Q. What is the "mark of the Beast?"

A. The "mark of the Beast" comes out of Revelation 13.16-18 where it says "he (the false prophet) causes all (a lot of people but not all) the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand, or on the forehead and that no one would be able to buy or sell, except the one who has the mark, the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of man and his number is 666." Many have the belief that this will be some mark, tattoo or a bio-chip that will be placed under the skin in the right hand or forehead and this will allow financial transactions and so on. To get this "mark" you must accept the false messiah. The Bible says that anyone who does this will suffer eternal damnation ( Rev 14.9-10). On the other hand there are those who believe that this mark is "spiritual" in that God marks those who are His and those who are not. There are several Scriptures that seem to support this view so let's look at those. In Ezekiel 9.4 God tells his "executioners", probably angels, to go through the city of Jerusalem and put a "mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst." He then tells them to slay everyone who does not have the "mark", starting with the elders. No particular mark is specified and it could not be seen by anyone with the natural eye but the angels knew who they were. In Revelation 14.1 it says that the 144,000 will have God's name and the name of the Messiah "written on their foreheads."So, here are two examples where believers are "marked" by God in their foreheads because they follow the Lord. This was not a physical mark, but spiritual. Now, the forehead was used to indicate comprehension or a mental assent to something. With believers, it was to indicate their faith in the Lord and a desire to follow Him. In Psa 37.37 it says that we should "mark the blameless man and behold the upright." But, Rom 16.17 it says to "mark those who cause division" or in other words, take notice of them. There are many other verses which convey the same idea In Revelation 13 it seems to indicate that unbelievers will be "marked" by their behavior. It "marks" those who do not believe and they have a comprehension or a mental assent to follow the false messiah and the false prophet. Now, it says that the 144,00 have God's name on their foreheads and in Hebrew, the letter "shin" stands for God. It is the first letter for the name "shaddai" and "shalom", both names of God. The letter shin is also the first letter in the name "satan" in Hebrew. This letter has three heads when you write it. Now, in Rev 13.18 it says that this mark of the beast is his name or number and that number is 666. The number six in Hebrew is the letter "vav" and it looks like an upright snake. The number 6 is the number of man and the three 6's in our numerics would look like 3 vavs in Hebrew, with three heads. If you put 3 vavs together (name of the beast) you can make it look like the letter shin (God's name). In other words unless you have understanding from God you can be deceived into thinking that you are following the Messiah. when you are following a false messiah and that is the idea being conveyed here in Revelation. It is possible that the mark of the beast has to do more with a mental assent or a comprehension in line with the false teachings of the false prophet in regards to who the false messiah is and those who follow him. It could involve a physical mark but doesn't have to. Part of the deception is to get people looking for a physical mark when in reality they already have it by what they believe, comprehend or mentally assent to. But, it says you won't be able to buy or sell without the mark and if it isn't a physical thing, how can that be possible? Well, nations have been able to control buying and selling without computers for centuries. Rome did it, Spain, England and the United States did it with blue laws and rationing, the Nazi's did it buy marking Jewish stores and vendors and warning people to avoid them. You are also "marked" by your behavior. If one doesn't buy or sell on the Sabbath it will become known very quickly, especially in an atmosphere of persecution which will be the norm in the realm of the false messiah (Rev 12.17, Dan 7.25). One other point needs to be brought out here. The false messiah will not control the whole world nor will he control the economy of the world with this mark. This will only be imposed in his kingdom. There are many nations that will oppose him such as Russia, Kings of the East and the Kings of the South and he will be at war with these nations during the Tribulation, so this is not worldwide and seems to confined to Europe for the most part. There is so much more to this subject but this should give you some other things to think about and investigate as far as the mark, and it may not be what has been traditionally taught. A delusion is when you believe something that isn't true and an illusion is seeing something when in fact it isn't there. Both could be at play here and it is all a part of the deception of the last days.