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I have heard you say that Satan is the “restrainer”. How can this be? Wouldn’t this put the timing of the end into Satan’s hands instead of God the Father, Who is sovereign over all?

You are not alone in mistaking my meaning. Let me be clear: I do not believe that Satan will reveal the Antichrist, nor that the Antichrist will be revealed by the will of Satan, and certainly NOT on any creature’s schedule. Quite the contrary, the revelation of the man of sin means that the mystery of iniquity is revealed when Satan is forcibly, and involuntarily cast down by Michael. It is an inference, but it appears that with his dejection from heaven to earth, Satan is forced to enter the body of the mortally wounded beast. By so much, the mystery of iniquity receives final embodiment in the revived body of the Antichrist. This event is ordained to precede the return of Jesus. It is the climax of the 70th week when the “prince that shall come” (Dan 9:26) will be the final embodiment and revelation of the mystery of iniquity. I see the mystery of iniquity as ultimately revealed when Satan becomes fully incarnate (so far as his moral image is concerned) in the man of sin. This is when he is endowed with “all” power, signs and lying wonders and enters the temple to claim divine honor.

Thus, the revelation of the man of sin, who is the ultimate revelation of the mystery of iniquity, is the last thing Satan wants, since from that time, his time is short. His ‘short time’ is shown in Rev 12 to be co-terminus with the last three and half years. Of course, this is the second half of Daniel’s seventieth week, the forty two months that Jerusalem will be trodden down by the invading nations of the gentiles (Rev 11:2).

For more reasons than I can show in short space, the resuscitation of the Antichrist that will astonish the world takes place in the middle of the week, since it is this that apparently moves him to arrogantly enter the temple at Jerusalem to commit the abominable sacrilege that brings the final desolation of Jerusalem. His resurrection is the result of Michael’s victory in heaven that casts him down to earth to fulfill the final woes of the great tribulation.

Satan is forcibly removed by Michael, but Michael is not the one who is restraining, or holding back the final revelation of the mystery of iniquity. It is Satan who stands in the way to resist his own expulsion, since his expulsion means that the kingdom of God can now come in power (Rev 12:10). His removal from heaven spells his end as the ruler of this age. According to Rev 12:10, as long as Satan holds his present place in heaven, the kingdom of God cannot come. Thus we see that in some sense, his presence in heaven stands in the way of the coming of the kingdom (the return of Christ), because until the final mystery of iniquity is revealed (in what I see at the complete incarnation of Satan in the resurrection of the Antichrist), Christ cannot return to finish the mystery of God at the seventh trumpet (2Thes 2:3, 7-8; Rev 10:7; 11:15 w/ Mt 24:31; 1Cor 15:52; Isa 27:13).

The revelation of the Antichrist must come first, and only in God’s appointed time, i.e., the middle of the week. The revelation of the man of sin reveals and brings to final climax the mystery of iniquity that is already at work. Manifestly, this cannot happen so long as Satan retains his place in heaven. He must be cast down to bring the final woes of tribulation, as the now revealed man of sin enters the temple to exalt himself and bring the final desolation / the great tribulation.

When Michael expels him, it seems clear that this is the time when the beast that was, and is not, and yet is lives again to the wonderment and delusion of all the unsaved world. Somehow, Satan’s dejection by Michael forces the final manifestation of Satan in the man of sin who reveals the mystery of iniquity as the full embodiment of the moral nature of Satan in the flesh.

It seems we must infer that Satan has no choice but to enter the fallen body of the Antichrist at the moment he is thrust down by Michael. It is his ultimate exposure, which spells his end and this is the last thing he wants. This is something that he wanted to do with the body of Moses but was resisted by Michael. It is NOT something he will want to do with the body of the Antichrist, but once he sees that he is cast down, his evil nature compels him to try to destroy the elect woman (Israel and the saints) and to usurp the place appointed to the Davidic king (Ps 48:2; Isa 14:13 w/ Dan 11:45).

