Revelation Explained

This site contains my personal views on Revelation. I will be teaching through the book verse by verse. My teachings will be from a conservative evangelical background.

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Location: Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Monday, November 13, 2006

The Mark of the Beast

"And it maketh all, the small, and the great, and the rich, and the poor, and the freemen, and the servants, that it may give to them a mark upon their right hand or upon their foreheads, and that no one may be able to buy, or to sell, except he who is having the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is the wisdom! He who is having the understanding, let him count the number of the beast, for the number of a man it is, and its number [is] 666." (Revelation 13:16-18 - Young's Literal Translation)

The mark of the beast has been the source of much useless speculation. We cannot know the details of this event until it happens. However, we can understand the implication.

In order to buy or sell anything, it will became law that a person must have a certain mark on their hand or forehead. This mark may or may not be directly related to the transaction. It may be a magnetic strip or similar object containing bank account information or it may not. That is not clear.

What is clear is that this mark will be directly tied to the worship of the Anti-Christ. To get a mark, a person will have to worship the Anti-Christ as god. No one else will be able to have this mark. So those who will not worship him will not be able to legally buy or sell anything.

We are told that the number of the Anti-Christ is 666. This number may help us to identify the Anti-Christ when the Tribulation comes. It is a waste of time to attempt to do that before then.

Six is the number of man because he was created on the sixth day. Three sixes would indicate that this man is great. The number of the Anti-Christ, 666, is the number of a “super man.” That is what the world will think of him.

This chapter warns us of the danger of accepting religious leaders by their appearance. This man will appear to be harmless; he will do miracles that will be seen as divine; he will be a man of religion. However, the truth will be that he speaks Satan's words; he does great things by the power of the devil; and he will lead people into hell. He will be the False Prophet.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Sunday-keeping must be the mark of the beast." ... "The reception of his mark must be something that involves the greatest offense that can be committed against God." (The Marvel of Nations, Elder U. Smith pages 170, 183)
"Here we find the mark of the beast. The very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, on the part of the Catholic church, without any authority from the Bible." (Ellen G. White, The Mark of the Beast, page 23)
"The Sunday Sabbath is purely a child of the Papacy. It is the mark of the beast." (Advent Review, Vol. I, No. 2, August, 1850.)
"The change of the Sabbath is the sign or mark of the authority of the Romish church." ... "The keeping of the counterfeit Sabbath is the reception of the mark." (Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, Vol. 4, page 281.
"The mark of the beast is Sunday-keeping. A law will enforce this upon Seventh-day Adventists. They won't obey. Then they will be outlawed, persecuted, and condemned to death! Of all the wild Advent speculations in the prophecies, this deserves to stand among the wildest." (Seventh-day Adventism Renounced" by D.M. Canright, 1914)
"Sunday-keeping is an institution of the first beast, and ALL who submit to obey this institution emphatically worship the first beast and receive his mark, 'the mark of the beast.' .... Those who worship the beast and his image by observing the first day are certainly idolaters, as were the worshippers of the golden calf." (Advent Review Extra, pages 10 and 11, August, 1850)
"the Seventh day, Saturday, must be kept; that keeping Sunday is the mark of the beast; that all should pay tithes; that Mrs. White is inspired as were the writers of the Bible; that the Bible must be interpreted to harmonize with her writings" (Seventh-day Adventism Renounced" by D.M. Canright, 1914)

11:27 AM  
Blogger David Frank Wilson said...

The comment above certainly expresses the opinion of 7th Day Adventist. Based on this, all other christian groups would be considered worshippers of the Beast, and only 7th Day Adventists will be in heaven. Instead of quoting what Ellen White wrote, I will quote the Apostle Paul. "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it." (Romans 14:5-6a)

1:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thank you for taking such care in explaining "Revelations"
I am not a religious, but I have been of the opinion that we are entering truely dark times. With the USA seeking war in the middle east. I am researching Revelations on your blog because I keep coming across discussion and am keen to understand, as there appeared to be a strong correlation to what I already happening.
I agree with you that, if the "mark of the beast" is real it is RFID or some such device. I also believe that the false prophets are some on the "Christian Right" who seem to be on the kill for Jesus train. I have been doing a lot of research and am strongly of the opinion that where are in an age when much is being hidden, and if you are looking much of it is also being revealed. I am worried about the immidiate future as I think it will all play out very soon. I am also excited about what lays beyond because of the things I have discovered I think we are about to enter a new age of enlightenment greater than anything in human history, if we survive.

5:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

we are already survivors in CHRIST...whether we survive what is to come or lay down our lives for the Lord in that day, we've already won, we will spend an eternity with HIM....so my advice is to prepare your hearts for what is to come...May God be the glory!

3:27 PM  

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