The following is a document Stacey wrote up that specifically addresses the dragon as mentioned in Revelation 12. I know this is long, but she explains it so well. I am going to type BEGIN where the document starts and END, where it ends, as well as put quotation marks.
BEGIN (The first section is from a Bible Study that Stacey wrote. After it says “end of excerpt” is the rest of her commentary.)
“Revelation 12:4
4 And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
This passage shows the tail of the dragon sweeping away a third of the stars and throwing them to earth, which stands in contrast to the passage in verse 9, where the dragon and his angels are thrown down to earth with his angels by Michael and his angels. It also implies that the 1/3 of stars being cast down by the tail of the dragon happens before the dragon stands before the woman to devour her child. There are some similarities to the following passage from Daniel, and most commentaries believe that the verses in Daniel 8 were fulfilled by Antiochus IV Epiphanes who serves as a type of the Antichrist to come.
Many scholars say that the stars and host here are speaking of the Israelites themselves, in light of the twelve stars of the woman’s crown, this is possible.
Daniel 8:9-12
9 Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land.
10 It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down.
11 It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down.
12 And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.
The casting down of these stars by the dragon fits with the timing laid out in the scripture, under Antiochus (the tail of the dragon?) as Daniel shows, the Israelites were cast down. This happened roughly 170 years before the birth of Christ. Then the dragon stands before the woman about to give birth to devour her male child upon his delivery. This initially was Satan’s attempt to kill Jesus shortly after His birth, when Herod slew the male children (Matthew 2:13-23) , as well as His crucifixion, when the dragon thought he had gained victory in cutting off the life of the messiah, but he could not prevent His resurrection and His birth into the heavenly Kingdom. You see that it is the redemption of the child that Satan is trying to prevent. He could not stop the “Head” of the Child from being born into the heavenly kingdom, and He will not devour the “body” of the child, the body of Christ, also known as the Church from being born into the heavenly kingdom either. Just as Jesus was caught up, so will those who are part of the body of Christ be.
Revelation 12:5
5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
Following the rapture or catching up of the child we see the woman fleeing
Revelation 12:6
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Though the timeline seems to put the flight of the woman directly after the catching up of the child when moving on to the rest of the chapter we are given more clarity, that the woman flees “after” the dragon is cast down to earth (Revelation 12:13-17). So the timeline is as follows:
1. The tail of the dragon sweeps away 1/3 of the hosts (Israel under the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes).
2. Satan stands before the woman (Jerusalem/Israel) to devour her male child. Jesus the head plus the body of Christ. This encompasses the gap between Daniel’s 69th and 70th week.
3. Jesus (the head) is caught up to His throne, followed by His body- the church, who is also caught up (the rapture).
4. War breaks out in heaven between Michael and his angels and the Dragon and his angels.
5. The dragon and his angels lose and are cast down to earth.
6. The dragon persecutes the woman.
7. The woman flees to a place of safety prepared for her by God.
8. The dragon becomes enraged and makes war with the rest of the woman’s children.
Though parts of this passage had a past fulfillment under Antiochus, according to Jesus who lived after that happened, it will have a future one as well, when authority is given to the mouth of the beast or the “little horn” as Daniel calls him when the Antichrist is indwelled by the beast from the pit and commits the abomination of desolation as spoken of by the prophet Daniel (Matthew 24:15), he will then turn against the “host” or “saints” and trample them down.
_______________________________End of Excerpt________________________________________
The birth of the male child encompasses the church age; or the age of grace as we call it. Jesus the head is caught up to His throne and then one day His body will also be caught up to His throne. We know that in a normal childbirth the head is delivered first, followed by the body. The church age, is essentially the birthing process, hence the “birth pains”. It isn’t about the church being born onto the earth, but rather being delivered into heaven via the rapture/ resurrection.
What I would say this shows about the dragon, is that he is always standing before us, looking for an opportunity to devour us, which is consistent with:
1 Peter 5:8
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
The dragon shows up in Chapter 13 standing on the seashore welcoming the rise of the “beast”, the chapter goes on to tell us that people will worship the dragon because he gives his authority, power and throne to the beast. This “beast” IMO is the kingdom of the antichrist. And the head that was “slain” and the mouth are the antichrist. The reason people are so enamored with the beast is because he basically comes back from the dead.
Revelation 13:3–4
3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;
4 and they worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”
How can you wage war with someone who defies death?! Think about it, Jesus rose from the dead and forever changed the world as many followed in His ways. This imposter will try to do the same!
We see another picture of the beast in chapter 17, shown with the “woman” sitting upon him. This “picture” is an analogy that looks very similar to the description of the dragon in chapter 12. We see the scarlet beast defined in the passage as representing various elements of the end times Kingdom of the 70th week. It is the geopolitical representation of Satan’s kingdom on earth, that kingdom reflects the attributes of Satan the dragon. Just like Jesus came to establish a kingdom, Satan also sets out to establish a kingdom.
This tells me that the dragon is powerful and cunning and has a plan to deceive the nations into worshipping him as God. That has been his goal from the start; to be worshipped as god and for his protégé the antichrist also to be worshipped by the people of earth. The following passage in 2 Thessalonians speaks to this idea, the Thessalonians falsely believed that the Day of the Lord had come and IMO they thought they missed the rapture.
2 Thessalonians 2:3–12 (Parenthesis mine)
3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. (The abomination of desolation)
5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?
6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. (The rapture)
8 And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
11 And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false,
12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
The “dragon” will be working fiercely during the 70th week to accomplish his goal while he is given the authority to act.
Isaiah 14:13–14
13 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.
14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
I wonder if Satan actually believes he can succeed, or if he just wants to take as many down with him to the pit as he can.
Obviously, the dragon in this passage is referencing Satan.”
END
As we are have learned over the last few months of studying our unseen enemy, we know that Satan, the accuser wants to bring us down. His focus is on the individual, the family, the church and even on our government. A dragon knows, just like the snake to go for the prey when they are weak, when they are at odds, fighting among themselves. He knows to tear down truth and muddy the waters is the best way to shred our belief system.
By using the analogy of the dragon to compare Satan to, we see that he is a beast with a heart of stone whose only goal is our destruction. While he knows he cannot destroy God, he will do the next best thing and destroy His creation and try with fierceness to scratch out the name of Jesus, not only from our country, but from our hearts.
Now, what are you going to do about it?