In his sermon 'Mandates of a Red and Fiery Dragon,' Scott Brown delves into Revelation 12, interpreting the imagery of the woman, the dragon, and the child as a representation of the church, Satan, and Christ respectively. Brown emphasizes the church's role as a nurturing 'mother' and the ongoing spiritual war between the forces of good and evil. He draws parallels between the biblical narrative and contemporary issues, particularly focusing on government mandates such as mask and vaccine requirements, which he sees as manifestations of tyranny akin to the dragon's influence. The sermon underscores the importance of jurisdictional authority, advocating for personal responsibility over one's body while critiquing government overreach. Brown encourages believers to overcome these challenges through the blood of Christ, the word of their testimony, and a fearless commitment to truth. He interprets the text as a call to rely on God's word, resist lies, and stand firm in faith, asserting that the church will ultimately prevail despite the dragon's attempts to destroy it.

Please open your Bibles to Revelation 12 I'll be reading verses one through six this is the inerrant all-sufficient holy truth of God verse 1 in Revelation 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. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven diadems on his heads.

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. 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. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1, 260 days. And now skip down to verse 11 and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death therefore Rejoice Oh 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 Would you pray with me? Father we thank you for the words that guide us, that shape us, that move our hearts to the meditations that are true and holy and and so good for our souls.

I pray that you would use these words now to equip the saints to comfort any who are brokenhearted, to save any who are lost. Lord we pray that you would make your word run swiftly this morning. Amen. Please be seated. Well a year and a half ago it was March 15th 2020 our government told us to shut down our churches, to practice social distancing, to wear masks, and not to travel.

And this was the first shot against the church, the first shot across the bow of the church announcing that government tyranny was going to be one of the issues the church would have to grapple with and we have tried to grapple with it. Now this section in Revelation 12 pictures Satan's war against the people of God And one writer has called this a symbolic commentary on the battle. I think that's what it is. And so this chapter and the chapters ahead open our minds to the problem of evil. The discussion will continue in the chapters ahead.

Chapter 12 is a wonderful display, not only of the brutality of the dragon toward God's people, but the effective preservation of God's people. With the attacks of this red fiery dragon, his seven heads and ten horns attempting to wash the church off the face of the earth. He fails, by the way. In this chapter, he's a big failure, actually, if you look at it. But he does kick up his heels.

And so this chapter gives us some instruction shepherding about how the church survives the onslaught of his filth of the water that comes out of his mouth to sweep us away. And it also, it's helpful, It answers why there's so much trouble in the world. And the answer is right here in this text. The Apostle Paul spoke of it in didactic instruction when he said, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of this present darkness, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that we may be able to withstand in the evil day Having done all to stand so There is a war being waged in heaven and on earth and if we could see the war with our own eyes in its most vivid terms it would stagger us, it would absolutely terrify us.

The Lord hasn't given us a vision of the fierceness of the wrath of the devil in such a graphic terms, we just see the outward manifestations of it. And as we go along here in our time together in this text, I hope to talk about some of the battlegrounds that the devil is fomenting today. He is a liar. He continues to lie. He's an abuser of authority.

And we'll talk about some of those contemporary issues as we move on. But first, to move into this chapter, this chapter is really remarkable. One brother yesterday said to me, so you're gonna preach through the whole Bible tomorrow? Well yes, you have to because this goes all the way back to the fall through the birth of Cain and Abel and the conflicts that have ensued from then on. But you also find tremendous doctrine that's being described here in pictures.

Angelology, demonology, Christology, ecclesiology, all these doctrines are here but they're here in picture form. Make sure your children understand the pictures that represent the true doctrine. And now this section continues on but it ends in chapter 15 verses 1 through 4. And it really describes not only the works of this fiery red dragon, but also how God frustrates his efforts to destroy the church. He just can't stamp it out.

It's just the way it is and this is such a comfort. Now We've been encouraging one another to try to read this book the way that has been written. It's not chronological or sequential. There are cycles of history that end in the second coming. The seal judgments end in the second coming.

The trumpet judgments end in the second coming, and we'll find later on the same pattern as We get to the bowl judgments and these I I believe these are the kinds of things that happened during the church age in a way, I'm kind of an eclectic in my interpretation of revelation. I do think these happened before 70 AD and through Nero. I do believe these things, these kinds of things will happen in the last seven years of history, but I also believe they have happened many, many times and will continue to happen until Jesus comes in the final escalation of this war against the Lamb and against his people. And again, you know, these critical hermeneutical principles that we're operating by. First of all, everything in Revelation testifies to the power and the glory of Jesus Christ.

