The Mark of the Beast-What Is It?
The following is not an exhaustive explanation of the Mark of the Beast
found in Revelation 13 and 14. I have endeavored to cover some of the main
points to show that the Mark of the Beast has nothing to do with the
Roman Catholic Church, the observance of the Sabbath, or Christians that meet on
Sunday to worship God, or having a micro chip or bar code installed on their
person. I might also add the mark of the beast does not apply to any person
living since the first century.
The book of Revelation is written in symbolic and
allegorical language. As such, to try and assign an infallible literal meaning
is the cause of much confusion in the denominational community.
It is important to understand to whom John was writing and its purpose and to
understand the time in history that the Mark of the Beast took place. The focus
of Revelation is on the Church in John's day which was being persecuted by
Imperial Rome.
Who was John writing to when he wrote Revelation?
Who was John writing to when he wrote Revelation?
Rev 1:11 (NIV) 11which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
John was writing to the seven churches of Asia, which is modern day
Turkey.
Although there were many other churches in existence at this time, God chose only these seven churches to send this message. It was not a message to the Christian world. He certainly was not writing to man/woman founded denominations and churches that came into existence 2000 years later with their hundreds if not thousands of private interpretations of the end of the world scenario.
Although there were many other churches in existence at this time, God chose only these seven churches to send this message. It was not a message to the Christian world. He certainly was not writing to man/woman founded denominations and churches that came into existence 2000 years later with their hundreds if not thousands of private interpretations of the end of the world scenario.
What was the purpose of this
message?
Rev 1:1 (NIV) 1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.
To show his servants what was soon to take place.
His servants would be those servants alive and hearing the message in the
seven
churches in the seven cities. While Daniel's vision was not to take place
"soon" as he was told to seal the message till the time of the end
Dan 12:4 (NIV)
4But
you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the
end.
Daniel and his generation would not live to see the fulfillment.
Dan 12:11 - Dan 12:13 (NIV)
11“From
the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes
desolation is set up, there will be 1,290
days.
12Blessed
is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
13“As
for you, go your way till the end.
You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will
rise to receive your allotted inheritance.”
Now notice John's instructions,
that is not to seal up the prophecy as the time is near.
Rev 22:10 (NIV)
10Then
he told me, “
Do
not seal up the words of the prophecy
of
this book,
because the time is near.
What were the results of reading and hearing this
message?
Rev 1:3 (NIV) 3Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
Rev 1:3 (NIV) 3Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
The "blessing" comes after a
lector (church leader) would
read this divine message from God to those gathered
in each of the seven churches, and they would hear and
take to heart that the "time
is near" for fulfillment.
To make this prophecy, "the time is
near" applicable to us 2000 years later, is without foundation. Suppose
John told the hearers that this is to take place 2000 years later. They
no doubt would ask, "what do you mean then by "the time is near"?
What was God's Warning?
Rev 14:9 - Rev 14:10 (NIV) 9A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
God is warning the members of the seven churches against worshipping and
giving
homage to the beast and his image. It was a warning about worship. The
warning by God was simple. If you choose to worship the beast and his
image
and receive his mark you will be punished with burning sulfur.
The
Sea Beast: Who is it?
Rev 13:1 (NIV) 1And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. T he dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.
The Sea Beast had seven heads and ten horns which is a composite picture of Daniel's four
beasts found in Daniel 7:1.
The heads represented with crowns could very well represent the Roman emperor's men
with kingly authority. One head seemed to have a mortal wound but was healed,
Rev. 13:3. This could be Julius Caesar or Nero. The death did not kill the
beast and the beast lived on with other Caesars in control of Rome.
Most all
Bible expositors agree that the seven headed Sea Beast is Imperial Rome.
The dragon is continuing his fight
against the early church (the seed of the woman), in
Rev 12:12, now using the Sea Beast as his medium. We
can see the persecution warning is imminent to the NT Church. We have
the dragon, giving power and authority to Imperial Rome to persecute and put to
death Christians.
Rev 12:12 - Rev 12:14 (NIV)
12 Therefore
rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the
sea,
because
the devil has gone down to you! He
is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
13When
the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who
had given birth to the male child. 14The
woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the
place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a
time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.
This is the NT Apostolic Church going
into hiding from the dragon's inspired Roman persecution. Satan and his angels
lost their place in heaven before creation and here we have the devil being cast
down from heaven as "the accuser of our brothers" after Calvary,
thus
showing the dragon/Rome persecution was 2000 years ago.
Rev 12:9 - Rev
12:11 (NIV)
9The
great dragon was hurled down—that
ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.
He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10Then
I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.
For
the accuser of our brothers, who
accuses them before our God day and night, has
been hurled down.
The Sea Beast makes war and conquers the saints.
Rev 13:7 (NIV)
7He
was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them.
When Satan, the Dragon, could not kill the son of the woman (Jesus) he vents his
anger on the remaining (remnant) ones by using Imperial Rome as his instrument
to cause fear and death. See Rev. 12:17.
The Earth Beast
The Earth Beast
Rev 13:11 - Rev 13:18 (NIV) 11Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. 12He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. 14Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.
