The Mark of the Beast according to the Bible.

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The Bible predicts in the book of Revelation that just before the end of the world, the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:1-10) is going to be enforced upon the whole human race. If you do not consent to receive this mark or worship the image, to the beast you will not be able to buy or sell (verses 16-17). Eventually there will be a law that if you do not receive this mark or worship the image you will be killed (verse 15). In spite of this pressure, the people of God will not receive it.

 

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Warnings concerning the Mark of the Beast.

The warnings concerning the mark of the Beast are the most serious and solemn messages found in the Bible.

Revelation 13:16-17, "He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

Revelation 14:9-11, "Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

The mark of the Beast carries with it the greatest punishment that God has ever pronounced—the punishment of eternal separation from God—and is therefore an issue of vital importance.

 

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God's response to the enforcement to the Mark of the Beast.

God has written His official response to the enforcement of the mark of the beast and the worship of its image many centuries before its occurrence.

Revelation 14:9-12; "Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

From this important passage of scripture, we can learn several important things.

1- The worship of any image is contrary to the second commandment and forbidden in the law of God.

2- Receiving the mark of the beast will expose you to receive the wrath of God (verse 10). The only people who receive the wrath of God are those who obey unrighteousness (Romans 2:8) so the mark of the beast involves unrighteousness.

3- All unrighteousness is sin (1 John 5:17).

4- Sin is the transgression of God’s law (1 John 3:4) so the mark of the beast involves the breaking of one or more of the commandments.

5- Those who keep God’s commandments do not receive the mark of the beast (Revelation 14:12).

6- The special mark of this power is its deliberate attempt to change times and law (Daniel 7:25). A careful examination reveals that the little horn power of Daniel 7 and the beast power of Revelation 13:1-10 are the same entity.

7- The only time mentioned in God’s law is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.

8- Those who receive the mark of the beast will also receive the seven last plagues (Revelation 16:2).

9- A great number of those who are deceived by the false prophet and receive the mark of the beast will still be alive when Jesus returns in the clouds of heaven (described in symbolic language in Revelation 19:11-21) and will at that time be destroyed (verses 20-21). So, the destiny of those alive in the final generation of this world’s history will be determined by either keeping the commandments of God or receiving the mark of the beast in order to buy and sell.

Interestingly for the first time in the history of the world we are in a situation where the governments of the world are capable of preventing a person from buying or selling from centrally located computers that control the flow of digital money.

 

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Many theories about what the Mark of the Beast is.

It is surprising how many theories there are on the mark of the Beast, ranging from computer-generated IDs to implants of computer chips, the Covid vaccines etc none of which have any bearing on character, a personal relationship with God, or subjection to the government of God. The mark of the beast concerns forced worship biblically. Just like in the dark ages but much worse.

All of these theoretical marks may be useful to the Enemy in terms of monitoring human activities and controlling access to resources, but they cannot be the mark of the Beast.

Revelation does predict that things will dramatically change and that worship will be legislated someday.

 

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Who is the beast?

Before we find out what the mark of the beast is, we've got to know who or what the the beast is biblically.

Following is a description from Scripture of the beast power mainly from Revelation 13:1-10.

1- A beast in Bible prophecy represents a kingdom or nation or power (Daniel 7:17, 23).

2- This beast received his power, throne, and great authority from the dragon (Revelation 13:2). The dragon primarily represents the devil (Revelation 12:9). Secondarily, the dragon represents the pagan Roman empire because it was the pagan Roman empire that attempted to kill Jesus at his birth (Revelation 12:3-5 and Matthew 2).

3- The beast received a deadly wound, at which time it looked as if it would cease to exist.

4- The deadly wound was healed. It recovered from this deadly wound and became worldwide in its authority again.

5- This beast is a worldwide power—“all the world marveled and followed the beast” (Revelation 13:3).

6- This beast is also a religion, because the whole world will worship this power (verses 4 and 8).

7- This beast would blaspheme God, His name, His sanctuary and those who dwell in heaven (verse 6).

8- This religion would be a persecuting religion, as it would make war with the saints and overcome them (verse 7).

9- This beast rules for 42 months (verse 5).

10- This beast would gain authority over every tribe, language and nation. In other words, this is a religion that would apparently conquer and control all other religions, all languages and peoples (ibid).

11- This beast would eventually go into captivity—that happened at the time that this beast received the deadly wound (verse 10).

12- The beast would eventually be killed by the sword (ibid.) This will happen in the future.

