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Revelation 17:6-8

The Roman practice of identifying prostitutes was to have them wear a headband with the owner's name. Here John sees the woman riding the Beast with her owner's name: Babylon. The name is a mystery. It has a hidden meaning; it is the 'capital' of the Antichrist.

John, during his days, still has little to comment on when he sees the woman, the prostitute, drunk with the blood of the saints. He thinks of the eschatological Babylon. John is surprised.

V8. THE BEAST THAT YOU SAW WAS, AND IS NOT, AND IS TO ASCEND FROM THER BOTTOMLESS PIT AND GO TO PERDITION; AND THE DWELLERS ON EARTH, WHOSE NAMES HAVE NOT BEEN WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD, WILL MARVEL TO BEHOLD THE BEAST BECAUSE IT WAS AND IS NOT AND IS TO COME. John had seen the first Beast coming from the sea (from the nations), and the second Beast from the earth, but its origin is the Abyss, and he had seen that too. This Beast is said to be a world power – because that is what this is primarily about, and not about the Antichrist as its leader, although that too is a 'beast'! – it is said that it has been there before, that it is not there at the moment, but that it will be there again soon: rising from the abyss and finally perishing.

The surprise (and wonder) of the people who see the Beast rise is different from John's question in the previous verse: "I was greatly amazed...". Their admiring surprise stems from the fact that the Beast has already been, is not, and will yet come. There are the inhabitants of the Earth, the world population who follow the Beast and its image and bear its mark on their foreheads. Their names are not in the book of life.

A person is marked by their name. The Book of Proverbs says: "The name of the wicked will rot" and: "A good name is more desirable than great riches." The High Priest in Israel wore a diadem of pure gold on his forehead, on which was engraved: Holy to the Lord. This is God's people, consecrated to God ("...do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God... so that they do not harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads." Revelation 7:3; 9:4), but the rest of the world's population is consecrated to the Beast.