The Devil Appears In
Person
Study 5
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The first four
trumpets will reduce life on earth to
total chaos. The religious coalition
that forms in response to God’s
judgments (Babylon) will make a
desperate situation only worse by
tormenting people with laws that have
severe penalties for disobedience.
After a period of two and a half
years, the fifth trumpet judgment
occurs. (Revelation 9:1-12) The first
four trumpets are curses that are
directed at the physical elements of
Earth and the remaining three
trumpets are curses (or woes) that
are directed toward defiant people.
(Revelation 9:12) In my opinion, the
curse of the fifth trumpet is far
worse than the physical destruction
caused by the first four trumpets.
The fifth trumpet marks the appearing
of the Antichrist. The Antichrist is
not an ordinary man. The Antichrist
is a fallen angel and he will
physically appear before the
inhabitants of Earth. That ancient
serpent, the devil, which deceived
Eve in the Garden of Eden, will
appear in the clouds with all his
angels. Clothed in brilliant light
and masquerading as God, the devil
will appear in all the great cities
of Earth, one at a time. Daniel
11:45indicate he will establish a
throne in Jerusalem. Many orthodox
Jews anticipate the arrival of
Messiah and many Palestinians
anticipate a Deliverer, so what
better place could the devil choose
“to initiate a reign of peace on
earth for 1,000 years!” The
devil will say many blasphemous
things and make outrageous claims in
order to deceive the people of Earth.
When Satan appears, he will be more
resplendent than anything human
beings have ever seen and he will
claim to be the “Savior of the
World.” Think about this, when
he appears, the world will be in a
desperate position and cries of
suffering will be everywhere. The
father of lies and misery, the enemy
of all humanity, will feign sympathy
for the terrible human suffering he
sees. To make his deception
believable, he will perform great
signs, such as healing the sick and
feeding the hungry. (1 Thessalonians
2:9) Many people will be duped into
believing the devil is Almighty God.
Who is the Devil?
According to the
Bible, the devil once had an exalted
name. His name was Lucifer, which
means, “Light bearer.” A
review of Isaiah 14:12-17 and Ezekiel
28:12-18 reveals that Lucifer was
once an anointed cherub in Heaven.
Eventually, he became arrogant and
self seeking. He became dissatisfied
with God’s kingdom, God’s
laws, and the way God was running the
universe. Because of his hatred for
Christ, he recruited one-third of
Heaven’s angels to join him in
rebellion against Christ. Thus,
Lucifer is the original
“anti-Christ.” The Father
did everything possible to divert
Lucifer’s course of action, but
the devil would not relent. According
to Isaiah 14:12, Lucifer and his
angels were cast out of Heaven
because of rebellion. Jesus told His
disciples, “I saw Satan fall
like lightening from Heaven.”
(Luke 10:18)
Angry and embittered
by his fallen state, Lucifer focused
his wrath on Christ’s special
handiwork – planet Earth. The
devil went to the Garden of Eden and
he led Eve to disobey God. Then, Eve
seduced Adam and he disobeyed God.
The devil did not stop his work
there, Cain, the firstborn of Adam
and Eve, became a murderer. As time
went by, human beings became so
defiled by sin that God was grieved
that He had even made man! (Genesis
6) Consequently, God washed the Earth
clean of sin with a flood of water,
sparing just eight people – Noah
and his family. The flood may have
slowed the devil down for a few
years, but Peter tells us the devil
is going about like a roaring lion
seeking that he may devour! (1 Peter
5:8,9)
Satan Allowed to Live
Many, many people have
asked the question: Why did God allow
the devil to live? Why didn’t
God exterminate Satan and his evil
angels right away and spare the
universe a great deal of grief?
God’s ways are perfect and the
answer to this question is both
simple and profound. Consider the
following issues:
- What message
would God have given to the
angels if He immediately
annihilated every angel that
disagreed with Him? If God
had destroyed Lucifer as soon
as Lucifer sinned, surviving
angels would have concluded
that God does not tolerate
anyone who has ideas that are
contrary to His. How could
intelligent angels love and
trust God if He immediately
annihilated His opposition?
