Animals do what they do, day in and day out, over and over and over for years without changing until they die.
When they're young animals or newborns, what they do is simplistic in execution, but as they get older their actions are perfected more and more...but what they do is always the same.
What am I getting at as it relates to your post, Ahwatukee?
Well it was the "beast of the earth" that would cause all to receive a mark for buying and selling.
A beast is an archaic English word that simply means animal in our modern English.
So this specific animal - from the earth - would be created with a purpose: "create a mark for buying and selling that the whole world takes".
This is why I say the animal from the earth has been here for hundreds of years.
An animal does what it's created to do, over and over and over again, perfecting what it does as it gets older. An animal will also reproduce itself by instinct if left unchecked.
That's why I agree with what you said below...
...but it's why I also say the beast has been here since 1776.
Scripture uses beasts to prophetically represent kingdoms. So it was to be a kingdom that first establishes this global monetary/commerce system that's tied to a mark.
A beast will continue to do what it does day in and day out, over and over and over for years without changing until it dies.
Good day!
Actually, and I'm sure that you are aware of this, the title of "beast" is not referring to an actual animal, but is a designation referring to that angel whose name is Abaddon/Apollyon, both meaning destroyer.
"The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction."
Once was = This fallen angel was once out in the world
Now is not = He is no longer in the world but is now in the Abyss
And yet will come = Some time in the future the beast will come back up out of the Abyss
It will be at the sounding of the 5th trumpet where an angel having the key to the Abyss opens it an lets out those demonic beings resembling locusts, who will be given authority to torment the inhabitants of the earth for five months having tails and stings like that of a scorpion. It is also at the opening of the Abyss when their king, the angel of the Abyss, comes out - Rev.9:11. By the way, from the time that the Abyss is opened at the 5th trumpet, it will remain opened during that entire 3 1/2 years until Christ returns to the earth to end the age. At that time another angel having the key to the Abyss, will seize Satan and will throw him into the Abyss, sealing it over him where he will be let out at the end of the thousand years. (Rev.20:1-2, 7-10)
From what I can gather, we know that the antichrist will be an actual man, since one of his titles is 'the man of lawlessness.' We also know that this beast/angel is not a man and is currently restricted in the Abyss. At the sounding of the 5th trumpet he will be released from the Abyss and I believe that he will become the power behind the man of lawlessness/antichrist.
Wherever there is a human ruler, there can also a principality as the power working behind him in the spiritual realm. A good example of this is found in Daniel 10:13, where Daniel prays for understanding of his vision and God sends an angel to give him understanding. But the angel tells Daniel that he was detained/blocked for 21 days by the prince of Persia and could not get to Daniel until Michael the Archangel came to help him. Therefore, the reference to the Prince of Persia was not referring to a human prince, but to the fallen angel/principality who was detaining the angel. For we know that no human prince and his army could hold back an angel. Another example of this can be found in Ezekiel 28:11-19 where God tells Ezekiel to take up a lament for the king of Tyre, which is actually referring to Satan as the anointed guardian cherub (ker-oob).
The reason I mention this is because, from what I can gather, just prior to the middle of that last seven years, at the sounding of the 5th trumpet, that destroying angel of the Abyss, is going to be released and he is going to become the power behind the man of lawless/antichrist. One of my reasons for this is that in Daniel 9:27, the antichrist ( the ruler) will establish a seven year covenant with Israel. The thing is that, the angel of the Abyss/beast does not come up out of the Abyss until almost 3 1/2 within that seven year period, which shows that the antichrist and the beast of the Abyss as being two different beings, one being a man and the other a fallen angel. To be clear, at the time that the antichrist establishes that seven year covenant, the beast will still be in the Abyss. After He is released, one of the first things that the beast does through the antichrist is to break the covenant that he made with Israel, causing the sacrifices and offerings that will have been going on to be stopped and setting up that abomination in the holy place within the temple. Another thing that the beast will do through the antichrist, will be to kill the two witnesses which takes place at the end of their 1260 days of prophesying.
"Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them."
Regarding your mention of the beast being here since 1776, I believe that he was out in the world much earlier as the power behind another human king or powerful authority. That it is said that he "once was" tells me that at an earlier time he was not in the Abyss but out in the world. The reference to "now is not" tells me that at the time that John was receiving that information that this beast was no longer out in the world but locked up in the Abyss, which by the way is the same place that Satan is going to be locked up in once the Lord returns to the earth to end the age. (Rev.20:1-2, 7-10)
But as for the antichrist, the man of lawlessness, since he is an actual man, he himself could not have been on the earth at an earlier time. However, I believe he is here in the world now but he has not yet been revealed, but will be when he makes that seven year covenant with Israel.