13- This beast had a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. According to the Bible, blasphemy is described as a man assuming power to forgive sins (Mark 2:7) and as a man making himself God (John 10:33).

14- This beast arose from the sea. The sea (or water) in prophecy refers to people or a populated area (Revelation 17:15). So the beast—antichrist—would arise amid the established nations of the then known world.

15- This beast had certain characteristics in common with all the beasts in the vision of Daniel 7. Prophecies in the books of Daniel and Revelation are often presented multiple times, with details added each time to encourage accurate interpretation. The beast from the sea resembles a leopard with feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. As such, the beast combines the characteristics of the four beasts (symbols of world empires) in Daniel 7. Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome. However, John lists them in reverse order, which from his first-century perspective shows that the sea beast is related to the fourth beast of Daniel chapter 7, the Roman Empire.

16- The number of this beast is the number of a man and his number is 666 (Revelation 13:18).

All these points accurately fit only one power and that is the papacy. It arose as predicted among the populated nations of Europe, symbolized by “the sea” and the “ten horns.” Pagan Rome gave papal Rome its sit and power, and apostate Christianity replaced paganism as the means through which Satan persecuted God’s faithful people for hundreds of years.

The papacy has persecuted the saints of the Most High. In the massacre of St. Bartholemew alone most of 100,000 Protestants were slain. That the Catholic Church hunted down, tortured, and burned people at the stake throughout the Middle Ages hardly even needs to be said. That is common history. In one sweep in the year 1208, a crusade organized by Pope Innocent III crushed out the lives of approximately one million Waldenses and Albigenses in upper Italy and lower France. What was their crime? They were teaching and disseminating copies of the Scriptures to people throughout Europe in their own language. Estimates range from the most conservative figure of around 50,000,000 upwards to much larger numbers of martyrs who lost their lives during the Dark Ages at the hands of the Catholic Church during the years of its supremacy.
Does the prophecy fit? Again, history speaks for itself. As even the Roman Catholic paper, the Western Watchman, declared, “The church has persecuted, only a tyro (one uninformed in church history) will deny that.”- December 24, 1909.

In 1798 the French General Berthier under the commands of Napoleon took the pope prisoner and attempted to completely eliminate the papacy as an institution. It seems to the world that the papacy was “wounded to death.” However, the prophecy says that the wound “was healed.” In 1929 the papacy regained its civil power with the creation of the Vatican State, and the wound began to heal. At some point in the near future the Roman Catholic Church system will completely cover her former glory and will have more power and prominence than ever before. “And the entire world wondered after the beast.”

The New Catechism, under the section of the pope, states: “The pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth… He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth.”

The papacy has a “blasphemous name”. The Jewish definition of blasphemy in the days of Christ was when a man claimed to be able to forgive sins and when a man claimed to be God. The papacy claims both those things.

The papacy is a superpower with influence over all the nations of the earth. Anybody that listens to the news or reads the news knows this.

Nobody of any belief would argue against the papacy being a religious power that is worshipped.

The papacy is a worldwide religious and political power that people from every country all over the world worship. Anyone who has travelled the world knows that this is the case.

In the last days, nearly the whole world, those “whose names are not written in the book of life,” will “worship” this beast. The day is coming soon when the majority of humankind will obey the authority of the papacy above the commands of God, and will thus worship the beast. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s “Book of Life” will stay true to God. This book records the names of all the saved from every generation of Earth’s history.

 

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What is the mark of the beast?

So now that we've established who the beast is (the papacy), lets find out what its mark is.

In order to find out what the mark of the beast is, we must look at what this mark entails. Notice that the papacy (the beast) is involved in worship. “So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him. ’All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13: 4, 8). The papacy is a religious power. Only religious organizations are involved in invoking the worship of someone.

He is also involved in civil authority and government. He will be involved in the persecution and killing of those who oppose him. He will use his agents to do his work for him while he sits behind the scenes and reaps the results. “It was granted to him [the first beast] to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. And he [the second beast] exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13: 7, 12, 15- 17).

