I recently praised a little girl for taking the time to thank God for her food. I added that some people don’t think about God very much. Her response shocked me: ‘Because they think they are Him?’ she asked. Kids can say some really profound things!
A child recently asked me ‘What Does the Devil look like?’ I interpreted that to mean: ‘How can I know it’s the Devil if I see him?’ A very good question.
As I was explaining that nobody knows what he looks like, and mostly you know if it’s the Devil by how you feel in your heart, I was asked if he was white. I had to chuckle. ‘Some people would say so’, I responded. I added that others would say he was black and some would say he is red. Then I explained that he might look like a shining star, or like a dragon, or a snake.
It’s not something we can pin down. The Scriptures say that he can ‘even appear’ as an angel of light, from which it can be inferred that isn’t how he usually looks.
He is also referred to as a dragon, in Revelation, and a serpent, in Genesis, which seduced Eve to sin (and resulted in all serpents being cursed to crawl on their belly). That would infer, prior to that curse he had legs. A ‘serpent’ /snake with legs could be describing a dragon here too. And, there are other places in Scripture that translate the word ‘serpent’ or ‘dragon’, depending on the version of translation.
Satan, the Dragon, was thrown down to Earth, from Heaven, when he rebelled against God. He is referred to, in some places, as ‘Leviathan’ and is said to live in the sea’. Chapter 41, in the book of Job, is completely devoted to the description of a dragon. I don’t know if this is describing Satan, or just any generic dragon that lived on Earth at the time.
Children don’t have any problem believing this, but most adults probably see it as pretty far-fetched. We are used to seeing angels portrayed as little, naked toddlers with wings, or as women with blond hair, arrayed in white silk, with wings on their backs and halos on their heads. How in the world did we settle on these images?
Unless I’m forgetting something, the angels that Scripture describes are mature, masculine beings–or ‘living creatures’ that look like amalgamations of different animal and human parts, with wings, and many eyes all over their bodies!
Jesus also, in Revelation, appears as a lamb that looked as if it had been slain. Apparently ‘shape shifting’ is the norm in the spiritual realm.
Which brings me to the reason I took the time to write this post: some of the things that we see in the years ahead may seem to be straight from a science fiction novel!
I suspect this for several reasons:
- In studying the book of Revelation, it is clear to me that the demon spirit that either is (or will possess the man who is) The Antichrist, is not Satan. Rather, it is a spirit whose name is Apollyon.
- Shape shifting is part of the tradition of sorcery.
- I sense that Satan is using Hollywood to desensitize us to horrendous looking beasts and shape shifters.
So what does Apollyon have to do with it? Maybe nothing. But I have a hunch that he is a demon with a nonhuman appearance, and that he is included in ancient folklore.
Although his description is similar to the description of Satan/The Dragon in Rev. 12, they are not the same.
In Revelation 17 it is explained that he ‘once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth . . . (who aren’t Christians) . . . will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.’ (emphasis mine) ‘The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king.’ (This refers to a vision involving 7 kings that come before him. He is the eighth, and final king to rise from that kingdom–the Antichrist.)
Anyhow, my interpretation of the verses above gives me the idea that he may have a nonhuman appearance and be found in the writings of ancient man.
Ultimately though, if we are walking with the Lord, we will recognize him by the response of our spirit. Will Christians that aren’t walking with the Lord recognize him? I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. Will nonChristians recognize him? Definitely not. (Although perhaps those that are involved in the occult will–but that’s a whole different story. They may know he is a demon, but who know what twisted beliefs they have regarding what that means.)
Here is how I know for sure than nonChristians won’t recognize him:
- ‘. . . but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.’ (emphasis mine)
- ‘All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast–all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.’
- ‘Because of the signs he (the second beast/false prophet) was given power to do on behalf of the first beast (Antichrist), he deceived the inhabitants of the earth.’
- ‘For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect–if that were possible.’
- ‘The coming of the lawless one (Antichrist) 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 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.’
I don’t like to devote a lot of my time to speculation, but I thought it worthwhile to post this–in the hope that you will keep an open mind, and be willing to ‘think outside the box’ when it comes to prophecies. Most of all, I’d hate to see you have your mind so firmly made up about how things will happen that you fail to realize when they do.
We don’t know for sure how the fulfillment of prophecies will ‘look’, but I expect in a lot of cases it will be so mundane that it would be easy to miss–or so unbelievable and astonishing that we will be caught off guard!
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