“Famous dragons for 200!” Jeopardy host Alex Trebek might intone. How many dragons do you actually know? To paraphrase a famous Christmas song, “You know Smaug and Eragon and Puff, but do you recall the most famous dragon of all?” Sometimes the stories of the Bible parallel other stories in the Bible. Remember when Jesus was born a wicked king named Herod killed all the baby boys in the vicinity of Bethlehem because he feared that the baby Jesus would usurp his throne. John sees a picture of a dragon trying to kill a baby. This dragon, the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan was hurled to the earth with his angels.
Now here is a question about Revelation, to which some of you may already know the answer: when does this happen? Viewing Revelation as a reading of future history would imply that Satan will be cast down from heaven again with angels. What is Satan doing in heaven? I thought he was already cast out of heaven. Some believe he will return and have another fight. Others believe that he was cast out before the coming of Christ, so this passage looks backward, not forward. Some think the woman is Mary. Others think the woman is the church. Even good Christians have differences of opinion on the symbolism. Remember, though, that the book was first written for a group of Christians who were experiencing persecution in the first century. It had application to them in their life-setting first. They knew that Satan was trying to take their lives, so they needed to hear that God wins over Satan.
So what does it mean to us? The good news is evil has already been judged on the cross. Jesus, our great Savior triumphed over Satan, death, and hell once and for all as he rose victoriously from the grave. This means that we his disciples do not have to live in fear of death. True, personal forces of evil abound in our world inspiring others to do evil. But our God is the Ruler yet. We win over evil through the blood of Christ which cleanses us from sin. We live faithfully for Christ and tell his story even as we face the prospect of death. For those believers who are being threatened and killed for their faith all over the world, these words hold special promise. Their deaths will not be in vain.
