Revelation Chapter 12: 7-12
“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
“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, 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.”
I had some great questions come to me concerning the last post. One was about the wars between the angels, and the other was asking if the ‘child’ born to the woman could actually be the New Testament church. Thanks for the questions; they make me think and ask questions myself. I was sent some information that was a good read, and it made me think.
Let me say that I am still of the mind that the ‘child’ is Jesus. He was born, Satan was trying to kill Him from birth, and He did ascend into Heaven.
As far as the angels fighting, the dear brother asked what the point was basically since they don’t die and there is no bloodshed. But we do see that these battles do go on. Satan and Michael fought over Moses’ body we are told in Jude. In Daniel 10 we are told that the Messenger angel sent to interpret dreams to Daniel was ‘held up’ for 21 days by the ‘Prince of Persia’ (referring to the demon behind the king of Persia) until Michael came and rescued him.
There is a definite battle between the angels of God and of Satan. They do not kill each other as far as we can tell, but Satan’s minions are able to slow down things like the answers to prayers. This is why an essential quality of a mature and/or maturing Christian is forbearance – patience in our modern words. It is not that God has not sent an answer, but that the answer is slowed by the agents of Satan. But if you wait, just like Daniel, the answer will come and you will be emboldened.
War in Heaven, Revelation 12:7-9
When we think of Heaven, we do not get the idea of war. But we are clearly told that there is going to be a war in Heaven. Satan will try to usurp his power by attacking the Kingdom, a kingdom where he has been cordially entertained for the past 6,000 years. Just a take a quick read of Job 1-2: God addresses him and asks him of his endeavors. God even entertains him in an experiment that includes the faithful man, Job.
When he tempts Jesus in Matthew 4, Jesus talks to him in a very nice tone. Jesus is patient with him and obeys God while never losing His temper with the rebellious angel. Jesus was even gracious when encountering some 1,000 demons in a young man, and upon their request, allowed them to enter some pigs nearby. God, while knowing the final end of Satan, has allowed him a long leash with which to rule his dark kingdom. It is one thing to engage God on earth or in the air or in the bodies of sinful and unredeemed men, but to attack God in His Heaven, His place – this cannot be tolerated; and so Satan and his fallen angels are banished to earth for the remainder of the Tribulation.
I want to look at a phrase that to me makes me cringe and think. In Revelation 12:9 we see this phrase, “who deceives the whole world,” and it immediately makes me think. Now we know that in the Tribulation there will be strong delusions, and people will believe whatever lie is concocted to explain the Rapture and the apparent colossal loss of life. People will fall for the promise of peace now that the Christians are gone, and they will accept the antichrist as the saviour of the world. But even before we get to the Tribulation, we see that even now Satan is the one “who deceives the whole world.”
As we look around us and see the turmoil that is overtaking the world; and especially in North America, one of the last bastions of free speech in the world, we can see that the deception of the Devil is upon a lost and dying world. From the deception of climate change to the deception that a man can be a woman and vice-versa, there is deception at every level. From our political leaders down to the average person on the street, we see a complete rebellion against the boundaries set by the Lord God for our protection.
The deliberate and persistent persecution of Christians in North America, from a pastor being arrested for sharing the Gospel at a mall in Minneapolis, to comedians calling us ignorant, to men and women losing their jobs because they live out their faith in Jesus and accept that wrong and right are absolutes, to a recent and ongoing battle to force churches to hire homosexual and sexually deviant as staff, is a culmination of the lies of tolerance. The world system is tolerant of everyone except Christians.
They cannot and will not force a Muslim mosque to hire a homosexual nor force them to have female imams as a submission to women`s rights. This is an attack on Christianity and Jesus. This lie that we are not tolerant because we speak the truth in love, or that we are not inclusive because we believe in boundaries and limits as prescribed by God, is believed by many and will lend to the collective sigh of relief when we are raptured; those intolerant and divisive Christians are gone; good riddance.
The god of lies is working overtime in these, the last days, as he prepares for his very, very temporary assent to the throne of earth. This is the only throne he will ever sit on. He has wanted the throne of Heaven, but that seat is taken forever and cannot ever be vacated. But for a short, short time Satan will have a brief stay at the top as he is cast from Heaven to earth; and he, ever the optimist, will take what power he is allowed and begin to rule earth.
