The "Red Dragon Satan" of Revelation 12

by Pastor Ken Lent

If any book of the Scriptures is riddled and loaded with allegories, it's the book of Revelation. God Almighty never intended us to apply literal meanings to something that is figurative in its context.

People use all manner of metaphors in their daily walk, (paint the town red, cat got your tongue, I’m just dying to do that, etc) and realize those terms for what they are. But when they read from the Book of Revelation about "Satan", for some reason they have a difficult time realizing the obvious truth that this is symbolism in a poetic license of expression. But why should there be such an almost universal mystic esoteric perception concerning the word "satan" in the Scriptures? Surely this has taken place because of the constant bombardment, generation after generation, on the part of denominational theology's relentless insistence that "the Devil is going to get them". People want a "Devil", and, by God, they will have him because in Revelation 12:9 we know that the "Fallen Angel" was cast out of heaven. This may be the most often misquoted verse in the Scriptures used by "Devil/demon" believers to support their position that a literal Devil named Satan is a "second-in-command spirit being", the arch angel in heaven, who rebelled against God Almighty.

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Rev.12:9).

But what if this "Devil", like Mystery Babylon in Revelation chapter 17 who is the "whore with whom the kings of the Earth have committed fornication" (17:2), is not a real person after all, but is something else that persecutes those faithful ones in Christ who keep God's commandments (see v. 12:17)?

Certainly, we realize and agree that the great world power Mystery Babylon is not some individual evil female running around hopping in bed with all the world leaders. Could it be likewise that "Satan, The Devil" is something other than an individual being running around causing bad things to happen in the world? The only way we can know for sure is to see what God's Holy Word itself says about this "Devil" of Revelation chapter 12.

The Scriptures, upon closer look, reveal that "heaven" here in chapter 12 is jurisdictional and it has to do with nations and governments in the Earth which becomes evident if we go back and read from verse one.

  1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
  2. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
  3. 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.
  4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
  5. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” 

So we see it says, "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven… she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations." This is speaking about national Israel from whom Christ was born. This event takes place on the Earth, as is self evident. Yet it is spoken of as a "wonder in heaven" in that it's by "a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:"

This "woman" is none other than national Israel and the rulership of Jacob's 12 sons who became the 12 tribes ruling by authority of God Almighty. Joseph's dream in Genesis 37 tells us what these "stars" are.

Gen.37:9-10, "And he [Joseph] dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.  And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?"

The eleven "stars" (that is, sons) plus Joseph make up the 12 "stars" of Revelation 12:1 and it is the governing nation of Israel, the woman of verse 1. This is Israel in God's ruling national domain, that is, "heaven".  The "stars" are governing symbols, but they are regular men in actuality. 

In Rev.12:3 we see the "Devil" as being a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.  This is "Satan" of verse 9, "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."  Yet this same entity shows up just a few verses later as we go to chapter 13.

Rev. 13:1-2, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. [three more descriptions are added to the 7 crowns now, making 10, and are below]  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."

We're also now seeing a blending of qualities that overlap within this entity, as do the likeness of the words as the text progresses. As the red dragon becomes the Devil and Satan (verses 12:3 then v.9), so does the dragon become entwined with the beast (12:3 & 13:1) In 12:3 it has 7 heads, 10 horns, and is "Red"; while the same beast in 13:1-2 has the same power overlapping as the dragon, the horns now have crowns too, and it's now seen like a leopard, bear, and lion. What kind of unified entity is this? And where else can we find this peculiar "entity" in the Scriptures?

Thank God, for He does not leave us in the dark without insight as to the "Devil/Red Dragon/Animal Beast", because the Holy Spirit gave wisdom to a prophet centuries depiction of jurisdictional government since it is about the nation Israel who brings forth Messiah, yet persecuted (Rev.12:15 -17). Let's turn to the book of Daniel in the Old Testament as we discover what God's Word says this "Satan" of Revelation actually is. Is it a singular person who is Beelzebub the Devil, or just like the woman “Mystery Babylon the Whore” (Rev.17:1, 5), is it some world international system?

Daniel 7:2-7, "Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.  And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.  The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.  And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.  After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns."  Same as in Revelation 12.

This last beast with the now notable 10 horns was a "devourer". What are these beasts?)  "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth" Daniel 7:17.  The beasts are governments.  The "devourer beast" is the last beast, and like "Satan, the Devil" in Revelation 12; it has 10 horns. What both Daniel and John in Revelation had seen was the long train of history of the nations in jurisdictional battle against the "stars" (Jacob/Israel) in the Earth.