This power will subjugate the people of the earth to do his will. He will cause them to worship him, which is against God’s law. Therefore, he will teach the people of the earth to break God’s law! This is not just speaking about those who do not believe in God, but also those who profess to be His people. Could you receive the mark of the beast and still think you are following God? Jesus said many would have this experience. We read in Matthew 7: 21- 23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ (notice that they are acknowledging Jesus as Lord. These are professed Christians), shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, ’ have we not prophesied in Your name, cast our demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

These people really thought they were Christians. They thought they were “filled with the Holy Spirit,” but they had not searched hard enough for God’s will and were not willing to submit fully to His law. Jesus says to them “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6: 46). They are lawbreakers. They are those who claim that God’s law is not binding on Christians today. Someone might say, “Doesn’t the Bible say we live under grace and not the law? That we live by the Spirit of the law, not by the letter?” The answer is yes! But what does it mean to live under grace? If you were a murderer in prison on death row waiting to be executed, and the warden gave you a pardon and freed you, you would have just moved from condemnation to grace. Now that you are under grace do you have the right to go out and kill someone again? Does grace give you the authority to break the law or are you still required to keep it?

So the central issues in the final crisis will be about worship and obedience. People will have to choose who they obey and worship.

The mark of the beast involves the substitution of a human commandment for God’s commandment. Therefore people will have to choose whose commandments they obey, God's or the beast's (Satan)..

 

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What does the papacy say is her symbol, or mark, of authority?

Notice the following section from a Catholic catechism:

“Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?

Answer: Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.” Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism [FRS No. 7.], (3rd American ed., rev.: New York, Edward Dunigan & Bro., 1876), p. 174.

The papacy is here saying that it “changed” Sabbath to Sunday and that virtually all churches accepted the new holy day. Thus, the papacy claims that Sunday as a holy day is the mark, or symbol, of her power and authority.

 

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Did God predict such an attempted change?

Yes. In describing the antichrist in Daniel 7:25, God said it would “intend to change times and law.”

A. How has the papacy tried to change God’s law?

In three ways: In her catechisms she has (1) omitted the second commandment against veneration of images, and (2) shortened the
fourth (Sabbath) commandment from 94 words to just eight. The Sabbath commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) clearly specifies Sabbath as the seventh day of the week. As changed by the papacy in its catechism, the commandment reads, “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.” Written thus, it can refer to any day. And, finally, she (3) divided the tenth commandment into two commandments.

B. How has the papacy attempted to change God’s times?

In two ways: (1) She attempted to change the time of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day. (2) She also attempted to change God’s “timing” for the beginning and closing hours of the Sabbath. Instead of counting the Sabbath day from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night as God mandates (Leviticus 23:32), she adopted the pagan Roman custom of counting the day from midnight Saturday night to midnight Sunday night. God predicted these “changes” would be attempted by the beast, or antichrist.

Notice the following section from a Catholic catechism:

"Question: Which is the Sabbath day?

Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday."
Peter Geiermann, The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (St. Louis, B. Herder Book Co., 1957 ed.), p. 50.

Here is another Catholic statement: "The Church is above the Bible and this transference of Sabbath observance from Saturday to Sunday is proof positive of that fact." The Catholic Record (London, Ontario, Canada, Sept. 1, 1923).

The papacy is saying in these references that its successful change of Sabbath observance to Sunday worship is proof that its authority is greater, or "above," Scripture.

 

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Legislating the Mark.

One might think that Rome would not pursue the Sunday issue as vigorously in our age. If, however, the enforcing of the mark of the Beast is to become a reality, then this controversy will escalate until legislation is created enforcing the observance of Sunday.

The Roman Catechism, dubbed by Pope John Paul II as, "a work of the first rank as a summary of Christian teaching," says that governments are to cooperate with the Roman Church regarding Sunday law:

"Cooperation by the Civil Authorities Regarding This Commandment: The civil authorities should be urged to cooperate with the church in maintaining and strengthening this public worship of God, and to support with their own authority the regulations set down by the Church's pastors.

In explaining this commandment the pastor should include a discussion on how it is related to the other commandments: how it resembles them and how it differs from them. For it is only in this way that the faithful will understand why it is Sunday and not the Sabbath day that we now keep holy." Robert I. Bradley and Eugene Kevane (trans.), The Roman Catechism (Boston, MA: St. Paul Editions, 1985): 386.

Just prior to the new millennium, Pope John Paul II took several steps towards this cooperation between his Church and the state. The Church has introduced strict obedience laws into its canon requiring total submission to the Pope in matters of doctrine. For example, in his 1998 apostolic letter on Sunday sanctity, Dies Domini, the Pope repeatedly asks for Sunday legislation to enforce its observance.

