Summary:
Putting on Christ is not only at the point of our baptism but also a consistent effort throughout our lives. As we wait on the Lord to come, do we hold steadfast to our faith or have we decided to let go of Christ because we find this too tiring? Do we still believe in the promises of the Lord? In our pursuit of faith, have we left a foot-hole for the devil? This sermon covers 2 (woman with child and the great harlot) of the 4 women mentioned in the book of Revelation. As we read and study the representation of these 2 women, let us also reflect: have I really put on Christ? Do I truly believe in the power and authority of my Lord Jesus Christ?

In the book of Revelation are 4 women. In Revelation 2:20, there is a woman named Jezebel who called herself a prophetess;

‘Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ‘

In Revelation 12:1, there is a woman with child;

‘Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. ‘

In Revelation 17:1, there is a great harlot who sits on many waters;

‘Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, ‘

In Revelation 21:9, there is bride of the Lamb;

‘Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” ‘

This sermon will cover the woman with child as well as the great harlot.

Jezebel and the great harlot represent the servants of the devil. Jezebel works in the church while the great harlot works in the world. Both the woman with child as well as the bride of the Lamb refer to the church. The woman with child refers to the church who gives birth to those who are saved through the gospel, while the bride of the land refers to the church who has made herself ready to receive her husband, Christ.

Turn to Revelation 12:1-6;

1 ‘Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.’

Woman with Child

Who is this woman with a child? Some reckon her to be:

1.The mother of Jesus Christ

According to what is recorded here, people in general refer to the child that was born as Jesus Christ. There was a dragon ready to devour her child as soon as she had given birth; that dragon would be interpreted as the devil using King Herod in an attempt to kill baby Jesus as soon as He was born. This male child was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; Christ to be the king of kings. This male child was taken to God at His throne; Christ’s resurrection and ascension to heaven.

After the child was taken up to God at His throne, the woman fled to the wilderness. In the wilderness, there was a place prepared by God and she was nourished there 1260 days. This would refer to the 40 years after Jesus’ ascension. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Israelites fled to other lands. Therefore, the woman who gave birth to the child was viewed as Mary, the mother of Jesus. But how could Mary be the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a garland of 12 stars?

After Jesus ascended to heaven, Mary, together with the rest of the disciples, gathered in the upper room to wait for the Holy Spirit to descend. Mary had no special status.

2.The 12 tribes of Israel

Some then viewed this woman as the 12 tribes of Israel. The 12 stars would refer to the 12 tribes. Jesus was born of the tribe of Judah.

But when Jesus was born, Israel was no longer a kingdom. The Israelites then did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. In the upper room prayers were only about 120 waiting for the Holy Spirit after Jesus ascended to heaven. After Jesus ascended to heaven, Jerusalem was sacked and the Israelites fled to other land; this was the judgement of God because they did not believe in Jesus, they crucified Jesus and even said, “May this guilt be upon us and our descendants!” That flight out of the land of Israel cannot be described as the flight of the woman to the wilderness to the place prepared by God.

3.The Lord’s church

In Revelation 12:17;

‘And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.’

The dragon warred with the rest of the woman’s offspring. Her offsprings were those who kept the commandments of God and had the testimony of Jesus Christ. Those who had the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ could refer to the disciples of Jesus. The 12 tribes of Israel in general crucified Christ and were not witnesses for Christ, so this woman cannot be Israel with the 12 tribes. Therefore, this woman refers to the Lord’s church. Only the children of the church are those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimonies of Jesus Christ.

The great vision

Here begins by saying that it was a great sign appearing in heaven. This vision was named the great vision because it was talking about the end times where God would save His people. To God, it was a great thing. To the church, it would have to do with life and death battle. To the devil, it would be his last attack.

