A
great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with
the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was
pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another
sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns
and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the
sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was
about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.
She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an
iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman
fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be
taken care of for 1,260 days.
And
there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and
the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they
lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient
serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was
hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Revelation 12:1-9
From this passage we
know this about the dragon:
·
It attacks a woman with
the sun, moon and 12 stars (a reference to Joseph's dream in Genesis 37:9 which
points to the Patriarchs and the 12 tribes or Israel)
·
It has seven heads, ten
horns and seven crowns (it has tremendous power and influence)
·
Its tail sweeps a third
of the stars from the sky (a third of the demons followed Satan)
·
It tries to devour the
child (Herod tried to kill children to kill Jesus) but God protects the child
in the desert (Mary, Joseph and Jesus went to Egypt and Jesus was tempted in
the desert)
·
He was hurled to earth
with his demons.
The dragon is Satan,
trying to stop Christ and God’s children from succeeding.