What’s that, no dragon in your nativity set? What ever happened to historical accuracy?
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This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is December 5, 2024 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called The Dragon in the Nativity Set. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Until very recently, the Whitacre family had an Lego competition every year at Christmas. It was the Great Lego Nativity Scene Contest. That’s right. All four of my kids would compete every year to see who could make the best Lego nativity scene. And each year, we would shift to a new scene from the Christmas story: Mary and Joseph getting turned away from the inn, the angels appearing to the shepherds, the wise men following the star, and of course one year, we did the classic nativity scene: the stable itself.
So, as the judge of the Great Lego Nativity Scene Contest, I’ve seen a Lego version of almost every aspect of the Christmas story.
I’ve seen a Lego Gabriel and a Lego baby Jesus. I’ve seen Lego sheep in the fields and Lego camels in their stalls. I’m not even sure they kept camels in stalls. I’ve seen Lego wise men with bricks of frankincense and I’ve seen a very angry Lego King Herod.
But you know what I’ve never seen in one of these Lego nativity scenes? I’ve never seen a Lego dragon, perched on top of the stable, just waiting for the birth of baby Jesus. And I bet you haven’t either.
But after we read our Scripture for Students today, I have a feeling you might be ready to sign my petition to the Nazareth Nativity Company asking them to update their figurines. Let’s restore historical accuracy! Include a dragon in every nativity set!
What is he talking about? Yeah, I understand if you’re a little confused.
Open up your Bibles to Revelation chapter 12 and let’s get after it. Revelation is the last book in your Bible, so it shouldn’t be hard to find.
We’re going to read Revelation 12:1–6. As we do, I’d like to ask you to follow along with me as I read.
Revelation 12:1–6
1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.
4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.
5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,
6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
Ok, so Revelation is a hard book to understand but it gets a lot easier when you discover that the book is highly symbolic. There is all this imagery and it is our job as readers to understand that imagery and interpret it correctly.
But we don’t get to just make stuff up and say, oh, those locusts are Apache attack helicopters. That’s crazy. Instead, we need to ask: where did John get all this imagery? It comes from the Old Testament. So, the best way to understand the book of Revelation is to read the Old Testament. A lot.
This particular story is pretty straightforward.
- The woman is not just Mary, but refers to Israel as the people of God in the OT. Did you notice that she is wearing a crown of 12 stars – 12 is a number that often refers to the people of God, either the sons of Jacob in the Old Testament or the apostles in the New Testament.
- The great red dragon in verse three is Satan, the devil, the enemy of the Lord and all his people. If you aren’t sure about that, just look down at verse 9: the dragon is the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan.
- The devil had big plans to devour the child and destroy him. There are probably many aspects to this, but at the very least it is a reference to King Herod’s desire to destroy any upstart contenders for his throne. In his wicked self-importance, he ordered the massacre of baby boys younger than two years old. And if that reminds you a little bit of Pharaoh at the beginning of Exodus—good. See, you’re already starting to get how Revelation works.
- But Satan didn’t get what he wanted: the angel Gabriel warned Joseph in a dream about the danger to the baby Jesus, so Jesus was whisked away to Egypt, in a very ironic reversal, the place where Israel was enslaved and Moses was almost destroyed became the place of safety and security for the infant Jesus. The first of many, many reversals that Jesus will bring about.
But what does all this have to do with Christmas? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Christmas sermon on Revelation 12, although I’ve wanted to preach one for a long time.
There are at least two lessons we can learn here:
First, your nativity scene needs a dragon. Yes, there is a dragon on the loose in the world. He is the enemy of our souls and very dangerous. He was there at the nativity scene but he went home hungry.
And that’s the second thing we learn from this story. Satan’s gaping jaws are no match for God’s gracious plans. Yes, there is a dragon on the loose, but he is on a leash. You can read more about that in Revelation 20. God had already mapped out his plans to save his people through Jesus and there was nothing that Satan could possibly do to thwart him. Satan’s power was broken when Jesus died on the cross and one day, Jesus will return to finish the job. Until then, there is a real enemy on the prowl, but he is a defeated enemy and we need not fear him.
What does this mean for us? Well, Satan was waiting for a snack but he was served up a big helping of Serpent Crusher. If you missed episode 2 of this podcast, you can go find out what I mean by that phrase.
There are many ways that we can apply this verse and one of the most important is, “do not be afraid.” Jesus is a conqueror and he has already defeated evil. And while there is still much evil on the loose in the world, it will not have the last word. Satan has no more power and authority than he is granted by the king on the throne.
So if you are tempted to fear, come to Jesus, ask him to help you with your fears and know that if has already conquered this most fearsome foe, he will vanquish every lesser enemy as well.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!