alot of things did exsist then didn't exist to that world and now exist or will again.. a sea not in that configuration you see it .. it was an eye. it will be an eye.
the eye in the hand , was the configuration of EYElands.
see Serpent mound. an eye being crushed.
John received in the first century this message:
The beast, which you saw, once was, now (1st century) is not, and yet will come up
out of the Abyss and
go to its 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 it once was, now (1st century) is not, and yet will come.
(Rev. 17:8)
And:
The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is (now in the 1st century), the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and
he goes to destruction. (Rev. 17:9-11)
In 17:8, describing the beast, mention is twice made of the following set:
1. The beast was,
2.
is not now,
3. and will be.
In 17:10, describing seven kings/mountains/heads, mention is made of the following separate set:
1. Five kings/mountains/heads that have fallen
2.
One king that exists
3. One king that has not yet come.
So as we can plainly see, these two sets are actually the reverse of each other.
In the first set, the middle part is absent.
In the second set, the middle part is present.
In 17:11, the beast from the first set is entangled with the second set by saying "he is an eighth, but one of the seven."
Regarding the first set, my teacher taugth me:
The fallen angel Azazel was once free, but is currently restrained in the abyss, (as the Revelation specifies), but will be allowed to come out of the abyss. Confer Rev. 9:11 and see the book of Enoch.
Here's what my teacher taught me regarding the second set:
In the Bible, a mountain figuratively represents a kingdom or the ruler of that kingdom. The 7 mountains and the 7 kings referred to in Revelation 17:9-10 are one and the same. This beast is in the same form as Satan; the heads represent earthly kingdoms that Satan has (or will) rule over.
At the time John was receiving this vision (c. 95 CE), the angel tells him that 5 of the kingdoms represented by the heads of the beast had fallen, one head currently existed, and the other had not yet appeared. The angel is giving John (and us) a time sensitive clue. Five of the symbolic heads of the beast had already lost the power they once possessed. Those 5 were:
(1) Egypt
(2) Assyria
(3) Babylon
(4) Medo-Persia, and
(5) Greece
Rome was the 6th kingdom, the one in power at the time the Apocalypse was written.
Therefore, there remains another kingdom, the 7th, left to come. This is the one that "has not yet come" from the second set.
The 7th Satanic kingdom will apparently have two phases, or be followed by an eighth Satanic kingdom, judging by 17:11.
This is why scripture TWICE says that Abaddon will go to his destruction: becuase he will be defeated twice, as was the case with Nimrod. First Nimrod was defeated by having the kingdom of Babel taken away from him. Later he was defeated by having the kingdom of Assyria taken from him. Similarly, scripture records Satan being defeated (at least) twice: Rev. 12:9 and Rev. 20:10.
By the way, the term "destruction" in Greek is apoleian, a variant of which is Apollion. So in English it would indicate the Destroyer goes to Destruction. He will reap as he sows.
