Revelation 12:7- 9 “Then a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But the dragon was not strong enough, and no longer was any place found in heaven for him and his angels. And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”
In the beginning, Satan was an angel of light, one of the greatest of the angels. But Satan’s pride caused him to try to usurp God’s authority, and he and one third of the angels fell from heaven. Despite that fall, Satan continued to have access to God, accusing those such as Job who were serving God faithfully. At the same time, Satan was also seducing, deceiving, lying, and undermining all who tried to follow God. Satan tempted Jesus, convinced Judas to betray Jesus, tried to make Peter fall, and enticed Ananias and Sapphira to withhold part of the money they should have given to God. In modern times, Satan has inspired wars, genocide, bio terrorism, revolutions, and chaos. Barclay states, “Satan stands for the sleepless vigilance of evil against good.”
Jesus described Satan this way: “Now judgment is upon this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” (John 12:31-32) By this statement, Jesus prophesied how Satan would be completely defeated because of Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross.
Up until now, Satan has been threatening and terrorizing and accusing, but now the hosts of heaven show up! Michael and his angels defeat Satan and throw him out of heaven forever. In the old time western movies, the good guys always wore white cowboy hats while the bad guys wore black ones. Now the good guys in the white hats have thundered in and have won! Satan and his minions are now limited to earth only. No longer can Satan ever return to heaven to accuse any of the saints as he did when he complained about Job.
One question that might bother us as we read these verses is this: Why has God waited so long? Why didn’t God defeat Satan sooner? God had the power at any point in time, so why this delay?
Divine delays can be baffling. Way back in Genesis 15:16 when God is cutting covenant with Abraham, God tells Abraham, “In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Presumably, there were still a few righteous people within the Amorites at that point; however, their worship practices were becoming steadily more degrading. Eventually, God instructed the Israelites to eliminate the Amorites, but God wanted to have mercy on as many of them as possible.
2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.” Even in these last few days of the earth, God is still giving as many people as possible the opportunity to turn away from evil and to serve Him. God knows human hearts better than anybody else and God’s love is so compelling that He wants all who will to come to Him.
The message throughout the Bible is a message of God’s incredible love for sinful humanity. Each of us has a choice: will we serve the prince of this world, or will we serve the One True Living God who loves us so much that He sent Jesus into the world to die for our sins?
PRAYER: Father God, please help us to choose to follow you. Make yourself so real to everyone who reads these lines that they will see for themselves your incredible love and will turn their hearts to You. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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