Wednesday Evening Prayer & Worship, April 3, 7 pm PST

Quick Link, click below

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87647524241

Opening Prayer   Ron Danielson

Song   Savior, More Than Life to Me

Devotions  The Mark of the Beast, Revelation 13:16-18  Marla Danielson

Song   Shall We Meet Beyond the River

Questions and Transcript (see below)

Praises and Prayer Requests

Closing Prayer   Cal Oberg

Questions for Revelation 13:16-18, the Mark of the Beast

1. National apostasy will end in what?
2. What is the image to the beast?
3. Where is the seal of God found (in the Bible)?
4. What will God’s people do to avoid receiving the mark of the beast?
5. What is the mark of the beast?
6. Who will receive the mark of the beast?
7. The mark of the beast in the right hand and forehead is a counterfeit of what?
8. What has prophecy declared popery to be?

The Mark of the Beast, Revelation 13:16-18

(Study comments from the Spirit of Prophecy, SDA Bible Commentary and article titled The Mark and the Number of the Beast by Samuele Bacchiocchi)

Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 

Who is he?

“He” is the two-horned beast with lamblike horns, symbolizing the United States of America. 

The beast with lamblike horns speaks with the voice of a dragon, and “exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him.” Revelation 13:12 Prophecy declares that he will say to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast, and that “he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:16,17 Thus Protestantism follows in the steps of the Papacy. {FH 328.2}

How Will Protestant America follow in the steps of the Papacy?

Our land is in jeopardy. The time is drawing on when its legislators shall so abjure the principles of Protestantism as to give countenance to Romish apostasy. The people for whom God has so marvelously wrought, strengthening them to throw off the galling yoke of popery, will by a national act give vigor to the corrupt faith of Rome, and thus arouse the tyranny which only waits for a touch to start again into cruelty and despotism. With rapid steps are we already approaching this period. When Protestant churches shall seek the support of the secular power, thus following the example of that apostate church, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will there be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin. {4SP 410.2} (study Project 2025 online)

What is the Image to the Beast?

The “image to the beast” represents that form of apostate Protestantism which will be developed when the Protestant churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas. The “mark of the beast” still remains to be defined. {GC88 445.2}

Two Parties Will Be Developed

In the issue of the great contest two parties are developed, those who “worship the beast and his image,” and receive his mark, and those who receive “the seal of the living God,” who have the Father’s name written in their foreheads. This is not a visible mark. The time has come when all who have an interest in their soul’s salvation should earnestly and solemnly inquire, What is the seal of God? and what is the mark of the beast? How can we avoid receiving it? {ST November 1, 1899, par. 8}

The Seal of God

The seal of God, the token or sign of His authority, is found in the fourth commandment. This is the only precept of the Decalogue that points to God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and clearly distinguishes the true God from all false gods. Throughout the Scriptures the fact of God’s creative power is cited as proof that He is above all heathen deities. {ST November 1, 1899, par. 9}

How Can We Avoid Receiving the Mark of the Beast?

The people of God will enter into no controversy with the world over this matter. They will simply take God’s Word for their guide, and maintain their allegiance to Him whose commandments they keep. They will obey the words of Jehovah, “Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore ... for a perpetual covenant.” Exodus 31:13 {ST February 22, 1910, par. 11}

What is the Mark of the Beast?

The change of the Sabbath is a sign or mark of the authority of the Romish Church. Those who, understanding the claims of the fourth commandment, choose to observe the false sabbath in the place of the true, are thereby paying homage to that power by which alone it is commanded. The mark of the beast is the papal sabbath, which has been accepted by the world in the place of the day of God’s appointment. {ST November 8, 1899, par. 1}

When the Mark of the Beast is Received

No one has yet received the mark of the beast.—Evangelism, 234 (1899). {LDE 224.5}

Sundaykeeping is not yet the mark of the beast, and will not be until the decree goes forth causing men to worship this idol sabbath. The time will come when this day will be the test, but that time has not come yet. 

The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 7:977 (1899). {LDE 224.6}

Who Will Receive the Mark of the Beast?

God has given men the Sabbath as a sign between Him and them as a test of their loyalty. Those who, after the light regarding God’s law comes to them, continue to disobey and exalt human laws above the law of God in the great crisis before us, will receive the mark of the beast.—Evangelism, 235 (1900). {LDE 225.1}

What Does the Mark in the Right Hand and Forehead Mean?

“He causeth all, both small and great, ... to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads” (Revelation 13:16). Not only are men not to work with their hands on Sunday, but with their minds are they to acknowledge Sunday as the Sabbath.—Special Testimony to Battle Creek Church (Ph 86), 6, 7 (1897). {LDE 224.4}

The mark of the beast in the right hand and forehead is a counterfeit of God’s word to Israel concerning His commandments, statutes, and judgements. Deuteronomy 6:6, 8 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart…….And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

The beast also wants his law in our hearts. He wants our worship. What does the Bible say? Joshua 24:15 Choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Revelation 13:18

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

This verse is another reference to the papacy, whom the Bible calls the “man of sin…..who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped,” 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4 

In the Bible, the number 7, appearing over 700 times in the OT and NT, is the symbol of perfection, completion. The number 6 is associated with imperfection, incompletion, a counterfeit of the true. It is a triple 6, a trinity, a counterfeit Godhead associated with ancient Babylon and idolatrous worship. Babylonian priests wore an ornament with a mysterious square configuration where the numbers added up to 666 horizontally or vertically. The number 6 was the number of Babylon. Babylonians used sexagesimal system, in which the basic counting units were 6 and 60. This system has been accepted universally for the measurements of arcs, angles, and the division of time. 60 was also the number of gods in the Babylonian pantheon at different times. This explains why King Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue was 60 cubits high and 6 cubits wide (Dan 3:1).

It is important to recognize the typological correspondence between Daniel 3 and Revelation 13. As in Daniel's time the setting up of a golden image to honor the king of Babylon was followed by the decree to worship the image (Dan 3), so in Revelation 13, the setting up of "an image in honor of the beast" (Rev 13:14; NIV), is followed by the enforcement of the worship of the Beast and of the reception of his mark and number.

Closing Thoughts

The Romish Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christ-like garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle of popery that existed in past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The popery that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty, and slew the saints of the Most High……... Popery is just what prophecy declared that she would be, the apostasy of the latter times. {GC88 570,571)

It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the civil government, and this prepared the way for the development of the papacy—the beast. Said Paul: “There” shall “come a falling away, ... and that man of sin be revealed.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3. So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast. {GC 443.4}

Closing Bible Verses

Revelation 3:20-22  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Revelation 3:20-21 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. {THE END.}