CHAPTER 22 Seven Headed, Ten Horned Dragon

Rev. 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."

This second wonder that appeared in heaven (first heaven=Old Testament Age) was a great red dragon. The dragon is identified in v.9 "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." The word, "dragon," comes from the Greek word, "drakon," meaning sea monster or sea serpent. This dragon appeared in the garden of Eden and deceived the woman and brought death upon all mankind. Six times in the Old Testament the word dragon appears. The dragon appeared to David in 1 Chr.21:1 "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." This dragon appeared against Job: Job 1:6 "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. 7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?" The dragon appeared as Lucifer in Is.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." The dragon appeared against Joshua the High Priest in Zec.3:1 "And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" Besides these examples, there are many other times that the dragon is either portrayed as the serpent, or in types and shadows, or referred to as Satan in the Old Testament.

This dragon or sea monster is said to be red. The Greek word, "purrhos," means fire-like or flame-colored. This is probably where the idea of the flame breathing dragon comes from. As the dragon, he is the devourer, as the serpent, he is the murderer, as Satan, he is the deceiver, as the devil, he is the possessor. This great red dragon is said to have seven heads. Seven is the bible number of completion. Seven doesn't always appear as something good, but in this case it is showing the complete evil of the dragon. The head is the part of the body that controls, directs, and commands. In contrast to the dragon, the Lord is said to be the head over the church in the following verses:

    1. Eph. 5:23 "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body."

    2. Eph. 4:15 "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:"

    3. Col. 2:19 "And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God."

We read in the book of Isaiah above where the dragon is an imitator when he said "I will be like the most High." The only way that Satan can be like the most high is as a mirror image. The image in the mirror is exactly the opposite of the object it is reflecting. For instance, the right eye in the mirror is reflecting the left eye of the object, etc. Whereas, the Lord is the Head of the church, the dragon is the head of everything that is evil. He is the head of organized crime, he is the head of false religion, false prophets, false teachers, false apostles, and false worship, he is the head of all corruption. He, however, is not the head of the Lord's church, or the head of those who worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth. He is ever striving to become the head of these, however.

The dragon is said to have ten horns. Ten is the bible number of commandment. The commandments of the dragon are in direct opposition to the commandments of God. While the Lord said, "Thou shall have no other gods before me," the dragon leads in promoting and pressing for a multiplicity or diversity of gods. While the Lord said, "Thou shall make no graven images," the dragon promotes graven images. While the Lord said, "Thou shalt do no murder," the dragon is a murderer from the beginning. While the Lord's bride is said to be a virgin, the dragon's bride is a harlot and the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. The horn speaks of authority. The dragon has no lawful authority, but his authority comes from rebellion and what he can force upon others. It is unscriptural, unlawful authority.

The dragon is said to have seven crowns upon his head. This is indicative of his reign over the rulers of the darkness of this world. He is crowned with infamy, and blasphemy, and every evil work.

Rev. 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."

We have before noted that the stars of heaven are frequently used to represent the Lord's elect people. The fact that the tail of the dragon drew the third part of the stars of heaven, doesn't mean that he drew 1/3 of the total number of the stars. To get the meaning here we must understand something about God's people. According to 1 Th. 5:23 "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," the children of God are composed of three parts: body, soul, and spirit. The dragon draws the third part, which is the body or flesh of the children of God. We read in James 1:14 "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." The dragon is the tempter. It is through his enticement that the lust of the flesh conceives and brings forth sin. According to 1 John 2:16 the lust in the body are three-fold: 1 John 2:16 "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." Additionally,

Eph. 2:2 "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others,"

teaches us that the spirit of the dragon worked in us so that we had our conversation (lifestyle) in the lusts of our flesh and we fulfilled the desires of the flesh and of the mind. It is in this manner that the dragon draws the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.

The second part of our subject verse says that the dragon stood ready to devour the woman's child as soon as it was born. This principle is taught both in the Old Testament as well as the New by the following verses of scripture:

    1. Jere. 31:15 "Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not."

    2. Matt. 2:18 "In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."

    3. Matt. 2:12 "And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. 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: 15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son." 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 inquired of the wise men.

Yes the dragon knew that this was the Christ child and used the jealousy and fear of Herod the king in order to try and kill the child.