If you're going to read a verse in Revelation, think about how he's glorified. Secondly, It should be understood by by considering the imagery in the Old Testament because there are over 500 allusions to the Old Testament in this short book and so to interpret it again I've said this many times don't look at your newspaper look at Ezekiel look at Daniel look at Zechariah look at the Psalms look at the places where these images were actually inaugurated in the Bible. And so what we have here is it's theology in pictures. So that's how we're interpreting this. I don't want to minimize how difficult it is to interpret Revelation.

There are many opinions about it. My prayer is that you know no one will be divided on their view of revelation, but they will see Jesus Christ through it all. I think we'll be okay if we keep our eyes on him in that. Okay, so let's launch into the text. So this first section, verses one through six, and of course this chapter breaks into three sections.

We're only gonna cover the first today. This is a picture of the woman and the dragon and the child. And it begins with a great wonder, a sign. A remarkable wonder is revealed here. And there are three characters in this section.

You have the woman and this is the church. This is not Mary. And I'll give you three reasons why the woman, why I believe the woman is the church. First, because of the immediate context, when you get to verse 17, we know exactly who the woman is. She is identified, she's identified by those who keep the commandments of God and they testify to Jesus Christ.

Well, that's the church. And so in verse 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 so this this woman is the church. This is why Calvin in his institutes Calls the church your mother The church is your mother He says it like this for there is no other way to enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breast, and lastly Unless she keep us under her care and guidance until putting off all mortal flesh We become like angels our weakness does not allow us to be dismissed from her school Until we have been pupils all our lives So Calvin is just saying the church is your mother, it nourishes you and cherishes you. The church is the place where you're taught and your sins are being dealt with as you are engaged in the life of a local church. So first of all, I think the immediate context makes it clear that the mother is the church, the woman is the church.

Second, we know that she is the church because it was in the Old Testament church, the line of the Messiah gives birth to the child through Adam and Seth and Abraham and David and Joseph. And on, it's through this line of the Messiah, through Israel that the Messiah is born. So in one sense, Israel is the mother of the true church. And then thirdly, It's not a new idea in the Bible that the church would be characterized by a woman. Those of you who are with us when we were going through Isaiah.

In Isaiah 54, one through eight, you might remember this, the church is a woman who has a husband who gives birth to offspring. So in Isaiah 54 the church is your mother. So you know we don't we shouldn't get too wrapped up around trying to make the imagery work perfect with everything but God gives us these images to give us particular insight on specific matters. So now there's another woman by the way in Revelation and we'll get to her in chapter 17. This woman is a harlot.

She is the counterfeit of the church. And you'll see how she apes, mirror, tries to mirror the work of the church. So then you have the child, obviously the child is Christ. And then you have the red fiery dragon, Obviously this is the devil, it can't be any other thing. And so the verses actually show the woman in all of her beauty, they'll persecute it, and the dragon and all of its ugliness, and the child in all of his goodness.

So that's what you find here. And it's pictured in this great sign, this great mega sign, literally, in the Greek language. And then we come to the imagery of the sun and the moon and the stars in verse 1. Do you see that? Sun and moon and stars.

What is that all about? I like the way that Spurgeon talked about it. He said she is covered with underived splendor of indwelling deity and her walk is bright with the reflected glory of holiness while her crown of joy is found in her complete ministry as represented by the apostolic 12. She is fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners. Well, I don't think it's only that.

It's also reflected from the language of Genesis 37 verse nine, particularly where the sun and the moon and the stars, they are literally metaphorical representations of Israel, of the twelve tribes of Israel. Actually the eleven tribes and then Joseph of course is the one having the dream that bears witness to these constellations. This language of the sun and the moon and the stars is representative of God's covenant people. So then you have this, she is clothed with the sun. The church walks in the light, literally in the light of the countenance of Jesus Christ She's like a candlestick as we've seen in the earlier chapters of Revelation The church is the light of the world and she stands as light in the world.

That's why the word of God says that the Son of righteousness with healing in his wings will rise upon you. So This imagery of the church is very beautiful. It speaks of the work of the church and the world as light and beauty. It's just so wonderful. And then the world is under her footstool.

At least the moon is under her feet. I think this indicates that the enemies of the church are under Christ's footstool, and the church will tread on serpents. I think that's figurative. And they will walk across the earth, and they will denounce the works of the devil. And in that sense, the church has the devil under their feet.

