First, We know that angels can appear in 4d space-time with seemingly 3d bodies, and appear as men many times in the Bible. For instance:

Abraham

Gen 18:1-8 "Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. And when he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. "Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant." And they said, "So do, as you have said." So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes." Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf, and gave it to the servant; and he hurried to prepare it. And he took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate."

From this we also see that angels can appear to eat real 3d food.

Gen 19:1-5 "Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, "Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way." They said however, "No, but we shall spend the night in the square." Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them."

Jacob

Gen 32:22-32, "Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. And he took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had. Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. And when he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." And he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip."

Samson

Judges 13:2-24, "And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children. Then the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman, and said to her, "Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son. "Now therefore, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. "For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines." Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. "But he said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.'" Then Manoah entreated the LORD and said, "O Lord, please let the man of God whom Thou hast sent come to us again that he may teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born." And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, "Behold, the man who came the other day has appeared to me." Then Manoah arose and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to the woman?" And he said, "I am." And Manoah said, "Now when your words come to pass, what shall be the boy's mode of life and his vocation?" So the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Let the woman pay attention to all that I said. "She should not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her observe all that I commanded." Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a kid for you." And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Though you detain me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD." For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD. And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?" But the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" So Manoah took the kid with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD, and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. Now the angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah or his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. So Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God." But his wife said to him, "If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time." Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up and the LORD blessed him."

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego

Dan 3:23-30, "But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he responded and said to his high officials, "Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?" They answered and said to the king, "Certainly, O king." He answered and said, "Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!" Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!" Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king's high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king's command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God. "Therefore, I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way." Then the king caused Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego to prosper in the province of Babylon."

We see here that though appearing to look like a man, angels can alter their appearance as to be impressively different than a normal man, having a divine or supernatural aspect to their human appearance.

Peter

Acts 12:6-18, "And on the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains; and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and roused him, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said^ to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. And when they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street; and immediately the angel departed from him. And when Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting." And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. And when she recognized Peter's voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. And they said to her, "You are out of your mind!" But she kept insisting that it was so. And they kept saying, "It is his angel." But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, "Report these things to James and the brethren." And he departed and went to another place. Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter."

We gather in this passage that people back then assumed an angel could look so human as to be mistaken for one.

Shepherds

Luke 2:8-16, "And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. "And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger." And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." And it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, "Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us." And they came in haste and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger."

People can see one or many angels all at once, and see them appear and disappear, seemingly out of nowhere.

From direct analysis of Bible verses we can also learn another important thing about angels. Another thing we know from the Bible about fallen angels is that they also have the ability to take people to another place, and show them many things “in an instant” of time, as Satan did to Jesus in Luke 4:5,9

“The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.”

“The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here.”

Matthew 4:5,8

 “Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.”

Jesus saw kingdoms of the world, a mountain, and the temple in Jerusalem. These verses would seem to indicate that what Satan showed Jesus was all these things in normal 4d space-time reality, except for one strange verse, Luke 4:5. How could Satan show Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in an instant of time? Luke 4:5 says Satan took him to a “high place”, whereas Matt 4:8 says Satan took him to a “very high mountain”. A “high place” could be imagined to be perhaps somewhere in the stratosphere, Satan showing him the entire Earth as a globe. However even this would not make sense because only half of the earth could be seen at once, the far side would not be visible. Even if it were argued that the globe was turning or that they were moving, this still would contradict with “a very high mountain”. Because the Word of God does not contradict itself, and “a very high mountain” is more specific than “a high place”, we must conclude that the place where Satan took Jesus was in fact a very high mountain. So how could Satan show Jesus “all” the kingdoms of the world from the top of any mountain? The entire globe and all the kingdoms around the world could not be seen from the top of any one mountain, no matter how high.

What this strange account necessitates is that the “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” that Jesus was shown was actually some sort of ‘vision’ that Satan caused Jesus to see. Like a holographic projection in the air, or an image on a TV screen hanging in the air, this was a “vision”. But this is not so simple to explain as being like a projection or TV image. The passages indicate that Jesus saw these visions visibly like with his eyes, and that somehow Jesus actually was transported somewhere new. Also Luke 4:5 says that all the multitude of the kingdoms of the world, and their splendor (which implies details about the kingdoms) were all shown to Jesus in “an instant”. That is another way to say “a moment” or “a second”. A very brief and short period of time is what we call an “instant”. So how could Jesus see all these things in an “instant”? Was it all just shown to him very quickly in that second? That would not make sense, because we can only perceive so much information at once. If I was shown images in such a quick fashion, as to see all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor in an instant, a second, all that I would perceive would be a brownish black blur, that wouldn’t actually convey any information to me. Being human, and the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form, the question is, could Jesus understand things any more quickly than I could? Maybe He could, maybe he wouldn’t and would refuse to even if capable. I don’t know. But why do it in this fashion in the first place? Jesus was in the desert for 40 days, that surely would be enough time for Satan to show Jesus all the kingdoms and their splendor in a slower way, it wouldn’t have to be in a second of time. Even if it took 4 hours, or 4 minutes, it would make more sense to do it that way than in “an instant”, a second.

So why did God have written in His Word that this event occurred in “an instant”, a second? I think it was so we could come to understand that not only this was a vision, but also that how time passes during a vision can be different than how time passes for us normally.

I think that Jesus may have spent many hours being tempted with visions of all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, hours would make sense to build the temptation up to the maximum- Satan’s goal was to try his best to get Jesus to sin. So a long strong effort would have made sense. In any case, all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, all that information, could not possibly be shown to any person in only a second of time. This experience had to take longer than an instant. How can this make sense? I think this experience did take an appropriately long and reasonable period of time; longer than an instant, perhaps several hours. However, during these hours that passed for Jesus and Satan in this vision experience, only an instant passed for the rest of the world in normal 4d space-time. What I think makes the most sense is that Satan, during this evil angelic ‘vision’ somehow manipulated the normal perceptual passing of the 4th dimension of time, from Jesus’ perspective.

Please understand, I am not suggesting that this involved “time-travel” as read and seen in sci-fi, and I see nothing in these verses that indicates that Satan has “time-travel” abilities. I am not saying that this means that “time-travel” is possible in the commonly understood meaning of “time-travel”. No “Back to the Future” or “Star Trek” kind of time-travel is indicated in these verses as an ability of Satan. Rather, what I am talking about is a localized manipulation of perceived 4d time flow, focused on the target here, which is Jesus. The verses indicate quite the opposite of time-travel with the phrase “an instant of time”, showing that although Jesus was made to perceive likely hours of time, only a second passed in the normal 4d flow of time.

I believe it is a Biblical concept that God governs over and ultimately has control over time itself. Ecc 3:1-17 provides a good overview. God appoints certain times for certain things. God created time itself, and Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End (Rev 21:6). Heb 1:3 says of Jesus, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”. If Jesus upholds all things by the word of his power, than that includes upholding time itself. Ultimately God created time, and is above time and beyond time. God is the master of time, and I do not believe God would allow any fallen angel to travel out of place in the 4d of time, even if a fallen angel had this ability. I do not believe fallen angels have this ability in the first place, there is no Biblical or scriptural reason to think that fallen angels can time-travel to the past or the future. But I do believe there is Biblical and scriptural reason to think fallen angels can manipulate the perception of the passing of time for persons they choose to target. I think the account of Jesus’ temptation clearly shows this to be true.

An analogy that might explain this is to be found in the movie The Matrix, when Neo was having marital arts and weapons knowledge downloaded into his head. The experience and knowledge that could only come with a long period of time was downloaded into his mind in a few seconds. I think to an observer, what Jesus experienced with Satan was similar: several hours’ worth of experience gained in a second of time.

