What does it mean that Satan is a dragon (Revelation 12)?

Rev. 12:3-5. — “And another sign was seen in the Heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems; and his tail draws the third part of the stars of the Heaven, and he cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, in order that when she brought forth he might devour her child. And she brought forth a male son, who shall shepherd all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.” The next remarkable sign is that of “a great red dragon.” Satan is here before us in his worst character confronting the woman. See verse 9, also Revelation 20:2, in which the identity of the dragon with Satan is established without a doubt. Why is the dragon used as a symbol of Satan? Pharaoh, king of Egypt, in his cruelty to God’s people, and in proud and haughty independence of God, is termed “the great dragon” (Ezek. 29:3-4). Nebuchadnezzar is similarly spoken of in respect to his violence and cruelty (Jer. 51:34). Gathering up the numerous Scripture references in the Book of Psalms, and in the first three of the greater prophets, to the crocodile, the sovereign of the seas, who is identified with the dragon, insatiable cruelty seems the main feature. The Egyptians regarded the crocodile, or dragon, according to their hieroglyphics, as the source and author of all evil, worshipped under the name of Typho. The colour of the dragon, red, denotes his murderous, bloodthirsty character. This is the first time in Scripture that Satan is directly spoken of as a dragon. The heathen monarchs, Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, enslaved and oppressed the people of God, and, thus far acting in satanic power, merited the appellation of dragon. But at the time treated of in our chapter Satan is the prince of the world, its virtual ruler. The Roman power is the instrument through which he acts. Hence the title “great red dragon” can now for the first time be used of him.

— “Having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems,” not “crowns,” as in the Authorised Version. What is said of the dragon here is also predicated of the Beast (Rev. 13. 1), only here the heads are encircled with the golden fillet, or diadem, the emblem in the East of arbitrary, despotic power; whereas the ten horns of the Beast are crowned. The heads in the one case; the horns in the other. The seven heads on the dragon must not be interpreted as the seven-hilled city of Rome. The dragon and the Beast are distinct, however closely related. The former is a spiritual power, the latter the historical world power. The seven crowned heads of the dragon refer to the concentration of earthly power and wisdom in cruel and despotic exercise. His ten uncrowned horns point to the future limits of the empire as distributed into ten kingdoms, the government of which he administers. If his heads are crowned there is no need for the horns to be. When we come to the actual history the ten horns or kings are crowned (Rev. 13:1). The simple thought is that the heads of the dragon are crowned, while his ten horns signify that his power is exercised administratively through the empire in its ten-kingdom form. The dragon represents the unseen force behind the empire; hence the diadems are on his heads, not on his horns. His heads are encircled with the golden fillet, or badge of royalty, as expressing his complete power and wisdom on earth, centred, however, in the Beast, the royal power then dominant on earth. He is the virtual ruler of the worldwide Gentile monarchy. He administers its government through its personal head “the little horn” (Dan. 7), who is but an instrument in his hands. The despotism and cruelty of the empire are due to the fact that Satan is behind it, governing it in the fulness of his power, and imparting his own character to it, one of undying hatred to God and to those who are His.

In Revelation 20, we are told that he is to be bound with a great chain and cast into the bottomless pit. When that judgment is executed upon him his character and work will be fully exposed, but it is there already revealed for us who believe. He is "the dragon, that old serpent, the devil and Satan." As the dragon he is the destroyer; as the old serpent he is the deceiver; as the devil, he is the accuser; as Satan, he is the adversary — the adversary of God, and of all good, and of our souls. Here then is his four-fold character — destroyer, deceiver, accuser, adversary. Now I want you to see how our Lord Jesus Christ stands out in contrast to the devil. If the devil is the destroyer, our Lord is the DELIVERER; and if the devil is the deceiver, our Lord is the TRUTH — the Holy and the True; if the devil is the accuser — the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12), our Lord is the INTERCESSOR AND ADVOCATE; and if the devil is the adversary, our Lord is THE FRIEND. You must choose, Christians, under whose control you will come. If you go in for the world you will come under the devil's control, for he is the "god" and the "prince" of it; if you seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness you will come under the control of Jesus, the Saviour, for He is Lord in that realm.

