(7) And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, (8) And prevailed not; neither was their place found anymore in heaven. (9) And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (10) 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. (11) 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. (12) В¶ Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Let the Reader keep in remembrance, that, for the most part, when heaven is spoken of in this book of God is meant the Church. Indeed, it can hardly be necessary to observe, that when it is said there was war in heaven, it could not be supposed is meant, that blessed place, where God dwells, where all is peace, and holiness, and joy. But, the war here mentioned, was, and still is in the Church. Michael by whom is meant Christ, is opposed by Satan, and the conflict must be as is here stated, in the ultimate termination. But during the contest God's dear children, though sure of victory, have many an hard skirmish to sustain from day to day, neither doth the faithful soldier in Christ's army, unbuckle his armor, until the Lord undresseth him for the grave.
But if we consider what is here said, with an especial eye to the Church, at the period Christ had in view, when instructing his servant John, and this also, as leading on by a spirit of prophecy, to the great events then to take place in his Church; and from thence to the end of all things, we must call to remembrance, that this was the period of the Church, after Christ's return to glory, and under the time of the Empire, being heathen, to the time when the Empire professed Christianity, including a space of about three hundred years. And this brings down the history in this Chapter, to the time of the Arian heresy.
So wonderful an event, as that of an whole Empire becoming Christian, (that is professing Christianity, and, no doubt, though multitudes under that character were no other than summer flies basking in the sun-shine of prosperity, yet many of God's dear children being now no longer terrified with the threats and persecutions of their pagan neighbors, were enabled to boast aloud in the God of their salvation), might well be supposed to celebrate the Lord's glory in the change. Hence, the loud voice of John in vision heard in heaven, that is in the Church; Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. And let the Reader observe no less, how the faithful as with one voice, attributed all their victory to the Lord Jesus Christ. So is it now, and so must it be forever, during the whole time-state of the Church upon earth. No victory, but in and by Christ. No washing from sin, but in his blood. No righteousness but his, to justify before God!
And well may the Church rejoice, while the devil grows more and more angry, in the consciousness of the shortness of his triumphs over the Church. For what is the whole of his reign, from the fall of Adam, to the time of his being cast into hell forever. What is six thousand years to eternity? It is no more than a single grain of sand, compared to the globe! I have often thought, if a child of God could but, keep this always in remembrance, every exercise would be as nothing. Day by day lessens all our sorrows. The one of yesterday is gone to be numbered with the years beyond the flood, never more to return. Like boys at school we may cut off the daily notch, which makes the number to the holidays. Shortly; the last will come to be cut off, and then the child of God, hears the chariot wheels of Jesus come to take him home to his Father's house.
While, on the contrary, I have as often thought, how short-lived, the triumphs or the pleasures of the ungodly! How most the man of earth, I mean the christless sinner, ingulphed like Korah and his company in earthly concerns, begrudge every day that passeth. Each night he might say, as the knell of day tolls for its funeral, there's another day gone of my comforts upon earth, and when the last comes, where am I departing? Hence, it is the world dreads to be told of their age, because they dread to die. Reader! with which class are you standing? If new born in Christ, (for that is the only real standard of character), look out, with holy confidence and joy, for the chariot wheels of Jesus! If unawakened, unregenerated, unrenewed in soul, death cannot but be dreadful!