Revelation Chapter 12
V.12 Therefore (a)rejoice ye Heavens, and ye that dwell in them. (b)Woe to the ones dwelling on the Earth, and in the sea, because the devil is come down to you having (c)great anger, knowing he has only a little time.
(a) The inhabitants of Heaven, exhorted to rejoice. Clearly Satan had for many Ages caused great trouble, strife, conflict and much turmoil, beyond our ability to understand, whilst allowed to retain a "place", in Heaven. It is also clear that his success persuaded one third of all angels to follow him. His presence is a constant source of pernicious, ongoing divisive action in Heaven. Even though Heaven's creation know who their Creator is, Satan still has much success in converting angelic creation to his side. One of the many major differences between mankind and angels, is humans will deny the existence of God Almighty, and also Satan. It is implicit that one element is common to both Earthly and Heavenly creation, free-will! It is therefore easy to understand that Heavenly creation rejoices at the expulsion of such an adversary, after so long in their midst, and also in the knowledge that Satan's efforts will be short on Earth. The question often asked by many over the years, is how could Almighty God allow Satan to exist after such rebellion, and even to be in His presence, to have place in Heaven; and patrol Earth (Job 1 and 2). The answer undoubtedly lies in The Perfect Plan of Redemption, that only God could conceive, wherein the Perfect Love of God would allow Satan to perform to his vile worst in Heaven as well as Earth after the overthrow, all of which is observed by Heavenly Creation (Eph. 3:10). Some argue that such a protracted process is wasteful, painful, and suffers great loss of life and environment. That is to miss the main point. It is of course easily possible for Almighty God to eliminate Satan. To do so however prematurely would not allow creation to see the depth of sin that Satan will eventually stoop to. Conversely, the Almighty will be seen by all creation to take the burden and result on Himself, in the form of Christ Jesus (Col. 1:20)! It is thereafter the response to Christ's death and suffering (in the place of all humankind), which is the key to individuals eternal destiny, by their free-will; on Earth and also in Heaven, in this Age, and Eternity!
The main thrust for Satan's pernicious attention had been Heaven's occupants and the tribes of Israel. Abraham was chosen by God! He was called "the friend of God", Ex. 33:11, 2Chr. 20:7, Isa. 41:8 & James. 2:23, because his heart was against the idolatry of his father, and the Nation Ur, which derived from Babylon! After Paul's declaration (Acts 28:25-28), all the world's Nations became the subject and attention of Satan, which showed in the Wisdom of Jehovah Zebaoth, that the failure of Satan at The Cross and the failure of Israel to accept Christ (Acts 28:26), increased the eventual harvest for Christ / Jehovah. Most people on Earth are fixated with their flesh life, which is natural enough. However, God has ordained that they are not content, and can only find rest, peace and understanding in Him, albeit in simple sincere trust, which most people find hard to give unless they encounter Christ, personally. Because all the efforts of Satan are eventually self-defeating, and will be seen as such by Heavenly and Earthly creation, the Almighty in Christ will vanquish Satan, but not until Heaven and Earth have been reminded that Satan stands for deceit, destruction, suffering, and death, as opposed to the Love, Peace, Justice and Righteousness of Jehovah/Christ. After that reminder, Satan and his followers will be consigned to doom (Rev. 20:10). All that remains for individuals at the present time (i.e. this Age) is to trust in God's work, in Christ Jesus, and to act upon it in their lives! The timing of the above is in the hands of the Father only (Matt. 24:36), and His timing is perfect (Matt. 5:48). The perfect timing of God the Father means that Satan is defeated by perfect Love (a concept totally alien to mankind); which means that Satan is defeated by Love, which is God (1John 4:8-16)! Had Satan been destroyed at the time of his rebellion, none of the above could have come into play, and such action by the Almighty would have been seen by creation as dictatorial, and His plan of Love could not unfold to fruition. As the plan now unfolds, God will indeed be seen as Ultimate Love.
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