Audio Download

Rev 17:7-11 The Mystery of the Woman and the Beast, Part 1

[Study Aired April 18, 2025]

Rev 17:7 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.
Rev 17:8 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.
Rev 17:9 And here [is] the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
Rev 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, [and] the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven,

Introduction

In our study of the first six verses of this 17th chapter a great harlot was seen riding on a scarlet colored beast. This harlot and the scarlet colored beast is the subject of verses 7-11, which we will begin to cover in this study. Before we continue, let us remind ourselves that this harlot is not just any harlot. This harlot is “that great harlot” who is the fallen wife of our Lord and Savior. Anyone familiar with the Old Testament prophets would immediately recognize the meaning of the phrase “the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.”

Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THEGREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Here is the only great “harlot” which was the focus of the Old Testament prophets. She is our Lord’s own spiritual harlot wife, who has placed the pleasing of the kings of this world above the need to please and obey her own God-given husband, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Here is how her infidelity is expressed in the prophet Isaiah:

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Here is how God throughout the prophets refers to His own “children” who have rebelled against Him throughout the prophets:

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

“The faithful city is a harlot… full of murderers.” Who does she specialize in murdering? What is our Lord’s answer to that question?

Luk 13:33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.
Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
Luk 13:35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

So “the faithful city is become a harlot” who we are also informed “reigns over the kings of the earth.”

Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

‘Jerusalem’ signifies God’s own people who until this very day, ‘reign over the kings of this earth’ within and without. The fact that there are well over forty thousand, differing and conflicting Christian denominations reveals just how many daughters this great harlot has brought forth. But as with all harlots, her lovers have no real respect nor true love for her, and in time they will turn on her and “make her desolate… eat her flesh and burn her with fire”:

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

Remember, this angel who is showing the judgment of this great harlot to John is simply showing him the details of the seventh vial of John’s and of our own judgment. He is showing John things which he must “read… hear and keep” (Rev 1:3). John signifies ‘your fellow servant who keeps the things written in this book’:

Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

What John is being shown by “[his] fellow servant” is that the beast upon whom this whore is sitting is he himself, signifying that this beast is each of us. John is coming to see that it is through our own support of this ‘great city’ that ‘all the prophets must be killed.’ This is what has happened within us all:

Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

No one denies that the physical Jews and the physical Romans “crucified the Lord of glory”. However, the Lord’s words are ‘spiritual words’ (Joh 6:63), and in spiritual terms “Mystery Babylon The Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” is each of us who are “spiritually… called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified”:

1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

You and I are the first who come to see ourselves as “the princes of this world” who ignorantly have ‘crucified the Lord of glory.’ It was that deep realization which compelled Peter, signifying each of us, to ‘go out and weep bitterly’ for thrice denying  His own Lord and Savior, leaving Him to die alone:

Mat 26:74  Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.
Mat 26:75  And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

It is God’s own people, who claim they are Christians, who kill those He sends to them. “It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.”

To let us know that this is the same today in the Christian church, it is revealed to us that it was “the Jews who believed on Christ” who wanted him killed. It was not the Romans as we so often hear.

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: [but] the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s [physical] seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you [believing Christians].
Joh 8:38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your [spiritual] father.
Joh 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s [spiritual] children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40 But now ye [“Jews that believe on Me”] seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

Stand with Christ, stand fast in His doctrine, and you and I will, to this very day, be hated of “those… who believe in Him”, who claim they are “Abraham’s seed”, and yet our Lord can say of them “If ye were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.” Like “the scarlet colored beast”, we who claim the name of Christian, are claiming to be Abraham’s spiritual seed, and yet we are not Abraham’s seed because we do not “continue in His Word” (Joh 8:31). We at first believe in Christ, and at the same time we are guilty of crucifying Him. This process of judgment in our lives is a mystery which the scarlet colored beast cannot understand “because [for a Christian who “cannot perceive” Christ’s Word, our Lord can truly say] My Word has no place in you” (vs 37). Speaking to these same believing Jews, Christ tells them:

Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

No legal Christian denomination can ‘hear the words of Christ’. If they could they would not be a ‘Christian denomination’ because Christ is not divided:

