Monday: The Dragon of Revelation
Daily Lesson for Monday 3rd of March 2025
The overarching perspective of celestial rulers in the cosmic conflict is encapsulated in the book of Revelation, where the devil is depicted as “the great dragon” who opposes God and “deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12:9, NKJV).
Read Revelation 13:1-8. What does this reveal about the extent of the dragon’s jurisdiction?
The dragon (Satan) not only wars against God (Revelation 12:7-9) and His servants (for example, Revelation 12:1-6), but he is depicted as the ruler behind the earthly kingdoms who persecute God’s people throughout the ages.
Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com
The dragon “gave . . . his power, his throne, and great authority” to the beast from the sea (Revelation 13:2, NKJV; compare with Revelation 13:5; Revelation 17:13-14). This beast from the sea is “given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months” (Revelation 13:5, NKJV).
So, Satan (the dragon) gives power and ruling authority to a beast (an earthly religious-political power). This power is exercised in order to usurp the worship due to God. The beast blasphemes God’s name; it also wars against, and even overcomes, God’s holy ones (saints), at least for a period of time. This worldwide authority and jurisdiction is given to him by the dragon, the usurping ruler of this world.
Yet, there are clear limits on Satan and his agencies, as well, including temporal limits. “ ‘Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time’ ” (Revelation 12:12, NKJV).
Satan “knows that his time is short” (Revelation 12:12, ESV), and the events described in Revelation proceed along prophetic time lines, which show specific limits (see Revelation 12:14, Revelation 13:5) to the reign of these evil forces.
Indeed, God finally triumphs. “ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away’ ” (Revelation 21:4, NKJV).
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However hard for us to see it now, in the end good will eternally triumph over evil. Why is it so important that we never forget this wonderful promise? |
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The Bible identifies the dragon as Satan, the devil, and the greatest enemy of God’s people (Revelation 12:9). What are the attributes or characteristics of the dragon? The Bible identifies the following as the core attributes of the dragon:
1. A deceiver - (Revelation 12:9, John 8:44)
2. An accuser of God’s people - (Revelation 12:10)
3. An oppressor of God’s people - (Revelation 12:13)
4. An enemy of God's Commandment keepers - (Revelation 12:17)
5. Desires to usurp God’s power – (Isaiah 14:13-14)
6. Give power to the Beast (evil world leaders)- (Revelation 13:2)
It is miserable to note that even we who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ exhibit the same characteristics as the dragon (deception and lies, false accusers, persecutors of fellow brethren, desire for power and control, and wage war against God’s people). The spirit of the dragon is active and alive in the world today, but there is good news, the dragon is a defeated foe through the blood of Jesus Christ and the truth found in the Word of God.
“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” - Revelation 12:11 (RSV).
We are a bit short of dragons in Australia but we have crocodiles. Anywhere north of the Tropic of Capricorn where there is water connected to the sea you have to be wary of crocodiles. There are red and yellow signs in public areas where crocodiles are likely to be but there are lots of areas where the population is too sparse to put up signs and you need to be aware yourself. Crocodiles can be very big. I have a photo of Carmel standing beside the life sized replica of one in Normanton, Queensland. She could be swallowed whole!
Crocodiles are intelligent hunters. They hunt by careful observation and you are often not aware of their presence until they suddenly leap out of the water and grab their prey. In the Northern Territory, there is a river ford known as Cahill's Crossing, where there have been several deaths, usually of people who think they know a lot about crocodiles.
In many ways, I can replace the imagery of the dragon in Revelation with a crocodile and get a similar spiritual understanding. I remind myself that we Seventh-day Adventists have made the prophetic understanding of the dragon our business. We like to map out where it has been and what it has done. I mentioned earlier that many of the people killed by crocodiles thought they knew a lot about them. Maybe they did, but they placed themselves in a position where, possibly fuelled with a bit of "I have a sound knowledge of crocodiles" bravado, they could be attacked by crocodiles . Crocodiles do not ask their victims how much they know. As long as a crocodile is alive it can still bite.
We know how it ends:
... but in the meantime, we have to be dragon-aware and in the safety of God's love.