There Was Silence in Heaven
At the beginning of the Great Tribulation, there will be a perfect alignment of events that will shake the spiritual realm and will cause a great silence in heaven. There are a few things that will happen simultaneously and will mark the beginning of the greatest spiritual battle between the serpent and her seed, and the woman and her seed. However at the end of this battle, the serpent and her seed will be defeated and will be thrown into the lake of fire for 1000 years, and Christ will sit on his throne of glory in Jerusalem to establish his millennial reign over the earth. That is why Satan fears this moment in history and has been trying to restrain it. He is very aware that his spiritual authority will come to an end when those events begin unfolding. Let’s explore them and see why Satan fears this day.
1.The church will fully reach its ruling position in heaven
At the end of the age, the church will sit in the heavens with Christ on his throne establishing dominion and spiritual authority over all of God’s enemies. Let's remember that this is the promise the Lord gives the overcomers of the church of Laodicea. (Rev. 3:21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne). When these believers repent, go back to their first love, and start doing the things the early church did at first, they will be given Christ's authority to sit on God’s throne to rule with him in heavenly places. Satan will no longer have authority in heaven because he will lose all power to accuse them, therefore he will be cast down to earth. The Bride will reign with Christ spiritually from on high and will be ready to marry him. The wedding supper of the Lord will be the final celebration of her readiness to physically join her beloved to rule with him during his millennial kingdom on earth.
It is important to note that Christ’s authority was given at first to the early church but was lost when the church experienced a falling away (Rev. 2:4-5). Just as the serpent deceives Eve in the garden at the beginning of creation, the church was deceived by Satan’s cunning lies in her early stages. When this occurred the lampstand, which represents her place of influence and authority, was removed. At that moment the church fell from a high spiritual place of authority to a low carnal place of obscurity and spiritual blindness. She stopped eating from the tree of life which is Christ, and began to feed herself from the tree of knowledge and good and evil (Rev. 2:7). However at the end of the age the church will gain back this place of authority but with a greater glory (Haggai 2:9). Because she will repent and go back to the ancient paths, and at the same time she will reach her fullness. This fullness will not only be a fullness in number but in maturity. Just as Christ had to wait thirty years to be ready for his three years of ministry, the church also needs to wait and grow into his stature in order to be ready to be released into the fullness of her ministry. At this time the church will be ready and radiant as a bride to marry her bridegroom. She will be clothed in fine linen and will be found pure, without spot or wrinkle. She will attain this fullness as Christ becomes fully formed in her, and as she reaches the perfect unity of the faith and the full knowledge of Christ. At this time she will be ready to rule with him on his throne and she will be prepared to usher the millennial reign next to her husband.
This is when she will crush the head of the serpent, and she will make God’s enemies his footstool. At this moment the church will reach the stature of Christ and will be fully ready to experience her corporate Gethsemani and cross. This will also be the time when the church will be empowered to do greater things than Jesus. She will overflow with the power of the Spirit and many will perform great exploits. The book of Daniel also describes a group of wise ones that will be used during the time of the Antichrist to lead many to righteousness. They will instruct many and will help them understand everything that is happening. This will be the hardest time of the church because of the persecution she will have to face but it will also be the greatest time for her to shine bright like a star in the firmament (Daniel 11:33, 12: 3).
2. Satan will be cast down from heaven
Because the church will find its place and authority in heaven as a global body, there won’t be a place in heaven for Satan and his crew. At the moment the church reaches her rightful place of maturity and authority in the heavenly places, Michael the archangel will rise to fight against the dragon and his angels, and Michael will win the battle against them (Daniel 12:1, Rev. 12:7-9). Even though Michael is the one who wins the battle, his victory is directly related to the maturity of the church. At this time Satan will lose all spiritual authority to accuse her and the heavens will be fully open for God’s angels to descend from heaven to bring the answers to her prayers. This will be a time of great supernatural activity, both demonic and angelic.
It is important to note that at the moment Satan is cast down to earth, he will gain strength in the natural and will have the power to overcome the saints. However, this will be one of the ways the Saints will overcome him. Even though Satan will persecute and kill many believers during the tribulation, the martyrdom of the saints will serve as a witness to Israel of the power of the gospel and many Jews will be saved during this time. Even though many of the saints will die as martyrs the church will grow as a wildfire during this time of great persecution. Many of the persecuted ones will move in amazing supernatural power. Even though Satan will fall from heaven and will embody the Antichrist, and will come against God’s people with all of his natural strength, he won’t have any spiritual power over them. He won’t be able to accuse them any longer, nor will he be able to control them through fear. Also at this time, the heavens will be fully open for the gospel to be preached to the ends of the earth until reaching Israel with the greatest power that the church has ever experienced.
