Allegiance to Whom?
Discussions on the “mark of the Beast” often focus on the significance of its number, ‘666.’ We wish to understand it, and thereby avoid taking it. But to better appreciate the ramifications of taking its “mark,” it is imperative to see how the Book of Revelation contrasts the “mark of the Beast” with the “seal of God,” for the fundamental issue is where one’s loyalties lie - do you follow the “slain Lamb” or the Dragon's “Beast from the Sea”?
And this conflict in Revelation is relevant to the
life of every disciple of Jesus today. The demand of the “Beast” for absolute
allegiance has characterized virtually every government in human history. And
since Jesus is the absolute Lord of all his followers, the kind of conflict
portrayed in Revelation between church and state is inevitable.
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| [Caesar - Photo by Ilona Frey on Unsplash] |
Moreover, Revelation presents to its audience the dire consequences for every man and woman who makes the wrong decision.
In the book, the “mark of the Beast” is the
satanic counterpart to God’s “seal,” and
everyone who takes it pledges his or her allegiance to the “Beast.” In
contrast, the men who receive the “seal of God” are those who follow the
“Lamb wherever he goes.”
In this way, humanity is divided into two groups: Those
whose “names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life,” and those whose
names are expunged and excluded from it. And all who fall into the latter category
are destined for the “second death,” namely, the “Lake of Fire.”
THE ORIGINAL AUDIENCE
The book is addressed to seven churches in Roman Empire at
a time when some believers were undergoing pressure to conform to local religious
practices, especially the imperial cult that paid divine honors to the emperor and offered incense to his image along with other tokens of fealty to Caesar.
In the ancient world, there was no concept of the separation
of religion and state. Political ideology and religious and cultural
practices were all intermixed. One’s religion was determined by one’s place of
origin. The Roman government left local populations alone to practice their
indigenous religions, though Rome expected all its subjects to pay
homage to Caesar as the Lord and Patron of the Empire.
At least five of the seven cities named in Revelation
featured temples dedicated to the emperor or Roma, the
patron goddess of the city of Rome. Citizens were free to worship traditional
gods, but on public occasions, they would offer incense to the image of the
emperor and otherwise acknowledge him as chief patron and lord.
To venerate the emperor was both a religious act and political duty. It demonstrated allegiance to the Empire. Refusal to participate constituted disloyalty, a crime against the state.
The disciples of Jesus were taught to be
law-abiding citizens, but their faith prevented them from acknowledging anyone
as “Lord” except Jesus Christ. Thus, persecution by Rome was inevitable -
(Romans 13:1-7).
That conflict is reflected in the Greek verbs used in Revelation
for “worship.” The terms employed include the verbs latreuō
and proskuneō. The former denotes the “rendering of divine service”
to a divine person or image. In the Greek scriptures, it is applied to priests
serving in a Temple.
The second verb occurs twenty-four times. It is a
compound of the preposition pros or “toward” and the verb kuneō
or “kiss,” hence the idea, “to kiss towards,” to prostrate oneself. Derived
meanings include “render homage,” “give obeisance,” “revere,” and “venerate.”
It applies to the deference and honor paid to a superior being, human or divine.
To “render homage” is to give absolute allegiance - (Revelation
7:15, 22:3).
HUMANITY DIVIDED
In Chapter 13 of Revelation, two groups are
presented - The “inhabitants of the earth” and those who “tabernacle
in heaven.” The first group “renders homage to the Beast,” demonstrating
that “their names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb.” The
“slander” of the “Beast” is directed against those who “tabernacle
in heaven.”
Next, the “Beast from the Earth” appears, the “False Prophet.” He mimics the “Lamb”
and uses religious deception to encourage the “inhabitants of the earth”
to erect an image to the first “Beast” - (Revelation 13:14-16).
In verse 10, those who “tabernacle in heaven” are
identified as the “saints,” the same group targeted for destruction by
the “Dragon” - those who “keep the commandments of God and have the
faith of Jesus.” Their names are “written in the Book of Life.”
The “mark of the Beast” is the counterfeit of the “seal
of God” that was received by the “servants of our God.” Elsewhere,
this group is identified as the followers of the “Lamb.” This “sealed”
company is identical to the “great innumerable multitude from every nation
and tribe and people and tongue” redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
The “seal of God” identifies those who belong to Jesus.
They are preserved through the coming tribulation. Their identification
with the “Lamb” spares them from God’s judicial “wrath,” the “Second
Death” - (Revelation 2:11, 7:1-3, 20:6).
Men who “render homage to the image of the Beast” are
“branded” with its “mark,” and anyone with it may participate in
the economic life of society. Anyone who refuses the “mark” is ostracized
and faces economic deprivation and even execution.
SEALED BY GOD
In contrast, the men who belong to the “Lamb” have
“his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.” They are
found before the Throne. They have been “purchased from the earth by the
Lamb.” Anyone who “renders homage to the image of the Beast”
automatically takes its “mark.”
If the “seal of God” is figurative, the same holds true for the “mark of the beast.” This is how Revelation divides humanity into two groups. God “seals” all who give their allegiance to the “Lamb,” whereas, all who render homage to the “Beast” take its “mark” by default, and they have their names excluded from “the Book of Life.”
This connection is made clear when an angel warns that “anyone
who renders homage to the Beast and his image and receives its mark will drink
of the wine of the Wrath of God.” ALL who do so will partake of God’s
“wrath” - (Revelation
14:9-11).
The coming “wrath” is not a series of plagues, but
the full and everlasting “wrath” “prepared unmixed” and poured
out at the final judgment, the time when the wicked are cast into the “Lake
of Fire” - (Revelation
20:11-15).
The “saints” who “keep the faithfulness of
Jesus” will overcome the “Beast” and find themselves “standing on
the glassy sea” before the Throne. There, they “sing the song of the
Lamb.” In contrast to the “inhabitants of the earth,” they
participate in the “first resurrection,” and therefore, they “live
and reign with Christ.”
