Revelation 17:8 - Exposition

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition; and is about to come up out of the abyss (Revised Version). "And to go" ( ὑπάγειν ) is read in א , B. P, Vulgate, and almost all cursives; while ὑπάγει , "he goeth," is found in A, 12, Arethas, Irenaeus. The latter part of this passage is related again in Revelation 19:20 . The beast, as we have seen is the world power—Satan in his character of "prince of this world." Three stages are marked out in the existence of this world power: first, it was; second, it is not now; thirdly, it reappears, to be cast into perdition. The first period describes the condition of things before the sacrifice of Christ. Then it was that Satan ruled supreme in the world; that the power of the world— the beast—was. But Christ overcame the world ( John 16:33 ); henceforth to all true believers there is "peace," although they may "have tribulation" in the world ( John 16:33 ); for the faithful Christian the power of the world— the beast—is not. Yet, though for the true servant of God there is a sense in which it may be said that this power has no existence, it nevertheless exists in the abyss, that is, in its natural abiding place in the world, among the worldly minded, and thus may cause "tribulation" to the faithful. A further downfall is, therefore, prepared for it—that which will take place at the last day, when it "will ascend from the abyss to go into perdition." This nonexistence, contemporaneously with existence and subsequent reappearance, is exactly what is described in the wound healed ( Revelation 13:3 ; see also the remainder of this verse). The period, therefore, embraced in these words is that of the whole existence of this world. It coincides with the period referred to in Revelation 12:14 and Revelation 12:17 , and in Revelation 20:3 . Throughout the Apocalypse the word ἄβυσσος , translated "bottomless pit" (Authorized Version) and "abyss" (Revised Version), is used to describe the dwelling place of Satan (see Revelation 9:1 , Revelation 9:2 , Revelation 9:11 ; Revelation 11:7 ; Revelation 20:1 , Revelation 20:3 ) while working in the world. "Perdition" is described in Revelation 19:20 as the "lake of fire burning with brimstone." 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; whose name hath not been written upon the book … beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall be present. The last words show exactly what is meant in the first part of the verse (which see). The first words are a repetition of words in Revelation 13:8 (which see).