It’s vitally important to expose Satan the Dragon. Some people think that there is no Satan. Perhaps the following story will be instructive to them. Once there was a boxer who was being severely beaten. Battered and bruised, he leaned over the ropes and said to his trainer, “Throw in the towel! This guy is killing me!” The trainer said, “Oh, no, he’s not. He’s not even hitting you. He hasn’t laid a glove on you!” At that point, the boxer wiped the blood away from his eye and said, “Well, then, I wish you’d watch that referee. Somebody is sure hitting me!” ¹

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#S3-016: How to Obliterate Temptation in Jesus Name [Podcast]

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Accept the Challenge

Each week’s Podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This weeks call is:

The Word of God teaches us in Psalm 91:13 (that we have authority over Satan the Dragon. That’s good news. It’s good news because there is no work of the enemy that Jesus is Lord over. But, the authority Jesus died to purchase is useless unless you use it in real-life situations.

Join the Conversation

Each week’s Podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: Spiritual life is all about adjustments. Which ones do you need to make to take your place as God’s ‘dominion’ representative on the earth? 

Episode Resources

You can find more information on the subject of ‘Satan’ by clicking on the links above.

1. #S3-024: How You Can Destroy Satan’s Hindrances in Jesus Name [Podcast]
2. #S2-046: How to Recognize the Voice of Satan the Chameleon [Podcast]
3. #S2-045: What Is the Greatest Tool in Satan’s Toolbox? [Podcast]
4. #S2-044: How You Can Overcome the Tools of Satan [Podcast]
5. #S2-043: How to Stop Satan from Pushing You Around [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 37 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the Podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com.

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Podcast Notes

Scriptural Titles for Satan

Revelation 12:7–10 (ESV) — 7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

• This passage is one of several vital passages which exposes the arch-enemy of the saints.
• In it, we have six descriptors for the enemy: he is called the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the devil, Satan, the deceiver, and the accuser.

Satan the Dragon

• The book of Revelation is the only book in the New Testament which references Satan the Dragon.
• The ‘Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible’ gives us this entry on the dragon for our enlightenment.

The dragon has often a fiery appearance, behaves in an aggressive, insolent and lecherous way and often represents the powers of chaos. The dragon is sometimes connected with (unusual) natural phenomena like storm, flood or drought.²

The Company of Dragons

• You can tell a lot about a person by the company that they keep.
• Satan, the Dragon, in the book of Revelation, has two main homeboys that he hangs out with.

Revelation 13:2,4 (KJV) — 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority… 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Revelation 13:11 (KJV) — 11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

Revelation 16:13 (KJV) — 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

• So, the False Prophet and the Beast of the Tribulation period are the companions of Satan, the Dragon.

Defining the Term ‘Dragon’

Genesis 1:21 (ESV) — 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

• The Hebrew word for ‘sea creatures,’ ‘tannin,’ here is the same word translated elsewhere in the Old Testament as ‘dragon.’
• The word means sea monster, sea dragon, or serpent.

Not the Same Word as Serpent

• But, the word ‘serpent’ in Genesis 3:1 is not this word.

Genesis 3:1 (KJV) — 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

• The word ‘serpent’ here is ‘nahas’ or snake.
• Now, let’s get back to Genesis 1:21: God created the great sea dragon.
• The ‘sea dragon’ is connected to Leviathan in the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 27:1 (ESV) — 1 In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent [nahas], Leviathan the twisting serpent [nahas], and he will slay the dragon [tannin] that is in the sea.

• And in Psalm 148, this created sea dragon is commanded to worship God.

Psalm 148:7 (ESV) — 7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps,

• So God created the dragon and then commanded this creature to worship God.
• It is a telling point to note that Satan is called the ‘Dragon, an animal God created when in Genesis 3:1, he is called a ‘Serpent,’ also an animal God created.’

The Dragon Heads of Satan

• Now, compare this passage in the Psalms with this one in the book of Revelation.

Psalm 74:13 (ESV) — 13 You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.

Revelation 12:3 (ESV) — 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.

• The heads of Satan the Dragon are symbolic of mountains and the ten horns of nations.

Revelation 13:1 (ESV) — 1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.

Revelation 17:9 (ESV) — 9 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;

Revelation 17:12 (ESV) — 12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.

Dragon Myths

• Something else vital to note about dragons.
• A lot of ancient peoples have ‘dragon myths’ built into there culture.
• Mesopotamian, Hittite, Canaanite, Egyptian, Iranian and Greek myths describe battles between a figure representing chaos and causing rebellion and a (still young) supreme god who restores the order of the gods by overcoming the monster.³
• Now, here’s the question of the day: where did those myths come from?
• I think THE Dragon sprinkled misinformation about the ‘created dragon’ that God made to dilute all THE Dragon stands for.
• He did that throughout these cultures, by false dreams and visions, impressions, and talking in men’s ears and using all the tools that make it seem like dragons are not bad.

Are American Dragons Cute?

• I mean, in America they are cute.
• We have Disney movies about dragons — you know ‘Pete the Dragon.’
• We have romanticized tales of dragons — you know Sean Connery made a movie about a dragon named ‘Dragon Heart.’
• But dragons are not cute bedtime stories.

Egyptian Dragons

• Did you know that the rebellious Pharaoh of Egypt is described in the Bible as a dragon?

Ezekiel 29:3–5 (KJV) — 3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. 4 But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. 5 And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.

Babylonian Dragons

• Did you also know that Pharaoh has company? — that the king of Babylon is compared to the dragon in Jeremiah 51:34?

Jeremiah 51:34 (KJV) — 34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, He hath made me an empty vessel, He hath swallowed me up like a dragon, He hath filled his belly with my delicates, He hath cast me out.

• The source of dragon myths in the Word of God is similar to what’s been uncovered in the world of the Ugarits, an ancient pre-Canaanite people.
• Let’s talk about them for a minute.

The Ugarits

• The Ugarits were a Canaanite people who were in existence as a vital economic and trade center at the time of the Exodus, around the year 1400 BC.
• There are rumblings that they were on the scene, maybe even as early as 1900 BC.
• The Ugarits were the ancestors of the Phoenicians.
• They lived on the west side of what would later become the land of Israel right on the Mediterranean.
• Excavations in 1928, 1958, 1973, and 1994 uncovered over 1500 texts.
• One of the texts, a heavily damaged cuneiform tablet called the Kings List — labeled KTU 1.113 — attest to the arrival of a semi-nomadic people from Mesopotamia known as the Amorites around this time.⁴
• Now, Ugarit was technically not within the land of Canaan, but it provides information about the Canaanite people.
• So much so that many of the Ugaritic texts refer to people in their own city as ‘coming from Canaan’ (Drews, Canaanites and Philistines, 47).⁵

Ugarits and Canaanites

• So you see why these discoveries of these ancient texts and tablets are so vital because they give us some background of the Canaanite people.
• Now, Deuteronomy seven gives us the list of Canaanite people.

Deuteronomy 7:1 (ESV) — 1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you,

• So, there are seven nations which make up the Canaanites: we just read the list.
• The reason why I bring up the Ugarits here is not because of the Canaanites themselves.
• We are talking about exposing Satan, the Dragon.
• So, the city-state of Ugarit is vital to understanding some things about the Bible.

The Ugarits False God El

• Now they found in these Ugaritic tablets that these people had a ‘little g’ false god whose name was, listen to this now, whose name was El.
• El is the name of the Most High God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• Is that worthy of inspection, that a people would have a false ‘little g’ god named with the same name as the true and living God?
• Now, we know that the Ugarits little ‘g’ god is not the same god because the Ugarits said that El had a son whose name was Baal.
• Baal is much mentioned ‘little g god’ in the Bible.
• You remember Baal, don’t you? — Specifically, the episode where Elijah called fire down on the sacrifice in 1 Kings 18.
• That whole incident was a showdown with the prophets of Baal — El’s son, according to the Ugarits.
• Well, the showdown was a ‘no contest’ annihilation of Baal and his followers because the real El showed up.
• Again, El is one of the names of the real and true God.
• So, how come the Ugarits had the name of a false god the same as Jehovah God?
• It’s because of the influence of devils, demons, and evil spirits.
• These beings are the ones who whispered in man’s ear that they should name their false little ‘g’ god El.
• It was these followers of Satan the dragon — that brought imaginations, visions, dreams, and suggestions into the minds of people.
• The point of all of this is that here we have real archaeological proof of how the enemy works.
• So, it’s easy to see how Satan spread myths about his name, the Dragon.
• He did it to dilute the truth of who he really is.

Rahab the Dragon

• Now, did you know that the Word of God records the name of a dark and shadowy dragon other than Satan?
• No kidding, there is another Dragon, and its name is not Pete the Dragon either.

