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.
The book of Revelation is a vision given to the Apostle John, full of symbolic imagery about the ultimate battle between good and evil and God's final victory. Here, an angel describes a figure called "the beast" — a symbol of a powerful evil force that opposes God (many scholars see echoes of the Roman Empire; others connect it to an end-times figure of opposition to God). The chilling phrase "once was, now is not, and yet will come" deliberately mirrors how God describes Himself elsewhere in Revelation as the one who "was, and is, and is to come." The beast is a dark counterfeit of God's eternal nature — but unlike God, it ends not in glory but in destruction. Those whose names are not recorded in God's book of life will be astonished and deceived by this power, mistaking its impressive appearance for permanence.
God, there are things in my world that feel bigger and more real than You. Forgive me for the moments I've been more astonished by power than by Your presence. Remind me today that only Your name is written in eternity — and by Your grace, so is mine. Amen.
There's a trick older than history: make evil look eternal. Make it look inevitable, unstoppable, like it has always been here and always will be. The beast in Revelation does exactly that — it mimics the language of God's own eternal nature. "Once was, now is not, and yet will come" sounds almost majestic, until the angel adds the punchline: and go to his destruction. The whole terrifying structure of the beast — the awe it inspires, the astonishment of those who see it — is built on a lie about its own permanence. Every empire, every ideology, every power that has ever demanded your loyalty has whispered some version of this: we are inevitable. We have always been. We will always be. The question this verse quietly presses on you is: what are you astonished by? What feels so large, so permanent, so overwhelming that it seems to have more reality than God? A diagnosis. A cultural tide. A fear that has lived so long inside you it feels like part of your architecture. Revelation doesn't tell you these things aren't real or dangerous. It tells you they have an ending. Only God's name is truly eternal. Everything that mimics Him — every false permanence — goes to destruction. You don't have to bow to the things that will not last.
The beast is described using language that mirrors how God describes Himself in Revelation. Why do you think evil so often counterfeits what is genuinely divine — and what makes that particular kind of deception so effective?
What in your own life or in the broader culture feels so dominant or entrenched that it seems permanent and inevitable? How does this verse speak into that feeling?
The people astonished by the beast are specifically those whose names are not in the book of life. What do you think it means practically — not just theologically — to have your identity rooted in God rather than in the powers and systems of the world?
How does fear of powerful cultural, political, or economic forces affect the way you treat the people around you? Does seeing those systems as ultimately temporary change anything about how you engage with or talk about them?
What is one thing you've been treating as more permanent and inevitable than it actually is? What would it look like to hold it more loosely this week?
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.
Revelation 13:3
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Revelation 3:5
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Matthew 25:34
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2 Thessalonians 2:3
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Ephesians 1:4
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 13:8
And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
Revelation 17:11
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.
Revelation 20:3
"The beast that you saw was [once], but [now] is not, and he is about to come up out of the abyss (the bottomless pit, the dwelling place of demons) and go to destruction (perdition). And the inhabitants of the earth, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, will be astonished when they see the beast, because he was and is not and is yet to come [to earth].
AMP
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.
ESV
'The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.
NASB
The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.
NIV
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.
NKJV
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 who belong to this world, whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made, will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died.
NLT
The Beast you saw once was, is no longer, and is about to ascend from the Abyss and head straight for Hell. Earth dwellers whose names weren't written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world will be dazzled when they see the Beast that once was, is no longer, and is to come.
MSG