Ezekiel's Vision of the Fall of Satan

There is yet another important biblical passage which links the casting of Satan to earth with the occurrence of the "signs in heaven" described throughout the Bible. As I point out in the book, the Bible frequently highlights the importance of the eschatological astronomical phenomena as a sign heralding the arrival of the end-time. In various places throughout Scripture, we are told that an important period during the end-time would be announced through a very rare combination of astronomical phenomena, which the Book of Revelation places at the opening of the sixth seal - when the saints are sealed in heaven, while the prophecy of the mark of the Beast is fulfilled on earth:


When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.
(Rev 6:12-13)

These events includes the "sun becoming like sackcloth", or a total solar eclipse, combined with a "blood-moon" - which only occurs during a total lunar eclipse, and a major meteorite shower, when it would appear that a large number of stars would fall to earth. In the earlier post Signs in the Sky, we already discussed at some length how the occurrence of each of these signs all appeared at the turn of the millennium - which according to the Prophecy of Pope Leo XIII, was also the exact moment of the end of the hundred years of Satan's power. And Pope Leo's prophecy of the hundred years of Satan's greater power directly corresponds to the Devil being cast out of heaven by the Archangel Michael in Rev 12:

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 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. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
(Rev 12:1-12)

In the post The Year of the Dragon, we have noted several prophecies which linked the turn of the millennium with the eschatological Fall of Satan (which is to be distinguished from his primordial fall from grace detailed in the Book of Genesis), when the Devil would be cast from the heavenly court to earth, upon which he transfers his great power and authority to the Beast that rises from the sea, and the inhabitants of the earth are given his mark:

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.
(Rev 13:1-3)


The Book of Ezekiel makes a similar connection between a dragon emerging from the sea at the moment of his defeat (corresponding to the head with the mortal wound, after it has been crushed through the intercession of the Woman Adorned with Sun, by the Archangel Michael Rev 12:7), and is also marked by the appearance of solar and lunar eclipses:


“Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:
“You consider yourself a lion of the nations, but you are like a dragon in the seas; you burst forth in your rivers, trouble the waters with your feet, and foul their rivers. Thus says the Lord GOD:
I will throw my net over you with a host of many peoples, and they will haul you up in my dragnet.
And I will cast you on the ground; on the open field I will fling you, and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you, and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you. I will strew your flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with your carcass. I will drench the land even to the mountains with your flowing blood, and the ravines will be full of you. When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you, and put darkness on your land, declares the Lord GOD.
(Ezek 32:2-8)


This passage from Ezekiel parallels an earlier reference comparing the situation of the king of Tyre to the fall of Lucifer:


 “Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD:
 “You were the signet of perfection,
  full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
 You were in Eden, the garden of God;
  every precious stone was your covering,
 sardius, topaz, and diamond,
  beryl, onyx, and jasper,
 sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle;
  and crafted in gold were your settings
  and your engravings.
 On the day that you were created
  they were prepared.
 You were an anointed guardian cherub.
  I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God;
  in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
 You were blameless in your ways
  from the day you were created,
  till unrighteousness was found in you.
 In the abundance of your trade
  you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;
 so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God,
  and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub,
  from the midst of the stones of fire.
 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
  you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
 I cast you to the ground;
  I exposed you before kings,
  to feast their eyes on you.
 By the multitude of your iniquities,
  in the unrighteousness of your trade
  you profaned your sanctuaries;
 so I brought fire out from your midst;
  it consumed you,
 and I turned you to ashes on the earth
  in the sight of all who saw you.
 All who know you among the peoples
  are appalled at you;
 you have come to a dreadful end
  and shall be no more forever.”
(Ezek 28:12-19)


The Book of Joel directly links the appearance of the eschatological astronomical phenomena at the defeat of Satan with the arrival of the Second Pentecost:

 “And it shall come to pass afterward,
  that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
 your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
  your old men shall dream dreams,
  and your young men shall see visions.
 Even on the male and female servants
  in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.
(Joel 2:28-32)

As we have already noted in the previous posts The Two Towers and the Sixth Seal, and The Third Secret of Fatima and the Angel with the Flaming Sword, the "blood and fire and columns of smoke" mentioned in Joel, appears to correspond with the Twin Towers attacks on 9/11, adding yet another dimension to the prophecies concerning the turn of the millennium. And when we take into account the various other prophecies which link the turn of the millennium with the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary/Second Pentecost (such as is detailed in the posts John Paul II - The Triumph of Mary and the Great Jubilee, The Prophecies of La Salette and the Turn of the Millennium, St. John Bosco's Prophecy of the Turn of the Millennium, and The Third Secret of Fatima and the Turn of the Millennium), it seems fairly conclusive that we are on the brink of the era of peace promised by the Virgin Mary at Fatima. Although the Second Pentecost has not yet fully arrived, the event which will allow it to happen has already occurred at the millennial anniversary of the First Advent of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Second Pentecost can only take place at the defeat of Satan, when the head of the Serpent is crushed and he is cast from heaven to earth. The Angel with the Flaming Sword has dealt a fatal head-wound to the Dragon that rises from the sea, and the time when Satan would be unleashed for "a little while" (Rev 20:3), has already ended (see the post Tunguska, Pope Leo, and the Opening of the Abyss). It is this moment that was prophesied in the Book of Daniel, when the Archangel would rise up against Satan, and the elect would be delivered from unbelief:

“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book."
(Dan 12:1)

We find some parallels to this verse in Jesus' eschatological discourse on Mount Olivet which also states that this tribulation period would be cut short for the sake of the elect, to allow for a period of conversion:

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
(Matt 24:21-22)

And a little further in the Gospel of Matthew, we are told that the end of this tribulation period would be marked by the appearance of the eschatological astronomical phenomena:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
(Matt 24:29-30)

It is after this period of tribulation that we find that the elect are allowed to wash their soiled robes in the blood of the Lamb at the opening of the sixth seal:

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
(Rev 7:13-14)

Now after the defeat of Satan in heaven, we await the renewal of the Church through the ministry of the Two Witnesses, when the "gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matt 24:14).