In Revelation 12:12;

‘Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”’

He comes down with great wrath because it would be his final battle. This is a great visionsign and all of us should pay attention to it. This great vision tells us about the battle between the dragon and the church. The church of God is a spiritual battle field; a place where the children of God and the devil would fight. As children of God, we should adorn ourselves with the full armour of God. Then, we would be able to triumph over the devil. It is a pity that many children of God have not realised that they are in the midst of a great battle. They think that it is a time for them to rest, enjoy peace, and even sleep! But those who are vigilant and obey the words of God know that they are in the midst of a great battle. They know very clearly that the devil will waste no opportunity and use all kinds of means to attack the church. They will also see that many believers and workers have been taken captive and become slaves of the devil. As a result, they become more vigilant and do not dare for a moment to be without the armour of God.

Through this vision in Revelation, the Lord tells us that it is not a time for us to be at rest but to be at battle. We have to be on the alert and be ready in full battle order to take on the fight of the devil. Therefore, we must be vigilant and pray in the Spirit so that we are ever ready to triumph over the devil.

The devil knows that his time is short. Do we also know that our time is short? Look at all the things happening in the world, especially the current pandemic, shouldn’t this raise alarm bells to awaken us? We should be ready!

Here it tells us that this woman was clothed with the sun. The sun refers to Jesus Christ. We refer to Luke 1:78-79;

78 ‘Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; 79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”’

That is Jesus Christ. This woman clothed with the sun means that the church must be clothed with Jesus.

Clothe ourselves with Christ

We are the church, how are we going to clothe ourselves with Christ? Paul in Galatians 3:27 says;

‘For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ‘

Those who are baptised have put on Christ. Putting on Christ can be said to be the most important thing to happen in our lives because only Jesus Christ can give light to those who sit in the shadow of death. Only Christ can guide our feet into the way of true peace. Without putting on Christ, we are truly those who sit in the darkness of the shadow of death. Our feet do not walk the way of true peace but the way of eternal death. Because God sees the filth we have on ourselves and the sins we have committed, God will judge us on the judgement seat. But if we adorn ourselves with Christ, God sees that the blood of Christ has cleansed us of all our sins. God sees that the holiness of Christ has become our holiness; the righteousness of Christ becomes ours. Then, we can boldly stand before the judgement throne. Hence, putting on Christ is indeed the greatest thing that can happen to us in our lives.

We need to be clear that putting on Christ is not just at the moment of our baptism but something that should remain with us for the rest of our lives; it is not just being clothed with Christ on the outside but also being clothed with Christ on the inside.

Consider the Pharisees.
They write scriptures on a little box and put it as frontlets and tie them on their arms. They want to show others that they have put on the Law of God upon themselves but within their hearts, they go against the commandments. What is the use of a superficial clothing of ourselves with God’s laws? If it is only a superficial show and not something truly inside us, what use is it?

How can we truly clothe ourselves with Christ internally?
To clothe ourselves with Christ, Christ becomes our head. We completely submit ourselves to the word of Christ. If we obey men, men become our head; that is to be clothed with man and not with Christ. If we were to be clothed with Christ, we glorify Christ; we magnify and uplift His name. If we only glorify or uplift ourselves, that is to put on ourselves and not Christ.

Putting on Christ is to follow the example of Christ, it is to show forth the image of Christ. If we imitate the world, we show the ways of the world in our appearance; we have put on the world and not with Christ. Have we really put on Christ? We must seriously think through this question.

Some find it tiring and difficult to put on Christ. Therefore, they let go of Christ, let Him down, and not want to be clothed with Him any longer. But isn’t it more tiring and vain to put on the world? Don’t you feel more guilt and unrest in your hearts when you put on your own sins? We have to put on Christ for the whole of our lives instead of our sins.

