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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Revelation 12:9 - 12:9
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Was cast down (eblēthē). Effective first aorist passive indicative of ballō, cast down for good and all, a glorious consummation. This vision of final victory over Satan is given by Jesus in Luk 10:18; Joh 12:31. It has not come yet, but it is coming, and the hope of it should be a spur to missionary activity and zeal. The word megas (great) occurs here with drakōn as in Rev 12:3, and the whole picture is repeated in Rev 20:2. The dragon in both places is identified with the old serpent (Gen 3:1.) and called archaios (from archē, beginning), as Jesus said that the devil was a murderer “from the beginning” (Joh 8:44). Both diabolos (slanderer) and Satan (Satanās) are common in N.T. for this great dragon and old serpent, the chief enemy of mankind. See Mat 4:1; Rev 2:10 for diabolos and Luk 10:18 for Satanās.
The deceiver of the whole world (ho planōn tēn oikoumenēn holēn). This is his aim and his occupation, pictured here by the nominative articular present active participle of planaō, to lead astray. For “the inhabited world” see Luk 2:1; Rev 3:10; Rev 16:14. Satan can almost “lead astray” the very elect of God (Mat 24:24), so artful is he in his beguilings as he teaches us how to deceive ourselves (1Jo 1:8).
He was cast down to the earth (eblēthē eis tēn gēn). Effective aorist repeated from the beginning of the verse. “The earth was no new sphere of Satan’s working” (Swete).
Were cast down (eblēthēsan). Triple use of the same verb applied to Satan’s minions. The expulsion is complete.