The Day After Christmas: The Story Of The Christmas Dragon (Revelation 12: 1-6, 13-17)

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with
the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve
stars[1] on her
head.  She was pregnant and cried out
in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another
sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red
dragon[2] with seven heads and ten
horns and seven crowns[3] on its
heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the
sky and flung them to the earth.  


The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give
birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was
born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule
all the nations with an iron
scepter.”[4] And her child was snatched
up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the
wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be
taken care of for 1,260 days[5]… 


The dragon pursued the woman who had given birth to the male
child. The woman was given the two wings of a great
eagle,[6] so that she might fly to the
place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be
taken care of for a time, times and half a
time,[7] out of the serpent’s
reach. Then from his mouth the
serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and
sweep her away with the torrent.  


 But the earth helped the woman by opening
its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out
of his mouth.[8] Then the dragon was
enraged at the woman[9] and went off to
wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep
God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
(Revelation 12: 1-6, 13-17)


 


Did you know that was a Christmas story? Here’s what part of it
looks like in Matthew’s Gospel.