Mark of the Beast

How does the Bible describe the beast?

Before identifying the mark of the beast, we must first identify the beast itself. The Bible gives 11 characteristics:

1. It rises out of the sea (Revelation 13:1),
2. It is the composite of the four beasts of Daniel 7 (Revelation 13:2),
3. The dragon gives it power and authority (Revelation 13:2),
4. It receives a deadly wound (Revelation 13:3),
5. Its deadly wound is healed (Revelation 13:3),
6. It becomes a strong political power (Revelation 13:3, 7),
7. It becomes a strong religious power (Revelation 13:3, 8),
8. It speaks blasphemy against God (Revelation 13:1, 5, 6),
9. It wars against the saints and overcomes them (Revelation 13:7),
10. It rules for 42 months (Revelation 13:5),
11. It has the mysterious number of 666 (Revelation 13:18).

What power is represented here?

The Bible often operates on the principle of repetition where previously covered subjects are repeated and new details added. If some of these characteristics described in Revelation 13 sound familiar it’s because the beast described here is the same power as the little horn of Daniel 7, which we previously learned represents the papacy (see “Who Is the Antichrist?”). Now it’s worth repeating that this is not a condemnation of Roman Catholics; rather, the Bible is pointing out a system—Catholicism. In other places the Bible also points out the faults of the Jewish and Protestant faiths. Moreover, God has devoted Christians in all churches, including the Roman Catholic church. It’s also true that the papacy has done many good deeds for the poor and the needy, but she has also committed serious errors that the Bible clearly points out in Daniel and in Revelation. God must sometimes chasten and rebuke because He wants us to be aware of error and compromise, and people who are truly loyal to Him will heed His warnings, no matter the faith. With this in mind, let’s examine each of the 11 characteristics:

1. It rises out of the sea. We previously learned that waters represent densely populated areas (Revelation 17:15), and since the papacy arose in Rome, Italy—a peninsula in the heart of Western Europe—it fits this point.

2. It is the composite of the four beasts of Daniel 7. The beast is the composite of these beasts (Daniel 7:4-7) because it incorporates various beliefs and practices from all four empires, and the papacy fits this point too. “In a certain respect, she [the papacy] has copied her organization from that of the Roman Empire, has preserved and made fruitful the philosophical intuitions of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, borrowed from both Barbarians and the Byzantine Roman Empire, but always remains herself, thoroughly digesting all elements drawn from external sources.”^[1]

3. The dragon gives it power and authority. The dragon can be identified by reading Revelation 12:1-6 where it talks about a pregnant woman about to deliver and the dragon hoping to devour the baby at birth; however, the child evades the dragon by being caught up to heaven. This is an obvious reference to Jesus, whom Herod tried to kill by slaying all the babies in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). Herod was acting under his authority as a king of Rome, so the dragon represents pagan Rome, but the real power behind Herod’s plot was the devil (Revelation 12:7-9) who likes to act through various governments to move his ugly work forward. The Roman Empire eventually fell in 476, and its power and capital city were inherited by the papacy. “The Roman Church ... pushed itself into the place of the Roman World-Empire, of which it is the actual continuation. ... The Pope ... is Caesar's successor.”^[2] “The mighty Catholic Church was little more than the Roman Empire baptised. Rome was transformed as well as converted. The very capital of the old Empire became the capital of the Christian Empire. The office of Pontifex Maximus was continued in that of Pope.”^[3]

4. It receives a deadly wound. This prophecy was fulfilled when Napoleon's general, Alexander Berthier, took Pope Pius VI captive in 1798. When the pope died in 1799, “half Europe thought ... that without the Pope the Papacy was dead.”^[4]

5. Its deadly wound is healed. The power and influence of the papacy has been increasing steadily over the years, and today she is not only one of the most powerful religious organizations in the world, but she has strong political influence as well. When the wound is completely healed, Revelation 13:3 says the entire world will give homage to it.

6. It becomes a strong political power. Revelation 13:7 says the papacy will have political power and influence over all of the nations of the world. The papacy’s political rise started when Italian dictator Benito Mussolini signed a treaty with the Vatican establishing it as a political state and protecting it from interference by the Italian government. Even though Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, it now has ambassadors (called “papal nuncios”) in every part of the globe. In 1984, it established diplomatic relations with the United States, and in 2015 Pope Francis spoke to a joint session of the U.S. Congress for the first time ever. No doubt, the wound has been healing.

