What is the Mark of the Beast? — Part 2

In Part 1, I asked the question: What is the mark of the beast? or What is the meaning of ‘the mark of the beast’? To answer that question rightly, I need to work through at least five subjects:

• the dragon
• the beasts
• the image of the beast
• the worship of the beast’s image
• the 144,000

Part 1 dealt with the first two: the dragon and the beasts. Now in part 2, I will conclude the final three subjects and finally answer the question: What is the mark of the beast?

The image of the beast

Curiously the second beast does not make the image of the first beast; rather, he deceives the people and then tells them to make an image.

And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. — Revelation 13:14

The image that he plants in people’s consciousness by his lies is the image of the beast, wounded by the sword and who lived. It’s the figure of the noble warrior, the war hero, the masterful general who sacrifices his life in the service of ‘his country.’ All very inspiring! Who does not admire and honor a war hero? Once they see this – and it will be a deception – the people will rise up and build the image of the beast with their speeches, their blogs, their Facebook tributes, their performance art.

But then once the people construct their image, the false prophet steps in and animates it. Here is John’s description:

He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. — Revelation 13:15

Ellul’s words here are worth repeating:

Once more, the great weapon of the second beast is the word. It puts its words in the mouth of the state; by it the state speaks, makes itself known, identified, obeyed. We are then truly before the extraordinary work of the animation of a dead structure, of a sterile organization, of a mechanism of power, which becomes [a] living and vital presence. That which actually fills all these roles exactly is Propaganda.[1]

Obviously, the worship of images is a clear violation of the second commandment: You shall not make for yourself a carved image . . .

All this is reminiscent of Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold which he commanded everyone to worship on penalty of death by fire (Daniel chapter three). Of course we all know the story that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused, yet God sent his angel into the fire to preserve and rescue them.

This beastly image is also a lightening rod and a clear dividing point. The worship of images is forbidden. But in our own day, if we’re not careful, in a world filled with images, we can easily succumb to images passively and fail to recognize their influence over us. We naïvely underestimate their power. I’ve written about this on this site, especially in other article series.[2]

Today, images surround us; our entire world is overlaid with images. Most of life is mediated with a screen, and now in the era of COVID, it’s only accelerated. Images are not reality; at best they can only represent reality. But in our own day they can easily misrepresent, distort, obscure reality and even create an alternate reality. Do not be fooled by images.

A few trivial examples of what I’m talking about:

• ‘deep fakes’
• ‘shadow banning’
• ‘Photoshopping’
• the use of fake backgrounds
• ads posing as news stories
• scripted, highly-produced ‘reality shows’
• the fact that every flat image, whether still or moving, because it is 2D, is missing an entire third dimension — it can never come anywhere near reality
• . . . I could go on[3]

The image is now routinely accepted and required (to work, school, etc) as a substitute and even as an equivalent substitute for the real. In this world of images there apparently is no exit, no escape. Or is there?

The worship of the beast’s image

Seven times in Revelation John lists the mark of the beast in the same breath as worshiping the beast’s image. For example, here’s one instance:

Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. — Revelation 14:9–10

These two concepts — the worship of the beast’s image and the mark of the beast — whatever they are, must be closely related and therefore must be studied and understood together.

John is very clear that worshiping the beast’s image is equated with worshiping the beast itself. Each time these phrases occur, he states that it’s those who ‘worship the beast AND his image.’ In other words, when you worship the image you’re also, albeit perhaps unknowingly, worshiping the beast itself.

No one would actually worship the beast unless the beast is portrayed in the best possible light and in a light that hides its every darkness. This is the purpose of the image: to add a patina, to embellish, to turn the beast into an admirable person or company or government.

In this election season, does this sound familiar? How many political TV commercials, internet ads, how many millions of dollars does it take to burnish a politician’s image? A lot.

The image is absolutely necessary for the true nature of the beast to remain hidden. No one is allowed to see the real beast; it must remain in the dark at all costs; otherwise, people would rightly react in horror, disgust and rage.

The image is there, first off, to pacify and placate, but that is not enough. People must be taught to love and adore the image. As Ellul says: ‘Obedience does not suffice; there must be love and profound adhesion.’

This image production and image adoration goes on in many forms today. These forms and many others blanket the earth, but it’s not just the breadth of images that make it inescapable; it’s also the depth and power of the images themselves that captivate and cast spells on unsuspecting, naïve and passive peoples. The sophistication and technique — data- and AI-driven technique — of TV and media advertising and public relations is now over a century old. It is now very difficult to resist and requires a wide-eyed vigilance to avoid its enchantment.

At the heart of worship is the fact that it must be UNFORCED. True worship rises up from within us when we see the true nature of God. When we see that he, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, deliberately takes the position of non-power and becomes a lamb – The Lamb – we will fall down in worship and adoration.

On the one hand, the beast attempts to force us by deceit and manipulation to adore it; but on the other hand, the Lamb deliberately does not. The Lamb simply reveals himself for who he truly is. Ultimately then it comes down to this question: who will you worship — the beast or the Lamb?

I could go on, but I’ll stop there in my descriptions of the worship of the beast’s image. The main point is that the worship of the beast’s image needs to be understood as a broad phenomenon. Yet the central principle is the same: in order to gain and keep a following, it’s not enough to try to cover up the evil. No — evil, ruthless and murderous beasts must project a golden image worthy to inspire love and admiration and yes, worship. Yet all the while, the beast sits in the dark, out of reach and unknown.

The one hundred and forty-four thousand

It is significant that the description of the 144,000 directly follows the descriptions of the mark of the beast. The contrast is striking.

Here is John’s vision of the 144,000:

Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. — Revelation 14:1–5

John’s description is of a multitude of redeemed people. They are the unique and new creation of humanity redeemed by the Lamb and standing on the summit of Mount Zion, poised between heaven and earth. Some erroneously call these the ‘144,000 Jews,’ but, although this group is apparently the same group mentioned in Revelation chapter seven, where 12,000 from each of Israel’s tribes is listed, yet here, they are the ‘redeemed from among men,’ and ‘first fruits to God and to the Lamb.’ They sing a new song that ‘no one else could learn except them.’ And most interestingly with regard to the descriptions of the mark of the beast, is that both the 144,000 and those having the mark of the beast, have a name on their foreheads. Let’s compare the two:

Characteristic	Mark of the Beast	144,000
Number	666	144,000
Math	144,000 ÷ 6 ÷ 6 ÷ 6 = 666.66	666.66 × 6 × 6 × 6 =144,000
Mathematical meaning of the 144,000	Man dividing	Man multiplied
Number means	identity of the beast	number of multitude
Forehead inscribed by	marking	being written
Name on forehead	beast	Father
Identified as belonging to	beast	Father
number characteristic	repeating: 6-6-6	multiplying: 12 × 12 × 1000
worship	the beast and his image	sing a new song to the Lamb

The number 144,000 also appears in Revelation chapter 21:

Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. — Revelation 21:17–18

The dimensions of the New Jerusalem, the bride, the Lamb’s wife is conspicuously measured in multiples of twelve. All of this points back to the 144,000 standing on Mount Zion. And the 144,000, because it is the number 666 multiplied by six three times, points to the idea that man is transformed by the Lamb’s power.

It is a fact that 144,000 ÷ 6 ÷ 6 ÷ 6 = 666.6̅6̅ (and 666.6̅6̅ × 6 × 6 × 6 = 144,000). And although my proposed meaning is speculative, it would be nothing short of a miracle if this fact were unintentional. At the very least, it’s clear that John is saying something fundamental about the nature of man and his transformation by either the Lamb or the beast. John contrasts the Lamb with the beast. God through Christ redeems us and transforms us, not by dominating us, but by dying for us. Again it is worship that is the real question. True worship is unforced; it arises out of a heart that sees the Lamb’s greatness and love and then responds in love and adoration. This is the contrast of the beast and the Lamb.

