Satan thrown out of Heaven! !

Revelation 12:7-12

Satan thrown out of Heaven!

Revelation 12:7-12, 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.”

This chapter is quite difficult to turn into a sermon. The content is so layered, with themes repeating and overlapping, that it’s not easy to move through it in neat, isolated sections like we often do. Instead, we find ourselves circling back, picking up threads we have already touched on, and sometimes jumping ahead to connect the dots.

Even though the chapter only has seventeen verses, its scope is enormous. It stretches from the distant past and back to the fall of Satan, all the way to the future return of Jesus Christ. It essentially covers all human history. While it doesn’t go into great detail, it gives us a sweeping overview of the ongoing spiritual battle between God’s kingdom and the forces of Satan.

Did you know that at the present time Satan is not in hell? Did you know that he has never been to hell? Did you know that when he finally does get to hell, he is not going to be in charge? When the devil gets to hell, he will be the lowest being there.

He will be assigned the most horrible punishment of any creature ever made. Satan is not the king of hell, not in hell, and he has never been there.

Satan spends most of his time, according to this text in heaven. Did you know that Satan, who was once the anointed cherub, exalted above all other angels, living in heaven with God, even now still spends most of his efforts before the throne of God?

V 10, says that he is there day and night in heaven. He still has access to heaven, and he is not yet sentenced to hell. That doesn’t come yet. What this text tells us is that soon he is going to be sent out of heaven to earth. Ultimately, after that, he will be sent to hell, which is defined in the book of Revelation later as the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Satan is spending time in heaven and using his demons to spread lies. His main goal is to try to defeat God, ruin God's plans, and harm God’s people. But ultimately, the message also implies that despite these efforts, God’s purposes cannot be stopped.

Satan has his devices, schemes, but they all have the same basic intent to defeat God, destroy His plan, wipe out His people one way or another. One of the things that he does is this endless scolding that he carries on in heaven. He is there day and night, accusing believers before God, criticising in the ear of God.

Satan informing God about the unworthiness of believers. He is there, reminding God of our sin and our failure and telling God He ought to let us go to hell. God ought to let go of us because we aren’t worthy. There is a certain kind of hypocrisy in all of that, appealing to the righteousness of God while he himself only seeks that which is unrighteous.

Can salvation be lost? Some traditions, particularly those aligned with Reformed theology, hold firmly to the doctrine of eternal security—that once someone is truly saved, they are sealed by the Holy Spirit and cannot be snatched from God’s hand.

This view leans on verses like John 10:28–29 and Romans 8:38– 39, emphasizing the unbreakable nature of God’s promise and Christ’s sacrifice. Others, however, point to passages like Hebrews 6:4–6 and 2 Peter 2:20–22, which seem to warn that it is possible to fall away after having received the truth.

These voices argue that salvation involves a continual, faithful walk, and that wilful rebellion or apostasy can lead to spiritual ruin. The cosmic tension between divine sovereignty and the adversary’s relentless ambition to undermine it.

The idea that Satan seeks to “shatter” salvation is a chilling one, but it also magnifies the power and permanence of Christ’s work on the cross. If the enemy could undo what God has done, then grace would not be grace, and the cross would not be enough.

But Scripture resounds with the assurance that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient, and that God is faithful to complete the work He begins. In addition to these endless accusations that goes on day and night before the throne of God against believers, he is also engaged in battle with holy angels.

He and his demons, over whom he rules in his kingdom, are waging ongoing and incessant war with Michael and the holy angels. Satan has been identified as the prince of the power of the air. He is also the god of this world.

Satan starts his rebellion in the spiritual realm, fighting against God and His angels. But when he is cast down, he shifts his focus to Earth. Here, he uses religion, politics, and systems of power to deceive people and try to take control. His ultimate goal is to oppose God’s plan

and try to prove that God’s promises especially salvation can be broken. It is a cosmic battle that moves from heaven to Earth, but Scripture says the victory still belongs to God. Satan’s plans are simple. He wants to eliminate anybody who works for the purposes of God, whether they be Jews or believers. If he could, he would kill them all.

Better yet, he would destroy their faith, were that possible. He also wants to bring about the unification of the whole world under his rulership. He wants to be the god of this world which is temporary. He wants the entire world to worship him.

He wants to prevent Christ from coming back and establishing His Kingdom. ➢ Spiritually in the hearts of men, ➢ Millennially on the earth, and ➢ Eternally in the new heavens and the new earth. Satan has worked ever since his fall to endeavour to thwart the purposes of God, which is being carried out by angels or men.

Satan efforts have been certainly to destroy the work of the holy angels, that’s why they engage in battle with he and his forces so consistently. Satan efforts have been to destroy men, particularly those who name the name of God and are identified with Christ, either Israel or the church.

Satan wants to do anything he can to wipe them out, destroy them, shatter their faith. He is relentless and he never gives up. Satan can read the Bible just like you and me. He knows perfectly well how to interpret it. In fact, he knows the right interpretation of everything because he was the covering cherub, Lucifer, before his fall. He knows exactly what the mind and the heart of God in these matters is.

He knows he is headed for the lake of fire, to burn there forever and ever, but he is not going to take that lying down. He is not going to give up. He is relentless. Even though he can read the Bible that he is not going to win, he can read his destiny as clearly as any of us can and understand it better because he understands the working of God better than we do, he still fights, and that is the war of the ages.

It is this ongoing, incessant, relentless war between

• good and evil,
• sin and righteousness,
• the forces of God and the forces of Satan.
• This battle continually goes on a supernatural level between the angels.
• This battle continually goes on a moral, theological and philosophical level on earth with men.
• The battle is going on at every conceivable level in the human and superhuman realm.

The whole war is going to reach its great climax in the future day known as the tribulation. There is coming a day in the future, after the church has been caught away, in which the world will receive seven years of the wrath of God. We have been learning about it from Revelation 6 - 11.

Daniel spoke of the same period in the prophecy of Daniel in chapter 9. Jesus spoke about it in Matthew chapter 24. In that tribulation time God is going to pour out judgment on the world. When He does that, the battle isn’t going to end, Satan is going to be active during that seven-year period as well.

Satan is going to be more devastatingly active on earth than at any other time because the theatre of his operation is going to be confined to the earth. V 9, “And his angels were thrown down with him.”

This makes the tribulation in part so horrible is not just the judgment of God, but it is the arrival of Satan and all his fallen minions landing on the earth. That spells really the end of his time as prince of the power of the air, and his whole operation is confined to the earth. All the demons are fully occupied here in this very place. That horrifying, indescribable, and unbelievable epoch of time is awaiting the world of unbelieving men and women.

• Revelation 6-11, we looked at that seven-year period from God’s side.
• Revelation 12-14, we look at it from Satan’s side.

We saw that in the seven seals and the seven trumpets, and there is yet to come seven bowl judgments later. But until we get to that particular point, there is a little respite and a recapitulation of the same seven-year period, only from the vantage point of Satan.

This fierce battle that he carries on. God is pouring out judgment, but Satan and all his demons are confined here. The conflict reaches a fever pitch.

Is not Satan already a defeated foe? Wasn’t Satan destroyed at the cross and through the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

The answer to that question, in a sense, is yes.

John 12:31-32, Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. ³² And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” Jesus is saying in the cross is the defeat of Satan.

The fact of his defeat occurred at the cross, the actual execution or sentencing is yet to happen.

Romans 16:20, And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. He is already defeated by the cross, the resurrection, but the execution hasn’t taken place yet. It is as if he were an incarcerated criminal waiting for the gas chamber.

Hebrews 2:14, Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, Satan is to be cast out. He has been rendered powerless. The triumph has been accomplished. The sentencing is yet future.

1 John 4:4, You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Satan is a defeated foe, the defeat has taken place, but he still awaits the sentence, and until the final sentence comes, he is running around loose, doing everything he can to overturn the triumph of Christ.

Revelation 20:3, and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. Satan can’t deceive the nations any longer for the period of the thousand-year Kingdom. After that, of course, he is cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:10, The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where[b] the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Even though he was defeated at the cross, he is still alive. He is still moving around until the actual sentence of execution, and the battle still rages.

