I have mentioned from the pulpit on different occasions that I get upset about people that give the impression--overtly or in a subtle way--that they are going to take on Satan or his demons. I have heard stories from years ago about preachers dressing up in army fatigues and making a whole lot of noise about "battling Satan", "binding Satan", and "rebuking Satan".
Satan is not to be trifled with. On the contrary, "the battle is the Lord's" (1 Samuel 17:47; 2 Chronicles 20:15). There is, around us at this very moment, a battle going on between God's forces of good and Satan's forces of evil. These are invisible forces (for the most part), and fight with powers and forces we do not understand and in a realm that we don't understand as well. For you or me to say we are going to "take on Satan" is foolish at best, and extremely dangerous at worst. To do so would be likened to a tugboat playing chicken with the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan! Instead, scripture tells us to resist Satan.
As we have noted in the past, the Revelation of Jesus Christ is perhaps the most difficult of all books in the canon of Scripture to interpret and teach. However, it promises blessing to those that read and hear it, and one of the great blessings is that we learn great Bible doctrines from the study. One such thing is that although Satan's forces are alive, well and active today they will ramp up the battle during the end times. Why? Two reasons; hatred and frustration.
We know that Satan hates human beings--unsaved and saved--but has a particularly fierce hatred for God's people. That would be Christians, and the nation of Israel. In addition, Satan gets frustrated because he is the ultimate loser and God wannabe; he knows he is going to lose but for some reason is under the delusion that he can win the battle against God.
This week, we are going to see that throughout the time from the Garden of Eden to the current age, the battles that have been going on are mere skirmishes; the real war in the spiritual realm is yet to occur.
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. Revelation 12:7-8 (NKJV)
Michael: Archangel, Warrior, Protector
Two weeks ago we saw the "playbill" of characters in Revelation Chapters 12 and 13; today we see the next key character, Michael. The name Michael means "who is as or like God?" (The New Unger's Bible Dictionary); Michael is identified as an archangel (Jude 9), the great prince (Daniel 12:1) and "having special charge of the nation of Israel" (Unger's). Michael is the only one described as an archangel; Gabriel (Daniel 8:16, 9:21; Luke 1:19, 26) may well be an archangel is not specifically named as such.
In chapter 10, Daniel had a vision that greatly upset the prophet. Daniel did not eat or bathe for three weeks, and was set in prayer during that time. After three weeks, a man appeared, and by the description would have been an angel. Since Gabriel had spoken to Daniel before (Daniel chapters 8 and 9), he was probably the angel speaking to Daniel. This angel stated that he had been delayed as he was opposed by "the prince of the kingdom of Persia", a reference to a fallen angel or demon that was in charge of demonic activity in Persia. But then look what happened: ...and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia (Daniel 10:13b, NKJV). Michael is the "Warrior Angel".
Daniel 12:1 shows Michael in another role in which he is assigned: "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 (Daniel 12:1, NKJV). We learn two important things from this passage: Michael is the overseer/protector of Israel, and will protect specifically those of Israel whose names are written in the book (Lamb's book of life), meaning those Jews that come to faith in Jesus Christ.
However, one other thing that we learn is that God does not allow Michael to deal with Satan specifically until the Tribulation Period: 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!" (Jude 1:9, NKJV). During a dispute concerning Moses body (buried by the Lord in an unknown location), Michael did not deal with Satan but said "The Lord rebuke you!"; in short, we are to leave the "rebuking of Satan" up to God. We are, however, to resist the devil; James wrote "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7, NKJV); if you are submitting to God then you can adequately resist Satan and he will flee from you.
Michael was not to deal with Satan directly as we see in Jude 9. In fact, the fight in heaven is not initiated by God, by Michael or Gabriel. Satan starts the war.
War In Heaven
There are three different views as to when this war in heaven takes place. Some feel that this war occurred before or during the time of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Others believe that this war happened either at the cross or prior to the Resurrection of Jesus. However, there are problems with both of these views, one of which I used to hold.
Some hold the "Genesis War" view (which I used to hold) would quote Luke 10:18, where Jesus stated "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." I took this to mean the expulsion of Satan from heaven, referencing Isaiah 14:12-17, the five "I wills" of Satan; how Lucifer had "fallen from heaven". However, it's important to note this cannot be the case; Satan appeared and spoke with God in heaven in Job 1:6-12 and 2:1-7 regarding Job. Here is the best way to look at this: Satan lost his home and was expelled from heaven because of pride and rebellion, but he (and the other sons of God, i.e. angels, heavenly and perhaps fallen) went back to argue with God as visitors as we will see momentarily.
The second view is that Satan was expelled from heaven at the cross. However, that would not be the case as Satan accuses the brethren (saved people) in front of God day and night (Revelation 12:10), so this cannot be the case.
