The Great Red Dragon
Notes
Transcript
Handout
As I mentioned in the beginning of this series, my original plan had been to preach through the visions of Revelation, but I realized that we need a ton of background in order to understand the imagery. Now that we have studied dragons, we are ready to examine the Great Red Dragon. This will help us to understand how Satan fits into this whole dragon thing.
Read Revelation 12.
Revelation 12:9 is a twist in the story: this Red dragon is Leviathan from Isaiah 27:1—who is both a tannin and a nehash—AND he’s SATAN!
So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.
On that day the Lord with his relentless, large, strong sword will bring judgment on Leviathan, the fleeing serpent—Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea.
If Satan is a DRAGON, then he is a CHAOTIC power created by God for a PURPOSE. Rev. 12:9; Isaiah 27:1; (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:11-19)
Shining morning star,
how you have fallen from the heavens!
You destroyer of nations,
you have been cut down to the ground.
You said to yourself,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will set up my throne
above the stars of God.
I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,
in the remotest parts of the North.
I will ascend above the highest clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you will be brought down to Sheol
into the deepest regions of the Pit.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, lament for the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord God says:
You were the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God.
Every kind of precious stone covered you:
carnelian, topaz, and diamond,
beryl, onyx, and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise and emerald.
Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold;
they were prepared on the day you were created.
You were an anointed guardian cherub,
for I had appointed you.
You were on the holy mountain of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
From the day you were created
you were blameless in your ways
until wickedness was found in you.
Through the abundance of your trade,
you were filled with violence, and you sinned.
So I expelled you in disgrace
from the mountain of God,
and banished you, guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones.
Your heart became proud because of your beauty;
For the sake of your splendor
you corrupted your wisdom.
So I threw you down to the ground;
I made you a spectacle before kings.
You profaned your sanctuaries
by the magnitude of your iniquities
in your dishonest trade.
So I made fire come from within you,
and it consumed you.
I reduced you to ashes on the ground
in the sight of everyone watching you.
All those who know you among the peoples
are appalled at you.
You have become an object of horror
and will never exist again.’ ”
This is where we struggle with Satan: how do we explain an evil spiritual being if God is all good? He couldn’t have created an evil being, so he must have created a good being who turned evil. So we try to find that story somewhere in the Bible, and the best we can do is these two passages from the prophets: Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19. But those passages are about kings. Ezekiel is telling the king of Tyre that he sinned because of the abundance of his trade.
If Satan is a dragon, however, then he was a chaotic force from the very beginning—single-minded in purpose, heedless of effects (like electricity). So what was his purpose?
Satan was a GUARD-dragon: he patrolled the earth looking for SINNERS and HYPOCRITES to accuse and punish. Job 1:6-12; 1 Chron. 21:1 (cf. 2 Sam. 24:1); Zech. 3:1; Matthew 4:1; Luke 22:31; 1 Corinthians 5:4-5, 2 Corinthians 12:7; Rev. 12:10;
One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”
“From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”
Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Haven’t you placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
“Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “everything he owns is in your power. However, do not lay a hand on Job himself.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.
Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to count the people of Israel.
Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
“Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.
This is all done w/in God’s will (Job)
The Lord’s anger burned against Israel again, and he stirred up David against them to say, “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.”
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself.
When humanity sinned, WE became Satan’s ENEMIES—and his PREY. Rev. 12:1-4, Genesis 3:15
I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.
A great 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 labor and agony as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: There was a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven crowns. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth it might devour her child.
The Bible never describes Satan as the enemy of God, only of human beings.
This helps resolve one of the puzzles of the Biblical story. Satan is described as having a kingdom, as being the ruler of this world. Why would God hand creation over to his own enemy?
He didn’t. He set loose his guard dog into a world that is in rebellion against him.
When God became human, he made HIMSELF Satan’s ENEMY. Rev. 12:5, Acts 10:38, 1 John 3:8;
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth it might devour her child. She gave birth to a Son, a male who is going to rule all nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.
You know the events that took place throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the devil, because God was with him.
The one who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works.
When Jesus brought FORGIVENESS of sins, Satan’s role was ABOLISHED. Rev. 12:7-10, Luke 10:18, Romans 7:7-13, 8:1-2;
Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say,
The salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Christ
have now come,
because the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them
before our God day and night,
has been thrown down.
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing at all will harm you.
Satan still roams the world—in defiance of God—to WAGE WAR on God’s people. Rev. 12:12, 17; 1 Peter 5:8;
Therefore rejoice, you heavens,
and you who dwell in them!
Woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has come down to you
with great fury,
because he knows his time is short.
So the dragon was furious with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus.
Living with Dragons
Living with Dragons
We did not get caught up in GOD’S war with Satan. God caught himself up in Satan’s war with US.
Satan’s goal is not to OVERTHROW God, but to CONDEMN God’s people.
We triumph by trusting Christ’s FORGIVENESS and resisting Satan’s TEMPTATIONS. Rev. 12:10-11
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say,
The salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Christ
have now come,
because the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them
before our God day and night,
has been thrown down.
They conquered him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
for they did not love their lives
to the point of death.