End Times Prophecy Study - Lesson 3, Part 2 – Revelation 13 - Beast out of the Sea and 666

Lesson 3, Part 2 – Revelation 13 – Beast out of the Sea & 666

Now we must ask some questions to help clear up and identify what we read in Revelation Chapter 13. Some of these questions and answers I give have already been mentioned or hinted in my previous postings (review if you will) but should help clear up the overall picture of what Revelation and history are both talking about together. It's amazing how the Bible and history prove each other to be true and on the same page.

1.       What weapon was the beast wounded with?      

Revelation 13:10 –  He who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword.

Revelation 13:14 -  The beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.

2.       What is represented by the sword?

The sword represents the word of God or the Bible….and that’s true, but not always. Ephesians 6:17 – take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. The sword of the spirit is given to the church and is used when preaching the word of God (Romans 10:17). Everyone is free to accept or reject its testimony (Hebrews 4:12). People will be judged at the last day (John 12:4,8 and Revelations 19:15). The sword can be a spiritual sword or a physical sword to kill. In this case it’s a physical sword.

3.       How and when did the beast acquire the sword?

At the end of the 1,260 years the beast was wounded. The very sword that the beast used to kill the saints during the 1,260 years would be used to kill it at the end of this period. It’s obvious that the papacy did not use the Bible during the 1,260 years to kill dissenters (rather it forbade the Bible). So the symbol of the sword in the context of Revelation 13 must represent something different then in Ephesians 6:17. The answer is found in Romans 13:1-4. That the sword belongs to the State in use for civil penalties and it does not belong to the church. The Church and State were both established by God. (Matthew 26:52) – All who take the sword will perish by the sword. (John 18:36) – God emphasis two kingdom’s – the spiritual and earthly kingdoms.

4.       What is the deadly wound?

It’s not the elimination of the Roman Catholic Church as a church. The deadly wound was given to the papacy system (not it’s people) when the sword of the state that the papacy had used to persecute God’s people during the 1,260 years turned against it. The deadly wound was the removal of the sword of the state from the hands of the papacy. Napoleon overthrew the papacy in 1798 during the French Revolution.

5.       How did the Papacy Obtain the Sword?

Once again using history, between the year 300 and 476 hordes of barbarian tribes carved up the Roman Empire. The last emperor was Romulus Augustulus who was deposed in the year 476. The barbarian incursions into the Roman Empire turned it upside down and left it without a Civil ruler. In the midst of this chaotic situation, the Bishop of Rome took the reigns of civil power, but also the temporal ruler of the state. The barbarian tribes wanted a strong leader in all things, so they got one.

Roman Catholic Theologian – James P. Conroy, From: American Catholic Quarterly Review, April 1911. – “Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western emperors was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans turned to one figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule them; and thus, in this simple manner, the best title of all to kingly right, commenced the temporal sovereignty of the popes. And meekly steeping to the Throne of Caesar, The Vicar of Christ took up the scepter to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many ages.”

6.       What Happened in 1798?

1798 marked the climax of the French Revolution that began in 1793. The revolution was an uprising against both kingly power and priestly intolerance. General Berthier entered Vatican City, deposed pope Pious VI, informed him that his power was at an end, and took him prisoner to France where he later died in exile. Napoleon, had already given the order that a successor was not to be elected.

Examples of how historians use language that is very similar to that of Revelation 13 when talking about the deadly wound of 1798:

George Trevor, Rome: From the fall of the Western Empire, PP. 439, 440. - :The papacy was extinct; not a vestige of it’s existence remained; and among all the Roman Catholic powers, not a finger was stirred in it’s defense (because it no longer had the support of the state). The Eternal City had no longer prince or pontiff; its bishop was a dying captive in foreign lands; and the decree was already announced that no successor would be allowed in its place”.

M.Weitlauff,  Symposium on Revelation, volume 2, p.337, 1992 –“…The Papacy had suffered it’s deepest humiliation…and appeared to be annihilated….The Revolution also dealt it the wound which, it seemed did not want to heal until far into the 20^th century”.

