Deception undone

As long as he’s in heaven preying on the child of the woman, he is called “dragon” (Revelation 12). Once cast down, his titles multiply: The dragon is also the archaic serpent, called the devil and Satan. A fourfold name for the “ruler of this world” who is cast out by the cross (cf. John  12).

As dragon, serpent, devil, Satan, he “deceives the whole oikoumene,” the imperial world. He enlists a beast to deceive the earth-dwellers (Jews? Revelation 13:14), and the harlot city also deceives the nations with her sorcery.

But it doesn’t last forever. Revelation 12:9 is matched by Revelation 20:2-3: Both include the fourfold name of Satan. Both speak of his deception (planao).

Something has changed. The dragon of heaven is cast into the abyss. The deceiver is bound so that he can no longer deceive the nations. In place of the dragon, the saints are seated on heavenly thrones, constituting a court that puts the dragon and his cohorts on trial. As Paul put it, the saints judge angels. Eventually, the dragon ends up in the lake of fire. (The beast who deceived the land-dwellers is already in the lake of fire, 19:20).

What’s happened? The intervening story is a story of persecution, witness, martyrdom, bloodshed. Witnesses who are faithful to death break the spell of deception. In the literal etymological sense, martyria is truth-telling, witness. Also in the extended sense of witness-to-death, it is a form of truth telling, and powerful enough to overcome the deceiver.