Revelation 12:12; He Hath But a Short Time

Revelation 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 

Satan knows that the opportunity God has given him is of short duration. It is the same as the three and a half years, the forty-two months, or the 1,260 days mentioned elsewhere (11:2–3; 12:6, 14; 13:5) …

Revelation 11:2-3 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty andtwo months. And I will give powerunto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred andthreescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 

Revelation 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred andthreescore days. 

Revelation 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 

Revelation 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty andtwo months. 

 Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol. 20, p. 366). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

The time is counting down for at the end of the 3 1/2 years Christ returns to reign on earth, the Devi will be cast into the bottomless pit for 1000 years.

Thumos (wrath) refers to a violent outburst of rage. The word depicts a turbulent, emotional fury rather than a rational anger. 

John Phillips wrote, “Satan is now like a caged lion, enraged beyond words by the limitations now placed upon his freedom. He picks himself up from the dust of the earth, shakes his fist at the sky, and glares around, choking with fury for ways to vent his hatred and his spite upon humankind” (Exploring Revelation, rev. ed. [Chicago: Moody, 1987; reprint, Neptune, N.J.: Loizeaux, 1991], 160). Satan’s rage is all the more violent because he knows that he has only a short time—the remainder of the Tribulation—for his final assault on God’s people. His actual time will be the three and a half years of the reign of Antichrist (13:5), whom Satan places in power immediately after being cast down from heaven.

 MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2000). Revelation 12–22 (p. 23). Chicago: Moody Press.

Jude 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.