Revelation 12:3: 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.

In Revelation 12:1-2, John saw the sign of a woman representing the premortal church of God¹ that travailed in childbirth.² In Revelation 12:3, John saw the source of her travail³ as another wonder in heaven, which should be translated as another sign in heaven.⁴ This other sign was a great red dragon⁵ who appeared as a menacing power to oppose the woman.⁶ The bloody and fiery red color of the Dragon symbolizes murder and destruction.⁷ The Dragon represents Lucifer in the premortal existence,⁸ who became Satan when he was cast out of heaven and cast down to this earth at the time of its physical creation.⁹

Some scholars interpret the sign of the Dragon as a mythological symbol¹⁰ that represents Satan's earthly dominion in the Roman Empire.¹¹ They equate the seven heads and crowns of the Dragon with the seven forms of government in the Roman Empire¹² and the seven hills upon which Rome was built.¹³ John saw the sign of the Dragon in heaven, so these allusions to ancient Rome are earthly likenesses only.¹⁴ John separately describes the deadly activities of the Roman Empire against Christ's ancient church in their proper chronological sequence in Revelation 12:15-17,¹⁵ with additional details provided in Revelation chapters 13 and 17.¹⁶ The image of the great red dragon¹⁷ in Revelation 12:3, by contrast, depicts Lucifer's destructive actions in heaven among premortal spirits at the time of the grand council.¹⁸

The premortal Dragon had seven heads¹⁹ with a crown on each head²⁰ to represent Lucifer's claim to complete and universal dominion during and after the grand council.²¹ This dominion becomes apparent in the next several verses where the Dragon's tail drew one third of all God's spirit children into his rebellion in verse 4,²² followed by the premortal apostasy on Kolob for the next 1260 days of years in verses 5 and 6.²³

The Dragon's seven heads are oddly paired with ten horns.²⁴ The ten horns symbolize Lucifer's great premortal power and influence.²⁵ Many scholars equate the ten horns with the Roman Empire and succeeding kingdoms on earth.²⁶ Once again, however, the ten horns of the premortal Dragon in heaven merely have their likeness in earthly kingdoms, including the Roman Empire and modern nations on earth.²⁷ Since the number 10 symbolizes the whole of a part or part of a whole,²⁸ the ten horns on the Dragon represent Satan's whole premortal power, which was one part of the whole power of God and his Christ that defeated Satan during the war in heaven.²⁹