In passages such as these we have the same thought as that before us in this vision. Satan has been cast out of heaven; that is, _in his warfare against the children of God he has been completely overthrown_. Over their higher life, their life in a risen and glorified Redeemer, he has no power. They are for ever escaped from his bondage, and are free. But he has been _cast down into the earth, and his angels with him_; that is, over the _men of the world_ he still exerts his power, and they are led captive by him at his will. Hence, accordingly, the words of the _great voice_ heard in heaven which occupy all the latter part of the vision, words which distinctly bring out the difference between the two aspects of Satan now adverted to,--(1) his impotence as regards the disciples of Jesus who are faithful unto death: _Rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in them_; (2) his mastery over the ungodly: _Woe for the earth and for the sea! for the devil is gone down unto you in great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short season._ Although, therefore, the fall of the angels from their first estate may be remotely hinted at, the vision refers to the spiritual contest begun after the resurrection of Jesus; and we ask our readers only to pay particular regard to the double relation of Satan to mankind which is referred to in it: his subjection to the righteous and the subjection of the wicked to him. One phrase only may seem inconsistent with this view. In ver. 9 Satan is described as _the deceiver of the whole inhabited earth_, for that, and not "the whole world," is the true rendering of the original.[315] "The whole inhabited earth" cannot be the same as "the earth." The latter is simply the wicked; the former includes all men. But the words describe a characteristic of Satan in himself, and not what he actually effects. He _is_ the deceiver of the whole inhabited earth. He lays his snares for all. He tempted Jesus Himself in the wilderness, and many a time thereafter during His labours and His sufferings. The vision gives no ground for the supposition that God's children are not _attacked_ by him. It assures us only that when the attack is made it is at the same instant foiled. There is a battle, but Christians advance to it as conquerors; before it begins victory is theirs.[316] One other expression of these verses may be noted: the _short season_ spoken of in ver. 12. This period of time is not to be looked at as if it were a brief special season at the close of the Christian age, when the wrath of Satan is aroused to a greater than ordinary degree because the last hour is about to strike. The _great wrath_ with which he goes forth is that stirred in him by his defeat through the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord. It was roused in him when he was "cast into the earth," and from that moment of defeat therefore the "short season" begins. The third paragraph of the chapter follows:--