Just a few days after issuing the directive on the maintenance of Sunday, the Vatican issued its apostolic letter, Ad Tuendam Fidem, making strong statements about submission to the Pope on issues of doctrine.

These apostolic letters say that those who deny the Catholic faith will be branded a heretic, and will be punished. History will repeat itself. Just as refusal to observe Sunday led to economic measures, persecution, and eventually death in the past, the same will happen again.

However, this time the decree will be universal and the whole world will have to choose between allegiance to God or allegiance to Satan. Then, according to Daniel and John there will follow a time of trouble such as never was:

"When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin" (Maranatha: 193).

 

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Revelation 13:16 says people will receive the mark of the beast in the forehead or in the hand. What does this mean?

The mark of the beast is not an outward mark that all can see, but an inward mark of a deceptive thought process and a corrupted heart. The beast’s mark will be written on the hearts and minds of all who follow his doctrines and theology.

The forehead in prophetic symbology represents the mind (Hebrews 10:16). A person will be marked in the forehead by a decision to keep Sunday as a holy day. The hand is a symbol of work (Ecclesiastes 9:10). A person will be marked in the hand by working on God’s holy Sabbath or by going along with Sunday laws for practical reasons (job, family, etc.). The sign, or mark, for either God or the beast will be invisible to people. You will, in essence, mark yourself by accepting either God’s mark—the Sabbath—or the beast’s mark—Sunday. Though invisible to men, God will know who has which mark (2 Timothy 2:19).

 

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Do people who worship on Sunday as a holy day have the mark of the beast now?

Absolutely not! No one will have the mark of the beast until Sunday worship becomes an issue forced by law. At that time, those who decide to follow the false teachings of the beast and worship on Sunday—the beast’s counterfeit holy day—will receive his mark. Those who follow Jesus and obey His truth will receive His mark. Those who expect to refuse the beast’s mark in the future must step under Jesus’ whole truth now. His power is available to those who obey Him (Acts 5:32). Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). With Him, all things are possible (Mark 10:27).

 

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What is God’s mark, or symbol, of authority?

In Old Testament times there were two outward signs as identifiers of God’s true people. One of them was circumcision.

God commanded Abraham and his descendants to be circumcised as a sign of the covenant of salvation. Males were to be circumcised on the eighth day (Leviticus 12:3) . However, this ritual had a deeper significance. It was meant to symbolize the need for “circumcision” or renewal of the heart (Deuteronomy 30:6). That is why Paul writes: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God” (Romans 2:28-29).

Texts such as 1 Corinthians 7:19, Galatians 5:6, and 6:15 show that in the New Testament circumcision is replaced by baptism, which symbolizes conversion, a “new creation”, a dying to sin and rising to a new life (Romans 6:3-4). That is why Paul says circumcision is no longer important and that it is “faith working through love” and “keeping the commandments of God” that really matter.

“He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also” (Romans 4:11).

The second outward sign that God gave to identify His people was the Sabbath.

“I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them...hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” (Ezekiel 20:12, 20).

“Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. ... It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth” (Exodus 31:13, 17).

In these texts, God is saying that He gave us His Sabbath as a sign of His power to create and His power to sanctify (convert and save) us. In the Bible, the words seal, sign, mark, and token are used interchangeably. God’s sign, the Sabbath, represents His holy power to rule as Creator and Saviour. Revelation 7:1-3 says it will be written upon the foreheads (minds—Hebrews 10:16) of His people. It will signify that they are owned by Him and have His character. Hebrews 4:4-10 confirms this by saying that when we enter His rest (receive salvation), we should keep His seventh day Sabbath holy as a symbol, or mark, of salvation. True Sabbath keeping signifies that a person has surrendered his life to Jesus Christ and is willing to follow wherever Jesus leads. Since the symbol, mark, of God’s authority and power is His holy Sabbath day, it seems likely that the symbol, or mark, of God’s challenger—the beast—also involves a holy day.

The Sabbath as a sign goes all the way back to Creation (Genesis 2:2-3) , whereas circumcision began only with Abraham. Thus Jesus said, in referring to Genesis, “the sabbath was made for mankind” (Mark 2:27). It shows that we belong to God, by creation because He made us and by redemption because He justifies and sanctifies us. Thus, though Paul says that circumcision is no longer important, he argues that keeping God’s commandments (which includes the Sabbath) still is important (Hebrews 4:9).

 

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The Sabbath as the Seal.

