Every year, there’s lots of excitement about the John Lewis Christmas advert. A few years back, it featured the hibernating bear that was woken up to enjoy his first ever Christmas. And then there was Monty the penguin, and who could forget Buster the boxer dog, playing on the trampoline? Have you seen this year’s advert?
It features excitable Edgar, a baby dragon, who seems to be ruining Christmas by getting excited. You see, every time he gets excited, he blows fire from his nostrils - melting the children’s snowmen; and the ice rink; and setting the village Christmas tree on fire. And then it’s Christmas Day, and Christmas dinner, and in he comes, and everyone ducks under the table. But he uses his fire breathing for good, by lighting the Christmas pudding. You can even get the excitable Edgar dragon stuffed toy. (Other brands and shops are available!).
In our reading today, we find that there’s a dragon in this telling of the nativity story. And, perhaps when you heard it being read, you thought to yourself - what’s a dragon doing in the nativity? It’s definitely the weirdest nativity you’ve ever heard. Maybe, though, it’s a bit like some of the school nativity plays which have an abundance of extra characters - mostly famously in one movie, a lobster. Is that what’s going on here? We don’t find any of the shepherds or wise men, but we have this great red dragon. So what’s going on? What is this all about? And what could it possibly tell us about Christmas?
Well, before we dive into the passage, we need to get our bearings. We’re in the book of Revelation - a series of visions revealed to John the apostle, and written down for the church. These visions are painted in broad brushstrokes, almost like cartoons, using pictures to show what’s going on behind the scenes, explaining the way things are going, and encouraging Christians to keep faithful even in the midst of tremendous opposition and persecution.
As we get into verse 1, John sees a great and wondrous sign in heaven. ‘A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon 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.’ (1-2) Now, it sounds like this might be Mary, the pregnant lady of Christmas-time. And sometimes you might see statues of her portrayed in this way.
But this isn’t Mary as such. She wasn’t wearing the sun and resting her feet on the moon when she arrived in Bethlehem. This imagery is pointing to the people of Israel, the nation as a whole, as being this pregnant woman. Do you remember Joseph - not the adopted father of Jesus, but the Joseph in Genesis, the one with the technicolour dreamcoat? One of the dreams he has in Genesis 37 is of the sun and moon and eleven stars bowing down to him. And his father Jacob (also called Israel) interprets it as Joseph’s dad and mum and his eleven brothers bowing down to him.
And so the people of Israel are pregnant; they’re waiting for the arrival of the promised Messiah (King). They have come to the time of his arrival, of his birth.
And John sees a second sign: ‘An enormous red dragon with 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.’ (3-4). It’s a fearsome beast! A dragon with one head would be bad enough, but seven heads? And the dragon has got into place. He’s ready and waiting for the birth - not to help out or give a nice gift. But to, verse 4: ‘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.’ (4)
The dragon is out to destroy and devour. It doesn’t want this child to be born, and so is waiting for the moment to get rid of him. I wonder does this remind you of anything from the Christmas story? Behind King Herod is this fiery dragon - when Herod hears the king of the Jews has been born, he sends his soldiers to destroy the baby king. But just as Herod wasn’t successful, so this dragon didn’t devour the baby.
In verse 5 we get a glimpse of exactly who the baby is. ‘She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre.’ The one who rules the nations with an iron sceptre is the anointed king (the Messiah, or Christ), who is God’s Son, from Psalm 2. So this is definitely the birth of Jesus in view here.
And the devouring dragon is unsuccessful in this vision. ‘And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.’ (5) In one sentence, we get an overview of the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus. The dragon didn’t devour him. Jesus was victorious, and rules from God’s throne.
But that doesn’t stop the dragon’s attempts at devouring. John sees that there is war in heaven - Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon and his angels. And again, the dragon loses - and loses more than the war, he loses his place in heaven.
If you were still in any doubt as to who this dragon was, it’s spelled out for us in verse 9: ‘The great dragon was hurled down - that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.’ Do you remember back in Genesis 3 who it was that led Eve and Adam astray? The tempter was the serpent. But he didn’t stop with Adam and Eve - he continues to lead people astray, and not just one or two, but the whole world.
That’s his first tactic. Leading people astray. Tempting them. Taking them off the straight path. Devouring by disobedience. But then in verse 10 we see his second tactic. Satan literally means the accuser. He accuses Christians before God day and night. God, do you see what he has done wrong today? How can you still love him? God, did you hear what she said today? Do you really want her as part of your people?
He leads astray, and then he accuses. He tries to remind you of your past. He tries to tell you that God couldn’t really love you with all those wrong things you’ve done. Perhaps you’ve heard the dragon whispers this week. Maybe you’ve smelt the fiery breath of the dragon.
But as someone once said - if Satan reminds you of your past, then remind him of his future. Revelation 12 shows us that the dragon is on the losing side. However powerful he might appear, he is a defeated dragon. He didn’t devour Jesus, and he lost the war in heaven. And he loses against Christian believers. How is that possible?
It’s possible because of the victory of Christ (10) in the Christian’s life. There is salvation, and power, and the kingdom of God, and the authority of his Christ. And we share in that victory in verse 11: ‘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.’
The dragon is defeated by the blood of the Lamb - trusting that Jesus died for you and has taken away all the things that Satan accuses you of - and by the word of their testimony - your witness to God’s power in your life. That word testimony is the word from which we get the word martyr - who is a witness through their death. Are we prepared to stand up for Jesus, to witness for him, even if it brings the death of our social standing, or our social life, or even our physical death?
The devil dragon has lost. His final doom is now certain. And he knows that his time is short. But that doesn’t mean that he gives up fighting and settles for a quiet life. Look at the end of verse 12: ‘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.’
And that’s what we see in the rest of the chapter. He first tries to pursue the woman who had given birth to the male child. The people of Israel have often been on the receiving end of opposition, persecution, and violence. And yet God provides for her preservation through it all.
And so the devil changes tack. Who is in his sights now? Verse 17: ‘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.’ Who’s that? You and me. Christians. You see, the devil doesn’t really take you seriously if you’re already following him. He doesn’t need to worry about you if you’re his. But when you repent, and trust in Jesus, and follow Jesus, then he is your enemy. When you take the Christian faith seriously, then the devil takes an interest in you. And when churches are seeing growth, and seeing people come to faith and grow in faith, then that’s when you can be sure the devil will come knocking.
But that shouldn’t cause us to worry. You see, we have the victory in Jesus. The blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony guarantee us victory over our defeated devilish dragony foe.
The dragon shows up in the nativity, perhaps the weirdest nativity you’ve ever heard or seen. But the dragon didn’t get to devour the Christ-child; and he won’t devour Christ’s brothers and sisters, because Jesus wins - and Jesus has won.
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 22nd December 2019.
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