War in Heaven

The Book of Revelation, which opens with the words, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place", includes in those events a War in Heaven::Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place 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 the Jewish Encyclopedia states that the myth concerning the morning star was transferred to Satan by the first century before the Christian era, citing in support of this view the Life of Adam and Eve and the Slavonic Book of Enoch 29:4, 31:4, where Satan-Sataniel is described as having been one of the archangels. Because he contrived "to make his throne higher than the clouds over the earth and resemble 'My power' on high", Satan-Sataniel was hurled down, with his angels, and since then he has been flying in the air continually above the abyss.The picture of the morning star "fallen from heaven" and "cast down to the earth" appears in ] This is followed by::"Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place 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."

This image of a war in heaven at the end of time became added to the story of a fall of Satan at the beginning of time, [ [http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/premortal/war_eom.htm War in Heaven] ] including not only Satan but other angels as well, in view of the phrase "the dragon and his angels". [The phrase "the devil and his angels" in the probably earlier .

In 1273, Pope John XXI, then Bishop of Tusculum, estimated that the total number of angels who sided with Lucifer's revolt numbered 133,306,668, which would suggest that they were fighting against a force of 266,613,336 angels who remained loyal to God.Ashley, R. N. Leonard. "The Complete Book of Devils and Demons", ISBN:1-56980-077-4] This number was later affirmed by 15^th-century scholar Alphonso de Spina. [ [http://www.steliart.com/angelology_fallen_heavens_war.html The War in Heaven ] ] In going through the opinions on the number of fallen angels, [ [http://www.pbministries.org/books/gill/Doctrinal_Divinity/Book_3/book3_05.htm A Body of Doctrinal Divinity, book 3, chapter 5, 2b3] ] theologian John Gill shows no awareness of the existence of this very precise idea of their number (bringing the total of angels in existence to 399,920,004 i.e. 79,996 short of 400 million), which a book by R. N. Leonard Ashley and a number of websites attribute to two famous figures, one of the thirteenth, the other of the fifteenth century, without indicating in what writings they made the statement.

Causes of Satan's rebellion

The Muslim tradition draws on , which claims that Satan's rebellion was seen in his proud insistence that he was better than Mankind, being forged from fire, rather than clay. Some Sufi traditions assert that Satan espoused a great love of God – and that he had sworn to never bow to anyone except God. (See section on Persian and Sufi Traditions in article on Lucifer)

Other catalysts proposed to explain the rebellion of Satan include a refusal to bow down to mankind on the occasion of the Creation of Man (as in the Muslim tradition), a disagreement about God's plan of salvation (as in the teaching of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), a declaration by God that all were to be subject to his Son, the Messiah (so John Milton) [ [http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/lost/pl5.html Paradise Lost, Book V, lines 600-615] ] and the culmination of a gradual distancing from God through use of free will (an idea of Origen). [Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3), article "Origen"]

imilar motif outside Abrahamic faiths

The fall of superhuman beings punished for opposing gods is a common motif, even outside of the Abrahamic faiths. Homer's Iliad says Hephaestus was cast down from the heavenly threshold by Zeus and landed on the island of Lemnos nearly dead. [ [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0133&layout=&loc=1.590 Iliad 1:590-594] , [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134&layout=&loc=1.590 translation] ] Hesiod 's Theogony recounts that the gods, after defeating the Titans, hurled them down to Tartarus as far beneath the earth as earth is beneath the sky. [ [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0129 lines 718-726] , [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130 translation] ]

Gallery

Bibliography

*Christoph Auffarth, Loren T. Stuckenbruck (Hrsg.): "The Fall of the Angels". Brill, Leiden 2004 (Themes in Biblical Narrative, 6), ISBN 90-04-12668-6.
*Mareike Hartmann: "Höllen-Szenarien. Eine Analyse des Höllenverständnisses verschiedener Epochen anhand von Höllendarstellungen". Lit, Münster 2005 (Ästhetik – Theologie – Liturgik, 32), ISBN 3-8258-7681-0.

References

External links

* [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/199/story_19993_1.html The Fall of Satan]
* [http://www.cfdevotionals.org/devpg03/de030622.htm The Fall of Angels]
* [http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/a_rebellion_in_heaven A Rebellion in Heaven]
* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=612&letter=L Jewish Encyclopedia: Lucifer]
* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=24&letter=F Jewish Encyclopedia: Fall of Angels]