As we have seen, the seventh-day Sabbath has been a sign of God’s true people throughout history, beginning with Adam and Eve and continuing during the time of Israel. We also see it perpetuated in the New Testament church with the practice of Jesus and the apostles, and as a distinguishing sign of God’s last-day people who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).

Why is the Sabbath so important, and what special significance does it have for Christians?

Exodus 20:8-11, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

Hebrews 4:9-10, "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His."

The Sabbath appears in the heart of the Ten Commandments. It was given by the Creator as a sign or seal of His authority. It identifies Him by name, “The LORD your God”. It identifies the realm over which He has jurisdiction, “the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them”. It also identifies the basis of His authority, “for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, . . . and rested the seventh day”.

The New Testament identifies Jesus as the One through whom God made all things.

John 1:1-3, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."

Colossians 1:16, "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him."

Hebrews 1:1-2, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds."

It is Jesus who created our world in six days and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, it is highly significant that as Jesus hung on the cross that Friday afternoon, He cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Just as He rested on the Sabbath after finishing His work of Creation, so Jesus rested in the tomb over the Sabbath after finishing His sacrificial work by dying in our place for our redemption. So, the Sabbath is doubly blessed, first at Creation and then at the cross. That is why, according to the book of Hebrews, in resting on the Sabbath the Christian shows that he “has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10). The Sabbath is a perfect symbol of the fact that we cannot save ourselves, that from start to finish it is Christ’s work made possible through faith (compare Hebrews 12:2).

 

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Since neither Sabbath nor Sunday are specifically mentioned in the book of Revelation, how can the mark of the beast involve a day of worship or a law requiring the observance of Sunday?

The mark of the beast is mentioned seven times in Revelation (13:16-17; 14:9, 11; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4). Four of these appear in its central vision (Revelation 12-14), which is introduced by a view of the ark of the covenant containing the ten commandments (Revelation 11:19).

God’s remnant people are identified as those who “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). Immediately after this, John describes two beasts which persecute God’s church: (1) “a beast rising up out of the sea” (Revelation 13:1) and (2) “another beast coming up out of the earth” (Revelation 13:11). The first beast commands false worship and his persecuting activity resembles that of the “little horn” of Daniel 7 that would “intend to change times and law” (Daniel 7:25) and persecutes God’s people for 1260 days (Revelation 13:4, 8). The connection with Daniel’s prophecy shows that the false worship involves an attempt to change God’s “times” and His ten commandment law. The one commandment of the ten dealing with time is the fourth— to keep the seventh-day Sabbath holy.

Historically, the attempt to change the day of worship has been perpetrated by the papacy of Rome which reveres Sunday as the day of rest instead of Saturday, the biblical Sabbath. The fact that the second beast in Revelation 13, representing the United States of America, exercises the same authority as the first beast (Revelation 13:12) and cooperates with the first beast to enforce false worship shows that Sunday will be an important distinguishing mark of those who worship the beast and his image in contrast to God’s remnant people who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). Their obedience includes keeping the seventh day holy because they heed the call to “worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” (Revelation 14:7; Exodus 20:11). These will receive the seal of God (Revelation 7:4; 14:1) while those who reject this call and reverence Sunday, the mark of the beast’s authority, are described as part of Babylon and receive the mark of the beast (Revelation 14:8-11). The final test, then, is over true or false worship based either on obedience to God’s law, including the Sabbath, or a man-made day of worship, Sunday.

 

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The Second beast of revelation 13.

Having identified the first beast of Revelation 13 as the papacy, we now must identify the second beast that will work together with the first beast and force the world to pay homage to the first beast. Which political power would arise on Earth with enough power to compel the world? What will its relationship be with Rome?

The verse that lies at the transition point between the descriptions of the two beasts is Revelation 13:10, which says, "He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword."

This text is significant because it identifies when the second beast will arise. Verse 11 begins, “then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth.”

In 1798, the first beast, the Papacy, was taken into captivity. This is the time in which John saw the other beast arising. It arises not out of the sea (the multitude of nations) but out of the earth, in an area that was previously not inhabited by great nations, multitudes, peoples, and tongues.

Revelation 13:11-12, "Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed."

There is only one nation that qualifies to be the second beast, based on the criteria mentioned in this passage. The power described would have to become a mighty nation in order to exercise authority over all the nations of the world. It had to have arisen out of an unoccupied territory, because it was "coming up out of the earth," or the opposite of the sea, which symbolizes occupation of many nations and languages.