The battle will go on until Jesus comes to imprison him and then to destroy him on his first and last trip to eternal hell, the lake of fire. All this unique supernatural war comes to its climax in this profound passage.

We know who is going to win.

Revelation 11:15, Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Very clear who is going to win. Anticipation of the triumph of Christ, even though the final battle has not yet been waged.

When the seventh trumpet is blown in chapter 11, then we go back to chapters 12-14, look at the same period of seven years from the vantage point of Satan. The first six verses look at the seven-year tribulation period and the great battle that Satan is engaged in, involves a number of very important characters.

We have already met three of them.

The woman. The Dragon. The male child. The woman is Israel. The dragon is Satan. The dragon is the one who wants to destroy. He not only wants to destroy the woman, but he wants to destroy the male child refers to Christ.

Satan tries to destroy Israel and Christ, the Messiah that is born of the nation Israel. That takes us into the time of the tribulation. Satan has been trying to destroy Israel since the beginning, and he tried through many ways to do it in the past. He tried to destroy the birth of Christ, and when Christ was finally born, he tried to get Herod to murder him.

V 6, we moved into tribulation. He is still chasing the woman, still trying to destroy Israel, the people of God, still with the same agenda. 1. War in heaven. V 7-8, 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. There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon and his angels. It has been going on for a long time, and that state of war is still continuing into that period known as the tribulation.

The war has been ongoing since the fall of Satan back in V4, when he swept away a third of the angels with him in his rebellion. They were thrown out of heaven down to earth, where he became the ruler of this world. He still has access to God’s presence at this time, he did then, from the time he was cast out, but his domain is the earth and the air around the earth.

This is why he is known as the prince of the power of the air.

Ephesians 6:12, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Satan operates in heaven as well as on earth. He operates in heaven in a warfare against the holy angels.

Whatever purposes God wants to carry out on behalf of His own, Satan wants to stop. When God dispatches holy angels to assist Israel in the Old Testament, Satan interferes. When God dispatches holy angels to aid the children of God in the church in the New Testament dispensation, Satan wants to interfere with that operation any way he can.

Satan even engages in battle with his demons in the air against these holy angels, as well as engaging himself in the development of false religion and governments that are corrupt and human philosophical systems that espouse his theology on the earth.

Satan roams the heavens with his demons, and he roams the earth.

1 Peter 5:8, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Matthew 13:25, but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

2 Corinthians 2:11, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Satan has got all kinds of them by which he endeavours to entrap believers.

1 John 5:18-19, We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. ¹⁹ We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. Satan controls the whole world system. All of that is to emphasize that Satan is very active. He has been very active since his fall trying to thwart the purposes of God. Usually, he is not engaged in blatant evil alone, but it’s always religion that occupies him. He appears most frequently disguised as an angel of light.

The spiritual war rages in the heavenlies and it rages on earth. V 7, “There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels waging war.”

What triggered this? We know there’s always been war between the holy angels and the fallen ones, but what triggered this?

The Greek rendering can be read like this

There was war in heaven, Michael and his angels literally had to fight. They were drawn into a battle. They were compelled to fight. Could it be that what initiated this battle was the rapture of the church? The rapture of the church takes place prior to the seven-year tribulation, the seventieth week of Daniel. The Lord snatches the church away and then begins to pour out His judgment on the earth. The church is in heaven represented by the twenty- four elders.

They are in heaven while this is going on. More people are being converted to Christ, and a new assembly of believers is called together that really are one with all the rest throughout all redemptive history. But uniquely, the church is raptured.

Could it be that as Jesus Christ raptures His church to take them to heaven, according to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, as they pass out of this earth in the twinkling of an eye and go through the domain of the air, they are passing through the kingdom of darkness.

Could it be that Satan and his demons are aroused to hinder that trip to heaven? An interesting thought.

Daniel 10:12-13, Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. ¹³ 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. An angel and he’s coming to Daniel.

Why? Daniel prayed in chapter 9; he poured out his heart in prayer the first half of the chapter. God sends an immediate answer. God is in the business of answering His saints immediately. Daniel is praying again in chapter 10, and he is mourning. He pleads the case of his people.

Angelic being that is described in a most remarkable way. He is a man dressed in linen, girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. His body like beryl. His face the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of tumult.

