The dragon with seven heads and ten horns
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 (Revelation 12:3 KJV)
In Revelations 12, John saw a prophetic vision of a great red dragon, having sevens heads and ten horns with seven crowns on the seven heads. In verse 9, the dragon is clearly identified as Satan or the devil, and the seven heads and horns represent human kings or kingdoms. Let me briefly explain a key that will help you understand Revelations as well as the spiritual forces that govern the world.
John saw a dragon, which was Satan. It is obvious Satan is an angel and does not have a physical body that lives on earth. However, John saw the dragon on earth. The dragon had 7 heads and 10 horns, which represent human kings. Note that the heads and the horns are part of the dragon. This is the mystery: Satan operates politically through human kings. The dragon is the unseen power that works through human governmental or political systems.
You can trace the political activities of this dragon: eg. Pharaoh attempted to kill all the firstborn of the Jews in Egypt to exterminate the line of the coming Messiah. He failed. Herod again attempted the same thing, killing infants in Bethlehem. He failed. The Romans, through Pilate crucified Christ. Satan later realized it was the worst mistake of His life. Killing Christ was his destruction. He then used Roman emperors such as Nero in an attempt to eradicate or exterminate the believers or the Church, and again it failed.
These kings were not possessed. They were simply being influenced by a dragon to do his will. There is a spirit that is responsible for the world rejecting Christ, carried away into sin, persecuting Christians and elevating pleasure above the love of God. It is the old dragon. One of these days, he will show up fully expressed as a human being, the anti-Christ himself described in Revelations 13 as a beast from the sea with 7 heads and 10 horns, a human replica of the unseen dragon.
MEDITATE
Can you describe the mystery of one dragon with seven heads described above?
APPLY THE WORD
Beware of the dragon. You will probably never see him physically. But you will see him working through governments, financial systems, activities that perpetuate sin and immorality, etc.
PRAY
Ask the Father to give you an understanding of the spiritual forces that govern world affairs as revealed in the scriptures.
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