Satan Is Defeated and the Heavens Rejoice
The Heavens Rejoice
The heavens rejoiced when the premortal war in heaven ended with Satan’s defeat.
Perhaps the celebration was like the parade in New York City at the end of World War II, when George Mendosa grabbed Greta Friedman and kissed her in Times Square. This spontaneous kiss was captured by Alfred Eisenstaedt. The caption in Life Magazine read:
“In New York's Times Square a white-clad girl clutches her purse and skirt as an uninhibited sailor plants his lips squarely on hers.”
I’m not sure if there was celebratory kissing when the war in heaven ended, but if you ask my wife, she’ll probably tell you “it wouldn’t be heaven if there wasn’t any kissing.”
The Cause for Kissing
There was great cause for rejoicing when the war in heaven ended.
Job apparently saw the premortal equivalent of Times Square when he asked:
“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? … when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4, 7)
The premortal shouts of joy came because Satan was cast out of heaven.
In addition, those who kept their first estate rejoiced because Christ created this earth as the place for their mortal habitation, where they would be added upon with physical bodies. (Abr 3:24–26)
Orson Pratt said:
“You and I were present when this world was created and made — you and I then understood the nature of its creation, and I have no doubt that we rejoiced and sang about it.”
(Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 18, 291)
Satan’s Defeat in Heaven and on Earth
Today we are surrounded by war, and there are reasons why one side wins and another side loses.
Revelation 12:11 states that Satan lost the premortal war in heaven because Michael and his heavenly host “overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.”
This refers to Christ’s future atonement, which had power to reach back into premortality and redeem God’s spirit children from all their sins.
Orson Pratt explained this backward reach of Christ’s infinite atonement:
“Why was the Lamb considered as ‘slain from the foundation of the world?’ … The very fact that the atonement which was to be made in a future world, was considered as already having been made, seems to show that there were those who had sinned, and who stood in need of the atonement. The nature of the sufferings of Christ was such that it could redeem the spirits of men as well as their bodies.”
(Orson Pratt, The Seer, 54)
Just as Satan’s premortal defeat came by the blood of the Lamb, his defeat in mortality will come in the same way.
There is power in the atonement to defeat Satan. This power will be openly manifest when Satan is defeated and bound at the Second Coming (Rev 20:1–3), just as he was defeated and cast down in premortality (Rev 12:9–11).
Beyond this, the atonement has power to overcome Satan in our individual lives today.
The war in heaven was ultimately won as salvation came to each individual spirit who kept their first estate. (Rev 12:10)
Salvation was possible then, as it is now, by the infinite atonement of Jesus Christ.
By His atonement we came into this second estate without sin. (D&C 98:13)
By His infinite atonement we can also enter our third estate without sin and added upon with glory forever and ever. (Abr 3:26)
This is how the atonement will again defeat Satan in this life.
Learn More
For a deeper dive into Satan’s premortal defeat and the cause for our rejoicing, check out my podcasts from December 7 and 9, 2025.
[LINKS]
🎧 December 7, 2025 – Listen here
🎧 December 9, 2025 – Listen here
(Also available wherever you get your podcasts)
John Cassinat
Unveiling Jesus Christ
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