War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The language of battle between good and evil is a commonplace in religion. For Biblical religion there is one important caveat — the battle is already won. Good and evil are not equal forces struggling to see which will come out on top. In the Bible God is the creator of everything. Explaining the presence of evil in the face of a good God creating all is what lies behind the story of Adam and Eve and the account of the rebellion of Satan and the devils. But as those stories make clear, God is still in charge, and the triumph of goodness is assured. While we might for a time have to endure the presence of many hardships, when we skip to the end of the book we find out that in the end “we live happily ever after.”
