Revelation Chapter 13
VERSE 3 “And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.”
For the TIME of this verse, see the explanation at the opening of the Chapter 13 discussion.
AND ONE OF HIS HEADS: We have just seen in Verse 2 that the beast had been given great authority. We now see the historical result of this: ONE of his seven heads -- one of his overall ruling AUTHORITIES -- has that authority challenged significantly. If our speculation be correct, it is the THIRD head which is here meant.
Recall our lists of “heads”
1) Justinian's Rome
2) Charlemagne’s Empire
3) The Holy Roman Empire
4) The New Holy Roman Empire
5) Napoleonic France
6) The Victor Emmanuel Dynasty
7) The Nazi-Fascist Empire
AS IF IT HAD BEEN SLAIN:
NOTE VERY CAREFULLY: There is a change of pronouns in this context. When THE BEAST is the subject, the pronouns are HIS or HIM; when THE HEAD is the subject, the pronoun is IT. This is important in interpretation.
13:3 continued --
AS IF IT HAD BEEN SLAIN: *
IF the head were slain (died), and IF there were no other head to take its place that would have been the end of the beast. IN ACTUALITY, the HEAD was slain in a sense, and not in another. This sounds like double-talk! But, the nature of the fulfillment of this prophecy is very subtle. The beast, or course, is the church-state cooperation between the “little horn” and the civil power. While the “little horn” has retained its identity over the centuries, the HEADS have changed.
The first SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT (or head) was that of the Roman emperor (Justinian) as civil head with the “little horn” as chief religious' ruler.
The second SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT (or head) was a clear division between east and west Rome. The empire over which Justinian had ruled yet existed in Constantinople. But the west was now rather independent and was under a new western emperor, Charlemagne. Charlemagne was actually TRICKED by the Pope into letting the Pope put the crown on the emperor’s head. But Charlemagne allowed it and, subsequently, felt a bit embarrassed by the whole thing as it caused a rift with the eastern empire. Nevertheless, the SYMBOLISM of the act, and the virtual new arrangement in the west, constituted a new HEAD.
Later, in 962 A.D. a third SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT (or head) came into being under Otto the Great. This head gave the new arrangement the title of HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, the first word of which magnifies the place of the “little horn.” East and West Rome were now officially and actually two separate and distinct empires.
It is this THIRD HEAD, the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, which was “slain” by the Reformation. Historians confidently claim that the harm done to the Holy Roman Empire by the Reformation was so great as to constitute “. . . the virtual dissolution of the empire.”
*AS IF IT HAD BEEN SLAIN: The peculiar nature of this expression demands attention. The head was, indeed, slain. But to history the slaying seemed to be TEMPORARY in that the Holy Roman Empire made a comeback. When it DID come back, it REALLY had a new head, but because it did not change its NAME, it appears to the casual eye to be the same old creature unchanged. But it WAS changed -- in nearly all ways except by name.
It might be of interest to note that the emperor at the time of Luther was Charles V. It was he who presided at the famous Diet of Worms which proclaimed Luther a heretic. But the German princes protected Luther, absorbed his religion, and, thus, wiped out the very seal of Charles V’s empire.
HIS FATAL WOUND WAS HEALED:
NOTE: It was NOT the head (not “its” wound) that was healed. It was HIS (the beast’s wound that was healed). The Holy Roman Empire DID NOT DISSOLVE! It reconstituted itself and CAME BACK UNDER THE SAME NAME, but under a DIFFERENT HEAD (system of government).
The period between Charles V and the Peace of Westphalia was a period of reorganization for the Holy Roman Empire. When it RECOVERED from its Reformation wound, it WAS A DIFFERENT BEAST with the same name. Thus, since the Peace of Westphalia, the Holy Roman Empire had a NEW HEAD or system of government -- the FOURTH head and beast. This arrangement continued until Napoleon came along, destroyed the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 A.D., and created a NEW HEAD, the FIFTH.
AND THE WHOLE EARTH WAS AMAZED AFTER THE BEAST: The Reformation challenge to the Roman church-state empire was SO great that it WAS no less than amazing that the Holy Roman Empire withstood its onslaught and retained as much prestige as it did. (Remember this church-state empire had existed for nearly 1200 years) The beast WAS hurt, but it recovered. It NEEDED a little support which is why we will later see in Verse 12 that the advent of the two-horned beast was a blessing for the beast; the formation of a like beast in England helped the Europeans acknowledge the ten-horned beast of a viable sort of entity.
Rather than go into Brother Shallieu’s remarks (The Keys of Revelation) on Verse 3 we will move on to Verse 4 in our next post. Not that his remarks are not appreciated, nor important, but simply because his interpretation of Verse 3 is based on his assumption as to whom the seven “heads” are, and as was stated in our blog post entitled, “The Seven Heads, Part 2” we believe the list of heads which we have shown above represents the correct ones, and so it would only serve to further confusion if we were to continued to present another list.
