padib said:
Remember that the people are marvelled and follow the beast after the event. It's a person who was known to be absolutely dead and people were astonished that he came back to life by some kind of cheat. |
Alternatively, it is a garbled metaphor that has no real way of objectively interpreting. Thats largely how many of these prophecies survive. They put the onus of interpretation on the believer so they can never be disproven. If someone is wrong, the fault lies on the interpreter, not the original text. Meanwhile, the end will always be just around the corner.
Remember, this head is one of seven heads of a leopardbearlion. How objectively can we truly interpret a line about the healing of a wound on this "beast"?
EDIT: Also, as you say, Revelations is written through the eyes of one 2000 years ago. It is interpreted through the lens of the time in which is was written, and it is continues to be interpreted in modern lenses as time progresses. As medicine has developed, how many times have people exclaimed "This new technology is marvelous! This must be what is referred to in Revelation"? By inviting interpretation, it asks you, the reader, to place it within the framing of your world, which is why it will always feel as if it applies to the present.