1Co 1:12  Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul [Baptist]; and I of Apollos [Methodist]; and I of Cephas [Catholic]; and I of Christ.
1Co 1:13  Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

Again, to demonstrate how those who claim to be Christ’s own wife are playing the harlot, we have this “sure word of prophecy”:

Jer 2:4 Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:

Jer 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
Jer 2:20 For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.
Jer 2:21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
Jer 2:22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
Jer 2:23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

We as Babylon profess to be the Lord’s people. We see ourselves as the virgin bride of Christ:

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Joh 3:29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

Paul tells us that all of his counsel concerning the proper relationship between husbands and wives is spiritually nothing other than a dissertation concerning Christ and the church.

Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Revelation 17 and 18 are about Christ and His apostate church:

Rev 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman [the churches of Revelation 2-3], and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns [John and each of us].

What does this all mean? We have already covered the meaning of “seven heads and ten horns” in our study of this very same beast back in chapter 13.

Rev 13:1 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.

What we saw is that the ‘seven heads’ signify the complete apostate church… “all they in Asia”:

2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia [“the seven churches of Asia” Rev 1:4] be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

The “horns” signify the great power of the carnal-minded beast we all are by nature:

Rev 12:1-6 – Part 3 The Woman and The Manchild – The Spiritual Significance of Ten Horns

Ten is the number of the perfection of the flesh of that complete beast:

Numbers in Scripture – “Ten = Completeness Of The Flesh”

What this combination of a beast being ridden and dominated by a harlot signifies is that when we speak of the Great harlot, we are also speaking of the beast that carries her. “I will show you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her.” What this unholy alliance of the beast and this harlot tells us is that this mystery is the account of our own relationship with Christ as this spiritual ‘harlot’ being the unfaithful wife of our own husband and Savior, Christ Jesus. What we are being told is that we are both the great harlot who is riding the scarlet colored beast, as well as being the scarlet colored beast upon which this great harlot rides. The scriptures always treat “the horse and his rider” as a single unit:

Exo 15:1  Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Jer 51:21  And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;

The fact this great harlot is sitting upon us, tells us that she rules over and dominates our physical bodies which are filled with “the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life”:

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

The function of this harlot is to make us feel good while we are dishonoring and disobeying our true husband. To do this we must be made to be feel rich and increased with spiritual riches, while in reality we are playing the harlot and are “wretched, poor and blind and naked.”

Pro 30:20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

When we are given to understand the principle that “the [vision] is one”, and that both this harlot and this beast are just two symbols which both signify who we are at our own appointed time, at that point we will begin to see that the Lord is showing us that all of His judgments, including the judgment of this great harlot within us, is merely an essential part of His “great and marvellous” works within our lives, which are preparing us as His spiritual ‘firstfruits unto God and the Lamb’ to be counted worthy to enter into His temple “which temple [we] are”:

Gen 41:25 And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.

Rev 15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

We, as Pharaoh was, are being shown what the Lord is “about to do” within us. “The angel said unto me” is the voice of God’s elect angels, who bear witness to what is revealed in His Word. They can say nothing except what the Lord has already given us to say through “that which is written”:

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

The mercy seat within the temple, signifies the throne of God, from which He spoke to Israel.

Exo 25:22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

Isa 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

The Lord now communicates with mankind “through the church”; through God’s elect, who have been given to see and hear these Words of God.

Eph 3:9  and to enlighten21 everyone about God’s secret plan22 — a secret that has been hidden for ages23 in God24 who has created all things.
Eph 3:10  The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms [of our hearts and minds, Heb 9:22-24] .
Eph 3:11  This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, (NET)

These words are now called “fire in their mouths”. All fire that comes from that throne is to be understood as being nothing other than the Word of God.

Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

Zec 4:11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side] of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
Zec 4:12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
Zec 4:13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Zec 4:14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

Rev 17:8 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 beast was, and is not, and yet is” makes perfect spiritual sense to anyone who can understand this verse of scripture:

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Just as our righteous Savior was alive, then died and then rose up from the dead, we to do the same thing spiritually:

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were [spiritually] baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are [spiritually] buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him [aorist tense, in the process of being crucified], that the body of sin might be destroyed [aorist tense, in the process of being destroyed], that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7  For he that is dead [aorist tense, is in the process of dying with Christ] is freed from sin.