The mark of the beast

We finally come to the reason for this long discourse: the mark of the beast.

It’s significant that the multitude of the 144,000 is associated with a large number directly following the description of those who have the mark of the beast and worship his image. Let’s look at this closer.

The number six hundred and sixty-six or 666 is:

• the number of the beast
• the number of the beast’s name
• the number of a man, or Man

Here is where I will diverge from much of Christian, evangelical interpretation. I do not believe that John wants us to use gematria to ‘calculate the number of the beast.’ I believe he’s given us the answer of how to calculate or count in the text itself. Let’s read it now:

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. — Revelation 13:18

The Greek text literally says:

Here the wisdom is. He who has the understanding let him count the number of the beast. Number [for] man’s [it] is. And the number of it six hundred, sixty six.

The bold typeface: ‘arithmos [number] gar [for] anthropuo [man’s or a man’s] estin [is]’

Five definite articles are used in the Greek up until this last phrase; but in this phrase, no definite article is used for ‘number’ [arithmos] or for ‘of a man’ or ‘man’s’ [anthropou]. There are at least three explanations for this lack of a definite article. It could mean that the number of the beast refers to:

• one man in history or the future – ‘for it is the number of a man’
• a representative man – ‘for it is the number of a man’
• Man or humanity – ‘for it is the number of Man’

The first meaning is the one normally thought to be correct, which explains all the use of gematria to try to identify the beast. The beast is also normally thought to be the Antichrist. But the second and third meanings amount to almost the same thing, that is, that John is not talking about one man, the Antichrist. He’s talking about the assimilation of Man – unredeemed humanity – into the beast system.

Again, if we interpret Revelation as a timeless book, albeit with a grand acceleration and culmination, we can see the beast and man in a broader context. It is the beast which seeks to turn man into unthinking beasts like itself, even into machines, automatons, zombies, non-humans, transhumans, empty shells. undifferentiated and completely identified (assimilated) into the beast system. The beast does not humanly write on the hand or forehead as the Father does; rather, it marks or brands him as if men and women were animals. It is not a name that he marks on the forehead, it’s a dehumanizing, non-differentiated number. The worship that the beast receives is not freely given, but is imposed and coerced, forced; men worship only because they would otherwise be killed.

What then is the mark of the beast?

The mark of the beast is nothing less than the sign of the beast ‘re-creating’ or ‘manufacturing’ men in its own image. It is the beast trying to copy God, but the best it can do is to stamp out sixes. Six is the number of man since Adam was created on the sixth day. And just as Adam and Eve were to be the fountainheads of humanity, the representative humans, the number 666 refers to the beast remaking new humans as a new kind of beast–human. The new 666-men take on the characteristics of the beast. The mark of the beast is the ‘signature’ of the beast upon its own ‘creation.’

Here is Ellul’s interpretation:

The mark is the sign of belonging: propaganda makes men belong to the political power (which is not only the framework in which they live). The right hand is the symbol of action: men must act in conformity to the order of the state (this is what I have called in my study on propaganda, orthopraxis). The forehead is the symbol of intelligence: men must think in conformity to the thought of the state. It is then clearly the creation of the ideology of the political, the adoration not only of the state, but of the political; it is the affirmation that the political is All, or further, of the primacy of the political over everything. . . . this mark upon the hand or the forehead implies then an adhesion to a regime, to a type of society, a conformity of action and of thought to the model proposed by the state, an integration without reservation in the collective current (represented by the political of the moment) and finally an adaptation. And this power is exercised without distinction upon the “small and great, rich and poor, free man and slaves.” It appears then as a commonplace to all. In other words, the community thus created by the mark of the beast is finally the anti-Church.[4]

The mark of the beast is a concept, not one physical thing. It could be manifested as a tattoo, a stamp, a digital certificate, a vaccine nano-technology or a hundred other manifestations. But if we’re only alert to the physical manifestation of the mark, we’ll miss the larger truth and could be seduced despite our circumspection.

