Page 8 - The Mark of the Beast

Shadow and Substance

he church is fascinated with matters relating to the last days prior to the return of Christ.
TThe teachers of end times prophecy are legion, and their message goes forth over the
airwaves, while their books fill the shelves of bookstores and major shopping centers.
Movies are made out of many of these books and teachings, and Internet chat rooms are
dedicated to the discussion of various end times doctrines, prophecies and scenarios.
A particular prophecy that has captivated many is that relating to the mark of the
beast. The Scriptures reveal the following about this mark:

Revelation 13:16-18
And he causes 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 their forehead, and
he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the
mark, either 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 six hundred and sixty-six.

A myriad of teachings have gone forth to the body of Christ with the effect of causing
the saints to focus upon the number 666 and to be wary of new and upcoming technologies
that will allow mankind to be imprinted with some type of physical mark, or computer chip,
that will be required in order to buy or sell. Speculation concerning what this mark will be
has changed over the years as technology has advanced. I remember years back when bar
codes were just becoming popular, and many theorized that men and women would be
given some type of bar code as a mark. More recently, with the advent of technologies such
as Digital Angel, and smart chips, and RFID tags that can be scanned from a distance,
opinion has shifted to these more advanced technologies.
Tragically, in leading the saints to focus upon the danger of receiving a physical mark,
these end time prophecy teachers have lulled the church to sleep and have failed to warn
them of the real danger. The book of Revelation is highly symbolic, and the physical and
tangible things described in the book are most often employed to speak of spiritual realities,
and it is these spiritual realities that are most important. The mark of the beast spoken of
in the passage above is in fact a type and shadow of mankind receiving the imprint of the
beast nature so that mankind can traffic in the things of a corrupt and fallen world.
I have never heard a teacher on end time prophecy speak of the spiritual substance of
which the physical mark is but a shadow. There is endless speculation about physical
technologies which will be required to buy and sell, and the world is surely rushing forward
to implement this control of all mankind. Yet, as so much of that which is physical in the
Bible, this mark serves as a parable of much deeper spiritual substance. By focusing ONLY
on the physical shadow, and ignoring the spiritual substance, prophecy teachers have done
much harm to the understanding of the saints.
That the things in this passage are symbols of spiritual realities is evident if one looks
at the context of the letter. Below are the first eight verses of Revelation chapter 13, followed
by a list of the physical symbols described in these verses.