We believe that Michael removes Satan in the same way he removed the prince of Persia in Dan 10 who was “withstanding” (same Hebrew concept of resistance that is translated ‘hinder’ or ‘withhold’ in 2Thes 2:7) the angelic messenger’s path to bring to Daniel the revelation of what would be “befall your people in the latter days.” It is that revelation given to Daniel that Jesus will send His disciples to search out [“let the reader (reader of Daniel) understand”]. This will not not only alert the believers when the time is upon them, but the revelation of the end is divinely calculated to work something in the saints on earth and in the heavenly order similar to what was stirred in Daniel, when he, through his self abasement and intercession of anguish for his people, received the help of Michael to remove the opposing demon prince of Persia.

I understand 2Thes 2 to be saying that Jesus cannot be expected to return until the one thing holding back His return has taken place first. That is the necessary prior revelation of the man of sin. He reveals in himself the mystery of iniquity that was already at work at the time of Paul’s writing. After Paul reviews what he had told them before, after they have been reminded, he says, “and now (upon Paul’s review and reminder) you know what withholds.”

We know Paul is NOT, at this point, speaking of “who” is restraining. Here the restraint is not personal, as evident from the Greek use of the impersonal neuter pronoun. We must be careful to distinguish the ‘what restrains’ of verse 6 from the ‘who restrains’ of verse 7. So ‘what’ is the ‘what’ of verse 6 that is holding back? And what is being held back?

Something (not a person) is holding back something. I believe the answer is very simple. The necessary prior revelation of the man of sin [an event] is holding back the return of Jesus. This explains why Jesus’ coming cannot be imminent as falsely assumed by those troubling the church by the false report. Paul has just proved (by reminding them again) that Jesus’ return and “our gathering together unto Him” (the subject in view), is being held back by the prior necessity that the man of sin must be revealed first. It is this event (the ‘what’ of verse 6) that must take place first. And ‘now’ (after Paul’s reminder has re-informed them), they know what holds back Jesus’ return, namely, the prior revelation of the mystery of iniquity in the man of sin.

Then, with that established, Paul is reminded of a ‘who’ that is holding back the revelation of the man of sin. Just who Paul has in view may be a mystery to us, but it was no mystery to him. Doubtless, when he taught the Thessalonians on his first visit that the man of sin must be revealed first (“do you not remember? I told you of these things before”), he may have told them also of the necessity of Satan’s necessary removal in notable analogy to Michael’s removal of the demon prince of Persia (Dan 10).

I believe this is the background for Paul’s understanding and revelation, very possibly current among some of the apostolic apostles and prophets, that just as Michael had made the way open for Daniel’s revelation, Satan would, in like manner, be “taken out of the way” in order for the man of sin to be revealed so that the kingdom of God might come on earth with the return of Jesus. This is that great “finishing of the mystery of God” that comes with the seventh trumpet (Rev 10:7). Whether others beside Paul has this revelation, it is plain that others would have it when John would write his revelation. According to Rev 12, with Michael’s removal of Satan, the kingdom is announced as having arrived in great power. Observe: Satan is cast down and only then can the kingdom of God come. That is not too different from Paul’s point that until the restrainer is removes, Christ cannot return.

I hope I have at least made clear that in no sense does Satan reveal the Antichrist. That is not his will at all! Quite the opposite, he is the one opposing the revelation, since this will mean his time is short and his grip on the earth and long resistance of the kingdom of God is about to be finally and utterly broken. It is Michael, at the command and set timing of God (in response, we suggest, to something accomplished corporately in the church in analogy to Daniel), who sends Michael to remove Satan from heaven and casts him down to earth to begin the woes of the last 42 months as the man of sin becomes the full power of Satan revealed in the flesh, as the fit antithesis to the mystery of Godliness.

I urge that you pray and ask the Lord for understanding. If this is true revelation for these last days, then it follows that it is more than the natural mind can receive or digest, as even with me, it seems to fade in and fade out. Truly, it’s hard to wrap our minds around such things. How can it be a good thing that the man of sin is revealed when it will mean great woe? Of course, it canNOT, unless the revelation of this very evil thing is indispensably necessary to the coming of the kingdom on earth.

