War in Heaven

The War in Heaven is a mythical conflict between supernatural forces in traditional Christian cosmology, attested in the Book of Revelation alongside proposed parallels in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The War is frequently featured in works of Christian art, such as John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, which describes it as occurring over the course of three days as a result of God the Father announcing Jesus Christ as His Son.

These motives include: Jonathan Edwards states in his sermon Wisdom Displayed in Salvation: Satan and his angels rebelled against God in heaven, and proudly presumed to try their strength with his.

The Book of Moses, included in the LDS standard works canon, references the war in heaven and Satan's origin as a fallen angel of light.

One of the 28 fundamental beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists states: The chief proponent of the "war in heaven" among SDAs was Ellen G. White, who expanded the concept in her book, Great Controversy between Christ and Satan (1884), where she reinterprets and extends Milton's portrayal in Paradise Lost as a metaphor for religious conflict throughout the Christian age.

[20][21] The Jewish Encyclopedia states that the myth concerning the morning star was transferred to Satan by the first century before the Common Era, citing in support of this view the Life of Adam and Eve and the Slavonic Book of Enoch 29:4, 31:4, where Satan-Sataniel is described as having been one of the archangels.

Because he contrived "to make his throne higher than the clouds over the earth and resemble 'My power' on high", Satan-Sataniel was hurled down, with his angels, and since then he has been flying in the air continually above the abyss.

[28] The subject of the War in Heaven has been depicted by many noted artists, both in paintings and in sculptures, including works by Pieter Paul Rubens, Guido Reni and Jacob Epstein.

The antiphon has been set as a choral motet by a number of composers including Felice Anerio, Richard Dering, Melchior Franck, Alessandro Grandi and Costanzo Porta.

[29][30] A hymn written by the German poet and hymnodist Friedrich Spee in 1621, "Unüberwindlich starker Held" ("Invincible strong hero"), also makes reference to the Archangel Michael overcoming the dragon.

Other pieces of media to have referenced the War in Heaven, either as direct depictions or textual allusions, include Warhammer 40K, Babylon 5 and the Doom series.