The Falling Stars of Prophecy

"...(6) Then, some spectacular things will take place in the heavens that will effect the whole
world—especially Abraham's offspring...Let's take a look now at those spectacular things. First, the sun shall be darkened. How shall this come about? Will the sun weaken or will it be somehow blotted from view? If it were weakened, we would probably be warned of severe cold—but we're not. We do know, however, that volcanoes and burning oil wells on large enough scale could cause this dilemma. A few A-bombs on the side might help as well. Regardless of the cause, in the near future, it looks like ol' planet earth is in for some rough times, rough enough to blot out the light of the sun and the moon.

In Matthew 24:29-30 Jesus is also telling His disciples that the stars shall fall from heaven. Although there may be shooting stars at this time, we should probably view this statement as having spiritual significance. We find a similar verse in Revelation 6:13: "And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shakened of a mighty wind." Hmmmh!?! If the fig trees represent Israel, who are these stars of heaven that have fallen to the earth?

That the fallen stars are Satan and those angels that followed him in his rebellion against God can be deduced from the twelfth chapter of Revelation. In Revelation 12:3-4 we read, "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."

Then in Revelation 12, verses 7 and 8, we read more about Satan and his fallen stars or angels. "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 anymore in heaven."

Even though Lucifer has lost his authority, it's apparent that he still has had access to heaven—even audience with the Ancient of Days. We can see this in Job 1:8 when God called Satan forward and said, "Have you considered my servant Job?" Satan is also known as the accuser of the brethren as we see in Revelation 12:10, "...for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." However, there will come a day that Satan no longer has access to heaven. And here in Matthew 24 in prophetic language Jesus is giving us the chronological feel of when this change will take place. After the events just listed, "the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shakened" (Matthew 24:29b). We read of the results of this action in Revelation 12:12, "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them..." (Hey, they're glad to get rid of the varmint, but look out earth!) "...Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea!" writes John, "for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

After all this, says Jesus, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and then shall He send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet to gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Mt. 24:30-31)—and all this in the twinkling of an eye (1Cor.15:52)..."