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Revelation 13
16 He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to be given marks on their right hands, or on their foreheads; 17 and that no one would be able to buy or to sell, unless he has that mark, the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. He who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is six hundred sixty-six.
He causes all... to be given marks
This concept of a mark first shows up in the story of Cain which is significant because it involves separation from God by those who come to despise and persecute those who remain loyal to Him.
Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out to the field." And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" And the LORD said, "What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth."
Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me."
Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4:8-16 NRSV)
I believe this story holds the key to understanding the nature of this mark associated with the beast and its cohorts. While there has been endless speculation as to what this mark of Cain might have been, I believe the context of the story itself holds the key, for this mark is not a physical one but rather a disposition, a mindset of intense rebellion against the design of heaven for humanity to live in love.
Some time ago I was impressed to explore the story of Cain where I discovered many fascinating insights that often go unnoticed. We don't have time to look at the entire story which could be helpful for context, but I believe it will be very useful to at least consider some of the key phrases in this story and their implications as we explore the potential meaning of this most important symbol. The story of Cain and his brother Abel is almost a synopsis of the entire history of the war and in many ways parallels the tension between the two covering cherubs from the very outset of the great rebellion.
It was his own brother that Cain killed out of jealousy, bitterness, resentment and anger.
When questioned by God, Cain lies by denying any knowledge of his brother's death.
The blood of Abel is said to be crying out to God from the ground.
He deceives those who dwell on the earth (Rev. 13:14)
The ground itself will no longer give its strength to Cain.
Cain blames God as being the one driving him away from the soil he has loved.
I shall be hidden from Your face. (Why is Cain is afraid of losing sight of God's face?)
I shall be a fugitive and wanderer on the earth.
This repeats what God said would be the curse Cain brought onto himself.
Anyone who meets me may kill me. (God had said nothing about this. This is purely fear.)
Whoever kills Cain will suffer sevenfold vengeance. (This is not a threat by God but a prediction of the ferocity that would take over Cain's disposition as a result of defacing the image of God in himself.)
This began a sequence of 7's representing the nature of sin that craves retaliation.
Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice. You wives of Lamech, listen to my speech, for I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for bruising me. If Cain will be avenged seven times, truly Lamech seventy-seven times." [or 7 x 70 times] (Genesis 4:23-24)
Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. (Daniel 9:24)
Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I don't tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven." (Matthew 18:21-22)
Who is being told to forgive using this specific number, and why? It is those who choose to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They participate in His anointing to fulfill the work of the most holy One, the Messiah who brings an end to disobedience, makes an end of sins (retaliation, settling scores, balancing scales of psuedo-justice), makes reconciliation for iniquity and brings in everlasting righteousness. The key to accomplish all of this is unconditional forgiveness.
The mark on Cain inhibited anyone from killing him.
"Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?"
This is the disposition of all who wonder and follow after the beast and its image.
Cain choose to leave the presence of Yahweh, despite his fear of being hidden from His face.
Judas left the presence of Jesus in the upper room and the inner result was darkness.
The mark of the beast then is possibly very similar to the mark of Cain, because it involves both a disposition as well as a practice opposite forgiveness, kindness, compassion and agape love. It is the mindset of compulsion, justice through violence to balance imaginary scales that we worship as God. It really represents the entire counterfeit system invented by Satan including rule by artificial law, the earning/deserving system along with enforced hierarchy. This mark is actually a sign of allegiance to this system as our version of what God has to be like before we will view Him as worthy of our worship and allegiance.
Throughout the next few chapters we will see references to the results of embracing this mark played out in the lives of those rejecting the mercy and kindness of God as displayed by the Lamb hero of this book. This mark becomes the defining identity of all who either out of fear of punishment or actual belief, embrace and comply with the perspectives of the dragon, the beasts and the image/false prophet who all insist that any god worth serving must enforce our system of scales-based justice. Yet in doing so they are spurning the Son of God and leave His presence to go into outer darkness.
This narrative of a mark identifying all who consent to the demands of the image to worship it and the beast, strangely parallels a passage found in Ezekiel.
Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause you them that have charge over the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.
The glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side. Yahweh said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in the midst of it. To the others he said in my hearing, Go you through the city after him, and strike: don't let your eye spare, neither have you pity; kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don't come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house. (Ezekiel 9:1-6)
There is another mark connection I would like to mention here. It is a word not usually translated as mark, but it actually means a mark. It is the word we have been using in this study as one of the two criteria relied on to interpret this book and is in the first verse. In the KJV it is translated as signified, but it means a mark. This is interesting when compared to the use of a mark in this chapter. Here the mark is used as an identifier of compliance to demands of the enemies of the true God of heaven. In contrast, a different kind of mark directs how we are to view this entire book as symbolic.
Written words are what we use as marks which symbolize words. Words and language in turn are also symbols of concepts, ideas, things, places, people and even thoughts and feelings. Thus marks are symbols of ideas, and this was how this book was put together using symbols to represent spiritual realities that, together with the Word of God, bring out the revelation of Jesus Christ who is the truth. The One who is the Truth, the Way and the Life, here alerts us about things soon to take place in these last days, and all this is presented for anyone willing to read or listen so they may receive the blessing of being brought into harmony with God by the Lamb. On the other hand, the kind of mark being imposed on the whole world by this image of the beast, involves a sign of slavery, forced conformity relying on the threat of death which is the very opposite of the disposition of the Lamb and how He relates to us.
This mark is often contrasted with the seal of God, and rightly so. Many insist that this seal is identified in the first angel's message in the next chapter, though the word seal is not mentioned. I want to touch on this as it is important to maintain perspective and allow the Bible to explain itself.
Clearly here this mandatory mark involves forced worship and compliance with demands of the beasts and their image. Many insist it refers to an enforcement of Sunday observance as the final test of allegiance in defiance of the true seventh-day Sabbath which is a sign of allegiance to the Creator. They point to the first angel's message as describing this seal and especially note how the authority given as the reason to worship the God of heaven is because He is Creator of everything in this world. Many others deny this line of reasoning, finding it unimaginable that such a scenario of compulsive worship could ever play out in modern society (ignoring the fact that Sunday rest enforcement is already gaining great momentum and popularity in many places around the world even now).
My personal review of the evidence here in this book and throughout Scripture leads me to see no problem with believing that a titanic clash between Sunday sacredness enforcement and genuine Sabbath observance could soon become a central issue in the intensifying war against all freedom of conscience, and it may happen sooner than many imagine. At the same time I have great concern about what I see as a serious deficiency in the simplistic logic of many promoting this view who rely on tradition rather than personal investigation of evidence. What I mean is that I fear many imagine they have all the truth, and their only intention is to cling tenaciously to observance of the seventh-day Sabbath as the right day to worship God while ignoring far more important principles. This sets many up as highly susceptible to insidious tactics of the enemy, even similar to how Balaam outwardly spoke the words of God while under inspiration, yet continually resisted in his heart reflecting the disposition of the very God who had entrusted him with the gift of prophecy.
I believe this narrative in Revelation has close ties to the story of Balaam and Balak, and we would do well to contemplate that carefully and allow the Spirit of God to bring conviction in order to expose the subtle infection of selfishness, pride and greed from sabotaging our resistance to this mark of the beast. We must come to understand that this mark is far more than simply activities we do on which day of the week. Those are merely surface symptoms that in the end simply reflect what is deep in the mind and heart. Thus this mark that competes with the true seal of God is not merely about our outward activity as much as it is a barometer of the condition of our heart and mind and how we posture our relationship with God, and especially our view of His disposition towards us.
Hear, you mountains, Yahweh's controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage.
I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh."
How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:2-8)
I have come to believe that this war over whether we receive the mark of the beast or remain loyal to God and receive His seal and name in our forehead, will not merely involve what day we go to church on as our test of loyalty. There is enormous importance in true worship, but worship is about who we reflect from our heart, what motivates us and who we allow to shape our identity that in turn defines how we act like ourselves.
The mark of the beast as we have come to see, is about disposition, intent, motivation and methods used to achieve conformity, compliance and unity in the name of God for the common good of humanity. Do I believe enforced Sunday observance could be a part of that? Absolutely! Yet having said that, compliance to laws compelling worship on Sunday for the good of the world goes much deeper and involves how we perceive God's disposition towards those who oppose Him. This is why what day one rests and worships God on is merely the tip of the iceberg, not the underlying issue of contention. It is merely a signal, an outward sign of what one really believes about God more than merely keeping the right day to prove one is loyal so God will reward us for keeping the right day. In other words, rather than focusing on merely keeping the right day of the week as Sabbath, we need to examine our heart and allow the Spirit of the Lamb to expose hidden dark opinions we retain about God like those described in Micah we just read, even while seeking to live in alignment with God's commandments. Heart work has to be a far higher priority than managing the externals.
When Micah asks the question about how we are to come before God and bow before Him in worship, the succeeding verses relate to motives and perceptions of what God wants from sinners who are seeking to come into alignment with His will. The following list involves increasing levels of expense as related to offerings that clearly are intended to satisfy or change God's disposition towards us so we can be accepted and saved by Him. Yet any attempts to change God's thinking about us or to manipulate Him to accept us or release blessings into our lives, are all infected by a similar spirit to what motivated both Balak and Balaam. They attempted to manipulate or even bribe God to bring a curse upon a people they saw as a threat to their own well being. This chapter in Micah begins with God telling Micah that He had a controversy with His people, and that involved how they perceived His disposition along with how they were trying to manipulate and even bribe Him to do what they want without regard to the condition of their own hearts.
If we will be honest and willing to humble ourselves to seek to know God as He truly is, revealed clearly through the violently slaughtered Lamb who alone exposes the truth about God's disposition towards His enemies, we will discover that many of our ideas about worship are also infected with the slander of His arch-enemy. Many are not actually resting in His love, because we imagine God to be more like us or like Satan rather than like His Son that He sent to reconcile us to His heart. What must become clear here is that any notion of appeasement required to reconcile God to us, whether attempted on our part through sacrifices and good works, or even by trusting in meritorious works of Christ or accepting His death on the cross as a payment expensive enough to buy appeasement of God's wrath towards sinners – anything of this line of reasoning is riddled with dark views of God's heart. Such religion makes it impossible for us to enter into His rest, the true evidence involving the seventh-day Sabbath kind of rest.
Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn't profit them, because it wasn't mixed with faith by those who heard. (Hebrews 4:1-2)
There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:9-11)
The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. (Revelation 14:11)
The reason why those who receive the mark of the identity of the beast can never experience rest day nor night, is not because God refuses to allow them to rest, but rather they are trapped in the lie that God must be paid off sufficiently before He will accept and love or save them.
Fully developed, this mark of the beast very likely will involve Sunday observance enforced by law. Yet the problem with this is not the day itself but the means employed that reflect lies believed about what is required to have salvation. The problem with Sunday enforcement is the reliance on force, compulsion, violence and ostracism as the means by which it will be imposed. These methods reveal that the god(s) being worshiped endorse these methods as the way in which unity in worship can be achieved. This involves the root lie of Satan who is the instigator of all such worship, his lie that God is demanding and does not value freedom of choice for everyone.
Too many today cling to their Sabbath observance as their assurance of receiving an eternal reward, yet they harbor dark views of God's disposition. This sets them up to succumb to the pressure of fear in the end, because fear is the fuel relied on by the enemy of God. Merely maintaining allegiance to a day of worship is not the same as reflecting the true disposition of the God of heaven. They are motivated by fear of punishment or hope of reward for good behavior and right obedience. Many diligently keep the right Sabbath while their heart motives contradict the revelation of God in His Christ, the hero of this war. Unless they come to repent and turn away from all such dark views of God, their hearts cannot be put right with God even if they stubbornly cling to practicing the external sign of allegiance to Him. This is why many will be deceived in the end, even while firmly believing they are remaining loyal to God. The believe they deserve to have a place in His kingdom based on outward obedience, yet they are more intent on being right than on letting the Spirit of God transform them to reflect His selfless love even toward their enemies.
Many will tell me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?'
Then I will tell them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.' (Matthew 7:22-23)
What does it mean that Jesus doesn't know them? This is not superficial knowledge or awareness of their existence, but rather it is entirely about mutual intimacy from much time spent together opening up honestly about what is deep inside. These people have focused on the form of godliness while missing the real power of it which is receiving and giving love ever flowing from the heart of God.
I don't think it would violate the intent of Jesus here to add a few other things to this list, all things we do in His name, imagining that in doing them we are earning a place in His kingdom.
We carefully kept the right Sabbath day of worship in your name.
We obeyed every detail of the Torah in your name.
We meticulously paid every tithe we owed in your name, and sometimes a double tithe.
We learned to say your name exactly the way it is pronounced in Hebrew, your sacred language.
We brought our offerings and trusted in the most expensive sacrifice that could be offered to you, the death of the Son of God himself that was killed to purchase your pardon and forgiveness for us.
We believed that the name of Jesus/Yashua/(fill in the blank with your pronunciation) was the way to release your power in our lives, so we preached His name faithfully.
You see, we have been more loyal to you more than all these other worse sinners out here behind us.
Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: 'God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.' [I keep the right Sabbath on the seventh day every week without deviation.]
But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:10-14)
This is the main difference between those who in the end are found to be true followers of the Lamb, and those who end up displaying the disposition of the beast version of God. Just doggedly making sure we know the right day of the week upon which we are to worship is no assurance that our heart is right before God and we are connected to Him intimately. Salvation is experienced not by maintaining rigid allegiance to outward signs, but rather as our heart is transformed through experiencing the power of true love that radically challenges all our previous assumptions about God, ourselves and reality in general.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just like I have loved you; that you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)
