Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. Revelation 12:3-4
Throughout history, there have been many works of fiction about a young person that rose up out of obscurity and unto triumph. What often times seems to be the most dire of situations, when the situation seems impossibly insurmountable, we see the hero triumph--and we cheer.
One such true story we touched on briefly in last week's message, the story of Joseph in the latter chapters of Genesis. Against all odds, Joseph was sold into slavery from his position as favored son of Jacob, then thrown into jail after false accusation of attempted rape. Even in jail, all that Joseph touched was blessed, and after interpreting dreams of the Pharaoh was placed into the highest position in the country right after the Pharaoh himself. Later, Joseph saved his family--the entire nation of Israel--including those brothers that had sold him into slavery. Joseph then stated "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." (Genesis 50:20, NKJV)
Last week, we studied the identity of the woman in Revelation 12. Of the four more popular thoughts, we saw how this woman is figurative and not literal like Mary mother of Jesus. Not the church, as this view would have the church give birth to the Savior, and also have the unmarried church as the mother of offspring of many, and also how some cults such as the Christian Scientists view their founder at the woman. We then saw how, because of the parallel in Genesis to the passage in verse 1, this woman can only be Israel the nation out of which Jesus came.
This week we are going to study the next of the characters in this great end-times drama, The Dragon. In the weekend devotionals, we will see how there are seven distinct persons revealed in the drama of chapters 12 and thirteen and how each character has their role as set up and known by God from the foundation of the world.
The Dragon, Part I
Theologians are almost completely united in their interpretation on the next two images in Revelation 12. Nearly all agree that the Dragon represents Satan and the Child represents Jesus Christ. But, from what we see in the imagery regarding Satan in Revelation 12 describes not his appearance but instead his demeanor.
First, let's take a brief look at verse two. Why is the Woman, whom we identified as Israel, in pain or travail? Persecution by Satan throughout the ages, from the very beginning. Satan hates God, hates His plan of redemption and hates His people with a murderous hatred.
Now in verse three we see "another sign", indicating that, like the Woman, this vision of the Dragon is symbolic of a person. Again, the view that this Dragon represents Satan is universal among Bible students and scholars; the imagery is undeniable.
The setting is in heaven. What we will see here is a flashback, a trip to the past if you will. We have discussed the fall of Lucifer in the past; Lucifer was the best and brightest of all the angels. His intelligence was (and still is) off the scale by our measurements, he was musically talented, beautiful, he was the "cherub who covers"; he was closer to God than any other being ever has been. He was God's right hand angel, you could say (see Ezekiel 28:11-19; Isaiah 14:12-15). However, Lucifer was "perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. (Ezekiel 28:15, NKJV). What was this iniquity? Pride.
Lucifer (star of the morning), the perfect, beautiful, powerful, talented angel "said in (his) heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' (Isaiah 14:13-14, NKJV). His goal was to dethrone God, set up his own throne, rule all of the angels and be in charge of heaven.
Dr. Tony Evans noted in his video series "The Battle Belongs To The Lord", that he feels that part of the punishment that Satan receives for his betrayal of God in his coup attempt was this: Satan, a once perfect being who originally resided in Heaven, has to watch God take imperfect, sinful men and save them, make them perfect and have them reside in heaven forever. What cost for rebellion!
The Dragon, Part II
Babe Ruth was known by many nicknames, a lesson we learn from the classic youth baseball movie "The Sandlot".
"The Babe"...
The Sultan of Swat...
The King of Crash...
The Colossus of Clout...
The Great Bambino!
Each nickname was descriptive of a characteristic of his baseball prowess. In fact, Babe was not his real name it was George.
The Bible is rich with names with meaning. Quite often, a person's name reflected something about them either at their birth or perhaps a prophecy concerning their future. Satan is a prime example; we see five names applied to Satan in Revelation 12.
The great, fiery red dragon (v 3): This title is descriptive of the bloodshed caused by the influence of Satan, from the account of the murder of Abel in Genesis to the very end of the world in Revelation 20.
That serpent of old (v 9): A reference to Satan's appearance in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3.
The devil (v 9): Satan as the "slanderer" or "accuser". We will discuss this aspect of Satan's personality in a couple of weeks, but give this some thought: when you speak evil about someone, you are in league with Satan.
Satan (v 9): Satan as the "adversary". He is the adversary or opponent of both God and men, more specifically saved men. While a preoccupation with the devil is not a healthy thing, we must also go by the old adage "know your enemy, and know yourself". When you learn how Satan does things, it is much easier to see his snare
The accuser of our brethren (v 10). Satan accuses us before God day and night, but we have Jesus as our Advocate (legal representative, lawyer) and representative before God the Father. What better lawyer to have than Jesus?
