The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

270 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
darkness”. By such conquests “in amidst his enemies” Christ’s
kingdom has been increasing and truly been proved to be
victorious. The Bible, therefore, presents Christ’s death for our sins
as a turning-point for mankind and as a decisive victory over Satan,
the head of the hostile powers in the spiritual world. (Hebrews
2:14–15) Though still active, their power and influence since then
are restricted and curbed. They have not been able to prevent the
good news about Jesus Christ to reach growing numbers of people
around the world, making it possible for them to be delivered from
the “authority of darkness” and brought under the authority of
Christ.
C-7: The “casting out” of Satan
In the metaphorical language of the Bible, someone’s elevation to a
high position may be spoken of as his being “exalted to heaven” or
“to the skies,” where he may be likened to a shining star. 61
Correspondingly, someone’s humiliation, defeat or fall from a high
position may be likened to a throwing down or falling “from
heaven.” 62 In his prediction of the fall of the proud and arrogant
king of Babylon, Isaiah the prophet used this imagery:
O how you have fallen from heaven, you shining one, son of
the dawn! . . . As for you, you have said in your heart, “To the
heavens I shall go up. Above the stars of God I shall lift up my
throne, and I shall sit down upon the mountain of meeting, in the
remotest parts of the north. I shall go up above the high places of
the clouds; I shall make myself resemble the Most High”
However, down to Sheol you will be brought, to the remotest
parts of the pit. —Isaiah 14:12–15 , NW. 63
Jesus, too, used similar language in speaking of the town of
Capernaum, which he had chosen as his dwelling-place and where
he had performed many of his miracles. (Matthew 4:13–16) This,
however, would not become a reason for the town to boast:
And you, Capernaum, will you perhaps be exalted to heaven?
Down to Hades you will come! —Luke 10:15, NW.
61 Similarly, in the English language we may speak of someone being “praised to the
skies.”
62 The same metaphors are also found in extra-Biblical sources from ancient times.
For example, Cicero and Horace (1st century B.C.E.) both likened a fall from a
great political height to a “fall from heaven.”—See Edward J. Young, The Book of
Isaiah (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 2nd ed. 1972), p. 440, note 77.
63 Compare Daniel 8:9–12, which uses the same figurative language in describing the
presumptuous actions of the “little horn,” usually understood as referring to the
attempt of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 B.C.E.) to root out
the worship of Jehovah at the temple of the Jews.