September 1: COUNTERFEIT AUTHORITY

And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. Revelation 12:3

This sign is presented to John very purposefully on the heels of seeing the symbol of a pure and faithful woman as the Lord’s bride. The description provided in this verse is a masterful identification of our archenemy and his workings through the Roman empire to persecute Jesus and His followers. The dragon works tirelessly through human agencies against the woman clothed in light.

Let us begin by looking carefully at the ten horns. In chapter 7 of Daniel, the prophet was shown the same sequence of empires that would hold sway over the people of God as in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream recorded in chapter 2. Daniel’s chapter 7 vision repeated and expanded upon the prophetic sequence given to Nebuchadnezzar. The fourth beast, or kingdom, was distinguished by its strength and cruelty as well as its continuation until the end of time (see Daniel 7:7-11). Pagan Rome was “holding court” for over six-and-a-half centuries (168BC-AD476) and made certain that God’s people felt the tight grip of its power. The empire was a conglomeration of ten barbarian tribes. Here is how the description of Rome in 7:7 ends: It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

To be clear, the beasts that were before it were political entities. But the fourth beast was to become a religio-political entity. It was different indeed!

Why seven heads? Between the fall of pagan Rome and the rise of papal Rome, three (the Heruli, Vandals, and Ostrogoths) of those ten horns were crushed and totally destroyed (including all of their writings) because of their opposition to the rising papacy. Their tribal identities were blotted from history – plucked out by the roots – and any scant survivors of the crushing folded into the identities among the seven remaining people groups. Thus, the divided Roman Empire became the monarchies of western Europe. Each crowned head (seven diadems) of the nations that were left submitted to the papacy.

I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this [little] horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words. Daniel 7:8

In the next chapter of Daniel, we see a bit more of what made the fourth beast (7:7) different from all the beasts that were before it:

[The little horn] even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host (Daniel 8:11a) meaning that this religio-political power claims an office for itself, via usurpation, that belongs to Jesus alone. This little horn could manage this feat, only with the backing of Satan, that great, fiery red dragon himself. The color of red is representative of persecution, sin, and bloodshed. The opening of the second seal (Revelation 6:3-4) corroborates the violence and bloodshed that pagan Rome initiated against Christians. As we will see, violence and bloodshed would continue through the centuries under the presumed authority of papal Rome.

Let us remember the words of the risen Jesus: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” Matthew 28:18-19a