As we continue Revelation 17, John has just been given a revelation about the great harlot, which I believe, is the picture of the great apostacy at the end of time. This world religious system that is opposed to everything that is related to God. We see in Revelation 17:6, this whole system hates the Lord and the Lord’s people. Perhaps this is a combination of all the false religious systems that have ever existed. As John looks at that and he is told about the martyrdom of the saints, it says in Revelation 17:6 that he “wondered greatly.”
We see an angel address John in Revelation 17:7 saying, “And the angel said to me, ‘Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.’” So, the angel is telling John he doesn’t need to wonder because he is going to tell him the mystery. Remember mysteries in the New Testament are almost always a revelation of something that we would not have known if God had not told us. So, this is a revealing. God is revealing to us through John something we would never have known. So, the angel tells him that he is going to give him that revelation and tell him about the mystery of this harlot and the beast. There are two different entities here. There is the religious system represented by the harlot and there is the beast that represents the antichrist. He is going to talk to us about that which he says has the seven heads and ten horns.
He continues in Revelation 17:8 saying, “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction.” So, he immediately moves to the beast, or the antichrist. This is difficult to really get our heads around, but it seems like the beast was one that was – meaning that it had existed before - the beast has lived but is not - meaning he has died - but then is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction – meaning he is now going to resurrect and ultimately be destroyed. So, we see once again this mimicking that Satan utilizes when it comes to the things of God. He is mimicking Christ with the antichrist. The Christ who lived, died, and was resurrected and then went to eternal life at the right hand of the Father . . .
