Great Red Dragon

While John watched the woman’s struggle to deliver her Child, the focus shifted to another, more bizarre, somewhat sinister portrayal. The sight that arrested his eyes had seven heads, seven crowns on each head, flanked by ten horns. In chap. 13, John was told that those horns have crowns (Greek=“diadema”, or, diadems), signifying their status as heads of state over individual sovereign kingdoms or domains (thus, the horns, we might argue, are symbols of authority, sovereignty, strength and individuality.). Chap. 17 confirms that the horns are indeed to be interpreted as autonomous and independent. John called this new seven-headed wonder a “great red dragon”.

Seven Heads

John is here given no clue as to the significance of the seven heads of the dragon, although the dragon is itself identified. Being the book of riddles that the entire Apocalypse is, we are able to draw valuable insights and clues from chap. 13 and 17, by means of which we can correctly deduce that the heads of the great red dragon are in fact representative of seven kingdoms. Thus, we may further conclude that this portrait of a body having seven heads, topped by seven crowns (as in “diadems” worn by a sovereign or king), and the ten horns signifies Satan’s presence, dominance and influence throughout the ages over the kingdoms, and states of this world, particularly those having to do directly with the people of the Book—i.e., all of those individual kingdoms with whom the nation of Israel can be most closely linked, one way or the other.