We continue with the subject of,

The Millennium and the End of Sin

In our last two posts we were taking a look at a third possible view as to when some imagine a supposed “war in heaven” as mentioned in Revelation Chapter 12 is to take place. The first two views we looked at envisioned it to have taken placed in the past, but here in an article entitled “War in Heaven” written by Michael Bradley it is projected to take place in the future during the great tribulation.

Having presented his view, we should like to present our reply.

We believe a failure to “rightly divide the word of the Lord”, comparing all relevant scripture to the point before arriving at the conclusions presented has led to this particular erroneous hypothesis of events.

Our friend states:

“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.”

It’s true there are (or were) three heavens, but not as our friend here imagines, nor is there any mention in the text quoted below (2 Cor 12:1-4) that the Apostle encountered either our Lord or the Father during this revelation (vision), this is only conjecture on his part.

“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:

“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.”

“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.”

As we stated a failure to consult the whole testimony of the Word of the Lord and jumping to “imaginary” conclusions is what has led to this erroneous theory.

Such is what the Apostle Peter referred to when in 2 Pet 3:16 speaking of the Apostle Paul and of his having mentioned some of these very same things (viz. the new heavens and the new earth) he states that some through ignorance have twisted his statements from their true significance so as to mean something quite different from what is implied, this to their own demise.

There are (or were) indeed three heavens and three earths, but the first of these heavens and earth have already passed away.  

“In the vision quoted from 2 Cor 12:1-4 the Apostle Paul was “caught up” or “away”, in vision, and taken down the stream of time to the Millennium to the time of the third symbolic heavens and earth. (The new condition of things as they will be under the spiritual control of Christ.) The things that he saw in the vision, first the third heavens, and then later Paradise – evidently are the same things that the Apostle John later saw in one of his visions on Patmos (Rev. 21:1.)

The FIRST symbolic heavens – the powers of spiritual control (which were under the administration of angels) – and the earth – society at that time – were destroyed by the Flood (2 Pet. 3:5, 6); the SECOND (symbolic) heavens and earth – “the heavens and earth which are now” (this present evil world or society) are to be destroyed by the fire (trouble) of the day of judgement, the Great Tribulation, ALREADY BEGUN (2 Pet. 3:7, 10-12; Rev. 21:1); and the THIRD (symbolic) heavens and earth – “the new heavens and a new earth” – (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1) will be established during Christ’s Millennial Reign.

It was the last, the third symbolic heavens and earth, together with the literal earth which were changed into a Paradise (2 Cor. 12:2-4), that the Apostle saw in his vision. The vision, however, was of such a kind that the Apostle could not tell whether he saw it [with his body, i.e., with his bodily eyes], his physical eyes or whether he saw it [without his body, i.e., without his bodily eyes], but with his mental eyes. Consequently, whether it was a [physical] or a [mental] vision the Apostle could not determine; and this is what he tells us in 2 Cor. 12:1-4.”

 

For a better understanding of the three “heavens” both those literal and symbolic see, “How to study Revelation”, Parts 10-12

We will continue with this examination of our friends outline on “War in Heaven” with our next post.