Now, don’t forget, God had no pity for the angels when they sinned but threw them into the lowest, darkest dungeon of gloom and locked them in chains, where they are firmly held until the judgment of torment.
So the great dragon was thrown down once and for all. He was the serpent, the ancient snake called the devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole earth. He was cast down into the earth and his angels along with him.
In the same way, there were heavenly messengers in rebellion who went outside their rightful domain of authority and abandoned their appointed realms. God bound them in everlasting chains and is keeping them in the dark abyss of the netherworld until the judgment of the great day.
In that day, the Lord Yahweh will mercilessly wield his massive, mighty sword and punish Leviathan, the swift, slithering serpent. He will slay the dragon of the sea — Leviathan, the twisting serpent.
Since all his “children” have flesh and blood, so Jesus became human to fully identify with us. He did this, so that he could experience death and annihilate the effects of the intimidating accuser who holds against us the power of death.
It was like a leopard with feet like a bear’s, and its mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon shared his power, throne, and great authority with the wild beast.
Then the dragon became enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the remnant of her offspring who follow the commands of God and have the testimony of Jesus.
They worshiped the dragon because he had given the beast its ruling authority. They also worshiped the wild beast, saying, “Who is like the wild beast? And who is able to make war against him?”
For anyone who has left behind their home and property, leaving family—brothers or sisters, mothers or fathers, or children—for my sake, they will be repaid a hundred times over and will inherit eternal life.
Now the snake was the most cunning of all living beings that Yahweh-God had made. He deviously asked the woman, “Did God really tell you, ‘You must not eat fruit from any tree of the garden—?’ ”
Consider this: another astonishing miracle-sign appeared in heaven! I saw a huge, fiery-red dragon with ten horns and seven heads, each wearing a royal crown. He was wearing seven royal crowns.
The dragon’s massive tail swept across the sky and dragged away a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon crouched before the woman who was about to give birth—poised to devour the baby the moment it was born.
Then the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the same place with the wild beast and the false prophet—the lake of fire and sulfur—where they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
He measured off another thousand; it was now a river over my head, which I was unable to swim across. It was a deep swollen river—a river no one could cross.