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7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. Andthe dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And 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 brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”Revelation 12:7-12The Humiliation of SatanIn our reading from the Book of Revelation, we’re given a fascinating insight into the supernatural realm. We are told of a war between Michael and his angels and one ‘who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world’ (Rev. 12:9).Michael and his angels prevailed over Satan and Satan was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.What is going on here? The Church Fathers seem to agree that this is referring to a primal moment in the history of God’s creation. The epic poem, Paradise Lost by John Milton, speaks of a time before the creation of our world during which Satan, the prince of the angels, led a rebellion against God which ended in failure and with the expulsion of Satan and his angels from God’s domain.The Church Fathers and modern scholarship seem to agree that Milton’s vision – although compelling and deeply spiritual – is not quite right. The biblical witness appears to tell us not of a supernatural rebellion that happened before the creation of our world but of one that happened after the creation of our world and which is still deeply intertwined with the events of human history.What all agree on is the motivation of Satan and his angels. Although Satan in his original glory clearly was given great authority by God perhaps even dominion over part of the earth, this was not enough for him. One Church Father notes that ‘Satan exalted himself against God, that is, he lifted up a stiff and insolent neck to him and devised an apostasy’ (Oecumenius, Commentary on the Apocalypse).Thus pride was the original sin of Satan and the angels that followed him. And from this we see that pride is at the root of all sin because all sin involves our rejection of God and of his authority over our lives and over this world. All sin involves our attempt to put ourselves and not God at the centre of reality and to have our will be done over the will of God.Because Satan attempted to exalt himself to the highest place, it was fitting that he was cast down to the earth along with his angels. This speaks to the spiritual reality which is repeated in various different ways in Scripture: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’ (Proverbs 3:34). Or, as our Lord Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). Christ knew whereof he spoke because he had seen this humiliation of the proud occur in the heavenly realm.We see also a great insight into spiritual and psychological reality in our text from Revelation: “But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Rev. 12:12). We see in this passage the wounded pride of a most exalted spiritual being, one who has fallen from the very highest place in heaven and is now a castaway. What is Satan’s reaction to God’s just punishment? Wrath and anger.We observe also something of Sa