Very Few Christians Think About This Nowadays

It’s suggested, and I’m perfectly prepared to receive it, on the basis of Revelation 12, verse 4, that it was one-third of the angels who turned in rebellion with Lucifer against God. It speaks in Revelation 12 of about a great fiery red dragon, who is the devil.

“A great fiery red dragon.”

Remember, Satan is a dragon; he’s also a snake. He can overawe you and overpower you, or he can slip in through the drain hole when you didn’t even know he’s there. He’s got all sorts of different devices. Anyhow, it says of this dragon,

“His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.”

Other interpreters besides me have suggested that this means one-third of the angels followed Satan, followed Lucifer, in his rebellion against God.

Now, I want to look for a moment at the structure of the heavenly beings. I want to turn to Colossians. Let me say, Ephesians is the epistle about the Church of Christ, but Colossians is the epistle about the Christ of the Church. And if you’re ever dealing with people who’ve been in a cult, the place to take them to is Colossians, because it reveals Jesus so uniquely that no guru, no other person can ever have anything like what he has. And so we see here in Colossians 1, verse 15:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

And notice very carefully, he was not created, he was born, the only begotten Son of God. And he’s the image of God. He himself expresses exactly the person, the nature, the appearance of God. That’s why God doesn’t want any idols, any images, because he has his own image, and that is Jesus. So,

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

Should be ‘the firstborn before all creation.’ He was not created, he was born. Everything after that was created.

And then it says,

“For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth.”

Now, what guru ever could make claim to that statement? You understand, it’s ridiculous to compare Jesus with any kind of human occult figure or power.

“All things were created.” “By him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth, visible and invisible.”

So there are visible things, and there are invisible things. And then it lists the invisible things:

“Whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.”

So there are four main orders in the heavenly realm of the created being. Thrones is the highest, then, and I’m going to give you a more literal translation, dominions or lordships, then principalities or rulerships, and powers or authorities. Let me say that again: thrones, lordships, rulerships, and authorities. And I say, I put them in the abstract because these are offices; they are positions. It’s like we can have the word ‘president,’ it’s a man, but if we have the word ‘presidency,’ it’s a function, it’s a position. And these are really describing positions rather than individuals. So there are four main orders: thrones, dominions or lordships, rulerships, and authorities.

Now, if we go back to Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 12, which is where we started, and I’m giving you the Prince version now.

“For our wrestling match is not against persons with bodies, but against rulerships, against authorities, against the world dominators of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavens.”

Notice the top level is principalities and powers, or rulerships and authorities. So if you go back to Colossians, you’ll see the top two levels were not involved in rebellion. Rebellion started at the level of principalities and powers, or rulerships and authorities. So the thrones and the dominions never were alienated from God, but we’re still dealing with extremely powerful spiritual beings who are called rulerships, or rulers, and authorities. That’s where we are wrestling, if we are wrestling. How many of you are wrestling? You don’t have to answer. But you can’t do it without knowing it, that’s for sure.