War in Heaven!
Satan is at War against God and Mankind

By Mike Brown, Ph.D.

A war started in heaven and now the people of the earth are included in the war. How could Satan think he could win against God? What strategy might he use?

Satan has attacked God and His government. In getting Eve to sin, Satan specifically got Eve to distrust God. She was led to believe that God was holding back what should have been hers. As we will see, Satan must have used the same kind of attack against the angels in heaven. We will be looking at what the Bible says about Satan’s war against God and Mankind.

It appears that Satan is waging a legal war. We must wonder how Satan could figure that he might win a war against God, the Creator of all things?

God is all powerful while Satan and His evil angels are only created beings. So why did Satan attack God? They do not have the power of God and they tremble at the thought of God:

• Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. James 2:19.

God is the true God, the creator of all things. So how could Satan and his evil angels think they could attack God and win? Especially when even thinking about God, they tremble!

• But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.
• Thus you shall say to them: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.“
• He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, And has stretched out the heavens at His discretion. Jeremiah 10:10-12.

If we are tempted to think that the above text, concerning those who have not made the heavens and the earth, is just speaking of the idols themselves made of stone and wood; The Bible itself sets us straight on the issue. It says that when we worship idols, we are really worshipping the evil angels that the idols represent, which are demons:

• They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
• They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear. Deuteronomy 32: 16-17.

In the New Testament, we can get a better idea who these foreign gods are:

• What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything?
• Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 1 Corinthians 10:19-20

There must be something that Satan is depending on. There must be something about God that Satan could depend on!

It must be that Satan could depend on God to be fair. That God would not break His own strict rules of righteousness. Thus Satan must have thought he could get the better of God because he could cheat and lie. He could misrepresent God before man and even before the angels yet God would not do such a thing. Thus Satan must be waging a legal war against God.

In spite of the fact that Satan had this advantage, we can see that Satan and his evil angels have already lost the war. We can even see the reaction of various demons which demonstrate that they themselves know they have lost the war.

• Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice,
• saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are–the Holy One of God!” Luke 4:33-34

• And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” Matthew 8:29

These instances show that the demons know they have lost and that they fear the time ahead when they will be destroyed.

Satan’s war against God has long since expanded to include the Earth and all that are on the Earth. So, now we find ourselves in the middle of this war. We know that the evil angels will be destroyed but what about us?

God in His love has made provision that all might be saved if they depend on Christ for their salvation. If we give ourselves fully to Him we will be saved. In the Last Days, Satan will Desperately Try to Force All to Worship Him, Instead of God, so he can win the war! We must make sure that we fully decide to follow God and be careful to follow all His warnings so that we might escape what is planned for Satan and his evil angels.

• “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels‘: Matthew 25:41

If we are righteous then we can be on the right-hand side of Christ:

• “And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
• “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: Matthew 25:33-34

That is our choice. We can either be destroyed in the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels or we can be blessed and inherit the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world. Let’s strive to be followers of Christ and to do His will!

The purpose of this web page is to explore what the Bible says about how Satan is attacking both God and mankind. If we can understand Satan’s plan of attack from the Scriptures, we should have a better chance of surviving this war:

• My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. . . Hosea 4:6

In our search for what the Bible teaches it is important that we let the Bible speak for itself.

Satan became the Ruler of the Earth

When Satan had successfully tempted Adam and Eve, he not only brought the human family into the life and death struggle that we experience today, but now as a result of man’s fall, Satan had obtained authority over the whole earth. Satan began claiming the earth as the place where he rules. Jesus even called Satan the ruler of this world when He was on earth.

• Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.
• “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
• “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
• This He said, signifying by what death He would die. John 12:30-33

Also, in the Lord’s prayer we have another indication that the things that happen on the earth is not according to God’s will. Jesus says:

• “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
• Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10

We are still praying for God’s will to occur on earth as it is in Heaven, because God’s will is still not yet happening fully. Jesus has not yet taken authority. Yes, that is right. Satan is still the ruler of this world. There is just so much death, destruction, hate, and sorrow all around us. It is still occurring. Jesus still has not taken our world away from Satan, and we know that is true because we are still here living in this sad sinful world!

