Revelation 17:7-18,,,
vrs 8 "shall ascend out of" ,so wasn't present but was coming...
vrs.10 "not yet come" so the 7th was future,had not yet come...
vrs. 12 "received no kingdom as yet" so would in the future...
So from the time that Revelation 17 was written all of these things were not past or present they were all "future tense" in the mind of the angel who is showing this to John. So from the time this was shown to John when did the 7th come,the 8th, and the ten? Remember that the 10 ae who is to burn her with fire,ect. vrs. 16...
Brother iam,
We know that the beast is Rome, as shown in the iron legs of the statue in Dan. 2, and the 4th beast of Dan 7. But not the Empire it's self, only the time that the Roman beast has power over Israel.
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Rev 17:8, "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition:"
This describes the entire time of the beast's power over Israel. 63 bc until Israel is restored to Jerusalem. (1967, in my opinion)
Was.... At the time of this writing (64 ad- 96 ad approx) the Roman Empire had already had power over Israel for 100 years.
Is not.....Sometime during the time that Rome rules over Israel, the beast nation will cease to be. We know the this is a Roman beast nation, so sometime, the nation will change form (die).
Shall ascend out of the bottomless pit.....The nation returns, to continue it's rule over Israel.
Go into perdition....spiritual, 2nd death.
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We know that the iron legs/toes nation of the statue are continual to the end. So this transition of the nation that goes into the pit, and then comes out of the pit, diminishes the power over Israel, but does not end it. That is, the nation changes form from the original, but the original returns.
In my opinion, this shows the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 ad, the exile of the Bishop of Rome (BoR) from Rome during the dark and middle ages (the 10 horns burn her), until 1929 when the Vatican became a nation again in the same spot, and the Antichrist returned to sit on the seat of the beast.
The original Roman Empire deteriorated into iron and clay, Roman and non-Roman nations. When the Empire died in 476, it divided into the 10 toes, 10 is the number of complete division it is not literal.
In 1929 the Roman Empire returned, the beast crawled out of the abyss. But it remains divided among the nations, as the clay in the statue shows. The toes get smaller and come to an end when Israel is restored to Jerusalem. The iron/clay toes/horns end when the times of the gentiles end. This does not mean that the toe nations end, only that their power over Israel ends.
Perdition. This is the stone striking. The Antichrist/beast is destroyed by the brightness of His coming. So the beast/Antichrist Roman nation will still exist when the stone strikes, he can't be destroyed before that.
So during the time of the iron legs toes, the Roman beast nation must die, be divided, return, and be destroyed when Jesus comes for the kingdom (7th trumpet). Changing form, diminishing, but still with power over Israel until the toes end and the stone strikes.
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The 7 heads are the lifetime of the Roman beast Empire nation. When the 7th head dies, the Roman Empire beast dies 476 ad. and divides. It ceases to be, but still exists in an image empire, continuing the iron.
So the beast empire dies when it changes form to become completely divided, but that part of the beast empire only.
The 8th head begins with Caesar/pagan worship, continues, and lasts from 476 ad until the coming of Jesus for the kingdom when the stone strikes.
This 8th head can ONLY be the Vatican and the BoR, Caesar and Caesar worship continued from the Roman Empire.