Isaiah knew the
devil would be permitted to
physically appear before the
human race. Notice his words:
“How you have fallen from
heaven, O morning star, son of
the dawn! You have been cast down
to the earth, you who once laid
low the nations! You said in your
heart, ‘I will ascend to
heaven; I will raise my throne
above the stars of God; I will
sit enthroned on the mount of
assembly, on the utmost heights
of the sacred mountain. I will
ascend above the tops of the
clouds; I will make myself like
the Most High.’ But you are
brought down to the grave, to the
depths of the pit. Those who
see you stare at you, they
ponder your fate: ‘Is this
the man who shook the earth
and made kingdoms tremble, the
man who made the world a
desert, who overthrew its cities
and would not let his captives go
home?’”
(Isaiah 14:12-17,
italics mine)
Ezekiel knew that
God would permit the devil to
physically appear before the
human race. Notice his words:
‘In the pride of your heart
you say, “I am a god; I sit
on the throne of a god in the
heart of the seas.” But you
are a man and not a god, though
you think you are as wise as a
god’…. Therefore this
is what the Sovereign Lord says:
‘Because you think you are
wise, as wise as a god, I am
going to bring foreigners against
you, the most ruthless of
nations; they will draw their
swords against your beauty and
wisdom and pierce your shining
splendor. They will bring
you down to the pit, and you will
die a violent death in the heart
of the seas. Will you then say,
“I am a god,” in the
presence of those who kill you? You
will be but a man, not a god, in
the hands of those who slay
you.’” (Ezekiel 28:2,
6-9, italics mine)
Paul knew the
devil would be permitted to
physically appear before the
human race. He also knew the
devil would proclaim himself to
be God. This is why Paul calls
the devil “the man of
lawlessness” (not subject to
human laws). “He will oppose
and will exalt himself over
everything that is called God or
is worshiped, so that he sits
himself up in God’s temple,
proclaiming himself to be
God….The coming of the
lawless one [the physical
appearing of the devil
masquerading as God] will be in
accordance with the work of Satan
displayed in all kinds of
counterfeit miracles, signs and
wonders, and in every sort of
evil that deceives those who are
perishing. They [the wicked]
perish because they refused to
love the truth and so be saved. For
this reason God sends them a
powerful delusion so that
they will believe the lie and so
that all will be condemned who
have not believed the truth but
have delighted in
wickedness.”
(2 Thessalonians
2:4, 9-12, italics and insertions
mine)
The appearing of
the devil will come as an
overwhelming surprise to the
wicked. “The inhabitants of
the earth whose names have not
been written in the book of life
from the creation of the world
will be astonished when
they see the [lamb-like]
beast, because he once was
[visible], now is not [visible],
and yet will come [out of the
earth and be visible.”
(Revelation 17:8, italics and
insertion mine)
Because the devil
will be permitted to inhabit the
form of a man (as Michael/Jesus
assumed the form of a man),
Lucifer is called a man by
Isaiah, Ezekiel, Paul, and John.
The devil will come with an army
of demons who will look like
human beings as well: “On
their heads they wore something
like crowns of gold, and their
faces resembled human
faces…. The number of
mounted troops was two hundred
million. I heard their
number.” (Revelation 9:7,16)
Thus, the devil and his demons
will physically appear – a
huge army of extraterrestrial
beings, superior to mankind in
every way. They will rise
silently from the Abyss and descend
to the earth, literally, out
of the air.
(Revelation 9:3)
3. Here is a third
reason explaining why the
lamb-like beast rises from the
earth in Revelation 13 instead of
the Abyss as in Revelation 9. God
gave the Revelation vision to
John about A.D. 95. To keep the
contents of this vision a mystery
for nearly two thousand years,
God put the contents of this
story in a cryptic way. Through
the centuries, many
honest-hearted people have tried
to make sense of
Revelation’s story, but it
was not the right time. With God,
timing is everything. We know the
book of Daniel was sealed up
until the time of the end, and
now that Daniel has been
unsealed, we understand the four
rules that govern apocalyptic
interpretation. Using valid rules
of interpretation helps put the
pieces together, so the careful
Bible student can learn the
intended meaning of Revelation.
Study the
following verses and notice that
Lucifer and his angels were cast
into the earth; therefore, their
release from the Abyss is
synonymous with coming up out of
the earth.
“And there
was war in heaven. Michael and
his angels fought against the
dragon, and the dragon and his
angels fought back. But he was
not strong enough, and lost their
place in heaven. The great red
dragon was hurled down –
that ancient serpent called the
devil, or Satan, who leads the
whole world astray. He was hurled
to [Greek: into]
the earth, and his angels with
him.” (Revelation
12:7-9, insertion mine)
Comment:
The Bible says, “He was
hurled [into] the Earth.”
