His Time is Almost Up
What do we do when we feel ourselves despairing under the weight of the Devil’s attacks and accusations? How do we bear up under the bitter words of, "the great Accuser of our brothers" (Rev. 12:10)? We can do it in part through the hope that Revelation 12:7-12 gives us that Satan’s time is almost up.
Rev. 12:7-12 says,
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels waring against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was not strong enough, and there was no place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Because of this, rejoice, o heavens and those who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil went down to you in great anger knowing that his time is short.”
Now, we are not in the heavens, but on the earth. So why should this give us hope — particularly if we’re the ones experiencing the great anger, the rage, of our Accuser? This gives us hope because if you feel the weight of the devil’s accusations on your soul, if you feel like he is raging over you, Rev. 12:12 reminds you what that rage really means and what it doesn’t mean.
It doesn’t mean that the devil is about to have victory over you.
It doesn’t mean that you have sinned so badly that Christ will not save you (which is not possible or Christ wouldn’t be the Savior scripture tells us he is - see John 10:27-30).
It doesn’t mean you have sinned so badly that you are now devoid of value as a human and unworthy of love.
No, all the rage actually means is that the Devil is angry because his time is short. It’s actually not even about you. It’s about him. It’s about how he’s furious that he’s already lost because Christ’s blood has won the forgiveness of sins (Mt. 26:28; Rev. 12:11) and the erasure of all the Devil’s accusations.
This means his rage is not the sound of his victory over you, but really just the angry sound of his defeat. It’s not the confirmation that you are lost, but the confirmation that in Christ, you have been found and all this pain will be over soon.
So when we hear the Accuser’s bitter accusations, Rev. 12:12 reminds us we should not fear or despair like those who have no hope (though the pain of the accusations and afflictions are great). Instead, we should take heart. For if we listen carefully, what we hear behind all that rage is not our doom, but the faint ticking of a clock, reminding us that his time is almost up…