Revelation 12:7-17--Satan Thrown Down to Earth

Revelation 12:7-17
English Standard Version

Satan Thrown Down to Earth
7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 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. 10 And 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 brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

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Last time we retold history through looking at the Election of a people among all the nations  and how Satan was opposed to that Election.  We also talked about how God's Election has extended to people from every tribe, tongue and nation--a people He has chosen for Himself for His own possession for His good pleasure and to the praise of His glory.  Now we're going to look at history from a slightly different perspective.  Who is this Satan that opposes us, where did he come from, why does he hate God and why does he hate and persecute and seek to destroy God's people?

Jesus did not assume that John's readers would have the entire Bible in their hands to know passages like Isaiah 14:12-14 and the places in the Gospels where Jesus referenced this event, so John tells the story once again with an emphasis on the fact that from the moment Satan was thrown out of heaven, his defeat was certain and the salvation of God's people was certain and secure, even if it would not be fully realized until the events at the end of this prophecy contained in this book take place.

We see a war between Michael (remember, he is the archangel who is the prince over Israel--the chosen people of God) along with his angelic warriors and Lucifer, who we now call Satan, and the one-third of the angels of heaven that rebelled along with him who we now call the demons.  Remember that John is using the symbolism of a dragon and a serpent or snake to talk about Satan, for he appeared in the garden as a beautiful serpent, but by the end his true nature will be shown that he is an ancient dragon like the final beast discussed in the Daniel's vision of the four beasts (for that kingdom that is being described there is the kingdom of Antichrist that began with the Roman Empire, but will come to its fullness at this time when the kingdom of Antichrist will be known both as the new kingdom of Babel/Babylon and the new Roman Empire).

Satan and his demons are thrown down to earth so that it appears that one-third of the stars that represented the angelic hosts of heaven fell from the sky.  Since Satan failed at seizing the throne of God in heaven, he puts himself to work at trying to destroy humanity--God's crowning achievement because it was the one part of His creation that was made to be eternal and have a relationship with Him and was made in His image.  Satan temps and deceives Adam and Eve and all humanity along with them to they also fall.  Satan was hoping that they also would be cast out from God's presence like he was and that Satan would have all of mankind be a part of his kingdom of darkness, never to enter the kingdom of God's marvelous light.  However, Satan was not aware of God's perfect plan that in the fullness of time, God was going to become a man to make a way for all men to be drawn to Him once again.  He would not force men to choose Him, but the salvation of the Elect was as certain then at the time of Satan's fall as it is today and will be when the Kingdom of God is consummated.  Look at the victory that was declared of many things that were to happen in the future at that point which we are still waiting for them to be fully realized, but we too can sing this song of celebration and victory.

“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 brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

It would be impossible for any normal person in heaven to be able to known and declare all these things before they happened, so the voice that John hears must be the voice of God who is timeless and sees the beginning from the end, or from one to whom He has made these things known.  Satan knows he is defeated too, and that his time is short, so his goal is to do as much damage as he can during the limited amount of time that he has.  He comes to "steal, kill, and destroy," and that he would deceive even the Elect if possible (but that is not possible, for, as we will see, the Lord will protect them).

Now we're back to the point in the story where we were at last time where there was a dragon waiting for a woman (Israel) to give birth to a Child (the Messiah) so that Satan might try to devour (kill) Him and keep His Kingdom from coming.  Since Satan was not successful, he instead pursues the woman throughout the whole world to persecute her and try to destroy her (at this point she represents not just Israel, but also the Church, for the Church is grafted into the people of Israel so that they are one people of God with no distinction between Jew or Gentile).  God gives His people "wings" to escape the pursuit of Satan and He hides them in a place of protection that He has prepared for them where Satan and his demons cannot reach them or harm them, nor will the plagues described in this book affect them.

Satan is going to try to unleash everything that he has against the people of God (specifically the Jewish people) to try to destroy them (think of the many attempted Holocausts in ancient and recent history from Haman to Nazi Germany to the events of October 7, 2023--which is the most recent iteration that I can think of at the time of writing this in May of 2026).  Satan is frustrated that he will not be able to destroy the Jews, so he will instead turn his attention towards "the rest of her offspring" (Christians/The Church).  Jews and Christians are especially hated by the world for no particular reason other than we now see that it is because Satan is at work in the world to influence those who are in darkness to help do his bidding to try to destroy the people of God and therefore his hope is to try to destroy the Kingdom of God.  He will never be successful in his aims.