Bible Questions and Answers

The mark of the beast occurs in the following places:

Revelation 13:16,17  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Revelation 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

Revelation 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Revelation 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Revelation 16:2  And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

Revelation 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Revelation 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The mark of the beast has nothing to do with technology.

To determine the mark, we must first identify the beast.

In Revelation beasts represent kingdoms.

The seven-headed beast with ten horns represents the Roman Empire.

The ten horns represent the kingdoms that arose from the demise of the Roman empire – generally understood to represent the kingdoms of Western Europe.

After the demise of the seven-headed beast another beast arises with two horns

Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

From here: http://www.antipas.org/books/13_lectures/lecture8.html

In verse 11, John beholds another beast come up -- not out of the sea, but out of the earth. Students of the Apocalypse have found some difficulty with this beast; but Dr. Thomas has cleared it away. That it is another form of the Papal beast is proved by the statement in verse 12, that "he causeth them that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed". You may ask, why should there be another form of the Papal beast? Because, in the progress of events, the Papal ascendancy took an entirely new phase. The Constantinopolitan dragon of the east, who in the first place gave him his authority, finally became of no account; and from the interior regions of Europe -- (and therefore from "the earth", Apocalyptically speaking, as contrasted with the Mediterranean seaboard) there now sprang up a new conquering power, which obtained the controlling ascendancy in Europe, and incorporated the Papacy in itself in a new order of things. This was the Germanic Empire, springing out of the order of things established by the victories of Charlemagne, king of the French, the emperor of the Romans. Let anyone read the history of this Germanic Empire, which slowly and peacefully shifted from France to Germany, and finally to Austria, as the leading German power. They will find that it had two horns, or was constituted of two contemporary dynasties -- viz., the Emperor and the Pope. These were the two leading features of the empire, to which the rest of Europe were subject. The Pope held his position subject to the confirmation of the emperor, and the emperor did not hold a valid position till he received his crown at the hands of the Pope. It was a dual empire -- a two-horned beast. They were lamb-like horns (verse 11); that is, by profession, they belonged to Christ; between them they were Christendom; but the beast spake like a dragon for all that. In nature and principles it was thoroughly dragonic, though ostensibly holding a lamb-like character. Let anyone study the deeds of the Pope and emperor, and they will see the truthfulness of this symbolism. No more merciless tyranny ever afflicted earth than that which, under the name of the Holy Roman Empire, caused the tears and blood of thousands to flow in dire persecution and oppression, under a pretence of authority from Christ.

The two-horned beast "caused the earth and them who dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." The first beast being Rome in the first stage of her Papal constitution, was now incorporate in the two-horned beast: it was merged or fused with it. This is proved by the fact that the latter "exercised all the power of the first beast"; and proved also by the history and facts of the case. The first beast was revived in the constitution of the second, in so far as imperial rank was restored to Rome, and the Roman Empire re-instated in the west, in the new empire created by the proclamation of Charlemagne as Roman Emperor by the Pope. This was the healing of the wounded sixth head, and by the public proclamation of the new empire, the earth and the dwellers therein were commanded to worship "the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." The great wonders which the new beast was able to perform consisted of the prodigies of war, for which Charlemagne is famous in history. He was able to enforce his will upon all Europe by the powers for destruction which he possessed, symbolized by "making fire come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men". By these political miracles he deceived "them that dwell on the earth" into the conviction that divine authority was on his side, and proposed and carried his proposal into effect, that an image should be made of the killed beast that had recovered. This, of course, is not a literal image. It is part of the symbolism. It means a political likeness, or counterpart of the imperial system in Rome that had been killed by the Gothic sword: the restoration, in fact, of the old imperiality of Rome in a new form. This was accomplished on the investiture of the Pope with all the prerogatives of an emperor. In this position he was the exact likeness of the old Roman emperors of the sixth head -- chief magistrate in the domain of civil law, and, at the same time, chief pontiff of the national religion. He was, to all intents and purposes, an image of the defunct imperialism of the west, but a speaking image; for the new beast which came on the scene with the victories and empire of Charlemagne, had "power to give life unto the image of the beast" (verse 15). Victorious Charlemagne (accepted and crowned by the Pope) had the power to give political vitality to the Papal image of the beast. This power he exercised, and ordered the worship of the Pope-King on pain of death (verse 15), causing all to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their forehead, that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name (verse 17). This was the symbolic way of setting forth that, under the new system, the authority of the Papal image would be made essential to the holding of any office, or the exercise of any traffic, in the emoluments or advantages of Church or State; and as this authority was conferred by signing the cross on the forehead or right hand of the recipient of official favour, the cross became the subject of this symbolism as "the mark of the beast." The name of the beast, or the number of his name, were equivalent symbols of the same thing. Those who know the name of the beast, or the number of his name, are in the secret as to what is meant by the symbol. "It is the number of a man", so says the last verse. That is, when you have found the system represented by the name of the beast, you will find the system is centred in a man, though the man and the system are two things. The perception of this enigma is made a feat of wisdom in verse 18.

"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred, threescore and six."

There has been a great deal of guessing and speculating on this subject. It is a standing joke with the scorning and scoffing class, but it is a matter of wisdom for all that. The difficulty which most people have had in finding it out is due to the fact that their theology prevents them from identifying the beast. They regard the Roman Communion as a part of the true Church of Christ, and are therefore driven to look into indefinite futurity for this phenomenon of human history which is already hoary with age. Those who know the truth are burdened with no such difficulty. They see in the leading figure of Christendom -- a sovereign who pretends to hold office in all the centuries as Christ's representative and to be endowed with supernatural authority and prerogatives -- an exact fulfilment of all that was shown to John, and also to Paul, as to the anti-Christ, the Man of Sin, that was coming. The only question is how the Apocalyptic identification of 666 can be discovered in him. Does any official title appertaining to him, when the letters of that title are summed up in their numerical value, yield the number in question as "the number of his name"? It matters not if twenty other names can be made to yield the same number: it must be a name in connection with a one-man system which has wielded a compulsory authority in all the earth in centuries past. The Papal system is such a system, and there is no other system or man of whom this can be affirmed. It is, therefore, a simple question of whether a system, answering in all material points to the prophecy, presents also this feature of identification, that its name, numerically estimated, is equal to 666.

The answer is before us in the Greek name LateinoV (Lateinos), which, in plain English, may be said to mean Latindom or Latin power, kingdom, or Church headed up in the Pope. The letters of this name, added together according to their arithmetical value, give the number 666.

It would be a grave defect in this evening's lecture, if I were to neglect to point out the unmistakable stamp of divine reprobation placed upon the Papal system -- root and branch -- by the language of verse 8: "All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain," etc.

 As if to give it greater emphasis, verse 7 adds these words: "If any man have an ear, let him hear." The multitude admire various features of the Roman system which commend themselves to human appreciation -- its antiquity, its numbers, its learning, its wealth, its political status, its history, etc. They think it the most odious form of uncharity to doubt the salvability of those who belong to its communion. Be it ours to accept the odium consequent on receiving the word of God. This word says -- and it strikingly calls our attention to the fact -- that those only worship the beast whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. Consequently, it is impossible for anyone realizing this to have the least sympathy with the system or its ramifications. The finger of God's condemnation is indelibly placed on it by this chapter, if there were no other; and if it must be considered uncharitable to be on God's side, wise men will suffer the rebuke, awaiting in patience and submission the day spoken of in subsequent chapters, when God will destroy Christendom, in preparation for the establishment of His own glorious kingdom in all the earth.

I hope you find this helpful.

God bless,
Glenn