The Mark of the Beast

[goingsouth]

"It should be obvious by now, that Jesus did not mean He was less than God, or an inferior god, when He said that God ("the Father") was "greater" than He was. Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarians, and other Arians interpret Jesus' words here this way. Arius was a heretic in the early church who denied Jesus' full deity. Jesus was not speaking ontologically (i.e., dealing with His essential being, His nature), since He had affirmed repeatedly that He and the Father were one ontologically (1:1-2; 10:30; 14:9; 20:28).


Rather, he was speaking of the Father's relative glory compared to Jesus' glory. Jesus had laid His heavenly glory aside in the Incarnation, but the Father had not done so, and consequently enjoyed greater glory than the Son during Jesus' earthly ministry. However, now Jesus was about to return to the Father, and to the greater glory that He would again share with the Father. This glorification should have caused the disciples to rejoice, but they sorrowed instead, because they focused on themselves too much."

http://soniclight.org/constable/notes/pdf/john.pdf

I knew that was going to be your response. Look at the passage. Comparing God's heavenly glory to Christ earthly glory has nothing to do with the context. You've accepted another mans teaching. What Jesus said about God being greater is Jesus' reply to Judas after he asked, "Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?"

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.

[claysmithr]

Note: I take the futurist view of the Mark

The Beast could be called the Beast because he has some sort of human-animal-demon genetics going on for himself.

The mark of the beast might be an implanted device in people that changes their genetics to be like the nephilim of old, reducing disease and extending lifespan for an extra 400 years. Or it could just be a simple chip. Either way it's something that allows one to buy and sell. When the NWO /Global Government and Global Currency emerges, the mark of the Beast starts to make sense.

Alien (aka Demon) abductees are already being implanted with some sort of advanced nano-computer that might be altering their genetics as an experiment.

First you need to witness the beast climb to power and blaspheme God. Then he will require everyone to get the mark as an act of Worship towards the beast, leaning on the Beast to provide and protect and not upon God.

People who do not get the Mark are likely to either

A) Have God provide for them, or

B) die from hunger/homelessness, which is a small cost for eternal life

Personally, I'm 32 and hope I don't live to witness the Rise of the Beast Nation or the Great Deception that deceives even some Elect Christians. But I'm old enough to see through the demonic lies. I wish people who got the mark weren't destined to hellfire forever. That's tough. But God expects some of us to endure great hardship for his Sake, and will become priests in the 1000 year millennial reign of Christ, if one has passed the test of NOT TAKING THE MARK.

[thatkidakayoungguy]

I tend to think it'll be literal.
What I'm more scared of is how angry God'll be. Even though we can escape it imagine how bad it'll be.

[yorican67]

I like this thread and all the opinions stated within. The book of Revelation, inline with the book of Daniel, will not be fully understood until the end times. We're so close to the return of Christ, which is why there's so much speculation and scripture references in this thread. The book of Revelation continues to unfold before us, and knowledge of the books continues to increase.

For me the passage concerning the Mark of the Beast is both literal and metaphorical. Rather its a Physical and Spiritual mark placed upon those willing and wanting to receive it. The anti-Christ is a false Messiah, anti-Christ deconstructed means in place of Christ. How long is the anti-Christ's reign? Yep three and a half years long. Jesus' ministry on earth same, three and a half years long.

The Church has already begun falling away from biblical truths, which continues to progress into Apostasy. I do believe in the Church age, consisting of seven overlapping periods of time, being the seven churches. And what's the last church mentioned? The church of Laodicea, were believers are neither hot or cold. Best re-collation is that Laodicea refers to peoples opinions, which we currently see in the church today. Apostasy... leading up to a false Christ, with his followers being sealed with his promise of false salvation. Can the elect be deceived? Apparently so... along with the rest of the world.

*Side note for all you Day Age Progressive creationist: The creation age in Genesis is seven long periods of overlapping time, assuming we agree on this point. "This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day (age) that the LORD God made earth and heaven." The church age in Revelation is seven long periods of overlapping time, per historical records of the Church. Again assuming we agree on this point. Another reason progressive creationism is the best creation model, it fits the full context of scripture! Hmm and science. : )

"As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?” He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time."

[mrtzur2015]

In Revelation 13:16-18, it talks about the mark of the beast. There are heaps of strange and wonderful interpretations of what this will be, when it will (or did ) happen, yet all seem to completely skip the specifics of what the verse says. Here is what the text says:

16 And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

I have highlighted in bold what I feel are the key words/terms in this prophecy.

When we look at the evolution of money, we see it evolving from gold and silver, to lesser metals, and then to paper, plastic and now, payments all over the world are being made by contact-less cards, Apple Watch (and other smart watches), Barclays bank in the UK offer people a chipped wrist band for payments, and also a micro-chipped sticker that can be stuck on anything to pay with. Schools in the UK and people in countries like Sweden are using finger print and palm recognition as forms of payment too. So, the questions is...where are all these changes in world banking leading to? What is the next evolution in money?

This is where I believe we come to the mircochip, in particular a chip implanted in the back of your hand, which will eventually be used for buying and selling. When one looks at it on a purely practical/convenience level, you can see why this will eventually happen. For governments it costs less to have digital money than to print cash, it will make the system run more efficiently, as there will be no need to move cash around, crime that is dependent on physical money will be minimized, and for the common man, no more having to carry your wallet, worry about losing it, or having it stolen, etc, etc. That's not to say there will be no issues with this kinds of technology, but I think the system will refine this until it's as good as it can be.

So, when will this happen? That's anyone's guess, but it could be a lot sooner than people would like to believe. Everyday we see these changes happening, and cash slowly being phased out. When it does come, like the prophecy say, no man will be able to buy or sell without it. So where will we get our food, clothes, shelter, etc?

Most people will end up taking the mark, because they don't really believe God can provide these things outside of working for money, but Jesus said it very clearly, God can and will provide us with clothes and food, as he does the flowers and birds, if we seek to build his Kingdom first. (Matthew 6:25-34). Do we believe this? Are we preparing ourselves spiritually for this time? When it comes, we will lose everything, homes, lands, possessions, most likely family and friends who take the mark...are we ready for that?

There was a missionary who said, ''He is no fool who give up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose''. If we reject the mark, we will lose everything, but we'll lose it all when we die too. Why not give it all up for Jesus right now, and live as he and his disciples did, by faith in God and not in money (Matthew 6:24 and Luke 14:33)?

i think us trying to figure out what the mark of the beast would be is a waste of time.
the truth is that the church will be raptured long before this happens.
money will change when one world government establishes . you can tell right now the economy is all collapsing, theere is no evading this.
a lot of people are investing in gold, houses and Land because its all tangible and people feel the end of money is coming.
God will provide for his people who are left behind and choose to follow.
i think some will be chosen to stay as well, to lead people and tell the truth. not to mention the prophets in Jerusalem.

[KingofKingsandLordofLords]

I am an educated academic, and through my Biblical studies and studies of sociology, I can only conclude that the correct interpretation of the verse actually refers to people who sin through either thought or action. I am completely up to date on the microchip concerns, and the theories of it believed to be this prophecy, yet I must disagree on multiple accounts.
1. The micro-chipped people that use them have them in their LEFT hand, not their RIGHT one.
2. Identical looking micro-chips have been found inplanted in the back of people's necks when they have been unaware of it. The only issue is, the government, nor the illuminati are behind this, in fact this is done by the "greys" on behalf of God, to help keep gps track on every person (and sometimes people's pets) for the sake of the 2nd resurrection (first resurrection in the new testament) at the second coming of Christ in 2075. Furthermore, these are not in their forheads, they are in the back of the neck.
3. If someone did come along and pass a law mansating that every person must have thee chips implanted in either their forehead or right hand, it only takes ONE person in the court of law to prevent it, and millions of human rights activists, religious people, naturalists, etc would oppose the concept, and have logical reason for so. Furthermore a physical rebellion would ensue.
4. The Bible tells us of a few things: "All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God" (Romans 3:23), " Here is wisdom: Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six." (Revelation 13:18), "And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast..." (Revelation 16:10).
These Biblical verses simply reinforce the idea that Revelation 13:16 refers simply to sining by thought or action. However we must now figure out 100% what was meant when it references that we won't be able to buy and sell. I do not have the answer for this, but I have an idea:
It could reference the future of the state of our nation and possibly our entire planet. We have seen a rapture in the Church. The division of Christions into denominations, and even some denominations have been ivided into individual "churches" from each other. Christians are completely divided and Christianity seems to be being targetted by violence and also is decreasing in numbers. Also Satanism, Anarchism, Anti-Christianity, and Nazism (a form of Anti-Christianity, as Hitler was the 2nd Anti-Christ) have been increasing in numbers and strengthening it's unities. I will save the details on the corrosion these groups are having on Christianity unless chalenged by another poster.
I am saying that, I believe that we are in a time wherethe people of God are weakening and the oposing sides are getting stronger, to the point where we could be discriminated against, and rejected, and ignored, if not attacked by violence as is so often portrayed on the news. Let me know what you all think about this, thanks.