7. It becomes a strong religious power. Revelation 13:8 says the papacy will be worshiped, which implies religious power and influence, by the entire world. Today the pope is respected by faiths across the religious spectrum. In 2014 Francis led an ecumenical worship service that was attended by Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and Orthodox representatives. He has also hosted a prayer summit at the Vatican with Israeli and Palesinian leaders. Cardinal Timothy Dolan had this to say: “The more he tries to de-emphasize the prestige and the power of the papacy, ... the more people pay attention to him.”^[5]

8. It speaks blasphemy against God. Blasphemy is defined as claiming to forgive sins (Luke 5:21) and claiming to be God (John 10:33). The papacy fits these points because her priests claim to forgive sins and the popes claim to be Christ (see “Who Is the Antichrist?”).

9. It wars against the saints and overcomes them. The papacy persecuted and killed millions of people during the Dark Ages for following their conscience.

10. It rules for 42 months. The papacy ruled for 42 prophetic months, which equates to 1,260 years, from 538 to 1798 (see “Who Is the Antichrist?”). During this time the papacy had power to persecute and kill anyone who followed the Bible over its own traditions, and as a result, many had to flee their native countries or even escape into the wilderness. This was clearly foretold in Revelation 12:6, 14 and vividly fulfilled, for example, in the history of the Huguenots who fled France and the Waldensians who escaped into the Cottian Alps because they refused to compromise with the unbiblical teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

11. It has the mysterious number of 666. Revelation 13:8 refers to it as “the number of a man,” and Revelation 15:2 says “the number of his name.” What is the official name of the pope? According to a Catholic quote: “The title of the pope of Rome is Vicarius Filii Dei.”^[6] The Douay versions of the Bible have a footnote for Revelation 13:8 that says, “The numeral letters of his name shall make up this number.” Notice that when the Roman numeral values of the letters of the pope’s official name are added up they equal 666 (note that V and U each equal five in Roman numerals).
    

By the way, the Latin title “Vicarius Filii Dei” means “substitute of Son of God,” which is an echo of the word “antichrist,” which can be translated as “in place of God.”

To summarize, there is no other power in history that could fit all 11 of these identifiers apart from the papacy, and only God could have prophesied this in advance.

What is God’s sign of authority?

The fourth commandment about the Sabbath contains the three basic elements of a seal: the name (the Lord), title (your God), and territory (heaven and earth), so the seventh day Sabbath is a sign of God as the Creator of the universe, as well as the Sanctifier of those who choose to follow Him. It represents His authority to rule as Creator and Savior. Revelation 7:1-3 says that in the last days His servants will have the seal of God, the Sabbath, on their foreheads, which represents the mind (Hebrews 10:16), meaning they’ve made a decision to surrender their lives to Jesus—to follow Him as the authority over their lives because He created and saved them. (By the way, the words seal, mark, sign, and token are used interchangeably in the Bible; see Genesis 17:11; Ezekiel 9:4; Romans 4:11; Revelation 7:3.) Hebrews 4:4-10 says there remains a rest day for those who entered His rest (received salvation); this rest day is a symbol of salvation because we can stop trying to be saved by our works and rest in the righteousness of Jesus instead!

What does the papacy say is her mark of authority?

Notice the following excerpts from Catholic catechisms: “Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? Answer: Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”^[7] “Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”^[8]

Here is another quote: “The church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.”^[9] Cardinal Gibbons (a cardinal is a senior officer in the Catholic Church) had this to say about Sunday-keeping: “Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything, in matters spiritual, ecclesiastical and religious without her. This act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.”^[10]

The papacy itself is saying that it “changed” the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, the pagan day of sun worship, and virtually all churches accepted the new holy day. Therefore, it claims that this act is the mark of her power and authority.

Did God predict this attempted change?

We learned previously that one of the characteristics of the papacy would be trying to change times and laws (see “Who Is the Antichrist?”). With regard to changing laws, in her catechisms she has removed the second commandment prohibiting the veneration of images, shortened the fourth commandment about the seventh Sabbath so that it could refer to any day, and divided the tenth commandment into two. Regarding changing times, she has attempted to change the time of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first, as well as the timing of the Sabbath hours themselves (from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night as God commanded; see Leviticus 23:32) to the pagan Roman custom of counting the day from midnight to midnight. Of course, none of these changes are legitimate, because there is only one Lawgiver (James 4:12), and His word cannot change (Matthew 24:35).

What question does the papacy asks Protestants?

“You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed! But by whom? Who has authority to change an express commandment of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said, Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day, who shall dare to say, Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of worldly business on the seventh day; but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its stead? This is a most important question, which I know not how you can answer.

“You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only; and yet in so important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of that day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten Commandments; you believe that the other nine are still binding; who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible and the Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which this fourth commandment is expressly altered.”^[11]

“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which [Catholics] never sanctify.”^[12]

What warnings does God give regarding His law?

