Revelation describes an image of a woman giving birth, the child being born, and a dragon waiting to devour the child. Many authors have tried to identify the images. An easy identification would be Mary giving birth to Jesus, Jesus being the child, and Herod being intent on killing the child. However, I think there is more than one way to interpret Biblical images. In this image, for example, one could interpret the woman as representing the Church, the child as humans who enter the Church and are born, so to speak, into a new life through baptism, and the dragon as some great peril the child will encounter.
The dragon waiting to devour the child could be interpreted as something within our nature that we must conquer in order to really be compliant to God; for example, our personal ego, the tendency all of us have to do things our way, and the reluctance to give up this perception of our own rule over ourselves so as to fully and willingly obey God. It is not easy to willingly become subordinate to someone else. And, yet, if we are to fully live the Christian life, we must act as Jesus does and never insist on our own will but always do the Father’s will.
This ability to be aware of our own sovereign nature is a great gift from God. This adds a personal dimension to our existence. We are persons. We have a sense of sovereignty in choosing for ourselves, and we know that we have the ability to choose whatever we want. But the only way for universal happiness and peacefulness to prevail is for everyone to obey God. If we choose to do that, we know we still have free will, but we also have the dignity of realizing that, since it is proper to obey God in all things, we have chosen to obey, and we have chosen it freely. This is not easy. We have to discipline ourselves to never do anything against God’s will; to always comply with God’s will. It takes a tremendous effort to master control over this realization that we can do anything we choose.
Challenging enough that disciplining this gift requires a big effort on our part; we are also vulnerable to prodding by fallen angels who incite us to do what God does not want us to do. We struggle with these creatures who are far more powerful than us and who are not limited by physical bodies, as we are, and whom we cannot see, touch, or measure like we experience other things. These fallen angels can easily manipulate us if we are not vigilant. Lucifer, the most powerful of all who rebel against God, is powerful enough to put his imprint on everyone who rebels against God, channeling their opposition against God to be influenced by his own opposition. Lucifer is like the godfather of all who rebel. If we choose not to obey God, we might wind up obeying Lucifer, whether we realize it or not. In this sense, Lucifer could easily be identified as the dragon.
Maurice A. Williams
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