[Note, 1-15-22, it was brought to my attention by a reader that the video is missing from this post; I looked for a copy on several sites and was unable to find one. YouTube apparently removed it from their site, and since I did not record and upload it, it also vanished from my site. Sorry. Loading long videos is very time consuming with Verizon DSL, sometimes I can’t even do it when I try; highspeed internet is not available where I live.]
These sermon highlights were taken directly from Dr. MacArthur’s pdf on this sermon. I am only giving a 10-15% of his notes, enough for the reader to know if he would like to hear the sermon. I found some of these points troubling, those will be underscored and emboldened, I don’t want anyone to overlook them.
All emboldening and underscoring is mine:
- Let’s look together to Revelation chapter 12
- It is also true that this chapter, while only containing seventeen verses, is so sweeping in its content that it goes all the way from the past, clear back when Satan fell, all the way to the future and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Let’s look tonight at verses 7 to 12. “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon and the dragon and his angels waged war. And they were not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 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
- “And 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 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 to death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.’”
- Now, we’re going to do our best to take you through this tremendous and searching text, but let me begin, if I can, with something that may get your attention. Did you know that at the present time Satan is not in hell? In fact, did you know that he has never been to hell? And did you know that when he finally does get to hell, he’s not going to be in charge? In fact, when the devil gets to hell, he will be the lowest being there. He will be assigned the most horrible punishment of any creature ever made. He is not the king of hell, he is not in hell, and he’s never been there. In fact, he spends most of his time, according to this text, where? In heaven. Did you know that Satan, who was once the anointed cherub, exalted above all other angels, living in heaven with God, even now still spends most of his efforts before the throne of God? It tells us in the very text which I just read, verse 10, that he’s there day and night. He still has access to heaven and he’s not yet sentenced to hell. That doesn’t come yet. In fact, as I said, he’s never been to hell.
- Now, what this text tells us is that soon he’s going to be sent out of heaven to earth and ultimately, after that, he will be sent to hell, which is defined in the book of Revelation later on as the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Now, his reason for spending so much time in heaven now and for orchestrating his demons to propagate their deceptive lies is to accomplish what he has always wanted to accomplish and that is the overthrow of God, the overthrow of God’s purposes, the overthrow of God’s plan, and the overthrow of God’s people. He has his devices, he has his schemes, but they all have the same basic intent – defeat God, destroy His plan, wipe out His people one way or another.
- And one of the things that he does is this endless harangue that he carries on in heaven. He’s there day and night, accusing believers before God, haranguing in the ear of God, as it were, about the unworthiness of believers. He is there, reminding God of our sin and our failure and telling God He ought to let us go to hell, He ought to let go of us because we aren’t worthy. There is a certain kind of hypocrisy in all of that, appealing to the righteousness of God while he himself only seeks that which is unrighteous. He wants to capture us for his own dominion of darkness in his own domain. And more than that, he wants to show that he can destroy salvation.
- In addition to this endless harangue of accusations that goes on day and night before the throne of God against believers, he is also engaged in battle with holy angels. He and his demons, over whom he rules in his kingdom, are waging ongoing and incessant war with Michael and the holy angels. Satan has been identified as the prince of the power of the air. He is also the god of this world. So the theater of his operations descends from the air, the heavens, where there’s a celestial warfare with Michael and the holy angels, right down to earth, where Satan and his demons are engaged in controlling world systems of religion and government.
- He can read the Bible just like you and me. He knows perfectly well how to interpret it. In fact, he knows the right interpretation of everything because he was the covering cherub, Lucifer, before his fall. He knows exactly what is the mind and the heart of God in these matters. He can read it just like you can. He knows he’s headed for the lake of fire, to burn there forever and ever, but he is not going to take that lying down. He is not going to give up; he is relentless.
- Now, this battle, which continually goes on – and it goes on on a supernatural level between the angels and it goes on on the earth on a moral level and an ideological level and a theological level and a philosophical level. It is going on at every conceivable level in the human and superhuman realm. That whole war is going to reach its great climax in the future day known as the tribulation. There is coming a day in the future, after the church has been caught away, in which the world will receive seven years of the wrath of God. We’ve been learning about it from Revelation 6 through 11.
- Daniel spoke of the same period of time in the prophecy of Daniel in chapter 9, and Jesus spoke of it in Matthew chapter 24 and then again in Luke. And so that time is coming in which God is going to pour out judgment on the world. Well, when He does that, the battle isn’t going to end; in fact, Satan is going to be active during that seven-year period as well. In fact, he’s going to be more devastatingly active on earth than at any other time because the theater of his operation is going to be confined to the earth. You will notice in the text it says the great dragon, verse 9, was thrown down. He was thrown down.
- And it is a fierce, fierce battle that he carries on. God is pouring out judgment, but Satan is on the earth, confined here, all his demons are confined here, and the conflict reaches a fever pitch. Now, somebody might ask the question, “Is not Satan already a defeated foe? I mean wasn’t he destroyed at the cross and through the resurrection of Jesus Christ?” And, of course, the answer to that question, in a sense, is yes. In John chapter 12 and verse 31 Jesus said this: “Now judgment is upon this world, now the ruler of this world shall be cast out.” Jesus, anticipating the cross, His triumph over sin, anticipating the resurrection, His triumph over death, was saying the ruler of this world shall be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to me. So Jesus is saying in the cross is the defeat of Satan. The fact of his defeat occurred at the cross, the actual execution or sentencing is yet to happen. Also, in Romans 16:20, it says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” He is already defeated by the cross, the resurrection, but the execution hasn’t taken place yet. It’s as if he were an incarcerated criminal waiting for the gas chamber.
End MacArthur’s notes
The above points indicate that when Satan is cast down to the earth, he will be confined to that space; it occurred to me that if temptation is difficult to deal with now, then how will people cope with the onslaught of demonic forces with Satan and all of his demons confined to the earth?
I recommend subscribing to GTY.org. The above sermon is from the YouTube site, John 14:6