Revelation 12:3 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.

NIV: Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.

NASB: Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven crowns.

CSB: 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.

NLT: Then I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.

John saw another sign appear in heaven. A great red dragon—the second of seven important figures mentioned in this segment of Revelation. Verse 9 identifies this dragon as the Devil and Satan.

The dragon had seven heads and ten horns, and each of his heads had a diadem: a crown-like object similar to a headband. The imagery suggests that Satan holds absolute sway over political entities in the tribulation. The ten horns represent ten kings who reign for a while with the first beast mentioned in Revelation 13:1. Daniel 7:7–8, 23–24 prophesies this confederacy of ten kings. Today, as "the god of this world," Satan dominates the evil world system (2 Corinthians 4:4), but this influence will be even more potent, and more obvious, during the tribulation.

In John 12:31, Jesus called Satan "the ruler of this world." When he tempted Jesus, he offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would fall down and worship him (Matthew 4:8–9). In the tribulation Satan's political power will reach its peak. He will use the two beasts of Revelation 13 to suppress millions of people.

Revelation 12:1–6 opens a long stretch of Revelation which ''pauses'' the narrative of the end times. These events are highly symbolic and refer to varying times throughout both history and the future. This section points back to the fall of Satan and to the birth and ascension of Jesus. The passage concludes with an event in the middle of the tribulation period. Revelation 13 will describe the situation prompting the woman of Revelation 12:1–6 to flee into the wilderness.

This chapter relates several highly symbolic visions, which introduce figures critical to the end times. First is a woman, representative of Israel. Second is a red dragon, identified with Satan. Third is a male child, who is Jesus Christ. The red dragon seeks to devour the woman's male child, but God caught the child to His throne, referring to the ascension of Jesus after His resurrection. The passage then continues to describe a war in heaven between Michael and Satan—here Satan becomes the fourth key figure—which results in Satan's complete and total eviction from heaven. Satan attempts to destroy Israel, most likely through an armed invasion, which is supernaturally defeated by God through an earthquake. The fifth main figure is the collective ''offspring'' of the woman. These events are given further details in passages such as Ezekiel chapter 38.

Preceding verses have brought us to the middle of the tribulation, after the seal judgments and very near the end of the trumpet judgments. Now, the focus shifts to symbolically introduce a series of important figures. These are mentioned in various eras, not as part of the earlier chronology of Revelation. This passage relates to Matthew 24:15–26 and Isaiah 16:1–4. Ezekiel 38 and Joel 1 describe an invasion into Israel from the north, and Revelation 9 identifies the invading army as demon inspired. Revelation 13 continues to describe major end-times figures, focusing on ''the beast,'' also known as the Antichrist, and the False Prophet.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''