Revelation 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

(Another wonder to be seen, a great red dragon.

No, it is NOT China, but a few lines later, the scriptures clearly identify who this dragon is:)

 

Revelation 12:9a And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:

 

(This wonder is a vision, a picture of the devil. Also, this dragon has 7 heads, but Chinese dragons have only one head.

If we had ever wondered what proof there was that serpent in the garden of Eden was the devil, line 9 proves that as well.

Jesus shows the enemy to us, by various ways in the scriptures, to let us understand the enemy’s character.

Leviathan is one of those clear pictures of the devil:)

 

Job 41:1 Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?

  2 Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?

  5 Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?

  7 Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?

  12 I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.

  15 His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.

  19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.

  20 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.

  21 His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.

  24 His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.

  25 When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.

  28 The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.

  33 Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.

  34 He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

 

(The devil doesn’t fear the LORD. A real fire breathing dragon.)

 

Isaiah 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

 

Psalms 74:13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.

  14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

 

(Multi-headed dragons, multi-headed Leviathan.)

 

Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

 

(Leviathan is the serpent, he is the dragon, he is the devil, the enemy.)

 

Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

  13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

  14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

  15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

 

(The dragon’s name had been Lucifer, and perhaps after he fell, he was then known as Satan.

He had been in a very high position when he was created.

However, by his own freewill he sinned, and iniquity was found in him.

His sin was pride, pride in himself, and pride that he thought that he would be even higher than he was created to be.

He exalted himself up to where he even said that he would be like the most high.

When we sin with pride, we are just like him, that Job 41:34 says, “he is a king over all the children of pride”.

At that moment, we reject the Kingship of Jesus, and resubmit ourselves to the fallen kingship of the devil.

However, Jesus brings us down when we lift ourselves up with pride.

The devil lifted himself up, and then Jesus casts him down.

First cast out of the mountain of God, later cast out of heaven, then cast into the bottomless pit, and then cast into the lake of fire.)

Ezekiel 28:12b Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

  13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

  14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

  15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

  16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

  17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

  18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

  19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

 

(The dragon is red, the color of sin:)

 

Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

 

(The dragon has seven heads and crowns on those heads.

Chapter 17, in speaking of the beast which also has seven heads, mentions what those heads are:)

 

Revelation 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

  10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

 

(In particular, these are kingdoms, over which there are seven powerful beings.)

 

Daniel 2:34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

  35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

 

Daniel 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

 

Jeremiah 51:25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

 

Micah 6:2 Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.

 

Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

 

(The beast, as seen in chapters 13 and 17, also has seven heads and ten horns, like the dragon.

However, the dragon has crowns on the seven heads, whereas the beast has crowns on the ten horns.   The crowns show where the authority is vested.

The horns also are kings:)

 

Revelation 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

(There are seven kingdoms in particular, are they the ones that had power over Israel?

If so, then are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and the final, composite, end-times kingdom?

There are principalities in the heavenlies that are over these kingdoms, as well as kings on the earth.

What is seen in Daniel, in the past, as individual kingdoms, somehow in the tribulation becomes a composite kingdom.

That composite kingdom in the tribulation, still has its spiritual authority of seven principalities in the heavenlies.

Those seven principalities have their power with the devil, as seen as the dragon with seven heads with crowns.

The composite kingdom on earth will have its earthly authority of ten kings on the earth.

Those ten kings will have their power with the antichrist, as seen as the beast with ten horns with crowns.

So, why does the dragon have both seven heads and ten horns, and the beast have seven heads and ten horns?

To show that this final Gentile kingdom has both a spiritual dimension and an earthly dimension.

To show that the seven principalities have the spiritual power over the ten kings.

This is how the kingdom of darkness works, and this shows its ultimate final form of rebellion in the tribulation.

Daniel was told of two of those principalities:)

 

Daniel 10:20 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.

 

(And we as Christians, wrestle with celestial principalities, not with democrats or republicans.)

 

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

{Revelation 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.} 

(So, why does the dragon cast a third of the heavenly hosts to the earth, and attempt to devour the child as soon as it is born?)

 

Genesis 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

  15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

 

(That is why the devil hates Israel so much, because through Israel, Genesis 3:15 would be fulfilled.

There would a child born of the house of David, of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham, which would be of the seed of Eve.

The devil would bruise this child’s heel at the cross, but this child would bruise the devil’s head at the resurrection and second advent.

The enmity that the LORD put between the devil and Eve, has its fulfillment in the 4,000 year hatred that the devil has for Israel.)

 

(As seen in Revelation chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, and 9, sometimes stars refer to celestial angelic creatures.

So why would the devil cast a third of the celestial beings to the earth?

It would appear that these celestial beings were lower ranking fallen celestial beings, cast to the earth prior to the arrival of Jesus.

In the old testament we don’t see all kinds of people being possessed by devils and evils spirits, but in the gospels, we do.

It would seem that part of the enemy’s plan to defeat Genesis 3:15, was to fill the world, and particularly Israel, with devils.

Then he himself would try to devour, to kill, the child as soon as it was born, by the hand of king Herod:)

 

Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

  2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

  3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

  8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

  13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

  14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

  16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

(There were celestial beings cast down at various times.

First, there was the original rebellion of Satan, where many celestial beings followed him, similar to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

Some of these rebellious beings came down in Genesis 6, and somehow had children with the daughters of men.

Way back then, many high ranking rebel beings were cast down and bound:)

 

II Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

 

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.

 

Revelation 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

 

(Even the devil was cast down some, at that time:)

 

Ezekiel 28:16b  therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, 

O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

 

Luke 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

 

(Jesus saw this happen, but because he is eternal, he also saw what will happen, further, later on in this chapter.)

 

(Then before Jesus was born, the devil cast lower ranking celestial beings to the earth.

Were these the devils and evil spirits troubling Israel in the gospels?)

 

(Then, later in this chapter, in the tribulation, the devil is permanently cast out of heaven.

Also, the remnant of the rebel celestial beings, the principalities and powers, the devil’s angels, are cast out with him.)

 

(Then in chapter 9 the bottomless pit was opened, letting loose many of the original rebels that had been bound.

It would seem that all of the fallen celestial beings end up on the earth for the tribulation – that will be a nightmare!)