The Lord Jesus Christ said that this was his work in Ephesians 1.22, where we learn that he has put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church. This is the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ over all the nations, over all the tyrants, over all the evil philosophies. He lets them run for a period, but his feet is on their necks. And Psalm 2 makes this very clear. Why do the nations rage?

The nations are raging and raging. And he who sits in heaven laughs because he has the nations under his foot. He said, it says of Christ, you shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. So we have that in our text as well.

So in this verse what we're seeing is the legacy of the victory of the Old Testament Church and the New Testament Church and on her head is a garland of 12 stars. So picture that, a garland of 12 stars on her head. Maybe you can picture a headdress like that. It's figurative. You know, 12 of course symbolizes the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 apostles, the 24 elders that we find, which I believe represent the whole, the corpus of God's people, the Old Testament believers who were saved by faith, and the New Testament believers who were saved by faith as well.

And this is a picture of Jesus Christ raining. You know I love it when we sing that song, Jesus shall reign where ere the sun does its successive journeys run, his kingdom spreads from shore to shore. So this first verse really speaks of that. And in Daniel chapter 12, you find similar language of the victory of Jesus Christ and his people. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

It would be fun to just do a systematic theology on stars. It's just absolutely fascinating the way that God uses stars to speak of other things that we know in the world. But then in verse 2, the church gives birth, you see that? Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth, this is the church. This speaks of those who were born into the church of Jesus Christ.

Through the labors of the members of the body of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in The hearts of those who don't know him and you know, of course the church is always receiving new converts there are always some being born and The church, you know is always at work absorbed in the duties of the Great Commission, of the preaching of the gospel, of teaching the church to obey all things that Christ has commanded. And the devil is always right there to devour the disciples or the budding potential disciples, at least potential in our minds. Now also notice that the church here is in labor pains and the church comes to devour her children while she is in labor. You think of how vulnerable a woman is when she's in labor. There's no more vulnerable time for a woman than when she's in labor.

And this is when the devil attacks, when the church is vulnerable. And when a woman is in labor, she has to be protected from everything. And frankly, the devil is here to devour his word from your heart today. He's right here. He wants to devour it To make you distrust God to make you Think unworthy thoughts of his son and the devil wants your children to the devil He has given you children.

They're little right now. He wants to devour them while they're little And so we're here this morning, you know, proclaiming the supremacy and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ and his kingdom. And at the same time, the devil is here to devour whatever truth I might speak here today, he wants to distract you, he wants to offend you by what I might say, to tire you out, to think, oh, he just could have said that so much better. And I, you know, no, no, no, no, no. Don't let the devil devour what's actually true and good in your life.

He is here to do that. And the devil's on the prowl. You see that in verse three. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold a great fiery red dragon.

The Bible teaches us that the devil is really bad news. He's a malicious enemy. You know, by the way, you know, most of the children in this church already heard the sermon. They already know about the dragon and the woman, and they can tell you all about it when you get home. But I had an opportunity to do that on Wednesday at Met Women's Mentoring.

What a joy that was. But one commentator describes this fiery dragon like this. The color of the dragon implies his fiery rage as a murderer from the beginning. And so now we come to this matter of angelology again. How many times have we encountered angels and have been instructed on what the Bible says about angels?

Well here we are again and we learned that he's actually a superhuman being He's very different than humans superior humans in Strength particularly physical strength. He operates in a hierarchical Structure He blinds eyes. He opposes the word of God. The Bible tells us that he actually even has influence on the weather, I think under God's authority. You know, it was, it seems like it was the devil who called up the wind that blew down the houses that killed Job's children.

And so the devil does have something to do with the weather only under God's permissive authority. But we understand too that he is desperate. He's desperate because his time is short and he knows his time is short. Think about that. From his fall until this very day he's lived on borrowed time.

He knows he's a dead man. So different from the Christian. You're not living on borrowed time. The moment you came to Jesus Christ you stepped into eternity and you're not living on borrowed time. There's no borrowed time for the Christian but there is for the devil and his servants.

And just to comment about dragons here, you know, Hollywood wants you to think that dragons are cute. Hollywood wants you to think that they're lovable. But the Bible doesn't say that about dragons. So if you see a lovable dragon, you oughta really tell your kids what's really going on in the world because they're lying about dragons. Dragons are pictures of these malicious influences in the world.

