Why was there war in heaven? Does the Bible provide an answer?

Most Christians are content with the vague, short-form answer-

Lucifer was the highest Angel in heaven, and he got too big for his britches and God threw him out.

Well, technically, Saint Michael threw him out. Lucifer was never on par with God, and never will be.

Lucifer was thrown out by those at his own pay grade, so to speak.

Revelation 12

7: Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,

8: but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

9: 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.

Does the Bible tell us why this war broke out in heaven?

Yes.

The answer should have you marveling at the Bible as a seamless garment, shattering many preconceived notions.

Preconceived notion #1 is the idea that the Book of Revelation is all about the future. This notion posits that John's entire book is about our time and beyond. Clearly this event is in the distant past before humans inhabited the earth. So, why does it appear here, more than halfway through the last book of the Bible?

To try to understand, we have to go all the way back to the first book of the Bible and the first prophecy about the Messiah.

Genesis 3

14 And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and the beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

It is important to note that this is from the Douay Rheems translation of the Bible. It is the first English translation and still the best. It is a direct English translation of the Latin Vulgate which was the first Bible, literally compiled in the caves of Bethlehem.

Looking at this prophecy at mere face value, fails to give justice to the theological punch it holds. Allow me to demonstrate.

First, the prophecy is shocking and unprecedented from the standpoint of biology. Read again;

I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed:

Who is 'the woman'? and how can this verse talk about her seed?

Biology 101. The man provides the seed, the woman provides the egg. The man is XY, the woman is XX. As the holder of the XY set, the male determines the sex of the child.

In this stunning prophecy, the seed is provided by the woman. In other words, this child's entire human DNA will come from the mother. Of course, this is impossible and could never happen.

Except that it did.

In the blood of the shroud of Turin and 120 Eucharistic miracles, no Y chromosome is found. A male with no Y chromosome is biologically impossible. Impossible is just a starting point for God.

I digress.

The second striking part of this prophecy is this;

I will put enmities between thee and the woman

Does this make the woman unique? You bet it does!

Romans 5

10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

We (that's you and me) were enemies of God because of our sin. "The Woman" would be made an enemy of the serpent.

The old saying is that the enemy of my enemy is my friend and the friend of my enemy is my enemy. If we were enemies of God, it is because we were friends of THE ENEMY, whether we knew it or not. Mary was an enemy of the devil from the very start. This proves the Immaculate Conception. She is not like the rest of us.

Now, the third part.

She crushes the serpent's head. Not HE.... She!

Let's go over the enmities once again. The Woman vs the Serpent, The offspring of the Woman vs the offspring of the serpent. That's what the text says and we are not permitted to change it. Yet, they did. Around about the 17th century, people changed the "SHE" to "HE", thinking it might be a bit too much to suggest that anyone other than Christ could do any serpent head crushing.

They might have wanted to consult Saint Paul on that one.

Romans 16

20 And the God of peace crush Satan under your feet speedily. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

In the original Hebrew and Greek of Genesis 3, the gender is assigned according to the referenced subject which, in this case, is "the Woman". Jerome's translation was right.

SHE will crush your head.

In her miraculous appearance to Saint Catherine Laboure in 1830, Mary confirmed it.

Is this about elevating Mary? Not at all.

This is about putting Lucifer in his place. God could have thrown Lucifer out of heaven but, as you recall, He let Saint Michael do it. Why? to add to the humiliation. Now, He is telling Satan that he will crawl on his belly, eat dirt and get his head kicked in by a woman.

Am I reaching? No.

Back to Revelation. We see the same 3 characters in action. The Woman, the dragon, the Child of the Woman. They open Revelation chapter 12 as a sign that appeared in Heaven. John the Evangelist was called up to heaven and saw it himself on the Jumbotron.

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars:

2 And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered.

3 And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his head seven diadems:

4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son.

5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne.

6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her a thousand two hundred sixty days.

At some point, this scene was shown to Lucifer. The conversation must have gone something like this:

GOD: "Hey, Lucifer!"

LUCIFER: "Yes, God?"

GOD: "Pull up a chair, I got something to show you!" [click]

LUCIFER: What is this...?

GOD: ''Behold, the Queen of Heaven''

LUCIFER: "The Queen of Heaven!? but...but...but.... that's a mortal!"

GOD: "Nevertheless....."

LUCIFER: "but wait...uh... is she....will she.... is she gonna be...?"

GOD: "Yes, Lucifer, she will be your queen too......

7 And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels:

17 And the dragon was angry against the woman: and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Again? Her seed? The rest of her seed?

Remember in Genesis 3 when it said her offspring would be at war with the Serpent's?

There is something very profound there. Offspring is plural. It is not merely her child but all of her children

Who are these children?

Matthew 12 (properly exegeted) tells us that those who do God's will are brothers and sisters of Christ and Mary is their mother.

47 And one said unto him: Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking thee.

48 But he answering him that told him, said: Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?

49 And stretching forth his hand towards his disciples, he said: Behold my mother and my brethren.

50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.

John says the same about the ''beloved disciple' [you and me] in the 19th chapter of his gospel.

25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen.

26 When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son.

27 After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.

Now, the same disciple tells us, again, that Mary is the devil's enemy and our mother.

That is why the war broke out. The church has known and proclaimed this for many centuries.