And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth... (Revelation 13:11).
As we covered last week, Cain was “a tiller of the ground” (Genesis 4:2), which speaks of the earthly mindedness of the seed of Cain. Here we see that the beast comes up “out of the earth,” which is the result of the earthly mindedness of fallen mankind. Let us read the last part of this chapter, verses 16-18, where we see the ultimate result of this earthly mindedness:
and he provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
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.
Since this was written in the first century there has been much speculation about the form in which the mark of the beast would come. This is to be expected, but far more important than understanding the form in which it comes, is understanding the nature of the beast, and what causes men to take this mark.
Taking a mark is not the sin. The sin is found in worshiping the beast. The mark is simply the evidence of what one is doing. Would one be innocent if he did not take the mark, but worshiped the beast? Of course not. The real issue here is who we are worshiping.
Because man was created on the sixth day, six has been regarded as the “number of man.” We are told to “Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man...” (Revelation 13:18).
This beast represents humanism, which is basically the worship of man, or making man the center of all in place of God. That the mark is given on the right hand and the forehead represents the works and the mind. Those who worship the beast will do their works for men, and before men, instead of for God and before God. Their minds will also be centered on the earth instead of on the Lord.
Without the mark, no one will be able to “buy, sell, or trade.” This is the commerce of the world. This makes the mark an economic mark, and the power of the beast over the world will be through economic power. Why is this?
Remember that the harvest at the end of the age is the maturing and the reaping of everything that has been sown in man—both the good and the evil, the seed of the serpent and the seed that would ultimately crush the serpent. The reason why the mark of the beast is an economic mark is because the love of money is one of the ultimate idols of the earthly, fallen nature of man, and the way we relate to it will determine who we are really worshiping.
Financial responsibility is one of the increasingly important issues of our times. For this reason, every Christian should be financially independent. This does not necessarily mean that all Christians are called to be wealthy, but that we should never have to make a decision on whether we have enough money or not, but whether the matter is God’s will or not.
If we have built our lives on the kingdom of God, we have an unlimited resource—“an abundance for every good deed” (II Corinthians 9:8). If the storehouses of heaven are our source, we really will not care whether we can “buy, sell, or trade” within the world’s economy. Neither would we ever take the mark of the beast because we would never worship the beast.
In the coming weeks we will explore how this is done a little more practically, and how we can build our lives on the kingdom of God, not the kingdoms of this world that will shortly pass away. The real answer to these questions is not to fear the beast, or what he can do to us, but to fear the Lord, and serve Him only. When those who fear man run to the beast to take his mark so that they can “buy, sell, and trade,” those who live by faith in God will be experiencing unprecedented prosperity, and the peace that comes from serving the Lord who is above all rule, authority, and dominion. Peace and godly, noble, and spiritual prosperity will be an increasing witness of the One we are serving.