And his feet were as the feet of a bear.—“The bear suggests another of Papacy’s peculiarities as an empire, viz., persistency. Like the Bear Empire (Medo‐Persia) which would besiege for years, and even turn a river aside to accomplish its ends; so Papacy moves cautiously and gets possession of kingdoms rather by strategy than by battles. The bear hugs its prey to death with its paws.”—Z. ’79‐12‐2.
And his mouth as the mouth of [a lion] LIONS.—“Babylon was celebrated for its splendor and pride—the Lion the king or ruler of all beasts—so Papacy had a mouth of this sort, i. e., it claimed to be the kingdom over all kingdoms by Divine right, the kingdom of God, which was to break in pieces and consume all others—a strong mouth.”—Z. ’79‐12‐2.
And the dragon.—Imperial Rome, represented by Constantine.
Gave him his power.—“Ancient Pagan Rome had only a mere skeleton of sacerdotal power as compared with the complex and elaborate machinery and contrivances of doctrine and practice of Papal Rome, the triumphant successor to their scheme, who now, after centuries of cunning and skill, has its power so intrenched that even today, when its power is outwardly broken and it is shorn of civil dominion, it rules the world and controls kingdoms secretly, under cover, more thoroughly than the Roman emperors ever ruled the kings subordinate to them.”—B. 288.
And his seat.—His place in the city of Rome, by transferring his own headquarters to Byzantium, “New Rome.”—Rev. 12:4.
And great authority.—At the hands of the Roman Emperor Justinian, in A. D. 539.—Rev. 12:3‐5.
13:3. And I saw one of his heads.—One of the dragon’s heads—Papacy.
As it were wounded to death.—Whenever the Scriptures use the expression “as it were” (as in Rev. 9:7, 9) what seems or appears is not actually the case.
And his deadly wound was healed.—“At the Diet of Augsburg, in 1555, the Religious Peace was concluded. Every prince was to be allowed to choose between the Catholic religion and the Augsburg Confession [of the Reformers]; and the religion of the prince was to be that of the land over which he reigned: that is, each government was to choose the creed for its subjects.
“In fact, the political circumstances of the time, combined with the fact that even the leaders of the reform were only beginning to get awake to some of the moral and a few of the doctrinal errors of Papacy, lead us to wonder at the rapid strides taken toward the right, rather than to harshly condemn them for not making the cleansing more thorough. But when the Protestant churches united with the state, progress and reform came to a standstill. Soon creeds were formed which were almost as unyielding and opposed to growth in knowledge as the decrees of Rome.”—C. 111.