As seen in the passage above, the power would have lamb-like qualities, but would speak like a dragon. This means that the nation must have attributes of Christ, but that it would relinquish these in favour of attributes of the dragon.

 

[phipps]

Only America Qualifies.

The United States of America is a global power that was established in a sparsely populated area of the world. During the 1260 years of persecution against the Protestant Church, God was preparing a place of escape for His persecuted saints. At the right time, as the Reformation was gaining power and the Catholic Church was weakening, Protestant Christians came across the Atlantic to escape the reach of Rome’s oppressive arm.

In Revelation 12:15-16 we are told this, "So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth."

In this passage, the earth represents the uninhabited New World to which the woman (the persecuted Church, see Jeremiah 6:2 and 2 Corinthians 11:2) fled to escape papal persecution. By 1776 the War of Independence had ended. The American Constitution came into effect in 1789. Just around the time of the end of the 1260-year prophecy, the USA was rising as an independent nation—exactly in the time frame predicted by the Bible.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Protestantism.

America was founded on lofty Christian principles of freedom and equality. It represented everything Rome hated. America's two greatest documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, are filled with Protestant declarations that are absolutely intolerable to Rome. America was the bastion of Protestantism, a free world with no monarch that could not be controlled by Rome as the many monarchs of Europe had been for centuries.

America had a republican form of government. It spelled a massive threat to the rebuilding of Rome's control in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation. Not surprisingly, we find the Vatican opposed to the founding documents of the United States, as Avro Manhattan, British broadcasting journalist and author of over 20 books on the Vatican tells us:

"The Vatican condemned the Declaration of Independence as wickedness and called the Constitution of the United States a Satanic Document." Avro Manhattan, The Dollar and the Vatican (Ozark Book Publishers, 1988): 26.

Plans had been laid at the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and subsequent Councils to regain the power lost during the Reformation. This Counter Reformation that began during the Council of Trent had to ensure that the new nation of America did not get strong enough to oppose Rome's plans. The early founders of America recognized the threat their new country posed to the Old World power. Many founding leaders wrote of this threat and did what they could to prevent it.

Charles Chiniquy, an ex-Catholic priest and author of the book Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, lived during the early part of America's history. In his book, he writes, "Rome saw at once that the very existence of the United States was a formidable menace to her own life." Charles Chiniquy, Fifty Years in the "Church" of Rome (California: Chick Publications, 1985): 291. He also wrote, "Liberty of conscience is proclaimed by the United States a most sacred principle, which every citizen must uphold...But liberty of conscience is declared by all the popes and councils of Rome, a most godless, unholy, and diabolical thing, which every good Catholic must abhor and destroy at any cost." Ibid: 284.

It was in 1854 that Pope Pius IX wrote, "The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defence of liberty of conscience are a most pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a state." Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Letter (August 15, 1854).

The Papacy thoroughly detests liberty of conscience. In 1864, in his encyclical Quanta Cura, Pius IX condemned to hell "those who assert liberty of conscience and of religious worship." Pope Pius IX, Quanta Cura (December 8, 1864). The United States of America's founding principles were obviously a serious threat to Rome, and not to be tolerated. Many saw Rome making silent subtle advances into America's inner workings through Rome's secret police, the Jesuits.

As the years progressed, through the subtlety of these enemies and America's diminished faithfulness to its Protestant roots, the nation was slowly changed and infiltrated. It no longer resembles the lofty ideal it once stood for.

 

[ARose]

Phipps, I trust your scholarly theological interpretation but there’s a conflict between an interpretation of Revelations and Jesus dying on the cross and being resurrected to make way for those who have accepted him as Lord and Savior and devote to living worthy of it and human martyrdom in end times being a display of acts, to be fit to not be damned to Hell.

I don’t think it will be a matter of starvation or “The Mark of The Beast” because that diminishes the resurrection. Nor that it will be a matter if trickery against sincere Catholics with devotion to Christ. Though you did mention taking the mark would have to explicitly be tied to an act of sin, a defying of the Commandments.

Works based salvation does not supersede Christ’s resurrection, just because of the period on the timeline of the world.

 

[phipps]

@ARose

Phipps, I trust your scholarly theological interpretation but there’s a conflict between an interpretation of Revelations and Jesus dying on the cross and being resurrected to make way for those who have accepted him as Lord and Savior and devote to living worthy of it and human martyrdom in end times being a display of acts, to be fit to not be damned to Hell.

