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Cast Out. . . When?

      This incident of (verse 4,) the dragon drawing down the stars, preceded the incident of (verse 9), the Lord casting down the dragon.

The former took place before the Lord was born and the latter after His resurrection. This is made manifest in the following paragraphs:

     In the days of Job Satan still had access to heaven, for we are told that: "There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." (Job 1:6-7).

     However, Satan was not cast out of heaven immediately after he

rebelled or even when he caused Adam and Eve to sin. Rather, it must have been after Job's time. But to determine just when, we shall read (verse 13): “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child." He therefore was cast out before he went to persecute the church. This he did at the "time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." (Acts 8:1). This fact is again borne out by the Spirit of Prophecy:

      Triumphantly the Lord was caught up unto God and to His throne ". . . . all are there to welcome the Redeemer. They are eager to celebrate His triumph and to glorify their King. . . .The voice of God is heard proclaiming that justice is satisfied. Satan is vanquished. . . .

     "Satan saw that his disguise was torn away. . . . By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. . .The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken." The Desire of Ages pp. 833, 834, 761.

      Indeed, realizing that he had brought an end to his ever again being in heaven and accusing the brethren, and knowing that his stay even on earth was to be very short, Satan dropped down with great wrath. (See Revelation 12:9-12). . . . The faithful, though, overcome him "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony." They love "not their lives unto death." (Revelation

12:11).








The Flood

     The main point to be noticed in these verses is that after the Dragon and his angels were cast out of Heaven (Satan's second defeat), and after he had persecuted the church, and she had taken her flight into the wilderness, the dragon followed 

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