Satan is called
"father of lies",
"Enemy",
"evil one",
"god of this age",
"lawless one",
"Murderer",
"Tempter"
and many more monikers. Satan's personality is shown in each of these different titles, and we must be constantly on our guard against Him.
The Dragon, Part III
It is amazing to me how these days there are many that "call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness (Isaiah 5:20a, NKJV). We have seen a good deal of this in advertising, in politics, in sports and just about every facet of life. A person gets caught with his or her hand "in the till", and the comment comes forth "well, they did a lot of good" and "everyone else does it, but he just got caught".
I have found the same thing is applicable with Satan; he has been portrayed as a comical character, in a red suit with horns and a pointy tail with a pitchfork. He has been spoken of as not even existing, and even if he does exist "so what!", some folks say. I think that most people, Christians included, either do not take Satan seriously or perhaps even give him too much attention or power and, quite often, deny that Satan even exists. We need to heed the words of the Apostle John: You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 Jn 4:4)
In verse 3 above, Satan is called a "great, fiery red dragon". Satan is great in power, in influence in the world today; proof of that is found in Washington DC, Harrisburg and in Hollywood and on Wall Street. Yet, today he is limited in his scope, and he is very limited in what he can do to the believer (see Job 1). However, during that time, the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit will be removed (2 Thess 2:7) and evil in the world will erupt like the blown relief valve on a pressure cooker.
Satan is viewed as "great" or "enormous", showing his power. The dragon's color is fiery red, showing the murderous, blood shedding intent and malevolence of Satan. "In the Old Testament the same Hebrew word translated dragon (Isa. 27:1; 51:9) is also translated monster or sea monster (Gen. 1:21; Job 7:12; Pss. 74:13; 148:7; Jer. 51:34; Ezek. 29:3; 32:2). It pictures a large, ferocious, and terrifying animal." (John MacArthur, MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Revelation 12-22). LIFE IS IN THE BLOOD
As we saw yesterday, Satan is a malevolent, malignant being that should never be trifled with. He is monstrous, murderous, and wants to kill you, saved or unsaved because you are made in the image of God. We should be more than thankful that the Holy Spirit has a "lid on the pressure cooker of evil" in the world; once the Restrainer 's (Holy Spirit) restraining ministry is set aside the world will see evil as it has never known.
The Dragon, Part IV
Just what does "seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems" mean? Here is a thumbnail view of possible meanings with a full discussion next week.
First, some hold to the seven heads being the seven governments that have oppressed Israel in the Old Testament. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and the Revived Roman Empire, which would be Satan's empire.
Another possibility is that this is a reference to Revelation 17:9, speaking of seven mountains or hills and this might refer to a city with seven mountains or hills--Rome.
The ten horns refer to "the final kingdom, ruled by Antichrist...a ten-nation confederacy; the ten horns represent the kings who will rule under Antichrist (17:12; cf. 13:1; Dan. 7:23-25). The shifting of the diadems from the dragon's heads to the beast's horns (13:1) reveals the shift in power from the seven consecutive world empires to the ten kings under the final Antichrist. (MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Revelation 12-22)
The first part of verse four, His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth, describes the fall of the angels that followed Satan in his rebellion. Stars in the Word can mean literal stars or can refer to angels: To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:6-7;` also see Rev 9:1). As we have discussed before, it's important to have a proper regard for the power of Satan to deceive; Satan deceived perfect angels in a perfect place and we are far from perfect! These fallen angels, once perfect as Satan was, fell for the great lie: you too can be like God.
Finally, we see that the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. Again, keep in mind that the woman represents Israel, and that the Child is Jesus Christ. Throughout the Old Testament, Satan has sought to persecute Israel. Satan deceived Adam and Eve, then inspired Cain to slay Abel; he also incited Pharaoh to kill all of the Hebrew male infants when Moses was born in an attempt to snuff out the nation of Israel. Time and time again, Satan persecuted Israel and sought to destroy her to no avail.
We know from the Christmas story that Herod flew into a rage and had all of the males born under age two for fear and in jealousy that the new King to come--Jesus Christ--would dethrone him. But Satan wanted to kill Jesus.
Satan hates God, His angels--and he hates YOU, he wants you to believe the lie that the Word of God is replete with deception. However, right now, his modus operandi in the church is not an overt attack, it is maneuvering to get the church to fall asleep at the proverbial switch.
Two Important points:
Satan hates you, but he can only tempt you and go no farther without God's permission (Job 1) if you are a Christian.
Like Joseph, when evil does come upon a Christian, God means it for good. It may not be pleasant. It may not be fun. It may hurt. It may be one of the worst times in your life. But...God means it for good, and one day you will see that. And rejoice in it.
