Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. – Revelation 12:3

Today's Scripture Reading (July 22, 2024): Revelation 12

During the Middle Ages, there was a battle between the secular rulers and the church. The Roman Church claimed all authority for itself, which set up a fight between the church and the European Kings. If the kings didn't do as the church wanted, then the church would withdraw its support from the King and refuse to minister to the nation, withdrawing the various spiritual supports to which the people had become accustomed.

Sometimes, this manifested itself in strange ways. In an event that is still clouded in mystery, Pope Leo III performed the coronation of Frankish King Charlemagne as the Roman Emperor on Christmas Day 800 C.E. Charlemagne became the first reigning Roman Emperor since the removal of Romulus Augustulus in 476 C.E. The intention of this coronation is murky. Still, many believe that Leo III was trying to impress upon the nations that he had the power to make an Emperor and the power to take one down. The earthly kings served the power of God and the church, personified in the figure of the Pope. However, there is a question as to whether this was an honor that Charlemagne even wanted, or at least if he wanted to be crowned at the hands of the Pope.

In similar situations in Europe, some have seen the image of the dragon, the multiheaded kings of the earth, against the power of good, represented by the Pope and the Roman Church. The downfall of the Roman Church was that the people eventually decided that there was precious little good to be found in many of the Popes and their priests. As a result, any such interpretation of John's vision as being summed up in the struggle between the secular kings and the Roman Church seemed to be more of a description of evil struggling against evil than evil struggling to overcome good. However, such a description does not fit well with our contemporary situation.

We love to read what John saw in his vision and wrote down in his Revelation during his exile on Patmos and then attempt to puzzle our way through what he saw. I have battled through these exact images at various points in my spiritual journey. Sometimes, I wonder whether John might have seen some modern equipment in his vision. If you were John, living in the First Century, how would you describe a modern tank or a military helicopter? These things were unimaginable in John's world, yet they are somewhat common in ours.

I am probably in the minority with my line of thinking. Most experts seem to take what I would call an emotional approach to John's prophecy. In the current passage, the predominant thought is, "Of course, John didn't see a big red dragon in his vision. That doesn't make sense. John saw something evil, which he described as an enormous red dragon. Whatever he saw was evil and powerful, so John told us it was a dragon, even though it wasn't."

I am not convinced that is true. I think John saw something that, with his knowledge, he could not understand. Whatever it was, it was powerful and claimed authority over its surroundings. With its seven crowns, it wanted to give the impression that it was royalty even though it wasn't. But it was willing to steal the royal crown from the rightful King.

What did John really see? We will probably never know, but every generation will puzzle through the vision and make some guesses of its own until the day when we will see the fulfillment of the prophecy and the revelation of the red dragon.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Revelation 13