Satan’s fall.

Revelation 12.

One of the popular myths about the devil is how Satan used to be an angel. Not that it pretends to be one, 2Co 11.14 but straight-up was one—the mightiest angel in the heavens, named Lucifer. Got deposed, but it used to be a big, big deal.

I’ve challenged many a Christian to actually read their bibles and prove any of this theory from scripture. And I gotta give ’em credit; they do try. But they don’t succeed. It says nowhere in the scriptures Satan used to be an angel. Doesn’t even say Satan was a heavenly being; we just presume so because Satan appeared before God in Job, and we’re kinda assuming they were all in heaven, or thereabouts, at the time. (Job never says where they were.)

Satan’s species is never once identified. Given Satan’s reputation as a liar, Jn 8.44 I’m mighty suspicious about any stories about its origin, like the Lucifer story, which try to make Satan look like it was a big deal at one time.

Or still is. During Jesus’s temptations, Satan claimed to be master of the world’s kingdoms, which it then offered to Jesus. Lk 4.6 Various Christians actually take this statement at face value. Doesn’t it look like the devil rules the world?—though really that’s because humanity lets the devil successfully tempt us into wrecking it. But Jesus’s response was “Get thee hence,” Mt 4.10 KJV i.e. “Get out of here with that nonsense.” Jesus didn’t recognize Satan’s authority at all. The kingdoms of this world belong to him, Jn 12.31, 14.30 not the devil.

Y’see, Satan fell. Jesus watched it fall. Lk 10.18

And about 40 years after his temptation, Jesus presented John of Patmos with a vision of when Satan got tossed from heaven. Whatever the devil used to be, whatever power it was granted, is now irrelevant: It fell. It’s not a heavenly being anymore. It was banished. It’s an earthly being, same as us.

Well, worse than us. Every human has the potential to tap into God’s grace and become one of his kids. Jn 1.12 But in another of Jesus’s revelations to John, he also clued us in to the fact Satan’s never gonna repent. Never gonna avail itself of God’s grace. It’s going into the fire. Rv 20.10 Willingly.

So if you imagine the devil’s a big deal, don’t. It’s a defeated foe. Even we have the power to get it to flee from us. Jm 4.7 Stop fearing it, and start resisting it.

The birth of Messiah.

In Jesus’s revelation to John, Satan’s fall begins with Jesus’s birth.

Too many people interpret Revelation as if its events are in chronological order. Obviously they’re not. They’re multiple individual visions of the End. Jesus’s second coming takes place multiple times in the book. And in the middle of the book, in chapter 12, we’re told of the time Jesus was born.

Those guys who insist Revelation is a big ol’ End Times timeline? Notice how they tend to skip Revelation 12 entirely. Or insist it’s a flashback—the only one in the book. They do read it, ’cause they recognize it contains some info about Satan. But they’re too wedded to their theories to recognize what it actually means. Instead they try to make it jibe with their theories as best they can.

Let’s read it for what it says, shall we? I’ll go with my translation; if you prefer another, feel free to read that too.

Revelation 12.1-6 KWL

1 A great sign was seen in the heavens:

A woman who’d been clothed with the sun;

the moon under her feet;

a wreath of 12 stars on her head.

2 Pregnant, in labor and the torment of childbirth, she cried out.

3 Another sign was seen in the heavens:

Look, a great red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns;

seven bands on its heads.

4 Its tail drags a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to earth.

The dragon had stood before the woman in childbirth,

so once she birthed her child, it’d devour it.

5 She birthed a male son who’s about to shepherd every people with an iron staff.

Her child was snatched away to God, to his throne.

6 The woman fled to the wilderness. She has a place there, prepared her by God:

He can feed her from there for 1,260 days.

This is an apocalypse, a freaky vision where everything represents something else, like one of Jesus’s parables. It’s not meant to be understood literally, no matter what “prophecy scholars” claim.

Okay. If you’re using commonsense, as you’re meant to, you’ll recognize two figures in this passage. John identifies the red dragon with seven heads as Satan. Rv 12.9 And the male son who shepherds the nations with an iron staff is Messiah, which we know from Messiah’s description in Psalm 2.8-9. We weren’t meant to miss it. Messiah, as we Christians know, is Jesus the Nazarene.

The woman is debatable. Could be Messiah’s literal mother, Mary the Nazarene; certainly Roman Catholics love that idea. But the wreath of 12 stars Rv 12.1 implies she’s more than an ordinary woman, venerable as Mary is. Lots of other Christians, myself included, figure the woman represents Israel, Messiah’s people. I should point out Revelation makes no distinction between Israel and Christendom: Again, regardless of what “prophecy scholars” claim, God’s people are assumed to all be one people. Even though Christendom is nowadays full of gentiles, and not yet every Jew recognizes Jesus as their Messiah.