I hope I have helped instead of confusing you further. If what I am saying here is essentially the truth, it remains to be seen what use God will make of it in the days ahead. I’ve always felt it will be very important to the saints in the first half of the week as they, in analogy to Daniel, knowing the time has come, will be constrained into a fullness of intercessory travail that will be used of God in relation to Michael’s decisive intervention.

There is something about the certainty of the time, as also true of Daniel (Dan 9:2), and the confluence of fulfilled prophecy, that will be used of God to straighten the church to apostolic fullness. This can be seen in Dan 11:32-35; 12:3, 10 in the case of the ‘maskilim’ (those having insight / understanding) and significantly, this anointing follows immediately upon the desolating sacrilege of Dan 11:31, which we know is the middle of the week (Dan 9:27; 12:11).

Again, it is equally significant that this is the same time that the two witnesses receive power. Could it be that they are not the only ones receiving power at this time? This is also the time that the overcoming martyr church receives strength, power, and the kingdom of His Messiah, as they love not their lives to the death (Rev 12:10). It all adds up to something very transitional in the midst of the week that is happening both in the realm of the Spirit and the realm of the demonic. Kingdoms are clashing ultimately. What is disastrous for the earth dwellers (those who have their sensual lives in this evil age) is a broken, bitter sweet revelation and release of unspeakable glory and kingdom power for those who have their citizenship in heaven. Something glorious is birthed as something ultimately evil is exposed.

Your friend in Christ, Reggie

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Two Questions: Why it is that you say the kingdom cannot come in its fullness so long as Satan retains access to heaven? We know that Satan accuses the saints in heaven but why is that related to the mystery of lawlessness being fully revealed on earth?

Let me build to my answer. When Paul says the day of the Lord can’t come until the man of sin is revealed, he further shows that the coming of the man of sin brings to final revelation the mystery of iniquity that is presently at work. But before this mystery can be revealed, someone who is holding back that revelation will continue to do so until “he” (personal pronoun) is removed (I believe forcibly). As you know, I believe that someone is Satan. We see the evidence for the background of Paul’s insight in Dan 10 where the heavenly messenger is “hindered and opposed” (‘withstood’) by the opposing “prince of Persia.” So for Christ to return, this man must first come, as he is the personal embodiment of the revelation of a mystery that must first be revealed before Christ can return.

In Revelation we see a similar pattern. There, it is said that the kingdom of God has NOW come, precisely because Satan has been cast down by Michael. The question is, does he continue to accuse the saints after he has been cast down, or has something happened in his dejection that has denied him access to the conscience from that time and forward. In other words, does this transitional point at the middle of the week accomplish something in the realm of the Spirit that not only removes Satan from his former hindrance to the coming of the kingdom, but from his prosecution against the conscience. Whether this extends to every born again child of God, or to an overcoming minority at this point, I cannot tell with certainty. I suspect the latter, because I think this signifies a great sanctification, and fullness of revelation and power for a first-fruits company that are very aware they are facing the final persecution.

I am suggesting that in some special sense, the heavenly victory of Michael marks not only the beginning of the tribulation in Satan’s embodiment of the Antichrist, but also a point from which Satan is no longer able to wage war against the consciences of believers that have come through to something transitional through the preparation of the first half of the week. I am not claiming it as settled revelation, but I strongly infer that when Satan is cast down, and this is not before the middle of the week when Michael stands up, something has also ended of his ability to accuse the brethren.

That this is something that has been accessible all throughout the inter-advent period when believers gain the victory of full assurance and the power that this brings, I do not doubt. What I’m suggesting is that the glorious gospel of Christ is being so deeply apprehended corporately at this time that Satan’s hindrance of believers in the realm of heart and conscience is also being greatly removed. There appears to be a finality to his ability to accuse the brethren from that time and forward, as the church comes into its tribulation fullness. See what I mean?