The sceptre of the whole earth must finally rest either in the hand of the great red dragon or the Man Child. Who the great red dragon really is is clearly stated in verse 9 of our chapter and his complete fourfold character and activities exposed. He is: The Great Dragon – the destroyer The Old Serpent – the deceiver The Devil – the accuser and Satan – the adversary

The names of the dragon are mentioned in the order in which they occur in Revelation 12:9. There, however, he is termed “the great dragon.” As the dragon he is the embodiment of cruelty. As the serpent he is the personification of guile. As the devil he is the arch tempter of men. As Satan he is the declared opponent of Christ and His people. The term “dragon” represents‎ a real historical entity, an actual living person with whom every responsible creature on earth has to do. His power and presence are, of course, controlled and limited, as he is but a creature, but his agents are so numerous and diversified, and increasingly active in their master’s service, that some have gone the length of claiming for Satan the attributes of omnipotence and omniscience. These, however, are divine attributes, and necessarily belong to the Creator alone.‎

The dragon is seized and cast into the pit, which is then locked up and sealed “over him” (see R.V.). The seal affixed to the stone “upon the mouth of the den of lions”‎ ‎(Dan. 6:17), as also upon the stone rolled to the door of‎ the sepulchre (Matt. 27:60, 64, 66), intimates that the judicial and governing authority pledged itself to retain in secure custody its prisoner. The door of the abyss‎ is securely fastened.‎ ‎

But before we see the birth of the man-child, we are called to look at "another sign in heaven," "a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads." These heads and horns we shall presently find upon the fourth beast, or world-empire, but we are not left doubtful as to who the dragon is. Here we find the first in all this part of those interpretations which are given henceforth here and there throughout the book: the dragon is "that ancient serpent which is called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." Thus as the dawn rises upon the battlefield the combatants are discerned. It is Satan who here as the "prince of this world" appears as if incarnate in the last world-empire. "Seven heads" show perfection of world-wisdom; and every one of these heads wears a diadem, or despotic crown. The symbolic meaning of the number does not at all preclude another meaning historically, as Scripture-history is every where itself symbolic, as is nature also. The ten horns measure the actual extent of power, and infer by their number responsibility and judgment.

But now, going back to our chapter, we find that, besides the woman and the man child, there is another sign; a great antagonist of God appears — not the beast, but a much more serious power — "a great red dragon." And there is this remarkable circumstance — the same description which is applied to the beast is used of the dragon. How comes this? That Satan is the great red dragon there can be no doubt; this very chapter tells us so in verse 9: and yet he is described with the various characteristics that we find in the Roman empire (Rev. 13:1), "having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns." I believe the reason is, that Satan is viewed in connection with earthly power. Just as the woman was seen invested with symbols of power from above which God has given her, so here Satan is clothed with the fulness of earthly authority. He has seven heads, the symbol of deliberative power, that which rules and guides, and ten horns, the symbol of kings or kingly dignities. He is the prince of the world, who surrounds himself with all power connected with the earth. The Roman empire is the grand representative of the power of Satan. But when we look at that empire in Revelation 13 we see this difference. The crowns were upon the heads of the dragon, but upon the horns of the beast. That is, in the Roman empire we have the exercise of the power represented as a matter of fact, but in Satan's case merely as a matter of principle or the root of the thing. Satan is the great moving spring, though unseen. It is a question of source and character, not of history.

