The Little Book that John Ate"
Chapter 9
Kicked Out of Heaven
Since
Jesus came to earth and established His Word among men, His body of believers
has been known as the Christian church. This
church transcends denominations or divisions made by man’s traditions or
customs. The body of Christ on
earth is made one by the Holy Spirit of God.
The
Old Testament counterpart of the present-day body of Christ was named Israel.
Israel consisted of descendents of the twelve tribes, which were the
twelve sons of Israel. From this lineage, preserved and separated out by God, Jesus,
the Son of the living God, was born of the virgin Mary. This salvation in the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, was
prepared for us from the foundation of the world.
It is no small thing God has done to bring salvation to the whole world.
God gave us a vision of beauty concerning the house of Israel and its
role in the birth of our Savior:
Revelation
12:1-2; 5
“And there appeared a great wonder in
heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her
head a crown of twelve stars: And
she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
And 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.”
Christ
ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God.
Hallelujah! Yet He will
return to rule all nations with a rod of iron: “For
he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” (I Corinthians 15:25).
We also read:
Revelation
19:15
“And out of his mouth goeth a sharp
sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of
Almighty God.”
This
part of the revelation is prophetic and is yet to be fulfilled.
For it is Jesus who shall rule with that rod of iron, the sword of His
word and shall put all enemies under His feet.
His Word is that sword.
The
woman depicting the house of Israel appeared in the heavens to give origins to
the Messiah:
Revelation
12:3-4
“And there appeared another wonder in
heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and
seven crowns upon his heads. And
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.”
This
powerful ‘ten
horn’ dragon makes his plan to devour the child at birth.
This event in heaven had its manifestation on earth. There is a very
close relationship between events on earth and in heaven.
This is a vision of wider scope than may be discernable at first.
In the record of the event, Herod inquired of the scribes about the
prophecy of where the Messiah was to be born.
He told the wise men and charged them to inform him.
They did not return.
Matthew
2: 16
“Then Herod, when he saw that he was
mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the
children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years
old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the
wise men.”
The
enactment of this revelation exposes the depths to which satan would go to
destroy God’s plan of salvation for the world!
This “spiritual
wickedness in high places” precipitated war in heaven.
Revelation
12:7-9
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and
his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And
prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And 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.”
Satan
and his angels were cast out of heaven as a consequence of this violent act
against God’s Son, our only hope of salvation.
For at this time the devil, who was also known as Lucifer, (Isaiah
14:12-15)
appears to be making his greatest bid to fulfill his ambition to “sit
also upon the mount of the congregation”.
If
he could have destroyed God’s plan of salvation, he, being the prince of this
world, could have declared himself king.
The
deceiver deceived himself into a gamble against God and lost access to heaven.
He was thrown out (Revelation
12:10).
His effort to destroy Jesus through the hand of Herod solidified his role
as ANTI-CHRIST. Never again
would satan appear as a wonder in heaven. Nor
could he roam the earth searching for things with which he could accuse men
before God. He provoked a war he
could only lose. Glory to God!
At
this time let us note this fact: the
old serpent dates back to the garden of Eden.
He is called the devil and satan, and is now designated not only as the
anti-christ by his actions. He is also the great red ten-horned dragon.
As such, he initiates his career with a reign of terror among God’s
people, killing all the little boys under age two as he strikes out against God.
His
form as the ten horn beast was revealed for the first time in the prophecies of Daniel
7:7,
as part of the vision of the fourth and final kingdom on earth.
As the great red dragon with ten horns, he goes about his self-appointed
work of deceiving men and nations. This
role begins, as the birth of Christ is prepared.
His entourage of heads of government in these last days includes some of
the most powerful people ever to rule on the earth.
Jesus understood all things and He spoke of this time:
Matthew
11:12
“And from the days of John the Baptist
until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by
force.”
Luke
16:16
“The law and the prophets were until
John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth
into it.”
With
the end of the law, the accuser was out of his job. The violence continued as John preached the kingdom of God.
When the voice from heaven spoke, Jesus said:
John
12:31
“Now
is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast
out.”
As Jesus prepared His disciples for His departure,
He said:
“Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.”
So now that the devil and his angels are cast out of heaven, he can lo longer accuse us before God and speak our sins into the record. We have salvation promised by our heavenly Father. The blood of Jesus cleanses every repentant sinner. The sin is blotted out as though it never was done. All Glory to Jesus! His blood overcame satan. All who have been cleansed and set free by the blood of Christ are His body on this earth, His church.
This country, arising out of a great wilderness,
is still sending out the Word of God into the world. As the anti-christ builds his power and increases control in
the nations, the church, the body of Christ, will dwell here until Jesus gathers
His people and we ‘meet the Lord in the air.’ Praise the Lord!
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