We’re agreed that the standing up of Michael in Dan 12:1 and Rev 12:7-14 is clearly at the beginning of the tribulation, coinciding with Satan’s “short time” (Rev 12:12). Thus it is that Satan’s removal from his place in heaven is the removal of the hindrance to the revelation of the mystery of iniquity in the man of sin, which stands in the way of the coming of the day of the Lord / kingdom of God. Manifestly, then, there is some sense in which Satan holds this place in heaven until he is forcibly removed by Michael (BTW, the Holy Spirit, who is God, does not require to be “taken out of the way”). Simply put, the coming of the day of the Lord is the equivalent of the coming of the kingdom. This cannot happen till the restrainer (Satan) has been dislodged from his place in heaven, a place that he, in some sense, retains until the Michael ejects him at the mid-point of Daniel’s last week. When the cast down Satan takes up full residence in the revived body of the AC, this fulfills the mystery of iniquity, which must be revealed before Christ can come to gather His elect. You’ll remember the case I made that the 70 week prophecy is structured around these two great, age defining mysteries (1Tim 3:16; 2Thes 2:7) that take their departure from the seed promise of Gen 3:15, how that the age is bounded by these two mysteries explains the gap between the gap between the 69th and the 70th weeks of Daniel.

“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.” Rev 12:10
 
Since it cannot be denied that there remains some sense in which Satan holds a place of resistance in heaven until he is forcibly thrust down by Michael, it becomes very significant that the shout of jubilation in Rev 12:10 declares mighty presence of the kingdom that comes 3 1/2 years BEFORE Satan is bound at Christ’s return. The “NOW” of Rev 12:10 must be emphasized. Why now? Obviously, the thing for which the kingdom of God has long waited has taken place. Therefore, not 3 1/2 years later when Christ returns, but “NOW is come salvation, strength, the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ!” The now of the kingdom’s powerful presence is not advent of kingdom in the sense of the 7th angel of Rev 11:15-18 or the finishing of the mystery of God in Rev 10:7. Rather, the “now” comes at the moment Michael cast Satan down to begin his ‘short time.’

The once and for all removal of the one who has been hindering the fall coming of the kingdom is greeted by the host of heaven with unbounded jubilation and the kingdom is pronounced at the point to have “now” come. This leaves the question, is the jubilation only because the kingdom “may” now come, or that in some powerful way, the “power of the kingdom” has come with the casting down of Satan? I believe it is the latter. This marks a point of powerful transition, not only for the mystery of iniquity, but for an unprecedented victory of the saints on earth over the accuser’s ability to accuse. It is not incidental that this is also the time of the great anointing, not only of the two witnesses, but of the maskilim who are strong doing exploits, instructing and turning many to righteousness (Dan 11:32-35; 12:3), responsible, I believe, for the tribulation harvest beyond human ability to count.

It is significant that immediately AFTER the abomination of desolation is described in Dan 11:31, the next verses speak of the power and anointing that is on the maskilim. This also marks the time of the greatest harvest that comes out of “the tribulation, the great one.” It suggests to me that the anointing of power is not only coming on the two witnesses at this time, but the godly remnant, the true body of Christ in the earth. Why? Precisely because the casting down of the accuser has meant a great heavenly victory of overcoming power for the church facing the last persecution. I am suggesting that something mighty and transitional has happened in heaven and earth that releases this break-through of great anointing and power. What can it be? It is not just incidental to the intersection of the time. Something or rather someone has been removed and there is an open heaven of access and grace that is unprecedented since the apostolic period. This, I believe, is related to our battle with the veil that is only as dense as the flesh is strong. It has to do with revelation and the power that comes when we are the more greatly emptied of subtlety of a residual tendency to put any confidence in the flesh. Before Jacob is brought to the end of his power, the church will have been emptied of the last measure of the sinful tendency to put any confidence in the flesh.

I know at first hearing, this may sound quite speculative, but I submit, as scripture is clear, that there is a profound connection between a believer’s lingering self sufficiency and the access of the accuser to that believer’s conscience, even as John would speak of some through weakness of faith are condemned in their hearts, though God, who is greater than our hearts, is not at all party to this sense of condemnation. All’s to say, something has happened with the casting down of Satan, particularly in his role as accuser of the brethren, that not only removes the barrier to the coming of the kingdom through the revelation of the mystery of iniquity, on the dark side, so to speak, but on the side of light, the accuser has, in some unprecedented sense, lost access to the consciences of believers. Certainly that access is, and has always been illicit. Still, believers have suffered and been hindered by Satan’s illicit accusations.

