Everything’s Gonna Be O’kay!
Revelation 12
July 13, 2025
Let’s do something a little different today. We’ll do a call and response. Whenever I say during this message: “In the end”—I’ll point at you and you say, “Everything’s gonna be o’kay.”
“In the end… (point to them)
(everything’s gonna be o’kay)
One more time a little stronger, “In the end…” (point)
(everything’s gonna be o’kay)
That’s the good news we’re celebrating in this fascinating book of Revelation. This is the second of a five-part message series on this book. We’re discovering Revelation is full of symbols because of its apocalyptic writing style. It was written to give hope for people who were overwhelmed by the oppressive evil of the Roman Empire.
What would happen if we could go to the future and then return back to our life now?
Just think of all the things we wouldn’t have to worry about.
Right now we worry about so much.
We worry about whether we’re going to have enough money to last to the end of our lives. We worry about whether some health issue we have will lead to our death.
Of course, some of us worry about more minor things like will the Tigers go to the World Series this year.
There’s so much uncertainty and unknown in our lives. It scares us. It drives us crazy.
But what if we could go to the future? What if we knew for certain what was going to happen?
Years ago, I read a book entitled: The Time Traveler’s Wife. It’s about a man who could travel forward and backward in time. He was able to know who he was going to marry ahead of time. He knew where he’d work and what he’d be doing for a job. It’s a fascinating concept – time travel.
The book of Revelation in some ways is also a book about time traveling. It gives us an opportunity to travel forward in time to the end of the world as we know it. We can know what will happen in the end.
The good news we discover when we travel to the end is this:
“In the end (point)
(everything’s gonna be o’kay)
Our call and response today reminds me of a song I heard again on the radio this week from Bob Marley entitled The Three Birds. The words include these phrases: Don’t worry about a thing. Cause every little thing’s gonna be alright. Don’t worry about a thing.
That’s our message today from the author of the book of Revelations as well.
Last week we learned that Revelation is written in an apocalyptic style which involves symbolism and biblical imagery. It’s to be taken seriously, not literally. I’ll repeat that. Revelation is to be taken seriously, not literally.
With that in mind, let’s head into John’s Revelation land. We’re studying the twelfth chapter today.
Read Revelation 12: 1-6
Who is the woman who gave birth to a son? At first Mary, mother of Jesus, comes to mind. But then you see the references to twelve stars on her head. Twelve represents all God’s people. The woman symbolizes all God’s people.
Who is the huge red dragon? You can probably guess this one. It’s Satan, the Devil, the evil one who is opposed to God.
This evil dragon is after God’s people. But God leads God’s people to safety in the wilderness/desert. The wilderness/desert is a place away from the crowds, away from the cities, away from those who would distract us from God. It’s a place of refuge, like this church building is for us on Sunday mornings.
There is also reference to a son who will someday rule all nations from a throne in heaven. Of course, this is talking about Jesus Christ.
This is a part of our trip to the future. Jesus Christ might not be totally in control of the world right now, but someday He will. Someday, His rule of peace will extend over the whole world.
Remember the good news we discover when we travel to the end is this:
“In the end (point)
(everything’s gonna be o’kay)
John goes into more symbolic descriptive detail regarding how Jesus Christ comes to rule. Let’s take a closer look at Jesus’ victory over evil, sin and death.
Read Revelation 12: 7-12
The war between God and Satan, between good and evil, between Michael’s angels and the dragon’s angels is finally over. The war is going on right now, but if we travel to the future, we can see the war will someday be over. And who wins?
The voice in this Scripture shouts: “Our God has shown his saving power and His Kingdom has come!”
Who wins? God wins!
What happens when God wins?
God’s kingdom comes to earth just like it is in heaven. In other words, this world will become just like God intended at the beginning in the Garden of Eden. The beauty of the world will be even more glorious. God’s peace and love will extend throughout the whole world. Everyone will have more than enough. There will be no more poverty or hatred or need to be afraid.
In the end… (point)
(everything’s gonna be o’kay)
How does this victory of God happen?
In verse 11 the voice from heaven says, “Our people defeated Satan because of the blood of the Lamb and the message of God. They were willing to give up their lives.”
We travel back in time to witness the decisive battle in this war. It happened on the cross. Jesus’ willingness to sacrifice His life turned the tide of the war between God and Satan.
Since then we’ve gone through the final stages of the war.
This Scripture emphasizes that it’s been critical that God’s people have been willing to sacrifice their lives for God as well. It’s not just what Jesus did for us. God depends on our sacrifice to finish the work He accomplished on the cross.
This continuing struggle and our part in this war are described in the next verses of this chapter.
Read Revelation 12:13-17
Even though the decisive battle was won by God at the cross, the war by this Satanic dragon continues on. Satan makes it difficult for those of us who choose to fight for God. The symbolic illustration of this is in verse 15 when John says, “The snake then spewed out water like a river to sweep the woman away.” It’s like a tsunami of water that threatens to overwhelm us.
Fortunately, God helps us in the struggle. Verse 14 describes it this way, “But the woman was given two wings like those of a huge eagle, so that she could fly into the desert.”
Eagle’s wings are a picture that God uses often in the Old Testament to describe His care for His people.
After the Exodus out of Egypt, God told Moses, “You saw what I did in Egypt, and you know how I brought you here to me, just as a mighty eagle carries its young.”
At the end of his life, Moses told about God’s care for His people saying, “The Lord was like an eagle teaching its young to fly, always ready to swoop down and catch them on its back.”
The prophet Isaiah told how God gives His people strength using these words, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.”
We’ve taken a trip to the future through this book of Revelation. We see clearly that God will win. God defeats all the powers of evil, hatred, sin, and death. Our world will someday be restored to an even more glorious paradise. Our own lives will someday experience everything we’ve dreamed life could be.
As the voice from heaven says, “Our God has shown God’s saving power, and God’s kindom has come.”
Or as we’ve said many times this morning,
“In the end”, (point)
(everything’s gonna be o’kay)
Turn in your bulletins to the words of that familiar chorus: On Eagle’s Wings
Let’s sing that chorus twice.
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