Mark of the Beast

Because I no longer believe that the “Mark of the Beast” has anything to do with further end time events when futuristic Bible Literalistic prophets prophecy about a new computer chip that allows people to store their medical records, or purchase products by placing the chip under a scanner, I do not equate this with the Great Tribulation. The end of the world, the rise of the Anti-Christ, or the Mark of the Beast.

What did Jesus say about the Great Tribulation?

Jesus listed ten signs concerning a great tribulation and all of them were fulfilled within a five month period in AD70.

1. Your enemies will throw up an embankment and surround you (Luke 19:43)
2. False Christs/prophets will arise showing signs and wonders (Matthew 24:25)
3. False leaders will lead people into the desert and inner rooms (Matthew 24:26)
4. There will be great and unprecedented distress (Luke 21:23)
5. People will fall by the sword (Luke 21:24)
6. Nursing mothers will especially suffer (Matthew 24:19, Luke 21:23)
7. The days will be cut short, so not all lives will be lost (Matthew 24:22)
8. Jerusalem will be levelled to the ground, with not one stone left upon another (Luke 19:44)
9. The Jews will be led captive into all the nations (Luke 21:24)
10. Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles (Luke 21:24)

Were these signs fulfilled in AD70? Yes, every last one of them. 

If you are concerned about the great tribulation I’ve got good news for you. You will never experience it. Trials and regular tribulations? Sure, these are inevitable. But a great tribulation of unprecedented distress and destruction? It’s not going to happen. Not again. Jesus doesn’t want you fear-mongered into His Kingdom, He wants to love you into His kingdom. If you are fearful of something that’s not going to happen, you are not trusting in the goodness of God., you are living in the delusions of the devil tahat religion has accepted has truth and have deceived you into believing it is truth. Renew your mind, put your faith in Jesus, break free from the stronghold of Religion and feel the weight of fear lift.

And the next time world  calamities and atrocities happen and the tribulation preachers start with their doom and gloom fear-mongering sermons, don’t believe them. Peddling fear is an effective way to sell books and make money, but they are lying stories that demonizes God, Limits the cross-work of Christ and pollutes the Good News Gospel of Christ. Don’t read them, without questions and researching the content.

If the our currency hits rock bottom, or the European Union falls apart or Iraq bombs Israel that does not mean the world is about to end. We may live in the day of darkness and gross darkness, but we are all children of the light. Get out of your bunker and shine the light of Jesus.

I have heard gloom and doom preachers say that more than two-thirds of humanity will be wiped out in a future tribulation and that God will be the one doing it. Nonsense. Don’t listen to such religious nonsense; listen to Jesus. See what he says about the great tribulation and side with Him. 

The Bible records two never-to-be-repeated calamities. The first was the story of the great flood and the second was the great tribulation. You are not worried about another flood because God promised there never be one (Gen 9:11). Similarly, we ought not to be worried about a great tribulation, because Jesus said there would be only one: For then there will be great tribulation (affliction, distress, and oppression) such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now – no, and never will be [again]. (Matthew 24:21, AMP)

Don’t buy into any end-times rambling that fills you with fear. If you are worried about tomorrow, you are not walking in the full revelation of Jesus who is in you. Renew your mind and take those fearful thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ.

Don’t base your end-time views on teachings that contradict the words of Jesus, or vilifies God and destroys His Good News Gospel. 

There is no mark of the beast or some devilish angel rising to be the “ANTICHRIST” in the future. There are several conclusions as to what it was in the past, here is one that it could very well have been.

When John wrote the epistle of Revelation to the seven churches, he made it very clear – on numerous occasions – that the prophecies contained in his letter were to take place “soon”.

For example: In verse 1, John says: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place….”

In verse 3 he says: “…. and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

John uses specific words in the Greek throughout his epistle which mean: “Shortly”, “Without delay”, “Soon”, “In a short time”, “Near”, “About to”, etc.

There can be little doubt, therefore, that the First Century Christians who received and read John’s letter understood at least one thing: They were reading about events that were about to happen very, very soon.

Keeping this in mind, let’s see if we can identify “The Beast” from Revelation. First, since John is writing to First Century Christians about events that were about to happen quickly, then we can be sure that “The Beast” was a contemporary of John.

