And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
Revelation 12: 7-11
When was the Great Dragon hurled down and why? Although I had originally understood this imagery to describe the fall of Satan from heaven after He tried to usurp God's throne, this is not what John is referring to.
Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and he stood before God to bring judgments of death upon the sons of God. The master Prosecutor would evidence time after time of our desert of death to the Judge of the universe; for he is a murderer and lusts ofter our ruin. And the Judge would tolerate this because all that the Prosecutor said was true of man. Then the Prosecutor, out stepping his bounds, would impugn the Eternal God and blaspheme His justice by allowing His glory to be thus treated with such contempt. "What taste hast Thou for the blood of kine, Lord of Eternity, that Thou would demand such cheap recompense for loathsome exchange of Thy Glory? Hast thou no vigor for that which is Thine own and most precious to Thee? Thy leniency for the sins of men casts a long shadow on Thy lavish train. Shall the Name of Heaven be so Shamed as to permit stains into his most holy court?" And so it went, day and night.
Then came the cross. God justified His Name and upheld the honor of His glory through the death of His perfect Son and the myriad sins of man were quenched by blood and forgotten in the deluge of Divine Grace. And so, as the Accuser entered once again into the presence of God to bring his testimony against the elect, he found the blood of the Righteous sprinkled upon the altar of the Most High and a bowl of crimson redemption. "Get thee hence, snake!" the Lord commanded the Prosecutor, "for one has risen up from the midst of the Throne, from the bottomless counsels of the Eternal Godhead, One like a slaughtered lamb, who alone can break the seals, has vindicated my Name and purchased them back to Me." Never again will thy vile invections be tolerated against My elect, for My Love has won them, and My eternal Grace has swallowed up their offences, and they will outlive thee. On the grounds of the Blood of My Lamb, they will overcome thy condemnation. Get thee hence."
And Satan was thrown like lightning from Heaven, where he prowls like a lion, waging war on God's elect for a time. His words have power of suggestion only, but his deception is kind. Still he condemns, but we will overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.
