faith in Jesus Christ. The gift of faith that he's given us that at crunch time, when the devil's threatening and leveraging, like Polycarp, 80 and six years old, he's been faithful to me. Do you think I'm gonna wimp out now? Do you think I'm gonna you think you you guys are nuts. You're just nuts. It's it's a nonnegotiable. I've already decided this with my heart. Like Daniel, I'm not gonna eat of the king's bread. And, oh, Nebby, I'm not afraid of you. Our God is able to deliver us. And even if he doesn't deliver us, we're not gonna bow down to your image. It's a non negotiable. We're gonna be a witness of Jesus Christ. And so we we we're not so in love with our lives that we try to preserve it. I'm already crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ live within me. And the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I'm already his. I'm already I'm already dead. A dead man walking. Jesus said, you're gonna be my witnesses, my martyrs in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world because power is gonna come upon you. The dunamis dynamic power of the holy spirit. You're gonna be a cosmic witness. The two in the book of Revelation, they're witnesses of Jesus for three and a half years. And then to mock God, when God allows the two witnesses to be executed and their bodies lying in the street, and that technology is such that everybody can look on their phone and see these two witnesses, maybe Moses and Elijah, maybe Elijah, Moses, Enoch. We don't know. I'm gonna write a book about it. I know. But these two witnesses, and they're laying there. Nobody could touch them until God removed that hedge of protection. They can bring fire down on the earth, do anything they want to torment the people. But in Revelation chapter 11 verse 10, the antichrist is to appear with lying signs and wonders like he executed the two witnesses. And they're lying there in the street, and they don't bury him, but they're all looking on their phone at him. And you know what they do? They have a satanic Christmas in mocking of God. And it says, and they that dwelt upon the earth, earth dwellers, shall rejoice over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth. And after three it ain't over yet. And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud and the enemies beheld them. Isn't that amazing? Just so amazing. So exciting to be a witness for Jesus Christ. We never wanna wimp out this cosmic witness. So this Christmas will be a wonder or a woven wrath for some. The tribulation period is gonna be a wonder or a time of woe and wrath upon the inhabiters of the earth. And it says, therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them. Is your home heaven? This Christmas, this cosmic Christmas, you can you can rejoice now. You can celebrate because your citizenship is in heaven. You belong to heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven from whence we also look for the savior, the lord Jesus Christ. A cosmic wonder. Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled in John 14. Don't let your heart be troubled. He's letting the guys know that I'm a be leaving you. I'm be leaving you for a while. And it's expedient that I go because when I go, the comforter's gonna come, and you're gonna have the power of the holy spirit to help you, to understand and to live the Christian life. You're gonna have the experience of not only the with, but in and upon the experience of being a witness, the dunamis dynamic power of the holy spirit. So let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also me. In my father's house are many mansions or dwelling places. If it weren't so, I'd tell you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you onto myself that where I am, location location location, heaven, there you may be also. So Jesus is going to come before the tribulation period, the signing of that peace treaty. And so we see in his deity, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God, the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. And we beheld his glory, verse 14, as the only begotten of the father full of grace and full of truth. And so, Jesus said in Luke twenty one thirty six, when you see these things begin to come to pass, look up for your redemption draweth nigh. Or actually, he said in verse 36, he said, pray always that you'd be accounted worthy to escape these things. What things? The things of the tribulation period that he's describing. And to stand, location, where is he? Heaven. And to stand before the son of man. And then John says, beloved, now are we the sons of God that does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. And he that has this hope in him, what hope? The hope of his soon return. That blessed hope and glory superior of our great God and savior purifies himself even as he is pure. Or the alternative is, or woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows that he has but a short time. So the devil knows time. Do you know what time it is? Are you aware of the times in which we're living? The devil knows. The devil knows that he has three and a half years from this point. He knows that he's got forty two months. In fact, he knows he's got twelve hundred and sixty days to break God's heart, to take as many people as he can to hell, and the attempt to destroy the wife of Jehovah, the nation of Israel, that's being prepared of God, being refined through the fire, building their faith, so that one day they will recognize that they already crucified their messiah. It's the one that they pierced earlier. So 1,260 till Christmas. Verse 13, and when the dragon saw that he was cast onto the earth, he persecuted the woman which fought brought forth a man child. So the nation of Israel, the antisemitism is building, and the whole world, and Zechariah 12 is gonna turn their back on the nation of Israel during the tribulation period. And to the