What’s the Deal with the Mark of the Beast? Part 4
(Part #4 of 4 examining the four approaches to Revelation 13:16-18)
Revelation 13:16-18 - “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. 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.”
An issue that must be addressed before proceeding to an examination of the text of Revelation is our basic hermeneutical approach to the book. There are four different approaches to the book. 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. And I will also like to say at this point that you do “not” have to side with one exclusively. Because they are all slightly different from one another, they are not exclusive. So, please keep this in mind as you read through these four articles.
This week’s view: The Idealist
Well, here we are at the 4th and final installment of addressing the question about the “Mark of the Beast”, derived from the 13th chapter of Revelation. And now we are going to address the view from the Idealist perspective. It is in stark contrast to the other explanations, but at least we have arrived here… so, now you can go back and look at all four.
But I wanted to say something first. In a sermon from last year, Pastor David Jeremiah called the COVID-19 pandemic “the most apocalyptic thing that has ever happened to us.”
Really? Not the black plague that killed 30 to 60 percent of Europe’s population, two world wars, (Some 75 million people died in World War II, including about 20 million military personnel and 40 million civilians, many of whom died from deliberate genocide, massacres, mass-bombings, disease, and starvation), the economic crisis of the Great Depression, the Dustbowl of the 1930s, or the Spanish Flu that killed 50 million people at a time when the world population was less than two billion?
What about the COVID-19 virus? Presently (as of February 2021), 2.4 million people out of the 7.8 billion people in the world today have died from the virus in over 1 year. Yes, that is a lot. However, it is still only .00028% of the world population… nothing anything near the black plague or Spanish Flu.
However, we are now at a point where we are getting the vaccines for the Coronavirus and people are concerned about getting it. They feel like this is Bill Gates’ “microchip” insertion into our bodies. And this then lends itself to asking the question: Have we arrived at this dreaded “Mark of the Beast” that we all fear from Revelation 13?
This is a topic that continues to inflame debate concerning the end times and contributes greatly to the overall hysteria that serves only to discredit the Christian community in the eyes of the world.
The popular notion among many Christians (usually of the dispensational, futurist school of interpretation) is that some such designation, whether “the name of the beast” or “the number (666) of its name” from Revelation 13 that you read in the introduction, will be forcibly imposed on people living in the final few years prior to the coming of Christ. If one wishes to buy or sell and thus survive in the days ahead, he or she must submit to this way of identification.
This interpretation is largely based on a futurist reading of Revelation, as we covered in an earlier article. Needless to say, such that what John describes pertains largely, if not solely, to that last generation of humanity alive on the earth just preceding the second coming of Christ. If, on the other hand the book of Revelation largely portrays events that occur throughout the entire course of church history, this view is seriously undermined. As is evident from Revelation 7, we should understand the “mark” of the Beast on the right hand or forehead of its followers to be a Satanic parody (a religious rip-off, so to speak) of the “seal” that is placed on the foreheads of God’s people (See Revelation 7:3-8, 14:1 and 22:4).
Many believe the reference to receiving a “mark” (found in chapters 13; 14; 16; 19 and 20) is an allusion to the ancient practice of branding or tattooing. But I do not believe that the so-called “mark of the Beast” is a literal, physical mark on the bodies of unbelievers, either on their forehead or their right hand. All through Revelation we see Satan making every effort to copy whatever God does. So, for example, the three persons of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, find their evil counterpart in Satan, the Beast, and the False Prophet. Just as Jesus died and rose again from the dead, the Beast is portrayed as dying and rising to life again. My point is simply that the so-called “mark” of the Beast that unbelievers receive on their forehead or their right hand is a demonic rip-off, a depraved parody, a counterfeit imitation of the “mark” that believers receive on their foreheads.
Look at the texts where the people of God are “sealed” on their foreheads:
“Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads” – Revelation 7:3
“They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads” - Revelation 9:4
“Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion, stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads” - Revelation 14:1
“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” - Revelation 22:4
There are some who believe that Christians will literally and physically have the name of Jesus Christ and the name of the Father tattooed on their foreheads. But reasonable consensus should remove this notion. This is simply a way of describing the fact that those who are born again and redeemed by the blood of Christ belong to him and to his Father and are preserved in faith by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
When we read that the False Prophet causes everyone who isn’t a Christian to have the mark of the Beast written on their forehead, we are to understand this as a sign that they belong to the Beast and are loyal to him. This “mark” on their foreheads or on their right hand is simply Satan’s way of mimicking the seal of God that is on the foreheads of God’s people. If you have the name of Jesus and God the Father written on your forehead it simply means they own you, you belong to them, you are loyal to the Lord God Almighty.
But if you have “the name of the beast” written on your forehead it signifies that he owns you, you belong to him, you are loyal to the Antichrist. My point is that if you don’t argue that the name of Jesus and God the Father is literally tattooed on the foreheads of Christians you have no reason to argue that the name of the Antichrist (or his number, 666) is literally tattooed on the foreheads of non-Christians.
Some have found the background for the “mark” of the beast in the Jewish practice of wearing phylacteries. These were leather boxes containing Scripture passages (Exodus 13:9,16; Deuteronomy 6:8; 11:18; Matthew 23:5) that were worn either on the left arm (facing the heart) or the forehead. The mark of the beast, however, was to be placed on the right hand. Others have pointed out that the word “mark” was used of the emperor’s seal on business contracts and the impress of the Roman ruler’s head on coins. Perhaps, then, “the mark alludes to the state’s political and economic ‘stamp of approval,’ given only to those who go along with its religious demands.”
It seems quite clear that the “mark” of the beast on his followers is the demonic counterpart and parody of the “seal” that is placed on the foreheads of the people of God. Beale said, “Just as the seal and the divine name on believers connote God’s ownership and spiritual protection of them, so the mark and Satanic name signify those who belong to the devil and will undergo perdition.”
When commanded not to speak to “any man in this name,” Peter and John responded, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard” - Acts 4:17–20. The proclamation that “Jesus is Lord” in 1 Corinthians 12:3 and “that there is another king, Jesus” in Acts 17:7, was a religious and political affront to those in power throughout the Roman Empire. Such proclamations were acts “contrary to Caesar” and “against this holy place (the temple) and this law. These passages fit together nicely since true redemption comes, not from Rome or earthly Jerusalem, but from where “the Lamb was standing,” that is, on Mount Zion. The writer of Hebrews describes Mount Zion’s location: “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels.” - Hebrews 12:22
Chapters 13 and 14 of Revelation contrast two ways of salvation: access to the temple through the mark, name, or number of the Beast or through the name of the Lamb “having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads” – Revelation 14:1. Those who were circumcised only in their flesh followed the Beast, while those circumcised in the heart followed the Lamb.
When we study the Book of Revelation from the Idealist perspective, we can see the big picture in which the Book gives us a look at creation to consummation. Eventually, there will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.” While those opposed to Christ governed access to the earthly temple over which the two beasts conspired to resist the things of Christ and His church, John pointed believers to “the heavenly Jerusalem.”
Now, this interpretation is most likely new for you. It was for me when I first heard it explained. That’s okay. I believe it makes more sense than trying to fit the book of Revelation into a modern-day technological society.
Here’s the question: Can we derive any modern-day application from a prophecy that has already been fulfilled?
Here’s the Answer: Absolutely, any type of control and marking to identify people for whatever “good” reason, especially when it’s done by a government or religion (Islam) is evil. All fulfilled prophecy still has application for us today in the same way biblical history does.
We just honestly need to find rest in the truth of the gospel. And since we are ending this series with this last article, I want to give you something to think about.
We have arrived at an interesting time in our present culture. In February of 2021, the United States is (for the first time since it became a country), truly turning its citizens against proclaimed Christians. It’s open season on calling out folks for having a faith in Christ. For the past 200 years, the United States evangelical movement has adopted a teaching called Dispensationalism. It’s where we find the whole “secret rapture” taught. If you would like to hear a sermon about this, please click the What Is The Rapture? link at the end of this article.
American evangelicals have bought into this idea that we will be “raptured” or removed form this earth before crap really hits the fan. Problem is, this was never taught before Dispensationalism (in 1830) and pretty much only taught still in America. Their entire doctrine was built on sinking sand. It’s sole purpose for understanding is that God created two separate peoples: Jew and Gentile. However, when we read the New Testament, we see that we are one people of God (Read Ephesians 2). The Gentiles have been grafted in. They are no less loved, and no less important as they are part of God’s elect.
I truly believe that the Dispensational ideology has confused and (in its greatest effort from Satan), made us American’s believe that we will not suffer Tribulation. We even went as far as to allow the New International Version of the Bible remove the term “tribulation” and insert “trouble” or “suffering” instead, to lessen the idea that tribulation wasn’t for us “Christians”. Never, ever, has there been a larger lie than this. Jesus suffered on a cross for our sins… what makes us so special? Especially when we are told by the Lord Jesus Christ, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33.
We must understand that the “chronological, literal” hermeneutic approach to reading Revelation does believers a great disservice and this is why we have to literally address the topic of “Mark of the Beast” to help us navigate through the muck of this world.
Jesus already won the War… we’re just waiting on His return to consummate the Kingdom. So, in the meantime, get busy becoming a disciple for Christ and committing to Disciple-Making for Christ.
Pastor Patrick D. Garlock
(I would like to thank Sam Storms for his contribution to this article from his own article on the topic.)
YouTube Sermon Link -
