Angels of War
Revelation 12:7-12

Repressed memories are part of a new fashion in psychiatry. Maybe you are familiar with it. It is based on the theory that parental abuse against a child is so traumatic that the memory of the experience is often repressed, sometimes for decades. Typically, a man or woman, usually a woman, goes to a therapist with a problem -- perhaps about marriage, an eating disorder, or depression. The therapist dredges up the truth that has long been forgotten. The person emerges from therapy with the belief that her problems are related to torture and sexual abuse experienced at a very early age.

For example a woman named Carol went to a team of therapists who unearthed all kinds of things. Carol began accusing her parents of exposing her to satanic rituals when she was two and three years old. She claimed that when she and her two sisters were very small their mother and father had them do acts with animals. She maintained that her father tried to rape her sister and knocked Carol unconscious when she tried to stop him. Her parents, mortified, refuted this, and her two sisters totally denied that anything like that had ever happened. Carol nevertheless persevered with her story since her therapists told her to discard anyone in the family who did not believe her.

If Carol's horrific account had been true, the parents would have deserved their suffering and shame. But it wasn't. After several years Carol came to see that her therapists had duped her. She and her parents reconciled. The story ended happily. But not everyone who buys into the repressed memory movement turns out so well. Many families remain permanently poisoned. Children continue to accuse their parents of unspeakable abuse and the parents suffer shattered lives and ruined reputations.

What a serious offence to falsely accuse a person, or slander their name. When done before a judge this is called perjury. Dishonesty in the courtroom destroys God,s justice. We recite every week: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." Deuteronomy 19 goes on to specify the punishment for a person who perjures himself: "If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother, so you shall put away the evil from you" (Deut. 19:16ff). In other words, the perjurer gets the punishment he intended for the other person. If restitution of $1,000.00 is involved, the false witness must make a payment of $1,000.00. If the death penalty is the punishment, then that.

Malicious accusations, gossip, and reputation-ruining slander are horrendously destructive and evil. Yet, this is precisely what Satan does all the time. He accuses us. Satan is the Hebrew word for an adversary, especially in legal matters. As the great accuser he spreads falsehood, subtle insinuation, and blinding lies. He misleads the world and causes mass delusion. Have you ever wondered how tyrants do their work? Pol Pot slaughtered over a million of his own people in Cambodia. He left the fields littered with bleached piles of skulls. Stalin starved out countless Ukrainians. The Turks butchered a million Christian Armenians. It happens over and again that entire societies acquiesce to mass delusion. How is that possible? It is from Satan. He makes wrong seem right, and right seem wrong; he incites misjudgment and mob mentality. He is the deceiver of the world.

Another name for Satan is the devil. The word devil means the Slanderer. It is a thin line that separates accusation from slander. To speak falsely about someone and ruin his reputation is a heinous act. It is similar to murder. The devil is a slanderer. Think of Job. Satan stood before God and sneered at Job's good works and kindness. He told God that Job was a hypocrite; that Job did righteous acts merely to get rich, that Job would turn his back on the Lord if his wealth were removed. It was pure lies.

On this feast of St. Michael and all angels, the Church calls us to study the place of angels and archangels, the devil and demons, and the war between them.

Our text from Revelation 12 gives a couple more names for Satan. Reading Revelation 12:7-9. [Read them.]

Who is the dragon? It is obvious. The dragon is none other than the serpent of old, the one who tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He is the Devil and Satan, the enemy of God and His people. The Dragon has angels under him. The fallen angels follow the orders of Satan and fight for his cause. Even before he tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit he seduced these angels to join his rebellion against God. Revelation 12:4 says that he threw a third of the stars of heaven to the earth, possibly indicating that at least 33% of the angelic creation decided to follow the devil in his war against God. St. Paul calls these vicious beings "principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). The followers of Satan can control individuals, cultures, and even political governments (Daniel 10:13, 20). St. John reveals the Devil as the power behind the Emperors of Rome that persecuted the Church. It was Satan who was behind the slanderous accusations against the early Christians. The Church had to deal with scurrilous rumors and criminal charges alleging that the believers were apostates, atheists, ritual murderers, cannibals, social revolutionaries, and haters of mankind. These were the lies that legitimized waves of bloody persecutions.

