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Revelation 17:8 speaks of an end-times entity called “the beast” and describes him as “the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (NKJV). Or, in the wording of the NIV, “It once was, now is not, and yet will come.” This remarkable characteristic of the beast will cause astonishment among the unsaved who are alive during the tribulation.
This curious description of the beast comes within the context of an angel’s explanation of the immoral woman called “Babylon the Great” who rides the beast (Revelation 17:7–18). The angel explains to John concerning
...the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:7–8, NKJV).
This explanation associates the woman and the beast and traces the origin of the beast to “the Abyss” (NIV). Thus, the kingdom of the coming world ruler (the beast) will be satanically empowered and have an intimate association with an ungodly, end-times religious system (the woman).The angel says the beast “was, and is not, and yet is.” That is, the beast had ceased to be and yet has a future still. The New Living Translation brings out the meaning more fully: “The beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction. And the people . . . will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died” (Revelation 17:8).
Some interpreters link this description of the beast with Revelation 13:3:
One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.
If the Antichrist suffers what seems to be a fatal wound from which he is healed, then that could correspond to the description of the beast in Revelation 17:8 that he “died” and later reappeared.Others interpret Revelation 17:8 more broadly, taking the terrible beast on which the woman sits as the final form of Gentile world power. In John’s day this was imperial Rome, which appeared to cease existence with its fall in AD 476. So, Rome “was and is not.” However, if the authority of Rome was actually dispersed into many nations (the “ten horns”), it can rise again. The power behind Rome’s revival is satanic, for John is told it will “come up out of the Abyss,” or the bottomless pit. In this interpretation, the beast is considered the Revived Roman Empire through which the Antichrist comes to power.
The angel’s revelation to John gives the complete history of this final form of Gentile power. The beast comes from the pit, and it will “go to its destruction” (Revelation 17:8; cf. Daniel 7:26; 8:25; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19:20; 20:10). The nations will see the rise of this final Gentile world leader as phenomenal, and they will be amazed (cf. Revelation 13:3–4, 8). Most of the world will follow the beast. However, those who come to faith in Jesus Christ will not be deceived into following the beast, nor will they submit to his authority (cf. Revelation 13:7). This will result in the martyrdom of multitudes (cf. Revelation 7:9–17).
