Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #6 of Revelation, chapter 17, and we are going to be reading Revelation 17:7-8:

And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest 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.

I will stop reading there.  Last time we were looking at verse 6 and when the Apostle John “saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,” he wondered with great admiration.  This is why, in verse 7, the angel said to John, “Wherefore didst thou marvel?”  The words “admiration” and “marvel” are a translation of the same Greek word which means to “wonder.”  He saw this sight and it was a “wonder” to him.  As God said in 1John, “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.”  And, certainly, the “woman” hates the children of God.  She hates them to the point that God speaks of her being “drunken with their blood” because she has been involved with their death.  We talked about that last time and this means “death” either in a physical or spiritual sense or in the sense of hatred.  Hatred and murder are equated in the Bible and this is why the Apostle John is marveling, as Babylon represents the kingdom of Satan and all the unsaved within that kingdom. 

It goes on to say in Revelation 17:7:

And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman…

This is the second time the word “mystery” has been used in this chapter.  Back in verse 5 of this chapter, it said in Revelation 17:5:

And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT…

This “angel” who would be one of the seven angels and we discussed before how Christ could be the one in view here, since He would be within the body of believers.  The people of God and Christ identify with one another.  It is God who explains the “mystery” of the Scriptures to His people and the Apostle John represents the true believers, so God says, “I will tell thee the mystery of the woman.”   In the Book of Mark, we read something following a parable that Christ spoke concerning the sowing of seed and it says in Mark 4:10-12:

And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

This is a statement that helps explain a great deal about why it is that some people are able to understand the things of the Bible, but the vast majority of people do not understand.  The Bible is shut and hidden and it is a “mystery” to the unsaved people of the world.  If you talk to them about the Bible and you tell them, for instance, how God explained to His people the end of the church age.  How did He tell us?  First of all, He shows us these truths in “types and figures.”  For example, in Matthew 24, verses 15 and 16, Judea represents the churches and the believers are told that when they see the abomination of desolation (Satan) stand in the holy place (the churches), then let those in Judea flee to the mountains (God’s Word, the Bible).  So in just these two verses in Matthew 24, we have the “abomination of desolation” and “Judea” and “mountains,” but none of them mean what they appear to mean – they are types and figures.  So when a natural-minded individual reads these verses, he may think God is speaking of some sort of monster that enters into a temple and they are to flee to some mountain in Israel.  This would be the natural or literal understanding that unsaved people insist upon and they do not get the principal that Christ spoke in parables “and without a parable he did not speak.”

In Revelation 17:5 God is speaking of Babylon and He is telling us of this “woman” who is “MYSTERY BABYLON” and we see the mystery involves the kingdom of Satan.  We did not completely understand “Babylon” until we had entered into the Day of Judgment because we had previously thought that Babylon represented the churches.  Even though the churches became a part of Babylon when Satan conquered it, Babylon is far greater in scope than just the churches.  It is all the kingdoms that fell under the dominion of Satan, so that is the “mystery” that the Bible reveals: “I will tell thee the mystery of the woman.”  It is significant that in the next chapter in Revelation 18 God is going to go into detail concerning the fall of Babylon.  Since we are able to understand the “mystery” through comparing Scripture with Scripture, there are certain defining verses, like Isaiah, chapter 13, where God speaks of the “burden of Babylon” and then goes on to speak of punishing the world; then we are able to see the “mystery.”

It goes on to say, in Revelation 17:7:

… I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her…

We discussed this a little earlier when we saw that the woman was sitting upon the beast.  We wondered about that because in the Bible “to sit” points to “ruling.”  We understood that the beast is Satan and he is the ruler over his kingdom, so why would the woman, who is Babylon, be sitting upon the beast?  It seemed to indicate that the woman was ruling over Satan, but then we looked at the word “carrieth” in the Book of Acts, where the Apostle Paul was being “borne” of the soldiers and carried forcefully against his will.  They bound him with chains, bore him up and “carried” him away from the angry mob.  And this is the idea with the “woman,” as the unsaved people of the earth are “carried” captive by Satan at his will and it is as if they are “carried along” by Satan to do his bidding – they are servants to sin and to Satan.

Then it goes on to say in Revelation 17:7:

… I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

I have been saying for some time that the “beast” is a name God has assigned to Satan exclusively for his reign during the Great Tribulation period and identifies with his rule during the 23 years of this period.  But, here, we are going to see that this beast that has “seven heads and ten horns” is representative of Satan’s rule throughout time and, yet, God is still calling him the “beast.”  I think the way we can understand this is that of the 30+ times the name “beast” is used to identify with Satan, it is overwhelmingly focused upon the Great Tribulation.  For instance, it says in Revelation 11:7:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

This is pointing to the Great Tribulation.  Also, it says in Revelation 13:1-4:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

If we would continue to read in Revelation, chapter 13, we would read many more times of the beast and the entire chapter is focused on the Great Tribulation.

Also, it says in Revelation 14:9:

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

It says in Revelation 14:11:

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Again, this is speaking of Judgment Day, which follows the Great Tribulation period when the beast was worshipped. 

In Revelation, chapter 15, there is reference to the believers that got the victory over the beast, and so forth.  In chapter after chapter the “beast” is the name for Satan during the Great Tribulation, but here in chapter 17, I think God is just making certain we understand who the “beast” is, as we had seen back in Revelation 13 that he had the seven heads and ten horns that were crowned and that, in particular, points to the Great Tribulation period.  But in Revelation, chapter 12, we read of Satan and it says in Revelation 12:3:

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

Here, the crowns are upon the heads, rather than the horns, and this is directing our focus to Satan’s rule at other times than the “little season” of the Great Tribulation.  When the crowns were on the horns, the focus is the Great Tribulation.  But, here, it is the “great red dragon” that is said to have “seven heads and ten horns,” and that is the link that God wants us to make with the beast, because it says in Revelation 17:7: “the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.”  It is the “dragon.”  It is “Satan.”  It is the same evil fallen angel that has been in view throughout the Bible and, yet, God is identifying him here as the “beast.”

Let us go on to Revelation 17:8:

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition…

This is language that relates to Revelation 13:3:

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed…

So the beast “was, and is not,” because he took a death blow when the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross and Satan was bound.  There was a major change, at that point, in the way God would evangelize the earth, so it was as if Satan were cast into a bottomless pit and bound for “a thousand years.”  That is what is in view when it says in our verse: “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not.”  The term “and is not” was because of the deadly wound he received and the fact that he would be bound for a figurative “thousand years,” which represented the entire church age, which was actually 1,955 years.  Then it says in our verse in Revelation 17:8:

… and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit…

Satan is going to come up out of the pit.  Let us take a look at Revelation 20:1-3:

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Then this same chapter will tell us that he is loosed, as it says in Revelation 20:7:

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

So we read that Satan is loosed and he goes forth.  All of sudden God is then speaking of “Gog and Magog,” and we wonder what that has to do with anything.  When we look in the Old Testament we find that “Gog and Magog” are mentioned in Ezekiel 38:2:

Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

Then it says in Ezekiel 38:8-9:

After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.

Here, in verse 9, it said that Gog and Magog shall “ascend and come like a storm,” and that is what our verse says: “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit,” and when Satan does ascend it identifies with his loosing because in Revelation 20, verses 7 and 8, the loosing of Satan is tied to “Gog and Magog.”  Then when we read in Ezekiel 38:9 that Gog “ascends and comes like a storm,” it is the coming of Satan and his forces against the churches when he ascended out of the bottomless pit.  When the Lord speaks of the “two witnesses,” it says in Revelation 11:7:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

So now we can see clearly that the point of Satan’s ascent from the bottomless pit is the time of his loosing, which would be the end of the church age, the end of the figurative thousand years and the beginning of the Great Tribulation and judgment upon the house of God. 

In Revelation, chapter 13, we saw a lot of language concerning the beast, and then God says in Revelation 13:6:

And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

All these verses fit together and declare with one voice that the death of the “two witnesses” occurred at the end of the church age and the beginning of the Great Tribulation.  It has nothing to do with May 21, 2011 and it has nothing to do with a perceived end of “witnessing” during our time of Judgment Day.  The language of the Bible pinpoints the time of Satan’s ascent out of the bottomless pit as the beginning of the judgment on the churches.  No other time is in view.

Then it says in Revelation 17:8:

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition…

Lord willing, when we get together for our next study, we will see what it means when it says the beast goes into “perdition,” and we will see how that fits into God’s timeline of the Day of Judgment.