The Fallen Accuser, Revelation 12:10-11
Satan is a multitasker. He is lying to the whole world, and at the same time, he is constantly accusing you and me before the Lord in Heaven. He brings to mind every sin and failure on our part. He is non-stop. Look, he is described as accusing the brethren “day and night.” Sadly, too many of us give him fodder for his accusations as we sin and fail our Lord time and time again. But his end begins when his welcome mat is pulled out and he is cast out of heaven to earth. No more accusing and no more lying in heaven about us.
Thankfully, Jesus our defender is always making intercession for us according to Romans 8:34 and Hebrews 7:25; and 1 John 2:1 calls Him our advocate. An intercessor is defined as one who intervenes on behalf of another. We know of intercessory prayer where we intervene to God on behalf of another. An advocate is defined as one who publicly supports another.
Wow! What an awesome picture we have here of Jesus. He not only intercedes for us with regard to our failures and the constant accusations made about us by Satan to God; He actually publicly stands with us. He never abandons us; HE is our advocate. The prince of darkness rails against us, and the King of Light stands for us, unwavering in His support for the redeemed for whom He paid a great price.
This is an awesome look at how God sees us even in our great failures. We look at the Hebrews 11 chapter and we read of men who were adulterers, murders, rebellious, some were not good fathers, some were weak in many areas, liars, tricksters and the like; and yet God called them His servants. He called David a “man after His own heart.” How is this possible? We all know what David did. What knits these men and women together is that they are Loyal to God no matter what. No matter the cost, no matter how they failed, no matter how they lost or prospered, God was their God.
God loves loyalty because He is a Loyal God. Satan can barely spell loyalty. He turned his back on His Lord and Master. In the end it is he who will fall and we who will be elevated in Jesus, by His blood and saving power.
Notice that these saints, in Revelation 12:11, did not even value their lives. I have never had my life threatened for the cause of Christ. I have not had my job threatened. I have not had one day of danger in my life because of the Gospel. I fear that the next few years will change that tune. But these men and women were and are heroes of the faith. They did not even think that their lives were precious. They were Loyal to the end to their Lord and Master.
What is it that we value more than Jesus? Money, kids, family, freedom, friends or fame? Make no mistake; this will be required of you. Nothing can stand between you and God. He expects total Loyalty.
His Days are Numbered, Revelation 12:12
It took 6,000 years, but finally Satan realizes that he is not going to win. He will never be God. He will never be like the Highest; and in fact, all his dreams and aspirations are dashed as he is kicked out of Heaven. You see, how can you ascend to the throne of Heaven when you can’t even get past the security at the front gate? All that is left is earth; and even then it is for a short time because Jesus will soon come to take that away, and then he gets to be the king of nothing. This is the plight of all who wish to defy God and challenge His rightful place as Ruler of the Universe.
We live in such a time. We live in a time where mere humans, emboldened by their sinful pride nature, willingly defy God. They act as if they will never have to answer to Him or be called to account for their deeds, and they simply do not fear God. What a shock it will be when they see Satan, their god, debased and bowing before Jesus. When they come to understand that they have fallen for the lie of the ages— that someone other than God can be God.
God has never cheated us, He has never short changed us, and He never will. He has given us all He has determined that we need and certainly more than we deserve. His goodness is endless.
Satan is mad; he is about to pour out his wrath on the people of earth. The very persons that hailed him as their god will now understand that he never has and never will love them. They will see that they were simply the means to an end – an end that, maybe for the first time, he understands cannot ever happen.
I find it amazing that, in the end, Satan truly believed his own lies. He has told the lie so often that he thought that he could oppose God and win. For 6,000 years, all the while in complete control, God had allowed Satan to have some leeway. In the meantime, God set about a plan to redeem man, to redeem the earth and to provide a sinless man to carry out the commands given to the first Adam, to have dominion over the earth. Jesus will fulfill that command.
Now that the time has come, Satan’s usefulness is up and his end is sure. He realizes that he has no options, no recourse, and there is no redemption for him; and for all his scheming, the pit of Hell is all he has to look forward to for eternity. God has outplayed him and outwitted him. Simply brilliant!
There is none so blind as they who refuse to see, and Satan certainly falls into this category.
Like the Heavens, we should begin to rejoice that Satan is defeated. We know more than he does right now. He is still fighting to win. We know that he has been and will be forever defeated. Rejoice, celebrate, be merry and bask in the glory of our mighty God. He has won, He is winning, and He will win the most decisive victory ever in the history of war. We get to enjoy the spoils of war because we have put our complete faith in Jesus and He alone for salvation. Rejoice in these beautiful words about Satan’s fate from the prophet Isaiah, in 14: 9-15,
“Hell, from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”
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