Revelation: War in Heaven

Q. Revelation 12.7 describes a "war" in Heaven. How is this to be understood?

A. The book of Revelation is to be understood in the Sowd level of interpretation. Because Christianity is built upon Greek and western thought and not how G-d would have us understand this, to say this should be understood at the Sowd level is foreign to most who are reading this article. Let me explain some things and will try to keep it simple.

There are 4 levels of interpretation. There is the Peshat (literal), Remez(Allusion, "glued"), Drash(parabolic, interpretive), Sowd(hidden,mystical). There are rules to interpret as well. Revelation is at the Sowd, or mystical, hidden level. But, it can be understood at other levels as well. There are 4 worlds described in scripture. There is Azilut, or emanation, where G-d dwells. Then Beriah, creation, which is where the Throne is. This is also called the "third heaven" by Paul.

Next there is Yetzirah, or formation. This is the realm of the angels. Last there is Assiyah, the physical world. John sees a war in "heaven", or Beriah, the place of the throne, between the dragon (Ha Satan) and MIchael who represents G-d. Typically, this war is described as a "fight" between these two spiritual entities. However, we know that HaSatan has a the role of "accuser" and this puts a different spin on what is going on behind the scenes. The "HaSatan" means " the accuser" and that is what he does. Later on in the chapter, this is alluded to in v 9-10 where he is called the "accuser of the brethren". So, the events in Beriah are "played out" in the time and space of the physical world. Just as there is a physical time, space, light ,mass and energy, there is a spiritual time,space .light, mass, and energy. That concept is too long to go into here.

But, that is why there are two scenes in this chapter of the same theme. One is in Beriah, and then it is played out in Assiyah, ot the physical. Rev 12.1-12 is in the heavenly realm. Rev 12.13-17 is how it is "played out" in the physical. This "fight" is HaSatan accusing the people of G-d, and is to be seen in a legal sense. He is thrwn out from before the throne and his role of accuser before G-d has ended. He persecutes the woman, which is the Shekinah, or presence of G-d among His people, who are seen as the Sun, Moon, and the 12 stars, which relates back to Josephs dream in Gen 37. The sun is Jacob, the moon is Rachel and the 12 stars are the 12 sons of Israel.

The dragon persecutes the woman but she is nourished. The presence of G-d is nourished by repentance and obedience of the people. Where faith falters among the the peole, the Shekinah diminishes. To overcome the dragon and his accusations (v 11) by the "blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony". This means that the suffering of the Divine Tzaddik (a heavenly righteous one) will atone for the sins of his people and one must associate himself with that Tzaddik in order to obtain atonement. This is a basic teaching of the scriptures.

In other words, Yeshua is the Divine Tzaddik who suffered on bhalf of the whole world. Atonement comes through "associating" with the Tzaddik by "walking as He walked", which means walking according to the Torah (1 Jn 2.3-6, Rom 3.31,Mt 5.17-21) and "eating His flesh and drinking His blood" which is a metaphor for walking in the Torah as Yeshua taught it.

John makes it clear in Rev 12.17 of this chapter that he associates keeping the commandments as a sign of being associated with the Messiah. If you do not keep the commandments and believe that the commandmnets have been done away with, you are not associated with the Divine Tzaddik and HaSatan's accusations against you are true. That in a hutshell is the meaning of this "war" in Revelation 12