women were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly in the wilderness under her place where she'd be nourished for a time, times, and a half time, which is three and a half years, forty two months, twelve hundred and sixty days that the Lord would take care of her there from the face of the serpent. So Matthew two verse 14, we're told that Mary and Joseph, that when the wise men came and they inquired of the Messiah, the king of Israel, that Herod and the nation, the people were very, afraid. And they came at a point where he's about two years old, they're living in a house and that gold, myrrh, that frankincense would help them because they would need to flee. And so the angel of the Lord came to Joseph and said, flee. And Herod's gonna send his armies to Bethlehem to kill all the babes of Bethlehem so they're able to flee. In Exodus nineteen four, the Lord says, you have seen what I did under the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you unto myself. So the Lord's gonna bear them on his wings. He's gonna help the nation of Israel escape the armies of the antichrist and of the devil that are pursuing them from Jerusalem as they flee to where? To Petra, to Basra, to Mount Seir, to Southern Jordan of today. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. So the armies of the antichrist are cast out. They're cast toward the nation of Israel that's fleeing. And and Psalm two says, oh how the heathen rage, imagine a vain thing against the Lord and against his anointed, and God will hold them in derision. So the satanic strategy is not only to kill all of the Israelites that are fleeing, but to actually stop Jesus from returning. So this devil just doesn't give up. He's not gonna give up. He's he's he's he's he's Satan. He's the devil. You know? In verse 16, and the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth. So God caused the earth to open. Earth to open up and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. In Ezekiel thirty eight and thirty nine, when the coalition of five different nations invades Israel, God's gonna cause hell bombs come out of the sky. God's gonna cause the earth to help the nation of Israel to kill five out of every six of that invading force. And that's when the world is ripened. That's when the world is softened enough to make this covenant, I believe, with the nation of Israel that starts that seven year tribulation period. And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. And so Jesus told the nation of Israel in Luke chapter 13 verse 35, because you've rejected me, I've been cut off. You're you're rejecting me as your messiah. You cry out, hosanna, hosanna, hosanna, save now. But within four days, you're shouting, crucify, crucify. Let his blood be upon us and upon our children. This satanically energized crowds and hordes of people so easily manipulated are crying out for his crucifixion. Pilate's trying to reason with him. Why should I crucify him? I find no fault in him. He's an innocent man. I know for envy the religious leaders delivered him here. Crucify him. Crucify him. Let his blood be upon us and upon our children. And Jesus is weeping over the city. Often, I would have gathered you as mother hen does gather her brood under her wings, but you would not. And your city's left you desolate because you didn't know what time it is. You didn't know the day of your visitation when the Messiah fulfilled over 300 prophecies in his first coming. You could have seen in Micah five two that he would be born in Bethlehem. You could have seen in in Isaiah seven fourteen that he'd be born of a virgin. You could have seen in Isaiah nine verse six, his whole his whole birth and his whole destiny and his deity and the all of it, you could have seen. You could see in Isaiah 53, a form of capital punishment that you don't even know of yet, that of crucifixion. In Psalm 22, written a thousand years before he's born. You could have checked out the lineage, the the the records in the temple through Joseph and Mary to verify, to fact check to see if it's true. And if you don't believe him, what he's saying, then believe him for his various works sakes because no man's ever caused the blind to see. No man's ever been able to raise Lazarus from the dead. You know? His very work's sake. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. The only sign you're gonna get is a sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The factor of the resurrection, more than more than enough evidence, many infallible proofs, and Peter said, and we have the more sure word of prophecy. The prophetic picture of God who stands out at a time, the alpha, the omega, the cosmic Christmas, the Christmas that began in heaven, the Christmas that takes place on earth, the Christmas that will continue maybe to take place in heaven while we're there for seven years or in the millennium as we celebrate the birth, the crucifixion, the burial, the ascension of Jesus in his second coming. And so they won't see him until they say blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. And that remnant that's there in Basra, they're out of time. And Jesus said, except those days be short, no flesh should be saved. But for the elect's sake, for that remnant there, I'm gonna intervene when they confess their sin. And as they mourn over their sin, as they repent and turn, as they cry out to me, I'm gonna intervene. And then in second Thessalonians chapter two verse eight, Jesus returns in the clouds with a horde of witnesses that Jude says, we, the church, are coming back with him in the second coming, and he doesn't need us to help fight the devil and those armies and all that. It says that he destroys the antichrist with the sword of his mouth and the Shekinah glory, the brightness of his coming. And so the antichrist and the false prophet drop dead right there. They don't get a burial. The angels take him, throw immediately into the Lake Of Fire, even though Kirk Cameron doesn't believe. To the Lake Of Fire, where Jesus described hell as a place where the worm dieth not and the fire's never quenched. He's warning, don't go there. He made hell for the fallen angels, not for humanity. He's not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. He's long suffering. How many Christmases have you celebrated? How many Christmases in the secular? How many Christmases on the fringe? How many Christian Christmases as a religious person? That knowledge brings responsibility. Are you born again? Is it a cosmic Christmas? Is it a universal? You see the the whole universe involved in bringing forth this babe of Bethlehem. Everything happening according to God's plan so that we could be redeemed. What kind of Christmas are you celebrating this year? As I said, a religious one? A secular one? An isolated earthly one? In second Thessalonians two thirteen, we're looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing Amen. Of our great God and savior. We want Christmas in heaven. What will Christmas in heaven be like? The wonderful cosmic Christmas as we're looking for Jesus. That's our hope. Father, we thank you. We thank you for the story of Christmas. We thank you for the babe of Bethlehem. We thank you for the virgin birth. There's so many truths here that speak of our salvation. How precious. The uniqueness of Jesus that there's nobody else out there that was born of a virgin no matter how much Cimmeramus would lie and say that Tammuz in the Babylonian religious system that Tammuz was born of a virgin, that others saying a moonbeam. People lying, people counterfeiting, wanting to produce some sort of a virgin birth, if you will, and even the antichrist, the seed of the antichrist. The counterfeit miracles and such deceived people. Lord, we thank you that we have your son. We have the hope that's ours. We have our name written in the lamb's book of life. We know that we know that we know that we belong to you, and we thank you for this unspeakable gift of your son. For you so loved us that you gave. You gave your only begotten son. And father, you wooed us. No man can come on me except the father who sent me. Draw him, and I'll raise him up in the last day. Lord, it was your idea to save us. It was your idea to write our name in the lamb's book of life, slain before the foundation of the earth. And Lord, we thank you for your predestination of our lives. We thank you for the calling upon our lives. We thank you for the work of the holy spirit and looming our hearts and minds and bring us to that place of conversion and repentance and and Lord, receiving your son in our hearts and lives. To be born again, to be born from above, to be born of the spirit. Lord, we thank you that we're not earth dwellers. The earth in this condition is not our home. Our citizenship is in heaven from whence we look for our savior. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. And while your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed as you continue to pray, if this morning you're here and you don't know Jesus, you don't have a relationship with him, he came unto his own. He was in the world. The world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, the Jews, and the Jews received him not. He's rejected. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them who believe on his name. Are you this morning, are you here believing on his name? Do you want to know that your citizenship is in heaven? Do you want to know that you know that you know that your sins have been paid for? That he was born as the babe of Bethlehem, but it didn't end there. He lived a perfect life. He went to the cross of Calvary and died for your sins. The wrath of his father was poured out upon him instead of you. He was buried and he raised himself from the dead three days later. He walked among his disciples and others seen of over 500 people for forty days, and then he ascended to the right hand of his father. Ten days later, the holy spirit was poured out in acts two, the beginning of the church. And the gospel goes out today to whosoever will, let him come. Are you willing? Do you have the will? Jesus said, whosoever comes to me, I'll in no wise cast out. Are you exercising your will to say yes to Jesus Christ? He's not sending you to hell. If you go to hell, it's because you choose to reject Jesus Christ. What's your choice? Where will you spend eternity? What kind of Christmas will you celebrate? Just lift your hand up. We wanna lead you in prayer. We wanna lead you in prayer this morning. Introduce you to our savior. Anyone here this morning? So father, once again, we thank you. We thank you for the country we live in. We thank you for the freedom we enjoy. We thank you that we can celebrate unashamed Christmas. We thank you just the joy and the blessing of the light shining, the people, the family members, all the different things, the accoutrements, the the service that we had this morning with the children. How incredibly blessed we are to see these little ones, Lord, expressing themselves in this way. And, we love you so much. We pray for those who are struggling this time of year. We pray that you, Lord, would help them find the reason for the season, that we would have opportunities to share Christ, to alleviate the guilt and the pain and the the sorrow. We pray for the family that lost their their son to suicide. Lord, that of despair, men's hearts failing them for fear. So blessed now, we pray, Lord, as we partake of communion. We pray that you would bless and that we'd have a wonderful day in the Lord today. One man steams one day above another, another man every day alike. We know that each and every day is a day to celebrate your birth, your burial, your resurrection, your ascension, and your soon return. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.