What Dragon?

Three days more and it will be Chinese New Year.  Chinese and Filipino-Chinese will be celebrating their new year in many parts of the world including the Philippines. According to Chinese zodiac, this year will be the year of the dragon, but I say, "What dragon? It's the Year of the Lord, not the dragon's."

Chinese celebrate their new year with fireworks, dancing, food, and other traditional practices in red and in a symbol of a dragon.  To the Chinese, color red and the dragon bring good luck.  But in the Bible, the enemy (Satan) is described as the ancient serpent or what we call the dragon.  Dragon represents wickedness and evil -- that is, Satan. Revelation 12 clearly states Satan's wickedness and he's depicted as the dragon in this chapter.

Revelation 12: 1-3, 7-9

A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the mood under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.  She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.  Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with the seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.  His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.  The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour  her child the moment it was born.

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.  But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.  The dragon was hurled down -- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.  he was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

A thought came to me: Could it be possible that it is the enemy's scheme to deceive the people in China? Could it be possible that Chinese New Year is of the enemy? I don't think that it's just a coincidence that Chinese celebrate new year with color red and a symbol of a dragon. And another thing, most Chinese, if not all, are Buddhist, and they do not welcome Christianity in China. There are a few underground Christian groups in China and Bibles are even smuggled into the country. Don't you think it's the work of the enemy? I do. The enemy (Satan) will do anything to stop God's plans. He will kill, steal, and destroy to the very end.

But the good news is GOD is more powerful than Satan, and HE has already defeated him through the death of His Son, JESUS CHRIST on the cross.

Revelation 12:10-12

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ.  For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our GOD day and night, has been hurled down.  They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.  Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."

The dragon's time is short, and he can do nothing about it for GOD has already won the battle through JESUS CHRIST.  Because the devil's days are short, he doubles his time to persecute those who belong to GOD.  "We are living in the last days, and Satan's work has become more intense."

Revelation 12: 13-17

When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.  The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and a half time, out of the serpent's reach.  Then from his mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring -- those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of JESUS.

 [Journal entry: January 20, 2011]