The first verse of Isaiah chapter twenty-seven says:
“In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” (Isaiah 27:1)
The destruction of the dragon is a theme that immediately takes us to the book of Revelation. There, in chapter twelve the dragon is identified as Satan, and he is also referred to as that “old serpent”.
“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Revelation 12:9)
But in the book of Revelation the dragon is not killed. We find his ultimate demise and banishment to the lake of fire, but not his death. In fact, Satan is an immortal being, and he will never die, so the dragon being slain in Isaiah 27:1 is not Satan himself. However, I believe that the dragon in Isaiah 27:1 is directly connected to Satan. The dragon of Isaiah 27 is an entity in the image of Satan, if you will. The most unique thing about the dragon of Isaiah 27:1 is where he is to be found: “in the sea”.
Isaiah uses the word ‘dragon’, and without challenging that word at all, we can compare this “dragon that is in the sea” to a beast that comes out of the sea in the book of Daniel. The story of Daniel chapter seven is that of a beast coming out of the sea and reigning in the world during history and then… being slain. The critical verses are Daniel 7:1-3 and Daniel 7:11.
“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.” (Daniel 7:1-3)
“I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.” (Daniel 7:11)
Isaiah uses the word ‘dragon’ in chapters twenty-seven and fifty-one, but here in the twenty-seventh chapter is the only place Isaiah speaks of the dragon coming out of the sea and being slain. One more look at Isaiah 27:1 for purpose of connection.
“In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” (Isaiah 27:1)
This is Isaiah chapter twenty-seven, and Daniel is the twenty-seventh book of the Bible. They are connected.
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