We continue with the subject of,

The Millennium and the End of Sin

We continue once again with our review of the following statement made by our Adventist friends:

“Before the earth was created, sin had its origins in the angel Lucifer’s heart. He became jealous of God’s sovereignty and he questioned God’s judgement. He even started a war in heaven (Revelation 12) when he indulged the thought that he could be better than God. Lucifer, now called Satan, started the Great Controversy—a spiritual war of good versus evil.”

Thus far we have examined two views as to when this supposed war was to have taken place one which claimed it took place in the beginning following Lucifer’s fall, and another claiming it took place following the resurrection of our Lord in A.D. 33. We would now like to take a look at the third view which depicts it as a future event to take place during the great tribulation.

This view (and there are probably others who likewise envision a future war in heaven) is entitled; “War in Heaven” and was written by Michael Bradley and can be seen here.

We will present the jest of it here and then at the conclusion come back and review what he has presented, he states:

“This next event, a war in heaven, will not be able to be seen with the naked eye by the people who are still left on the earth as the 7-year Tribulation starts to unfold.

What happens in this next incredible event is that Satan and all of his fallen 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 Satan and his fallen angels.

To really understand what is happening with this war in heaven, you need to know there are 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.”

He quotes 2 Cor 12:1-4.

“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 it is not lawful for a man to utter.”

He states:

“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 at long before we humans were ever created on our earth. Satan had rebelled against God before we were ever created and he thus was cast out of the third heaven down into the second heaven – the air. This is why the Bible calls Satan “the prince of the power of the AIR.”

Eph 2:1-2 is quoted in support.

“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…”

He states:

“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 to us in 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 Year Millennium Kingdom.

What happens in this next event is that Satan is cast from the second heaven down to the first heaven – which is our earth. The Bible says that Satan really gets mad and furious 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 for a thousand years.

The Bible then says woe to the people who are still living on the earth when this event happens because Satan will then start to release his wrath upon the earth! He will first go after the Jewish people, but God will provide protection for 1/3 of the Jews, so he will not be able to kill all of them.

The Bible says that he will then turn his attention to the rest of God’s people, the saints in Christ. 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 mass persecution.

This war in heaven will probably occur right around the midpoint of the Tribulation. This event may also help explain why the Antichrist all of a sudden in the middle of the Tribulation, breaks off his peace treaty with the Jewish people and then proceeds to seat himself up 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 think Satan himself may actually possess the Antichrist at this time since he has now been officially cast down onto the earth.

Why would God cast Satan out of the second heaven? Why not just wait until His Son comes back and then cast him into the Bottomless Pit from the second heaven?

We will see his answer as we continue with his discourse in our next post.