The Red Dragon

[00:00:01] In the name of Jesus, Amen. [00:00:06] Well, I've been waiting for this text, this gospel lesson of Jesus. I've been waiting because it so classically shows to us that Satan is exactly who he's always been. A slick, conniving liar, an accuser, a murderer and a thief. [00:00:33] Well, I've been waiting for this text because my last congregation, I handed out a Christmas quiz. Now this was at Christmas quies, Christmas time. [00:00:48] I was kind of a smart alecky pastor. You probably find that hard to believe about me, but trying to get everyone to think a little more deeply about Christmas, I posted a Christmas quiz. [00:01:04] Question went something like this. [00:01:06] Which animal or animals does the Bible say was or were present at Jesus birth? [00:01:14] Was it A, cows, sheep, donkeys and camels? [00:01:18] B, miscellaneous barnyard animals? [00:01:23] C, lions, tigers and bears. Oh my. [00:01:27] D, A red dragon. [00:01:31] E, none of the above? [00:01:40] Well, it's actually D, a red dragon. [00:01:47] Now, the Bible is the key to the question, right? Which does the Bible say was present at Jesus birth? And if you go and scour the gospel lessons about Jesus birth, well, we get the idea of barnyard animals mostly from art and music, don't we? [00:02:09] I'm still searching for a Christmas card with a red dragon in the Nativity scene lurking there amidst the sheep and the cows and wanting to devour the baby in the manger. [00:02:21] Because none of the gospels mention this unwelcome visitor to Bethlehem. [00:02:27] But the book of revelation does. [00:02:29] Chapter 12. [00:02:31] In chapter 12 of Revelation, the Evangelist John paints the picture of a seven headed, ten horned red dragon. He paints it right onto that peaceful Christmas scene. It's the Nativity story that we don't talk about a dragon trying to devour our Lord. [00:02:55] The text goes like the red dragon was standing before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. [00:03:14] Now, many of you who have studied the book of Revelation know that it's full of all kinds of imagery and you really have to work hard to study for the message that's going on there. But clearly in this scene, more was going on at Christmas than drinking eggnog and kissing under mistletoe and even peace on earth. [00:03:37] Knowing this, well, knowing this, we might add to the hymn, Hark the herald angels sing, a dragon waits to devour our king. [00:03:55] Okay, I know about. Now you're wanting to know why am I talking about Christmas when it so clearly is the first Sunday in Lent. [00:04:10] Well, it's because Christmas marks the beginning of a war. A war in which Jesus claims decisive victory over the Red Dragon by the time we get around to the end of Lent. [00:04:23] And here I have to give you a kind of a spoiler alert. [00:04:27] God invades our world in the body of a baby. Hell is quaking, demons are awakening, and the dragon flies into battle. And brimstone and fire is belching, watching from his fiery lungs, only to be absolutely annihilated at Jesus. Crucifixion and glorious resurrection. [00:04:50] Anybody here ever read anything by Philip Yancey? [00:04:54] You know that name? Christian author. [00:04:57] He writes from God's viewpoint and Satan's. [00:05:03] Christmas signals far more than the birth of a baby. [00:05:07] It was an invasion, the decisive advance of the great struggle for the cosmos. Perhaps the most calming of hymns. Silent night, Holy night. [00:05:19] Maybe it could be written with this verse. [00:05:25] Violent night, furious night. [00:05:29] Hell and heaven meet to fight. [00:05:33] Almighty God meets the God of this world. [00:05:36] Heavenly hosts. Battle's flags are unfurled. [00:05:41] Christ the Savior is born. [00:05:46] The kingdom from Satan is torn. [00:05:55] You see, because wars have been raging throughout history over such things as money and property and honor and power and energy. [00:06:09] But don't you see? [00:06:11] This war, the greatest conflict in all of human history, is over us. [00:06:19] The war is over who gets to rule. The prized possession of God's creation. The crown of his creation. The part that he said, it's very good. Mankind. [00:06:32] Satan's rule. [00:06:34] Well, it would include lies and slavery and ruin. [00:06:40] But the Lord's rule? [00:06:42] Oh, the exact opposite. Truth, freedom, life. [00:06:52] Satan's goal is to thrash mankind and shove our brokenness into the Creator's face. [00:07:00] The Lord's. [00:07:03] Restore, heal. [00:07:09] Now, this dragon, he sports many names. Serpent, lyre, the God of this world, even angel of Light. [00:07:25] That's what Lucifer means. [00:07:29] But perhaps his most fitting name is Satan. [00:07:36] Satan means accuser. [00:07:40] Accuser. That's what John calls him in Revelation 12:10. The accuser of our brethren, who accuses them day and night before our God. [00:07:50] Just like what Satan did to Job. [00:07:53] Just like what Satan tried to do with Peter. [00:07:59] Accuse Peter. [00:08:02] Peter, God couldn't possibly love you after what you just did. [00:08:10] Not once, not twice, three times. Peter, don't you see how he wields