MAIN POINT:
The mark of the beast would be wrought in us if we worship the beast and his image; we become assimilated into the beast so that we belong to the beast and cannot think or act outside of its image-dominated framework. But this can only happen if we neglect or refuse to only worship the Lamb — the One who inspires true worship and who stands in opposition to the beast. This is our only salvation — to only worship the true and living God who created us, who redeems us and who has written his name upon our foreheads.[5]

At the time that I’m writing this, the pressure to conform to politically-driven behavior and mentality is very high and appears to be increasing. And the sophistication of medical PR and propaganda is also very high. We are being lied to and we must see through the lie and the fear and not be intimidated. At some point we will be coerced, cowed, intimidated, given ultimatums, ridiculed, belittled, ignored, ostracized, thought to be mentally or emotionally unstable, arrested or in some way forced to conform. At this point we must worship the Lamb and be like him as when he himself was arrested and put on trial. We must not fight back, but simply, humbly, lovingly, stand up to the truth and trust in our Savior and Lord.[6]

If someone becomes ‘marked by the beast,’ they also will project a false image and will not allow others to see the real person – that person that they believe is too dark to reveal, and who they believe to be unsavable. If that’s the case, they may fall into the beast’s trap and become like it.

It appears that, in the era of COVID, the alternative salvation to be offered to us will be some sort of badge or QR code or app or tattoo or vaccine that will authorize us to engage in commerce; to allow us to ‘go back to normal,’ but it will be the beast’s contrived and technocratic ‘normal.’ This will be the false salvation.

Do not fall for it.

Beware then the persons or institutions who:

• seek to bully or intimidate you into doing something questionable.
• try to dazzle you with signs; try to impress you and inspire you to worship some thing.
• produce slick advertising or PR to try to manipulate you.
• expect you to mindlessly click ‘I agree’ to legalese, onerous contracts that give you no other option.
• presume upon, co-opt you into, a program or system without your full knowledge or consent.
• take ownership of your property or of your data or your DNA without your full knowledge or consent.
• claim to be your ultimate authority that you must obey.
• deny you the right to access information, work, food, trade, speech, assembly, etc
• claim to have exclusive rights to your body, your life or your health.
• claim that its system has human or near-human or supra-human abilities that are superior to you and that you must use.
• seek to crowd out, monopolize or dominate.[7]

The meaning of the mark of the beast is simply this: the mark of the beast is not one thing. It means/represents a faith/worship of a political and/or technological system posing as God that promises to protect you, to save you, to transform you, but which will actually destroy you. The physical mark could be any number of things.

In our day, to avoid the worship of the beast and his image and his mark, we must understand the breadth and depth of propaganda in its many forms and open our eyes to see how the beast, through propaganda, seeks to dupe us and manipulate us, especially with images. Therefore we must:

• not passively consume images
• not passively surf the web
• not be afraid to say no
• not be afraid of pain and suffering
• not be afraid of death
• learn to think critically
• fellowship with other believers in Christ
• cultivate prayer and meditation
• worship and adore the Father and the Lamb

In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

---

[1] Ibid, pg 96.

[2] See especially Lie: Passive Use of the Internet is Harmless, part 1, part 2 and part 3.

[3] For a deeper dive on this subject, see for example the short video clip taken from the video series How Should We Then Live, by Francis Schaeffer, published in 1977: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8qMi_VIuX4

[4] Ibid, pg 96–97.

[5] See the article: Lie: Worship is an experience of God’s presence, part 1 and part 2.

[6] See also: Lie: I am defeated, part 1 and part 2.

[7] See also: Lie: Idolatry is rare, part 1 and part 2 and In liars we trust.