• The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? Matthew 22:44

Jesus will continue to wait until God the Father makes His enemies his footstool. Then, at that time Satan will be cast out and destroyed.

However, from the very beginning of this war, when Adam and Eve sinned, God set in motion a plan that would save man from certain death. Since both Adam and Eve had sinned against God, they deserved to die. Yet, God had mercy on them and He made a way so that they would be saved from certain death. In addition, the plan would also reclaim the earth from Satan. Our world would again be forever in the hands of God. This is the event that we are really looking forward to, when Jesus comes the second time.

God gave clues to Adam and Eve when they first sinned. he showed them what would happen to them and to Satan.

• And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
• So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
• And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel“. Genesis 3:13-15

Yes, it is true that the snake was cursed, however the real curse was pronounced against Satan. In these few words, God spoke mountains of implications. Here, God is speaking of Jesus, who would come from the seed of Adam and Eve. The seed of the woman (Christ) would bruise Satan’s head. This means that Satan would suffer a mortal wound that would be major. He will loose the battle and he will be destroyed forever as well as all those who follow him. The following group of Scripture describe how Satan and His evil angels (demons) will be destroyed.

• Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
• and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Hebrews 2:14

• He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8

• For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 2 Peter 2:4

• And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Jude 1:6

• And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

• And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
• And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10, 14-15.

However, Jesus will only suffer a bruise to the heel which is not a serious wound; But, Jesus will do everything that He set out to do. Jesus will reclaim the righteous to Himself and the earth will once again be His. Satan and his evil angels will be destroyed forever along with the majority of mankind who are wicked.

• Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
• Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14

It is our choice. We can either choose the narrow way that is difficult and be saved or we can choose the broad way which leads to destruction. Let’s strive to be followers of Christ and to do His will so we can be blessed and inherit the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world.

Satan Fights a Legal Battle

Satan tried to tempt Jesus into sinning against His Father, but he could not get him to do anything that was not the will of God!

• Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
• And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
• Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.“
• But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.‘”
• Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,
• and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.‘”
• Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.‘”
• Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
• And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.“
• Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.‘”
• Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. Matthew 4:1-11.

It is easy to see that Satan is attacking Jesus in some way and that he has a very intense hatred toward Jesus. But it is not entirely clear why Satan is choosing to attack Jesus in this specific way. It is clear, however, that Satan was trying to make Jesus sin against God, and that Satan was never able to get any victory over Jesus.

Satan fights a very legal battle. It is easy to see that Satan was not trying to destroy Jesus physically. He was probably not allowed to hurt Jesus anyway. So Satan had to try to conduct a legal war by getting Jesus to sin against God. It is the only way that Satan can try to get back at God.

Satan lost his battle against Jesus but that has not stopped him. He is now continuing his war by attacking Christ’s followers, trying to get them to sin against God. He claims this world as his and he expects all on this world to follow him, including Christ’s followers. But they are decided followers of Jesus and will not follow Satan at all.

• And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
• And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Revelation 12:10,11 KJV.

And God has given them the Holy Spirit and the company of holy angels that allows them to stand up against Satan. Since they follow Jesus rather than Satan, Satan is not the complete ruler of this world, so he will lose the battle.

Satan was hoping to win over Jesus and his followers so that he would have a legal right to continue as the ruler of the earth. He wanted to set up his dominion in opposition to the kingdom of God. But I am getting ahead of the Biblical evidence.

Let’s look at the evidence. We will start with the war as it started in Heaven.

Satan

Who is Satan? Why was he on the earth to tempt Eve? What does he have to gain? These are good questions. Let’s look at what Scriptures say about his actions.