Let’s dissect the dragon: It seven heads are wide open to interpretation, ’cause ἑπτὰ/eptá, “seven,” has no consistent allegory in John’s visions: Both good and bad things come in sevens. Numerologists insist seven means completion, just as seven days make a complete week. They’ll also claim δέκα/déka, “ten,” also means completion, just as an ordinary human has 10 fingers, and read that into the dragon’s 10 horns. But its horns are meant to remind us of the 10-horned beast in Daniel’s visions. Da 7.7-8 The dragon’s seven διαδήματα/diadímata, “bands,” are reminiscent of what Greco-Roman rulers wore to indicate their authority. So it’s a ruler—or imagines itself one, and crowned itself.

Its tail dragged a third of the stars. Since stars elsewhere in Revelation meant angels, Rv 1.20 Christians historically interpret this to mean the devil commanded a third of the heavenly angels. But note what John actually described: The dragon threw them down. Rv 12.4 It didn’t rule these stars; it destroyed them. These stars weren’t the dragon’s allies. Possibly in Satan’s original role as accuser Zc 3.1 it convinced God to expel them; possibly during its heavenly war the devil defeated them. The devil did have angels on its side, Rv 12.9 but these aren’t them.

But I remind you the dragon/Satan is never called an angel. Nor a former angel. Not here, nor elsewhere in the bible. When it appears as an angel, it’s a trick. 2Co 11.14 It wants us to think it a former angel—a really pretty one, too—but that’s to make us confuse outward beauty for inner beauty and give it more respect than we ought. Before it fell, the dragon was a dragon. Not necessarily an evil dragon, but as far as we can tell, it was always a dragon.

The dragon knew Messiah was coming, and wasn’t at all pleased about it. In this vision it tried to devour him, like Kronos devoured his children in Greek mythology. In real life the devil had Messiah executed. But Jesus didn’t stay dead. “Snatched away to God, to his throne,” Rv 12.5 reminds us Messiah was raptured to heaven, from whence he “feeds” Israel/Christendom.

Messiah feeds Israel for “1,280 days” Rv 12.6 or “a moment, [two] moments, and half a moment.” Rv 12.14 Literalists convert this into 3½ years. Half a sabbath-year cycle. What that means we don’t know, but Darbyists take it literally. I just said we’re not to do that, but that’s just how Darbyists roll. They anticipate a seven-year tribulation, and half that time Christians will be in hiding as the Beast tries to destroy us. But what they don’t take into account is the massive time gap between Jesus’s rapture and some future End Times. (We refer to that time gap as the Christian Era, the church age… you know, right now.) Most likely the 1,280 days actually represent the time between Jesus’s first and second comings. And seeing as the Christian Era has lasted 1,978 years and counting, don’t assume the days stand for years.

The heavenly war and the fall.

Messiah’s birth triggered a war:

Revelation 12.7-9 KWL

7 War came to the heavens: Michael and its angels battling the dragon;

the dragon and its angels battling back, 8 and failing.

No place was found for them anymore in the heavens.

9 The great dragon was thrown out,

the primeval serpent which is called devil and Satan.

The deceiver of all civilization was thrown to earth,

and its angels were thrown out with it.

Okay. Remember the Eden story in Genesis, when the serpent tempted Adam and Eve? Ge 3.1-7 Dragons are a type of serpent, y’know. Westerners tend to make ’em look like big winged lizards, but easterners still prefer winged serpents with feet, although this particular serpent lost the use of its feet when God condemned it. Ge 3.14 Still not saying Satan’s a literal dragon though.

If the Eden serpent was Satan as John says, Rv 12.9 shouldn’t it’ve been thrown to earth before it showed up in Eden to wreck humanity? Hence Christian myths depict Satan’s fall at the beginning of time. In both Pharisee mythology and Paradise Lost, the great angel Lucifer was jealous of God’s new invention, the human: Now God had a new favorite, and Lucifer thought it should be God’s favorite. In these myths God, a being of infinite love, didn’t have enough love for both humans and angels. And angels somehow lacked God’s attitude of serving instead of being served. Mk 10.45 (Whenever God’s character is deficient, it’s how you know it’s fiction.)

Other myths imagine Satan rebelled against God for other selfish or crazy reasons. And after it lost and fell, just to pettily stick it to God, ruined humanity. Honestly, that sounds more in character for Satan.

We don’t know when this war took place, but there’s every implication it didn’t happen at the beginning of time. You might remember Satan appeared before God various times after Eden. (Remember Job?) If Satan had already been tossed from heaven, what’s it doing back? Why’s there still a place for it in God’s presence?

’Cause after this war ended, there was no such place. Rv 12.8 Whether that’s because Satan lost its war, or because Jesus’s self-sacrifice means God didn’t need a designated accuser anymore, I leave up to you. (I’d say it’s a little of both.) Christ came to destroy the devil’s works, 1Jn 3.8 and Satan likely recognized this, didn’t want its purpose eliminated, and rebelled agaisnt losing its job. Had Satan shared God’s attitude, it should’ve rejoiced it wasn’t needed anymore, and looked forward to whatever new duties God would now create for it. But it couldn’t get beyond its single-minded idea that we humans deserve death. If you recall, its entire complaint about Job was he didn’t merit God’s favor. Jb 1.9-11 Satan still thinks that about humanity. But rather than accept God’s gonna graciously forgive us anyway, Satan’s gonna fight for our destruciton. Even go overboard and engage in entrapment.

