The Mark of the Beast: Taking a moment Part 2

What is more bizarre: A pig with wings? Or a two-part blog series done by yours truly?

You guessed it: A two-part series done by yours truly

I wanted to break this down into two parts ( maybe 3 depending on how this part goes) for the simple purpose that this topic requires more digestible chunks in order to make sense. Not necessarily for the reader, but definitely for me since I don't know when to stop talking (or writing in this context). 

To sum up my last blog post, which I'd recommend reading, I talked about the authorship of the book of Revelation and how integral the Old Testament is for us to understand the message of Revelation. 

The importance of Old Testament theology is as integral as oxygen is to breathing.

I left off by making a statement. A purpose statement of this blog post so that I could be as focused as possible in this post. (You're welcome)

What we're going to look at is the name of God, the name of the beast, and the mark.

*Disclaimer: The material is about to get a little heady, TL DR is at the end

Is there a similarity between the name of God and the mark of the Beast?

This question might sound irrelevant, but it's really not. The book of revelation uses imagery and themes in order to compare and contrast different theological concepts. For example, the use of seven, the dragon, and the woman are all what we could call "typologies" meaning that they are characters used to represent a real person/a reality. In the case of the dragon, it is used to represent the villain in the story of God's redemption.

In the Old Testament, the topic of dragons is represented by using the character of Leviathan, Rahab, among many other chaos agents(Isaiah 51:9; Job 3:8 etc.). In the ancient near east (the culture and context of the Old Testament) most had assumed that a deep sea beast would dwell in the water. In fact, the mind of ancient cultures would claim that the sea was the epitome of chaos and disorder. Mostly because they couldn't control it or tame it. The deity of Rahab was one of many characters in ancient near eastern creation stories, particularly Marduk's creation of the cosmos. Marduk defeated Rahab in order to bring creation into existence.

All of this is to say that the author of Revelation very clearly was pulling from Old Testament imagery in order to capture a single point when referring to beasts, and dragons. 

If you are interested in learning more about these Old Testament ideas and how they play into Revelation, I would recommend the Naked Bible podcast episodes on Revelation. It's super helpful and much more in-depth than I'm able to offer in a short blog post.

What else is an Old Testament idea?

The beast and the dragon aren't the only Old Testament ideas found in Revelation. 

In the Old Testament, the concept of "the name of God" was more than a title. We find that even Jesus taught this in his earthly ministry. 

Actually... He claimed it for Himself. Here's what I'm talking about:

In Exodus 23:20-21, we find one of many examples where "the name" is more than a title. The name of God is something that has the ability to "dwell". Just like we have the ability to dwell/live in a house, the name of God has the ability to dwell/live as well. But what does the name dwell in? Well, here is the example in Exodus 23:20-21

"Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him."

There are other places where "the name" and "Yahweh" are both present at the same time, yet are two distinct people. This is where the idea of the Trinity comes from, but that's for another blog post (maybe). In Exodus 3:1-6 (the burning bush) we have both the angel of Yahweh in the bush, and then the text says "and God called to him". Two very distinct characters.

Another example is found in Judges 2:1 where the angel of the Lord makes a claim saying it was them that brought Israel up out of Egypt, except the story goes that the angel wasn't the one to promise the promised land, but Yahweh making that promise in light of the angel of Yahweh

In other instances, "the name" is used to substitute for the word "Yahweh" (see Isaiah 30:27-28; Psalm 20:1,7; Deuteronomy 12 etc). 

Jesus uses similar language in the gospel of John (go figure) where he makes claims that infuriated the Pharisees 

"Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?" 

        - John 14:10

Why does this matter?

Well, in the book of Revelation we see that we can either bear "the name of God" (Rev 14:1) or bear the name of the beast (which is its mark) (Rev 13:17). Here is where it gets interesting, and Old Testament, in Numbers 6 we have a very important idea that correlates most directly to "the name" found in Revelation: it's in Numbers 6:22-27

"The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, thus you shall bless the 

people of Israel" you shall say to them, 

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them"

Here is the point: the name of God is a seal on his people in the Old Testament. But what we know from the Old Testament, is that the name of Yahweh was physically represented through circumcision (not by works, but through loyalty to God: Genesis 17:1-14). In the New Testament (or new covenant) the sign of God's eternal covenant is based upon the seal of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 4).

What does this mean for the mark of the beast?

Well, here is why all of this matters for our discussion today:

The mark of the beast isn't a physical sign. The mark of the beast has nothing to do with vaccines, microchips, 5G towers, or SIN numbers. The mark of the beast is stamped on the foreheads of worshippers. Why? Because their allegiance is with the beast. The great chaos agent. The rival of Yahweh in a supernatural battle against the kingdom of God. You don't have to worry about losing your salvation because you chose to get a vaccine or get a microchip of some sort. Your salvation is based on your devotion to worshipping the one true God.

TL; DR

Two takeaways/small thoughts to end it:

1. You don't accidentally take the mark, you choose who you will worship

2. The mark is a spiritual reality reflecting which team you're on