This coming victory in heaven is not something that is entirely new. It began, of course, with the ascended victory of Christ. I believe that what we have in Rev 12, as prelude to the tribulation, is a mighty enforcement of the authority and power of that once and for all triumph. Something happens at the middle of the week in that great transition in heaven that permits a much greater “corporate” fullness for the church. Something transformative appears to take place that permits the corporate body to receive a special and timely anointing that I can only conceive of as a deeper apprehension and appropriation of the power of the gospel. There are other clear markers that indicate that this comes precisely when Michael gains that mighty victory in heaven that starts the tribulation, which is undeniably Satan’s ‘short time’ of the final 3 1/2 years. This is the time of great transition and break-through that not only anoints the two witnesses with power, but the whole company of the maskilim, as shown in Dan 11:31-35; 12:3, 10. All of this stands in remarkable analogy to Daniel’s great break through, when, through his self-abasement and intercession, Michael dislodged the opposing prince of Persia. This is coming for the church. It will thrust Satan down to reveal the mystery of iniquity by his incarnation in the risen Antichrist and thus finish the mystery of God in Christ’s return (Rev 10:7).

There’s a correlation between the believer’s abiding sufficiency and the accuser’s access to the conscience. This will be greatly broken by the remnant’s heavenly victory and release to fullness, as the first half of the week constrains the church through amazing prophetic fulfillment and knowledge of the time, to a deep corporate self-emptying, as Daniel abased, himself. This will be answered in Michael’s mighty intervention. It is the nexus between the time, the corporate travail (intercessory priesthood) of the church (till Christ be formed in Israel), and revelation of Daniel’s sealed vision in gospel clarity and fullness, as realized corporately for the final martyr witness. Daniel is the key, not only his prophecy, but in his intercessor’s travail in sync with the definite knowledge of the time, which also limits the power of the flesh. This is how I see a connection between the accuser’s displacement and the power that comes on the church at that time.

On the dark side, the mystery of iniquity is Satan’s forced occupation of the fallen body of the Antichrist. As much as the fallen nature could only be by passed through the miracle of the virgin birth, the death and descent of the Antichrist accomplishes the exact opposite. In order for him to become the fullness of Satan in the flesh, all the residue of the image of God, conscience (or whatever that realm of soul or humanity should be called) must be entirely removed. This happens through the death and resurrection of the Antichrist. This is how the “revelation” of the man of sin is so much more than merely that he can be identified. His identity would have become plain much earlier through the deeds that are described of him in Daniel in the verses leading up to the abomination of desolation.

The revelation of the mystery of iniquity happens when Satan, now cast down, is forced, quite against his will, to take up a full and unlimited residence (not in terms of absolute localization, but in terms of the unlimited fullness of his nature, similar in that sense to Jesus as the perfection of His Father’s moral nature, but not so unlimited as Father in terms of omniscience and ubiquity). This is what he wanted to do with the body of Moses, I suppose in order to deceive Israel. With the mortal wound, the 7th beast descends into the abyss and rises as the eighth. He is now the composite beast, incorporating in one all the former heads of the beast kingdoms. As such, he is the “beast who was (as the 7th), and is not and yet is.” The eighth is the risen seventh. I see this as an actual demonic resurrection that is the exact opposite of the kind of life that God gives. It is permitted for the sake of an ultimate exposure that must come before the kingdom can come. It fulfills the last remaining mystery that must be revealed in order for the kingdom of God to come. Contrary to popular opinion, this is the last thing that Satan wants, since it will mean his time is almost over.

Certainly one cannot with bold conviction declare such a thing apart from the full assurance of clear revelation that cannot be received second hand, but I believe the day is not far off when witnesses will declare this. Jews everywhere will be confronted, not only with the prophetic evidence of the gospel, but with this awesome sign that will strongly confirm the warnings that have come from the disciples of Jesus, a warning that Isa 28 shows will be rejected in the first half of the week. It will be well considered in the second half, as I believe this is a principal reason why such a comparatively large number of Jews will escape what would otherwise have been certain death.

