War in Heaven is a concept in Christian eschatology. The term occurs only once in the New Testament at Revelation 12:7. Though the term does not occur in the Hebrew Bible, parallels have been drawn from various passages regarding Fallen angels in the Book of Genesis, and the Book of Isaiah. Some also suggest apocalyptic parallels in the Book of Daniel as well. The Book of Enoch and a small number of Dead Sea Scrolls also allude to this concept. In the Book of Revelation, the War in Heaven is a battle between Michael the Archangel and his angels against the "dragon" (or, in the Good News Translation, the "serpent") and his angels. The latter did not prevail and were forced out of heaven, cast down to the earth as fallen angels.
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The Book of Revelation opens with the words, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place", includes in those events a War in Heaven.
Revelation consists principally of eschatological visions.[2] Among its visions of things to come is one of "a great sign in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars",[3] and of "another sign in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems, whose tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth", and which unsuccessfully planned to devour the pregnant woman's child.[4] This is followed by:
The number of angels involved was taken to be a third of the total number because Revelation 12:4 speaks of the dragon's tail casting a third of the stars of heaven to the earth, before the start of the "war in heaven" Revelation 12:7.
There are few Dead Sea Scrolls that allude to the concept of a War in Heaven, such as: the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (SSS) Song 5, 11Q13, 1QM and 4Q491-497.
Based on the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, James R. Davila describes song five as having an eschatological war in heaven that is similar to the events in 11Q13 and Revelation. Davila suggests that Melchizedek, who is mentioned both in 11Q13 and SSS 4Q401-11, may be a divine warrior who is involved in the conflict with Michael the Archangel in the futurist sense.[5][6] The War Scroll (1QM), also known as War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, mentions angels who carry on a War in heaven while the Sons of Light combat the Sons of Darkness on Earth. During the last of the seven battles, the angels intervene to aid the Sons of Light. These angels of Light identify with the archangel Michael, while the angels of darkness identify with Belial.[7]
The Book of Daniel contains apocalyptic imagery of heavenly warfare between Michael as national angel of Israel and the "princes" (or archangels) of Persia and Greece.[9]
Parallels are drawn to the passage in Isaiah 14:4-17 that mentions the Morning star that had "fallen from heaven" and was "cast down to the earth". In verse 12 of this passage, the Hebrew word that referred to the morning star was translated into Latin as Lucifer. With the application to the Devil of the morning star story, "Lucifer" was then applied to him as a proper name. The Jewish Encyclopedia states that the myth concerning the Morning star was transferred to Satan by the first century before the Christian era, citing in support of this view the Life of Adam and Eve and the Slavonic Book of Enoch 29:4, 31:4, where Satan-Sataniel is described as having been one of the archangels. Because he contrived "to make his throne higher than the clouds over the earth and resemble 'My power' on high", Satan-Sataniel was hurled down, with his angels, and since then he has been flying in the air continually above the abyss. According to Jewish thought, the passage in Isaiah was used to prophesy the fate of the King of Babylon, who is described as aiming to rival God.[10]
Modern Bible commentaries, in general, view this passage as an eschatological vision of the end of time or as a reference to spiritual warfare within the church, seeing it as "not (as in Milton's Paradise Lost) the story of the origin of Satan/Lucifer as an angel who rebelled against God in primeval times."[11]
The motif of the fall of Satan and his angels can be found in both Jewish and Christian angelology and Christian art, and the concept of fallen angels, angels, who for rebelling against God, were degraded and condemned to a life of mischief or shame on earth or in a place of punishment, is widespread.[12]
As a result of linking this motif with the cited passage of the Book of Revelation the casting of Satan down from Heaven, which other versions of the motif present as an action of God himself, has become attributed to the Archangel Michael at the conclusion of a war between two groups of angels.
In John Milton's (1608–1674) Paradise Lost, a war in heaven follows the rebellion by Satan and other angels before the Fall of Man. A third of the angels are hurled from Heaven, who include pagan gods such as Molech and Belial.[13]
Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) said in his sermon, Wisdom Displayed in Salvation, "Satan and his angels rebelled against God in heaven, and proudly presumed to try their strength with his. And when God, by his almighty power, overcame the strength of Satan, and sent him like lightning from heaven to hell with all his army; Satan still hoped to get the victory by subtilty".[14]
Frederick Holweck, in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), article St. Michael the Archangel, wrote: "St. John speaks of the great conflict at the end of time, which reflects also the battle in heaven at the beginning of time." He added that Michael's name "was the war-cry of the good angels in the battle fought in heaven against the enemy and his followers."[15]
Some Christian commentators have seen the war in heaven as "not literal" but symbolic of events on earth.[16][17]
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormons) believe that Revelation 12 concerns the pre-mortal existence of man and take the scripture literally, except that the "War in Heaven" is considered a spiritual, not physical war. The Book of Moses, which is a part of their standard works, references the War in Heaven and the origin of Satan as a fallen angel of light. This image of a war in heaven at the end of time became added to the story of a fall of Satan at the beginning of time,[18] including not only Satan but other angels as well, in view of the phrase "the dragon and his angels".[19]
A number of catalysts have been proposed to explain the rebellion of the Devil. All of them essentially stem from his pride, via various means. The possible means suggested include:
The Judeo-Christian tradition has stories about angelic beings cast down from heaven by God, often presenting the punishment as inflicted in particular on Satan. The name Lucifer, the Latin name (literally "Light-Bearer" or "Light-Bringer") for the morning star (the planet Venus in its morning appearances), is often given to the Devil in these stories. The brilliancy of the morning star, which eclipses all other stars, but is not seen during the night, may be what gave rise to myths such as the Babylonian story of Ethana and Zu, who was led by his pride to strive for the highest seat among the star-gods on the northern mountain of the gods (an image present also in Ezekiel 28:14), but was hurled down by the supreme ruler of the Babylonian Olympus.[10] Stars were then regarded as living celestial beings,[10][24]
The fall of superhuman beings punished for opposing gods is also witnessed in Greek mythology. Homer's Iliad says Hephaestus was cast down from the heavenly threshold by Zeus and landed on the island of Lemnos nearly dead.[25] Hesiod's Theogony recounts that the gods, after defeating the Titans, hurled them down to Tartarus (the Titanomachy) as far beneath the earth as earth is beneath the sky.[26]