📖 Biblical Definition
The "old serpent" is Revelation 12:9’s explicit identification of Satan with the serpent of Eden: "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" (cf. 20:2). The line from Genesis 3 to Revelation 12 is unbroken: the same enemy, the same lying voice, the same deceiver of nations. The first promise of the Bible was the crushing of his head by the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15); the climactic vision of Scripture is its execution. Christ has bruised the serpent’s head at the cross (Hebrews 2:14); the final binding awaits His return.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Revelation 12:9.) The biblical identification of Satan with the serpent of Eden; same enemy across the canon.
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Revelation 12:9 collapses four titles onto one figure: the great dragon... that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan. The serpent of Genesis 3, the Satan of Job, the devil of the New Testament, and the dragon of Revelation are all one being.
The connection vindicates the historical reading of Genesis 3: the deceiver in Eden was real, personal, and the same enemy still active. Revelation 20:2 repeats: he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan.
📖 Key Scripture
Revelation 12:9 — "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world."
Revelation 20:2 — "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years."
Genesis 3:1 — "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made."
Genesis 3:15 — "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Some readings of Genesis 3 reduce the serpent to symbolic; Revelation 12 forbids the reduction by naming him as the same Satan still active.
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Genesis 3:15's seed of the woman shall bruise thy head sets up the entire biblical conflict. Revelation 20:2 closes it: the serpent is bound. Between, the whole canonical story is the seed of the woman defeating the seed of the serpent.
Christ at the cross is the seed-of-the-woman moment. The serpent struck His heel; He crushed the serpent's head. Revelation 12 announces the cosmic outcome: they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 traces a single arc.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew nachash (serpent); Greek ophis; archaios (ancient).
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Hebrew nachash — serpent; the Genesis 3 figure.
Greek ophis ho archaios — the ancient serpent; Revelation's identification.
Usage
"Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 traces a single arc."
"The serpent struck His heel; He crushed the serpent's head."
"The same enemy, the same voice, the same defeat coming."