The King of the Abyss and the Unholy Trinity continued 17:3 ...and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. ... 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the Abyss, and go into destruction [Greek, apoleian]: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth, 10 And are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is an eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into destruction. ... 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet [perhaps being Semhazai the sorceror] that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Herein, then, we find the prophesied fulfillment of Enoch 10:9, �And in the great day of judgment let him be cast into the fire.� Apollyon (Destroyer), the Beast, the King of the Abyss, are just other names for the fallen angel Azazel (Goat Gone Away), who long ago had been cast into the Abyss; whose crimes God had adjudged the worst of the lot among the fallen Watchers. For Azazel had corrupted women by means of the arts of har-lotry, and men by means of the weapons of war: hence his name Destroyer, and hence the sins of mankind being symbolically laid upon his goat-namesake�s head, and that goat being banished into a barren desert, which symbolized the lake of fire to which Azazel shall be sent in the Judgment. A Note on the Interpretation of the Book of Revelation Some of you will challenge this interpretation of the Beast of Revelation, having been convinced of a different explanation. My own long-held understanding of this book, however, is that it presents an archetypal scheme of spiritual events: that is, it has multiple meanings and fulfillments that are equally valid. Take an architectural blueprint for an example. The same blueprint can result in radically different-looking houses, depending on varieties of scale, types of building materials, choices in color of paint (or stucco, brick, wood), its setting, etc. The book of Revelation, as an archetypal design of God�s will, is likewise manifested in different ways in his Creation, depending on how it is applied within different eras of both the natural and spiritual worlds. This point of view is already widely acknowledged for the seven letters to the churches of Rev. 2-3. Three different, non-exclusive applications of these archetypal letters are widely accepted. They apply 1) to the literal churches of the Apostle John�s day, 2) to churches having the same seven characteristics in every generation throughout the Church Age, and 3) to seven consecutive eras of church history. Under the last definition, the first/Ephesus church, representing the Apostolic era, did fall away from its first love [agape]; and the last = present-day/Laodicean church has become materially wealthy but abominably lukewarm. (See Revelation 2:4 and 3:15f.) Similarly, the Beast-archetype of Revelation, when applied to the whole span of the Adamic Creation, is accu-rately represented by Azazel, the world�s first beast-ruler. When the scale of time is reduced, however, the Beast (and its heads) can also be accurately applied to the rulers and kingdoms commencing with Nimrod�s Babylon; later to the Roman era; and, when the scale of time is greatly reduced, ultimately to the Beast-kingdom during the relatively brief span of the Latter Days. I would argue that the spirit of the Azazel-beast has motivated each generation of his successors, through the medium of his demonic host. Some of that host may be the evil spirits of his own Nephilim offspring. See below. Azazel-Apollyon�s Demonic Host Rev. 9:2 And he opened the shaft of the Abyss; and there arose a smoke out of the shaft... 3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth... 4 It was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their fore-heads. ... 10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the Abyss, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are the spirits of demons, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. The demonic host of Azazel-Apollyon will consist of at least two kinds of spirits. The most powerful will be those angelic Watchers like himself who have been bound in the Abyss/Tartarus ever since the time of the Flood. But the Book of Enoch also tells us about a secondary class of evil spirits, which came forth from the hybrid offspring (giants, Nephilim) of the Watchers and human women: 16:1 [After] the death of the giants, ... 15:8 ...evil spirits shall proceed from their flesh, because they were created from above; from the holy Watchers was their beginning and primary foundation. Evil spirits shall they be upon earth, and the spirits of the wicked shall they be called. The habitation of the spirits of heaven shall be in heaven; but upon earth shall be the habitation of terrestrial spirits, who are born on earth. 9 The spirits of the giants shall be like clouds, which shall oppress, corrupt, fall, contend, and bruise upon earth. 10 They shall cause lamentation. No food shall they eat; and they shall be thirsty; they shall be concealed, and shall not rise up against the sons of men, and against women; for they come forth during the days of slaughter and destruction. Apparently these evil spirits are the kind that inhabited the Gadarene demoniac: the Legion whom Jesus cast out into the swine (Luke 8:26f.), after they begged Him �that he would not command them to go into the Abyss.� They seemingly have the capacity to �oppress and corrupt� people who have fallen into base carnality. However, they are not yet able to �rise up against the sons of men;� but during the Day of the Lord, they �will come forth during the days of slaughter and destruction� with authority to work great evils among those people who are in rebellion against God. Azazel and Satan Anyone who is familiar at all with conventional Christian dogma about Satan, and/or with Satanic cultism, know that �the Devil� is portrayed in two distinctly different ways: as a cloven-footed, goat-headed Horned God, and as a wily but powerful red Serpent-Dragon. Often these two figures are confused, as in the standard depic-tion of a red devil with a goat�s head, cloven feet, and horns � but also with a dragon�s tail and serpent�s fangs! Continue Previous page Return to Index |