After hearing that China police having police stations in 100 places around the world. Plus the Covid issue. spy balloons, United with Russia and other countries for try to create a union, excluding USA. I am just watching a little here and there. looking to see what the Red dragon meant as China is flag with a red dragon on it.
by the way is anyone when going online searching sticky subjects going into buffering mode?
Where are you getting a red dragon from the Chinese flag? The flag of the People's Republic of China is a red field with a golden star in the upper-left corner with four smaller stars next to it. It's heavily influenced by the design of the flag of the former Soviet Union, as a number of 20th century Communist revolutionary regimes were.
The last time China had a dragon on its flag was during the Qing Dynasty, which came to an end in 1912. And it wasn't red.
The dragon mentioned in the Apocalypse of St. John (aka the book of the Revelation) refers to the devil (Revelation 12:9). The Greek word δράκων (
drakon "dragon") was used for a serpentine creature, which is also why St. John writes that the dragon is "that old serpent", a reference to the serpent in Genesis 3 who tempted Eve and which led to Adam and Eve's fall from paradise. The identification of the serpent in Genesis with the devil was rather firmly established in first century thinking, hence the Christian interpretation of the serpent as referring to the devil, even as Eve's seed being understood to speak of Christ who would destroy the power of the devil.
Dragons were, in antiquity, ubiquitously serpentine in depiction, and they are rather ubiquitous in cultures throughout the ancient world, from the Far East to the Middle East and among the Greeks and Romans. One doesn't need to look to East Asian depictions of dragons, there is plenty from the Greek and Middle Eastern concept of dragons for the Revelation to pull from for its imagery. And that's what it is, imagery, it is deliberate imagery that depicts the devil as a serpentine dragon, a hostile and malevolent force in the world that has been antagonistic toward God's people since Adam and Eve. As such the dragon is depicted as having waged a war with St. Michael the Archangel, often understood to be a reference to the original fall of the devil along with a "third of the stars" being figurative language for fallen angels who followed after him.
Likewise this dragon is then said, in Revelation 13, to be the power behind "the Beast", aka the imperial power of Rome which persecuted the Church (mentioned again later in Revelation 17 as a harlot named Babylon who rides upon a scarlet beast, a reference to the city of Rome and the power of the Roman emperors, and the way Rome was at war with the Church through persecution).
What seems to be being said is that the imperial/temporal powers that are persecuting the Church are, essentially, an instrument of diabolical machinations. For the devil despises Christ who defeated him, for we see also that the devil having been locked into the abyss is let loose for "a little season"--the devil, though defeated, rages. And his rage is felt, at least in part, through systems of oppression which target Christ's people. In John's time this was very much Rome, specifically Rome ruled under the authority of Emperor Domitian.
But, the Revelation reminds us that the One who has victory is Christ, who already has taken possession of the keys of hades by His victorious resurrection from the dead; and as such is described as the Lamb who sits on heaven's throne, alone worthy to open the scroll. And we hear the victorious song "the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever". For, when Christ ascended He, as prophesied by Daniel, received all power and authority--everlasting kingdom which will, in the end, dash all other kingdoms to pieces.
So Christ, having died, risen, and ascended, is seated at the right hand of the Father in glory, from whence He will, in the end, come again as judge of the living and the dead, and His kingdom shall have no end. Therefore, there is no reason for the Church to worry about the trials and tribulations of this present fallen world, Christ has conquered, having told us in John's Gospel, "In this world you will have tribulation, but be courageous, I have conquered the world." And St. Paul reminds us in Colossians that Christ made a public spectacle of the principalities and powers by the means of His cross.
Jesus won. The devil is defeated, death is conquered, hell is ransacked, the power of sin has been destroyed. Ours is the victory through Him, and therefore we are, says Paul in Romans 8, more than conquerors.
The great battle hymn of the Reformation, written by Martin Luther is good to remember,
"
And though this world with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers
no thanks to them abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours
through Him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill;
God's truth abideth still;
His kingdom is forever!"
We proclaim Jesus Christ, who suffered, died, and has risen, ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, from whence He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. The kingdom of God is everlasting to everlasting, He is Alpha and Omega, King of kings and Lord of lords. And the day will come when even this mortal bodies shall be transformed like His glorious body. For it is written, Where O Death is your sting? Where O Death is your victory? Christ has defeated death, and so death is swallowed up in victory.
-CryptoLutheran
