Table of Contents
Prophecy – Papacy Receiving a Deadly Wound
The Bible not only predicted that the papacy would lose its world influence and power after the Dark Ages but it also predicted the duration of its rule. The prophet John predicted that “Power was given unto him (the beast) to continue forty and two months” (Revelation 13:5). And the prophet Daniel predicted that God’s people would “be given into his hand” for “a time and times and the dividing of time” (Daniel 7:25).
Fulfillment of Daniel’s Prophecy
Several things need clarification in connection with this prophecy:
1-In Bible prophecy, a time is a year, times is two years, and the dividing of time is a half-year. The Amplified Bible translates it: “Three and one-half years.”
2-This same time period is mentioned seven times (Daniel 7:25; 12:7; Revelation 11:2, 3; 12:6, 14; 13:5) in the books of Daniel and Revelation: three times as a time, times, and half a time twice as 42 months and twice as 1,260 days. Based on the 30-day calendar used by the Jews, these time periods are all the same amount of time: 3 1/2 years = 42 months = 1,260 days.
3-One prophetic day equals one literal year (Ezekiel 4:6 Numbers 14:34).
4-Thus, the little horn (Antichrist), in Daniel 7, was to have power over the saints for 1,260 prophetic days or 1,260 literal years.
5-The rule of the papacy began in A.D. 538, when the last of the three opposing Arian kingdoms was uprooted. Exactly 1260 years later (1798), the great victories of Napoleon in Italy placed the pope at the hands of the French revolutionary regime, which now instructed him that the Roman religion would always be incompatible with the Republic, and that “there is one thing even more essential to the attainment of the end desired, and that is to destroy, if possible, the center of unity of the Roman Church; and it is for you, who unite in your person the most distinguished qualities of the general and of the enlightened politician, to realize this aim if you consider it practicable” (A. Aulard , Christianity and the French Revolution Vol. 4, p. 158).
In response to these instructions and at the command of Napoleon, Berthier, with a French army, entered Rome, declared the political rule of the papacy at an end and took the pope prisoner, taking him off to France, where he died in exile. The overthrow of the papacy in 1798 marks the climax of a long series of events connected with its decline, and also the end of the prophetic period of 1260 years. The blow was a deadly wound for the papacy, but that wound began to heal and continues healing today.
6-This same period of persecution is mentioned in Matthew 24:21 as the worst period of persecution God’s people will ever experience. Verse 22 tells us it was so devastating that not one soul would have survived if God had not shortened it. But God did shorten it. The persecution ended long before the pope was taken captive in 1798.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
Disclaimer:
The contents of this article and website are not intended to be against any individual. There are many priests and faithful believers in Roman Catholicism who serve God to the best of their knowledge and are seen by God as His children. The information contained herein is directed only towards the Roman Catholic religio-political system which has reigned in varying degrees of power for nearly two millennia. This system has established an increasing number of doctrines and statements that directly go against the Bible.
It is our purpose to lay the clear Word of God before you, the truth-seeking reader, to decide for yourself what is truth and what is error. If you find anything here contrary to the Bible, do not accept it. But if you desire to seek for Truth as for hidden treasure, and find herein something of that quality and feel that the Holy Spirit is revealing Truth to you, please make all haste to accept it.
