Adventist interpretation of Revelation 13.3 in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Abstract

This study clarifies the tension that exists within Adventist eschatological understanding of one area of prophetic interpretation. The focus of this prophetic study is the fulfillment of Revelation 13:3, concerning the healing of the "deadly wound." The purpose of this study is to compare, analyze, and contrast differing Adventist interpretations concerning the prophesied hearing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and to determine which of them are more biblically correct. There were two confricling interpretations that existed in the 1800s. One view held that the healing of the deadly wound has been already furfilled in that century. A second view held that the predicted hearing had not yet been fulfilled in the 1800s but would be in the near future. In the 1900s, three major interpretations emerged. One view held that the prophesied healing was fulfilled at the time of the signing of the Lateran Treaty in 1929. This view seems to negate the two views held in the nineteenth century. The second view promulgated that in 1929 the healing of the deadly wound began and is continuing. Finally, a third view propounded that the prophesied healing has not yet been fulfilled: all is still in the future. Three conclusions were arrived at in this study: (1) The view held in the 1800s that the healing of the deadly wound has not yet been fulfilled appears to be correct, (2) the views in the 1900s that held that the healing began in 1929 and that the complete healing is still future have some legitimacy, (3) the views that claimed that the healing of the deadly wound has been already fulfilled in the 1800s as well as the view that 1929 marked the healing of the deadly wound need further appraisal.