What is the difference between the battle of Michael and Satan and Armageddon? It appears that the battle between Michael and Satan is for the purity of heaven. In other words nothing impure is going to be permitted to remain in heaven therefore Satan is cast out by Michael.
Good day to you RevelationMan!
"And having led Him up, he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give to You all this authority, and its glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I wish. Therefore if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, mankinds authority over the earth was given over to Satan as revealed in the scripture above. That said, the Battle between Michael and his angels against Satan and his, is part of the legal process of the authority of the earth and everything in it reverting from Satan back to God and man.
It is in the middle of the tribulation is when that war in heaven will break out, with Satan and his angels being cast out of heaven and restricted to the earth. We know this, because in Rev.12:6,14, after the dragon/Satan finds himself thrown to the earth, the woman/Israel flees out into the desert where she will be cared for during the 1260 days which is the last 3 1/2 years of that last seven year period. Therefore, Satan and his angels are cast out in the middle of the seven. Regarding this, Rev.12:12 also states that when the dragon is cast to the earth it states that he knows that his time is short and that because he knows from the time that he is cast out he only has 3 1/2 years before the Lord returns to the earth to end the age, where he will be seized and sealed up in the Abyss for a thousand years. It is during that time that he will not be able to deceive the nations.
What then is the purpose of the battle of Armageddon? Could it be that one battle is a spiritual battle and the other is a battle for the flesh?
In answer to your question, in Daniel 2:37-45, God gives Nebuchadnezzar a dream of a golden statue, with a head of gold (Babylon), chest and arms of silver (Medo/Persia), belly and thighs of bronze (Greece), legs of iron (Rome) and a future extension or revival of Rome as the feet and ten toes made of partly baked clay and iron. Therefore, the statue as a whole represents all human government. Then a Rock (Jesus) cut out of the mountain without human hands falls on the feet of the partly baked clay and iron smashing the entire statue to pieces like chaff on a threshing floor with the wind blowing it away
so that not a trace will be found. This represents the complete dismantling of all human government during the tribulation period. Then in Dan.2:35 it says: But the Rock that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth, which is in reference to Christ's millennial kingdom.
In addition, when the 6th bowl is poured out, the Euphrates is dried up to make way for the kings of the east. And John sees three demonic spirits that look like frogs, come out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, who go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them to Armageddon. At the same time, the angels will have been going throughout the earth to gather the weeds/wicked which are the "one taken" group to bring them to the same location. As they are all gathered together, the Lord will descend from heaven, the church and His angels with Him and will kill them with the double-edged sword which proceeds from His mouth, which is figuratively represents the spoken word of God. During this same time, an angel will have called all of the birds of the air together to come and gorge themselves on the flesh of all those whom the Lord will kill.
So to recap, the purpose of the war in heaven, is part of the legal process of restoring the authority of the earth from Satan back to God and mankind. Where the purpose of the tribulation period and Armageddon, will be to fulfill the prophesies of that last seven years of the seventy sevens that was decreed upon Israel and Jerusalem, the pouring out God's wrath to do away with the wicked and to establish His kingdom, which is that Rock that becomes a huge mountain and fills the entire earth.
So the purpose of Armageddon is to bring judgment upon the wicked, all those who will have rejected Christ and worshiped the beast, his image and received his mark.
