The War in Heaven

Today I read Revelation 12 which has to do with the rebellion of Lucifer, and what I think is the last days. Revelation 12 was re-translated by Joseph Smith and that is the version that I read and will be talking about today. Most of the Joseph Smith translation just adds a few words that had been removed or removes a phrase or two. It is rare that an entire chapter is in need of revision like this. I think the only other instance is Matthew 24. But enough of that, let's get into the meat of the chapter.

As I was reading this chapter today it was very obvious that a good portion of it is about the rebellion of Lucifer and his being cast out of heaven. Whenever the scriptures refer to the dragon and his angels, that is referring to the devil. In this chapter it mentions the war in heaven and that Michael and his angels cast out the devil and his followers. I know I have mentioned this before, but I still can't figure out why people followed Satan in the first place. I can maybe understand that it was appealing that they would not fall away and would be assured that they could return to Heavenly Father's presence, but after they discovered that God did not approve of the plan, why would they still support Satan? Did they really believe they could alter the mind of God? Did they really think they could overcome the creator of their very spiritual bodies? It just makes no sense at all to me.

But whatever the reason they did rebel against God and as punishment they were cast out of His presence. Out of spite they have made it their goal to destroy the plan of salvation and cause as much pain and suffering for the spirits who followed Jesus and Heavenly Father as possible. I suppose everyone has to have a hobby and since they know they will ultimately fail and be punished, this is their only consolation.

The verse that really stood out to me though was the JST verse 4-7. It talks about there being a woman who is about to give birth to a child and the dragon, Lucifer, is set to devour the child as soon as it is born. We learn in verse 7 that the child is the church, or the kingdom of God. Then in verse 5 we learn that the woman fled with the child into the wilderness where it was prepared to keep them for 1260 years! Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds an awful lot like the early history of the Church in the 1830's.

Satan did everything in his considerable power to destroy the infant church as soon as it was created, even before then if you consider his attacks on Joseph Smith himself. The attacks became so fierce that the church had to flee into the wilderness where there were no people for safety, where they have remained ever since. I have no idea if this chapter and verse is actually referring to that or some other time where the Saints of God had to flee but the imagery was so vivid in my mind this morning as I read it that I just immediately jumped to the Latter-days and the Saints fleeing to Utah. Food for thought anyway.

The one major thing that I came away with from this chapter is that Satan will lose. He has already lost as a matter of fact. It may seem like he is winning because of the state that the world is in right now, but the fact of the matter is that Satan lost the moment he wouldn't back down and support God's plan. The moment he would not admit his mistake and decide to follow God, he lost. So there is no reason at all to follow him, and yet each of us struggles with it and with being righteous. Each of us has to make our own choice of where we want to end up at the end, when it is all said and done. And you make your choice by the kind of life you are living. Make sure you can live with your choice for the rest of eternity, because that is what is at stake! Until tomorrow.