Christians are told scholars establish the “original text” through careful analysis, picking the best variant that conforms to their idea of what the original said. However, that is unsound being circular. They produce a text in their own preconceived image and believe its the truth!
They assume where John “stood” or whether he “stood” at all is “wholly immaterial; where the dragon stood is material”. Of course the variant conforming to their presupposition is the one they prefer: “he [the Dragon] stood”, not “I [John] stood”. Dr. Bruce Metzger opines “The latter reading appears to have arisen when copyists accommodated ἐστάθη to the first person of the following εἶδον.”-Metzger, B. M., United Bible Societies. (1994). A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a companion volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th rev. ed.) (p. 673). United Bible Societies.
Consider the stupidity of having John and the Dragon as tourists calmly gazing out to the sea. Weren’t we just told “the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17 NKJ). Wow! That was a short war!
If we let the blind Scholars rewrite our scriptures, what does that say about us? Let the shiny dragon capture their attention.
We must interpret the phrase “I stood upon the sand of the sea” as allusion to Daniel 7:4-8:27 where the “interpretive keys to the symbolism of beasts and horns are found.
The monster having seven heads and ten horns (Rev. 13:1-5) is the last global government to rise in the seven-year end time “week” before the coming Kingdom of God. In the book of Daniel this is the fourth and last government beast to rise (Dan. 7:7). Because it is a Grecian version of the old Byzantine Roman Empire (before the split) it has 7 heads (count the heads Dan. 7:2-7) in a leopard body. The head that died and was revived is Ancient Babylon, its first head. So this entire beast is in effect the Eighth king “out of seven” (Rev. 17:7-10). The Beast is both Empire and Emperor just as in Daniel 7:17.
John saw two phases of this revived Grecian Roman Babylonian Empire Beast. It rises from a sea of spiritism (Job 38:16-17; Isa. 27:1; Ps. 74:13; Dan. 7:2 compare Rev. 21:1) when Satan and his fallen angels appear on earth (Rev. 12:7-9) insisting they can only work through global government to deliver global peace and safety (1 Thess. 5:3).
They install the False Christ Rider on the White Horse as its first “Chancellor”, “the mouth of a lion” (Rev. 13:2). The second phase begins at mid week, after 3.5 years when Adonikam the false Christ breaks the covenant he made with the world’s religions and reveals he actually is the Seed of Satan “Son of Destruction” (Dan. 9:27; 2 Thess. 2:3-4; Rev. 13:5). He now denies the Father and Son and blasphemes Yahweh God, both His dwelling and His angels:
5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.
6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.
7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. (Rev. 13:5-10 NKJV)
The Majority Text: Divine Preservation and Christian Reason
The Grecian-Roman Empire with Seven Heads and Ten Horns