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Help me be clear on this one point:

2 Thes. 2:6 And you know what is restraining…

My view is a bit unique on 2 Thes 2:6, and not critical to our position. It follows Paul’s main point of correction, that the Day of the Lord cannot come before the prior revelation of the Man of Sin. In my reading, the “what” that is holding back in verse 6 is this necessarily preceding event.

After reviewing the order of events, Paul says, “and now you know what withholds.” What withholds what? I believe Paul is saying that the necessary prior revelation of the Man of Sin is withholding (holding back) the Day of the Lord. Paul has just reviewed with the Thessalonians the very order of events of which he informed them at his earlier visit. “Do you not remember that when I was with you, I told you these things.” Commentators plead modest ignorance of what it might have been that Paul told the Thessalonians at his first visit. But this seems no mystery at all. He told them then what he is telling them now again, i.e., that the Antichrist must comes first.

Having gone over this now a second time, he says, “And now you know what withholds or holds back (the Day of the Lord). Contrary to the hasty conclusion of those who had forgotten or misconstrued Paul’s earlier teaching, Christ cannot come until the Man of Sin has first been revealed, and now, with Paul’s clarification, they know what withholds Christ’s return. That’s how I read it, but as I said, it’s not crucial to the meaning.

With mention of the event (revelation of the Antichrist) that hinders Christ’s return, it seems to me that this moves Paul’s thought naturally on to the person who is hindering the revelation of the Antichrist. This time it is not a ‘what’ (neuter in the Greek), as in verse 6, but a ‘who’ (personal masculine pronoun) that is withholding or hindering the revelation of the the mystery of the iniquity.

Paul conceives of the future revelation of the Man of Sin as the end of a mystery that is already presently at work. This moves his thought to mention of a person that hinders the revelation of the mystery of iniquity. In other words, consideration of the ‘what’ (a thing or event) that is restraining the Day of the Lord moves Paul’s thought to the “who” that is hindering the revelation of the mystery that was presently working at the time of Paul’s writing. [Of course, it is the mystery that has been at work since the fall.] This is what must be revealed before Christ can return. The mystery is revealed in the Man of Sin; but there is one who is now hindering this revelation who will continue to hinder until he is taken out of the way.

Now the question comes; what is the mystery of iniquity? We know that it has its end in the revelation of the Man of Sin, whom Paul distinguishes as the one who sits in the temple of God in Jerusalem (2Thes 2:4 with Dan 11:31, 36; 12:11; Mt 24:15-16; Rev 11:2). We know what the mystery of godliness is (1Tim 3:16). It is the incarnation of the seed of the woman, “the anointed Prince,” in Jesus, as the incarnate Word. What else would the mystery of iniquity be but the incarnation of the seed of the Serpent? (the “coming prince” of Dan 9:26).

From here, we work backward to the probable background of Paul’s thought in Michael’s role in the revelation that came to Daniel with the removal of the demonic prince of Persia, and forward to the key to interpretation provided in John’s Apocalypse, particularly chapter 12.

In Dan chap 10, the revelation that has been hindered (withstood) for 21 days is able to break through to Daniel when Michael arrives to remove the opposing, demonic Prince of Persia that was blocking the revelation of what shall befall the Jewish people in the latter days.This also points to the role of the believer in the heavenly war, which has great implications for the tribulation church in Michael’s heavenly victory over Satan.

Now, in Rev 12, we see that the power of the kingdom comes precisely when Satan is cast down by Michael (Rev 12:10). This is not the first advent, since it begins Satan’s “short time” of the last 3 1/2 years (Rev 12:6, 12, 14). That’s what Paul has been writing about. The coming of the day of the Lord, which is also the time the kingdom comes with the sounding of the seventh angel (compare Rev 10:7; 11:15). But notice; before the kingdom can come (just as it is in 2Thes 2:3, 7-8 before Jesus can come), there is someone in the way who has to be removed. In Rev 12, it is clearly Satan, who is “forcibly” removed by the agency of Michael. This stands in marked analogy to Michael’s role in the removal of the demonic principality that was opposing (hindering) the vital revelation from getting through to Daniel.