The name "Revelation" means "revealing" or "unveiling" and the introductory words of the book make it clear what is being revealed. The first five Words are, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" (Revelation1:1). So it is Jesus and His magnificent, loving plans that are being unveiled or revealed in the book of Revelation. There is no conflict between the interpretations of Revelation and Jesus dying on the cross for those who choose to be saved. Revelation is a prophetic book letting us know what is to come in the future so that we can prepare ourselves. Jesus Himself is the one who has revealed these things to us through the apostle John.

The book of revelation is a book of good news for Christians. It shows what must shortly come to pass and if we persevere till the end with Jesus in the driving seat in our lives, we will get eternal life and be with Him forever. In the end Jesus wins and Satan loses.

Now no one chooses to be a martyr but a time is coming as I've posted where Christians are going to choose between God and Satan. Just like in the dark ages, many Christians will refuse to obey man made tradition and that unfortunately will lead many to their death because they rather die than disobey God. There is another story in Daniel 3 where three people, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down to the image of gold that king Nebuchadnezzar wanted all the people in the land to bow down to. They were thrown in a fiery furnace and had told the king before that, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18). Only true Christians who love, worship and obey God in truth can do this. They have the power of Christ that gives them the strength to not give in to the world powers even on pain of death.

Jesus will reward all those who refused to obey worldly powers over Him. This world is not our home and true Christians are hated and the devil always persecutes and kills them through his human agents. Jesus was killed, the apostles were killed and many Christians during the dark ages were killed for preaching the truth. And many Christians are persecuted and killed today and will be in the future for preaching and living God's truth. Only after the devil and the unrighteous die forever will hatred of God's people and truth stop forever.

I don’t think it will be a matter of starvation or “The Mark of The Beast” because that diminishes the resurrection. Nor that it will be a matter if trickery against sincere Catholics with devotion to Christ. Though you did mention taking the mark would have to explicitly be tied to an act of sin, a defying of the Commandments.

Nothing in the book of Revelation diminishes the resurrection. We are saved because Jesus died on the cross for our sins. If we choose to accept His gift of salvation and walk in the light He provides for us through His Word, and obey Him, we will be saved. However Satan is also in this world and from the beginning he has been planning/plans that we all be lost and go to hell with him. He knows he is lost and he knows how much it will hurt Christ to lose His people eternally after the sacrifice He gave for all of us. Luckily for us God knows Satan's plans and has forewarned us of them so that we don't give in to Him no matter how difficult he is going to make life for those who choose to follow God. As long as we live in this world and get closer to God the devil will do everything he can to make us fail in our Christian journey. And just before Jesus comes back the second time, its going to be so bad because Satan knows he has such a short time.

Works based salvation does not supersede Christ’s resurrection, just because of the period on the timeline of the world.

Nothing supersedes Jesus' sacrifice for us and we are saved by grace not by works. Works just prove who we submit to. In the end time that Revelation prophecies are about, there will be two groups. Those who obey and God and those who don't. Those who choose to obey God will be in the minority and will be persecuted and it will show in their works. They will not do what the world powers ask of them but what God asks of them. Their works will prove who they worship and obey.

 

[ARose]

@ARose


The name "Revelation" means "revealing" or "unveiling" and the introductory words of the book make it clear what is being revealed. The first five Words are, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" (Revelation1:1). So it is Jesus and His magnificent, loving plans that are being unveiled or revealed in the book of Revelation. There is no conflict between the interpretations of Revelation and Jesus dying on the cross for those who choose to be saved. Revelation is a prophetic book letting us know what is to come in the future so that we can prepare ourselves. Jesus Himself is the one who has revealed these things to us through the apostle John.

The book of revelation is a book of good news for Christians. It shows what must shortly come to pass and if we persevere till the end with Jesus in the driving seat in our lives, we will get eternal life and be with Him forever. In the end Jesus wins and Satan loses.

Now no one chooses to be a martyr but a time is coming as I've posted where Christians are going to choose between Just like in the dark ages, many Christians will refuse to obey man made tradition and that unfortunately will lead many to their death because they rather die than disobey God. There is another story in Daniel 3 where three people, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down to the image of gold that king Nebuchadnezzar wanted all the people in the land to bow down to. They were thrown in a fiery furnace and had told the king before that, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18). Only true Christians who love,worship and obey God in truth can do this. They have the power of Christ that gives them the strength to not give in to the world powers even on pain of death.

