Satan could not obey God. This devotional reading looks at his crime and punishment.
Nuggets
- Satan disobeyed God and began a war in Heaven.
- Satan and his demons lost everything.
- When Satan was banished from Heaven, he was banished to earth.
A lot of Revelation is confusing. This section is no different.
We like to think of Revelation as sequential. This doesn’t.
Let’s look at Satan and the angels that followed him getting thrown out of Heaven. (Note: I can’t call them angels anymore. Once they disobeyed, they became demons in my book.)
Let's Put It into Context
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Let's Put It into Context #2
We are going to be talking about Michael, but who is he?
Michael is an archangel. We find this term only in two places in God’s Word.
- “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (I Thess. 4: 16 ESV).
- “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you’” (Jude 1: 9 ESV).
To me, this means Michael is an angel of high rank. In other words, he was a chief angel.
There are several specific references to Michael in God’s Word.
- “Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia” (Dan. 10: 12-13 ESV).
- “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book” (Dan. 12: 1 ESV).
Some think that Jesus is really Michael. Milligan said this was a valid assumption since the name Michael means who is like God?
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Plus, wouldn’t it be logical to think Satan would be going up against God’s Son, the Author of our faith. Why would we need another leader when we have the Leader Himself?
“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Heb. 2: 10 ESV).
Well, we have talked a couple of times in the last few chapters where Jesus was referred to as an angel. It could be possible here.
I just have trouble with that. The individual references of Michael seem to point to a specific – other – angel.
War in Heaven
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back” (Rev. 12: 7 ESV)
Satan disobeyed God and began a war in Heaven.
Sometimes, we just shake our heads. Why in the world would Satan and his demons want to give up Heaven?
Satan did. And they did bring it on themselves.
Satan made a conscious decision that he was as good as — if not better than — God. He wanted his way, and he was willing to take the highway to get it.
God created the angels, too — of which Satan was one. Like worldview people, there is no gratitude for this.
- “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you” (Neh. 9: 6 ESV).
- “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1: 16 ESV).
Did they really think they could win a war with the omnipotent God, Creator of all things? Yeah, Satan had a screw loose from the beginning.
Angels were created to worship and serve God. Satan was not only leading them into a war against their duty but also their nature. (That is why I see them only as demons.)
Didn’t Satan have a clue that, when we fight against our own nature, we are miserable?
We’ve talked before about how salvation was offered to mankind but never to the demons that rebelled against God. That makes their conflict irreconcilable for these very reasons.
Baker explained why that is. He wrote,
“This war is irreconcilable on the [part] of rebel angels also, for when they sinned that moment their natures were changed. The passions of the soul, and the affections of the heart, which once so sweetly [harmonized], were thrown into disorder and became as jarring elements, or as the troubled sea that cannot rest.”
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Ooo, baby! Doesn’t that sound like what happened to Adam and Eve after the original sin? Our nature was changed to a sinful one.
That You, God, that You do offer us restoration!
Think about it. They were fighting about principles. Whose moral principles were they going to follow? God’s or Satan’s?
This fight would set the stage for every other battle between Satan and us.
No Longer a Place
“but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven” (Rev. 12: 7-9 ESV)
Satan and his demons lost everything.
They lost that war. They lost their home; they lost God; and they lost their good moral character.
“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1: 6 ESV).
What do we think about when we hear there was conflict in Heaven? Are we sad that others disobeyed God, too? Are we glad we weren’t the only ones?
This was just the first of Satan’s defeat. He was later defeated when he was overcome through the blood of the Lamb.
“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (I Jn. 3: 8 ESV).
When we overcome by the blood of the Lamb, we gain God’s nature – changing our moral character back to one of righteousness.
Thrown Down to Earth
“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world — he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Rev. 12: 9 ESV)
When Satan was banished from Heaven, he was banished to earth.
Satan is again called a dragon. No, this isn’t a reference to him being mythical.
