False Signs and Wonders
Many Christians believe that Satan can do supernatural “signs and wonders.” In fact, they believe Satan will one day have a representative on earth—the Man of Sin/Antichrist—who will use supernatural signs and wonders to woo people to himself. Although this Antichrist will eventually be killed, Satan will infuse him with power from on low…and raise him from the dead three days later, mimicking Jesus’ resurrection.
This view is based on Revelation 13:12-13, which describes a “beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do.”
Another passage used to support this view is 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, which describes “the coming of the lawless one [Man of Sin] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish.”
At first glance, these passages do seem to teach that Satan can perform supernatural signs and wonders. But further study shows otherwise.
First, whatever these passages are describing happened long ago. Regarding the Revelation passage, John began and ended his book by saying: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place…Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Rev. 1:1–3, 22:6–10). Therefore, whatever this passage refers to had to have happened soon after Revelation was written.
Regarding the Thessalonians passage, this Man of Sin was alive when Paul wrote Thessalonians in around AD 52. We can be sure of this because Paul said the Man of Sin was “already at work” and “being restrained” (2 Thess. 2:6–7). In fact, Paul said the Thessalonians knew what was restraining him. The Man of Sin is also described as “sitting in the temple” (2 Thess. 2:3–4). This is the temple that was standing in Paul’s day, the temple that Jesus had said in approximately AD 30 would be destroyed within a generation (Matt. 24:2–3, 34), and the temple that was in fact destroyed in AD 70. Therefore, unless there is 2000-year-old Man of Sin still roaming the earth, he must have died long ago. For information about the identity of the Man of Sin and the Restrainer, see my article called “The Man of Sin.”
The contexts of these passages show that these events happened in the first century. And since there is no historical evidence of a satanic being doing supernatural signs and wonders in that time period, then we can safely assume these descriptions are symbolic (see more about this below).
Second, the satanic signs and wonders described in Revelation 13 and 2 Thessalonians 2 are called deception. John said the beast “deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs” (Rev. 13:13); and Paul called it “deception” and “lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9–10). So these were fake signs and wonders, not real ones. They were cheap parlor tricks, similar to what a talented magician could do today.
Only God and his representatives can do real supernatural signs and wonders. If Satan and his minions could do them, than all the signs and wonders described throughout the Bible would be nothing more than interesting side shows; they would prove nothing. God parted the Red Sea? Big deal. So could Satan. Jesus healed people? Big deal. So could Satan. Jesus rose from the dead? Big deal. So could Satan’s minions. Yet the biblical prophets and apostles clearly believed these supernatural signs and wonders proved that God was on their side—precisely because Satan cannot do them. When Elijah challenged the 450 false prophets of Baal, he proved God was on his side by calling down supernatural fire from heaven, which the false prophets could not do (1 Kings 18). Jesus and the apostles, too, taught that supernatural signs and wonders confirmed/proved they were of God.
- “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will (Heb. 2:4).
- “If I [Jesus] do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (John 10:38)
- “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins—He [Jesus] said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.’ Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’” (Mark 2:10).
Supernatural signs and wonders proved/confirmed that Jesus and the apostles were who they claimed to be. For example, Jesus proved he could forgive sins by healing a paralytic (Mark 2:5-11). And Jesus proved he was the light of the world by healing a blind man (John 9:5-7). And Jesus proved he was “the resurrection and the life” by raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:25, 42) and then raising himself (John 20:30-31, Matt. 12:38-40). If Satan could do such things, then these signs and wonders would prove nothing. Yet Jesus and the apostles clearly believed these signs and wonders confirmed they were sent by God.
Third, men of sin (false prophets) were common in Paul’s day. However, as stated above, these false messiahs used deception, not real supernatural acts. For example, the book of Acts says Simon the sorcerer “claimed to be great.” In other words, he really wasn’t. In fact, Simon converted to Christianity after witnessing real miracles (Acts 8:9-13).
The book of Acts also mentions “the slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination…who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling”—yet she too recognized the real prophets (Acts 16:16-17). In other words, she was pretending; but the real prophets were doing real supernatural signs and wonders.
There was also Elymas the sorcerer, whom Paul said was full of all deceit and all fraud, the son of the devil, and the enemy of all righteousness (Acts 13:8-10). In other words, this sorcerer was using deceit and fraud to trick people.
The first-century historian Josephus confirms there were many false messiahs in Paul’s day who “deceived and deluded the people under pretense of Divine inspiration, but were for procuring innovations and changes of the government; and these prevailed with the multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, as pretending that God would show them signals of liberty” (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 13, Paragraph 4–5).
While there were many men of sin (false messiahs) in the first century, none of them could do real signs and wonders like Jesus and the apostles. Only God’s true representatives can do real miracles.
Various Objections
Objection #1: Exodus describes magicians in Moses’ day throwing down their wooden rods, which turned into snakes (Ex. 7:12).
