Mark of the Beast!

Mark of the Beast!

By Richard P. Joseph

Rev 13:16-17 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has [g]the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name

.

    So who or what was the beast?  There are too many theories for me to answer that but here is all you need to know for now:

    He or it was blasphemous

    He or it received worship from the heathen.

    He or it made war against the saints.

    There is more than one beast.

    He or it is deceivious.

    He or it forces all to receive a mark on their forehead or their hand.

The last item is of interest because it cripples one's ability to even survive.  The word Anti-Christ as John might put it is not an accident. Perhaps what John is telling us here is something that the Jews were well aware of.

    The Jews were well aware of Exodus 13:16 which reads:

It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

    Almost word for word of what the beast requires of his subjects!

    When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He then required the firstborn of animals and men.  The animals were to be sacrificed but the firstborn males were to be redeemed. The idea that YHWH freed the Isrealites out of bondage was to be an everlasting memorial for the Jews and it would be a sign on their foreheads and their hand.  The Pharisees even wore what are called phylacteries on their heads as a reminder of this. This again is the idea that the Isrealites were sealed as God’s chosen people. The Beast in Revelation seems to have had the same idea; that he would copy God and seal his people, not for good, but for destruction.   

For modern Americans to somehow be sitting around and waiting for the Anti-Christ to come and stamp 666 on our foreheads and hand shows a complete ignorance of scripture.   I am old enough to remember when barcodes came out. Those that are confused about scripture had a hayday promoting the barcodes as the mark of the beast. This, of course, would be just another in a continuing line of end times blunders that are not going to stop anytime soon.  Every new presidential election, every blood moon, every war, and every political stunt brings on a new round of endtime prophecies which of course pads the pocketbooks of the scammers. Since Revelation was written to a first century audience , then would it not make more sense to interpret it from their vantage point instead of ours 2,000 years later in a completely different setting and culture?  The Beast in Revelation was an event to take place at a time preceding the parousia which obviously transpired by AD70. This was the time that Jesus warned the pharisees about when their house would be left to them desolate. The Beast was about to mark his people which would separate them from the 

Christians who were sealed by the blood of the lamb.  

    While attempting to understand the New Testament one must refer to the Old Testament.  To read a passage of scripture and then just make something up according to your modern, out of context, thinking will lead you to the wrong interpretation every time.  The mark of the beast is not a barcode or 666 or any other such thing but was something that occurred in the first century and was connected with the final events of AD70.  This is something that would have been readily understood by any faithful Jewish Christian of the day. Once taken out of context it becomes a pandora's box full of anything you can imagine because it is all make believe at that point.  God sealed his people for safety but Satan seals for destruction.

Rev14:9 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation.