Revelation 12:7-12

There was war in heaven and the Devil and his angels were cast out. And a voice said: "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."

We have little knowledge of the Devil's relation to space and place or whether he can appear in heaven or not; but we remember in this connection that in the prologue to the book of Job we see Satan presenting himself before God and accusing Job. This seems to be a similar representation. And here the old accuser is cast out. We remember again that Jesus Christ said just before his death and resurrection and ascension, as he looked forward to them, "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the Prince of this world be cast out;" John 12:31. Again when the seventy disciples reported the success of their preaching mission, Christ replied: "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven;" Luke 10:18. So the meaning here seems to be that the resurrection and ascension of Christ was the staggering blow to Satan's kingdom, and foretokened the ultimate overthrow of his power. When Christ arose from the dead and ascended to the throne of God it was eviction-notice served on Satan. Verse five gave us the scene of ascension and the following verses give us the victory and prelude of coming victories consequent upon that ascension. It is the aftermath of Christ's victory from the time of his ascension with which we are dealing here.