Doug Van Pelt

A pregnant lady and a dragon

I was almost listening to my daughter tell me a story about a television movie she had watched. I wanted to tune her out, as the details of the story weren't interesting to me. As she talked a mile a minute, I caught myself and realized that just listening to my child -- no matter what the context -- was something to be cherished and enjoyed. I could still care less about some movie about teenagers and milk or something, but for her I can be interested. And for her I can listen and cherish the moment, as soon the years will fly by and I would wish for a fast and furious explanation of some kids movie. I wonder if God feels that way sometimes, where He couldn't really care much for the details but cherishes the moment when we are talking to Him about something. We matter to Him way more than the text of our story, but His love for us compells Him to pay attention. I wonder...

I read Revelation 12 today, which talks about "a great and wondrous sign" appearing in heaven:

"a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave brith to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron sceptor. And her child was snatched up to God and to His throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down -- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him."

This description of battle tells us the ending, which is that God's angels defeat Satan. That's good to know. But it also reveals a little bit about the strength of Satan. I have all to easily dismissed him as a defeated enemy, but the fact that he fought back against Michael and his angels speaks of a strength. Being able to stand there and fight shows much strength. I knew or thought I understood that Satan was brave and delusional enough to fight against God's forces, but I never thought much about his ability to resist some of the heavenly forces. That is some strength.

A loud voice in heaven said:

"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."

In this passage we see Satan described as "the accuser of the brethren." I think of the book of Job, where Satan accuses God of giving Job special treatment. While Christ is described as ever living to intercede for us, Satan is conversely described as always accusing us. This motivates me to align myself with Christ, and intercede for my brothers and sisters in the faith, rather than accuse them (which would align me with Satan).

I wonder if the color of this dragon (red) is where the classic symbol of Satan or the devil being red comes from...?

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at April 14, 2006 09:50 AM