The Beast Who Was and Now is Not and Will Come
Part 10 of the Harlot of Babylon Series
Now let’s unravel the mystery of the beast, better known as the antichrist. Look at Revelation 17:8 again. This is talking about the end of the age just before the return of Messiah. The great tribulation.
Rev 17:8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.
When John was writing this, he says the beast once was and now is not. This means that the antichrist had already lived and died when John was writing in 68 AD. Forget about all the theories out there that say he is some president or king or ruler who is alive today. Time to throw out, once again, what we have all been taught in the past.
Today, at least while I am writing this in 2023, the antichrist is in the abyss. This is the same abyss that is mentioned in Revelation chapter eleven when it says the beast, who comes up out of the abyss, kills the two witnesses. Now let’s continue to verse eleven.
Rev 17:11 The beast which once was and now is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.
The antichrist is an eighth king. Hold it! There are only seven kings that carry the harlot. How did we get eight? Because the eighth is actually one of the seven. This eighth king has already lived and died and is now in the abyss. At the end of the age, he comes back to life and comes up out of the abyss.
The antichrist comes twice. He lives, gets killed, goes to the abyss, and then comes up out of the abyss centuries later.
The antichrist must be one of the first five kings that had already died when John was writing. King number six was Nero and king number seven, the last king, was Hitler. Sometime after WWII, the antichrist, the eighth king, will come up out the abyss and go to destruction. The whole world will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.
In the past, we were taught that the beast of the last days is the revived Roman Empire. Then we were taught that the beast of the last days is the revived Ottoman Empire. It is not a revived Roman Empire or a revived Ottoman Empire. It is the satanic king who lived and died in the past before John wrote Revelation. It is the satanic king that Satan brings up out of the abyss and grants his authority to. It is the satanic king who rules the world for three and a half years during the great tribulation. It is the satanic king who comes up out of the abyss and kills the two-witness company of overcomers at the end of the tribulation. It is the satanic king that the Messiah will throw into the bottomless pit at His coming.
Who is this satanic king?
The first king is Nimrod. His name means ‘we shall rebel.’ He built Babel and the tower to ascend into heaven and war against God. He brought the people of the earth together in the first act of corporate rebellion against God. He taught the people of the earth evil. He taught the people of the earth idolatry. He was a great hunter of evil before the Lord. He performed his evil in God’s face. He blasphemed God to His face. He killed all those who opposed him. His tyranny came into a proverb as hated both by God and man, for he did not cease to commit cruelty even in God’s presence. He built and carried the first harlot, the mother of all the harlots who would come after her.
The beast who was and is not and will come is Nimrod. The antichrist is Nimrod.