And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels gathered to fight against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels also fought. And the dragon was not strong enough, neither was a place found in heaven for them. And the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the one called devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited world, was thrown down into the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, "Now have come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, for the accuser of our brothers, the one who accuses them before the throne of God day and night, has been cast down." And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto death. Rev. 12:7-11.
The size of the known universe is dizzying. While the planet Earth is a large place, it is small compared to other planets circling a very average star. Our solar system is located at the fringe of a very average galaxy, which contains at least 100 million stars, many of them with solar systems of their own. We now know that there are billions and billions of galaxies in the known universe. This means that we are either very important--or very unimportant.
When you see how easily our planet could be lost in the limitless realms of the universe, you might begin to think we must be rather irrelevant. But when you read Revelation 12 you get a quite different impression. You begin to realize that what is going on here may be of greater significance to the universe than events anywhere else.
Revelation 12:4 tells us that the dragon threw down a third of the stars in heaven. In a symbolic-style story like this they are clearly not literal stars or galaxies. Revelation 1:20 interprets stars as angels, suggesting that the dragon (Satan) precipitated a conflict in heaven (the control center of the universe, wherever that is) that resulted in a third of the heavenly inhabitants becoming exiled to this earth. So our planet has become the ongoing location of an insurgency that began long ago in heaven.
This is the ultimate answer to the issue of evil, pain, and suffering of this earth. No doubt the angels who remained in heaven wondered if Satan's rebellion had any merit. The cross settled all their doubts. A God who would die for His creatures can be trusted to do what is right and fair. While Satan had some access to the heavenly courts before the cross (Job 1 and 2), his viewpoint has been banished from heaven since then (Rev. 12:10, 11).
Lord, I see the beauty of Your character at the cross. I choose to be faithful to You no matter what the cost.
The size of the known universe is dizzying. While the planet Earth is a large place, it is small compared to other planets circling a very average star. Our solar system is located at the fringe of a very average galaxy, which contains at least 100 million stars, many of them with solar systems of their own. We now know that there are billions and billions of galaxies in the known universe. This means that we are either very important--or very unimportant.
When you see how easily our planet could be lost in the limitless realms of the universe, you might begin to think we must be rather irrelevant. But when you read Revelation 12 you get a quite different impression. You begin to realize that what is going on here may be of greater significance to the universe than events anywhere else.
Revelation 12:4 tells us that the dragon threw down a third of the stars in heaven. In a symbolic-style story like this they are clearly not literal stars or galaxies. Revelation 1:20 interprets stars as angels, suggesting that the dragon (Satan) precipitated a conflict in heaven (the control center of the universe, wherever that is) that resulted in a third of the heavenly inhabitants becoming exiled to this earth. So our planet has become the ongoing location of an insurgency that began long ago in heaven.
This is the ultimate answer to the issue of evil, pain, and suffering of this earth. No doubt the angels who remained in heaven wondered if Satan's rebellion had any merit. The cross settled all their doubts. A God who would die for His creatures can be trusted to do what is right and fair. While Satan had some access to the heavenly courts before the cross (Job 1 and 2), his viewpoint has been banished from heaven since then (Rev. 12:10, 11).
Lord, I see the beauty of Your character at the cross. I choose to be faithful to You no matter what the cost.
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