The third view is that this is a future event, and is the correct view. John MacArthur notes in his commentary that the methods of the battle between Michael and his angels and Satan and his angels is not as important as why the battle started. First, MacArthur notes: The war raging between supernatural beings in the heavenly sphere will reach its peak during the Tribulation. That future conflict will find Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The grammatical construction of that phrase in the Greek text indicates that Satan (the dragon) will start this battle. It could be translated "Michael and his angels had to fight the dragon." It's important to note that this battle, then, was initiated by Satan and his minions. But...why? That's the question, not how.
John MacArthur has an interesting "sanctified speculation" as I call it (in other words, a good guess!) While it is impossible to be dogmatic, this ultimate battle may be triggered by the Rapture of the church (MacArthur). This view does have much merit. In short, when Satan and the demons see the Rapture occur, they may well try to hinder it as it will be a huge sign of defeat. The shout heard may be Michael finally being allowed to rebuke Satan and then Satan and the other demons would then storm heaven and make another futile attempt at overthrowing God and His holy angels.
Here's an important point to always remember about the Bible: the good guys win in the end.
Titanic Satanic Defeat
This war in heaven will be fought during the first half of the Tribulation period; this is the case for a few reasons.
First, there are scholars that are of the opinion that not only will Satan and company be expelled from heaven (abode of God) but also from the heavens. This is an important point. Paul stated that he knew a man "caught up to the third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:2), and most commentators feel he was speaking of himself. Concisely, there are three heavens with the first being the skies, the second being outer space (planets, moons, stars, etc.) with the "third heaven" being Heaven Proper, the abode of God.
Right now, Satan is known as "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4) and "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). In other words, Satan's chief abode is the atmosphere (first heaven) and possibly outer space (second heaven). Dr. Tim LaHaye, noted for his series of "Left Behind" end times novels, writes in his Revelation commentary "Revelation Unveiled": "The fact that Satan is once and for all cast from the throne of God along with his evil hosts, who will no longer be the principalities and powers of the air (cf. Ephesians 2:2) but limited to the earth, will be cause for great rejoicing in heaven (Rev 12:10).
In addition, we see that Satan and his demons were not only thrown out of heaven, but were thrown down to the earth, and the sea; no mention is made of the skies or the heavens in relation to them:
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." Rev 12:12
A quick review of the rest chapters twelve through nineteen seems to show that Satan's territorial limits have gone from the "heavens" to the earth and sea. From this point on, much destruction follows to both land and sea, even more than had happened so far in the Revelation.
"But perhaps there is another factor involved in this war. After the church is taken to heaven, believers will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and have their works examined. On the basis of this judgment, rewards will be given (Rom. 14:10-12; 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 2 Cor. 5:10-11). It seems likely that Satan will be present at this event and will accuse the saints, pointing out all the "spots and wrinkles" in the church (Eph. 5:24-27)." (Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament).
Satan Flips Out
Let's just sum up where we are in the study of these two verses. The cause of this war is not certain, but quite likely could be triggered by the Rapture of the Church. In this scenario, Satan and his minions would attempt to storm heaven as he sees the church taken up; he knows that his time is short and is not only self- deceived but is desperate as well.
Satan not only loses this war, but loses it badly. It will be a humiliating defeat, with Satan and his fallen angels expelled not only from heaven but limited to the earth and seas as his domain. His hatred for mankind will then ramp up, as is seen in the remainder of Revelation; he will inspire war in the war theater known as the valley of Megiddo better known as Armageddon.
He will pursue a large portion of saved Israel, which we will see will be supernaturally protected in the place many scholars feel could likely be the rock city of Petra. However, there is the "rest of her offspring" (verse 17) that Satan will be enraged (furious, ESV/HCSB) with and he will strive to kill them all.
All saved people in that day--Jew and non-Jew alike--will suffer great horrors because of the wrath of Satan that will be unleashed upon mankind. We often point to the Holocaust of World War II, the horrors of the Khamir Rouge under Pol Pot, the genocide of the Kurds by Saddam Hussein, the continual ethnic cleansing that occurs in African countries and many other countries as the depths of depravity of the human race. However, all will pale in comparison to the horrors of the end times; billions of people--saved and unsaved alike--will die from the forces of nature, demonic persecution and the wrath of God Himself.
What can we learn from this? Time is short, not just for Satan but for our time before the Rapture. The signs, numerous and increasing in number and intensity. It is time that we train up in God's Word, pray up everyday, and buck up and talk to every brother and sister, mom and dad, neighbor, co-worker, social acquaintance and even those we don't like and perhaps even hate and plot against us about Jesus Christ. People get ready, Jesus is coming, soon we'll be going home, and our opportunity to witness to the lost will be over.
