Reading Sermon by Rev.
Ronald Hanko – May, 2003
(This can be used as an
Ascension Day sermon)
War In Heaven
I. The Occasion
II. The Struggle
III. The Outcome
Text: Revelation 12:5-12
Scripture Reading: Job 1:1-12 and Revelation 12:1-12
Psalter Numbers:
248
302
247
58
Introduction
We do not realize, I think, the importance of
the ascension both in the plan of redemption and in our own enjoyment of God’s
great salvation. The Heidelberg Catechism
in Lord’s Day 7 counts the ascension one of those things that is necessary for
a Christian to believe and as such we confess it every Lord’s Day. We have a special service to commemorate it
every year, and yet we do not seem to understand that the ascension of Christ
into heaven is as important as the cross and the resurrection. Without it our salvation is unfinished.
Another indication of the importance of the
ascension is found in the Psalms. While
there are hardly any passages in the Psalms that speak explicitly of the
resurrection of Christ, there are at least five Psalms which have the ascension
as their main theme. If you wish to
look them up they are Psalms 24, 47, 68, 110 and 132. That’s Psalms 24, 47, 68, 110 and 132 – five Psalms which foretell
explicitly and in detail the ascension of Christ.
We have something similar here in Revelation
12, in our text. The cross and
resurrection are not mentioned in the summary of Christ’s life and work that is
given us here in Revelation 12:5.
Instead the whole of His saving work is present in terms of the
ascension: “And she (that’s the church of the Old Testament), brought forth a
man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was
caught up to God, and to his throne.”
He was born and He ascended – that’s the whole of His work according to
Revelation 12:5.
We are going to look at the ascension from
the viewpoint of what the Heidelberg Catechism calls its profit – its
profit for us. That profit is seen here
in Revelation 12 in the fact that Christ’s ascension becomes the occasion for
war in heaven. The outcome of that war,
and therefore also of the ascension of Christ, is that Satan is cast out as the
accuser of God’s people. That was the
great reason for rejoicing in heaven and ought to be a reason for us to rejoice
also.
We call your attention therefore to:
WAR IN HEAVEN
I. The Occasion
II. The Struggle
III. The Outcome
I. THE OCCASION
War in heaven! That’s the result of the ascension here in Revelation 12.
We think of heaven as a place of undisturbed
peace, but it was not always so – not at least at the time of Christ’s being
caught up to God and to His throne. At
the time of the ascension war began in heaven between Michael and the
elect angels on the one side and the devil and his fallen angels on the other
side. That war ended, as we would
expect, with victory over Satan, but who can begin to imagine what war in heaven
would be like?
We have a hint of how angels fight in Jude,
verse 9, where you read of a struggle between Michael the archangel and Satan
over the body of Moses. Michael, on
that occasion fought against Satan by
saying, “The Lord rebuke thee.”
Apparently, then, the angels fight with words and not with weapons. Their war with Satan is a war of words! – a
war in which the Word of God is their weapon and shield as it is also for us in
our war against Satan.
What we should notice, however, is the fact
that this battle begins at the time of Christ’s ascension into
heaven. When we
read in verses 5 through 7: “her child was caught up to God and to his throne
... AND there was war in heaven,” then the idea is that this war is
caused by the ascension of Christ. The
ascension is the great occasion and reason for this war!
Until the ascension the devil had access to
heaven, and nothing could be done to cast him out. But when Christ came into heaven at the time of the ascension,
then war is made on Satan and he is cast out, never to return. That’s the reason why all the focus is on
the ascension here in Revelation 12. So
too, we see that the ascension of Christ is far more important than we might at
first think.
To understand its importance here in
Revelation 12 there are a number of things we must remember about the
ascension. First, we must remember that
Christ ascends in His human nature into heaven. As God, He is, of course, everywhere present
and cannot be described as ascending or going from one place to another. As man, however, He, like us, is
limited to one place and must go from one place to another, as He did when He
went from earth to heaven at the time of the ascension. There, in heaven, as man, He stays until the
end of all things when, in His human nature He comes again to earth as the
great Judge of all.
We emphasize that because we have found that
some people of God have the idea that Christ left His human nature behind in
the grave when He rose from the dead.
He took it on when He was born and became God and man, and put it off
again when He arose. That is not only
unbiblical but a great error. If Christ
risen and ascended is not still like us in all things except sin, then we have
now no part in Him.
In the second place, that Christ ascended in
His human nature means that He ascended as the one who was crucified and slain
for our sins. It is with that in view
that Hebrews describes His ascension as His bringing of His blood into the most
holy place just like the priest did in the Old Testament. The most holy place is God’s dwelling place
in heaven and it is there that Christ brings His blood and comes Himself as the
crucified one at the time of the ascension.
In the third place, you must understand that
Christ’s ascension is for us.
