Little interesting variant here. Some translations have John standing on the sea shore at the end of chapter 12 and some have the dragon standing on the shore at the start of chapter 13.
“The dragonstood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.” (Revelation 13 v 1)
“And he stoodon the sand of the sea. And I saw …” (Revelation 12 v 17 – 18 v 1 ESV)
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea … (Revelation 13 v 1 KJV)
There is no doubt that the sea brought fear and terror to the hearts and minds of the first century Jew. The sea was chaotic, unpredictable and steeped in their culture was the understanding that monsters lived there, something we will see on the next few days in our readings.
But who is standing on the shore of the sea? Is it the dragon or is it John? Should it be ‘he stood’ or ‘I stood’? No one knows but perhaps the truth is it is actually both.
The devil stands poised to attack us at every turn. He is ready to launch fear at you. He is relentless.
However, we also stand ready, alert, not unaware of his schemes, facing our fears and we do so knowing we face a defeated dragon.
Missions Paul 