Authority given to the children of God

This woman had the moon under her feet. The sun represents light, and the moon represents darkness. Having the moon under her feet means that the church is victorious over evil and darkness. This authority over evil has been given to the church through Jesus Christ. Read Luke 10:19-20;

19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. ‘ 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”’

Jesus has said clearly in v19;

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

‘You’ does not just refer to the 12 apostles. V17;

‘Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”’

Jesus Christ has given this power and authority to the entire church. The church, great or small, should not fear the power of the devil. We can all drive out demons through our trust in Jesus Christ and through the power of Jesus’ name. Do not think that you do not have the gift of exorcism. Exorcising the devil is not a gift. Amongst the gift of the Holy Spirit, there is the gift of healing but no power of exorcism through we normally link healing and casting out demons together. Exorcism is to drive out demons in the name of Jesus; this grace and authority is given to every child of God. However, not every child of God has the same faith to drive out demons. Some would be afraid of the devil and some may even compromise. That is a very wrong thinking. This great vision shows us that the woman has the moon under her feet. It is the authority given to the woman by the church to trample over all the power of darkness. We believe in the power of the Lord and we trust in His name. We can drive out demons in His name and we can throughout our faith resist the attacks of the devil.

Perhaps we find that the devil is not driven out in a short while. Hence, we doubt if we truly have the authority and power to drive out demons. There were moments when the disciples of Jesus couldn’t drive out spirits. In an incident, the father of the child said to Jesus, “I brought my demon-possessed child to your disciples but they couldn’t do it.” It’s like the disciples couldn’t do it and hence they seek the master. Or maybe the father thought that the disciples don’t have enough strength. It seems that the problem lie with the disciples, but Jesus replied, “Do you believe? Everything is possible to him who believes.” Jesus adjusted his way of thinking. It’s not that his disciples lack power, the true problem is, “Do I truly believe in the power and name of Jesus?”

To which the man replied, “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief!”

Then he saw more clearly that to drive out demons is to rely on Jesus’ power and His name, not on the power of the disciples. The disciples also have to trust in the name of Jesus to drive out demons. We need to ask ourselves, “Do we really believe in Jesus?” We need to ask Jesus to help us in our unbelief, then, nothing can harm us out of the power of darkness.

Do not leave a foot-hole for the devil

We may say, “Haven’t this brother or sister been harmed by the devil? If they were really harmed by the devil, it’s because they have given the devil a foot-hole. Or, they have not put on Christ, they let their guards down or they have left the faith. Then, they would be targets for the devil to devour. The devil does not have the authority or power to just devour anybody. Hence, Peter says in 1 Peter 5:8;

‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ‘

That the devil roams around like a roaring lion to seek those he may devour. Which are the ones he can devour? Is it those who trust in the Lord, follow Christ? Of course not. It is those who have given place to the devil; those who talk to the devil and compromise with him, or those who have let Christ and no longer put on Christ. Then, they have become those who can be devoured by the devil. On one hand, we must ask God to help us but on the other hand, we must be alert and not allow ourselves to be targets of the devil. We need to put on and follow Christ, then, surely no power of darkness can devour us.

We spoke about Luke 10:17 about the 70 people coming back with joy saying that even the devil is subject to His name. V20;

‘Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

If you drive out demons on the first try or at once, would you not be very thankful and rejoice? The entire family of the demon-possessed member would be very grateful to you. You may even feel very special because the demons are subject to you. You see that many pray and are not as effective in casting out demons but you are; this is your temptation. Would you then remember God’s words to not rejoice because the demons are subject to you? The demons are not afraid of you but are frightened by the name of Jesus. Do not rejoice just because the demons are subject to you! It is a call for real rejoicing if we are subject to Christ because then our names would truly be written in heaven. When we are baptised, our names are written in heaven. From then on, we would be children of God and our heavenly home is ours; our names are truly written in heaven! At the point of our departure from this world, would our names still be there? Read Revelation 3:4-5;

4 ‘You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.’

The words of Jesus to Sardis should be of warning to us. Jesus has the authority to write our names in heaven but He likewise has the authority to blot out our names. Who are those whose name will not be blotted out? Those victorious ones clothed in white! He will not blot out his name from the book of life! In our lives, we must through the help of the Lord Jesus overcome the power of sin. We must be clothed in white and not let it be soiled. If it becomes soiled, we must quickly wash it. We must pay attention to confess our sins to repent and ask Him to blot out our sins. Otherwise, your name will be blotted out by Christ.

