As I shared in my first article, date setting for the end of the world is as natural as breathing to some people. The important thing to remember is that every one of these predictions has been wrong. A big reason for these constant errors is that people are using tools for a task for which they were never meant to be used.
The book of Revelation was never meant to be a book of codes that once discovered would reveal the earth’s final days. In fact, just the opposite is true; the book is about the victory of God reconciling the world unto himself while making all things new. Are some passages obscure? Only if we yank them out of context and try to force them to fit into a 21st Century model.
One of the clearest examples is the dreaded “mark of the Beast” that has become a cultural fixture in movies, books and in songs. The second example is the ubiquitous reference to an anti-Christ that has held people’s attention for a long time. Indeed, even entertainer Marilyn Manson prides himself in being identified with this mysterious figure. However, despite popular hype, the word does not appear in Revelation. We will consider more about this thought in the next article.
What about the idea of people receiving a mark? The book of Revelation states, “He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead” (Revelation 13:16).
For years people have speculated upon the meaning of this mark, claiming it is everything from a social security number to a micro-chip. In reality, they have failed to simply continue reading the book where just sentences later the apostle states, “Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1.)
Obviously the marks are a contrast to one another. The idea here is about loyalty, not technology or tattoos. When John mentions the forehead, he is using a commonly understood term that relates to one’s thought life. For some, they have God’s name impressed upon their minds and therefore give him full allegiance, for others it is loyalty to some other god. In John’s culture “the beast” meant specifically Rome and the Emperor Nero. A simpler way to put it is our faith rests in the strength of man, or in the strength of God.
A quick comparison to the Old Testament will also confirm this as we read in Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9.)
This is a central passage in the Hebrew Bible that every Jewish person was and is familiar with that is known as the Shema. The focus is upon the one true God that Abraham worshipped. Here Moses is the one speaking and was calling the Israelites to have loyalty to God in their hearts, and to serve him with there actions, here referred to as a “symbol on your hands.” With our hands we carry out obedient or sinful acts, while in our heart and mind we reveal where our true loyalty rests.
Simply comparing scripture with scripture reveals that the traditional doomsday view on one of the most talked about topics is simply wrong. The mark that so many ponder has nothing to do with a physical mark, but is a spiritual truth about where our commitment lies; either with God or with another.
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