7.  Healing of the Wound

Revelation 13:3 describes the healing of the papacy’s deadly wound. The term “Papacy” is the code word for a religious-political system that employ’s the power of the state to compel people to obey its dictates. It’s not merely a church, but a combination of church and state.

8.       Why Hasn’t the Mortal Wound Healed Yet?

The right events in earth’s history hasn’t happened yet. All in God’s time. But mainly because there isn’t a Sunday Law in place yet…..meaning the Papacy would have recovered it’s power (mortal wound healed). The United States (as we will see in the next lesson) will be the one who heals the deadly wound which hasn’t happened yet of course. The French Revolution brought into existence secular democratic governments that have kept the Papacy in a straight jacket for the last two hundred plus years. The secular governments of the world have not allowed the Papacy to ride on them once again. In 1801 a new Pope was elected just 3 and a half years after the deadly wound was given in February of 1798. The new Pope was even allowed to retain possession of his Italian principality.

Arthur Robert Pennington, Epochs of the Papacy, Pg. 450, 452. “Napoleon felt that, as the large majority of the inhabitants of France knew no other form of faith then Romanism, it must become the established religion of the country. Accordingly we find that he now began negotiations with the Pope, which issued in a Concordat in July, 1801, whereby the Roman Catholic religion was once more established in France. He also left Pope Pius in possession of his Italian principality.”

Even thought the Papacy retained its territory and principality all the nations of Europe wanted nothing to do with her. Europe did not wonder after the beast or worship its image nor did the world at this time so that’s why it hasn’t healed yet. Plus in September of 1870 King Victor Emmanuel the 2^nd confiscated the Papel States and united Italy. As a result the Papacy lost most of it’s territory except for a handful of buildings in Vatican City. In protest, Pope Pius the 9^th and his successors declared themselves prisoners of the Vatican and as a result no Pope left Vatican City for the next 50 years. During the  46 years Pope Pius the 9^th further alienated and angered the governments of western Europe and the United States by proclaiming the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of 1854 by publishing his Syllabus of Errors where he railed against democratic governments and civil and religious liberty in 1864-1870. Then in 1929 a concordat was signed between the papacy and the Italian government that had to do with the wound of 1870 when Victor Emmanuel the 2^nd  confiscated the Papel States. This gave the papel states back to the Papacy.  So most people think because of this the deadly wound was healed in 1929 but it wasn't. Italy doesn't heal the deadly wound, the United States does according to the Bible. Plus nobody wondered after the beast and it’s image, and the mark was not enforced in 1929. So it doesn't match. The very day the Concordat was signed the San Francisco Chronicle had this on the front page:   “Vatican Again At Peace With Italy After Long Quarrel”….”Heal Wound of Many Years”. Interesting isn’t it…..the San Francisco Chronicle used the same language “Heal Wound of Many Years” as the Bible talks about in Revelation. As if they knew it was a wound……God is once again in control of all of history. Look up the picture of the new paper on Google, it's mind blowing!!

“New York Times, Tuesday February 12^th, 1929” – “The Pope is again an independent sovereign ruler, as he was through out the middle ages, through his temporal realm, established today, is the most microscopic in dependent state in the world, and probably the smallest in all history”.

Malachi Martin, Keys of this blood, 1986 – “For Fifteen hundred years and more, Rome had kept as strong a hand as possible in each local community around the wide world….by and large, and admitting some exceptions, that had been the Roman view until two hundred years of inactivity had been imposed upon the papacy by the major secular powers of the world.” Quoted in Christianity Today, November 21^st, 1986, pg.26.

From this statement above if we go back 200 years from 1986 we arrive at around the time of the French Revolution. Malachi Martin did not believe that the deadly wound of Revelation 13 applies to the papacy, nevertheless he was admitting that the French Revolution brought into existence secular democratic governments that kept the papacy in a straightjacket for the last 200 years. As we have seen this is the meaning of the deadly wound.