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Now war arose in heaven…In a departure from my normal practice, I am going to speak today on our New Testament reading which comes from the Book of Revelation, chapter 12:7-12. This passage describes a war in heaven between Michael and his angels and the Great Dragon, Satan, and his angels. Michael prevailed and the Dragon was thrown down to the earth along with his angels. A loud voice is heard, telling the author John that the authority of God’s Kingdom and of his Christ have been established because the accuser of the brethren has been thrown down to earth.“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. 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 his time is short!”What is all of this about? First, we have to understand that the Book of Revelation is written in the Apocalyptic genre. Apocalyptic literally means an unveiling. So this book is an unveiling of the spiritual realities that are normally hidden from our eyes. The book does this by using symbolic language and imagery. A lot of the time it is not clear whether it is speaking about an event in the past or the future or indeed if it talking about a specific event at all rather than a pattern that repeats throughout history.Here we see a cosmic battle in progress between two sets of angels. Who are these angels? Most commentators have said that this passage, only with other in Scripture, implies that Satan and his angels were created by God as loyal subjects but that, at some point, they rebelled against him and sought to overthrow his authority.The other angels with Michael their leader represent the angels who remain faithful to God. These loyal angels are spoken about throughout Scripture as those who protect God’s people, those who protect, guide and help them, those who deliver messages from God to humanity, those who strengthen and encourage, those who execute God’s judgement upon the wicked for his people’s benefit, and those who worship God alongside believers. Finally, in a Parable of Jesus, it is implied that angels escort believers into heaven when they die.In our passage, then, we see rebellious angels fighting against those who remain loyal to God, a cosmic war.The Fall of SatanSatan loses this battle and is thrown down to earth. The story implies that whatever influence Satan had in heaven is now transferred to the terrestrial realm, the world that we live in now.The symbolism tells us that the cosmic rebellion of Satan against God has decisively failed. Satan is defeated in the heavens and there is a very real sense that he is defeated in our world as well. However, he is still at large and active today.Interpreters are divided as to whether Satan’s fall is an historical event that happened once at some point in the past. But what we can say from a symbolic perspective is that Satan’s fall is ongoing every time sin and rebellion against God is overcome in this world.What is the activity of Satan now? The first thing we can say is that, due to Satan’s defeat in heaven, he is full of wrath because he knows that the time is short. He has been defeated in the cosmic realm and he has been defeated in our realm also. However, he seems to have been granted a certain amount of time to ply his mischief before his final destruction. He is aware of this and therefore is full of rage. He wants to take people with him to his final destruction.His tactics are deception and accusation. He is called here by the loud voice in heaven (which perhaps is the voice of God himself), “the deceiver of the whole world”. This does not mean that literally everybody in the world is deceived by him but that he has influence to deceive all over the world. He wants to people to believe lies in order that he might lead them away from God.He is also called “the accuser of our brethren” w