the weapon of accusation? And by accusation, he enslaves us in guilt and doubt and shame and lies. Each a link in a chain that binds us. And each chain the accuser likes to wrap around and around and around us, binding us, binding our souls. His greatest fear is that we. [00:08:44] Oh, we might hear his enemy, the true Messiah, Jesus Christ, who has come to set us free. So that in that little town in Bethlehem, the red dragon, he swoops in to swallow this child who has come to liberate us from all accusation, to make us children of his Father, to shatter every chain that binds us to his bondage. This Jesus, this Jesus must be stopped. This Jesus must be silenced. [00:09:15] This Jesus must be devoured. [00:09:17] So, Christmas, it begins the story of violence against our liberator. [00:09:25] It's not easy to discuss this at Christmas time, believe me. That part about being a. [00:09:32] Well, what did I say, smart alecky pastor. [00:09:43] Yeah, don't use this passage at Christmas time anymore, Woodward. [00:09:53] It's not easy to discuss at Christmas time because, well, you know, the baby in the manger and its silent night and holy night and its trees and lights and gifts. [00:10:08] But if we could see in the shadows, if we could see behind that nativity scene, we would find that red dragon just missing his opportunity in Bethlehem, which caused him to perpetrate that slaughter of all the little baby boys. Remember the slaughter of the innocent that we studied? [00:10:36] And we would see him hounding our Lord down to Egypt and dogging his steps back to Nazareth, Always, always looking for that opportunity. And finally he gets his chance as he assaults Jesus in the desert with three rather attractive temptations. [00:10:58] Surely you're humble, hungry Jesus, surely you're hungry. [00:11:05] Turn these stones into a meal fit for a king. [00:11:14] Surely you want to know if your father really loves you. [00:11:20] Who wouldn't want to know that? [00:11:23] Go ahead. [00:11:25] Go ahead, Jesus, jump, jump. Surely your Father will protect you. [00:11:33] Oh, Jesus, most certainly you want to be king of all the earth? [00:11:40] I can make it yours if you but bow down to me. [00:11:50] None of it worked, of course. [00:11:53] And we can only imagine that there was 33 years of such warfare, try after try, defeat after defeat, all leaving the accuser waiting for a more opportune time. And that opportunity, that opportune time came, you know, at the cross. [00:12:15] That dragon who failed to munch the man child in the manger, beat him in Bethlehem or tantalize him with temptations, finally consumes the man. Confined to a cross, he corners him in the crucifixion. But in so doing, and unbeknownst to this beast, he swallowed poison. Because truth is poison for a liar and freedom is death to a destroyer. And if anything will annihilate an accuser, it's trying to swallow life. [00:12:47] It all began at Bethlehem. [00:12:49] Well, really, it all began back in the Garden of Eden, didn't it? [00:12:56] Unseen by human eyes. [00:13:00] But heaven and hell have been battling over us ever since. [00:13:04] And heaven, in the end, stood on the neck of hell and jammed its fearless foot down the throat that had so long gotten away with lies. The accuser of our brethren, John. [00:13:17] John the Evangelist wrote, the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down. He was conquered by the blood of the Lamb. [00:13:26] Revelation 12. [00:13:28] There's blood all right. [00:13:30] Not so much at Christmas, but certainly in Lent. [00:13:37] Because without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. [00:13:43] Without the shedding of blood, there is no victory. [00:13:48] Without the shedding of blood, there's no conquering hero fighting for us. There's no valiant one coming to our rescue. There are no gifts of truth and freedom and life. [00:14:05] By the way, all the dragon gets for Christmas is a mouthful of shattered teeth and fiery lungs filled with the oceans of divine wrath and a sword swinging his head to chop it off. [00:14:16] That head that spouted accusation after accusation after accusation in his time on this earth. Really, none of that was any spoiler alert. It wasn't. Because you know the story. [00:14:31] The baby Jesus grows to manhood. He lives, he suffers, he dies. [00:14:36] He rises never to die again. [00:14:42] And in his death, a world that was held in bondage to the dragon was immediately and irrevocably freed forever from his accusing hold. [00:14:57] And Jesus, Jesus the Christ is alive. [00:15:02] He is victorious, and he has set you free. [00:15:15] Two things I need to remind you. [00:15:18] First, did you notice in the reading today, Jesus always looked to the word of God for his strength. [00:15:31] And what I want you to notice in that is that when you are afflicted by Satan or the world or your own flesh, that same word of God is available to you. And if you suffer such affliction, you are right where God would want to have you be because he's available for you at that very moment through his word. [00:15:58] And second, That red dragon is defeated and Jesus is alive on his throne. [00:16:12] Amen.