Should angels’ love God
because God is fair and
reasonable, generous and
forgiving, or should angels
submit to Him because to do
otherwise would mean sudden
death? If God had killed
Lucifer and his followers
right away, the remaining
angels would have been forced
to conclude that God was an
omnipotent bully ruling over
the universe.
- God has
infinite wisdom and He
foreknew that sin needed time
to mature so that the entire
universe could see the deadly
and horrible consequences of
sin. By allowing the devil
and his angels to live for a
few thousand years, the
universe would have two
governments to study –
one in Heaven (free of sin)
and one on Earth (full of
sin). The presence of two
governments will ultimately
prove that God’s laws
and principles of government
are best – not because
He claims they are best
– but because God’s
ways have been demonstrated
to be best.
- God gives the
power of choice to each
created being. His subjects
do not have to obey Him, love
Him, or respond to His
goodness or generosity.
Lucifer and his angels
exercised their power of
choice by choosing to rebel
against God. Adam and Eve
were given the power of
choice and they chose to
disobey God. For 6,000 years,
sin has contaminated Earth.
Time has proven that the
quality of life suffers in
proportion to our rebellion
against the laws of God.
True, sin may offer pleasure
and excitement for a short
time, but it always extracts
a price that is far greater
than the brief high of a
cheap thrill. Sin takes us
farther than we want to go,
and sin costs us more than we
want to pay. No matter how
well Satan disguises sin,
“the wages of sin is
death.” (Romans 6:23)
- God foreknew
the consequences of allowing
Satan and his angels to live.
Yet, at great expense to
Himself, God provided a plan
to save everyone who would
live on Earth. He loved the
people of the world so much
that He gave His only
Son’s life. Jesus was
willing to come and die in
man’s place so the
penalty for sin would be
paid! God Himself has paid a
much greater price for the
existence of sin that any
human being will ever know!
Incidentally, a plan of
salvation was not offered to
Lucifer and his angels
because they willfully
committed the unpardonable
sin. (Matthew 12:31,32)
When these four items
are brought together, we discover why
God did not immediately destroy
Lucifer and his followers. The
conflict between Christ and Lucifer
has been in progress on Earth for
6,000 years. Today, Christ and Satan
are still striving to win the
affections of people. This struggle
will come to a dramatic end during
the Great Tribulation.
Out of the Bottomless
Pit
Revelation predicts
that the devil will enter the realm
of our human senses and he will
appear physically before our eyes.
Revelation 9 tells us the devil is an
angel king that will come up out of
the abyss (or bottomless pit, KJV)!
To appreciate this prediction and the
meaning of John’s language, we
need to review a little ancient
history.
People thought Earth
was flat, much like a large plate or
basin in Bible times. Since they had
limited knowledge about the law of
gravity, it seemed logical to the
ancients that Earth was made like a
basin – otherwise the great seas
would “drain away.” Because
Earth was believed to be flat, the
ancients concluded a bottomless pit
could be created if a person dug a
hole all the way through the
“basin.” Without a bottom,
a person could fall through the
“bottomless pit” and never
be seen again. The ancients also
believed the “fires of
hell” burned underneath the
basin of Earth and volcanoes were
enormous chimneys that proved the
presence of underground fires. When
we understand John’s view of the
physical world at the time he lived,
it helps us understand why God used
this type of imagery in the book of
Revelation.
The transliteration of
the Greek word abussos into
English is “abyss.” Whether
it is called “bottomless
pit” (KJV) or “abyss”
(NIV), the idea is the same. In
ancient times, the “bottomless
pit” represented a poorly
defined source or origin of
mythological monsters and demons. The
ancients believed surreal creatures
lived “under the basin” of
Earth and when the creatures escaped;
they came up through caves or holes
that had no bottom or end to them.
When God revealed last day events to
John in 95 A.D., God used
geographical ideas that were familiar
to John. For example, John saw the
devil and his angels ascend from the
bottomless pit and John refers to
this event in several places in the
book of Revelation. By putting on
John’s sandals and considering
the mindset of his day, we can
understand God’s use of imagery.
Many people are surprised to learn
that Revelation predicts the physical
appearance of Satan on Earth before
Jesus returns! However, Revelation
not only tells us when, but it also
tells us why!
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