He comes and bringing Daniel a word from God.

Who is this Prince of Persia?

This is a demon associated with the human system of Persia. Human governmental systems, while government as an entity as ordained by God to control people, that’s the perfect place for Satan to infiltrate with his demons because then he can and in effect, he can rule.

In the land of Persia, some demon, some higher power, some wicked demon in high places, had moved into the controlling influence of Persia. Here it is called the prince of the kingdom of Persia. This prince stops this amazing angel who is a glorious and powerful being, and he can hold this angel up for 21 days.

Michael is always associated with war and conflict. He is not a messenger angel but a warrior. He is super-angel. The angel who got stuck for 21 days was some kind of angel. His voice was like the sound of a tumult. His arms and feet were like gleam of polished bronze. His eyes were like flaming torches.

This tells us how powerful the prince of Persia was who could hold him up for 21 days from delivering a message.

Who comes to his rescue? Michael, super-angel comes, always the task of a warrior, never a messenger, always a defender of God’s people.

Why does he come? Because he wants to send this other angel on the way to Daniel. He is concerned about God’s people, Israel, of whom Daniel represents. Such an important matter. Daniel chapter 12 again we run into Michael.

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.

The time of the tribulation and the time of the Kingdom. Michael is always seen as coming to the rescue of God’s people. Daniel 12 has to do with Israel, but there will be others who will need his help then as well who have come to faith in Christ during the tribulation.

Jude 1:9, 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!”

They were fighting about the body of Moses.

What happened to Moses? Moses wasn’t ever allowed to go into the promised land. He had to stand up on the hill in Moab. Moses stood there in that place, looking from Moab across to the promised land, but he was never allowed to enter because he strikes the rock. (Numbers chapter 20)

Deuteronomy 34:5-6, So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. ⁶ And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day. Apparently when Moses died God sent Michael because the devil wanted the body of Moses.

What did the devil want to do with Moses body?

• Maybe he wanted to turn it into an idol and have people worship it.
• Maybe he wanted to take it away somewhere so, in his stupidity, he assumed that God couldn’t find it in the day of resurrection.
• Maybe he wanted to be sure Moses never did show up at the transfiguration.
• Maybe he wanted to prevent Moses coming back again as one of the two witnesses.

We don’t know what he wanted to do with it, but he wanted it. Michael wouldn’t let him have it.

Probably Satan said, “you should let me have the body of Moses because he was a murderer.”

Exodus 2:12, So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Moses disobeyed and he struck the rock. Moses a man of sin and not worthy of resurrection.

We don’t know what the devious scheme of Satan was! Whatever he wanted to do, Michael went to battle over the body of Moses. Apparently, Michael is not the equal to Lucifer in personal power. At least he is not the superior.

Michael didn’t dare pronounce against Satan a railing judgment but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” He wasn’t about to engage in a battle with Satan on his own strength as strong as he is, but he called for the Lord. Michael is called in Jude 9 the archangel.

1 Thessalonians 4:16, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Could it be that the archangel is Michael? Could be, he is Michael the archangel and it’s going to be his voice at the rapture. Why would the archangel be shouting at the rapture? Could it be that he is confronting Satan and his demons as they try to thwart the rapture? Possibly.

He is certainly going to stand up for the people of God in the future, according to Daniel chapter 12. At that time there will be a resurrection. But it is possible that what triggers this war in heaven there in Revelation chapter 12 could be the rapture?

As believers start to go up, would go through the domain of Satan, and some great supernatural warfare starts to take place, and Michael comes with his holy hosts in the power of God and makes sure we get where we are going.

Michael always seems to be fighting for God’s people Israel, the church, and he will stand up for all the saints at the end of the time of the tribulation. There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels, waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war.

Michael and his angels had to fight the dragon and his angels.

After the return of the remnant from Babylon, Satan was present to resist the restoration of the nation Israel.

Zechariah 3:2, And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Satan came in and tried to stop the restoration, tried to stop the building the kingdom of Israel. He was rebuked.

It is going to happen again when the Lord comes to set up His Kingdom. Satan is going to do everything he can to halt it and resist it. The holy angels are going to have to make war. They may start that war at the rapture and they will have to war with him all the way through to the establishment of the Kingdom.