The Lord has also said clearly “He who confessed My name before men, I will also confess his name before My Father in heaven.”
If we do not acknowledge the Lord now, He will also not acknowledge us in the future. Will we not acknowledge the Lord? Of course not. But Peter promised that he would not leave the Lord Jesus even to the point of death. When he was tempted, he denied the Lord over and again and didn’t dare to acknowledge the Lord.

We may be able to exclaim now that we will not deny Christ but when faced with trials, will we really acknowledge Him with boldness? We must constantly remind ourselves. If we draw back from acknowledging Christ when faced with a small problem now, or you flinch when you’re known to be a TJC member, how can we have the courage to acknowledge Christ in the face of persecution?

Today we do see some people who give up on Christ for some reasons. Some behave like Judas and betray Christ for small gains. We need to ask the Lord to preserve us. We also must be resolved to tell ourselves, “No matter what we are faced with, no matter when, we must not give up on Christ. Jesus will surely not give us up and not blot our names out.”

This woman had a garland of 12 stars on her hand. The 12 stars refer to the spiritual descendants of Abraham. Do we remember God saying to Abraham that his descendants would be like the sand of the sea and the stars of heaven? Abraham would have 2 kinds of descendants:

1.The sand of the sea

Physical descendants of the land, physical Israel

2.The stars of the sky

The spiritual descendants, those who become his descendants through the faith of Jesus Christ.

Become victors and not be defeated

The garland here refers to victory and glory. The garland itself would refer to the glorious inheritance of the heavenly kingdom that we are awaiting. The glorious garland has already been promised to you but would you have the opportunity to put on this garland? It all depends if you are a victor of faith. If you are defeated instead of being a victor in the matter of faith, you will not be able to put it on this garland even though it has been promised to you. Instead, you will lose the garland. Whatever God has promised is true. This garland will be given but you must be a victor first.

In His letter to the 7 churches, the message is that we must be victors in the church. The 7 churches faced different kinds of problems but no matter what kind of challenges they faced, they must be victors all the same. We must ask the Lord to help us to not only preserve in this faith but also to be victors and not the defeated. Many believers have made no change in their faith but in the way they manifest their faith in their daily lives, they have gone down the hill. The Lord has given us time and opportunity. We know our defeats and where we have failed. We must not allow ourselves to continue failing. We must get up on our feet and once again be above our failures and be victorious. Then, we can be qualified to put on the garland to inherit what is promised.

This woman cried out in labour and pain to give birth. This ‘pregnancy’ points to the groaning pains/pangs we have. It’s difficult for us to lead a true seeker to the point of baptism. Many times, we have to go through many struggles. It is even more difficult to pastor and nourish a believer until he grows up. There is a lot to give in order to help in his growth. You have to suffer lots of pain. Sometimes, you really would cry out in anguish. It is almost without exception that every labouring woman would cry out. Perhaps you deliver through c-section and here is no pain then but there will be pain after. Though there may be no physical pain, there is mental and emotional pain.

Turn to Galatians 4:19;

‘My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, ‘

What does this phrase mean?
From the viewpoint of the gospel, Paul gave birth to the Galatians Christians with gospel truth. But quickly, many departed from Christ to follow another gospel because some taught them that it is not enough to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ to be saved but also practice circumcision according to Mosaic law. Paul had to go through labour again so as to implant the truth of the gospel again in their hearts so that Christ is formed within them; to have true and secure unwavering faith in Jesus within themselves. Then, they would not be so easily deceived and led away by false doctrines.

From the viewpoint of spiritual life, when we are baptised, the spiritual life of Christ is within us. But this spiritual life is just like a newborn babe. He has to slowly grow to the full measure of the stature of Christ. This spiritual life that has grown would fully display the qualities of Christ. Be it from the perspective of gospel truth or spiritual life, we need to pursue to have Christ formed in us fully. Though we pay a high price and suffer pain, after delivery, there will be joy. It is eternal joy! Jesus in John 16:20 said;

‘Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. ‘

May the Lord help us so that we may all make ourselves ready to battle with the devil and be victorious over all his tricks. All the more, to pursue and have the fullness of Christ formed within us.