War in the court room

"And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

And she brought forth a Man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her Child was caught up unto God, and to His throne....

And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him....

Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the Man child." (Rev. 12:3-5,7-9,12,13).

Maybe I'm wrong here, but I believe that the war in heaven was a war of Lucifer defending self, and of the holy angels accusing and judging. It was a reaffirmation of mercy toward tempted sinners, and of warning away of the destroying tempters.

Jesus told His disciples the night before His offering that one of the things He was about to accomplish was the judgment of Satan.

"...of judgment [G2920] because the prince of this world is judged [G2919]." (John 16:11).

G2920 krisis "by extension a tribunal", "by implication justice specifically divine Law".

G2919 krino "Properly to distinguish that is to decide...by implication to try, condemn, punish".

When Michael, the Man child, ascended to the Father's throne, it was to begin the trial over Lucifer's treason against the divine government. He had proven himself guilty of regicide against the Father and Son, infanticide against Their infant church, and intrigue against Their Law and righteousness by faith.

Paul gives his perspective of the tribunal in heaven. "...what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." (Rom. 8:3).

Condemning sin would be the first phase of Satan's judgment. Sin is Satan's attempt to improve upon God's kingdom. Clearly, idolatry and self-indulgence have made not a single improvement to the glories of Eden, which was a miniature of the government of God. He had also impersonated God, his voice being held in high esteem by a world whose tendendencies are for his laws of self-indulgence, self-exaltation, self-preservation.

By Michael condemning sin and self-made goodness, and defining sin, which is a cheap imposture of holiness, so that it could be distinguished from the genuine requirements of God, man could be redeemed from rebellion. And Satan's counterfeit of morality could be sentenced to eternal oblivion.

But Satan would not accept his awarded condemnation. Upon his thrust from the courts of heaven and his interment to the penal dot in the universe that he claimed his dominion, he should have received the divine sentence. Then and there, he should have surrendered to the restriction of his freedom and access to the universe.

Instead, he made war against the children who Michael was rearing up to replace the fallen superintendant of angels, because God considered them better than he and his hosts. "Enfeebled and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard. It is the theater of His grace, in which He delights to reveal His power to transform hearts." The Acts of the Apostles, p. 12. As powerful King Saul hunted David in order to exterminate the contender for rulership because he was made better than the tall and stately king, so did the great red dragon and his authoritative beast make every effort to exterminate the people who were made especially in God's image and after Michael's own heart.

"And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the Man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent." (Rev. 12:13,14).

At the end of the infamous "time, times, and an half" (Dan. 12:7), and in conjunction with Michael's entrance into the Most Holy Place of His Father's sanctuary, Satan would be given special access to the people of God. Earth would be bequeathed to the little horn beast and apostate Protestant representatives of the great red dragon, called the Devil and Satan. He and his two earthly representatives, will reign in the place of God and Michael and His angelic Levites, over a globally united religious world. 

"Ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place.... Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." (Matt. 24:15,21).

During the heavenly sanctuary-earthbound church cleansing, trouble would be coming on the earth. Decisions for or against redemption would be forced upon the professors of Michael, for an ultimate showdown and separating of sheep and goats at Armageddon. 

"When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of his glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." (Matt. 25:31,32).

When Michael returns with His heavenly forces, then He will enter into phase two of Satan's tribunal, interring him and his armies in the lake of fire, i.e. a world in total shambles and empty of souls, no longer available to control them and tempt them to hate God. However, Michael will not yet at His second advent destroy Satan like He will the beast and the apostate Protestant professors at this time.

For a millennium the hosts of darkness will be in solitary confinement, awaiting their final phase of judgment— the lake of fire that will be a billion times hotter than the beast and apostate Levites had to suffer.

Azazel the escape artist, who never knew sorrow, will finally get his just desserts. "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword." (Rev. 13:10).