Quick Reads #9 – Marks and Signs
There is a lot of talk of digital currencies, ID cards, facial recognition and smart technology looking to record our every move. While we are right to be concerned by these things, they are not the Mark of the Beast as some imagine, and cannot diminish the Salvation of JESUS in us. Yet they will likely have us examine our faith. So to better understand the Mark of the Beast, it is helpful to first recognize that those who love God also have a mark.
Moses and the Lamb
When Moses declared to Israel, God is one LORD; He said this command was to be in their heart and a sign upon their forehead and hand. And in Revelation 14, this sign is the Father’s Name upon the foreheads of an Israel born of God. Now, JESUS commanded his disciples to baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so the Apostles faithfully baptised in the name of Jesus Christ seen in Peter at Pentecost. (Acts 2:38)
Therefore, the name JESUS marks those who keep the Commandment Moses gave. With this mark of JESUS as a Scriptural reference we can now place in order the following: that no man might (1) buy or sell, save he that had (2) the mark, or the (3) name of the beast, or (4) the number of his name. (Revelation 13:17)
To Buy and Sell
Buying and selling in Revelation 18 speaks of the materials used to build the tabernacle in Moses’ time. Also, to offer sacrifices made by an earthly priesthood: of sheep, slaves and the souls of men.
To buy is to redeem, to sell is to forfeit.
By what then are we redeemed? Is it by the blood of bulls and goats or the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Therefore, Revelation 13:17 does not talk about buying groceries, clothes or petrol for the car, but living under an old Covenant long thrown out of Heaven.
The Image and the Mark
In Revelation 12 we see a Dragon cast out of Heaven. It is the Covenant of the Law. In Revelation 13, we see a Beast rise from the Sea. This should be the Covenant of Jesus Salvation but it is not; it looks like the Dragon, but it blasphemes God’s name when the Third Commandment tells us not to.
Yet, the ‘Beast of the Earth’ has us make an image of the Beast that rises from the Sea.
That image of the beast is not something that sits outside God’s Word, but is in fact a likeness of God’s Word; a rendering or ‘image’ the Second Commandment forbids us to make. So now we see the antichrist spirit that opposes Christ’s Word rise up.
The Name
As the LORD’S Christ is bound in the Law of Moses, the Gospel and the Spirit of Promise; so Mystery Babylon is also seen in three parts. She mirrors the dispensations of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the Dragon, the Beast and False Prophet. She is ‘antichrist’ in every sense of the word; the names of blasphemy written upon her forehead are doctrines and creeds, which oppose JESUS is both LORD and Christ; in other words, those who reject the Great Command He gave. (Mark 12:29)
The Number
The number of the Beast of the Earth is the number of men. This beast is of earthly gospels, which uphold the law of the flesh, opposing the Law of Christ; Gospels that bind men to works opposing the forgiveness of sin, overturning the sacrifice of Christ for the Redemption of all.
The Mark of the Beast is our self-delusion of goodness,
Which replaces of the mark of the LORD Jesus Christ. I pray JESUS will open this understanding in you that He is the Ever-Living God, the wellspring of truth and righteousness who stated of Himself; the LORD is One LORD.
In Peace and love as always,
James