Rev. 12:10-11 ... "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 brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.' 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."
Satan is the ancient enemy of God. It is thought by some he was originally an archangel in heaven. But for some reason he was not content there and rebelled against God. The reason for his disaffection may be suggested in I Tim. 3:6, "Lest he (an elder) become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil." Being filled with pride, Satan contested the supremacy and sovereignty of God in heaven, and thus rebelled. It appears that he drew a number of angels into his allegiance when he dared defy God, for the Scriptures speak of "fallen angels," (II Pet. 2:4; Jde. 6). In Rev. 12:7-9 it reads, "And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war .... 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." Satan's rebellion against God failed totally. He and all his allies were entirely routed by God's angelic army and expelled from heaven never to return.
Satan is the archenemy of Christ. Revelation 12 describes the birth of Christ on earth from the spiri-tual viewpoint. In a vision John saw a glorious woman in heaven about to give birth to a child. But "another sign appeared in heaven ... a great red dragon ... and the dragon stood before the woman ... so that when she gave birth he might devour her child, (vs. 3-4). This may refer to the attempt of Herod to murder Jesus when he had all the male infants of Bethlehem killed. While on earth Jesus knew that Satan was never far away, ready to exploit any weakness or mistake to overthrow Him and ruin His great mission. When Jesus was crucified, it seemed as though Satan had triumphed. Actually, he had managed only to bruise the heel of the "seed of the woman," (Gen. 3:15). Satan's victory was snatched away when Jesus was resurrected from the grave and taken up into heaven to God, (Rev. 12:5). His victory over death was also a victory over Satan.
Satan is the avowed enemy of the church. The glorious woman of Revelation 12 is not Mary, but rather a symbol of the church. When Jesus ascended to heaven, Satan directed his attack against Christ's church. The dragon "persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child ... And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood ... So the dragon was enraged with the woman," (Rev. 12:13f). But God took special action to preserve His church. "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 ... from the presence of the serpent ... But the earth helped the woman, and .... opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth," (vs. 14,16). Although the church has been oppressed for nearly two millennia, it still exists and flourishes in the world.
Satan is the resolute enemy of Christians. Seeing that he could not destroy the church as a body, he turned upon its individual parts, Christians. Verse 17 reports that "the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, (Christians).” But the devil cannot defeat Christians who do not want to submit to his wicked dominion, for God has given us two very powerful weapons which Satan cannot withstand: "And they (Christians) overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony," (v.11). With the blood of Jesus that washes away sin, and with the sword of the Spirit of God's word, every Christian can personally defeat Satan and remain in allegiance to God who saves.
