The Deadly Wound

If we now continue with John’s description of the rise of this final world power, we see that his vision continues to parallel Daniel’s almost exactly.

“And I saw one of his heads as though it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast.

“And they worshiped the dragon who gave power unto the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast?  Who is able to make war with him?

“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

“And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”

Rev. 13:3-6

Before we can fully interpret this passage we must remember from the prophecy of Revelation chapter seventeen that the seven heads of the vision correspond to the seven empires of Biblical history.  John now tells us that he sees one of these heads endure a deadly wound and then subsequently be healed.  He further says that after the healing of this “head” takes place, the entire world will begin to “wonder after” or literally worship the beast.  It also is no small coincidence that concurrent with these events John sees within the image of the beast, “a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies”. 

This entire scenario correlates very well with the previous interpretation of Daniel’s vision of the fourth beast.  Daniel had originally said that the fourth beast would manifest itself at the end as a group of ten nations (ten horns).  He also said that at some point in its brief history, a leader would come out of the ten and uproot a portion of the empire in his rise to absolute power. 

The Apostle John subsequently predicts that this “uprooting” process of three of the first ten nations will be so devastating for the empire that the confederation will appear to suffer a fatal blow.  According to the symbolism within the book of Revelation, this wound will fall upon the seventh “head” of world political history, or in other words, upon the ten-horned confederated form of the fourth world empire.  John tells us that it will not only survive the wound but become more powerful than anyone ever dreamed possible.  What will seem to be at first a “partly strong and partly broken”, loose association of ten nations will, after being wounded and healed, become a unified empire with the Antichrist himself at its helm…[more]