Secondly, John describes this as either a person (Rev. 13:18), or as several people (Rev. 17:10), or as a government or kingdom (Rev. 17:9).

First Century Christians would have been very familiar with Old Testament references in Daniel to the Four Beasts (Dan. 7:17) which corresponded to Four Kingdoms or Empires. Therefore those readers would have known that John’s references to “The Beast” in his letters pointed to the Empire of their own day – The Roman Empire.

But what about the person who is referred to as “The Beast”?

Since the Apostle John was writing this letter from captivity on the Island of Patmos, he reverted to code which his readers (Jewish Christians) would understand easily but his captors (The Romans) would not. Note also that, as a prisoner of Rome, he wouldn’t want to come right out and write anything negative about the Emperor or the Government that held him captive – for obvious reasons. This is why, when he wants to let Christians know that “The Beast” is the Emperor Nero, he would say:

“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.” (Rev. 13:18)

The Hebrew spelling of “Nero Caesar” was NRWN QSR. Since Hebrew letters doubled as numbers it was a simple thing to take that name and add them together which adds up exactly to 666. [Example: N = 50 R = 200 W = 6 N =50 Q = 100 S = 60 R = 200]

One fascinating variant of this same passage notes that “Some manuscripts read: 616” rather than 666. Why? Because when Revelation was later copied into Latin the name Nero Caesar didn’t add up to 666, it added up to 616. So, to make it easier for those later Latin-speaking (non Hebrew reading) Christians to arrive at the same conclusion the number was changed to 616 in certain translations.

Want more proof? Ok. In Revelation 17:9-10 John tells us:

“Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.”

You’ve probably heard that the “seven mountains” correspond to the seven hills of Rome. However, did you know that the seven kings also point to Nero as “The Beast”? They do. Because John tells us that: “Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come and when he comes, he must remain a little while.”

According to Josephus, the Roman historian, Julius Caesar was the first king, followed by August, Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius. The sixth king? That was Nero. So, he is the “one (who) is”.

The seventh king – the one who followed Nero – was Galba, and as John prophesied, he reigned for a short time (about seven months).

Nero, as the sixth king of Rome, was the first to persecute Christians in the First Century. He started persecuting them in November of 64 AD and ended on June 8, 68 AD when he killed himself. That was 42 months of persecution. Notice what John says about “The Beast”:

“And there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies; and authority to act for forty-two months was given him.” (Rev. 13:5)

Coincidence? I think not. Clearly John is going out of his way to let his readers know that “The Beast” had a name that, in the Hebrew, added up to a number (666) and that he was the sixth, and current king of Rome, and that his persecution would last exactly 42 months. What could be more clear than this?

Nero was also called “The Beast” by contemporary pagan writer Apollinius of Tyana, who said of Nero:

“In my travels…I have seen many wild beasts of Arabia and India; but this beast, that is commonly called a Tyrant, I know not how many heads it has, nor if it be crooked of claw, and armed with horrible fangs…. And of wild beasts you cannot say that they were ever known to eat their own mother, but Nero gorged himself on this diet.”

Note that Nero murdered his own parents, and his brother, and his pregnant wife, in addition to several other family members.

We also have evidence from the Romans that Nero enjoyed dressing up as a wild beast and raping male and female prisoners.

Still not convinced? Consider that all of the earliest Church Fathers from Irenaeus in the First Century, all the way through to St. Beatus in the 8th century agreed that “The Beast” was Nero.

Roman citizens were required to publicly claim allegiance to Caesar by burning incense in his honor and proclaiming that “Caesar is Lord”. Those who did this received a document that allowed them to buy and sell in the marketplace. Without it, no one could purchase anything. Therefore, the “Mark of the Beast” – or the document that showed your allegiance to Nero as Lord – was required to buy and sell if you lived during the time when John wrote his epistle to the seven churches.

None of those Christians who read Revelation were confused about what John meant by this. It was already happening to them. That is more acceptable to be than the ramblings of religious delusional futurists.

The Mark of the Beast is not a microchip. It is not a barcode. It is not your credit card. It is not coded in a Covid-19 virus vaccine or any other vaccine .The Beast could very well have been Emperor Nero. The Mark of the Beast was “the number of his name” which added up to 666. We’re told that The Beast would reign in terror for 42 months and Nero’s persecution of the Church lasted exactly 42 months.