War in Heaven
Part 16 in the Two Witnesses Series
Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Just before the woman gives birth to the child, the dragon is thrown out of heaven and down to the earth. He is standing before the woman so he can devour her child. The dragon today is still in the heavenly realm. At the midpoint of Daniel’s seventieth week, Michael throws him down, along with a third of the angels. He has been in the heavenly realm from the beginning, but no longer.
Rev 12:10 Then 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 brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.
A loud voice in heaven. Who is saying this? The overcomers who have been caught up into the heavenly realm just as the dragon is being thrown out of the heavenly realm. The dragon has been accusing them day and night before the throne of God. No more! Once the dragon is thrown out of heaven, the overcomers shout, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come”.
Remember in chapter 11, those who are in the heavenly realm are granted power and authority. This is what the overcomers are shouting in the sanctuary, the heavenly realm. No wonder the dragon is enraged!
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
Verse 11 tells us how the overcomer company, the two witnesses, overcome the dragon.
The blood of the Lamb. The worshipers know they have access into the holy place, the heavenly realm, only by the blood.
Heb 10:19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh…
The word of their testimony. The church in Philadelphia kept the word of His perseverance and they did not deny His name.
I John 5:11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
The last part is the one we like to leave off. To be in the two witness company, one must make the commitment to follow the same pattern as Jesus. They must commit to lay their lives down when they have completed their ministry. The two witness company is killed by the beast at the end of the tribulation. They did not love their lives even when faced with death. You do not get the kind of authority and power that the overcomers get without drinking the same cup that Jesus had to drink. The cup is martyrdom. Are you able to drink this cup?
Rev 12:12 For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”
Rejoice, you who dwell in the heavens. Who is dwelling in the heavens? The overcomers. They have gone behind the veil into the sanctuary, into the heavenly realm, into the presence of God. They are still living on the earth in the natural realm and at the same time are in the heavenly realm. The heavens have been opened to them. This is not talking about people who have died. That is not the context. The context is the tribulation period, the child that is caught up to God and to His throne, the woman who gives birth to the overcomers, and the dragon that wants to devour the child.
Woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you. Who is dwelling in the earthly realm? The woman. She has not gone into the heavenly realm. She is in the natural realm. Who else is in the earthly, natural realm? The devil. He has been cast out of the heavenly realm. The devil is filled with wrath because he knows he has only a short time. He has three and a half years. The tribulation.
Rev 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.
The woman is the apostate church of the last days. They are Christians that have compromised the Word of God and have denied His presence. They are Laodicea. They have everything except His presence. They are not lost. They are apostate. Jesus tells the church in Laodicea that He reproves and disciplines those whom He loves. Jesus will not abandon the apostate church. He loves them too much for that. So, He gives them exactly what they need to shake them out of their apostasy. Persecution. Throughout church history the church has fallen away from His presence during good times and has embraced His presence during hard times. One only has to look at the history of Israel in the Bible to see the same pattern.
Rev 12:14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
The serpent persecutes the woman because she gave birth to the overcomers. There is a place reserved for the woman, her place, a wilderness. She is nourished there for the three-and-a-half-year tribulation. The serpent pours out water like a river after the woman to try and sweep her away with a flood, but the earth helps the woman and drinks up the river. This is all mysterious but the one thing we do know, the serpent tries to sweep the woman away and he fails. The woman is nourished away from the presence of the serpent. She is nourished during the tribulation. This means she is fed and taken care of. More on this in Part III.
The apostate church is weak and needs nourished and strengthened. She has had no meat of the Word and very little milk of the Word. Since Jesus has been outside the church, she is in desperate need of the Holy Spirit. Hopefully, many in the apostate church repent during this time of persecution. What is the promise to the church in Laodicea, to those who repent?
Rev 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
All the things that the Laodicean church has been bragging about and trusting in before the tribulation has been stripped away. She has had to flee to a wilderness just to survive. She has lost everything. She had it all. Now she has nothing. Now she is desperate.
Rev 3:17 Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked…
They call out to God in repentance. They open the door and invite the Holy Spirit in. The Holy Spirit is the one thing they do not have and the one thing they desperately need. The purpose of the tribulation is to bring them into repentance and to get them to open the door that Jesus is standing outside of. It is what a loving God does. He brings them back to Him.
Those who repent and open the door get to dine with Jesus! Remember, spiritually speaking, they are starving to death. They need nourishment. Jesus comes in and dines with them! What better way to get nourished!