Day 201

“7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” Revelation 12:7-11. (NASB)

The size of the known universe is dizzying. While planet Earth is a large place, it is small compared to other planets circling a very average star. Our solar system is located at the fringe of a very average galaxy, which contains at least a hundred million stars, many of these with solar systems of their own. We now know that there are billions and billions of galaxies in the known universe. This means that we are either very important or very unimportant.

When you see how easily this planet could be lost in the limitless realms of the universe, you begin to think we must be very unimportant. But when you read Rev.12 you get a very different impression. You begin to realize that what is going on here may be of greater importance to the universe than anything going on anywhere else.

In Rev12:4 it tells us that the dragon threw down a third of the stars in heaven. In a cartoon-style story like this, these are clearly not literal stars or galaxies. In Rev 1:20 stars are interpreted as angels, suggesting that the dragon (satan) precipitated a conflict in heaven (the control centre of the universe, wherever that is) that resulted in a third of the heavenly inhabitants being exiled to this earth. So this planet has become the ongoing location of an insurgency that began long ago in heaven.

This is the ultimate answer to the issue of evil, pain, and suffering on this earth. No doubt the angels who remained in Heaven wondered if satan’s rebellion had any merit. The cross settled all their doubts. There we behold the beauty of God’s character. A God who would die for His creatures can be trusted to do what is right and fair. While satan had some access to the heavenly courts before the cross (Job 1 and 2 e.g.), his viewpoint has been banished from heaven since then (Rev 12:10-11).

I would invite you to view the YouTube I produced with Lois, my nephew, called “Star Wars and the Biblical Narrative” Based on this passage. 
Here’s the link;  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp57ZdzVtCM