A Response: “A Biblical Guide to Revelation” — Part 4

This is Part 4 of my response to a free guide I downloaded, “A Biblical Guide to Revelation” (hereinafter, “Biblical Guide” or “Guide”). In our first three parts, we covered the Introduction and the first two chapters. We now turn our attention to the “Mark of the Beast”!

Chapter 3: Who Is the Beast and What Is His Mark?

The Guide states that there are three “beasts” mentioned in Revelation which make up the “ ‘Unholy Trinity’ of monsters.” The first “beast” is “the dragon, Satan,” (Revelation 12) who summons a second beast, “coming up out of the sea” (Revelation 12.18-13.1). The third beast comes “up from the earth” (Revelation 13.11). This beast, according to the Guide, is a false prophet. Then the Guide mentions a fourth beast in passing stating, “Perhaps John pictured this beast as Rome, still a powerful empire in the late first century” (pg. 12). Although, the Guide doesn’t really include it as that would mess up their “Unholy Trinity” as it states on page 13, “Satan tries to copy everything God does, as seen in the creation of his ‘trinity,’ the resurrection of his beast, and with the ‘false prophet.’”

We also understand that the Guide holds to the “late date” theory for the book of Revelation, which equates roughly the mid to late 90’s CE. I’ve written elsewhere on how the “late date” theory can’t be accurate for several reasons that I won’t go into here. Let me just say that there is substantial evidence — both from within Revelation itself and outside it — that points to a mid to late 60’s CE dating of this letter.

According to the Guide, then, there are three (or four), individual beasts with each one getting its power from the first one, “the dragon, Satan.” We can quickly see that the Guide sees things in a very literal sense. That is, these “beasts” are seen as distinct and therefore must be different “beasts.” My understanding of this is that these “beasts” are symbols or “word pictures” (as noted previously) of a single entity or person with a different “beast” representing a different side or characteristic or power. If the supposed “rapture” can be a “word picture,” then why can’t the “beasts?”

The Guide then turns to the “Mark of the Beast” and, quite honestly, has some very strange thoughts about it. It states — 

Satan’s mark is supposedly 666, the number of man, while “777 represents perfection.” Man and woman were created on the sixth day. “Man labors six days only.” The sixth commandment is “Thou shalt not murder.” Six words are used for man: Adam, ish, Enosh, gehver, anthropos, anar. Also, 6 x 6 = 36; 36 + 35 + 34 + 33 + 32; 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 666. 666 is the number of the antichrist. This means that the name of the antichrist in Greek adds up to 666.

I have no idea where the Guide got the whole “6 x 6 = 36, etc.” bit or why that’s even relevant but one thing is clearly off — antichrist. Why that stands out is because the antichrist is mentioned in only four places in the Bible, and none of them are in Revelation. Here are the four places — 

1 John 2.18 (CEB):[1] Little children, it is the last hour. Just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour (emphasis added).

1 John 2.22 (CEB): Who is the liar? Isn’t it the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person is the antichrist: the one who denies [Abba God] and the [Only Begotten].

1 John 4.1-3 (CEB; adapted): Dear friends, don’t believe every spirit. Test the spirits to see if they are from God because many false prophets have gone into the world. 2This is how you know if a spirit comes from God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus [the] Christ has come as a human is from God, 3and every spirit that doesn’t confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is now already in the world (emphasis added).

2 John 1.7 (CEB; adapted): Many deceivers have gone into the world who do not confess that Jesus [the] Christ came as a human being. This kind of person is the deceiver and the antichrist (emphasis added).

From these verses we can see quite clearly that the “antichrist” was already present in the first century! In fact, John stated how they knew it was “the last hour” — not the last days, but “the last hour” — was the fact that “many antichrists” had already appeared in the first century. In other words, the antichrist is not the beasts of Revelation! Certainly, the beasts have some of the same characteristics (not confessing that Jesus the Christ came as a human being from God, etc.) but they seem to be different things. One is a governing world power (represented by an individual) that rules over the land and sea while the other can be anyone, including but not limited to those in power.

The Guide then refers to the 1976 movie, The Omen, starring Lee Remick and Gregory Peck. In one scene, Peck discovers that his child has a “mark” of 666 leading Peck to believe that his child is the “beast” of Revelation 13. The Guide states, “We don’t know for sure if this is the number or if there will be a visible mark on followers of the Beast. Commentators understand why we expect to see a ‘brand’ or ‘tattoo’ on these individuals.”

