SATAN THROWN OUT OF HEAVEN (VERSES 7-12)

“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.’”

A War in Heaven (verses 7-9)

“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.”

Here we see a heavenly struggle, a heavenly warfare, if you will. There are two forces that are engaged, that are locked in this struggle. There is one who is named here by John—Michael [verse 7]. He is called elsewhere in Scripture the “archangel,” Jude 9 [“Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’”]. He’s also identified on the Old Testament as sort of a “special patron” of Israel, if you will, and her defender, Daniel, chapter 10, verses 13 and 21 [“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia…But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. (No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince….”)] and Daniel, chapter 12, verse 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.”].

We might wonder and say, “Well, why would Michael necessarily be associated with this?” or “Why is he specifically identified.” It’s, no doubt, because Michael was the one who was involved, but there is also a certain symbolism, as well, for those who were Christians converted from Judaism who would have had this special affinity for Michael—knowing him from the Old Testament as being the defender and special patron of the children of Israel.

In this struggle Michael leads his angels in the fight against the dragon and his angels. Michael stands as sort of the angelic representative of the power of goodness, of right, in this strife, in this struggle, in this warfare, against evil. Through the triumphant rise of “the Child,” of the Messiah, to the throne of God, —and you recall from the first section in this chapter, that is the eventuality of the Child; He does escape the clutches of the dragon, and He does ascend to the throne in heaven—the dragon is cast out so that he no longer can accuse the saints before God. No longer can his accusations be lodged against them because their sins have been covered, their sins have been cared for, and that, of course, in the sacrifice of the Child, of the Son of God, on the cross, the shedding of His blood. Indeed, we are washed with the blood of the Lamb. Now, because of what Christ has done, God’s justice is satisfied and, here again, no longer can Satan, the accuser, —and by the way that is what that word, that title, means; it means “accuser” in the Hebrew language—accuse the people of God and have any credibility in being able to do that.

We might recall, we might think about, that scene in the heavenly realm that is described for us in the first and second chapters of Job, where Satan is in this discussion with God. What is it that he is doing? What is it that he is pictured as doing in that discussion? Well, he is accusing the man of God [Job] of not really being who God thinks that he is . Satan IS the accuser of mankind. But because of what the Child, the Son, has done, then there is no longer a place, there is no longer the opportunity, for him to accuse those who are the children of God.

The dragon and his angels “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,” [verses 8-9]. Now, this is, perhaps, a difficult section. It’s looked at by folks in a number of different ways.

Some folks look at this section of Scripture as being a description for where Satan came from, that there was some cataclysmic warfare that took place in the heavenly realm at some time in eons past, and Satan was defeated and he and his angels were cast down to the earth. Thus, they say, there we have a description for where Satan came from and so on.