(Revelation 11:15-19) Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,
“We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.18 And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
19 And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
John now sees a visual and allegorical illustration about how Satan and his demons pursued Israel and will pursue Israel in the Tribulation...
(Revelation 12:1-6) A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Now the illustration backtracks a bit in the timeline of events. Or we can look at this as another illustration.
We have seen in scriptures that Satan is allowed to approach God in heaven and accuse His children and ask for permission to test them...
(Job 1:6-7) Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”
But this illustration in Revelation 12 is clear about the fact that there will come a point when Satan will be banned from heaven completely. Perhaps this occurs halfway through the Tribulation, which would explain why the second half of the seven years will be even worse than the first half.
OR this could happen right before the Tribulation begins.
I lean towards this explanation simply because we are told that there are no signs leading up to the rapture. It will happen like a thief in the night - without any warning! The world will be saying "Peace and safety"...
(1 Thessalonians 5:1-3) Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.
Maybe the world will seem more peaceful at this point in time because Satan and all his demons will NOT be on the earth! They will all be waging this war in heaven...
(Revelation 12:7-17) And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“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. 11 And they 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. 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.”
13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
From this we see:
- the seventh angel sounds the seventh trumpet (11:15)
- when Satan rebelled, about a third of the angels took his side (12:4)
- the great red dragon is Satan, shown to have 7 heads with 7 diadems, and 10 horns (12:3)
- Satan is called the great dragon, the devil, the serpent of old (12:9)
- Satan deceives the world (12:9)
- (after the fall of man) Satan was there when Eve was given a prophecy that Jesus would be born through her descendants to have victory over Satan, and Abraham was given a prophecy that Jesus would be born through his descendants, so Israel has always been Satan's main target because these are God's chosen people; but more so because Satan knew that God was going to come in flesh as an Israelite. Satan vigilantly sought his opportunity to kill God (12:4)
- Satan's attempt to kill Jesus failed, as Jesus was born (crucified), resurrected and ascended back to heaven. But Satan knows that Jesus will come to earth again to set up the Millennial kingdom, and so as Satan waits for another opportunity to kill God, he continues to persecute God's children (12:5)
- Satan is known as the accuser of the brethren (12:10)
- Satan relentlessly tries to accuse Christians night and day (12:10)
- believers overcome Satan because of Jesus' work on the cross (12:11)
- (just before the Tribulation) there will be a great war in heaven: Michael and his angels against Satan and his (fallen) angels (12:7)
- because of the Lord's power, Satan will lose (12:10)
- when Satan and his demons lose the heavenly battle, they will be thrown out of heaven and down to earth, no longer allowed to approach God to accuse Christians (12:8-10)
- because Satan and his demons will only be allowed on the earth during the Tribulation, he will be very angry. And knowing that he only has seven years before Jesus' second coming, his anger will only intensify (12:12)
- Satan will persecute Israel because these are God's chosen ones (12:13)
- in the last half of the Tribulation, God will see to it that the Israelites are protected (12:6)
- to escape Satan during the second half of the Tribulation, Israel will be "given the wings of the great eagle", which could mean that they flee quickly as if they have wings, or they will be led by an angel, or literally carried away by that one flying-eagle-looking-angel (12:14)
- Satan will try to cause a flood in order to kill God's chosen people (12:15)
- God will cause the earth to open up and absorb the flood which will be caused by Satan (12:16)
- Satan will be extremely angry in the second half of the Tribulation, and will turn his focus onto other believers (12:17)
Personal experience: we see how God protects His children!
Even though right now Satan is allowed to accuse us, we are clothed in Jesus' righteousness and protected from the evil one.
Right before we will be raptured, God is not going to allow Satan access to heaven anymore!
Then during the Tribulation, while Satan is exercising his wrath, God will protect His children!
Today's takeaway: we have nothing to fear, as long as we fear God!
(1 John 4:15-18) Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
(2 Timothy 1:6-7) For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
(Psalm 34:4) I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
(Isaiah 41:1-29) “Coastlands, listen to Me in silence, and let the peoples gain new strength; let them come forward, then let them speak; let us come together for judgment.
2 “Who has aroused one from the east whom He calls in righteousness to His feet? He delivers up nations before him and subdues kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, as the wind-driven chaff with his bow.
3 “He pursues them, passing on in safety, by a way he had not been traversing with his feet.
4 “Who has performed and accomplished it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’”
2 “Who has aroused one from the east whom He calls in righteousness to His feet? He delivers up nations before him and subdues kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, as the wind-driven chaff with his bow.
3 “He pursues them, passing on in safety, by a way he had not been traversing with his feet.
4 “Who has performed and accomplished it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’”
5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble; they have drawn near and have come.
6 Each one helps his neighbor and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 So the craftsman encourages the smelter, and he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good”; and he fastens it with nails, so that it will not totter.
8 “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend,
9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its remotest parts and said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you.
10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
11 “Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12 “You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them, those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
13 “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’
14 “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you,” declares the Lord, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges; you will thresh the mountains and pulverize them, and will make the hills like chaff.
16 “You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the storm will scatter them; but you will rejoice in the Lord, you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
6 Each one helps his neighbor and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 So the craftsman encourages the smelter, and he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good”; and he fastens it with nails, so that it will not totter.
8 “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend,
9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its remotest parts and said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you.
10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
11 “Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12 “You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them, those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
13 “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’
14 “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you,” declares the Lord, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges; you will thresh the mountains and pulverize them, and will make the hills like chaff.
16 “You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the storm will scatter them; but you will rejoice in the Lord, you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 “The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst; I, the Lord, will answer them Myself, as the God of Israel I will not forsake them.
18 “I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land fountains of water.
19 “I will put the cedar in the wilderness, the acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert together with the box tree and the cypress,
20 That they may see and recognize, and consider and gain insight as well, that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
18 “I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land fountains of water.
19 “I will put the cedar in the wilderness, the acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert together with the box tree and the cypress,
20 That they may see and recognize, and consider and gain insight as well, that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 “Present your case,” the Lord says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” the King of Jacob says.
22 Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; as for the former events, declare what they were, that we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming;
23 Declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods; indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.
24 Behold, you are of no account, and your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.
22 Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; as for the former events, declare what they were, that we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming;
23 Declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods; indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.
24 Behold, you are of no account, and your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.
25 “I have aroused one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun he will call on My name; and he will come upon rulers as upon mortar, even as the potter treads clay.”
26 Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know? Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”? Surely there was no one who declared, surely there was no one who proclaimed, surely there was no one who heard your words.
27 “Formerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’ And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a messenger of good news.’
28 “But when I look, there is no one, and there is no counselor among them
Who, if I ask, can give an answer.
29 “Behold, all of them are false; their works are worthless, their molten images are wind and emptiness.
26 Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know? Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”? Surely there was no one who declared, surely there was no one who proclaimed, surely there was no one who heard your words.
27 “Formerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’ And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a messenger of good news.’
28 “But when I look, there is no one, and there is no counselor among them
Who, if I ask, can give an answer.
29 “Behold, all of them are false; their works are worthless, their molten images are wind and emptiness.
(Psalm 56:3-4) When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?
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