We need to understand that the fall of satan from the heavenly places signals his loss of spiritual power because now the church has all spiritual power to rule, and she will work in synchrony with all the angels in heaven to bring the gospel to Israel in order to finish the great commission. The church at this moment won’t have any spiritual limitations to preach the gospel because she will become the vivid image of Christ. She will have the power to release plagues and many other signs and wonders just by praying and commanding the armies of heaven to move on her behalf. Her prayers will go straight to heaven and won't have any disturbance or delay. The angels and the church will be in full alignment as angels ascend and descend from heaven to earth through Jacob’s ladder in order to perform great miracles. The casting down of Satan to earth will release the great persecution but will also release great salvation on earth, as the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah come over the church.
Revelation 12:7-10 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah, For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
3. The Antichrist will be revealed and will sit in the temple of God proclaiming he is God
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
When the Antichrist sits in the temple of God proclaiming he is God the eyes of the Jewish people will be open to his deception. This will be a moment of great unveiling. The Jews will realize they have been deceived by the Antichrist and they will refuse to worship him and bow down to him and his image.
Revelation 13:15 The second beast was given the power to give breath to the image of the first beast so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
As a result, the dragon will come with great rage against them to destroy them. This will mark the beginning of Jacob's trouble. This is the moment the dragon comes to hurt the woman of Revelation 12 who’s Israel, and she will have to flee to the wilderness. This is when those who are in Judea (southern Israel) will have to run to the hills to escape the persecution that will be unleashed against them.
Revelation 12:13-17 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Mark 13:14 “When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
However, this is the moment the veil of the eyes of the Jewish people will begin to be lifted. They will realize they were deceived and they will begin to cry to the Lord for Yeshua (salvation) and many will begin to come to Jesus.
4. The two witnesses are empowered to prophesy
Revelation 11 speaks of two witnesses that will be empowered to prophesy for 1,260 days. These two witnesses are not individual people. They are a corporate body of believers because they are also called lampstands and olive trees. According to Revelation 1:20, we see that the lampstand represents the church, not a single individual. Also, Romans 11:17 describes the two olive trees. One representing the Gentiles (the wild one) and one representing the Jews (the natural one). Therefore, according to this, we can understand that these two witnesses are not individual prophets but the body of Jews and Gentiles that believe in Jesus that will be appointed to preach the gospel in Israel with amazing power. They will work together as one new man performing great signs and wonders. This company of believers will be greatly empowered by the Holy Spirit to prophesy and preach the gospel in Israel during the reign of the Antichrist. We can see here that this time will be terrible because the Antichrist will unleash his fury to persecute the saints, but it will also be awesome because the church will be empowered to witness to Israel with similar signs and wonders as in the time of the exodus. In the midst of the tribulation, we will see a body of witnesses that will turn waters into blood, they will shut down heavens, they will release plagues and they will prophesy in power for 1,260. This prophetic company of believers will be protected until the time of the prophecy is over but at the end of their prophecy, they will be killed. However, they will be resurrected after three and a half days and they will ascend to heaven. They will perfectly represent the image of the corporate Christ. As they preach the gospel in power for three and a half years, get killed at the end of their ministry, and then get resurrected and ascend to heaven. Just as it happened to Jesus so it will happen to his body.
Revelation 11:3-12 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.7 When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. 11 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.”
5. The prayers of the saints will be fully answered and they will trigger God’s judgements on earth
Revelation 8:1-7 speaks about a time in history when there is silence in heaven. This is the time when the prayers of the saints will fill the censers in heaven causing angels to release God’s judgments on earth. At this moment the Tribulation begins. This moment coincides with the time Satan is hurled down to earth and the time the Antichrist will sit in the temple of God proclaiming he is God. This is also the exact moment the church is greatly empowered because she will sit in her place of authority in heaven and this is the moment when the two witnesses will be empowered to prophesy for 1,260 days. Therefore we can say that at this moment there is a silence in heaven because everything comes into alignment and all the heavenly hosts know what is about to occur. All the celestial hosts know that the Great Tribulation is about to start and the Day of his Vengeance is about to be unleashed. This is a time all of heaven have been waiting for. Because this is when Satan gets crushed under the feet of the victorious church, and this is the time that triggers the countdown for him to be chained for 1000 years.
Revelation 8:1-7 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. 6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. 7 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth.