Description of the Beast Revelation 17:8

After showing John the apostle the “great whore” who was sitting upon a “scarlet colored beast” and was “arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls”, the angel asked him, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns.” In chapter seventeen and verse eight of Revelation the angel gave John a description of “the beast” where we read:

The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: 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.

The verse reads, “The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition:” John began with the words, “the beast” which means “the ferocious living being which was the antichrist” “that you saw was” or “who John saw used to exist”, “and is not” which means “and does not exist”; “and shall ascend out of” which means “and the beast shall rise, mount, be borne and spring up from out of” “the bottomless pit” or “the abyss or very deep gulf or chasm in the lowest parts of the earth used and the common receptacle of the dead and especially the abode of demons”, “and go” or “and proceed, depart and advance” “into perdition” which means “into utter destruction which consists of eternal misery in hell”. John was told how the “beast” used to be, does not have place and has a destiny to rise from the “abyss” and depart into “destruction and the misery of hell”.

The verse goes on to say, “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.” John continued with the words “and they” which means “and the people both male and female” “that dwell” or “who live, abide, settle on and inhabit” “on the earth” which means “the arable land, country, territory and region” “shall wonder” or “will be amazed, marvel and admire”, “whose names” which means “the ones upon the earth surnames and word by which they are reckoned ” “were not written” or “were not delineated with letters” “in the book” which means “within the roll or scroll” “of life” or “pertaining to the absolute fullness of life both essential and ethical which belongs to God” “from the foundation” which means “from the time when the laying down of the conception” “of the world” or “pertaining to the universe and all that was created”, “when they behold” which means “and at the time when people see, look upon and perceive” “the beast” or “the living ferocious beast or the antichrist” “that was” or “who used to exist”, “and is not” which means “and does not exist”, “and yet is” or “and although still remains and exists”. The people upon the earth “whose names are not written in” God's “book of life” shall “marvel” during this time in the tribulation because the antichrist will be alive, then dead, then back return back to life again.

When we think through John's words in this verse, we see something significant about the antichrist. He shall exist, then not exist, then exist again. In other words, he will be alive, suffer some way that he will be as dead, and then come back to life again. This will “amaze” people who are alive at that time, and because they do not have their names in God's “book of life”, they shall follow after him. God desires for people to have a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus, and when they receive Jesus, their names shall be in God's “book of life”. If they do not accept God's plan of salvation through Jesus, their “names” shall not be there, and they shall fall for the deception of the antichrist who will live, die and live again and woe be to those people.

Next time John declares, “here is the mind which has wisdom”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.