Verse 2: "And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,"

"the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the Devil and Satan", is the twisted intellect of those that go against God and His Promised Ones. The serpent is a symbol of the intellect through which we know all things both secular and the abstract. For a thousand years, because of the great catastrophes, the people won't even think about going against the Revelation of Baha'u'llah and His Covenant.