Revelation 17:6b-8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.\u00a07\u00a0Then the angel said to me: \u201cWhy are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery\u00a0of the woman and of the Beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.\u00a08\u00a0The Beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss\u00a0and go to its destruction.\u00a0The inhabitants of the earth\u00a0whose names have not been written in the book of life\u00a0from the creation of the world will be astonished\u00a0when they see the Beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThe Beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss\u00a0and go to its destruction.<\/i>\u201d The Beast is the Antichrist. Yet the Beast can refer to either the person or the kingdom of the Beast.\u00a0\u00a0Whether the person or the kingdom, they are merely the tools Satan uses to advance his hatred and his work.<\/p>\n
The expression that the Beast \u201conce was, now is not and yet will come\u201d is likely a given comparison and also an expression of who he is, contrary to whom he wants to convince the world he is.\u00a0\u00a0The statement about the beast draws us back to the statement of Jesus in\u00a0Revelation 1:4<\/b>\u00a0\u201cGrace and peace to you\u00a0from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0This verse is speaking of Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0Here we see that the Antichrist is a poor counterfeit of Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0The devil would like all to believe that he and his henchman the Antichrist have the same power and eternality as our Triune God.\u00a0\u00a0Yet the comparison is missing something of vital importance.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus is the eternal pre-existing One.\u00a0\u00a0He has no beginning.\u00a0\u00a0He has always existed, He exists now and He will forever exist.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus was God in the flesh and He has never stopped to exist as He remains at the right hand of the Father.\u00a0\u00a0Whereas the devil, the Antichrist whom he uses, and the False Prophet are all created beings.\u00a0\u00a0They have a beginning.\u00a0\u00a0Now God gave them life (which they, of their own free will perverted) and so we can mark their beginning.\u00a0\u00a0The devil has existed since his creation, he does exist and he will continue to exist, but not to live.\u00a0\u00a0Eternal life, in biblical terms, is a wonderful life that never ceases to be with God.\u00a0\u00a0The devil however will exist, but shall not forever have access to the presence of God.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, the Word notes that He was thrown out of Heaven never to return (Revelation 12:12, Luke 10:18<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0So the devil dies, yet he exists.\u00a0\u00a0This is no great mystery as all of mankind have eternal souls.\u00a0\u00a0All of mankind shall forever exist.\u00a0\u00a0Mankind faces two deaths. As is manifest to any sensible mind, one inevitable fact of life on earth is that it ends.\u00a0\u00a0The ceasing of life in our bodies is the first death, the death of the flesh (Hebrews 9:27<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0The death of our bodies is a milestone, but is not the end of us.\u00a0\u00a0Our souls live forever (Psalm 23:6, 49:7-9, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Daniel 12:2-3<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0If our souls live forever what is the second death?\u00a0\u00a0It is spiritual death.\u00a0\u00a0The second death is when a soul is eternally separated from God.\u00a0\u00a0That soul is sent to its requested place in eternity, the Lake of Fire, that will forever burn, but not consume its inhabitants (Matthew 25:46<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0The Christian has no second death (Matthew 25:46<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0The eternal soul of the Christian, and only of the Christian, lives forever with God (John 11:26<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!\u00a0\u00a0So all continue to exist, but not all continue to live.\u00a0\u00a0Those who come to God through Jesus will live forever with Him.\u00a0\u00a0For all who belong to Jesus eternity is not merely existing, but living.\u00a0\u00a0Oh praise God!<\/p>\n
The Antichrist once was, meaning he previously existed, but he at some point ceased to exist. Then, in the End Times we see he comes out of the Abyss and is sent to destruction.\u00a0It is interesting to note that the \u201cgo\u201d is used rather than \u201cgoes\u201d when speaking of the Antichrist\u2019s inevitable path to destruction. While not an absolute rule, it is common to use \u201cgoes\u201d when referring to the singular.\u00a0\u00a0So it would seem that \u201cgoes\u201d would be used, instead of \u201cgo\u201d when speaking of the Beast alone.\u00a0\u00a0Now this is not an absolute rule but in context, it certain avails one to consider that it not only the Beast of the End Times that is being considered, but all those who have been of the same spirit as the Antichrist of the end times. Certainly the Word says that the Antichrist spirit has been active at least since the time of the Apostles (1 John 4:3<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0Certainly there have been those who people thought may be the Antichrist.\u00a0\u00a0Among those who people have thought were the Antichrist, and some may still think were, are Nero Caesar, Napoleon, and Hitler. As we consider these previously accused, we see those who committed great evil and who had a desire to conquer the world, and these are also traits of the End Times Antichrist.\u00a0\u00a0However, we know from history itself, and from our present day world existence as it is, that none of these were \u201cthe\u201d End Times Antichrist.\u00a0\u00a0Though certainly it is possible that they had the \u201cantichrist spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bringing us back to \u201cgo\u201d vs. \u201cgoes,\u201d is it possible that this End Times Antichrist is a singular spirit that existed in all who previously had within them the Antichrist spirit.\u00a0\u00a0Since it is the same spirit they all shared, all those who previously walked in the Antichrist spirit, including all those who even now will not acknowledge Jesus is from and is God (1 John 4:3<\/b>), are all spirits that exist together within the singular Antichrist spirit?\u00a0\u00a0They certainly all share the same fate (Matthew 25:41<\/b>).<\/p>\n
Again referring to the \u201cgo\u201d vs \u201cgoes,\u201d this could also mean to include the devil, the Beast, and the False Prophet.\u00a0\u00a0However it is unlikely that the devil would be included as he has never stopped existing.\u00a0\u00a0Even the devil in the form of evil never truly goes away.\u00a0\u00a0Evil may lurk in the shadows of the campfire but it exists nevertheless and always, to date, returns.\u00a0\u00a0The devil, evil, never gives up.<\/p>\n
V8<\/b>\u00a0states of the Beast that it comes from the Abyss (meaning a deep hole\u2026let\u2019s not get started on that!).\u00a0\u00a0The antichrist is not merely a man, but comes from deep evil.\u00a0\u00a0V8\u00a0<\/b>also states that the Beast is going to its destruction.\u00a0\u00a0He will have his moment where he seems invincible and eternal, but in the right time, he will be destroyed physically and sent to eternal destruction.\u00a0\u00a0Why?\u00a0\u00a0Because God has said so and so it will be.\u00a0\u00a0Just as everything God says will happen will happen.\u00a0\u00a0God is God and there is no other (1 Corinthians 8:6<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0All who oppose the divinity of Jesus have the Antichrist spirit.\u00a0\u00a0They are one, at least in work if no other, with the Antichrist.\u00a0\u00a0All who, though they may appear nice, or kind, or generous, yet deny Jesus, are all of the same Antichrist spirit.\u00a0\u00a0They all do evil because they deceive people and lead them away from the sole Savior, Jesus Christ.\u00a0\u00a0Again, for the evil who reject Jesus, the End Times are scary and cause the pre-existing anger and hatred to rise.\u00a0\u00a0Yet for those who are called by His name, it is time of triumph and the receiving of promises of eternal life.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God who remembers all His own and who blesses all of His in due time.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Revelation 17:6b-8\u00a0–\u00a0When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.\u00a07\u00a0Then the angel said to me: \u201cWhy are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery\u00a0of the woman and of the Beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.\u00a08\u00a0The Beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[129,1477,2486,104,100,106,94,17,2487,711],"class_list":["post-1016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-corinthians","tag-daniel","tag-ecclesiates","tag-hebrews","tag-john","tag-luke","tag-micah","tag-psalm","tag-psalm-matthew","tag-revelation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1017,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions\/1017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}