This podcast explains the imagery and symbolism used by John in Revelation 17:8, which states: “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 that was, and is not, and yet is, refers to the First Beast identified by John in Revelation 13:1 as the ancient Roman empire. In 476 AD that beast‒then known as the Imperial Roman empire‒ceased to exist when the city of Rome fell to the Germanic tribes from the north. By the time Rome fell in 476, a pagan form of Christianity had become the state religion of Rome. Thus, even though Imperial Rome (Pagan Rome) fell, a paganized form ...