October 3: THE HEALING OF A “MORTAL WOUND”
At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him with a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. Daniel 11:40
Verse 40 again! The expectation of the time of the end has been mentioned as the appointed time three times in this chapter: vv. 27, 29, & 35. It is an affirmation that our God sees the future perfectly, He is in control, and is never caught off guard. Such an attack as that of the French against His holy Word was meant to be a shock. Its shock value had an unsettling effect on the papists. But for the true seekers of God, this was a beginning time of new understanding of treasures ready for discovery in that Word from heaven.
Do you remember how, in the early centuries of the New Testament church, pagan Rome’s brutal persecution of the infant church only caused it to grow and increase like wildfire? Well, it happened again following France’s very public destruction of the two witnesses (Revelation 11). The burning of Bibles, while meant to squelch the reading, the hearing, and the study of God’s Word, in actuality ignited a wave of new interest in that Word—all across the world! It would seem that the strategies of Satan can, and do, blow up in his face (for some reason, Wile E. Coyote comes to mind).
The attack from the king of the South had a crippling effect upon the Church of Rome. After the kidnapping of the pope, the papal states were abolished. It was the fulfillment of the apostle John’s vision of the seemingly mortal wound of one of its heads (Revelation 13:3). A conclave of bishops and cardinals selected a new pope fairly quickly. For the next 131 years, Catholicism continued to function quietly as a religious institution, but exactly none of the erroneous teachings were corrected. Then, on February 11, 1929, the healing process of the mortal wound began. The Lateran Pact was signed by Vatican representatives and the Italian government, headed by Benito Mussolini. It granted temporal sovereignty to the pope, and a type of statehood for Vatican City. Since that time, the Roman Church has worked to swell and restore its influence in political and religious arenas around the world. Its complete healing is yet future, and the Bible tells us that it will be short-lived. Currently, the papacy has grown in favor and popularity with many non-Catholic religions, including Protestant, Islam, and even Judaism. Popes have reached out to form “leagues” with every major group, not with a claim to change religious views, but for political power and influence. This Mother Theresa quote is very revealing: “I have always said that we must help Hindus to become better Hindus, Buddhists to become better Buddhists, Muslims to become better Muslims, and Catholics to become better Catholics.”
The Hebrew that is translated shall attack is the word yitnagakh, which means push at. It conveys that the attack will have only a temporary effect. The king of the North was wounded, but it will recover later. This is a counterfeit of the death and resurrection of Christ.
One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. Revelation 13:3 ESV