Introduction to the Mark of the Beast and Prophecy

The Christian Mark of the Beast Survival Manual > Introduction to the Mark of the Beast and Prophecy

The Christian Mark of the Beast Survival Manual Copyright © 2014 by Erik K. Olinger All rights reserved.

READERS: This is a rough-draft of the manuscript.  It is unedited and contains errors that will be corrected at the final release.

 

Introduction to the Mark of the Beast and Prophecy

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the reader to the limited passages concerning the mark of the beast found in Bible prophecy. The brief concepts introduced here will be further expanded upon in an upcoming chapter, Christ’s Second Coming and the Tribulation. The mark of the beast is only named in one book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, which is situated at the end of the Bible and is the last message to come directly from Christ through written prophecy. Revelation is rich with predictive prophecies of things to come in the last days, the time when Jesus will return and usher in a new age. Revelation also tells some of what has already taken place in the past (Rev. 1:19). The author of Revelation is believed to be John, the same likely author of the fourth Gospel and the three Epistles of John. Prior to writing the prophecy, John was personally contacted by Jesus and told to,

 

Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea (NIV Rev. 1:11).

 

These seven churches are representative of all the church, and the apocalyptic message is clearly for more than seven churches. Part of what John was shown by Christ were events taking place during a time of great trial for the world, known as the Great Tribulation (discussed in succeeding chapters).

 

The Ongoing Engagement

 

The prophecy of Revelation is highly debated among theologians, not for authenticity, but rather for the meaning of the symbolic imagery used. Not debated about the prophecy, as the consensus is clear, is that there is a struggle between good and evil. The enemy is the devil and his angels, who are opposed to God. However, the balance is not perfectly juxtaposed in Revelation as some would erroneously surmise. The battle has not been equal since the beginning, and any authority that the enemy has acquired will be reduced to nothing. God is not only angered at the devil, but mankind too, is liable for its evil. The sovereign Lord, creator of the heavens and earth, will strike with a vengeance wrath upon the earth for its wickedness while rescuing the righteous and restoring creation. Sinners will have the choice to repent and give glory to God, or to face punishment and perish.

 

The Enemy

 

The devil is the head of the evil powers that scourge the people of earth, and he is not alone in afflicting the world. He has under his authority not only the demons and the fallen angels, but a counterfeit trinity—the beast and the false prophet, whom the devil leads. The fallen angels are former angels of light in heaven, and the beast is manifest on earth and is distinctly an earthly power that will be typified by two beasts, men who emerge in the future. Today’s beast system is developing rapidly and is highly organized and pervasive. The antichrist and false prophet are not yet here, however there are men and systems of unspeakable evil that are forerunners of the beasts of the future. The number of the beast is the number of a man,

 

Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666 (NIV Rev. 13:18).

 

The book of Revelation enlightens that there are two beasts, one out of the sea, and one out of the earth, but these are just typologies of the entire beast network. The beast out of the sea (Rev. 13:1-10) is typified by the antichrist, while the beast out of the earth (Rev. 13:11-18) a false prophet. The beast has multiple organized components discussed below.

 

The War that Broke out in Heaven

 

The beginning of corruption and suffering of mankind came after the Fall of the Angels and the subsequent deception and Fall of Mankind. Revelation attests to the ongoing struggle of man versus angel. The accuser of the brothers and sisters of heaven, the serpent, created war among the hosts of heaven. He had seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns. The dragon and his angels fought against Michael and his angels, but heaven prevailed and the fallen angels lost their place in heaven. The serpent had accomplished sweeping a third of the “stars” to earth. The verity that the devil and his angels have already been lowered to earth indicates that the past fulfillment of the following passages is well-grounded, however some scholars attempt to harmonize Revelation 12 and postulate that in the end during a time of tribulation, Satan will lose his access to the throne. How the world’s darkest evil is on earth is below,

 

Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth (NIV Rev. 12:3-4).

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down-that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him (NIV Rev. 12:7-9).

 

Prophecy Not Easy to Understand

 

The language used in Revelation is often symbolic, and is not intended to be easy to understand. The Bible indicates that parts of prophecy call for a mind with wisdom (Rev. 13:18, 17:9). Not all can be easily understood. For the better part, Scripture can be taken literally and at face-value. Context of the passage is key, as well as culture of the time period when written, and figures of speech, to proper interpretation. The known traits of the author must be maintained, and Scripture considered and integrated as a whole, for an interpretation to be successful. For instance, the beast out of the sea is composed of a united power that comes forth in the latter-days, and is under authority of the dragon, who is Satan. The beast out of the sea has “ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name” (NIV Rev. 13:1). These heads and horns represent rulers of some kind that are aligned as an evil confederacy (Rev. 17:9-14). We find that the beast out of the sea with the ten horns, seven heads, and ten crowns is described in Revelation 13, but that the figurative language is not fully explicated until Revelation 17 when John is shown by an angel the explanation and interpretation to part of the mystery,

 

Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns…The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings…The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast (NIV Rev. 17:7, 17:9-10, 12).

 

The prophecy has explained that heads and horns are kings, and the prophecy has become easier to interpret at a glance. When checking an interpretation, one should consult the entire Bible (although a meaning elsewhere is not always uniform). In the book of Daniel one will find that beasts represent kings and kingdoms as well, for instance,

 

 

The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia (NIV Da. 8:20).