Notice too, he has seven heads, seven heads. Seven vile talking heads is what he has and you just might picture seven heads spewing out vileness and spewing out things that would be characterized as being an angel of light as well. But think of politicians, Think of kings, think of CEOs, think of influencers, think of world views when you think of these seven heads, think of ideologies, think of the doctrines of demons that 1 Timothy 4, 1 speaks of. Now, the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons speaking lies in hypocrisy having their own conscious seared with a hot iron. You know, there's kind of a very well-known evangelical now who just launched a new book and a online study course to help you deconstruct your faith because that's what he did.

Well, the devil is always about to deconstruct. And what are the battlegrounds of this generation? What are the seven talking heads in our culture? Well, there are many of them, and you hear them all the time. You can be what you want to be.

Let it go, don't hold back anymore. No right, no wrong, no rules for me. I'm free, that's from the movie Frozen. Be yourself, don't let anybody tell you what to be. Follow your truth.

You can pick it up in the demonic view of sexuality in the LGBTQ movement. You can pick it up in the inhumanity of the social justice movement. The talking heads are everywhere. You can talk about the pride of man in the environmental movement, people who think that they can save the earth. But the language of the devil and the fiery dragon is everywhere, and you have to know his language.

Pay attention to the language of the talking heads. Think about the language of the critical race theory woke movement today. Systemic racism, structural racism, microaggressions, stereotypes, majority culture, inequality, ableism, heteronormative, binary, non-binary, white privilege, underserved communities, equality, justice. This is the language of the devil. And it's sort of a mental operating system that gets into people's thinking.

And they can't think straight anymore because they're not thinking biblically anymore about relationships. And the problem with the operating system of critical race theory is that there's no love there. There's no forgiveness there. There's no grace there. All you get from it is partiality and distrust and resentment and grievances.

That's all you get. And there's no healing from it either. You can't escape it because it's proclaimed by the color of your skin. And it's very interesting that it's the color of your skin that determines what you can be in this world. Which is tragic because there are lots of colors of skin all over the world.

Is God's grace limited to a color of skin? So these are wicked spewings of one of the talking heads of a dragon that has been loosed in the church. Now The talking heads are always liars, by the way. The devil is the father of lies, and we've encountered what many of us believe are lies about masks and about social distancing and about vaccines and all kinds of things like that. But notice too, he isn't just, there aren't just seven heads, seven vile talking heads.

There are 10 horns. These represent authority. I think that the heads represent epistemology. I think they represent matters of truth and falsehood. They represent what the message is and the ideologies of the world.

But then when you go to the horns, I think they represent authority. And of course, you know, we know that authorities exist everywhere. National governments, local governments, hospitals, companies, educational institutions. There are authorities everywhere. Well, parents are authorities as well.

But his authority is a brutal authority. It's characterized by horns. If you want to know what it's like, he wants to gore you. He wants to skewer you. That's the kind of authority that this dragon has.

It's a brutal authority that's being exercised by this personality and he uses his authority to harm. Well, and you know Horns in the Bible are symbols of authority. So I think that's why I believe that's what he's talking about. But it's a brutal authority. We're told how to think about these things in many places in scripture.

Well, we're being told now in this text, but Colossians two, eight through 10, tells us that ideologies cheat us, that they spoil us and they hold us captive and ideologies make you slaves. Paul told this to the Colossian Church. The Colossian Church existing in the midst of brutal authorities. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power." In other words with the authority of Jesus Christ and his grace you're complete you don't need you don't need this other kind of ungodly authority.

And then in verse four, notice that he has a tail. He has 10 horns, he has seven heads, and he also has a tail. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Now this may be connected with the releasing of the 200 million demons from the bottomless pit that we already read about in chapter 9. It could mean other things, it's difficult, but whatever it is, something evil is thrown down to the earth and he's poised to devour the child and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born.

And so the devil loses no time to devour. He begins in the garden, of course, to seduce Adam and Eve and continues on through biblical history. And so his hateful malice toward the church, of course, has been frustrated at every turn. It was frustrated over and over and over again through the line of the Messiah. Haman tried to wipe out, Herod tried to wipe out, the devil tried to wipe out the Lord Jesus at the temptation in the wilderness, the Pharisees plotted to kill him and they just couldn't pull it off, they were so frustrated, and then finally at the crucifixion they did it again and he rose from the grave.

So he was born and he was not devoured. That's the point that we have here. So before we move on to verses five and six, I want to just pause a bit for some application, particularly because of the moment that we live in. We live in a moment where we're seeing government and industrial tyranny and institutional tyranny like we've never seen before. We have governments telling us to do things we never imagined anyone would tell us to do.