The Greek preposition eis
is sometimes translated
“in” or
“into.” The idea here
is that Lucifer and his angels
were hurled into the earth
“as a stone is hurled into
a pond.” The stone
becomes invisible as a result of
being cast into the water. After
the devil was hurled into the
earth, he became invisible, and
at the appointed time, he will be
permitted (at the appointed time)
to come out of the earth!
“Then I
saw another beast, coming
out of the earth. He
had two horns like 
lamb, but he spoke
like dragon.”
(Revelation 13:11, italics
mine)
“The fifth
angel sounded his trumpet, and I
saw a star [a holy angel] that
had fallen from the sky to the
earth. The star was given the key
to the shaft of the Abyss. When
he opened the Abyss, smoke rose
from it like the smoke from a
gigantic furnace. The sun and sky
were darkened by the smoke from
the Abyss. And out of the smoke
locusts [a swarm of angels] came
down upon the earth
and were given power like that of
scorpions of the earth. They had as
king over them the angel of the
Abyss, whose name in
Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek,
Apollyon.” (Revelation
9:1-3-11, italics and insertions
mine)
The angel said to
John, “The [great red
dragon] beast, which you saw [cast
out of Heaven], once was [visible],
now is not [visible because
he and his angels were cast to
the earth], and will come up
out of the Abyss [when they
are permitted to come up out of
the earth and be visible] and [regardless
of his invincible powers, Lucifer
will] go to his destruction.
The inhabitants of the earth
whose names have not been written
in the Book of Life from the
creation of the world will be
astonished when they see
the [lamb-like] beast [with
their own eyes], because he
once was [visible], now is
not [visible], and yet
will come [up out of the
earth and be visible].”
(Revelation 17:8, insertions
mine)
Comment: The
glorious appearing of Lucifer
will totally shock the wicked.
They do not expect to see a
majestic “being standing
fifteen to seventeen feet tall
who has the kind of power and
glory that will attend Lucifer.
Even more, they cannot imagine
that this gentle and miracle
working being would actually be
the Antichrist! Revelation 17:8
eliminates a lot of wiggle room
because the angel told John, “The
beast which you saw, once
was [in Heaven], now is
not [in Heaven], and will
come up out of the
Abyss…” The only
beast that John saw cast into the
earth was the great red dragon.
(Revelation 12:9) Since there is
only one beast in Revelation who
will come up out of the earth
(Revelation 13:11), Revelation
17:8 forces us to admit that the
great red dragon is the lamb-like
beast who will be released from
the Abyss at the fifth trumpet.
Review these verses:
“Then I
saw another beast, coming up out
of the earth. He had two horns
like a lamb, but he spoke like a
dragon…. And he performed
great and miraculous signs, even
causing fire to come down from
heaven to earth in full view of
men. Because of the signs he was
given power to do on behalf of
the first beast, he deceived the
inhabitants of the
earth….” (Revelation
13:11,13,14, strikethroughs mine)
Comment:
The lamb-like beast will be
Lucifer masquerading as God. He
will call fire down out of Heaven
to prove to the wicked
that he is truly God. His two
horns indicate that he will
eventually rule the world as lord
of lords (control over the
religions of the world) and king
of kings (control over the
nations of the world). The devil
will eventually kill the work and
influence of the Two Witnesses
with his superior miracles. He
will become the eighth king, that
is, he will rule over the seven
heads for a short time and he
will lead the world into open
rebellion against God’s
covenant, His Ten Commandments.
Summary:
Lucifer is the angel king
from the Abyss. Lucifer is the
lamb-like beast that will rise
out of the earth. His title in
Hebrew and Greek (for Jews and
Gentiles alike) means destroyer.
The devil will be released on
mankind to destroy the world. He
will rise to a position of
absolute power, but his power
will not come from nations and
people. He will deceive the world
and lead it to destruction. The
release of the devil on the
wicked is consistent with the
full cup principle. When a
majority of people in a group
reach a point where extended
mercy has no redeeming effect,
God always sends a destroyer. “…
They [the wicked] perish
because they refused to
love the truth and so
be saved. For this reason God
sends them a powerful delusion so
that they will believe the lie
and so that all will be condemned
who have not believed the truth
but have delighted in
wickedness.” (2
Thessalonians 2:10-12, italics
and insertion mine)
Now that we have
carefully examined and determined
the identity of the four beasts
in the book of Revelation, we can
proceed through the following two
prophecies rather quickly:
