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smike02
"Lord of Angelic Hosts"
pincod viaccess
Text: Revelation 12:7-12
Date: Saint Michael and All Angels Day 
9/29/02
When the seventy-two disciples Jesus had sent
out to preach and heal in his name returned they reported their
joy and amazement that even the demons were subject to them in Jesus'
name. Today we gather with joy and maybe even a little amazement
as we hear about the doctrine of the angels. At the end, however,
the bottom line must be the same as when Jesus said, "do not rejoice
in this…but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." As the
Word of God briefly draws back for us today the curtain between
what we can observe with our eyes and gives us a glimpse of the
heavenly realm of the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers and spiritual
forces in the heavenly places [Eph. 6:12], it is for the purpose
of encouraging and strengthening our faith as we continue to endure
whatever sufferings come our way, remain faithful and strive continually
toward the goal of heaven.
During Jesus' earthly ministry, and now through
his extended ministry through the hands of the seventy-two he had
sent out, the fallen angel Satan, the devil, was already beginning
to lose his grip. That grip began in the garden when he succeeded
in luring Adam and Eve into joining his rebellion against God. Now,
at the joyous report of his disciples, Jesus spoke of what was yet
to happen as if it were already an accomplished fact: "I saw Satan
fall like lightning from heaven." It is especially the Book of Revelation
that describes this fall of Satan.
St. John writes, "war arose in heaven" between
the archangel Michael with his angels and Satan, called "the dragon,"
with his angels fighting back. Why did this war in heaven arise?
This is not the original rebellion of the devil against God, which
took place before the fall of Adam and the woman. And, therefore,
we are not asking the original unanswerable question, "where did
evil come from?"
The twelfth chapter of Revelation opens with
the great sign of "a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under
her feet…. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to
give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it."
Then, in one short sentence, the entire earthly ministry of Jesus
is summarized in the words, "She gave birth to a male child…but
her child was caught up to God and to his throne."
The woman in this vision is, first, Mary, Mother
of Our Lord. But she will be, in the next chapters, also the Holy
Church, the Bride of Christ. Mary, as the first to believe in the
Messiah, has always been a type or picture of the Church. Satan
always had a relatively easy time of it having the whole human race
under his rule until the Deliverer came to break his stranglehold
and release those being held captive. We recall his using of Herod
to attempt to murder the Christ child soon after his birth, and
the angel's warning to flee to the wilderness of Egypt, thus saving
the Child. We recall the devil's inaugural temptation of Christ
in the wilderness. All along the way the devil tried to put up as
many roadblocks to the Savior as he could. Finally, in his madness,
Satan seemed to have succeeded in having Jesus killed. But when
he realized that the death of Christ would mean his own undoing,
the final temptation was in the words, "If you are the Son of God,
come down from the cross!" He didn't. And with his dying breath,
when our Lord proclaimed, "It is finished," sin and death, the kingdom
of the devil, was undone.
The name "Satan" or "devil" means "adversary,"
"enemy" and "accuser." As we learn from the Book of Job, Satan always
had free access to approach the throne of God where he would accuse
people of their sins before God, thus challenging God's justice
and his love. Now, after Christ's death which paid for the sins
of the whole world, and his mighty resurrection, Christ now ascends
to take his place at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Because
of Christ, as St. Paul wrote in Romans 8:1 (ESV), "There is therefore
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
This is what the heavenly warfare was about:
Satan's final attempt to displace the Christ, the victorious Lamb
who was slain, in order to establish himself in the presence of
God, as the prince of the angels, the one who has dominion over
humanity, and specifically the one who has the authority to stand
before God and accuse people of their sins. Christ's victory earned
for him the right to represent fallen humanity before God. Therefore
the accusations of Satan are thrown out of court, and Satan himself
is thrown out of heaven. Now the very presence of Satan in heaven
is an offense.
The Greek text says that Michael and his angels
"had to make war with the dragon." They had to because of God's
command. From the Ascension of Christ onward the devil and his angels
can never again appear before God, and, therefore, can never again
accuse God's people of their sins which have been taken away as
far as the east is from the west by the Lamb of God. They did not
go peacefully. But Michael and his angels fought and defeated Satan
and they were thrown down to the earth.
There is but one final destination for the
devil and his angels, "the eternal fire prepared" just for them
at the Last Judgment Day [Matthew 25:41 (ESV)]. Until then, however,
we have a struggle on our hands. While the celebration has already
begun in heaven, we still participate in it only through the eyes
and ears of faith. For the devil continues to accuse us, to bring
to mind our sins. The only difference is, he cannot bring them to
the mind of our heavenly Father any longer. Therefore, we do not
despair. For by faith we know and believe that our sins are washed
away in the blood of the Lamb. From Christ's ascension to the end
of the world the Church lives in unprecedented peril. But, as Mary
and her Child were kept safe from the threats of Herod, so the new
Woman, the Church, the Bride of Christ is kept safe.
The doctrine of the angels of God, and that
a few even have names is a matter of the Biblical record, not only
of the New Testament, but also of the Old. Our fathers of Israel
knew of God's angels and of Michael in particular. His name means,
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