Isaiah 51:9 (ESV) — 9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon?

• Isaiah fifty-one introduces us to a dragon named Rahab.
• You will find this particular dragon, Rahab, the dragon, recorded in several other Old Testament books like Job, and Psalms.
• The fact that this dragon is recorded in Job is noteworthy.
• The story of the book of Job is set in a time before Moses walked the earth.
• Its story and message are, therefore, one of the oldest in the Bible.
• So, Rahab, the dragon, was a figure known in the old annuals of man.

Job 9:13 (ESV) — 13 “God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.

Job 26:12 (ESV) — 12 By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab.

• And with that thought, here’s the definition of the day.

The Definition of Rahab

• The name ‘Rahab’ means boisterous, storm, or arrogance.
• Rahab is a cold-blooded dragon who produces nothing but chaos.
• I don’t know about you, but when I saw the name ‘Rahab,’ my mind went immediately to the figure who helped the spies in the book of Joshua.
• But, these passages clearly show the massive error of that thought pattern.
• In the book of Psalms, the Rahab is mentioned in the same breath as Babylon.

Psalm 87:4 (ESV) — 4 Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush— “This one was born there,” they say.

Rahab and Babylon

• Not only is Rahab in the same breath as Babylon, but he also is in the same company as Egypt.

Isaiah 30:7 (ESV) — 7 Egypt’s help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her “Rahab who sits still.”

• So, Rahab is worthless and empty.
• The Hebrew word ‘worthless’ means meaninglessness — the quality of having no value or significance.
• Try the word ‘useless,’ try the word ‘futile,’ try the word ‘vain’ as in vanity.
• Now, look at the Hebrew word for ’empty’ — Egypt’s help is worthless and empty.
• The word ’empty’ means something that cannot produce any advantage or benefit.
• Judah was trying to get some help from Egypt, but that help is useless, worthless, meaningless, empty, vain, and having no value or significance.
• All of those attributes pass to Rahab, the dragon known as one ‘who sits still.’
• Commentators have this translated the phrase ‘who sits still’ as do-nothing.

Rahab the Do Nothing

• So, Rahab the Dragon is ‘Rahab the Do-Nothing.’
• According to the Bible, these attributes of Rahab the Dragon are Satan the Dragon’s attributes.
• What does that tell us about our enemy?
• It lets us know that there is no help from him.
• Don’t get into a league with him.
• Never agree with him.
• Anything of Satan the Dragon is useless, worthless, meaningless, empty, vain, and has no value or significance.
• So, both Babylon and Egypt were famous in their opposition to the Lord and His people.
• And it’s no wonder that the Lord brought judgment on both nations for their insolence.
• But what about Rahab?

The Judgment of Rahab

• Doesn’t Rahab receive judgment?
• Try Psalm 89:6–10 on for size.

Psalm 89:6–10 (ESV) — 6 For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD, 7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? 8 O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you? 9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. 10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

• Rahab may enter the scene as a ‘boisterous chaos driven dragon’ but he exits as a crushed carcass under the hands of the Almighty.
• So, you can readily understand why Satan the Dragon tries to spread disinformation about himself, his nature, and his workings.

The Good News about Your Authority in Christ

• Now, for the most part, this Podcast has been informational – information about Satan the Dragon.
• We’ve laid the groundwork for this name that belongs to Satan.
• But, now that we have this information in tow, how does it help me to live my everyday life?
• I mean, who cares that other cultures have ‘dragon myths’ or that there is a dragon named Rahab in the Bible?
• We could say it ask the question this way — what good is this information if I can’t apply it to my everyday life?
• Well, jump over to Psalm ninety-one with me.
• There is something in this famous Psalm of protection about Satan, the dragon.

Psalm 91:13 (ESV) — 13 You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

• The Hebrew word for serpent here in verse thirteen is not ‘nahas’ the word for snake.
• It is ‘tannin’ the word for dragon.
• Psalm 91:13 should read this way.

Psalm 91:13 (ESV) — 13 You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the dragon you will trample underfoot.

• What’s the good news here?
• The good news is that there is no work of the enemy that Jesus is Lord over.

Luke 10:18–19 (ESV) — 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

• Add dragons to the list of those you can tread on: that’s the message of Psalm 91:13.
• You guys have a great God week, and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

What is Carnal Minded and How to Grow Out of It?

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