Realization of Prophetic Visions
By Philip Mark Ames
War in Heaven
There was peace for God's
woman on earth because all the wicked spirits had gone to heaven for a great
war. John reports that the archangel Michael led his angels into battle against
the dragon and its angels. That war lasted for some length of time, during
which there was no report of any persons being possessed by demons. All the
demons were fighting the war in heaven.
Just after that war began,
the Apostle Peter baptized Cornelius, who became the first non-Jewish
Christian. With Satan busy elsewhere, Christianity grew and prospered
unhindered. (Acts 9:32-11:30) But in heaven the battle raged on. Though the
wicked angels fought intensely, neither they nor their thinking could prevail.
In fact, they could no longer find any place for themselves in the entire
second heaven. They were all thrown to the earth along with their
thought-creature, the dragon. (Rev. 12:7-10)
At that, John heard a great
voice in heaven proclaiming the beginning of the salvation and the power and
the kingdom of God, and the authority of His Christ.
The heavenly voice then tells why this proclamation was now being made. It is
"because the accuser of our brothers was evicted, the one accusing them in
sight of our God day and night."
Till then, Satan had been
allowed to come before God, the Supreme Judge, and make accusations against
lovers of righteousness. (See the first two chapters of the book of Job.) But,
the accuser now being expelled from heaven, the divine salvation of mankind had
begun. With power and great authority, Jesus Christ had begun subduing the
enemies of God's heavenly kingdom. (Matt. 28:18)
According to the great voice
from heaven, there were those on earth who had already conquered the dragon
through the blood of the Lamb, and through the word of their testimony. They
had testified to their faith in the redeeming value of the shed blood of Jesus,
"the Lamb of God, the one removing the sin of the world." (John 1:29)
For attesting to their faith, many of them had already been severely
persecuted. But, according to the heavenly voice, they loved not their soul
till death. That is, their faithfulness to Jesus was dearer to them than their
life and beginning with Stephen, many had already been killed before the war
had begun in heaven.
But now, Michael and his
angels had won the victory over all the evil spirits, and had expelled them
from the second heaven. Never again could the great fiery dragon enter the
heavenly court of God. None of the seven Satanic cherubs could ever again bring
accusations against anyone. The heavens were now cleansed of all
unrighteousness forever. The Devil had been evicted.
That eviction brought
rejoicing in heaven. But there was to be woe for the earth and the sea because
the Devil was now confined to their realms. And he was greatly angered, knowing
his days were numbered. (Rev. 12:10-12) How would this affect God's woman?
Written by: Philip Mark Ames - - -
© 1975 Philip Mark Ames. All rights reserved.