Revelation 13:16 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Revelation 13:16

Comments

What is the mark? This is a book of symbols and the mark is a symbol; it is not a literal mark. In imitation of what God commanded, the devil also requires a mark of allegiance in his disciples. God told the children of Israel to bind his word as a sign on their hands and on their foreheads (Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 6:8; 11:18). This was a metaphor, for God never intended his people to literally go around with these awkward appendages. The Pharisees, who paid little attention to the true meaning of the law, were careful to keep this commandment literally while completely neglecting to keep it in their hearts. The metaphor meant that the word of God was to be so much a part of the lives of the people that it was as if they had it bound on their hands and on the foreheads. The hand stood for the actions and the forehead for the thoughts. No act was to be carried out which did not conform to the law of the Lord. The thoughts of the people were to be saturated with the truth of God, so that they meditated on God’s word day and night. We are told here in the verse what the mark is, and what it represents. We are told in this very passage that it represents blasphemy. It is the name of the first beast which we have been told is ‘the name of blasphemy’ and opposition to God’s name (verse 1). A person who has that mark in his forehead is an unbeliever and it denotes his whole thought pattern, his way and manner of thinking. It is saying, this person who is marked belongs to Satan. That’s the whole idea of marking of beasts, animals. The mark indicated the person to whom that working animal belonged. That person is mine, Satan says in effect; that person is branded. The mark shows that all his thoughts are guided by Satan. The things he loves, and the things he hates, are determined by Satan. So he loves earthly things and personal things and self and sin, but he hates spiritual things and the things of God, and they are tiresome and objectionable to him. The mark in the forehead is telling you how a man or woman thinks and plans and feels, and what his likes and dislikes are. In due time we see that there is another mark for the people of God, and this mark is variously described not just as a mark but as a seal, and it is even given a name in the Book of Revelation: the seal of the Spirit, those who are sealed by the Spirit.

Application

It’s a jolting thing sometimes for an unbeliever who has been bought to begin to think about things, to realise that he or she may carry, metaphorically, the mark of the beast. Sometimes you see it in people. You see some very noted militant atheists and unbelievers, and maybe you see them on the television, and they’re breathing fire against the Lord, and against the gospel that you can almost see – but you can’t actually; this is metaphorical speech – the mark of the beast branded into them. It’s there in the whole way they formulate their thinking. They are his entirely and totally. That is the mark of the beast.

A mark, thank God, can be changed. You can wash it out; you can get rid of it. A person can be saved and no longer under the sway of Satan. But a seal is described in the Book of Revelation as something everlasting and permanent. It’s the seal of ownership by God and a seal of security. It’s both things. If you have the seal of the Spirit, then you are saved, and saved forever. It’s in your forehead, the way you think. Your mind is full of Christ and you want to be his, and serve him and please them. If you fall into sin, then because of the way you think, you hate your sin; you deeply regret it, and you pray and long to avoid. You strive for that in your life – the way you think, the things you love. You may be pulled aside and tempted, but you want the best things, the spiritual things, the salvation of others and your family. The whole way you think and plan after you have been sealed is very different.

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Revelation 13:16 Commentary and Bible Study