First, one shouldn’t base one’s theology on movies and I’m a movie guy! Second is the statement about brands or tattoos. Again, we see that the Guide takes (some) things quite literally. It sees the “mark of the beast” as an actual mark. But Revelation 13 tells us — 

Revelation 13.16ff (CEB; adapted): [The land beast] forces everyone — the small and great, the rich and poor, the free and slaves — to have a mark put on their right hand or on their forehead. 17It will not allow anyone to make a purchase or sell anything unless the person has the mark with the beast’s name or the number of its name. 18This calls for wisdom. Let the one who understands calculate the beast’s number, for it’s a human being’s number. Its number is six hundred sixty-six. 

The “mark of the beast” is either “the beast’s name or the number of its name.” It’s not about credit cards or microchips implanted in the skin or even brands or tattoos. The “mark of the beast” is about one’s allegiance. I’ve written about this before but I want to highlight the point.

In my series, New Testament Eschatology, I address this passage head on. I wrote— 

The infamous “mark of the beast” in verse 18 is actually a reference to another passage in the Bible — Ezekiel 9. There, Ezekiel has a great vision:

Ezekiel 9.1-7 (LXX12; adapted):[2] And [“the glory of the God of Israel”] cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “The judgment of the city has drawn near; and each had the weapons of destruction in his hand.” 2And, behold, six men came from the way of the high gate that looks toward the north, and each one’s axe was in his hand; and there was one man in the midst of them clothed with a long robe down to the feet, and a sapphire girdle was on his loins: and they came in and stood near the brazen altar. 3And the glory of the God of Israel, that was upon them, went up from the cherubs to the porch of the house. And [“the glory of the God of Israel”] called the man that was clothed with the long robe, who had the girdle on his loins; 4And said to him, “Go through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the [people] that groan and that grieve for all the iniquities that are done in the midst of them. 5And [it was] said to the first in my hearing, “Go after him into the city, and strike: and let not your eyes spare, and have no mercy. 6Slay utterly old man and youth, and virgin, and infants, and women: but go you not near any on whom is the mark: begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elder men who were within the house. 7And [it was] said to them, “Defile the house, and go out and fill the ways with dead bodies, and strike.”[3]

I know this is a harsh passage and it’s hard for some of us to swallow, but there’s no doubt that John’s alluding to it in Revelation 13. However, in John’s version, the marking is reversed. In both places, the mark represents one’s allegiance — in Ezekiel, it’s to Yahweh (cf. Revelation 14.1); in Revelation, it’s to the “beast.” 

Another fascinating point is that we never hear anything about getting the “name of the beast” implanted somewhere on us — it’s always the number. Yet, John plainly states one wouldn’t be able to buy or sell anything “unless the person has the mark with the beast’s name or the number of its name” (verse 17; emphasis added). Once more, the Guide falls into the old, end-times madness trope of people getting “brand[ed]” or “tattoo[ed]” with the “mark of the beast.”

The reality of the “beast” was very known in history. It was an association with the Roman Emperor, Nero Caesar. Again, I’ve written about this before, but I want to make a brief comment here.

The “number” of the beast was given to us to figure out who the beast was (Revelation 13.18). That number was six-hundred sixty-six (not six, six, six) and “it’s a human being’s number.” When one writes out Nero Caesar in Hebrew (not Greek, if it were Greek, anyone could figure out the mysterious figure, especially those people sympathetic with Rome), it equates to 306 (Nero) and 360 (Caesar), thus, six-hundred, sixty-six.

Incidentally, the Lamsa Bible, an english translation of the Peshitta (the Aramaic Bible) by George Lamsa, agrees with the above rendering:

This number represents the Aramaic letters which spell Nero Caesar, namely 50, 200, 6,  50, 100, 60, 200 (note 1; page 1235).

Again, I explain this in more detail in my article, so please check that out for more information.

Click here for the next chapter.

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In the Love of the Three in One,

Br. Jack+, LC

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[1] Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations and references — and scripture quotations marked (CEB) — are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible. Used by permission.

[2] Scripture quotations marked (LXX2012) are taken from the Septuagint in American English 2012. The Septuagint in American English 2012 is in the public domain and may be freely copied, published, etc.

[3] While some of us may not believe that God (re)acts in this way, this is how the ancient peoples of the Bible understood God. Everything that happens in this life — whether good or bad — comes from God. See Lamentations 3:38; Job 2:10; Isaiah 45:7; Jeremiah 32:42. Lamentations 3.38, though, has the opposite meaning in Greek!