Rather, Satan is mysterious – being a spirit. Once we are tempted by him, Satan could never be anything but real to us.
But the dragon reference is apt. Satan is the father of lies and very cunning.
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn. 8: 44 ESV).
If Satan was that bad, why do you think God threw Satan down to earth? Why didn’t He just lock him up in hell then?
Congreve gave us a really good explanation. He wrote,
“Looking at these words from a Christian’s point of view, we are reminded by them that whatever else was meant by the war in heaven of which they speak, they, at least, mean for us that the powers of evil have done their utmost to overcome Christ and the powers of good, and have failed — that Christ has proved good to be stronger than evil, and light than darkness. And the high hope is raised that He has done this for the whole universe, for the spirits in every other world-if such there be — as well as for the spirits of us poor men struggling with evil in this.”
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To me, it would be logical to think that angels are stronger than mankind. I mean, they see what we do not. There are right up there, a part of Heaven.
Angels aren’t working by faith but by sight.
Congreve said that is the wrong way to think. The “advantage” they have is they are obedient.
We see in this passage that angels choose to be obedient to God — just like us.
Satan gave it his best shot to defeat God, and God’s army defeated him.
When Satan is down here wreaking havoc, we know that God can still defeat him. God will protect us against his onslaught.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop us from choosing to side with Satan. We still have to choose to obey or disobey God.
We know that when we choose God, He will fight for us and protect us. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8: 31 ESV).
Making the Connections #1
Hatch gave us a great reminder. Michael fought this battle — it wasn’t ours to fight.
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Our battle with Satan is on a smaller scale — but it is big enough that we can’t fight it on our own.
True, a lot of the issues are the same. Are we going to obey or disobey God?
The battlefield isn’t some cosmic environment like Heaven. It is in our hearts and minds where we live.
It may not be, however, a full out frontal assault. It could be some little skirmish of which we aren’t even conscious.
Satan may not hit us when we are struggling. He may come after us when we are on the mountaintop.
But when we add Satan’s deceptions on the top of that, it is difficult to observe him. This is especially true when he is tempting us to do something pleasant or necessary.
We will have a lifetime of skirmishes with Satan. Jesus had said that we must endure. We need to keep obedient.
Making the Connections #2
I absolutely love what Congreve had to say. He wrote, “Michael overcame the dragon, because Michael was God’s champion, and the dragon was his own. The one depended upon God, the other depended on himself.”
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Ooo, baby. How many times do we depend our ourselves and fall flat on our faces?
Too many times!
God doesn’t want us to figure things out on our own. He doesn’t want us to depend on ourselves.
God wants us to depend on Him.
Making the Connections #3
This account does not tell us what was the flashpoint that started this war. It is generally agreed that it was Satan’s pride.
Ooo, baby. Doesn’t Satan try to make it pride related when he goes after us?
Satan tries to tell us that we can do as well if not better without God. He would be wrong.
Another reason the conflict started was jealousy. Satan wanted the worship for himself.
Bottom line. It is a contest between God and his angels and Satan and his demons. We don’t know how many make up either party.
What we do know is that Satan was formidable. God, however, was stronger.
Making the Connections #4
“And he said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven’” (Lk. 10: 18 ESV)
How do we reconcile this passage with Jesus saying He saw Satan fall from Heaven?
Melvill reminded us that John’s accounting probably wasn’t a complete picture. While he may have been trying to stay that it was a long, intense battle, John really just nutshelled it for us. War broke out, both sides fought, Satan lost.
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What Jesus said was a single comment on the punishment of that confrontation. Satan was kicked out of Heaven and was down in a flash.
There is nothing contradictory here.
How Do We Apply This?
- Recognize that obedience is rewarded with strength.
- Recognize that disobedience guarantees defeat.
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Father God. We acknowledge Satan as the adversary. We don’t want to follow Him. We want to have Your character and follow You. Amen.
What do you think?
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