Response: While this may at first glance appear to be supernatural, it was likely nothing more than a sleight-of-hand magician’s trick. While the passage does not specifically say this, it certainly seems to suggest it and even gives clues pointing in that direction. For example, the text calls these snake handlers “magicians”—not miracle workers—and these magicians are described as doing things “in the manner with their enchantments” (Ex. 7:11). This description does not sound very supernatural to me. In fact, it sounds more like these magicians used deception and sleight-of-hand—along with a dash of illusion—to convince their spectators, much like modern-day magicians would do at a magic show. Only, the magicians of Moses’ day had evil intent.
Furthermore, ancient Egyptians often used snakes in their religious and ceremonial rituals, and they were very adept at making them do amazing things (much like the “snake charmers” of India). Snakes were associated with the gods of ancient Egypt. Many Egyptian murals, carvings, paintings and writings depict snakes in connection with snake charmers, snake handlers, magicians, and even pharaohs. Because of their affinity and close association with snakes, the ancient Egyptians became quite adept at capturing, handling, charming, and displaying snakes. They could even “turn them into rods,” just as depicted in the above Exodus passage:
“The magicians of Egypt in modern times have long been celebrated adepts in charming serpents; and particularly by pressing the nape of the neck they throw them into a kind of catalepsy, which renders them stiff and immoveable, thus seeming to change them into a rod. They conceal the serpent about their person, and by acts of legerdemain produce it from their dress, stiff and straight as a rod.”[1]
This description fits nicely with the account in Exodus. The magicians described in Exodus likely did nothing more than perform a magic trick. On the other hand, when Aaron’s snake ate up the magicians’ snakes…this was truly miraculous (Ex. 7:12)! This could not be faked.
Objection #2: The beast calls fire down from heaven (Rev. 13:13).
Response: First, whatever this refers to, it must have happened in the first century because John said it would happen “soon…for the time is near” (see Rev. 1:1–3, 22:6–10). And since we have no historical record of a beast literally calling down fire from heaven, it must have been symbolic. By the way, a beast is literally an animal (a horse, hippopotamus, whale, etc.). So are we to think that an animal will one day call down fire from heaven? Of course not! This is clearly symbolic language.
Second, this event is described as “deception” (Rev. 13:13), which suggests sleight-of-hand (think David Copperfield) as opposed to a supernatural event.
Third, Revelation also describes God’s ministers—the famed “two witnesses” (Rev. 11:3–5)—breathing fire. But this, too, is clearly symbolic. How can we be sure of this? Because elsewhere in Scripture, this same kind of “fire-breathing” language is used figuratively, such as when God calls his ministers “a flame of fire” (Ps. 104:4, Heb. 1:7). This is not meant literally.
We need to remember that Revelation is the most symbolic book in the New Testament. It describes a beast with seven heads (Rev. 13:1). It also describes a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet (Rev. 12:1). And it also describes Jesus as a lamb with seven eyes (Rev. 5:6). These passages were not meant to be taken literally—and either was the passage about the beast calling down fire from heaven.
Objection #3: What aboutRevelation 13:15, which describes one beast giving breath to the image of a second beast, “so that the image of the [second] beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the [first] beast to be killed.”
Response: Making statues “speak” using ventriloquism was common in the ancient world:
“The ancient pagan priests had for centuries practiced deceiving superstitious worshipers into believing images made of stone, metal and wood could talk. Many of them used drugs or self-hypnosis to induce a trance in which they claimed to be speaking oracles from the gods or images. One such was the ‘oracle at Delphi,’ a Greek temple inhabited by priestesses and from which Alexander the Great demanded a revelation. Ventriloquism was a highly skilled and widely practiced art in heathen idolatry. Eurycles of Athens was the most celebrated of Greek ventriloquists. They were called engastrimanteis, or ‘belly prophets’ because the ancients believed the voices came from the bellies of the oracles. Priests of ancient pagan religions were masters of this art and to ventriloquism may be ascribed the alleged miracles of the ‘speaking statues’ of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans…Modern archeologists have found devices used for secretly piping the human voice beneath altars bearing the statues of pagan gods.”[2]
This fits well with what is described in Revelation 13:13. The talking statue described in Revelation was no more real than the talking statue in Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas!
Conclusion: Satan cannot do supernatural signs and wonders. Only God’s true representatives could (during certain times in history) do real miracles. And the reason for these supernatural signs and wonders was to confirm/prove God’s true representatives.
For more information about the topics discussed in the article, please see my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled, available now on Amazon!
By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 5/23/25.
[1] Kyle Butt, “Egyptian Magicians, Snakes, and Rods,” 10/23/05, Apologetics Press.
[2] Gary DeMar, End Times Fiction, A Biblical Consideration of the Left Behind Theology (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001), 169.