So I'd like to make some applications on these matters of attacks. I think these are attacks of the devil. I think these are matters of attack from the lying, talking heads and the brutal authorities that have risen up. And This application really focuses on this fiery dragon. And, you know, these issues that are before us in the form of mandates, mandates for masks, mandates for vaccines.

And I think that these actually are modern representations of these talking heads and these ten horns that are among us today. So I want to spend a little bit of time just helping us think about it. How do we think about it? I'm not here as a doctor to tell you everything about a vaccine. I'm certainly not a doctor.

But I wanna help us think through the mandates. That's the focus of what I'd like to do. Because we really are seeing a tyrannical authority in America like never before and Of course these authorities have been granted by God it is God who has ordained these things to happen to the church and and Frankly, it's a help to the church. It helps the church think more deeply than it ever did before. You know, nobody had ever really thought Romans 13 was on the table, you know, you know, for a couple hundred years of American history.

And then it was on the table. We had to think about it. We had to study. And now we're having to think even further about how we keep the commandments of God under government dictates and mandates. So I think we can give thanks that God is in control of all the mandators.

And it's not a small issue. Now I want us to consider two issues when it comes to government mandates and I have particularly these matters of mask and vaccine mandates. And the first is that we really are required as Christians to uphold biblical jurisdictional authority. This is part of true Christianity. Christians believe that there are three jurisdictions, the church and the family and the government.

But it's required that we uphold God's order of the world. And my main arguments against forced vaccinations really are jurisdictional in nature. They're beyond that and I'll get to that in a minute because I think that we have to recognize their particular commands of God that would help us think about it. But if the government tells you you must get a vaccine, are you required to do that under Romans 13? And of course, God by his own authority has given to man, he has given to individuals, jurisdictional authority over their own personal health.

He has given men authority, he has given fathers authority and mothers over their families. These are jurisdictional authorities. God has given those to you. You don't need the government to give them to you. God gave them to you.

And frankly, your body doesn't belong to you. It belongs to God. And you must treat your body the way that God has commanded you to treat it. Personal jurisdiction and governance over your body is being attacked in our culture today. And even the largest companies in the world and small companies are actually seeking to encroach on your personal health and your personal jurisdiction.

Now, I'm not here to tell you whether you should take a vaccine. I'm just telling you that this is a personal jurisdiction matter. So, Man has a personal responsibility to maintain the health of their body. Man is commanded to keep his body, as Paul said, in sanctification and in honor. Governing your body is clearly commanded in 1 Corinthians 6 verses 19 and 20.

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and you are not your own for you were bought with at a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. So your body is not your own, you can't treat your body any way you want to treat it. In fact most of our lives we're learning how to treat our bodies the way God wants us to treat our body and not the way that we want to pamper our bodies. But God has given you jurisdiction over the use of your body. The Christian has a duty before God to render his body under the authority of God as as a sacrifice to him.

And Romans 12, verses one and two make this so plain. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, which means worship. Actually, what you do with your body is a matter of worship. What you do with your body every day is designed by God to be a matter of worship. And if what you're doing with your body can't be somehow categorized as loving God, then you should not be doing it.

And in 1 Corinthians 1031, we're taught that pleasing God must be considered even in what you ingest in your body. First Corinthians 1031, therefore whether you eat or drink or whether or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. John, the apostle actually prays for health among his readers. In 3 John 1 verse 2, where he says, "'Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things "'and be in health just as your soul prospers. You have this division of humanity, mankind that he prays for, your body and your soul.

You know, there are examples of tyranny over the body that we have in history. One example of this kind of tyranny comes to us from China over the last couple of decades. China has had a one-child policy. They're telling you what to do in your family and what to do with your body. And in Genesis 2.27, we're commanded to be fruitful and multiply.

That's an encroachment over the government of your body. Another example of tyranny over the body comes from the experience of the Hebrew children in Babylon in Daniel chapter 1 verses 5 and 6. We read how the king commands the children of Israel who've been deported to Babylon to eat the king's food. And Daniel, purpose in his heart, he would not do it. And they just refused.

And they appealed to the king. He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies. Because he had A body that was given to him to glorify God. That's why he did that and he determined to do it. So the point that I'm making is that the Bible calls mankind to protect and take care of your body because you were created by God.

Your body is actually a sacred instrument of God. And so we have this jurisdictional freedom to take care of our own bodies. Now, when The government demands that every person be injected with what I'm going to call an untested, unknown, toxic, biological, where there are actual known complications. They're actually usurping personal jurisdictional freedom for the care of your own body. And God has not granted the government authority for what you put in your body, for what you eat or what you drink or what you inject into your body.

Romans 13 limits the role of government and this is not part of their role at all. Well you have to think jurisdictionally about these kinds of things. You know, you know Why has God done this? There are obviously many reasons. But one of the possible reasons that might come to mind is that everybody's body is different.

And you might not eat the same things I do because you have a particular unique constitution that God Almighty has established in your body. And I want to say that you know this matter of individualized diagnosis and guided therapy must be contended for. Because the medical community has always acknowledged that everyone shouldn't have the same treatments. We're seeing sort of the collectivization of healthcare. In other words, Everybody needs to fall into the collective and have the exact same kind of health care.

But requiring the same injection for everybody in the world, it so contradicts the way doctors think. And I don't know why we're finding this being proposed even by doctors. But collectivist medicine is unsound and it should be rejected. Everybody's body reacts different to various intrusions into their systems. We know that here is a church.

Everyone can't eat the same things in this church. One person reacts one way and another and another. I mean you know some people drink coffee and it has a bad effect on them but not me. So I'm fine with drinking coffee. I try to do it every morning.

I give some people a headache and it doesn't for me, but it would be unloving for me to say to you to stop or start drinking coffee. Coffee, You know, if penicillin gives you a bad reaction, it's not loving for the government to force it. I mean, penicillin gives some people hives, rashes, itching, and even often sending the body into shock, and it can be deadly. Penicillin is good for me, but it's not good for everybody. And we have to recognize that.

You know, I once had an intern here in Wake Forest over probably a decade ago He had a peanut allergy So we had to be really careful because you know peanut peanuts sent him into hives and itchy skin he had a hard time breathing and he would swell up in his throat and sometimes people you know with peanut allergies their blood pressure drops and and they faint and they might die so in other words the collectivization of Medicine is really a contradiction to the jurisdictional authority that God has given you over your body Treatments need to be customized and they are customized because of personal health history and allergies and genetics and lifestyle diseases and conditions and differences in males and females. There's a doctor here that says if you're putting a woman under sedation she has to have a different amount of sedation than a man because our bodies are different. The collectivization of health care really flies in the... It's a tyranny and I bring this up because it's one of the great tyrannical ideas that's being foisted. The one size fits all medical treatment should be rejected.

Now, I understand that people, some people are using Matthew 22, 18, and 19 to prove that you should do whatever the government tells you to do, including getting a vaccine. Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, the things that are God's to God. Well, the only problem with that argument is that our bodies don't belong to Caesar. Our bodies belong to God and our children don't belong to Caesar either. That's a whole another rabbit trail you know that we're not going to get into but Caesar doesn't own our children either.

God does and under his authority we care for them and we bring them up in the training the admonition of the Lord because they don't belong to us they belong to God. So I you know I'm wholeheartedly whatever you think about the vaccine is completely secondary to me, but I am wholeheartedly against, and I wanna urge you to be against forced vaccinations. Because we're now being coerced, we're now being intimidated, we're now being pressured, we're now being shamed, We're now being compelled to inject a toxic biological into our bodies. And you're free to do that Because God has given you the jurisdiction over your body. But for the government to do it is a tyranny.

And it's the beginning of greater tyrannies. My view is it's time really for the church or for people who really believe in the jurisdictional structure of the world, that they just say no, just we must start saying no. And Not only must we maintain our jurisdictional authority over our own bodies, there actually are commands of God that relate to our bodies and relate to the kinds of things that are happening. And specifically, I'm talking about obedience to the sixth commandment, which says you shall not murder, and the ninth commandment, which says you shall not bear false witness. Those two commandments, I want to suggest, should help us think clearly about what's going on around us.

These commands define what love looks like. If you want to love your brother, then keep those commandments. Every command of God is a command of love. It's a law of love. And so let's take the sixth commandment, you shall not murder.

The sixth commandment, as we have been instructed already by Mike, is broad. Like Psalm 119, thy commandments are very very broad and they encompass more than just stabbing someone and killing them they have to do with hating your brother and and various other applications that Jesus said He said that the commandments are not wooden. They actually run free into every part of your life, every corner of your life. And so here's my proposition. Injecting a toxic biological substance that you know causes some bad side effects, it's legitimate to question whether you should do that because you have responsibility for your own body.

You know, you have to ask are you risking your immune system? Have you weighed the implications? And here's why I say this. I want to quote from the Westminster Larger Catechism. What is required of the Sixth Commandment?

So here is what is required of the sixth commandment, what are the duties. All careful studies and lawful endeavors to preserve the life of ourselves and others. Practices which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any sober use of meat drink physical sleep Comforting and suckering the distressed and protecting and defending the innocent what is forbidden in the sixth commandment All taking away of the life of ourselves or of others, except in the case of public justice, the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of the preservation of life that has to do with your body, the immoderate use of meat or drink, and whatsoever else tends to the destruction of the life of any. So taking care of your body is an act of love. You should not do things to harm your body, you should not commit suicide, you should do good to your body.

That's the force of the application of the sixth commandment. And so refusing to do harm to your body is an act of love toward yourself and toward others. So let's look at the ninth commandment. The ninth commandment, thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor. The ninth commandment I think should help us ask, is it loving to your neighbor to embrace what we're commanded to embrace?

Particularly if you think that there are lies if you've been lied to over and over again. Now I won't go through the laundry list of the lies that I believe our government and our health inspectors have been telling us, but I think, you know, the instruction changes over and over again almost weekly. And we're being told things that are not true about death rates and all kinds of things. So The ninth commandment says, thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor. And we have to ask, are we being told the truth?

Are we upholding the truth? Are we countenancing government orders and bearing false witness? By pandering to them, are we also participating with them in bearing false witness? That's the question that I want us to consider. Now the most flattering thing you can say about the government guidance is that it's been contradictory.

You know, We were told at the beginning in two weeks, you'll flatten the curve, then society was locked down. Then we were told that when the vaccine comes, everybody will be free. And then, and you wouldn't have to wear masks anywhere. Then we were told, no, you have to get the vaccine and wear masks. What, Our Dr.

Fauci, masks not necessary at the beginning. Yes, a mask is necessary. No, two masks are necessary. So these, I'm just, you can call them whatever you want. I'm calling them lies, okay?

So, although, let me just say this. I don't believe that every single person who's promoting these things is lying. I think they're just carrying stories that they're told, and that's possible. But what does it mean to bear false witness? The Westminster Larger Catechism, question 144, what are the duties of the Ninth Commandment?

The preserving and promoting of truth between man and man. The preserving and promoting of truth between man and man. The preserving and promoting of truth between man and man. Appearing and standing for the truth. What are the sins forbidden in the ninth commandment?

All prejudicing the truth, giving false evidence, subordin- subordin- false witnesses, wittingly appearing and pleading for an evil cause, out facing and overbearing the truth, passing unjust sentence, calling evil good and good evil, concealing the truth, undo silence in a just cause, and holding our peace when iniquity calls for either a reproof from ourselves or complaint to others. Hiding, excusing, or extenuating the sins of bearing false false witness. So there are all kinds of ways that we can bear false witness in this world. But is it loving your neighbor to promote a lie or to support it? Is it loving to your neighbor to promote the collectivization of the care of your body?

Is it loving to your neighbor to promote the collectivization of the care of your body? Is it loving to your neighbor to endorse what you know is a lie? Now you have to figure out whether you think it's a lie or not, but is it loving to pretend that going mask max less, mask less or vax less is dangerous to your neighbor? Is it loving to pretend that the mask will save you? Is it loving to pretend that the mask will save you?

Is it loving to pretend that wearing a mask, that not wearing a mask will kill you? Is that loving? I think you just have to ask that question. So is it, you know, is it lying to uphold misrepresentations? You know, my understanding is that the severity of cases has been misrepresented.

The death rates have been misrepresented. And all of this rests on a test. A test that we know is unreliable. We know people who've been tested multiple times in the same day or day after day and they get different results. And the tyranny has been driven by the test.

The test is a very big deal because it's the test that's driving the tyranny. That's the tool for the lockdown. So is it loving to resist government overreach and by acquiescing to the misrepresentations and the tyranny and exposing the people around you to the tyranny? Is it loving to your neighbor to do such a thing? Now there are all kinds of questions that people you know are asking.

I'll just give you some pastoral counsel here. If you're demanded a vaccine I would just encourage you not to resign. Let them fire you because then you have a means to speak and a wider truth. You know, exercise your right of appeal. But like Daniel, I think Daniel is a marvelous example.

