In part one of this teaching, we began to look at the twelfth chapter of the book of Revelation. The passage describes a vision that God gave the Apostle John, which contained symbols. We saw that the passage takes on a profoundly significant dimension when examined in terms of astronomy.
Revelation 12:3-9 3And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. 7And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
In the future, there is a time coming, in the day of the Lord, that God will say enough is enough. He will then proclaim your time is up and will give the order to Michael and his angels to go to war. At this time, the devil and his demons will be cast out of heaven for good, never to have access to the throne of God again. As a matter of fact when this happens the devil only has a few years left on the earth, for he knows that his time is near.
Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
This is why I believe the devil has had access to the throne room of God. He made it his business to accuse the brethren day and night before God.
Revelation 12:11-12 11And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 12Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
The heavens will rejoice and all that dwell in them, but, not so for the earth and the people who are living during this time. By this point in the book of Revelation the earth will already be a mess. Not to mention, the people on the earth will now need to deal with the devil in his great wrath.
Revelation 12:13-17 13And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 117And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
The woman referred to here in verse 13 is a figure of speech representing Israel. For 3-1/2 years God will supernaturally protect and provide for these Jewish believers.
Exodus 16:35 And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
The Lord provided for Israel for 40 years in the desert; I'm sure he could handle 3-1/2 years today.
The devil will cause a flood to destroy these believing ones, but, God will intervene and open the mouth of the earth to swallow up the water allowing them a way to escape.
1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
There will be a lot of temptations and tribulation in the book of Revelation. It will be reminiscent of the days of Egypt how the Pharaoh murdered all of the male children. How would you like to be the mother of a new born baby boy, only to have Egyptian soldiers storm your home and tear your infant from your arms and slaughter him? How would you like to see you husband beat to a pulp trying to protect his child?
And that cannot be compared to what the devil will do in the future. Think about it: the scriptures teach "rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."
This is the only place in the bible that it is said "the devil is come down unto you having great wrath." If the word says what it means and means what it says, there are bad days ahead for the people of the earth.
However, God will protect and provide for those who believe and, praise God, the church will be gathered together and removed from the planet before this can start.
Today, the devil has access to God and the heavens. But, there is a day coming in the not too far future when God will give the command. Then, Michael and his angels will grab the devil and his demons by their furry little throats and cast them to the earth.
The devil will never again have access to the throne of God or the heavens again. Do you know why the devil will have such great wrath when this happens? Because he knows his days are numbered. Not only does he know this, but, he also knows how the story of redemption ends.
Revelation 20:1 1And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
We will enjoy this thousand year reign with the Lord Jesus Christ here on a restored earth.
Revelation 20:7-10 7And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
That's how it ends for the devil and he knows it. Praise be to our God and our Lord Jesus Christ for his unspeakable gift of everlasting life to all who call upon his name.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
We are a blessed people. At no time in history did a people who deserved so little ever enjoy so much. All because of our great big wonderful God and our amazing Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ Amen and Amen!
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.