REVELATION 12: 7-12

                                                    REVELATION 12: 7-12

Satan Thrown Out of Heaven

⁷            And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,

⁸            but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

⁹            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.

¹⁰          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.

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.

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."

Daniel 12:1

"At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book.

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars [the lower celestial ranks] sang together and all the sons of God [the higher celestial ranks] shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7, NASB)

Before God created this physical universe, He created celestial beings. God didn’t just create a handful of them. He created countless numbers of them, perhaps even more than the number of humans currently present on this Earth. The lower ranks are often figuratively referred to as stars, while the highest ranking celestial beings are referred to as sons, who on occasion present themselves before God’s throne.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. (Job 1:6, NASB)

It seems also that Satan still has access before the presence of God. This is also noted in the book of Zechariah

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. (Zechariah 3:1, NASB)

This may confuse some Christians who think that Satan is in hell or that he was thrown out of heaven. On the contrary, Satan is still in heaven and does stand before God, where he persistently accuses God’s human children both day and night (Revelation 12:10). It would be difficult to say that Satan has no authority in heaven when the scriptures say that he's up there on occasion, even both day and night.

Before Satan chose to turn against God, He was known as the supreme guardian of God.

You were the anointed cherub who covers [i.e. guards], and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire. (Ezekiel 28:14)

Although God had decided to bless His celestial creations with the gift to make free choices, it seems that some of these creations will choose to envy Him or fight against Him. It would seem that Satan was made to guard God’s works and protect His loyal celestial ranks from any of those who had, by their own exercise of choice, determined to oppose God.

Eventually, Satan took more notice of his own beauty and envied the power His creator possessed.

Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. (Ezekiel 28:17)

But you said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. (Isaiah 14: 13-14)

Having once fought to guard God, Satan grew envious of Him and stood defiantly against God.

By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned. (Ezekiel 28:16)

And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. (Revelation 12:4)

One-third of the angelic ranks were persuaded by the powerful archangel Satan to secede and rebel against their creator. This is evident in scripture when they are seen descending to the earth alongside Satan in order to persecute God's children midway into the tribulation in Revelation 12. It can be understood then that at least one-third of the angelic ranks remained voraciously loyal to God. As for the remaining third, we can only postulate that they may have not yet decided where to place their loyalty.

Being the wisest and strongest of all of God’s celestial creations, Satan became the leader of the one-third of rebelling angels. Although their base camp is in heaven, Satan assigns to them various missions or positions of authority on the earth. In the end, however, Jesus has a plan to subdue and defeat Satan and his celestial armies.

In 12:9, John also gives four descriptive phrases to identify the Dragon. (1) The Dragon is “the serpent of old.”³⁰ This title stresses his crafty and venomous character (cf. Gen 3:1-5; 2 Cor 11:3). The word “old” (ophis) brings to remembrance the first accusation of Satan as the Serpent in the garden of Eden in his temptation of Eve. (2) The Dragon is “the devil.” The word “devil” comes from a Greek verb (diabolos) meaning “to slander” or “to falsely accuse.” Satan acts as somewhat of a prosecutor in God’s court of law. His tasks are to arraign men before the bar of the divine justice.³¹ (3) The Dragon is “Satan.” The word“Satan” (Satanas) is a transliteration of a Hebrew word that means “Adversary.”³² This proper name depicts Satan as the enemy or opponent of God and His people. (4) The Dragon is “the one who deceives the whole world.” The word translated “deceives” (planon) means “to mislead, delude, or lead astray.

12:10

As John beholds Satan and his angels being cast from heaven, he hears a loud voice in heaven say, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night” (12:10). The loud voice is not identified and probably cannot be with certainty. It does, however, seem best to identify it as the voice of the martyred tribulation saints, for they also cried out with a loud voice. This is further supported by the mention of Satan as “the accuser of our brethren.”

12:11

We learn in 12:11 that these tribulation martyrs (“they”)³⁴ “overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” This verse imparts three weapons that these martyrs will use to overcome Satan. The first weapon is “the blood of Lamb.” The blood shed on the cross ensures that God will forgive us (Rom 8:31-34).

12:12

The victory of these believers leads to the bittersweet words of 12:12: “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” Heaven-dwellers can rejoice in view of Satan’s punishment (cf. Ps 96:11; Isa 49:13). He is no longer among them. However, everyone living on the earth, especially believers, must beware because he now moves among them more antagonistically than ever. Furthermore he knows that his time is short. He will have only 1,260 days before Jesus Christ returns to the earth and binds him (20:1-2).