END TIMES?

Chapter 3 - The Mark of the Beast

Receive the mark of the beast:

Now of course the next most obvious question is: What does it mean to receive the mark of this beast in the forehead or hand? The answer I've found is actually two fold.

Mark in the forehead:

One clue comes to us from another verse in the book of Revelation that talks about those "who have their Father's name written on their foreheads" (God's seal in their foreheads - Revelation 9:4) This obviously is a reference to believers who've been bought by the blood of Christ. The interesting correlation I find here, is the location of the name or (as well as) the mark. Both are on the individuals' forehead. Now obviously, believers don't literally have the name of our Father written on our foreheads; but we can be identified as what we are by our fruits.

The chief purpose of a Christian, as commissioned by God, is to "take the gospel into all the world". We proclaim the gospel both verbally and in action, by the lives we live and the works we perform. "Faith (belief, trust in Christ) without works is dead." The "works" and the "fruit" are both internal and external. We grow in trust, hope, love, patience, goodness, proper attitude, good works etc.

Comparing these two Scriptures with each other, I think is pointing out to us that a belief system (in the mind / forehead i.e. "mark of the beast" or "Father's name") is made manifest by the works of the hands.

Mark in the hand:

Now here is an interesting (yet I think significant) anomaly I discovered about the difference in the language of Revelation 13 (mark in forehead or hand) and the language in Revelation 19 that talks about those "receiving" the mark being cast into the lake of fire.

The words translated "received" in chapter 13 and 19 are two different words. The chapter 13 word means "to be imparted with" and is usually in passive voice, where as the chapter 19 word means to "run after and take hold of". In chapter 13, the second beast (the one with lamb horns) causes "all the peoples of the earth" to "receive" (passive) the mark of the (first) beast. In Chapter 19 though, only those who "received" (actively sought) the mark and worshiped the beast are cast into the lake of fire.

So as the language of the text indicates, we apparently have two sets of people who "receive" the mark of the beast; yet they do so in different ways. This I think could be the distinction between those who "run after and take hold of" it in their forehead and those who "are imparted with" it on their hand.

Now, why the distinction? Why not impart everyone who is to receive the mark on the forehead? Maybe because of Revelation 9? Could it be that some of those who passively receive it in their hand, have already been marked on their foreheads by their Heavenly Father? Keep in mind that only those who actively received the mark and worshiped the beast are cast into the lake of fire.

With all this being said; I just recently found another "monkey wrench" to be thrown into my theory on marks in hands and foreheads. That wrench was found in Revelation 20 verse 4. The context is those beheaded for the witness of Jesus ... "neither had received his mark in their foreheads or in their hands..."

Now the verb "receive" in Revelation 20:4 is consistent with chapter 19's "actively sought" version of "receive"; as opposed to being "passively imparted with". The perplexing issue is if one is marked with the Father's name on their forehead how can they have the "actively sought" mark on their hand? Would not the "actively sought" mark be on their foreheads because they aren't marked otherwise?

Looking a little more closely at "or" in verse 20:4 though, I discovered that it's a different word "or" than in chapter 13. The word "or" in chapter 20 is usually translated "and" not "or". it's what's listed in Greek as a "copulative conjunction" (I know, doesn't that sound weird?) which means it joins two phrases; as opposed to "in", "on", "under" which are prepositions.