The term that is used here in the Greek is actually “abyss” (a term made up of two words that literally translate as “without bottom”). Whereas God is in heaven, this pit is “down,” that is, as far away from God as possible. It is the realm in which God committed rebellious angels to chains of gloomy darkness (2 Peter 2:4). Accordingly, it is also the place from which the “locusts” came (Revelation 9:1). Its entrance is pictured as the sea, and so explains the origin of this beast (Revelation 13:1). As Jesus arose from the dead, this beast (it “was” and “is not”) attempts to make a comeback.
8 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.