That follows from the fact that He ascends in our nature and as the one
who died for our sins. Just as He died
on the cross for us and rose again from the dead for us, so He
also ascends for us. He had no
need to do these things for Himself. It
is all for us and for our profit.
That war in heaven, then, of which we read
here in Revelation 12, begins because Christ came into heaven in our
human nature, and as the one who suffered and died and rose again in that human
nature for the sins and salvation of His people. It is our victory over Satan.
That does not tell us, though, what this war
was all about.
II. THE STRUGGLE
To understand this war in heaven, you and I
must believe that in the Old Testament and until the ascension of Christ Satan
had access to heaven. Apparently,
though he had fallen into sin at the very beginning, he was not barred from
entering heaven and could come and go as he pleased.
We learn this from the first two chapters of
the book of Job, where we find Satan in heaven twice. Both times he was there when the angels, called the sons of God,
came to present themselves before God.
Job 2:1 even says that Satan came to present himself before God, just as
if he had never fallen away from his first estate.
In heaven, in the Old Testament, Satan
functioned as the “accuser of the brethren.”
That’s what he is called in Revelation 12:10. He accused them, that verse says, “before our God day and
night.” So too, it was as the accuser
that he was defeated and cast out of heaven as a result of this heavenly war.
We can find some examples in Scripture of how
he accused God’s people. The book of
Job finds him accusing Job of serving God for his own profit and not out of the
love of God. We also find him acting as
the adversary of the saints in Zechariah 3:1.
There the prophet Zechariah sees Joshua the high priest standing before
the angel of the Lord and Satan
standing at his right hand to resist him.
The reason for Satan’s opposition to Joshua,
who was high priest at the time of the
return from captivity, must be found in Zechariah 3:3, where we read that
Joshua was clothed with filthy garments as he stood before the angel of
God. Always Satan’s accusations and
opposition to God’s people in the Old Testament were based on the fact that
they were sinners and did not yet have the white robes of Christ’s
righteousness to cover their spiritual nakedness and filthiness.
Of those on earth in the Old Testament Satan
could and did say that they did not deserve God’s favor and blessing. Not only were they sinners, but their sins
had not been paid for. Of the saints in
heaven he could say that they did not deserve to be in heaven because they were
still unredeemed sinners. They belong,
Satan could say, to me and must come with me to hell. Satan could, with an appearance of right, plead God’s own
righteousness and justice against God’s people. “If you are a righteous and just God, as you claim to be, then
you cannot bless them on earth and take them to heaven when they die” – so
might Satan have argued. “You say you
are too pure of eyes to look on wickedness, but that is exactly what you are
doing,” Satan could say in the Old Testament.
“You say you cannot just overlook sin, but the sins of these people are
not paid for. Yet you bless them and
take them to heaven when they die.”
Apparently that was what the dispute over the
body of Moses was all about. We know
from Moses’ appearance with Elijah on the mount of transfiguration that Moses’
body had been raised and brought to heaven after it was buried. The struggle between Michael and Satan over
Moses’ body could only have been because Satan was acting as the accuser of
Moses and demanding the body of Moses as his own. “Moses,” he probably said, “showed that he belonged to me when he
struck the rock instead of speaking to it at Kadesh. He cannot go to heaven.”
This evil work of Satan is reflected in his
names. Both the names “Satan” and
“Devil” mean “accuser,” “slanderer,” “adversary” and “liar.” It is with that in
mind that Revelation 12:9 uses all his names and some other descriptions
besides. In the Old Testament he did his evil work as
slanderer and adversary even in the presence of God and the saints and angels
in heaven.
That Satan functioned in this capacity day
and night and did so even in heaven means that until the ascension of Christ
heaven was not such a nice place as we might think. Think of being there with your sins yet unpaid for, and hearing
the accusations of Satan against you as he repeated all your evil deeds and
suggested that you belonged to him and not to God, and must leave heaven and go
with him to hell! Think, too, of the
fact that in the Old Testament he could do this without being cast out of
heaven!
The very fact that he could appear in heaven
with his accusations shows that until the ascension of Christ, his accusations
had at least the appearance of legitimacy.
Though God had promised, atonement had not yet been made. Christ had not yet come as the Redeemer of
God’s people and Satan, as you know, was doing everything he could to prevent
the coming of Christ.
Perhaps that is the reason why all Michael
could do when disputing with him over the body of Moses was say, “The Lord
rebuke thee.” God Himself does the same
in Zechariah 3:2, but does so on the basis of election, not yet on the basis of
atonement and satisfaction for sin.
Neither there or in Job does He send Satan and his accusations away.
Satan certainly was right that sin had to be
paid for and atonement made. God’s own
perfect righteousness demands it. He is
not God if sin is not punished and paid for.
You may be absolutely sure, every one of you, that if Christ did not die
for you and pay for your sins there is no possibility at all that you will ever
appear in heaven before God. Even in
the Old Testament it was only on the basis of promised redemption that anyone
could be blessed by God or come into His righteous presence.
The ascension of Christ brings an end to that
evil work of Satan. Instead of merely
rebuking him, war is waged against him once Christ has ascended, and as the
accuser of the brethren he is defeated and banished forever from heaven. A loud voice announces his defeat with the
words: “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and
the power of His Christ” (verse 10).
That raises the question, however, why it is
the ascension of Christ that marks the beginning of this war and downfall of
our accuser.
III. THE OUTCOME
To understand the place and importance of the
ascension in the work of redemption, you must understand that the ascension is
a finishing up and a crown of what Christ began on the cross. There He fully paid for sin, but several
things had to follow.
The resurrection had to follow as God’s seal
on the work of Christ. Christ said on
the cross, “It is finished.” God, as
righteous Judge, says “It is finished” in the resurrection, accepting and
approving Christ’s work.
In the ascension God takes matters one step
further. In the ascension Christ
Himself comes into the most holy place, into God’s heavenly presence and
presents Himself and His blood to God there.
In the ascension, therefore, God is not only approving Christ’s work,
but giving Him His reward as the perfect and obedient servant of Jehovah.
That the ascension, like the resurrection, is
an act of God as Judge and Rewarder, is evident from Revelation 12:5, where the
ascension is described as something that is done to Christ. It is also, you understand, an act of Christ
Himself, just like the resurrection.
When the Bible wants to emphasize that it says, “He ascended.” Sometimes, though, the ascension is
presented as an act of God and as something done to Christ. That is the case here in Revelation
12:5. “The child,” we read, “was
caught up to God and to His throne.”
That is Scripture’s way of saying that God
was doing this to Christ as the reward for His perfect devotion and
obedience. In the ascension God brought
Him to heaven and gave Him there all the blessings of heaven, peace, eternal
bliss, fellowship with God, victory, and life eternal.
Christ receives those things in His human
nature. As God He does not need
them, but as man He had been earthly, humbled, made in the likeness of sinful
flesh, humiliated and suffering. In the
ascension that all changes. He receives
glory and honor and power and victory in His human nature because in that human
nature He had paid for the sins that He had taken as His own.
In receiving all this as the reward of His
work, however, He receives it on our behalf. All the blessings of heaven that He receives as the reward of His
finished work He receives not only for Himself but for us.
Christ not only ascends to heaven to receive
these blessings and rewards for us but to give them to us. We see that here in Revelation 12. As soon as He receives the victory over
Satan it is immediately given to us in that Satan is cast out and his lying and
slanderous accusations forever banished from heaven. How could he remain in
heaven as accuser of the brethren when Christ their elder brother comes there
with the blood of atonement? How could
he be heard when Christ is at the right hand of God making intercession for
God’s people on the basis of His own blood and righteousness?
When Christ’s blood is brought into the most
holy place and sprinkled on the mercy seat there is no longer even the
appearance of any legitimacy to Satan’s accusations and opposition. This is what the Word of God has in mind in
Romans 8:33, 34; “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us.”
Though Satan continues to accuse and oppose
here on earth, none of his lies ever again come to God or are heard in
heaven. The Heidelberg Catechism very
beautifully reminds us of this in Lord’s Day 23 where it teaches that even when
my own conscience (with Satan’s prompting) accuses me that I have grossly
transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them, before God it
is nonetheless the case that it is as if I never had nor had committed any sin.
The Heidelberg Catechism teaches these same things
in the Lord’s Days on the ascension and exaltation to God’s right hand, Lord’s
Day 18 and 19. In heaven, the Catechism
says, He defends and preserves me against all my enemies, not only my enemies
here on earth, but against that great adversary, who until Christ ascended and
sat down at God’s right hand, was able to accuse me even in heaven.
If you see that, beloved saints, then you
know why the ascension is one of those things that must be believed by
Christians. Then you know why it is
celebrated in so many Psalms. Then you
will yourselves believe in the ascension and rejoice with the church over the
war in heaven and over Satan’s defeat in that war.
Remember, then, the words of Psalter #420 and
see their fulfilment in the ascension of Christ, and rejoice in His ascension
with the church in heaven and the church here on earth:
God shall arise and by His might put all His
enemies to flight
With shame and consternation.
His haters, haughty though they be, shall at
His august presence flee
In utter desolation;
For when Jehovah shall appear, He shall
consume afar and near,
All those that evil cherish.
As smoke before His dreadful ire, as wax is
molten by the fire,
So shall the wicked perish.
The Lord is great, His might untold, His chariots
thousand thousand fold,
His armies ne’er confounded.
Among them God with joy displays the glory
that in Moses’ days
Mount Sinai surrounded.
When Thou, O Lord, in glory bright,
ascendedst in the heavenly height
Our captive bonds to sever,
Rich gifts from those who did rebel Thou
didst receive that men might dwell
With Thee, O Lord, forever.
Amen.