CHAPTER 23 Seven Headed, Ten Horned Beast

Rev. 13:1 "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."

Chapter 13 begins a section of Revelation that identifies many of the enemies of the Lord's people and what we have to confront in this life. These enemies include Satan, the secular world system, the false religious system also known as the false prophet, the false religion known as Mystery Babylon and the image of the beast also known as the antichrist or false Christs. Satan is described as a seven headed, ten-horned dragon. Now we see rising up out of the sea a beast with seven heads and ten horns. The fact that it has seven heads and ten horns teaches us that it is in the image of the dragon. Satan is an imitator and we will make note of some of his imitations as we go along in this study. God created man in his own image. Satan created the beast in his image (with seven heads and ten horns).

Christ, as God manifest in the flesh, is the image of God:

    1. 2 Cor. 4:4 "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

    2. Col. 1:15 "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature."

    3. Heb. 1:3 "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."

In imitation of God, Satan has brought forth his own image in the form of the seven head, ten-horn beast.

The beast rose up out of the sea. The word, sea, indicates the "sea" of humanity:

    1. Is. 60:5 "Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee."

    2. Jer. 51:42 "The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof."

    3. Ezek 26:16 "Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee."

    4. Dan. 7:3 "And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another."

    5. Zec. 14:8 "And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be."

Satan uses the mirror image to imitate God. The image in the mirror is the exact opposite of that which it reflects. For instance, if you look in the mirror your right hand will be your mirror images left hand, etc.

The church has one head. In contrast, the beast has seven heads, which is the exact opposite of the church.

Since the time of Nimrod, designing men under the spirit of Satan have been trying to establish domination over humanity. Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. God told man after the flood to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, and subdue the earth. However, Nimrod in rebellion against God began to build a kingdom and led man to begin to build the tower of Babel, so that man would be under man's laws and man's government and man's religion. God confounded the language and they left off the building of Babel and were scattered abroad. Afterwards, Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam began to build a kingdom and had conquered nine nations, when five of the nations rebelled against him. When he went out to do battle against the five rebelling nations, God intervened to destroy his empire and sent Abram to rescue Lot with 318-trained servants and overcome the army of Chedorlaomer.

A few centuries later Syria under Benhadad reigned over 32 nations and had built a multinational empire. Syria was the first head of the seven head beast in Revelation. God destroyed the head by using an army of 7,000 Israelites to defeat the 32 nation's army twice. The nation of Syria was no longer the great multinational kingdom that it had been up to that time.

Next, Assyria arose to be a great multinational kingdom, carried away the ten tribes of Israel, defeated, and reigned over multitudes of other nations. Assyria remained a great nation until she went up against Hezekiah and Judah at Jerusalem. God himself sent an angel and destroyed 185,000 of the army of Assyria in one night and the sons of the king rebelled and killed the king of Assyria, which led to the downfall of Assyria as a multinational kingdom.

The third head to arise was Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar carried the children of Israel into captivity and Babylon reigned over the entire civilized world at that time.

Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream revealed the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth heads of the beast. These were Babylon, Medo-Persian Empire, Greece, and Rome. This is consistent with what we read in Rev. 17:10 "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." At the time of the writing of the book of Revelation, the kingdoms of Syria, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persian Empire, and Greece were all fallen. The kingdom of Rome was the existing multinational kingdom at that time.

"Upon his heads the name of blasphemy…" This clearly teaches us that all the efforts at multinational or one world domination have been in direct opposition to God and are an open rebellion against God. Satan's purpose in raising these heads is spelled out for us in Rev. 12:17 "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Satan has ever sought to destroy the true worship of God and has moved men to seek world domination in an effort to destroy those who would worship God in Spirit and in truth.

Ten is the scriptural sign of law or commandment. The beast had ten horns. The substitute or imitation of God ruling men by his laws and commandments is that the laws and commandments of men rule man. This beast rules by the laws and commandments of men. In addition, the substitute or imitation of worshipping God in Spirit and in truth is to worship by the doctrines or commandments of men. The beast tries to enforce man made religion upon man.

The book of Daniel says a lot about the seven head beast. For instance, Daniel chapter seven describes the beast.