They win the first round. V 8, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. The devil and his demons, the dragon and his demons were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

This results that this battle was very severe. They didn’t win. Michael and the holy angels win a very decisive battle.

All the demons of the universe have hit the earth. No more access to heaven. No longer can they come before the throne of God. No longer can they harangue about the sins of the saints. What weapons and by what tactics is this heavenly warfare waged?

Beyond our understanding. Angels cannot be injured or slain with earthly weapons. Such physical forces as we know about are not able to move spiritual beings. But these beings do operate in a physical universe so there must exist some powerful physio-spiritual energies of which we yet can only have vague intimations. Energies which can propel angelic bodies at super luminary velocities through space, and which can move mountains and change planetary orbits.

The casting down of Satan takes place at the time of the tribulation, and he hits the earth with full fury. If the battle starts at the time of the rapture and the rapture happens immediately, we get through the domain of Satan, that war may go on a little while before there is triumph and Satan is cast down. It may not. The full fury of Satan having landed

doesn’t explode until the midpoint, but he may, along with his demons, arrive here before then. There is no way to know precisely when they are going to arrive, but they will be here by the time we reach the midpoint. They could be here from the very beginning of the time of tribulation.

So, heaven is clean. The angels literally mop up any loose demons anywhere. Every celestial inch of the heavens is covered, thoroughly searched, to make sure not one fallen angel remains. This is the end of the time of Satan as prince of the power of the air. He is confined for the moment to the earth.

2. War on earth. V 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. He is called great because he is so formidable.

V 3-4, And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. ⁴ His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon

stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. He is identified as the serpent of old, that’s the snake in the garden of Eden back in Genesis. He is called the devil means to slander, to defame, and to falsely accuse.

He accuses the saint’s night and day. He is like a prosecutor before the throne of God, trying to arraign God’s people at the bar of God’s divine and holy justice by accusing them of sins. He goes everywhere in the earth collecting evidence.

When Peter said he goes around seeking whom he may devour is like going around looking for evidence that he can take before the throne of God that will cause God to turn his back on us. Romans chapter 8, no matter how busy Satan is in doing that, how frequently he harangues about us, about us, no matter how much evidence about our sin he has managed to collect it doesn’t matter.

Romans 8:31-39, What then shall we say to these things? If

God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also

risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” ³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. The one who is our prosecutor, unendingly accusing us is unsuccessful. He is also called Satan, this is a very common name, and it means adversary or enemy.

V 9, “Who deceives the whole world.” He is not only an accuser, or adversary, but a deceiver. Throughout all human history, he has duped the world. He will continue to dupe the world even during the time of the tribulation.

He will carry on convincing people that he represents truth and true religion and even God.

Revelation 16:14, For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Demons performing signs to the kings of the whole world to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. That’s how the people of the world wind up at Armageddon. They are deceived into coming there by demons. Satan is a deceiver.

Revelation 13:14, And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He is deceiving at every possible turn so that he can amass this great force against Christ.

Revelation 18:23, The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.

Revelation 19:20, Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

They were thrown into the lake of fire. ➢ Revelation 20:3, he is put into an abyss and sealed so that he should not deceive. ➢ Revelation 20:8, he comes out at the end of a thousand years to deceive the nations again. ➢ Revelation 20:10, the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire.

We can see it all through the book of Revelation. What he is doing during this time of the tribulation is attacking Israel, trying to kill them. Attacking the believers, trying to destroy them, and deceiving the whole world to set them up under his authority to engage in a great warfare against God’s people and against God Himself in the form of Jesus Christ.

He is a deceiver. He is deceiving right now through the philosophies, psychologies, and the human systems of the world. Satan continually and always is deceiving.

In the end, he will be so successful, he will pull together a world government, a world of people who come to attack Jesus Christ.

John 8:44, He is a liar and lures people into ruin. That is his intention. 3. Praise for triumph in heaven. V 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.

This is praise for triumph in heaven. Once these demons and Satan are all expelled permanently out of heaven and heaven is cleansed of the foul demons, there is praise, one great loud voice. We have praise in heaven in Revelation chapters 4, 5, 7, 11, 15, and 19.

