[§219] Rev 13:3: Imperial Rome Dies and Papal Rome Lives On

This podcast explains the symbolic images used by John in Revelation 13:3 to describe the end of the Imperial Roman Empire that fell with Rome in 476 AD, and the rise of papal power in the Holy Roman Empire over the course of hundreds of years. John describes these historical events in symbolic terms, saying: “I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” (Rev 13:3) There are many and diverse views about the meaning of this verse. One of the seven heads on the symbolic First Beast was mortally wounded by the sword when Germanic tribesmen from the north conquered Rome. The Roman Empire then began to divide into the modern nations of Europe represented by the 10 horns and 10 crowns on the head of the First Beast that died. However, that same head revived as the emerging nations of Europe gave their allegiance to the power of the popes. A major milestone in this revival occurred when Leo III, the Roman bishop and pope at Rome, coronated Charlemagne as the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 800 AD. After this major milestone, the power of the papacy increased to the point that the popes had supremacy over all heads of state in the time of Gregory VII (1073-1095 AD). The popes reached the height of their power in the days of innocent III (1198-1216 AD), and this power continued for the next 100 years. Papal power finally began to decline with the death of Pope Boniface VIII in 1303. This demise of papal power coincided in time with the emerging spiritual light of the Renaissance predicted in Daniel 12:11. In this verse, Daniel said there would be 1290 years of spiritual darkness like a flood from the time of the Roman Abomination of Desolation in 70 AD. Revelation 13:3 also indicates that throughout the Dark Ages, people in the Roman Empire worshiped and wondered after the First Beast. This means they were astonished by the degree of power possessed by the Roman popes and worshipped them as they worshiped the Roman emperors before them.