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
20th 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 2nd 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 9th 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 9th
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 2nd 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 12th, 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 21st,
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.
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