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.
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.
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