(Article taken from The FUTURE WAR Prophecies book by Dr. Bill Salus)

“So it will happen on that day, That the Lord will punish the rebellious angels of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth. (Isaiah 24:21 NASB)

The prophet Isaiah informs that a time is coming when the LORD will punish Satan and his army of fallen angels. This article explains when, why and how this punishment will happen. Let’s start by exploring the details of this war in heaven prophecy.

The Details of the War in Heaven: (Revelation 12:7–12)

“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”” (Rev. 12:7-12)

This is the war that serves as a punishing blow to Satan and the rebellious angels. As a result of this war, Satan and his fallen angelic followers are cast down to earth. This future event relocates Satan into his fourth of seven abodes.

The Seven Abodes of Satan

The Bible tells us that Satan, at various points of his career, occupies seven separate addresses.

The First Abode: The Throne of God.

The Second Abode: The Mineral Garden of Eden.

(The first two abodes are to be found in Ezekiel 28:11-15).

The Third Abode: The Atmospheric Heavens – (Ephesians 2:2 and 6:12, 1 John 5:19). Presently, the Devil and his rebellious angels share dual citizenship between earth and heaven.

The Fourth Abode: The Earth – (Rev. 12:7-12). This results from the war in heaven at the midpoint of the Tribulation period.

The Fifth Abode: The Abyss (a.k.a. the Bottomless Pit) – (Rev. 20:1-3). This happens at the beginning of the Millennium.

The Sixth Abode: The Earth Revisited – (Rev. 20:3). This happens at the end of the Millennium and only lasts until the final Gog of Magog battle ends in Rev. 20:7-9.

The Seventh Abode: The Lake of Fire – (Rev. 20:10). Satan gets cast here after losing the battle in #6 above. According to the Bible, this is his final abode.

The Lake of Fire: Satan’s Seventh and Final Abode

“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Rev. 20:10)

The War in Heaven Happens at the Midpoint of the Tribulation Period

The biblical support for this prophecy finding fulfillment at the midpoint of the Tribulation Period is found in the fact that the event is sandwiched in-between two key timing verses.

“Then the woman, (Representing a believing remnant within Israel), fled into the wilderness, (In order to avoid persecution outsourced from Satan), where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” (Rev. 12:6, NKJV; emphasis added)

“Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, (At the midpoint of the Tribulation Period), he persecuted the woman, (Israel), who gave birth to the male Child, (Jesus Christ). But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, (Time = 1 year + Times = 2 years and half a time = ½ year totals 3 ½ years), from the presence of the serpent.” (Rev. 12:13-14, NKJV; emphasis added)

The fleeing of the woman above, who represents the faithful Jewish remnant, into the wilderness happens during the second 3 ½ years of the Tribulation period. After losing the war in heaven at the midpoint of the Tribulation period, Satan immediately begins his persecution of the woman identified in these above verses.

The timeline below sequences the events in the middle of the Tribulation period in the order that I believe they could happen. As the timeline depicts, in the aftermath of the war in heaven a flurry of powerful prophetic events happen in rapid succession.

1. Satan loses the war in heaven and he and the fallen angels are cast down to earth, (Rev. 12:7-12).

2. The Ten Kings desolate the Harlot World Religion, (Revelation 17:16).

3. The Antichrist dies and gets resurrected, (Rev. 13:3).

4. The Two Witnesses get killed, resurrect and then ascend to heaven, (Rev. 11:7-13).

5. The Abomination of Desolation gets set up in the Third Jewish Temple, (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15).

6. False Covenant gets annulled, (Isaiah 28:18, Daniel 9:27).

7. The Antichrist declares and shows himself as god, in the temple, (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

8. The Antichrist begins genocidal campaign against the Jews, (Zechariah 13:8).

9. The False Prophet emerges, (Rev. 13:11-15).

10. The Mark of the Beast gets implemented, (Rev. 13:16-17).

Satan Loses the War and the Divine Debate

Revelation 12:10b says that Satan, “is the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.”

Revelation 12:9 acknowledges that the Devil deceives the whole world, but the brethren in Rev. 12:10 are not falling for his lies. These brethren realize that as per John 14:6, “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.” Rev. 12:11 says they overcome the great dragon’s deceit “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

These details narrow the identity of the “brethren” down to believers. Unbelievers are not covered by the blood of the Lamb, which was shed by Christ at the time of His crucifixion. More specifically, we can zoom closer in on this subset group of believers by understanding that historically, when Satan accuses someone before God, he is addressing a specific individual, someone relevant to the time of the accusation. Some of the examples of this are found in Job 1:6-12, 2:1-6 and Zechariah 3:1-5.

We can also eliminate the believers from the Church Age since those Christians have already been caught up to heaven in the Rapture and, as such it would serve no purpose for Satan to accuse them. The Apostle John states, “the accuser of our brethren,” inferring “our” is the Church and the “brethren” are the believers who get saved after the Church Age ends.

Thus, the brethren of Rev. 12:10 are people who get saved after the Rapture. These overcomers serve as God’s rebuttal to Satan’s campaign of deception. Satan had likely claimed during the Church Age that if he were fully freed from any restraint, he could dupe all of humanity through powerful signs and lying wonders into believing what 2 Thess. 2:11 calls, “The Lie.” The Lie is a designed delusion that overtakes people who deny the truth, alluding to Jesus Christ.

These overcomers serve as a monkey wrench in the Devil’s campaign and they provoke him to become an “accuser of our brethren.” These accusations persist “before our God day and night.” Thus, these brethren are Post-Rapture believers who receive Christ after the restraint upon Satan gets removed.

However, these Post-Rapture believers do not include those who get saved in the final 3 ½ years of the Tribulation Period because they come to faith after Satan has already been cast out of heaven at the midpoint of the Tribulation. Satan won’t be able to accuse the believers of the second 3 ½ years of the Tribulation before God in heaven because the Devil is gravity bound on earth.

So, it appears that the brethren being accused are those who get saved after the Rapture, but before the second 3 ½ years of the Tribulation Period. They, receiving Christ amidst Satan’s unrestrained deception on earth, conclude the divine debate in heaven. These brethren saw through all the supernatural satanic deception and chose to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior even at the cost of severe persecution and possible martyrdom. Thus, the LORD can rest His case as Satan accusations are all proven baseless.

With the conclusion of the divine debate, Satan’s attempts to overstep God fail.

“For you (Satan) have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’” (Isaiah 14:13-14; emphasis added)

Isaiah points out in the next verse that NONE of the five I wills above will happen. Satan will not ascend above the heights of the clouds like the Most High, but he will be sent to the lowest depths of the Bottomless Pit, which is his fifth abode.

“Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.” (Isaiah 14:15)

Having lost the divine debate, there is no longer a point for Satan to be lurking around in heaven and so he needs to leave. Apparently, the Devil doesn’t want to depart voluntarily, but wages a war against Michael the Archangel in a final coup to overthrow God and maintain his residence in his third abode of the atmospheric heavens. Just like Satan loses the Divine Debate in Heaven he also loses the War in Heaven.

Conclusion

The war in heaven begins the rapid downfall of the Devil. He gets temporarily confined in his fourth abode, the earth. Realizing that his time in the fourth abode is short, he unleashes his rage against humanity.

“Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”” (Rev. 12:12)

Then, only 3 ½ years later at the end of the Tribulation Period he gets chained up in his fifth abode, the Bottomless Pit.

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.” (Rev. 20:1-3)

When Satan gets cast out of heaven in Rev. 12:9, he’s not alone, but is accompanied by his rebellious angelic comrades. However, he soon loses his strength and the support of his follower angels. The above passage points out that a single no-name angel single-handedly, apparently without much of a fight, lays hold of the Devil and binds him up with a great chain for 1000 years.

The sequence of events that lead to Satan’s rapid decline are as follows:

1. The restraint upon the Devil gets removed, (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

2. Satan employs supernatural deception to deceive mankind into believing “The Lie,” (2 Thess. 2:9-12).

3. The Brethren, those who get saved after the Rapture, but before the second 3 ½ years of the Tribulation Period, don’t fall for “The Lie,”  (Rev. 12:10).

4. Satan has them martyred, (Rev. 6:9-11), through the Harlot World Religion, (Rev. 17:6).

5. Satan is forced to find fault with these brethren in order to justify their martyrdoms.

6. Satan presents his accusations of these murdered Brethren before God and all the angels, good and bad, in the heavenly court, (Rev. 12:10).

7. The Devil’s defense for causing their deaths does not win over God and Satan’s accusations are thereby overruled.

8. Satan wages war against Michael and the good angels to avoid getting permanently evicted from heaven, (Rev. 12:7-8).

9. Michael wins and Satan and his fallen angels get cast down to earth and the doors to heaven are permanently locked to them, preventing their return, (Rev. 12:9).

10. Satan creates woeful conditions for the inhabitants of the earth during the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation Period, (Rev. 12:12).

11. Jesus Christ returns in His Second Coming and along with His good angels, (Matthew 16:27).

12. One of these good angels, apparently an ordinary angel, binds Satan with a great chain and casts that Devil into the Bottomless Pit for 1000 years, (Rev. 20:1-3).

13. Then, Isaiah 24:21, which was quoted at the start of this chapter and again below, finds final fulfillment.

“So it will happen on that day, That the Lord will punish the rebellious angels of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth.” (Isaiah 24:21, NASB)