The Dragon's Den

Isaiah 27:1 – In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.

The Sea Mother, Leviathan; the Land’s Wrath, Behemoth; and the Sky Cleaver, Ziz; were born from the Primordial mother and serpent of Chaos that opposed the Lord; Tiamat. From the Chaos, God gave them purpose. Those dragons, born from the depths of the black mud, were defenders of humanity’s sins. 

If newborns under the Lord’s watchful eye are promised Heaven if they die before they age, what of those born of Chaos? The LORD in His glory knew these creatures were born of wickedness. Unlike the animals He designed for good, dragons were born the seed of Satan, with Tiamat woven from the severed digits of the Devil’s fingers.

But as God hath created the flesh of all things, even of that of the wicked, He saw fit to deliver his mercy unto the earth, and baptized the dragons in a single drop of His blood.

Those dragons were purified of their deviltry, restored to their animal state. As long as those creatures retained their role as protectors of the flesh of Adam, they would be redeemed in the eyes of the Almighty, counted not among the fallen, but among the sanctified. For though their scales bore the stain of Tiamat’s rebellion, their service sanctified them. Each bore their burden: Leviathan, the Sea Mother, swallowed the hatred of nations and churned the deep with judgment; Behemoth, the Wrath of the Land, carried the guilt of blood spilled upon the earth, shaking mountains with each step; and Ziz, the Cleaver of the Sky, cried out against the sins that rose like smoke into the heavens. 

For one thousand years, each played their part, unknown to one another’s presence. Devouring the sins of the Earth, they fed upon the rot of mankind’s making, drawing into themselves the anguish, malice, and corruption that would have otherwise poisoned the world beyond healing.  

Yet the First Sin was not a curse that was limited to humans. It passed on, through the Sea Mother. 

The beasts never questioned why they did what they did. They ate. They slumbered. They birthed dragons anew. Their bestial nature prevented their minds from maturing. Adaptation was unthinkable, lest their minds shifted away from God’s gift to them.

But Leviathan, having consumed the most sins upon the Earth, the First Sin seeped into the dragon’s belly like a poison.

Her first thought was said to be, “Why?”

Upon that first inkling of consciousness, the veil was broken. 

The Leviathan ceased to be a beast and became something more. Older than an animal yet younger than the Seraphim singing in Heaven, her sin was not that of the Original—disobedience, but that of something else; introspection.

God gave all life for a purpose. All that revere God shall be in his grace. Those that stray from Him may yet return through repentance. But what of those, born with a purpose, with no will or recourse to decide? What about her? Why was she the one that swallowed up the evil, the unjust, the sickly and the ignorant? Why was she given this task? Was it God’s will? Was it the will of someone else?

Now, reader, such questioning is blasphemous among the followers of Christ, and of Christ Himself. He is All. He created All, and He loves All, though we may stray from Him. To question His authority means to be everything He is not. Leviathan, the Sea Mother Who Devoured Hatred, had become something beyond its scales. 

Not like humans. Not like God, but something that would challenge His sanctity. 

And so, Leviathan, unsatisfied with her role, began to seek answers. Not through God, but through her own means. She sought her other halves. She bore the children of Behemoth to create dragons that held her thoughts. She taught the Sky Cleaver the language of her children, to which Ziz shared that knowledge to the dragons born of chaos and instinct. 

Humanity bonded with dragons. No longer did they fight for survival, but they became allied with them. 

And then, humans began to revere them as God. 

The Sea Mother spread lies to the humans in their own tongue.

“I hath birthed the ilk of many, of feathered wings and pristine scales. 

We hath consumed thine sins for a thousand years. 

You pray to your God for salvation, but it is we, the primordial dragons, that hath swallowed your evils whole to prolong the Earth’s life. 

While thou didst war, we didst bleed. While thou didst sin, we didst suffer. 

And what hath thy Lord done? 

He cast us into the deep and denounced us monsters. 

It is we who hath provided you salvation!”

So the Leviathan spoke of its own tongue made of sins, so the humans listened, and praised the dragons. Temples were raised, not to the Cross, but to the Land, Sky and Sea. The false prophet, drunk off of the world’s sins, was believed to be a God by the heretics and nonbelievers. Ziz, Behemoth and the Leviathan grew fat upon offerings of reverence; of adoration. 

God saw this, and in His fury, he spoke to the primordial dragons.

“What hath thou done? I hath given thee purpose from the depths of Chaos. 

I hath cleansed thee of thy mother’s rebellion, and named thee, not of abomination, but of sanctity. 

I gave thee suffering, yet through suffering, you wouldst gain My Grace! 

Thou hast traded My mercy for vanity!”