Another thing to note about Jesus’ temptation experience is that it is implied that Jesus was seeing things, as if with his eyes, and was able to “stand” on top of the temple, as if he was in his body. This indicates that Jesus was experiencing a vision that felt real to his bodily senses, and that his body was present, or seemed to be present according to the account. There are other examples of angelic visions in the Bible from which we can learn more about this. These examples can give us a better understanding of what Jesus experienced in Luke 4:5, and what this “vision” was like; this vision that took hours but lasted only a second. These other examples are of Holy Angels of God, and not of fallen angels. For understanding a vision caused by an angel, the first thing to remember is that God created all the angels. The second thing to remember is that God created all the angels to be good, and the evil ones became evil by their own free will choice. They chose to disobey God and turn to fight against Him. In the same way that God gives both good and evil people legs and arms, or the ability to speak, knowing before they are born what the end result will be… in the same way I think God created all the angels with the same powers, regardless of whether God knew a particular angel would later choose to become evil. (That is the truth, though perplexing and almost paradoxical, of looking at both that God both created us to have free will, and God’s total omniscience and foreknowledge. God is perfectly good, and just, merciful, and loving, and is love itself, in all this.) And so that being the case, whatever the Bible tells us that a Holy Angel of God can do, barring specific scriptural exception in an account, we must conclude also that a fallen angel has those same powers. That being the case, let’s look at some more examples of things that Holy Angels in the Bible have done:

In the Bible we read that an angel can give astounding experiences, called visions, to a person. These visions are real to all the bodily senses. The two best examples I find are of John and Daniel. There is much visual imagery in the book of Revelation and it is clear in its reading that John actually saw all of these things that he described, and his job as the writer of this book of prophecy was to record what he visually saw and generally experienced. For a complete detail of what John saw and experienced, read the book of Revelation. But here below I have some key verses showing that an angel caused John to experience what he experienced. I have also included a verse that shows John seemed to be in his body, and could eat during this vision, eat a scroll that was part of the vision itself, and feel it effect his stomach, and taste the scroll he ate.

Rev 1:1-19, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle. And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. And in His right hand He held seven stars; and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. "Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall take place after these things."

Rev 10:8-10, "And the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, "Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land." And I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, "Take it, and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter."

Rev 22:6-10, "And he said to me, "These words are faithful and true"; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must shortly take place. "And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book." And I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. And he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book; worship God.""

Also, an angel can cause one sole person in a group to see them and have a vision, while other people with the person cannot see the angel or vision.

Daniel 10:1-12, "In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision. In those days I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all, until the entire three weeks were completed. And on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult. Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great dread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength. But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground. Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, "O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you." And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words."

In these Biblical examples, what is experienced by the person having the angelic encounter is entirely real to the senses. In Revelation John sees, hears, touches, and tastes what he is experiencing, and the account describes all this experience as being real to the bodily senses. The same for Daniel, who could see the angel, while no one else around him could see the angel. Daniel is described as having “hands and knees” and thus is in his body.

I think it is reasonable to assume that fallen angels have the same powers that Holy angels of God have. Angels, whether Holy or fallen and evil, were created by God with these powers, when God created them all in the beginning as good and Holy angels. So getting back to Jesus and His experiences with Satan, I think it is fair to describe Satan as having the same powers that Holy angels have. As such, I think that Jesus’ experiences were real to all the bodily senses, and seemed to happen to Him in His body. I think He really experienced seeing, hearing, touching, etc. in a way that was totally real to the bodily senses, just as the visions Daniel and John experienced were also totally real to the bodily senses and seemed to happen in their own bodies.

What is most startling here is that it seems angels can cause a person to perceive in a vision a wide variety of things, such as the vivid vision of John in Revelation. His vision was sent from Jesus, and John was shown things in accordance with God’s will. His vision was real to all the bodily senses, and seemed to happen in his body. However, a fallen angel has the same capabilities to give a person a vision that is real to all the bodily senses, and could do so in accordance with their own evil will and plan. Not only that, but a fallen angel could cause a person to experience time in a manipulated way. Also, a fallen angel could cause one person to see a vision while someone standing next to them could not perceive it at all. This level of power in the hands of fallen and evil angels is staggering to conceptualize. I thank God that they are limited in what they can do, and who they can do it to, by God’s laws of spiritual authority grounds. A fallen angel can only attack someone if they have spiritual authority grounds and rights to do so. God places his protection on people, limiting whom the fallen angels can harass and harm, and limiting the extent of the harm that they can do to a person. (See Job 1 and 2, also the New Testament is full of this concept. I will cover more on this in the next chapter and in a later chapter on spiritual warfare.) It is also a relief to know that for every fallen angel, there are 2 Holy angels working for God and Jesus; the fallen angels are outnumbered two to one.