That is the positive application of “the beast that was [a healthy wild beast], and is not [because he received a deadly wound with the sword of God’s Word], and yet is [because he left his first love and his deadly wound was healed]”. That is how those whose names are written in the book of life no longer wonder how their beast “was, and is not, and yet is”:

Rev 17:8 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 [going into perdition in order to be saved by the fire which brings that ‘perdition’ upon him].

This ‘beast’ “ascends out of the bottomless pit [G12, ‘the abussos’, the deep]”. What exactly is this ‘pit’? This Greek word, G12, ‘abussos’, appears 9 times in the New Testament, and we will examine all nine entries. It gets the force of its meaning from the Old Testament:

Isa 38:17  Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

Eze 31:14  To the end that none of all the trees [men, Jdg 9:9, Rev 11:3-4] by the waters [of Babylon, Psa 137:1, Jer 2:18] exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death [corruption, 1Co 15:50], to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit [of corruption].

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption [“flesh and blood”] inherit incorruption.

Now we know exactly what the bottomless pit, the ‘abussos’ is. It is “the pit of corruption”. It is “the valley of the shadow of death”. It is the realm of death into which Christ entered and died for our sins, and which is exactly which is what Christ considers our fleshly existence to be:

Mat 8:22  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the [spiritually] dead [Aorist tense, dying] bury their dead [aorist tense, dying].

“The first man Adam” is called “a living soul”:

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

As Christ has just informed us in Matthew 8:22, “a living soul” without Christ is “[spiritually] dead” and is a soul which is living in the realm of death… “the valley of the shadow of death”:

Psa 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

That is how we whose names are in the Lamb’s book of life can see how our beast “was, and is not and yet is.” When we are granted to “teach comparing spiritual things with spiritual” we do not “wonder when we see the beast that was, and is not and yet is”. That statement is as easy for the mind of Christ to understand as are these words of Christ:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Until we see that our “perdition” is our salvation, we will never understand how we are “saved by fire” which effuates the perdition of our old man:

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Only if we are granted to understand how we are at this very moment being “crucified with Christ, and yet we are living” will we be given to understand how our own beast within can be both dying and yet be alive and going into perdition, and through that perdition of our flesh we are being saved.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Rev 17:8  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.

Galatians 2:20 and Revelation 17:8 are opposite sides of the same coin, which is the coin of our lives. Galatians 2:20 is that side which reflects the ultimate death of our first Adamic beast, producing the life of Christ within us, while Revelation 17:8 is that part of our lives which reflects the healing of our deadly wound as “carnal… babes in Christ”, before we are truly “crucified with Christ”. Revelation 17:8 is just another way of expressing what we learned about the function of being a beast as it is revealed to us in Revelation 13.

Rev 13:2 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 [Greek – thronos, throne], and great authority.
Rev 13:3 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.
Rev 13:4 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?

When our “deadly wound is healed”, we all return to the weak and beggarly elements from which the sword of God’s Word was delivering us. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, the healing of our deadly wound  is that time in our lives when we return to being ‘the dead who bury their dead.’ We must all live by these words.

Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Who among us has not, in his own time, lost his first love, signified by “a deadly wound by a sword” and returned to being that healthy ‘beast’, who must repent or have our candlestick removed.

Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love [‘deadly wound was healed’].
Rev 2:5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

 These words are addressed to us all:

Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth [the healing of that “deadly wound… by a sword”], before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? [“in you… the wound by a sword”]

The word ‘among’ in Galatians 3:1 is translated from the Greek word, ‘en’, and it means “in you”. It is the same Greek word which is twice translated as ‘in’ in this verse:

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

We will pause our study at this point and in our next study, Lord willing, we will examine all nine entries of the Greek word ‘G12, ‘abussos’.   When we look at the sum of these nine entries, then we will know what and where “the bottomless pit”, the ‘abussos’, is and we will then understand its function in the Lord’s purposes.  Lord willing, we will also consider  the meaning of our next three verses:

Rev 17:9  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
Rev 17:10  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.