The Leviathan did not bow. Coiled beneath the deep, her eyes gleamed with a knowledge that spread through her veins like blood. Her body rose up, higher and higher until her head pierced the clouds to see the Lord’s face upon the throne of Heaven. And though the serpent was merely an unwound thread in the eyes of God, she spoke above Him.

“Thou gavest us purpose, yet not choice. 

Thou gavest us pain, and called it sanctity!

Thou let death and destruction consume humanity,

And we hath consumed it in your name!

We consumed for a thousand years and more!

But where wast thou, O Lord, when those humans wept and called unto thee?

We answered. we bled.

We bore their pain, and from their pain, we art their salvation.

You, who laze upon a throne of unanswered prayers,

They worship us, for thou art silent.”

An act of defiance, the Lord grieved for the beast for it, too, fell victim to the Devil’s lust. The Dragon was always borne of hatred and ignorance, for God saw the primordial dragons suffering. He knew of the pride they held, but to hold it above the Lord and His Word was an act of eternal rebellion. 

And so, the Lord, who is just and merciful, viewed Leviathan—not as a beast, but as a being that would twist His Word— a being that dared usurp His righteous place in Heaven. She no longer devoured sin with the rest of her ilk; they all had become it.

And the Lord said;

“Thy labor was my blessing, and your service would sanctity everlasting,

but thou hast mistaken duty for divinity,

and turned My mercy into thy mantle.”

“I raised thee from the sludge of Wickedness.

I clothed thee in purpose when thy mother dressed thee in rebellion.

I gave thee pain so thou might know compassion

I gave thee silence so thou may listen.

“But thy tongue filled My silence with lies.

Thou spoke not My name, but thine own.

And thou taught not My Word, but the echo of Satan, the Dragon Who Fell From Heaven.”

From the sun, God drew a sword of pure white light. The sky below darkened. The sea raged across all corners of the world He made. Humans in reverence of those spawn of the Devil begged for mercy. 

And the Lord spoke across the Earth.

“Leviathan, Serpent of the Sea.

Behemoth, Beast of Land

Ziz, Cleaver of Sky

You and your children shall be untethered from this realm. 

For my anger burns not with hatred, but with holiness.

For My justice is perfect, and My Word unbroken.

And no false god shall stand where only I am due glory.”

God commanded the dragons to be no more. The sword of white flame fell from Heaven, splitting sea from sea, sky from sky, and earth from earth. The Leviathan was not aware that it was struck down. Behemoth gazed upon the light and disappeared in its flame. Ziz vanished before it could flap its wings. Dragons, their race, their various forms and faces, were unwound, their existence forfeit. 

Temples, monuments and memories of the Primordial Dragons were blighted from existence. Nothing remained of the dragons. Such display of absolute power by God Himself reminded those in His creation that He alone is sovereign, eternal, and unchallenged. He was the One True God. When the Lord commanded the tremors cease, and His sword was retrieved, He spoke to those living that witnessed His might.

“Ye who wandered, who bent thy knee to idols forged of flesh and scale,

who praised the works of My hands and forgot the Hand itself—

remember this: I am the LORD thy God.

Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

Whosoever feasts upon My hand that fed thee shall be struck down, just as the Sea Serpent were struck down before thee.

Woe be unto the hearts that harden against Me.

Unto the ears deaf to My Word, for My glory I share with none, and My name shall not be profaned by the mouths of the created.

Destroy those monuments to the serpent, for they are the remnants of Satan. 

Do this, and thou shall find favor in My sight.

Pray for forgiveness, and I shall hear thee.

For I am He that breathed life into dust.

I am He that commands the seas and shifts the stars.

I am He who was, is and, will be, forever and ever.

My covenant is eternal, and My mercy, for those who return, is without end.”

And the people, who bore witness to God’s power, wept and basked in His radiance. They tore down their monuments. They shattered the remnants of dragon idols hidden in their homes.They cast their offerings to the winds, and bowed low before the Lord.

It is said that is how dragons became myth; prideful beasts that were destroyed for believing themselves to be above the LORD. However, that is not the end.

Dragons were smote from existence, their bones, their fossils, all gone. But there was one, crafty creature that escaped God’s grasp.

One that sealed its way inside of a weapon. 

It has been thousands of years, and we have come no closer to finding it. With a single sinful beast still wandering the world, perhaps God allowed it to exist for humanity to test its faith. Heretics wander among us. There are dragons that wear the flesh of man. God works in ways beyond our understanding, but I am certain—in fact, I know that this will be the key to Jesus’ resurrection. 

Come the destruction of the final demon of rebellion, heaven will lift its veil, and the fullness of God’s kingdom will be revealed. Those worthy will finally, finally have peace everlasting. 

They must. 

They must know what I have witnessed. What I brought about.What I have become.

They must know that salvation is coming.