The last of the Earthly Kingdoms is particularly evil since, as history progressed, this Kingdom had gained (devoured) all the evil traits of the previous wicked nations, absorbing more and more wickedness into its system from the former "beasts". This last evil Kingdom has authority from the "Red Dragon" or red jurisdiction, which we know today, is Edomite (meaning Red) communism. [When mentioning Jacob/Israel, it should be made clear that this is not referring to the "jewish Israeli U.N. State" in the Middle East, which people are not Biblical Israel. The descendants of Biblical Israel are of Isaac's covenant line (Gen.21:12) namely "son's of Isaac" "Isaac's Sons" "Saac Sons" today called "Saxons". The Saxon people eventually migrated to America as Christians and built our Republic.]

None of this in Revelation chapter 12 is describing a battle between a rebellious angel called "Satan", and an angel of God called "Michael" long ago in a celestial plane. "Michael" means "who is like God" a position even held by Moses at one time. In this passage it refers to Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit of Christ.  It is Christ and His saints (angels - "messengers") who fight this battle against "the Reds" and are victorious. "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." (Rev.12:11)… which is the same event presented by a cross reference with the "devil/satan/lion/bear/leopard/beast" world kingly government entity of Daniel that is defeated by the saints in that book:

Daniel 7:17-18, "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever."

Let's note that in this battle between "Satan" and "Michael”, Satan is able to bring 1/3 of the "stars" crashing down to the Earth.  

Rev. 12:3-4, “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.  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born."

Do we think for one minute that this is specifically literal and that "Satan the Dragon" caused one third of the stars of the universe to crash into the Earth? The Earth couldn't survive an asteroid 1/10 its size blasting into it, let alone 1/3 of the stars! No brothers and sisters, the Scriptures here reveal a more truthful message that God wants us to know about.

These "stars" as we have seen are the government ruling authorities (the tribes of Jacob's sons, latter day Saxon Christians) as in Joseph's dream in Genesis 37. When the 12 tribes of Israel were set up as a nation and government coming out of Egypt, they traveled in a "four square formation" with three tribes each on the North, South, East, and West, with the Tabernacle in the center. There was a chain of command given, with four tribes, or 1/3 of "the stars", becoming the dominant leaders of this governmental setup.  Each one of these tribes held the banner of each quadrant camp in the foursquare formation. Head of the East camp was Judah, South was Reuben, West was Ephraim, and North was Dan (as shown in Numbers chapter 2).

These four tribes (1/3 of the stars, Jacob's sons) represented the "banner tribes" of leadership standard, or symbolically at least leadership in general. In Revelation 12:4, "Satan" brings 1/3 of the "stars of heaven" (influential leadership) down to the Earth, which is the same ungodly plane of jurisdiction allotted to the systems of “beasts” in Daniel, by the will of God. Do you see why our Congress, our supposed leaders, who claim they are the banner standard of leadership, are today on the same plane as the "reds"? The "battle" in Revelation 12 is going on right now, right in front of us. Our leaders, who are supposed to be our beacon of "leadership stars", have bought into the world communal doctrine of jurisdiction and have sold us out. Our leaders have been cast to the earth by "Satan's tail"; that is "they follow the great Red Dragon" i.e. world Cainite/Edomite communism. Therefore the term "1/3 of the stars brought down" in this verse is a euphemism for "deceived leadership".  God tells us in other places of His Word that the faithless leaders and high minded are brought down, and the obedient are risen up:

Psalm 20:8, They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.

Isa. 5:13,15, Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. 15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

Isaiah 9:16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

Job 40:12, Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.

The entire episode presented in Revelation 12 has nothing to do with a "space battle" between organized religion’s Satan/Devil and God having a huge cosmic war. It has everything to do with what is going on right now, right here on the Earth in the Saxon nations of the world as God moves to bring His Kingdom to rule the nations with a rod of iron.

John’s vision in the Book of Revelation chapter 12 is about our history of nations, jurisdiction of law, and the fight against the Edomite "Red System" (The Dragon/Devil - communism) which has been persecuting our Saxon race with totalitarian ungodly rule for ages and ages. This is our Scriptural reality check.

The mystical elusive "Satan" of the churches has been a sorrowful distraction of man’s imagination that has kept most of our people out of the real battle for centuries. How much longer will this fraud continue to lull our people to sleep while they worry about some omnipresent invisible godlike "Devil" and his "demons" presented by the Baal priesthood as supposedly being our "main problem"?

The true “Satan” of the Scriptures can be plainly reduced to two basic factors. First (as we have seen here) those mortal empires of the kingdoms of men who persecute God’s people and hate God’s government; and second, our own sin in the flesh.