Jesus will reward all those who refused to obey worldly powers over Him. This world is not our home and true Christians are hated and the devil always persecutes and kills them through his human agents. Jesus was killed, the apostles were killed and many Christians during the dark ages were killed for preaching the truth. And many Christians are persecuted and killed today and will be in the future for preaching and living God's truth. Only after the devil and the unrighteous die forever will hatred of God's people and truth stop forever.


Nothing in the book of revelation diminishes the resurrection. We are saved because Jesus died on the cross for our sins. If we choose to accept His gift of salvation and walk in the light He provides for us through His Word and obey Him, we will be saved. However Satan is also in this world and from the beginning he has been planning/plans that we all be lost and go to hell with him. He knows he is lost and he knows how much it will hurt Christ to lose His people eternally after the sacrifice He gave for all of us. Luckily for us God knows Satan's plans and has forewarned us of them so that we don't give in to Him no matter how difficult he is going to make life for those who choose to follow God. As long as we live in this world and get closer to God the devil will do everything he can to make us fail in our Christian journey. And just before Jesus comes back the second time, its going to be so bad because Satan knows he has such a short time.


Nothing supersedes Jesus' sacrifice for us and we are saved by grace not by works. Works just prove who we submit to. In the end time that Revelation prophecies about, there will be two groups. Those who obey and God and those who don't. Those who choose to obey God will be in the minority and will be persecuted and it will show in their works. They will not do what the world powers ask of them but what God asks of them. Their works will prove who they worship and obey.

I was not claiming Revelations is illegitimate. I was referring to any claims that those who will be saved are only those who have achieved some “special” wisdom of discernment or an intellectual accomplishment that results in understanding the full deceptions of Satan, rather than just willingly putting faith in Jesus Christ and maintaining sincere devotion, even when innocently deceived.

I do recognize that God’s seeming expectation of our being in state of genuine contrition, means asking forgiveness where we know we had the power to reject an opportunity to sin and we did not; That we can not hide the truth of our knowledge of what was right vs. wrong, yet choosing wrong, from God.

As, I believe, you mentioned before, the thief dying beside Jesus was saved by faith, not acts. He recognized Jesus enough to put faith in him, he was not engaged in a ritual of the law while dying from being crucified.

Jesus did not say on the cross “Father, these people are unworthy of my sacrifice, as they are not accurate in their ritual traditions”; he asked God the father to forgive them because they could not be matched in wiles with Satan and they obviously did not understand the gravity of what they had allowed.

They had been manipulated by religious scholar “experts” and “activists” into thinking justice was being done or that relief from tyranny would be achieved by submitting to the demands of their leaders.

If it were true that illumination was needed not simply faith, Jesus’ death would be irrelevant and God would not have made it clear that humans should not be engaging with the demonic realm (in human form, Jesus showed how we are to deal with temptation: “Get behind me”, do not negotiate with Satan.) We will not “out wit” Satan. Obey God with the purest faith you can offer and leave him to deal with meting justice out to Satan and his supernatural accomplices.

I think it is a misinterpretation of Revelations that many “secret societies” subscribe to, for it to be presented as a competition of the wisest vs. the most foolish, as if only those who achieve levels of enlightenment may join God, rather than those who trusted like a child and were sincere of spirit in their devotion, even if they were misled by a foolish or corrupt leader or sincerely misunderstood a law.

Perhaps you’re correct, that at that time, an innocence of where Satan is standing and working in the world, will be abolished and all will starkly know — without a doubt— if they are choosing Satan for the sake of bodily comfort vs. choosing bodily misery to remain obedient.

 

[ARose]

Also, the Jesus that turned water to wine at his mother’s request, to spare a family humiliation and the Jesus that recognized the need to feed the masses that gathered to hear him; the God that provides for the birds and therefore, will provide for us, is not a God that has no compassion for human frailty and vulnerability.

It would be incompatible with what God has already shown us about his nature for “the mark of the beast” to be eternally damning, yet dependent upon a parent not feeding their starving child. God wants obedience not child sacrifice, as he’d shown with Isaac, as he promised would be established as ended with Jesus’ death and resurrection.

“Buy and sell” has to mean a particular wickedness of bowing to a Satanic demand specifically and undeniably, rather than merely a test of loyalty that would result in the sacrifice of innocent children to prove devotion.

Again, God already settled that with Isaac: He would not demand it with eternal damnation being the price for not doing so. That can’t be the correct interpretation.