Well. With Satan no longer in heaven, God no longer heeding its accusations, we have reason to rejoice. And the devil has a reason to fret.

Turned loose upon the earth.

This great voice in the heavens could be an angel, but I figure it’s Jesus. This is after all his revelation to John. Rv 1.1

Revelation 12.10-12 KWL

10 I heard a great voice in the heavens saying, “Now comes salvation,

power, our God’s kingdom, his Messiah’s authority—

because our sisters and brothers’ accuser was thrown out,

who accused them before our God day and night.

11 They conquered it through the Lamb’s blood, and the message of their testimony:

They didn’t love their lives to death.

12 For this reason, rejoice, heavens, and those who live in it!

How sad for the earth and sea, for the devil came down to you with great passion—

having known it has a brief moment.”

People assume it’s an angel because the voice refers to Christians as “our sisters and brothers.” Rv 12.10 Christians balk a little at the idea of Jesus calling us that… even though he totally calls us that. Mk 3.35 But if it is an angel, this angel calls Christians its sisters and brothers—and in so doing, rebuts the Christian myth which claims angels are our superiors. He 2.7 Plus the other Christian myth which claims we’re their superiors, because someday we get to judge ’em. 1Co 6.3 Those who fixate on power, or worship it, wanna arrange humans and angels and God into all sorts of intricate hierarchies. The reality is humans and angels are on the same level. Rv 19.10, 22.9 We all work for God; we all serve him and one another.

Anyway, you can see Satan was tossed out of heaven after it’d been accusing God’s followers day and night. Rv 12.10 Not before. This fall didn’t happen at the beginning of history. More like the middle, during Jesus’s first coming.

Arguably it happened round the time Jesus said he saw—present tense ἐθεώρουν/etheórun, “I’m watching”—Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Lk 10.18 He said this round the year 31. Arguably it could be a continuous action; Satan is falling from heaven, continually, because it keeps trying to get back up there, and Michael and its angels keep smacking it back down. Some Christians teach this idea, ’cause they love the thought that there’s a battle currently raging in the heavens above, with our “prayer warriors” contributing to Michael’s side with our prayers. The more we resist the devil, the more it falls.

The voice from heaven pointed out Satan knows its time is short. ’Cause the dragon’s here, on the earth, and can’t go back to heaven to keep battling us from that vantage point. So it’s gonna battle us from here. It’s gonna ramp up its attack on God’s followers. Like so:

Revelation 12.13-17 KWL

13 When the dragon saw it was thrown to earth, it chased the woman who’d birthed the male.

14 Two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman.

Thus she could fly to the wilderness from the face of the serpent,

to her place where she’d be fed there a moment, moments, and half a moment.

15 The serpent threw water out of its mouth after the woman,

like a river, so she’d be swept away.

16 The earth helped the woman: The earth opened its mouth

and swallowed the river which the dragon threw from its mouth.

17 Angry about the woman, the dragon went away to make war against the rest of her seed—

those who keep God’s commands and have Jesus’s testimony.

It stood on the sand of the sea.

Darbyists claim this describes the last half of the great tribulation. Their most popular theory is “the woman” represents Israel—the Jews who didn’t go to heaven in the rapture, but stayed on earth and became Christian, and the Beast will try to smite ’em partly because of their Christianity, and partly because it’s a rabid antisemite. But for 3½ years God’ll protect them in the desert under a heavenly force field, feed them manna, and they’ll ride it out. The Beast, frustrated, will go after any other Christians in the world. There; now you don’t have to buy any of the ridiculous Left Behind novels.

I’m not Darbyist, so of course I don’t project all of Revelation into the future. These visions represent events which largely took place in the past. Since history repeats itself, we might find multiple historical instances where they seem to have happened. But Satan getting pitched to earth is likely a one-time thing.

I also struggle with the idea the woman only represents Israel. ’Cause Israel has absolutely not been kept safe and defended for these past 20 centuries. The persecutions, pogroms, holocausts, and other attempts to wipe Jews out haven’t been successful, but they’ve killed a lot of Jews, and certainly made them suffer horribly. Often, sadly, through Christian efforts.

So this vision must represent a briefer time period. Like the early Roman persecutions against Christians—which didn’t apply to Jews. The “moment, moments, and half a moment” therefore isn’t a clue about how long Christian tribulation would last before Jesus put a stop to it: It’s a clue about how long Israel would be left alone till the Romans started persecuting them too. As they eventually did.

But ever since Satan’s fall, Christians and Jews and all humanity have had to fight it. ’Cause its time is short. It doesn’t know how long it has before Jesus invades. Neither do we. (Come, Lord Jesus!) But for the time Satan does have, it’ll keep trying to make us think it’s mightier, more important, more formidable, than it really is. The less we see it as a defeated foe, the better chance it has.

But it really has no hope. So don’t give it any. Believe the scriptures. Not the myths.