Periodically through this book, heaven is praising because of what is happening. This time they are praising because Satan is thrown out. Michael and his holy angels, in the power of God, are triumphant.

Who are these people?

Who were making this loud noise?

Could they be angels? They could be but more likely they are glorified saints. They say the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down. Satan does not accuse angels, he accuses believers. Our brothers are never used to refer to angels.

Revelation 19:10, And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Angels are referred to as fellow servants, but never brothers. That is a term reserved for those who are humans, who are believers.

We have here is a loud voice in heaven from believers, who would be those representing the church and those martyred saints who have gone on to glory during the tribulation, and they are rejoicing.

Why? Because Satan no longer can accuse them before the throne of God because he no longer has access.

This would certainly be something saints would be happy about. They care because they want to show love to God, they want to show glory to God, they want to show their adoration and their worship. It certainly isn’t an appropriate thing for them while they are there endeavouring to worship God with all their might and fully doing that to have their brethren on earth being incessantly accused of iniquities, and so they rejoice.

“Now the salvation and the power” Including the deliverance of all creation from the effects of the fall and sin and Satan. Full omnipotence, irresistible, and triumphant sovereign almighty power which crushes all other might to establish the millennial and the eternal Kingdom.

The authority of His Christ. His right to rule has come. Because Satan has been cast out. They know this is the first step.

• Out of heaven to the earth,
• Out of earth to the abyss,
• Out of the abyss to the lake of fire.

This is step one in his move toward hell.

The gate to heaven forever barred, the saints rejoice over this one who accused them day and night being cast out. They know his end is near. V 11-12, 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.”

Now praise for triumph on earth. The scene moves out of heaven and their joy to earth. They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they didn’t love their life even to death.

Rejoice not only over what happened in heaven but rejoice over what’s happening on earth. When Satan hits the earth with his demon hosts, he tries to destroy and slaughter all the believers and destroy the nation of Israel he is defeated.

They overcame him.

How? They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb.

They overcame him because their sins were covered, and no accusation would stand.

• No accusation against the suffering saints of the great tribulation would stand before the throne of God.
• No accusation against any believer in any age would stand.

Christ who is our advocate, the Spirit who intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. All the accusations against us fall on deaf ears because we have been saved by the blood of the Lamb. Because of the word of their testimony.

Because they were faithful and devoted to Christ. Even in a world engulfed by demons and cursed by God, their testimony never wavered. This is the idea of an ongoing testimony. They were faithful no matter what was going on around them, no matter how consumed the world was in both the curse of God and the fury of Satan, the wrath of heaven and the wrath of the pit, they were faithful.

Their witness was clear, and they never equivocated. “They didn’t love their life even to death.”

They were characterized by justification, sanctification, and perseverance to glorification. They didn’t love their life even to death.

• They endured even death by the love of the will.
• They didn’t love their life.
• They didn’t will to love their own life.
• They were willing to die. ➢ They had an ongoing testimony. ➢ They endured. All evidence of genuine transformation. ➢ The true saints continue.

Why did they overcome? Because they had a true faith. Jesus said that those that are enduring to the end will be saved.

Matthew 24:13, But he who endures to the end shall be saved. So those on earth overcame. Didn’t matter what Satan did. He is going to do a bloodbath on Israel and the believing people of the world who identify with Christ. All of this does not destroy the true faith that belongs to those who are redeemed.

They are covered by the blood. Their testimony is continuing. They endure even death.

V 12, “Rejoice.” Not just for Satan being thrown down, but for Him being defeated even on the earth as well as in heaven. V12, “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.”

Three and a half years, or maybe a little more, that’s all he has got. Woe to the world when he hits the earth. Satan has great wrath, rage, turbulent, and emotional fury as he makes his last effort against God and his plan.

He is aided by a pit that’s belched out numberless demons and 200 million of them released from the Euphrates. All that he can possibly do in three and a half years he is going to do. Jesus said there has never been a time in the history of the world like this time, and if the Lord didn’t shorten the days, everybody including the elect would be destroyed.

Even with all that Satan can do, he can’t touch us. We rejoice in that.