What’s the Deal with the Mark of the Beast? Part 2

(Part #2 of 4 examining the four approaches to Revelation 13:16-18)

Revelation 13:16-18 - 16 “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, 17 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. 18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”

There are four different approaches to the Book of Revelation. It’s important to understand “How” to approach reading it before we do, so that we can better grasp John’s vivid imagery.

Here is a brief description of each approach:

Historicist View - This approach sees parallels between current events and biblical prophecy. Not too many folks hold this view any longer.

Idealist View - This view is primarily a symbolic description of the ongoing battle between God and the devil, between good and evil. This view is truly a practical approach to the book of Revelation.

Preterist View – In this, prophecies of Revelation were fulfilled in AD 70 when Titus and his Roman army overran Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish temple. There are two sub-views to this: Partial and Full. The full view is difficult to justify because it literally leaves NO ROOM for the return of Christ. The partial view is understandable and widely held, even as part of the Idealist view.

Futurist View - The futurist approach holds that most of the events described in the book will take place in the end times, just prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ, or after a rapture, or “removal” of the believers.

Those are the four approaches.

This week’s view: The Historicist

When it comes to the Mark of the Beast, there is a distinctly different approach by the Historicist. Attempts by them to tie the ceremonies of the Roman Church to the mark of the beast have merit, because the Roman Church has, at times, prevented those who denied its authority from being able to do things such as buy and sell.  The Roman church’s relationship to a number of governments - especially those of the late-middle ages - may well serve as a model of sorts for an end-times marriage between heresy and the state.

There was a clear reason that such strong men of God over the last 500 years of church history, held to the historicist approach to understanding Revelation. When the Catholic church was literally in charge of so much with little to no accountability, it led several people to revolt against it. Thus, the Protestant Reformation was birthed.

The Protestant Reformers tended to hold the belief that the Antichrist power would be revealed so that everyone would comprehend and recognize that the Pope is the real, true Antichrist and not the vicar of Christ. Doctrinal works of literature published by the Lutherans, the Reformed Churches, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Anabaptists, and the Methodists, contain references to the Pope as the Antichrist. For instance, the Westminster Confession in 1646 and the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, include articles written directly about the correlation to the papacy as an antichrist.

In 1754, John Wesley published his Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, which is currently an official Doctrinal Standard of the United Methodist Church. In his notes on the Book of Revelation (chapter 13), he said this: “…but that the last Pope in this succession will be more eminently the Antichrist, the Man of Sin, adding to that of his predecessors a peculiar degree of wickedness from the bottomless pit."

In calling the pope the "Antichrist", the Lutherans understood as a papal (pope) claim to unlimited authority over everything and everyone reminded them of the apocalyptic imagery of Daniel 11, a passage that even prior to the Reformation had been applied to the pope as the Antichrist of the last days. In fact, it was so ingrained in the Reformation Era, that Martin Luther himself stated it repeatedly: "This teaching [of the supremacy of the pope] shows forcefully that the Pope is the very Antichrist, who has exalted himself above, and opposed himself against Christ, because he will not permit Christians to be saved without his power, which, nevertheless, is nothing, and is neither ordained nor commanded by God".

and,

"nothing else than the kingdom of Babylon and of the very Antichrist. For who is the man of sin and the son of perdition, but he who by his teaching and his ordinances increases the sin and perdition of souls in the church; while he yet sits in the church as if he were God? All these conditions have now for many ages been fulfilled by the papal tyranny."

Pretty strong language! But these two men weren’t it. In fact, John Calvin, John Wycliff, John Hus and John Knox, all made such regimented claims because they experienced it firsthand! And this is important as we look back through church history, to see how certain people felt at certain times regarding what they felt was biblical prophecy happening before their very eyes. The identification of the Roman Catholic Church as the apostate power written of in the Bible as the Antichrist became evident to many as the Reformation began.

What does all of this mean? Well, you cannot look at any one of these men and think that they were off their proverbial rocker, so to speak. These were proven men of the faith - reputable theologians - that had strong inclinations against the Catholic Church and the Pope’s authority. As much as they make a great case for their arguments, it really points to the fact that we are looking at what the Apostle John said in his epistle letter: “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour.” – 1 John 2:18.

In other words, they can be linked to many horrible instances over time – but they are not the only one. There are many, and have been many. And we are told by the New Testament writers – especially Christ’s recorded words in the four gospels – that there will be many false teachers and many will be led astray; secular rulers, kings and leaders who arise and attempt to usurp the power of God; and governments who rule in such a tyrannical way that it leaves no little room for Christians who suffer under it to not look at them as identified biblical focuses. However, this can be identified throughout all of time and I believe this is the purpose of John’s epistle letters.

This was not an article meant to focus on the Catholic church, but to understand just how the Reformer’s felt we must gaze at their writings with much respect to their emphasis. In retrospect of time, there can be appeal by nearly every generation of the antichrist and the mark of the beast. The Historicist’s view isn’t as popular today as it once was – and for good reason. However, by the same token, we can learn a great deal by not throwing out babies with bath water in regard to how strong someone holds to a particular view… especially when they lived it!

I imagine I might even hold to a different view in my approach to Revelation had I lived through such a time as the Reformation. But I didn’t, so I do not hold to this view. But I respect it.

Next week we will look at the Preterist view. Full Preterism and partial Preterism and how they shape up.

Pastor Patrick D. Garlock