The Earth Beast follows immediately after the Sea Beast and they work
together in unison to persecute the saints,
and
not to follow after the demise of the Sea Beast, as some
teach, being Papal Rome. Here we need to say that the dragon, earth, and sea
beast are one as well as the Caesars that is being controlled by the dragon.
The Earth Beast forces
worship of the Sea Beast by setting up and image to honor him. Throughout Rome
there were temples with statues and images of the Caesars and the Roman gods. This
represented the Roman Empire. And those that
would worship the beast (Rome/Caesars) would receive the mark and number of
the beast.
The Devil, Sea Beast, Earth Beast also Called
the False Prophet Meet Their End.
The Unholy Trinity. The Dragon, the Sea Beast, the Earth Beast also called
the False Prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire.
Rev 16:13 (NIV) 13Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
The devil, beast, and false prophet are thrown in the lake of fire.
Rev 19:20 (NIV) 20But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Rev 19:20 (NIV) 20But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Rev 20:9 - Rev 20:10 (NIV)
10And
the
devil,
who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the
beast
and the
false
prophet
had
been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Now the members of the seven churches know that the Sea Beast is the Roman
Empire and the Earth Beast/False Prophet that forces
cultic emperor worship is the temple priests.
The
Mystery Number 666, who is it?
John now provides his readers with an identification of the Beast in a very different form: Rev 13:16 - Rev 13:18 (NIV) 16He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17s o that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.
John would not give the members of the seven
churches a puzzle that they could not solve. Part II section
which follows shows that 666 had nothing to do with the Pope of Rome.
For John to make this apocalyptic message against the Pope and the Catholic
Church would have made no sense to the first century Christians as there were no
popes at this time in history. John made it clear that the “time” of the prophecy was “near”. It was
not a distant 2000 years later.
Titus Flavius Domitianus
Most Bible expositors give us two candidates from Imperial Rome, Nero and Titus Flavius Domitianus. My choice is Domitian, (A.D. 81-96) the very Roman Emperor who was beginning to demand that his citizens worship him, virtually as a god, at the very time that John penned his prophecy. This simple historical detail is beyond all quibble. Most importantly, his official title in Latin was Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus Germanicus. This was rendered as Autokrator Kaisar Dometianos Sebastos Germanikos for his Greek-speaking subjects. And in turn, for their coins, this abbreviated to A.KAI.DOMET.SEB.GE=666 (1+20+1+10+4+70+40+5+300+200+5+2+3+5).
How could they possibly miss John’s point , or even look elsewhere, with the very coins with his picture jangling in their pockets had his picture!
And of course Domitain's name added up to 666. It is significant that, contrary to every other explanation of 666 of which I am aware, the Domitian employs every last letter of his official title in Greek in summing to 666! One of the threats facing the NT Christians was economic. They would not be able to buy or sell. Rev 13:16 - Rev 13:17 (NIV) 17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/coins/domitian.html
Obverse: Head of Domitian laureate, encircled by CAES DIVI AVG VESP F DOMITIANVS COS VII. |
Reverse: Minerva advancing brandishing javelin in right hand and holding shield in left hand. S C to left and right in field. |
Domitian Statue:
http://www.beloit.edu/classics/main/courses/history222/flavians/Domitian_statue(75CE)large.jpg
http://www.beloit.edu/classics/main/courses/history222/flavians/Domitian_statue(75CE)large.jpg
More Domitian/Christian relationship;
http://www.answers.com/domitian&r=67
Others Bible expositors choose Caesar Nero
(A.D. 54-69) as the man 666.
“John obviously did not expect his readers who had understanding (v.17) to have any difficulty in identifying
the beast, since they could simply calculate the meaning of this cryptogram. Here using English characters, the Hebrew form of "Caesar Nero" is Nrwn Qsr (pronounced "Neron Kaiser"). The value of the seven Hebrew Letters is 50, 200, 6, 50, 100, 60, and 200 respectively. The total is 666. This is the solution advocated by David S. Clark, Jay Adams, Kenneth Gentry, David Chilton, and most others.” Revelation Four Views, p. 302. I would like to note in order to get 666 from Nero, it has to be an obscure alternate spelling of Neron Caesar.
"Nero Caesar as spelt in Hebrew or Aramaic
(precisely the required spelling) appears on an Aramaic document of Nero's reign
from the Wadi Murabba'at, in Jordan)." New International Bible Commentary,
p.1616.
The Caesars erected temples throughout Rome.
Each emperor was called Augustus or
Sebastos, meaning
One to be worshiped; they also took on the
name divus (god) and even Deus and
Theos (God).
IN CONCLUSION
IN CONCLUSION
The Mark of the Beast prophecy was fulfilled in the first century and not 2000 years later. The Roman Empire were persecuting and putting to death Christians by the thousands, in the arenas. They were being made human torches, killed in gladiator events, and eaten by wild animals because they would not worship the false gods of Rome. Emperor worship was required as the Caesars claimed they were gods and demanded worship. The Mark of the Beast was a warning to Christian Jews under the New Covenant as well as Gentile converts not to give worship to Rome which was due only to God.
This makes all the sense in the world and is very clear. It is not like following a bunny path into the Alice in Wonderland mold. I think it has very strong merit
~Dennis
