II. He Is An Old One. “The devil sinneth from the beginning” (1Jn_3:8; Joh_8:44).
III. He Is A Daring One.
IV. His Attempts Are Often Failures. The dragon warred and his angels, and they prevailed not (Rev_12:8).
V. He Is An Angry Foe. “He hath great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time” (Rev_12:12).
VI. He Is A Malicious One (Rev_12:13).
VII. He Is A Watchful And Crafty One (Rev_12:4; Rev_12:13; Rev_12:15), varying his methods according to the case in hand.
VIII. He Is A Circumscribed Foe. This chapter tells us of three limits put to him and to his power.
1. One, of space. He is cast down to earth. He is “the God of this world” (2Co_4:4).
2. A second, of time. “A time, and times, and half a time.”
3. There is yet a third limit, that of force. “The earth helped the woman,” etc. (Rev_12:16). We are taught in Scripture that there arefive ways by which his power is restricted and his intention foiled.
(1) There is providential dispensation (Rev_12:6; Rev_12:14; Rev_12:16; 1Co_10:13).
(2) There is angelic ministry (Rev_12:7).
(3) There is the direct exertion of Christ’s commanding word (Mat_17:18).
(4) There is the counteracting power of Divine grace (2Co_12:9).
(5) There is the intercession of our Redeemer (Luk_22:31-32).
IX. He is a foe with whose devices we have to reckon in fighting the battle of life (Rev_12:17). Note--
1. He is one at whom we cannot afford tolaugh, and whose existence we cannot afford to deny.
2. He is a foe before whom we need not quail.
3. He is a foe to whom not an inch of room should be given (Eph_4:27).
4. He is a foe for whose onsets we should prepare by a survey and appropriation of heavenly forces.
5. He is a foe on whose ultimate defeat and complete discomfiture we may surely and confidently reckon if we look to Jesus. (C. Clemance, D. D.)
Satan the great dragon
Incalling him the dragon, the Holy Spirit seems to hint at his mysterious power and character. To us a spirit such as he is must ever be a mystery in his being and working. Satan is a mysterious personage though he is not a mythical one. We can never doubt his existence if we have once come into conflict with him; yet he is to us all the more real because so mysterious. If he were flesh and blood it would be far easier to contend with him; but to fight with this spiritual wickedness in high places is a terrible task. As a dragon he is full of cunning and ferocity. In him force is allied with craft; and if he cannot achieve his purpose at once by power, he waits his time. He deludes, he deceives; in fact, he is said to deceive the whole world. What a power of deception must reside in him, when under his influence the third part of the stars of heaven are made to fall, and myriads of men in all ages have worshipped demons and idols! He hassteeped the minds of men in delusion, so that they cannot see that they should worship none but God, their Maker. He is styled “the old serpent”; and this reminds us how practised he is in every evil art. He was a liar from the beginning, and the father of lies. After thousands of years of constant practice in deception he is much too cunning for us. If we think that we can match him by craft we are grievous fools, for he knows vastly more than the wisest of mortals; and if it once comes to a game of policies, he will certainly clear the board, and sweep our tricks into the bag. To this cunning he adds great speed, so that he is quick to assail at any moment, darting down upon us like a hawk upon a poor chick. He is not everywhere present; but it is hard to say where he is not. He cannot be omnipresent; but yet, by that majestic craft of his, he so manages his armies of fallen ones that, like a great general, he superintends the whole field of battle, and seems present at every point. No door can shut him out, no height ofpiety can rise beyond his reach. He meets us in all our weaknesses, and assails us from every point of the compass. He comes upon us unawares, and gives us wounds which are not easily healed. But yet, powerful as this infernal spirit certainly must be, his power is defeated when we are resolved never to be at peacewith him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
