The Mark of the Beast
Christians have already tried to interpret this topic from several directions, but I don’t think they are looking for answers in the right place. Each age has its own fashion, and so it is with the mark of the beast. In modern times, due to advances in technology, it is imagined in the form of implantable microchips, or by consuming an energy drink called Monster, the sign in Hebrew 666. Not so long ago, the barcode was considered the mark of the beast. Before the barcode, the American president was considered the stamp of the beast (Ronald Wilson Reagan), whose three names consist of 6 letters, or Hitler, whose numeric value gives the number 666, just like Emperor Nero.
That is why I think we should not go in that direction, but compare it to Scripture. God gave it in the law to be a reminder on the hands and foreheads of the people of Israel. God commanded that those always be before their eyes (head tefillin) and act accordingly (hand tefillin).
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
„"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
God did not give these marks just to be on us externally, but to put its meaning on ourselves. So we can see, as in the book of Revelation, so in the commandment of God it is a sign of hand and forehead. These can be embodied physically in both cases, but their importance is in a spiritual sense.
If someone does not wear a head tefillin and a hand tefillin, that person can continually meditate on the word of God and even act. The fact that someone does not wear tassels (there are 613 knots on it that are reminiscent of laws one by one) can still keep God's law.
Jesus’ speeches were also of spiritual origin, just as then, most people today are bodily trying to interpret the word of God.
John 6:63
„It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
What I mean by that is that we don’t have to look at physical things in relation to the mark of the beast either. While most Christians guess what the mark of the beast might be, it may have long been worn by oneself.
Just think through the message of God’s word. What can separate us from God?
Romans 8:38-39
„For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So there is nothing that can separate us from God. But can a microchip separate us from God? We know well from the word of God that there is only one thing that can separate us from God, and that is ourselves. Our disobedience may be what can separate us from God as Jews who once wandered in the wilderness:
Hebrews 4:6
„Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,”
So what could this stamp be? If we are disobedient to God’s will. Who do not keep in their minds and do not act the laws of God.
Revelation 13:16-17
„Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”
How can thought and action be brought together by not being able to buy or sell? This is deception and theft. There are those as Christians who can only prosper in life if they are dishonest. Many cannot make a living unless they deceive and steal others. If one is serious about the Christian life, one must act on the will of God (God's law). Therefore, a true believer must live fairly.
We cannot transgress the laws of God by explaining that we cannot live financially otherwise. Because if we do that, we already have the mark of the beast on ourselves. For it is the work of the Devil to lie and steal, and those who belong to God do not wear these stamps.
Revelation 14:9-12
„And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.”
Those who keep the commandments of God and the faith in Jesus will be saved.
Antal Farkas
(February 6, 2021)
