No one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark

Revelation 13 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Beast from the Sea

And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.

Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. ² And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. ³ I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; ⁴ they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” ⁵ There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. ⁶ And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

⁷ It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. ⁸ All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. ⁹ If anyone has an ear, let him hear. ¹⁰ If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.

The Beast from the Earth

¹¹ Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. ¹² He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. ¹³ He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. ¹⁴ And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. ¹⁵ And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. ¹⁶ 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, ¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸ Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

I said previously that the tendency for many people, when looking toward the return of Christ, is to focus on the when rather than the who. Scripture is clear that we will not know the day or hour of His return, but that we can know for sure that He is returning as King, not a baby, not a man, but the one who rules heaven and earth. In today’s text the vision of Revelation focuses on the persons or the powers which are against Christ’s followers, the beast from the sea, the beast from the earth and the dragon. I don’t want to focus too deeply in trying to identify who or what these are. Throughout history many people have tried to identify many of the most evil world leaders as the beast of Revelation. Certainly these are evil and of the devil and since all that the devil does is to lie and deceive, what he does is done to look like what God does. The two beasts and the dragon, the three parts of evil described are the counterpart of the trinity, the Three in One God, the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. The beasts and the dragon represent a counterfeit trinity. The true trinity evokes the worship of man because of love and grace. The false trinity will use oppression and violence.  

In today’s text it says:   And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” … And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 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.     Again throughout history much attention has been given to the mark of the beast, what it is, what it will look like, how it could be initiated and of course how to avoid it. The text says that no one will be able to buy or sell without it, so there is an economic aspect to the mark. It is important for us to remember, beyond the mark of the beast, what we should concern ourselves with is worshipping the beast. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus says:   “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”   We worship that which we serve. If we are serving the economic systems of the world, prioritizing wealth over God, we are in danger of worshiping the beast. Once someone worships and serves the beast, taking the mark will seem logical.

The best way to avoid the mark of the beast is not to serve or worship the beast, but to worship and serve God. After saying you cannot serve two masters, in Matthew 6:31-34 Jesus says: “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”   If God is our Lord and Master, if seeking His kingdom and righteousness is our priority, if we trust that our provision is through Him and not through the economic systems of the world, we have no need to be concerned with the mark of the beast.

In the text it says:  It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.    There are many differing ideas about where the church will be in the timeline of these events. Many believe that the church will not go through this period of tribulation. Since God is eternal and not restricted to finite time as we are in our thinking, I think it is important that wherever we are in the timeline of Christ return, we hear and learn the lessons of the vision of Revelation. Jesus says: “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (Matthew 16:33)     Even if the church will not go through the Great Tribulation, we as believers, will have tribulation. Some as the text says, will be captive or killed. The perseverance and faith of the saints is that regardless of the tribulation of the world, we have peace, because Christ has overcome.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, the true three in one God, I choose to serve and worship You. I choose to seek Your kingdom and righteousness, knowing that as long as my focus is on You I don’t need to worry about the beast because You have overcome. In the name of Jesus, the name above every name I pray with thanksgiving. Amen.