We begin today with the continuation of the Revelation 12 Sign in part two of this article. Starting in verse seven we read:
“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time’” (Revelation 12:7-12).
We add some new personalities to our storyline here.
The first one is Michael the Archangel. I love the name Michael as I have many in my family who have this name. In Hebrew it means “he who is like God.”
Just like Satan leads and commands his fallen angels, Michael leads the angels of heaven. Michael is his counterpart so to speak, and he appears to be the highest ranking angel in the scriptures. He always seems to be going toe-to-toe with Satan and prevailing.
If you remember from my article, “Enoch and Elijah,” Satan and Michael got into it over the bones of Moses. Michael prevailed, even though it was not directly stated. However, the burial place of Moses and his bones is still a secret to this day. Michael is a very strong angel.
Michael has another important job in the latter days according to the book of Daniel:
“At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book” (Daniel 12:1).
So according to both scriptures above:
1) Michael will be called upon to stand up during the end times for the Jewish nation of Israel. I see it as a military stance, to take a stand and hold a position. He will fight a spiritual fight for the people of Israel. The forces of darkness are going to come against Israel during this time predicted. But Satan is outnumbered, as he does not have the same power as Michael and his angels. He will again prevail, in the deliverance of Israel from the hands of Satan, and securing the faith of those whose names are written in the book of life.
2) Michael and his angels throw Satan and his fallen angels to earth permanently. No more coming to heaven to accuse the brethren of Christ! A short amount of time is expressed here as the earth is at the end of the seven-year tribulation, also referred to as the great tribulation. Satan is aware that his time allotment is almost up – as he proceeds to the earth, ready to unleash his fury.
We see Michael standing in both heaven and earth. He is warring for his people, Israel, and guiding them to salvation on earth during the latter times – and cleaning house, so to speak, in heaven. He is a formidable presence in the end times according to these scriptures.
Now, we have another group seen here that needs some identification.
The Martyrs: “The ones who overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.”
We saw this group earlier in Revelation, and they are cited in my article, “The Remaining Seals of the Apocalypse.”
They are the blood-washed saints of Jesus Christ who were martyred for their faith and testimony of Jesus Christ in Revelation 6:9-11. They are referred to again here in Revelation 12 as the overcoming ones.
Here is our current status:
Michael has been introduced and Satan also, being easily identified and described in great detail so we don’t have any doubts who is whom here. Satan has many names tracing him back to the Garden of Eden as the Serpent of old.
They have a great big fight; hair may have been pulled and many blows suffered on both sides. Michael and his angels overpower Satan and his lost boys. Michael and company drag them to the edge of heaven and boot them all out of the heavenly realm—permanently. Satan will never be able to have access again and bad-mouth the people of God. All of heaven rejoices at this victory won, but those on earth are in for big trouble, because Satan is now earth-locked, and really ticked off as his timer is about to go “ding, ding, ding.” (Sally’s layman translation of it all.)
Something else happened here we need to focus on because it is really important—as we just witnessed a power shift at this point and into the future.
“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down’” (Revelation 12:10).
This power shift is a turning point indeed! This is proclaimed by a voice from heaven and includes both heaven and earth. Heaven for now, as far as Satan is concerned, and the earth will follow as the domain of Satan will be broken at the return of Jesus Christ (Second Advent).
Satan just lost one of his two habitations. He was allowed into heaven as we see here, in his ability to come before God’s throne and accuse the brethren 24/7. He and his fallen angels are thrown out for good.
Satan will also lose the earth and the kingdom he has built in the very near future, the place where he is dark lord of everything fallen. He is reminded to hurry up and finish what he intends to do as the clock of God’s timer ticks away.
Jesus will be returning very soon to establish His kingdom on the earth, and to smash the kingdom of Satan with a rod of iron, as we discussed in Part One of this article.
Let’s proceed…
“Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.
“But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:13-17).
If you remember, the woman here is Israel, and she is being pursued by Satan, or the Dragon; personified here in the person of the Antichrist who rules the earth during this seven-year time called the tribulation. This scene depicted is at the end of the seven years, referred to as the great tribulation.
Israel is given two wings of a great eagle, and flies away into the desert to a preordained hiding place. There Satan, embodied in the person of the Antichrist, will flood her with a great flood.
I am not sure by the wording here, if this means the Jewish people will be flown to this place by a military transport helicopter with an eagle emblem plastered on it, or, if this is a supernatural depiction of this event—but Israel miraculously gets to this place and is hidden away.
I also feel this way about the flood of water described here, if this is literally a flood of H2O, or a flood of persecution and attack. However, the earth helps the woman by absorbing this flood in some way, and she is cared for, nourished and protected by God for three-and-a-half years.
Out of complete frustration and hatred for God and Christ, the Antichrist turns his attention now on those who have believed upon Jesus for forgiveness of sin and have not accepted his mark on their right hand or forehead. I will refer to this group as the tribulational saints, or believers in Christ.
The Antichrist now goes worldwide in his search for those described here. He is incensed that he cannot get to the Jewish people hiding away in the desert, so he turns his hot-blooded rage and full attention to tracking down and killing believers.
He uses the quick method of beheading in the mass murder of those described here. Maybe I have read “The Tale of Two Cities” too many times, but it is quite possible that the guillotine might be revived here as a method of mass murder. France used this method depicted in the storyline of this book set within the timeframe of the French Revolution. France continued to use the guillotine until 1939 as a method of capital punishment, mainly because it was considered quick and humane.
For the Antichrist, I think he will be aiming for quick – not necessarily humane – in ridding himself of all believers.
Maybe you think he wouldn’t use something like a guillotine, but I reassure you, he would. I read these scriptures over and over, and I do understand one thing about the Antichrist; he will descend into the lowest-of-the-low levels mankind has ever seen, especially when he knows his time is almost up.
Scripture verifies for us those who were slain during this time in the future:
“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).
I went to the end of Revelation to retrieve that verse because it’s so good! I am so glad that they have such a wonderful reward awaiting them. It will be so great to meet them all as we rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years!
The Revelation 12 Sign from last fall for me was a signal from heaven. It was a stellar sign that reminded me personally that God will do all that He promised in His judgment and mercy, for the Jew and Gentile, the believers and non-believers, and for all of heaven and earth—and it’s not going to be much longer. He had the apostle John write it down so we wouldn’t forget, and put it in a book called the Bible in the chapter of Revelation, because the name of that book means—”to reveal.”
He went so far as to put something in Revelation chapter 12, and also display it in the heavens last year on September 23rd.
My dear readers, this was no coincidence! It really was a great sign that appeared in heaven!
God will fulfill all He has foretold and all He has promised.
You and I can count on it!
Sally Law