War in Heaven is a troublesome concept to the pacifist. John used vivid imagery to describe what he saw in his vision, but did violence actually occur, and was the dragon forcefully cast out? I cannot venture to say, because no commentary on Revelation is worth the paper it is printed on. Until one sees the same thing John saw, he cannot presume to know better than John what John said. I can venture some thoughts on the war in Heaven, however, leaving the final interpretation up to the individual.

Verse ten indicates that some relief is felt in heaven at Satan’s departure: “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”

Between verse nine and ten we are given three roughly synonymous terms to describe the dragon. διάβολος (devil), κατήγορος (accuser), and Σατανᾶς (Satan) mean a false witness, a plaintiff, and an accuser, respectively. In general, someone who is accusing someone else. That sheds some light on why Paul instructed Christians not to sue each other: “Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?” (1 Corinthians 6:7) It should also serve as a strong indication of whose work prosecuting attorneys are doing.

Clearly the inhabitants of heaven did not approve of the dragon’s actions. Verse 11 of Revelation 12 throws another piece of the puzzle at us, informing us that “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.” Interpretation here is particularly risky, but as a pacifist I would speculate that we see here that the war is not won by the infliction of violence on others, but the willingness of the Lamb to suffer as the recipient of violence. We also have a continuation of courtroom language, the inhabitants of heaven combating against the plaintiff (Satan) by giving their μαρτυρία (testimony).

Who wants to stick around in a discussion where everyone disagrees with you? Who enjoys being on the losing end of a debate? Whether he was violently forced from his place, or willingly departed due to the environment unfavorable to his designs, the dragon being “cast out into the earth” is appropriate and descriptive imagery.

Satan the accuser is cast out of heaven into the earth to become the great capitalist, the plutocrat. Treasures are associated with the god of the underworld since they have their origin in the ground, and appropriately so as the world’s treasures finance the world’s wars, completing the circle. Satan has gone from the dragon, the accuser instigating the war in heaven, to the plutocrat, amassing the world’s treasures, to return again as warlord, financing mass killings with his acquired wealth. Likewise, the gospels set up μαμμωνᾶς (mammon), the god of wealth, in opposition to God, associating the former with Satan (or, in some traditions, he serves alongside Satan as one of the seven princes of Hell).

Satan again, as the great capitalist, would have found Heaven to be too stifling for his dreams if we assume that the early Christians were mimicking the heavenly order when they “were of one heart and one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things in common.” (Acts 4:32) All the nations of the world, then, have rejected the heavenly order and followed Satan’s plan of government -- even the communists, who in reality are the most brutal form of capitalist, seeking by force to control a nation’s capital.

But money and capital are asides; they serve as a tool for warfare. In the end it comes down to war, which, whether in Heaven or on Earth, is instigated by Satan. Seen in this light, the war in Heaven is no longer as troublesome to the pacifist as it once was. The blood of the Lamb, which was instrumental in casting the dragon out of Heaven, was a willing act of self sacrifice. To die rather than to kill is the ultimate pacifist stance, and the means by which life wins over death.