Thank God for the good angels! Michael and his followers launch their attacks against the dragon. Who is Michael? Some commentators make a pretty strong case that Michael is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. This may be true but the traditional view seems better. According to the Jewish teachings Michael is one of seven Archangels, and the chief of the seven (Enoch 20). The Church has long agreed with this opinion. Michael, along with Gabriel, Rafael and others top the angelic hierarchy. Just as every commander-in-chief has his officers and soldiers under him, Michael also commands his warrior angels and they answer to him. No doubt God created every angel and archangel and rules them all. Their purpose is to praise the Lord and do His bidding. Today we celebrate the Archangel Michael and All Angels. These beings worship the Lord God in Heaven and serve Him on earth in many mysterious ways. We have our guardian angels who protect us individually, and the angelic presence greatly blesses the Church. During the Eucharist we ascend to the throne-room of King Jesus to dine with Him. Our worship is beheld by the angelic multitude (1 Cor. 11:10; Eph. 3:10). The Bible tells us that in worship we come to the heavenly Jerusalem, where innumerable angels are gathered in festal assembly with the Church (Heb. 12:22-23). That explains the wording of the liturgy: "with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious Name."

Two opposing armies of angelic beings populate earth's atmosphere. Michael and his angels fought the dragon and his angels. That is what Rev. 12:7 tells us. It is a remarkable scene. John Milton describes it in his poem Paradise Lost :

This is merely a snippet of Book VI of Milton's classic. In this work the armies of Michael and Satan go at it long and hard. At one point Michael and Satan take up arms and clash in hand-to-hand combat. Milton describes swords and shields, bows and arrows, chariots of fire. These were the weapons of 17th century Europe. Was the battle of Revelation 12 actually fought this way? Probably not. Moreover, Milton mistakes the timing of the warfare between Michael and the Dragon. He has it take place before the creation of the earth.

Milton is not the only person to get the timing wrong. Today it is popular to locate almost everything in Revelation in the future. The Left Behind series is an example. For the authors of apocalyptic bestsellers the battle between Michael and the Dragon takes place during a future seven-year tribulation after the secret rapture of believers from the earth. The Antichrist puts a 666 tattoo on everyone's forehead and sets up an image of himself in the rebuilt temple of Jerusalem. Two hundred million Chinese troops, cobra helicopters and exploding nuclear bombs get into the mix as well. It is amazing that such an unbiblical view could so dominate the Evangelical world. Until 1840 no Christian had any notion of such an elaborate scheme. Now it is all the rage. You can attend Bible prophecy conferences where they teach it. The bookstores are well stocked with it. People go home and read the newspaper with special attention to earthquakes, famines, wars, and events in Israel. These are signs of the imminent rapture. It becomes an obsession for some. Unfortunately, once they get that wild look in their eye their Christian faith tends to deteriorate. Why does that happen?

First, the system is simply unbiblical. No Scripture passage states that Jesus comes back secretly to rapture His people, followed by seven years of tribulation and then a Second Coming. Second, the secret rapture outlook leads to a low view of the visible Church. For many dispensationalists the disintegration of the visible Church is a welcome prospect. It means that Jesus is coming back soon. Why fight apostasy and weakness? Why sacrifice to build up and beautify the Bride of Christ when she is doomed to fail. If Christ returns to earth for His Bride and finds a harlot instead, so what? What,s important is the rapture. And just as troubling as this low view of the Church, is the fact that dispensationalist eschatology breeds a deep pessimism and hopelessness in the hearts of believers. Of course they have hope of Heaven, but they have utter despair about the Church,s mission of baptizing and discipling the nations before Jesus comes again. Why raise children and bring them into a world that is going down in flames? For them Satan is alive and well on planet earth. The devil rules the world and he will be the ultimate winner in history. Contrary to the promise of Jesus, the gates of Hell stand firm against the onslaught of the Church. The devil breaks free of his chains and routs the Third Person of the Trinity as the kingdom of God is demolished. Is this gloomy picture biblical? No, this is the despair of pagan stoicism. It is too escapist. If you have accepted the secret Rapture scenario I would implore you to give it a second thought. Please learn what the Church has taught traditionally and historically.