First, then, we have had the thought and plan of God in respect to Israel and Christ. And it is plain that it is the destiny of the man child, not as yet the exercise of His dominion over all the nations; for if it were the latter, the woman would not have to flee to the wilderness, nor would the dragon be permitted to make war on her and the rest of her seed. To apply this historically is to entirely miss the teaching of God, who is here showing out His purpose, and no more as yet. Then the dragon appears, the one that God looks at as the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air, clothed with the same symbols of earthly power as we find later on in the Roman empire, save that in this last the crowns are upon the horns, or those actually swaying the power. (Rev. 13.) "And his tail draweth the third of the stars of heaven" (verse 4). This seems to be his malignant power in the way of false teaching and prophesying. In Isaiah 9 we are told that "the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail." The tail of the dragon does not set forth his earthly power, but his influence, through false teaching, in misleading souls, and specially those that were in the place of rule and authority — "the stars of heaven." "And the dragon stood before the woman that was about to bring forth, that when she brought forth he might devour her child." How wonderfully all scripture hangs together! For if you begin with the very first portion of scripture that speaks of the serpent, the woman and that subtle foe are seen face to face; and more than this, God appears on the scene where Satan had apparently gained a great triumph, and then it is that He gives the blessed revelation that "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head." Here, at the close of scripture, the same parties reappear, but with marked differences. In the garden of Eden it was the serpent's success, but here the certain triumph of God; there it was the devil's craft, but here it is God's power, long displayed in patience, but all-glorious in the end. God permits the dragon to stand before the woman, ready to devour her child as soon as it was born. The dragon shows out his spite and wickedness to the last degree and in the next chapter his plans. Meanwhile, God turns even the suffering into more positive blessing for the faithful. The very certainty that He could crush the dragon gives Him patience to wait, and He wants His people to be like Himself.

Opposed to Israel is a dragon or serpent, a creature full of subtlety, a liar and deceiver from the beginning, and, above all, the sworn foe of the woman's seed. From the fall God had told him that the woman's seed "shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." (Gen. 3:15.) The dragon is red, the imperial colour, and has seven heads, each with a crown, showing that in the exercise of his imperial power he is guided by full deliberative wisdom; not divine wisdom indeed, and a wisdom which in the end proves fatal folly, but such wisdom as the creature is capable of without God. He has ten horns, or instruments of power, under his control. "His tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the ground," which signifies that he drags in his fatal toils a third part of the subordinate powers of the world, that part, as we shall presently see, included in the revived Roman Empire.

Another sign is then seen in “the Heaven.” A dragon, great, for he is the unseen yet mighty leader of the hosts of evil in the heavens and on earth; red because of his murderous character, delighting in bloodshed; with seven heads crowned with diadems signifying that the fulness of imperial, autocratic power is his; ten horns, the latter condition of the empire in its ten-kingdom form, but not yet in existence, so the horns are not crowned; then his tail in which his venom and deceit lie sweeps across the political horizon, and casts down to the ground, morally, of course, the sum of eminent persons in the western part of the empire.

The dragon is Satan — the former denoting his character, the latter the personal opponent of Christ and adversary of the saints — who is witnessed confronting with murderous purpose the woman in order to destroy her seed. He is baffled, for the Son is caught up to God. The life and even death of the Lord, rich as these are in fundamental truth and teaching, are passed over in silence. The ascension follows the birth, all between being regarded as a parenthesis.

We are left in no doubt as to who the dragon is, for verse 9 speaks of him as “the great dragon … that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan.” The fact that his color is “red,” shows how Satan is ready to shed the blood of God's saints.

The second sign was that of the great red dragon. The woman had the symbols of heavenly authority: he had not that, but he was invested with heads and horns and crowns — really "diadems," the symbols of royal estate — which indicated the wielding of immense power in the earth. Here, then, we have Satan, but clothing himself in the pomp and greatness of the fourth great world-empire of Daniel 7; that is, the Roman. There is, however, the further feature that his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven; an allusion, it would appear, to Isaiah 9:15. We have "the prophet that speaks lies" in the latter part of Revelation 13, and he seduces and draws after him a third part of the lesser luminaries, who should shed light on the earth, and in result they apostatize from the position in which originally they were set.