There are many suspicions as to what the mark of the beast is. Some of those are: it is a tattoo of 666, it is a supercomputer in Russia, it is a chip beneath the skin, or even some strange barcode on the forehead, etc. However, no matter how crazy or plausible these suspicions may sound, there is only one meaning to this text. God is the author of absolute truth, and we seek to reveal that truth through this study, the real meaning of the mark of the beast.
“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 14:11
For us to understand what the mark of the Beast is, we must first decipher who the beats is, see study “Who is the 1st Beast of Revelation 13?“. Please read before continuing.
There are two ways of finding out what the mark of the beast is:
- It is the opposite of God’s seal or mark. Since satan has a counterfeit for everything that God has established, there is no wonder that he too, has his seal or mark.
- Ask the beast what is his mark.
The seal of God
What is sealed?
“Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” Isaiah 8:16
Answer: The law
What is God’s seal?
“Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.” Exodus 20:12
Answer: my sabbaths
The three words sign, mark and seal are interchangeable in scripture, they have the same meaning. We can then say, the sign, seal or mark of God.
Sign (‘owth) – a signal (literally or figuratively), as a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc.:—mark, miracle, (en-) sign, token.
Mark – a scratch or etching, i.e. stamp (as a badge of servitude), or scupltured figure (statue):—graven, mark.
Seal – a signet (as fencing in or protecting from misappropriation); by implication, the stamp impressed (as a mark of privacy, or genuineness), literally or figuratively:—seal.
What is the purpose of a seal?
A seal is a piece of metal or other hard substance, usually round or oval, on which is engraved some image or device, and sometimes a legend or inscription. This is used by individuals, corporate bodies and states, for making impressions on wax upon instruments of writing as an evidence of their authenticity.
It contains: the name of the official, his title, and territory or domain of his authority. For example, President Obama’s seal would be –
Name – Barack Obama
Title – President
Territory – United States of America
Can we find the seal in God’s Sabbath?
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11
Name – The Lord (Isaiah 42:8)
Title – Creator (the Lord made)
Territory – Heaven and earth
We see in this passage that all the elements of the seal are contained in the 4th commandment, the Sabbath. This is the only commandment that begins with the word remember, letting us know that it was obviously given and known to us before the Mount Sinai account.
Remember: “someone or something that one has seen, known, or experienced in the past.” Webster’s Dictionary
When was the Sabbath established?
“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Genesis 2:2, 3
Answer: On the seventh day of creation (known today as Saturday)
Where does God want put His seal?
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them” Hebrew 10:16
“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: “And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.” Deuteronomy 6:6, 8
Answer: In our minds; foreheads
Why our foreheads?
This is where our frontal lobe is located. The part of the brain that is responsible for our emotions, problem solving, memory, language, judgment, and social and sexual behavior. It is the sit of our morality. God wants to impress His seal upon our decision making, judgment, behavior and morality.
Learning that the seal of God deals with God’s law, specifically the 4th commandment, the Sabbath, we know that the devil’s mark or seal will be opposite. A day set aside by him for worship; drawing man away from God’s Sabbath and creation. For the Sabbath reminds us that God created the earth. Can you think of a day of worship that has no scriptural authority, but many christian follow after. Friends, this is the change of the “sanctity” of the Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday, by the Papal system, the Pope.
Let us ask the Beast
What is the mark of your authority?
“Sunday is our MARK of authority… the church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.” The Catholic Record of London, Ontario, Canada, September 1, 1923.
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.” Office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor C.f. Thomas, Nov. 11, 1895.
Read connecting study for more info,”Who is the 1st Beast of Revelation 13?”
What will happen to those who do not obey this authority?
“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 13:17
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15
Answer: They will not be able to buy or sell, and they should be killed
Seeing that those who do not have the mark of the beast are not able to buy or sell, insinuates that there would be a law asking everyone to pay homage to the beast, to keep Sunday holy. And those who do not obey that law will be killed. Exactly what happened during the dark ages, under the same institution.
Is there a push for a Sunday Law even now?
This is what is proposed by the new super star pope, Pope Francis, in his encyclical as a solution to “global warming.” Look how subtle and beautiful it is presented, whiles the enactment of a day of worship as law has caused many deaths in history. This is not a call as yet for this to be law, however, there is nothing new under the sun, it is only a matter of time.
“237. Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath, is meant to be a day which heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others and with the world. Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the “first day” of the new creation, whose first fruits are the Lord’s risen humanity, the pledge of the final transfiguration of all created reality. It also proclaims “man’s eternal rest in God”.[168] In this way, Christian spirituality incorporates the value of relaxation and festivity. We tend to demean contemplative rest as something unproductive and unnecessary, but this is to do away with the very thing which is most important about work: its meaning. We are called to include in our work a dimension of receptivity and gratuity, which is quite different from mere inactivity. Rather, it is another way of working, which forms part of our very essence. It protects human action from becoming empty activism; it also prevents that unfettered greed and sense of isolation which make us seek personal gain to the detriment of all else. The law of weekly rest forbade work on the seventh day, “so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your maidservant, and the stranger, may be refreshed” (Ex 23:12). Rest opens our eyes to the larger picture and gives us renewed sensitivity to the rights of others. And so the day of rest, centered on the Eucharist, sheds it light on the whole week, and motivates us to greater concern for nature and the poor.” – Encyclical letter laudato si’, Care For Our Common Home.
This causes concern for the bible believing christian, as he presented this views of global warming in congress, on September 24th, 2015.
What are leading men of various denominations have to say about the keeping of Sunday versus the Sabbath?
Baptist: “There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will however be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many years, I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found: Not in the New Testament – absolutely not. There is no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week.” Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the ‘Baptist Manual’.
Lutheran: “They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord’s day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it appears, neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, say they, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments.” -Augsburg Confession of Faith, Art. 28, par. 9.
Presbyterian: “The Christian Sabbath (Sunday) is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive church called the Sabbath.” Dwight’s Theology, Vol. 14, p. 401.
Methodist: “This ‘handwriting of ordinances’ our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail to His cross. (Colossians 2: 14.) But the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away…. The moral law stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law. …Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages.”-John Wesley, “Sermons on Several Occasions,” 2-Vol. Edition, Vol. I, pages 221, 222.
Catholic: “Protestants … accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change… But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that … in observing Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the Church, the pope.” Our Sunday Visitor, February 5th, 1950.
Are those who are keeping sunday right now have the mark of the Beast?
“And the times of this ignorance God winked at…” Acts 17:30
“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17
Answer: No, many who are keeping Sunday holy today are unaware of the fact that this day was changed by an earthly institution. More importantly, the mark of the beast and the seal of God is the final stamp upon man, and does not happen until the passing of a Sunday Law, as during the time of the reformation. Those who worship on the day the Beast has sanctified will receive a mark only at the enforcement of Sunday as a day of worship.
Does God know who has his mark?
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 2 Timothy 2:19
Answer: Yes
Notice: Those who names His name or have His name, departs from iniquity.
What is iniquity?
“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4
Answer: transgression or breaking of God’s law.
Friends this controversy is not just about a day, but worship. Those who receive the mark will do so because of worship, “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 14:9. Whiles the devil is seeking worship for himself, God is admonishing us through the prophet, John the Revelator, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:7. It all boils down to who we worship is whose seal of authority we receive. Let us seek to be faithful to God, that we may receive His seal.
You may have decided in your heart to keep the Sabbath, but think it inconvenient. Claim the promise, “And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” Mark 10:27. “Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” 1 Samuel 2:30. God will honor your decision to be obedient to Him.