 

The practices of the culture of the time period must be examined, or an interpretation could fail. An interpretation could lean toward ultra-literalness, or could sway on the metaphorical side to balance other doctrines, or could be poorly investigated and have no basis. A simple example is again, about the horns that are kings. The equivalent of a king today is a political ruler, dictator, president, or governor, and rarely a king. Keeping in mind the limited foreknowledge John would have had at the time Revelation was written and that it was commonplace for there to be kings with kingdoms, one can assume that kings are rulers in the future in the prophecy. The language used in the original manuscripts and corresponding definitions and use throughout the Bible must also be considered for an accurate interpretation. The O.T. was written in Hebrew, and the N.T. in Greek with the Kōine dialect. Consider this popular saying about literal interpretation, “At first sense seek commonsense, if that does not make sense, seek the next sense, lest the result be nonsense.” This method will provide a solid foundation to interpretation.

 

The Beast out of the Sea

 

The beast out of the sea will embody the antichrist, a man who will emerge and accept and mandate worship of himself and the dragon. It appears he is typified by a real man, because he does meet his end in punishment in the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20). The antichrist, however, need not be unveiled yet to be able to give worship to the beast, and multitudes have been forced throughout history to worship idols since the time of King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold image (Da. 3:1-30), and earlier. The beast out of the sea that the world will worship is accounted,

 

The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and his great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. Whoever has ears, let them hear. “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people (NIV Rev. 13:1-10).

 

The majority of the inhabitants of earth will worship the beast, but it must be emphasized that elect do not worship the beast. Faithful saints, those foreknown by grace, have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life which is located in paradise! If one worships the beast, the Bible is clear that one will have given one’s destiny to the devil. If one refuses to worship the beast, one will be at war with the world, but the free gift of eternal life will be his or hers.

 

The Beast out of the Earth

 

An additional beast that comes out of the earth will become manifest in the end. It represents false religion and a false prophet, another apparent real man who will display miraculous powers. His fate is the same as the antichrist (Rev. 19:20). During his reign, he will lead the people of earth to worship the first beast who comes out of the sea. A mark will be roused onto those who are not walking faithfully to Jesus,

 

Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666 (NIV Rev. 13:11-18).

 

 

The Mark

 

The unrelenting truth is that the enemy has a death-dealing mark, a charagma in Greek, that he forces upon the hand or forehead. The forehead represents the mind which indicates a spiritual marking. It is also hypothesized that the mark is an electronic implant or tattoo. Satan’s target is the mind, will, heart, and conscience. Reasoning should rest upon that this is where the mark will be forced. Those who refuse the mark of the beast will (in latter-days), not be permitted to buy or sell goods (please see Christ’s Second Coming and the Tribulation and Abstaining from Practice: Meat, Electricity, and Commerce). They will be put to death for refusing to worship the mighty abominable beast.

 

The Beast a Prophetic Mystery

 

People frequently misidentify the beast and allege fiercely in their outreach that the beast is the Roman Catholic Church, or Emperor Nero, or Caesar. Much of the prophecy encircling the beast is a prophetic mystery, and is not unveiled until the very end of this age, although many will recognize that the beast is a composition of savvy influential rulers, the social elite. The matter is the world’s largest and best-kept secret, where dissenters are silenced, and wealth is at stake. Whoever the antichrist is, one of the parts of the seven kings of the beast system is an eight king who once was, now (in the end) is not, and who will come up out of the bottomless pit,

 

The beast, which you saw; once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come (NIV Rev. 17:8).

 

The Woman Who Rides the Beast

 

A symbolic woman that figuratively rides a scarlet beast (Rev. 17:3) can be more readily identified. She is “dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls” (NIV Rev. 17:4). She held a golden cup “filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries” (NIV Rev. 17:4). On her forehead was written: “BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (NIV Rev. 17:5). This woman is surviving idolatry revived throughout the ages from ancient Babylon (babel in Hebrew). This Babylonian idolatry, mysticism, has invaded the Catholic Church from her inception, and the occult gods worshiped in Freemasonry are also this despicable idolatry (see Should a Christian be a Freemason?). The rulers past, present, and future worship at this altar. She is described,

 

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.” Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come. “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.” Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth” (NIV Rev. 17).

 

Final Remarks

 

The rulers of the earth will be under authority of the counterfeit trinity—the devil, an antichrist, and a false prophet. A woman, an idolatrous harlot, will also beckon the people of earth to worship her. The saints are up against the world. Soon, however, the mystery will be fully known, and the counterfeit trinity overcame!

 

Chapter Summary

  1. The mark of the beast has its only mention in the last chapter of the Bible, the book of Revelation.

  2. The author of the prophecy of Revelation was John.

  3. The message in Revelation was to be given to the seven churches.

  4. John was shown events that will take place in the future.

  5. The devil is the head of a counterfeit trinity.

  6. The fallen angels are former angels of light in heaven. The beast manifests in an earthly power.

  7. The beast will be typified by two men who emerge in the future.

  8. The number of the beast is the number of a man, 666.

  9. The beast out of the sea is typified by the antichrist.

  10. The beast out of the earth is typified by a false prophet.

  11. The war that broke out in heaven that must have brought the fallen angels to earth was introduced.

  12. The symbolic language used in the book of Revelation is not intended to be easy to understand and requires wisdom to interpret.

  13. Scripture can usually be taken literally, but context, culture, figure of speech, and all of Scripture must be integrated to properly interpret prophecy.

  14. The beast out of the sea was briefly introduced.

  15. All inhabitants of earth will worship the beast, except for those with their names written in the Book of Life.

  16. The beast out of the earth will lead the people of earth to worship the beast out of the sea, a second beast introduced in this chapter.

  17. The mark of the beast is forced on the hand or forehead and the forehead represents the mind.

  18. The identity of the beast is the world’s most elusive mystery and is not unveiled to everyone until the end of this age.

  19. The woman who rides the beast was introduced and identified as Babylonian idolatry, the mystery religions.

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