• 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. Revelation 12:7-9 New King James Version

We see that Satan and his angels had a war in Heaven and they lost. So they were kicked out of Heaven. For some reason, God did not destroy them at that time and they were allowed to drag us into their war. As we read more scripture, we will realize why God did not destroy them at that time. We will need to look for the clues as they come from the Bible.

• For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 2 Peter 2:4

• And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Jude 1:6

At the beginning Satan and his angels were happy and they lived in heaven with God and all the other angels. But now they are not able to keep their first estate in heaven because they were kicked out. God had to cast them out of heaven because they had sinned. Thus they are now in chains of darkness reserved unto the judgment of the great day.

We often think of Heaven as being an angelic place where nothing bad ever happens, a place where everyone is happy. Yet, here we see that there was a war, an intergalactic war that actually starts in Heaven where God lives!

Heaven must have been an extremely unhappy place for war to start where God lives! And in the next Bible text we will see that this unhappiness has spread to the earth as Satan and his angels were forced to retreat.

It is clear that Satan was originally one of the highest angels in Heaven. He was the anointed cherub that covers . . . Did his wings or whatever cover the throne of God. I do not know, but it looks like Satan originally had a very high position standing in the very presence of God!

One important point needs to be brought out: Notice that verse 15 says that God created this angel as being perfect. So originally, Satan had no sin. But in verse 16, we read that he became filled with violence. . . He became sinful. So the sin that is in Satan originated with Him, not God. God did not create Satan to be sinful.

What makes this war so very ominous is that it started so close to the throne of God? Lucifer’s position in Heaven as the covering cherub allowed him to be on the holy mountain of God, midst the fiery stones where God is. How could that happen? How could War start with Lucifer being so close to God? What could have caused Lucifer to rebel against God Himself!

Verse 15 (above), says that Lucifer was originally perfect until iniquity was found in him. This must have been the time when the unhappiness started in heaven. This is when the rebellion started. We know that other angels followed Lucifer in his activities since they were also kicked out of heaven. So we can understand that Lucifer’s unhappiness spread to others in Heaven. Lucifer and his followers must have been very unhappy. What could they have been talking about? What were the issues in the rebellion? Let’s see if the answer can be found in the Bible.

Now we can see why they were not happy under God’s rule. Lucifer, who is now called Satan, the great dragon, is the one who wanted to take over God’s throne in Heaven. He became jealous. Lucifer wanted to be like God. To say they were very unhappy is a major understatement. This is why there was war in Heaven. They actually attacked God Himself! This is an amazing thing when we consider that neither Satan nor his wicked angels are able to create nor are they able to fight on an equal par against God. So the war must be on an issue that does not involve the power of God.

You are not going to die

Satan speaks very confidently to Eve that she will not die. We can also see that Eve believes Satan as well. Yet, when we look into scripture to view the future, we can see that Satan can offer nothing of lasting value. He himself, will be destroyed in the lake of fire with all those who follow him. In the following commentary, on this page, it will be seen that Satan and the wicked angels know this very well. So, at a point in time they became aware that they would be destroyed.

From the Bible, we know that Satan rebelled against God. This is an amazing thing when we consider that neither Satan nor his wicked angels are able to create nor are they able to fight on an equal par against God. This is reflected in the text below.

We might think that Jeremiah is only talking about things that people make with their hands and then turn around and call them gods. The stone and wood gods that they made clearly cannot make anything! However, the Bible does not stop with Jeremiah’s statement. Look at what is stated in Deuteronomy:

From the writings of Paul in The New Testament, we see even stronger confirmation indicating that worshiping an idol is really an act of worshiping demons.

It should be clear that these gods (or demons) are really Satan and his evil angels, and that they have not made anything nor can they make anything. They will not be allowed to continue to live. They will be destroyed and they will have an end.

God alone will rule. Of the two opposing sides in the intergalactic war; Only God will rule because He is the Creator, this power is what separates the two sides.

Satan has never had the same power, and it is clear from the Scriptural texts below that the evil angels literally shook with fright when they confronted Christ while He was on the Earth.