God warns religious leaders who ignore His law and say that some commandments do not matter because such actions cause many people to stumble, but He also warns people who do not desire to learn about the law and want smooth fables to be preached, instead. Why? Because changing or refusing to follow God’s law has real consequences, including tragedy and upheaval on the earth. And this is not because God delights in heartache and misery, but because His law of love is there to protect from it. When it’s continually ignored, He will eventually stop pleading and let the consequences of rebellion play out. God cares about the truth being preached because He does not want anyone to be deceived, and so Ezekiel warns that those who teach there is no difference between sacred things, such as God’s holy day, and common things, such as Sunday, will one day face His indignation.

Is the mark on the forehead visible?

The forehead is the location of the frontal lobe, the area of the brain responsible for decision making, and in the Bible it represents the mind. When God told the Israelites to place His law on their foreheads He wanted the law to be in their minds. Likewise, the mark of the beast in the forehead (mind) is a decision to keep Sunday due to a conviction that it’s holy. Regarding being marked on the hand, in the Bible the hand represents work, so it’s accepting Sunday-keeping though one’s actions for practical reasons (convenience, job, family), not because of a conviction that it’s holy. In other words, the mark of the beast is a marking of oneself by accepting the beast’s mark, Sunday, either through conviction or actions, as opposed to God’s seal, the true seventh day Sabbath. Even though it’s not an obvious physical mark, God will know who has His seal and who has the beast’s mark (2 Timothy 2:19).

Does anyone have the mark of the beast now?

No one will have the mark of the beast until Sunday worship is enforced by law. A time will come when the issue of Sunday worship will be so prominent that those who don’t go along will be cut off from the financial system, unable to buy or sell. When Sunday keeping is enforced by law that is when those who worship on the papacy’s counterfeit holy day will receive her mark, but those who follow Jesus and obey Him will worship on Satuday, His holy Sabbath day, and receive His mark. But waiting until the end to keep the true Sabbath is a mistake. Anyone who hopes to refuse the beasts’s mark in the future should keep Jesus’ true Sabbath now, and whoever decides to obey Him will receive His power to do so (Acts 5:32). Without Him, I can do nothing (John 15:5), but with Him all things are possible (Mark 10:27).

What message does God give the world in the last days?

God is asking His people to stop trampling on His holy day so He can bless them; in fact, the Sabbath itself is a blessing and a delight to those who keep it. Obviously, it’s an important issue to God, so much so that the three-point message He gives to all the earth in the last days (Revelation 14:6-11) begins with a call to worship God, the Creator, and it’s then culminated by a prominent warning against worshiping the beast and receiving his mark because it will be a life-or-death issue. The conflict between God and Lucifer started in heaven over the issue of worship because Lucifer wanted to be worshiped like the Creator God (see “Origin of Evil”), and it’s clear that worship will be central in the last days too. Will I worship the Creator God by observing His Sabbath or the beast by observing his counterfeit Sunday? Some may think it’s just a day, but it was also just a fruit that Adam and Eve ate in the garden of Eden. The day reveals the condition of the heart—either one that’s completely surrendered to Jesus or one that’s in rebellion against Him.

What is the highest form of worship?

The highest form worship is obedience; whom we obey is whom we worship and serve. Love for Jesus is made evident by a willingness to obey Him. The saints who refuse to worship the beast and receive his mark will do it only because of their deep love for Jesus, which will be clearly manifested in their obedience to His Sabbath day.

Is it possible to worship God falsely?

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

People can claim to worship God, but their trampling of God’s law (lawlessness) will tell a different story because their deeds will be contrary to their profession. Any worship of God that elevates man-made laws above and contrary to the law of God is false worship, and it’s especially dangerous when this is propogated by a religious system. Now this isn’t anything new, or exclusive to Roman Catholicism, because the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day were guilty of it too. Anyone, regardless of his or her faith, can fall into it, because the human heart is deceitful and hard to decipher (Jeremiah 17:9). That’s why James says that faith without works (obedience) is dead. While I’m not saved by my obedience (salvation is only by the righteousness of Jesus), obedience is evidence that I am saved, and it’s primarily evidence for me because God already knows the true condition of my heart (Psalm 139:23, 24).

Who did John see in God’s eternal kingdom?

Those who have refused the mark of the beast and have God’s seal, instead, will be in God’s eternal kingdom. Notice also that while the mark of the beast is either in the forehead or the hand, the seal of God is only placed in the forehead, meaning God is looking for allegiance only from those who are truly sincere in their worship of Him on His holy day.

What does Jesus say about following Him?

Jesus has His people in all faiths, and when they learn about His truth, they will recognize His voice calling out to them and will follow Him, no matter the cost. It may be a difficult decision to make, but the promise from Jesus is that those who follow Him will be blessed with the eternal light of truth that brings fullness of life right now (John 10:10)! This is why Paul and Silas were able to sing praises to God while in prison for their faith (Acts 16:23-25); even though their feet were shackled and their backs lacerated, their souls were filled with the enduring joy that is found only in Jesus!

Read next: USA in Bible Prophecy