“A Great Red Dragon”
“There appeared another wonder in heaven;
and behold a great red dragon,
having seven heads and ten horns,
and seven crowns upon his heads.”
Revelation 12:3-4.
(1) the time when this dragon arises, based on the astronomical marker of
Revelation 12:1-2, 5;
(2) the stealthy, destructive nature of this dragon which is called a serpent, a devil, and
a satan; and
(3) the “seven” and “ten” features of this dragon which clearly identify
the two major deceptions upon which its very existence depends.
Once identified, Yehuveh’s promise will become increasingly precious, the promise that when He and His anointed messengers war against this dragon and its messengers, these destroyers “prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, . . . and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:8-9.
Why is this Entity Represented as a Dragon?
Can we find a more fitting word to describe something unlike any other creature that ever existed and decidedly opposed to everything for which Yehuveh stands? Whatever this entity is, it is clearly an enemy to all that is right and good!
There are twelve references to this dragon in Revelation [Revelation 12:3, 4, 7, 9, 13, 16, 17; 13:2, 4, 11; 16:13; 20:2], where it is variously described as “great,” as seeking to “devour,” as fighting and making war, as an “old serpent,” as “the devil,” as “satan,” as persecuting, as spewing forth a flood of evil, and as “wroth.” This dragon is also described as being “worshipped” by the world, as giving “power unto the beast,” as “speaking” [as in Daniel 7:25: “he shall speak great words against the most High.” ], as having “three unclean spirits like frogs come out of [his] mouth,” and finally as being “bound” and “cast . . . into the bottomless pit” and “shut up” with “a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more,” though “after that he must be loosed a little season.”
Linking the Greek word translated dragon back to its Hebrew correlary in the Torah, the Old Testament word dragon is translated from the Hebrew word tanniyn [Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary entry H8577, meaning “a marine or land monster”, derived from the Hebrew root tan, H8565, meaning “monster”] 21 of its 22 uses. These 21 uses are in: Deuteronomy 32:33; Nehemiah 2:13; Job 30:29; Psalms 44:19; 74:13; 91:13; 148:7; Isaiah 13:22; 27:1; 34:13; 35:7; 43:20; 51:9; Jeremiah 9:11; 10:22; 14:6; 49:33; 51:34, 37; Ezekiel 29:3; Micah 1:8. The remaining use of dragons, from Malachi 1:3, is from the related Hebrew word tannah [H8568, “a female jackal.”
Gael Bataman
Originally Written: 2 October 2005
Latest Update: 6 October 2011
Complete Study Guide to Article 9
A Dragon, Not a Beast
(1) When Does this Dragon Appear?
Emergence of the World Trade Organization
(2) What are the Characteristics of This Dragon?
First: Who is the “that old serpent”?
Second: Who is the “Devil”?
Third: Who is “Satan, Which Deceiveth the Whole World”?
Who are “His Angels” Who are “Cast Out with Him”?
(3) What are the Dragon’s “Seven” and “Ten” Features?
Provision for Our Safety from the Dragon
Return to Zadok Home Continue Article 9 . . . Go to Section 6: Prophecy
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