14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Revelation 13.
I believe John saw the future and described the best he knew how. I understand his descriptions the best I know how.
This appears to be an AI-powered robot. It could be a hologram. I suppose it could be an image on a tv screen or computer monitor. It could be something as yer not invented.
There’s the conundrum. We just don’t know!
In Daniel 2 was that an image? Or was that just symbolism, and did not literally happen?
If John called it an image, then those in the first or second centuries would assume it was similar to the image Nebuchadnezzer built that was human in form. John told us it was in the form of humanity as the "sea", referenced at the beginning of the chapter, symbolizes humanity.
Trying to give options like a hologram or TV screen is not the same as an image that is a 3d representation of a human.
The term given to Satan "dragon" does not mean John was referring to Greek mythology. Dragon is one word in English that has withstood mythology and retained an original meaning, simply serpent. Unfortunately most just seem to envision a mythical creature instead of what is behind the symbolism. Satan was referred to as the serpent by Moses way before the Greeks were even a group of people.
John describes this serpent to us, to avoid any connection to a mythical creature. If this animal did exist at one point on earth, it lost the mythical part of having appendages:
"And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:"
So a serpent once part of the cattle taxonomy ended up in the reptile taxonomy. Now for some reason Christians have attached the mythical view and seemingly bypassed the description John gave which was not reptile, but cattle.
"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."
So Satan as described by John cannot be in the form of a dragon or drakon/serpent. That is just symbolism like Moses describing Satan in the Garden of Eden.
My point is that Satan is described in Revelation 13, but most ascribe that definition to a human. Then in doing so miss the description of this alleged human, who is not even human at all. In Revelation 13 we are introduced to the FP, Satan, and the beast in that order.
John is pointing to this image that we can associate with an artificial intelligence, it would seem this is Satan's way of creating his own Adam to take the place of the Second Adam, Jesus Christ. No one would make sense of this until the end. Daniel 12:8-9
"And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end."
Seems only those at the end would be able to put all the pieces together.