When Satan is cast down, his time is short. Now, with Michael’s expulsion of Satan, the revelation of the mystery of iniquity can be revealed in the full incarnation of Satan. This sets in motion the 3 1/2 years that ends in the finishing of the mystery of God (Rev 10:7), but in order for the mystery of God to be finished, the mystery of iniquity must first be revealed, and we may be sure, Satan dreads this event, because it will mean that his time is short.

This concept requires a major shift in our thinking. Our thought has always been that if the coming of the Antichrist is the greatest evil, then only something or someone good could possibly be interested to hinder the coming of Antichrist. Why would Satan be interested to resist the coming of the one in whom he will be fully incarnate? Isn’t this what Satan has always wanted?

It is just the opposite, On the contrary, Satan knows that when the mystery of iniquity is revealed in this final incarnation of the Serpent’s seed, his time is short. In just 3 1/2 years he will be completely bound, as the mystery of God is finished. Significantly, it is when Satan is cast down that the announcement is made, “Now is come salvation, and strength, the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Messiah.” Why now? It is “because the accuser of our brethren is cast down” (Rev 12:10).

At the same time that Satan’s hindrance ends, his “short time” of unequaled persecution of the woman and the saints has just begun. “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” (Rev 12:12). That short time is manifestly the last 3 1/2 years of this age, the last half of Daniel’s seventieth week. It is NOT a mere symbol of the entire inter-advent period, as held by many commentators.

Manifestly, there is a connection between the end of Satan’s tenure in heaven and the revelation of this mystery on earth. I say it is an “illicit” tenure, because though the cross and resurrection, the “prince of this world” has already been cast out, the principalities exposed, carried captive, destroyed, and dispossessed. This is another example of the already and the not yet of the kingdom that comes by degree and in stages, as the once and for all victory of Christ is enforced in heaven and earth by the the enforcement of the Spirit through the truth of the revelation of the gospel in the people of God. This is NOT some kind of dominion-ism. On the contrary, this kingdom power comes through weakness and the destruction of every carnal confidence, the self-emptying of the cross.

It appears that the perfect and complete victory of the cross is further enforced in heaven by Michael and the angels through the revelation, faith, and prayers of the saints on earth in conjunction with the predetermined time of Daniel’s last week. Satan is, in one sense, completely and finally defeated in the work of Christ; that’s true. But this victory must be enforced in the heavens and on earth by the saints who follow in the way of the cross.

Surely something of this nature must be inferred, since the context of Rev 12 leaves no question that Satan still retains access to the heavenly realm until he is forcibly cast down by Michael to begin the last 3 1/2 years. And we may well expect that Michael’s victory in heaven will not be unrelated to a new corporate fullness to which the church has come through the press and preparation of the signal events leading up to this great transition, particularly those of the first half of the week. I believe the godly remnant will be ‘straightened’ to a Daniel like urgency of travail and intercession that will be answered in Michael’s age ending victory in heaven. The implications of this great middle of the week transition is vast.

This is where we can infer the role of an intercessory travail of the church in analogy to Daniel. I like to say that when the church will ‘travail,’ Michael will ‘prevail.’ Not incidentally, this is when power is given to the two witnesses, and I believe also to the ‘maskilim’ (those having understanding, or persons of insight; see Dan 11:32-33; 12:3, 10).

This is the time of great anointing for the final witness of the ‘maskilim’ (those who understand) in the face of an unprecedented world wide persecution of the church and Israel. We can only imagine what this victory in heaven will mean for the power and witness of the suffering saints of the last 3 1/2 years. We know that it results in an evangelism that saves an innumerable host out of “the tribulation, the great one” (Rev 7:9, 13-14). This is not tribulation in general; it is specifically the unequaled tribulation of short duration that ends the age and finished the mystery of God (Rev 10:7). This will be the greatest evangelism of the lost that the world has ever seen.

Yours in the Beloved, Reggie

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