This next event, a war in heaven, will not be able to be seen with the naked eye by the people still left on the earth as the 7 year Tribulation starts to unfold. What happens in this next incredible event is that Satan and his angels are cast out of "heaven" and cast down onto the earth by St. Michael and his army of angels. There will literally be a war in the "heavens" between God's angels and the Devil and his fallen angels.
To really understand what is happening with this war in heaven, you need to know that there are apparently three "heavens." The apostle Paul says that he was taken up to the third heaven - Paradise, where I believe he encountered Jesus and possibly God the Father. He says he does not know if he was in his body or out of his body when he had this experience. Here is the verse: "It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago - whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows - such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man - whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows - how he was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which is not lawful for a man to utter." (2 Corinthians 12:1-4) Many believe that Paul was talking about himself - that he was the one who had the experience. If this verse is telling us that there is a third Heaven, then there must be a first Heaven and a second Heaven. If God and Jesus live in the third Heaven, then the first Heaven has to be our earth. The second heaven then has to be the "air" or the atmosphere between heaven and our earth. Satan is called the prince of the power of the "air" in the Bible. This is where he and his demons live and roam in.
I believe Satan and his fallen angels were cast out of the third Heaven where God and Jesus live long before we humans were ever created. Satan had rebelled against God before we were created and thus was cast out of the third Heaven down into the second Heaven - the Air. The Bible calls Satan the "prince of the power of the AIR." Here is the verse that specifically tells us this: "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience." (Ephesians 2:1-2)
Satan is not confined to the bottomless pit or the lake of fire and brimstone at this time. He is free to roam in the "air" until Jesus comes back for His second coming. After Jesus comes back, Satan is then thrown into the bottomless pit for a 1000 years and then eventually into the lake of fire and brimstone at the end of the 1000 Millennium Kingdom.
What happens in this event is that Satan is cast from the second heaven down to the first heaven - which is the earth. The Bible says he really gets mad when this event occurs because he knows he has but little time left before Jesus comes back for His second coming to throw him into the bottomless pit.
The Bible then says woe to the people still left on the earth when this event happens - for Satan will then start to release his wrath upon the earth! He first goes after the Jewish people, but God will provide protection for 1/3 of the Jews so he won't be able to kill all of them. The Bible then says that he will then turn his attention to the rest of God's people - the saints in Christ - and this is where you get the 42 months that God's saints will allowed to be given into the hand of the Devil and the Antichrist for persecution.
The war in heaven will probably occur right around the midpoint of the Tribulation. This event may also explain why the Antichrist, all of a sudden in the middle of the Tribulation, breaks off his peace treaty with the Jews and proceeds to sit himself in the Jewish Temple proclaiming himself to be God - and then starts the mass persecution of the Jewish people and God's saints. Some people actually think Satan himself may possess the Antichrist at this time since he has now been officially cast down onto the earth.
Why would God cast the Devil out of the second heaven? Why not just wait till His Son comes back and then cast him into the bottomless pit from the second heaven? I believe that when Jesus comes back the second time, He will start His descension from the third Heaven where He now resides. He will then pass through the second heaven and then land on the first heaven - our earth at the Mount of Olives.
I believe God may want the second Heaven cleaned out from Satan and his demons before His Son starts to descend from the third Heaven. The Bible says that God's saints will be coming back with Jesus when He comes back the second time. If Jesus and all of God's saints are coming together at one time for this event, I believe God may want the second Heaven free and clear of any demons in this middle realm.
Satan will obviously know this when he is cast down onto the earth, and the Bible even says from this point on, he knows his time is short and that is why he becomes so furious. Satan will thus have the last three and half years to wreak as much havoc as he can through the Antichrist and False Prophet before Jesus comes back and finally puts an end to his reign of terror.
I really feel that God is going to give all of us an incredible history lesson when we see what happens when Satan "merges" with the Antichrist and False Prophet to cause as much destruction as they possibly can for the last three and half years - especially if the Church has already been raptured out before all of this begins to take place.
Without God and His Church in the "big picture," - man, in union with Satan and his fallen angels, will wreak nothing but pure havoc and destruction on a mass scale to a degree that no man would have ever thought was possible.
For all those who think that man is basically "good," and that we don't need God in our lives, and that we are all capable of creating paradise on our earth through our own efforts - these people will be shown first hand what will happen when the earth is left in the hands of humans under the influence of Satan and all of his demons.
The result will end up being mass chaos and total destruction to a degree that the world has never seen before and will never see again! Jesus Himself said that had these days not been shortened by God the Father Himself, that no flesh would survive this horrible time of trouble.
The Scripture Verse
Here is the verse from Scripture that tells us exactly what will happen with this event. "And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon who was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down ... Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them!Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the Devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.
Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelations 12: 7-17)
The "woman" mentioned in the above verse is Israel. The "male child" that the woman had given birth to is Jesus. Notice that the "woman" Israel is given under the protection of a "great eagle" after Satan is cast down upon the earth. This protection is for a time and times and half of a time. We already know that this stands for three and half years from the prophecy of Daniel already talked about in one of my earlier end time articles.
So we know that this is referring to the last three and half years of the Tribulation. As I stated in my article titled, "Basic Overview of Main End Time Event", some people think that this "great eagle" may be the United States since we have the national symbol of an eagle. Our country is already on good terms with Israel and we obviously would be the most natural choice to protect Israel if we are still considered a super power and not under the control of the Antichrist at this time.
Now that Satan, the Antichrist and False Prophet are given incredible authority and power to carry out this unholy reign of terror for three and half years, how does God go about getting anyone saved during these last days if the Church and His main body of believers have already been raptured out?
For this answer, go to the next article titled "God's 4 Avenues to Reach the Lost During the Tribulation." God will arrange for an incredible counterbalance to take place during this time of trouble in an effort to get as many people saved as He possibly can.
Article written by Michael Bradley of Bible Knowledge Ministries. Their website is a resource of Bible articles, commentary and teaching.