The Creeds state that Jesus sits "on the right hand of the Father. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." That's not complicated. Jesus comes again triggering the bodily resurrection of the dead. The Final Judgment immediately follows while the sheep go to Heaven, and the goats are cast into Hell (Matthew 25:31-46; 1 Thess. 4:13ff; 1 Cor. 15:23ff.). That's it. That is all there is to it. The Great Tribulation, the bowls of wrath, the beast, 666, and other spooky things happened in the past. Most of what St. John writes about in Revelation has already transpired. The Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24 is also past history. It took place during Christ's ministry and before the destruction of Jerusalem and the razing of the temple in A.D. 70.

When did the battle in Heaven between the hosts of Michael and Satan take place? Revelation 12:10-13 give us a hint. [Reading them.]

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. That refers to the cross of Christ. Calvary gives rise to the triumph of the saints. The Holy War between Michael and the Dragon therefore cannot possibly be a portrayal of the final battle of history at the end of the world. Rather, it occurs at the First Coming of Christ. We now enjoy the benefits of the shed blood of Jesus.

This conclusion harmonizes with the rest of the New Testament. Jesus overcame the devil in the wilderness temptation. As He walked through Judea, He cast out demons left and right, and when He gave His disciples the same power, He told them, "I beheld Satan fall like lightening out of heaven" (Luke 10:18). During the Old Testament era Satan and his minions had access to Heaven. The book of Job tells us that. The devil carried on a ministry of slander and accusation against the saints. But praise God he fell from Heaven. Michael threw him out. Jesus proclaimed on another occasion, "now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:31). Here, the Lord again tells us when Satan will be cast out from Heaven. When would it happen? When He is "lifted up from earth," which means His death, resurrection and ascension. That is when the battle between Michael and the dragon took place. He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Revelation 12 relates the undeniable downfall of Satan's kingdom and the demise of his power. "Now the kingdom of God has come" (v. 10). The kingdom of God was launched at that moment, at Christ's ascension, and is steadily growing. With the Holy Spirit empowering the Church, the nations will eventually be baptized and discipled in this present era. The Bride of Christ will become pure and gorgeous. That is the good news on this feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Christ has conquered Satan, his kingdom has been overthrown by the elect angels, and believers can overcome him by their testimony. After the advent of Christ and the establishment of His redemptive kingdom, Satan is nothing but one who has been cast down from heaven.

Are there other ramifications of Satan's downfall? There are many. The good news of Christ's kingdom penetrates the hearts of believers and even saturates cultures. It scatters the darkness and reduces demon possession in families and in cultures. What a blessing to live free of demonic possession. Of course, cultures which apostatize from the truth of the gospel or who endeavor to be neutral toward Christ always face the threat of revived demonic activity (Mt. 12:43-45).

Furthermore, you may gain victory over Satan in your walk with the Lord. How can I resist the wiles of the devil? You resist the works of Satan by means of the Word, the Sacraments and the Spirit. In your personal life you are assured of victory over the influence of Satan because the Lord gives you the weapons to fight with. By praying daily, reading the Bible, maintaining fellowship with God's people, and regularly receiving the Holy Communion you neutralize the power of Satan (Eph. 6). You become holy. You become Christ-like.

Lastly, even in the face of physical pain and persecution you may win the battle over Satan. Revelation tells us that some of the brethren "did not love their lives to the death, nevertheless they overcame the devil by the blood of the Lamb" (v. 11). They died; they were martyred, yet they conquered the dragon. How was this possible? St. Paul answers this question in Romans 8:36: "We are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

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