Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,
The last message addressed the fact Jesus’ Second Coming will be in two stages: first appearance, alone, at Bozrah and the second appearance at the Mount of Olives with His Saints. We saw, from The Scriptures, the events leading into the Jews escaping to Bozrah (modern day Petra in Southwestern Jordan), what will occur at Bozrah, why this occurs, and we left off with Jesus arriving in the second stage of His Second Coming at the Mount of Olives. In this message, we’ll step back a little and address a specific event to take place shortly after the start of the middle of the Tribulation. The understanding of this event will likely surprise many since we’ve been taught wrongly in many churches for years. We’ll correct this, as always, through The Scriptures and not based on opinion or interpretation.
If you’re like me, we were raised to believe satan was banished from Heaven by God after the fall of Adam and Eve or before the creation of Adam and Eve or even after Jesus ascended to Heaven with His blood. If I were to tell you satan still has access to Heaven and to God’s Throne Room right now, would this surprise you? Let’s see that God’s Word has to say about this.
The Holy Spirit, through Paul, teaches us in Ephesians 6:12 there are four categories, or echelons, of evil spiritual beings, or forces, trying to exert their influence over us. The categories are titles: principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesian 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
The “spiritual wickedness in high places” refers to evil spiritual beings occupying the heavens, including the third Heaven. Let’s look at the mentions of satan’s access to the third Heaven and to God in The Scriptures.
Job 1:6-7
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before The LORD, and satan came also among them.
7 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.
Note that when we see “LORD” in capital letters, it is referring to “Yahweh.”
We know Job lived AFTER, and the Book of Job was written AFTER, satan’s original rebellion. Yet, we see satan still has access to God’s Throne Room.
Job 2:1-2
1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before The LORD, and satan came also among them to present himself before The LORD.
2 And The LORD said unto satan, From whence comest thou? And satan answered The LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Job 2:1-2 is yet a second time, and separate event, where we see that satan has access to the Throne Room of God. So, what does satan do, today, in Heaven? He makes accusations against us, the Believers, to God. If satan still has access today, when does he get kicked out, or banished from, Heaven?
Revelation 12:7-8
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 any more in heaven.
Revelation 12:7-8 is wrongly used by many to teach satan was kicked out of Heaven and banished when he first rebelled against God. The problem with using these verses is they describe a future event and not a past event. In fact, Revelation 12:7-8 still hasn’t occurred. When will it happen? We must look to what Jesus said in Matthew 24:29 for the timing.
Matthew 24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Notice Jesus says, “immediately after the tribulation of those days.” I can’t go into great detail but let me say this phrase doesn’t mean “after the tribulation.” It means after the tribulation of “those days.” What days? We must look back in context to what Jesus was speaking to in the previous verses. Notice in Matthew 24:15 Jesus is speaking to the abomination of desolation. When does this occur? At the immediate mid-point of the seven-year Tribulation. Jesus tells the Jews in Judaea when this occurs to flee into the mountains. The “mountains” are the Edomite Mountains where Bozrah, modern-day Petra, is located. Verse 21 speaks to the start of the “Great Tribulation” which is the second half of the seven-year Tribulation. Jesus goes on to say don’t believe any false sightings of The Messiah you may hear of because The Messiah will have an appearance with a definitive sign in the heavens all the world will see at once. Then Jesus, in Verse 28, tells us the remnant of Jews, the carcase, will be surrounded by Gentile nations, the eagles, led by the antichrist, at Bozrah. In Verse 29, there is a shift. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days” refers to the previous days just described. We are still early in the start of the second half of the Tribulation. Notice Jesus describes the physical condition of the earth and the heavens. We’ll speak to this in a minute. Jesus says, “and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” Jesus is referring to satan and his kingdom of darkness, his angels, that are spoken of earlier in Ephesians 6:12, “spiritual wickedness in high places.” The Holy Spirit says the same thing through John in Revelation 12:8: “neither was their place found any more in Heaven.” Jesus tells us “when” in Matthew, but He doesn’t provide any details. John provides “details,” but he doesn’t tell us when.
What we can see from The Scriptures is satan and some of his angels still have access to Heaven. This will end, according to Jesus, shortly after the abomination of desolation. satan will attack Heaven with his angels and will be defeated by Michael and the angels of God according to Revelation 12:7-8. He and all his kingdom of darkness will be banished from Heaven forever.
