Once again , we have Bible verses that have been taken out of context for many years. There have been many speculations as to the identity of the one who was killed but came back to life. We will need to look closer at this chapter and what it means to us today.
Over the centuries world leaders have been assassinated. They were killed by various means such as stabbing. They have been betrayed by their closest allies. Others have been taken down from their lofty state by Civil War and rebellion.
In our modern era, people have been tempted to point out certain world leaders that have been killed saying that they might be the antichrist come back to life. That includes Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.
But such efforts to identify a single individual are barking up the wrong tree. We must put the Scriptures back in the context in which they have been originally written. The discussion at hand in this portion of Revelation is not an individual in question. The topic is about the various kingdoms or nations over the many years and is best studied in conjunction with the book of Daniel.
In particular, the beasts mentioned and the heads of the beasts when put back in context are referring to the Roman Empire. We know that centuries ago the original Roman Empire evaporated at least in part. There has always been a splinter or version of the Roman Empire throughout world history. The great expanse of this kingdom was within the known world.
The Imperial form of government seems to have ceased or was “wounded to death.” According to prophecy, there will be a restoration of the Imperial form of government over a Federated Empire of 10 kingdoms. The healing from the wound unto death is the restoration of the emperor type of government which is the beast rising out of the earth (or the world population).
Keep in mind that the symbolism throughout this book either portrays perverted religion or perverted government. The perversion comes from an allegiance with Satan. We know today that both religion and government have lost their original purpose as designed by God. Already, for several years there has been an effort to unite various forms of religion into a single profession which would mean Christianity and Islam would become partners in false worship.
For a short while after the ascension of Christ there was a great increase in the number of believers expanding over many nations throughout the world. Now, the impetus of such expansion is waning. Religion is practiced for religion’s sake today and not by commission from Christ himself. Our text says that all the world has wondered after the beast meaning that this perversion has become very attractive for the followers of the world.
Verse 14 reveals that this wound unto death was accomplished by the sword. The power of the world was not completely destroyed by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ because Jesus died for sin and not for the government practice. It is interesting to note that the pagan practices of the original Roman Empire were replaced by the Christianizing of the government beginning with Constantine. Since only one of seven heads on the beast were wounded, there seems to be an indication of the partial nature of the wound itself.
In summary, after the church’s rapture, there will be established a rearrangement of government entities mimicking the original 10 kingdoms of the Roman Empire. This will lay the groundwork for the appearance of the Antichrist who through peace (then later war) will exercise dominion over the world. The wound mentioned in this text is not on to a particular person. It indicates a temporary seclusion from the world stage only to reappear as Satan makes his stand during the tribulation. As did Christ gain victory through his resurrection over death, so will he have victory over all related to Satan including tears and temptation on his return to earth.
Christian Writer 