Descriptions of the dragons:
DRAGON 1:
Revelation 12:3-4, and 12:9
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:
9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the earth, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
DRAGON 2:
Revelation 13:1-2, Revelation 12:5
1. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
DRAGON 3:
Revelation 17:3
3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition.....9. ... The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and small make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
How are the dragons similar?
Dragon 1 Dragon 2 Dragon 3
7 heads 7 heads 7 heads
10 horns 10 horns 10 horns
How are they different?
Dragon 1 Dragon 2 Dragon 3
Appeared in heaven Rose from the sea In the
Has power Is given power from the wilderness
dragon
Red Scarlet
On his heads the name of Full of names
blasphemy of blasphemy
Ascends from
the bottomless
pit
One third of angels
follow him
Like a leopard
Feet as a bear
Mouth as a lion
Is the old serpent
Is the devil
Is Satan
Has seven crowns on his Has ten crowns on his Has no
seven heads ten horns crowns
Are they all the same dragon? Dragon 2 and 3 aren't even called dragons. The biggest similarity is that all have seven heads and ten horns. But then why does Dragon 1 have crowns on his heads, Dragon 2 has crowns on his horns, and Dragon 3 has no crowns at all?
This is to show the timing of events. Dragon 1 has crowns on his heads to show that all the seven empires that the heads represent are or were in existence. The seventh empire has arrived. Dragon 2 has crowns on his horns to show that the ten kings or rulers that they represent, within the seventh empire, have attained actual power. This is a must for the Antichrist to come to power. All the ten horns or rulers have to be in power. Dragon 3 has no crowns on his seven heads or his ten horns because at the beginning of the Tribulation until the middle, a period of three and a half years, the ten kings are not yet in power. So first Dragon 3 begins to come on the scene at the beginning of the seven year Tribulation, before the seventh empire is divided into ten kingdoms. Maybe even before the seventh empire is a reality. Then, sometime during the first half of the Tribulation, or the first three and a half years, Dragon 1, Satan has a war in heaven, loses, and is cast out of heaven. Then Dragon 3, the Antichrist, comes to power starting the Great Tribulation, which is the last three and a half years of the Tribulation.
Who is who? Dragon 1 is Satan, because he is called Satan. Dragon 2 is "The Beast of the Sea," which is the Antichrist, who is empowered by Satan. Is Dragon 3 also the Antichrist? Dragon 3 is said to have ascended out of the abyss. The Antichrist is a man and the abyss is not a place that men go.
Dragon 3 has ascended from the bottomless pit, which would have happened when the bottomless pit was opened in Revelation 9 at the sounding of the fifth angel, and all the demons came out like a plague of locusts. Dragon 2 is not said to have ascended from the bottomless pit. Neither is Dragon 1.
The bottomless pit is the abyss, the prison of demons. Are all demons in the abyss? No, then he will be on earth and the Tribulation will start. Is Dragon 3, being a demon from the abyss, living in the Antichrist? Yes, that's what it looks like. Is this demon actually Satan? Hmm...I think Satan comes to earth and lives in a man called the Antichrist like Jesus is God and came to earth and lived as a man. So, is the Antichrist is possessed by the demon that comes out of the abyss and later Satan? Or both of them? Or else one or the other? This is not 100% clear to me.
I would say that Satan is the one that inhabits the Antichrist during the Tribulation, especially the Great Tribulation, but is Satan in the abyss? Where is he, anyway? First he's in heaven, then he's cast to earth, what about the abyss? Satan isn't omnipotent or omnipresent like God is. I suppose it could seem like he is because he has a lot of evil minions helping him, the one third of the angels that went with him when he rebelled against God.
I've been surprised to see that when I search commentaries to try to find out what others have been able to make of Revelation so little seems to be understood by anyone. I read the idea that the placement of the crowns is to indicate timing from my reading. I listened to a video by a man who writes books and makes videos about prophesy and has a church or an organization. He was one who jumps around from one prophesy to the next, mixing them together. Bad things were happening in the Tribulation, he said, but up until the seventh year, all the trouble was caused by Satan. Then God was responsible for the seventh year. How so? Scripture lays out that the whole period of the Tribulation is a time of judgment from God. He also thought "the Rapturists" were wrong wrong wrong. This has always been an attitude that puzzled me. When there is good evidence in Scripture for a pre tribulation rapture, why not believe that?
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