The demise of satan happens in three steps:
- He’s banished from Heaven (Revelation 12:7-8)
- He’s chained to the bottomless pit during the Millennium (Revelation 20:1-3)
- He’s thrown into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10)
Revelation 12:9
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.”
“Cast out” is found three times in the verse indicating a once and for all condition for satan and his angels.
John refers to satan in five different ways in this one verse:
- The great dragon – because of his great wickedness and cruelty.
- That old serpent – because of his cause of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.
- The Devil – “Devil” is made up of two words: “de” = “through” and “abolos”
= “to throw, to continually throw at something until you break through.”
- “satan” = “adversary.” The Adversary wants to hurt that which God loves – the Jews and the Believers. Satan cannot hurt God, proper. The only way he can hurt God is to hurt God’s children.
- The one who deceives the world.
Even though The Scriptures doesn’t tell us this, we know from satan’s character that he immediately appeared before God when Adam and Eve sinned and accused them.
Even today satan still operates the way he did 6,000 years ago. He misleads us through his only three weapons: temptation, deception, and condemnation. His misleading causes doubt, unbelief, and/or fear, which leads to his ability to steal from us, to kill us, and to destroy us. Every time he misleads us, he accuses us before God. The wonderful news for us is we have Jesus, sitting at God’s right hand, interceding for us every second of every minute of every day of every year. In other words, non-stop. He doesn’t slumber or sleep in performing His role of intercession for us.
In Matthew 24:29, Jesus also gives us an idea of what the conditions will be like on the earth at this point.
Matthew 24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Jesus speaks to the darkening of the sun, the moon not shining, and the stars falling from heaven. Remember, this is all occurring just after the mid-point of the Tribulation. Matthew 24:29 is also described in detail in Revelation 6:12-17.
Revelation 6:12-17
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of The Lamb:
17 For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
When the events of Revelation 6:12-17 (sixth seal) occur, it will only be the 21st-24th month of the 42-month Great Tribulation (second half of the Tribulation). Everyone will think it’s the end of the world, and they’ll wish it was, but it is not.
Revelation 6:12
“Great earthquake” – Greek word, “megassicemos.” It means “huge earthquake.” This will be an earthquake unlike the earth has ever experienced and will cause a polar shift. The earthquake will cause the tectonic plates to shift causing active and dormant volcanoes to erupt and cause more earthquakes. The volcanoes will spew incredible amounts of ash, dust, steam, and gases into the sky causing the sun to be darkened and the moon to appear blood red during the day and will be dark at night. This is just the beginning. And it will remain this way until Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives, many months later.
Revelation 6:13
“Stars” – Greek word, “astare.” This means “asteroids. Almost all meteorites come from asteroids. Therefore, asteroids and meteorites will be falling upon the earth.
Jesus used this same Greek word, “astares,” when He said in Matthew 24:29, “the stars shall fall from heaven.” This will wipe out cities and people. But this is not the worst of it.
These events will cause a polar axis shift. The polar axis is a magnetic line that runs from the north of the earth, through the earth, to the south of the earth (north pole to south pole). The earth is currently tilted at 23.5 degrees. The earth spins on this axis as it revolves around the sun, counterclockwise.
The polar axis of the earth is pointed at the North Star. It continues to point at the North Star as the earth revolves around the sun creating seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall). The tsunami that hit Sumatra and Sri Lanka on December 26, 2004, was caused by a Category 9.2 – 9.3 earthquake that caused the earth to wobble. It killed over 200,000 people. The wobble was not enough for people to feel, but it was enough for science to measure.
Revelation 6:14
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
The polar axis shift will do incredible amounts of damage to the earth. Notice The Holy Spirit, through John, describes “the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together.” Think about it. The night sky you look at through each season at your home will not remotely look like the night sky the same person would see after the polar axis shift. It will be as if the heaven holding the stars is rolled up like a scroll and a different scroll rolled open with entirely different stars, with entirely different seasons, times, and lengths of seasons, etc. In addition, islands will literally move to different locations in the oceans and many current mountains will collapse into the earth during earthquakes and volcanoes and many new mountains will be formed with massive upheavals of the tectonic plates. This will be devastating and terrifying.
In closing this message, the most important point to take away is we are on the doorstep of the Rapture. We want as many as possible to be a part of the Rapture and not have to chance it in the Tribulation. In the Tribulation, if one is martyred for Jesus Christ, their salvation is assured. If one lives through the Tribulation, they must endure to the end and not take the mark of the beast. There are no other “outs.”
Blessings in Christ Jesus,
Larry