The Apostle Paul is a marvelous example. They appealed really according to the word of God and also their rights as citizens. The Apostle Paul appealed to his authorities by the rights of a Roman citizen. You can, by the way, you can be a good Christian and a good American at the same time. You can exercise your God-given, God-ordained rights that your constitution and your Bill of Rights has given you for good.

So you should, my encouragement, you must act like a Christian, but you can also act like an American in this context. And I would just encourage you to escalate the seriousness of the matter to your employer. State in a clear, dispassionate, gracious way that you're not able to take the vaccine if you don't think you should. But you we have to ask at this moment, are we going to give our government a pass on this one? And I don't think we should.

Your employer knows that the job market is really tight. My view is lots of companies are going to give you a pass because they can't afford to lose you. That's possible. We'll see. The Gallup polling organization published a survey last week that I read called the Great Resignation and they're saying that millions of Employees have resigned and they say 74% are classified as actively disengaged from their companies You know what To have a faithful employee is a pretty valuable thing.

It costs a lot of money to replace a faithful employee. Somewhere between half and two times your salary, just to replace you. So don't be afraid. You're a faithful worker, keep working, and call your employer to account for the rights that God has given you. Now everybody has different considerations about these things.

People have different views of medicine and also people have different situations they might do something differently. For example, I've heard people fearing that maybe their children might be taken away from them if they don't get a vaccine. Well, I think that's a legitimate consideration. But, let me think about the difference between that person and Deborah and I. Our children are married and gone.

So, for me personally, I have a different threat level. I have a different, I have different things to consider. People have different considerations and they're going to triangulate this situation according to their own situation and God has given you the authority to do that. You might do something different than I do, but again, God has given you authority over your body. So Revelation 12 through 14 is telling us that the fiery dragon has seven talking heads spewing out lies and he has 10 horns where he's exercising brutal authority.

And that's what the governments of the world are doing right now. In ways that we've never seen. So it's kind of new, we're trying to figure this out. Now let's get back to our text to verse 5 of Revelation 12 she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron." In other words, his mission overall will fail. God rules, the Lord Jesus Christ wins, the nations are on a chain.

It's Revelation 227, He shall rule them with a rod of iron and shall be dashed to pieces like a potter's vessel." And then you see the protection of the child and verse five at the end of verse five, and her child was caught up to God and his throne and the child is protected. Verse six, where? In the wilderness. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1, 260 days. And the church is protected.

When the children of Israel escaped Egypt, they were protected in the wilderness. It was a protective sanctuary. And there is always a place prepared by God. You see that phrase? A place prepared by God.

Remember that, memorize that. There is always a place prepared by God in the midst of all tyrants. There is a place prepared by God. You know, David said, you prepare a place, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. And we're promised that God would feed his flock like a shepherd.

He would gather the lambs in his arms and he would carry them in his bosom. Jesus told us that man shall not live by bread alone. This is that place and the church lives by the word of God. The church is directed up and buoyed up and encouraged and corrected and chastised by the word of God. That's how the church is fed in the wilderness, by the word of God.

You know, God tells the children of Israel why he sent them into the wilderness. It says so that you would learn that man doesn't live by bread alone. I'll give you bread, I'll give you food. And you know, there's so many obstacles to the word of God today. Endless news reports, memes, Facebook, Instagram, alerts, podcasts, sermons, it can be absolutely deafening.

Now, some of you need to stop obsessing and stop sharing memes and stop talking about COVID. Stop wasting the precious time that God has given you and get into the Word of God. It's stealing our time in the Word of God. It fixes our minds on controversies, not contentment, things that we can't fix. It diminishes the Bible.

This is what fear does. This is what obsessing about it is. And I, you know, I don't know if you're like me but I'm preaching to myself on this matter and how does the church defeat the dragon we'll get to this in a later sermon in verse 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. You have the blood of the lamb, you have the word of the testimony, and you have a fearlessness For which you do not love your life to the death and This is how the dragon is defeated by the cross of Jesus Christ and by the word of God and by a heart that does not fear. So we'll unpack that in detail.

It's very important that we do not live by lies. It's very important that we understand the spiritual battles are upon us. But Paul tells us how to do this. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the full armor of God.

And don't forget Colossians 2 10. And you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power therefore stand blessed to see who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it. Would you pray with me? Father, we thank you for giving us imagery that describes the things that are going on around us and have always gone on in the world from the beginning. Thank you for giving us comfort to know how we ought to respond.

We thank you for the many gifts that you've given to us and the authority that you've given to us to navigate this world by your word. I pray that you would give us all wisdom and insight as we walk through these times. Amen.