When Was Satan Thrown Out of Heaven? Revelation 12

Table of Contents

Overview

Revelation 12 first mentions Christ’s ascension, then the woman in the wilderness, then the war in heaven, and then again the woman in the wilderness. These two wilderness periods are the same. But verses 13-14 show that the real sequence is:

Christ’s ascension
War in Heaven
Woman in the Wilderness

However, the war did not begin after Christ’s ascension. It began long before Christ. The significance of Revelation 12 is that it was the end of that age-old war. The victory in the war in heaven was won through Christ’s victory on earth.

The Wilderness period began after the War in Heaven.

The sequence of events in Revelation 12 is as follows:

Revelation 12:5 describes Jesus’ ascension.

In the next verse, the woman flees to the wilderness, where she hides for 1260 days.

This is followed by the war in heaven between Michael and the dragon and their angels. But the dragon was defeated, and he and his angels were thrown out of heaven (Rev 12:8-9).

But then verse 14 describes the same wilderness period as in verse 6. In both, the woman flees into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared to be nourished for the same period (Rev 12:6, 14). (The 1260 days are the same as the “time, times, and a half. (Read Article))

Since the woman’s wilderness period is mentioned both before and after Satan’s defeat in the war in heaven, the question arises about the actual sequence of events. Revelation 12:13-14 gives the answer because it explicitly states that the woman hides in the wilderness after Satan was defeated in heaven and thrown down to earth:

“When the dragon saw
that he was thrown down to the earth,
He persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.
But the two wings of the great eagle
were given to the woman,
So that she could fly
into the wilderness to her place
Where she was nourished
for a time and times and half a time.” (Rev 12:13-14).

The War began before Christ.

The idea of a war in heaven may seem strange to some. However:

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers, against the powers,
against the world forces of this darkness,
against the spiritual forces of wickedness
in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12; cf. Col 1:20).

Although Revelation 12 mentions the war in heaven after Jesus was caught up to His Father’s throne, the following shows that the war began long before Christ:

The angels were already at war in the Book of Daniel, 600 years before Christ:

God sent an angel to Daniel (Dan 10:5-6), but the supernatural “prince of the kingdom of Persia” prevented that mighty angel from reaching Daniel (Dan 10:13) for a full “three weeks.” He could only reach Daniel after another supernatural being (Michael) assisted him (v13). Furthermore, the angel said that he had to return “to fight against the prince of Persia” and that no one stands firmly with him against these forces except Michael (Dan 10:20-21)

The generals of the two armies in the war in heaven (Satan and Michael) clashed before Christ over the resurrection of Moses:

Satan has “power of death” (Heb 2:14). However, “Michael the archangel … disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses” (Jude 9). So, similar to Revelation 12:7-9, this was a conflict between Michael and Satan. This must have been before the time of Jesus because Moses appeared bodily to Jesus (Matt 17:3-4). (Moses appeared with Elijah, but Elijah never died. He was physically taken into heaven (2 Kings 2:11).)

Other examples of the war in heaven, before the time of Christ, are Zechariah 3:1 and Job 1:8-9.

Since the war in heaven raged BEFORE Christ was born, the significance of Revelation 12 is that it was the end of that age-old war.

Satan was thrown out after Christ’s victory.

Some people want to put Satan’s defeat a long time before Christ, when Lucifer was “cast … as profane from the mountain of God” (Ezekiel 28:16). Others want to put it at the end of time, when “the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone” (Rev 20:10). But since the victory was won before the woman had to hide in the wilderness, Satan was thrown out of heaven immediately or soon after Christ’s ascension to God’s throne. Therefore, the victory in the war in heaven was won through Christ’s victory on earth.

Chronological Sequence

The actual chronological sequence, therefore, is as follows:

Before Christ, while the dragon prepared to devour the Child as soon as He appeared, war raged in heaven.

After Christ was born and won the victory by remaining faithful to God until death, and was “caught up to God and to His throne” (Rev 12:5), Satan was defeated. “He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Rev 12:8-9).

Although the war in heaven was won, it continued to rage on earth. The dragon persecuted the woman (Rev 12:13), and she fled to the wilderness, where she would be “nourished” for 1260 days (Rev 12:6, 14).

What is the Wilderness Period?

As indicated by Revelation 12:13-14, this is a time when God’s people have to hide from persecution. They become invisible. It is a very important prophetic period, for it is mentioned seven times in Daniel and Revelation, first in Daniel 7:25 and 12:7, where it is also the period when God’s people are persecuted.

Another article identifies this period as the Middle Ages, a period of about 1260 years between the Fall of Rome and the modern era, during which the Church of the Roman Empire ruled the nations of Europe.