God had a city, but they would not accept His city. We found that verse 1 tells about the morning time, and verse 2 tells about the morning-time apostasy. Next, we see in the interluding verses what started to develop. This, in type, portrays the same truth that we see in Revelation, Chapter 13, when he talked about the people being of all one language, or one doctrine, and nothing being restrained from them. This is a picture of when one man-made system held universal sway.
Every historian knows that the Roman soldiers had a great red dragon insignia on their shields.
Therefore, this great red dragon is symbolic of Rome in its pagan form. It was still Roman, but it was not paganism. It was papalism. The numerical expression of this title equates to 666. Therefore, this beast represents Roman Catholicism.