The ancient serpent is the subtle, deceiving one. Whenever the Bible speaks of the serpent, it denotes the subtle one (Gen. 3:1). By the time of Revelation 12, the serpent is not new; he is ancient, being close to six thousand years old.
Verse 9 says that the great red dragon is called the Devil. The Greek word for Devil is diabolos, meaning accuser, slanderer. The Devil accuses us before God and slanders us before men. The Devil accused Job (Job 1:9; 2:4-5) and Joshua (Zech. 3:1-2) and is now accusing the believers “before God,” even “day and night” (v. 10). The Devil not only accuses us to God, but he also slanders God to us. When the Devil goes to God, he accuses us before God. But when the Devil comes to us, he slanders God to us. Do not think that his slander is apparent, for often he slanders God in a subtle way. For example, he may slander God by raising within you the question, “Why does God do this to me?” This questioning is a form of slander. Something in you may ask why God treats you in a certain way. Do not think that this issues from you. No, it is the speaking of the Devil in you. Any question about the word of God in the Bible is also a slander. If you take a small slander, the Devil will give you a greater one. Then you would say God probably is not faithful. What slander this is! The significance of the title Devil is that he is the accuser and the slanderer.
The great dragon is also called Satan (12:9). In Greek, the word Satan means “adversary.” Satan is not only God’s enemy outside of God’s kingdom, but also God’s adversary rebelling against God from within God’s kingdom. The enemy denotes the foe outside of God’s realm; the adversary denotes the foe within God’s realm. Satan was once within God’s realm; he was not an outsider. Hence, he was and still is the adversary. Where is this adversary? He is inside of you. He is not only the outside enemy, but also the inside adversary. It is easy to defend yourself against an enemy, but it is difficult to defend yourself against an adversary because he is within you. The adversary is in your house.
You need to realize that this adversary is inside of you. Many times he will pretend to be you. Not realizing that it is he, you may think that it is you. Often when you are wrong, you should not blame yourself that much. Rather, you should say, “Satan, you must bear the blame because this is not I, but you.” Dare you say this to Satan? You may not be bold to say this because you have been deceived. Before 1936, I was deceived for over eleven years. When filthy thoughts entered my mind, I confessed them, telling the Lord how bad I was and asking Him to forgive me. But the more I confessed, the more these unclean thoughts came in. One day, in 1936, I saw that I was being cheated. These thoughts were not mine; they were the thoughts of the evil one. From that time onward, I have not confessed these things anymore. Instead, I say, “Satan, take this away. I refuse to be cheated by you. This is not my thought; it is yours. Now get rid of it. Satan, you must be condemned.” Do not be kind to Satan and do not be cheated by him. Be bold to speak this way to him. Satan is within you. Because of this, he pretends to be you. Thus, you must say to him, “Satan, this is not I—it is you. I don’t care whether you are outside of me or inside of me—you are you. You are the adversary.” Learn to say this to him. Do not be cheated into believing that you are that bad. Satan, not you, is the bad one. Before we repented, we did not admit that we were bad. Rather, we were arrogant, saying, “I’m not sinful—I’m perfect.” But after we repented, were saved, and received grace, the adversary subtly came to us, causing us to think that we were so dirty and so bad. That is the thought of the adversary.
For many years, I did not know the difference between the enemy and the adversary. As the adversary, Satan is even in the church pretending to be something that he is not. In Matthew 16:22 we see that Peter was cheated. Peter thought that he was speaking, but actually it was Satan. The Lord exposed the adversary, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan” (Matt. 16:23). Likewise, in our experience, many times it is not we who do certain things; it is Satan, the adversary.
Verse 9 says that the great dragon, who is called the Devil and Satan, “deceives the whole inhabited earth.” No one is an exception; everyone has been cheated by him. Everyone on earth, from the highest to the lowest and from the greatest to the least, is being deceived by Satan. If we would know who the great dragon is, we must know all these aspects regarding him.