Page 11 - The Mark of the Beast

Revelation 14:9-11
"If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or
on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full
strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke
of their torment goes up to the age of the ages; they have no rest day and night, those
who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

We should not believe that such a judgment is doled out simply because men and
women utilize a new technology to be able to buy and sell. Something much more sinister
is referred to in this mark. If a man or woman should receive the imprint of the beast nature
to which this sign points they would be in grotesque opposition to the will of God who
desires that His children should bear the image of the divine nature.
If Bible prophecy teachers would compare the words relating to receiving the mark of
the beast to similar words that lie in close proximity in the text of Revelation they would
understand that this physical symbol serves as a prophetic foreshadowing of a deep spiritual
truth. In Revelation 13, verses 16-18, we read about the mark of the beast being given on the
forehead, or the right hand. IMMEDIATELY after these words we read of another mark that
is given to a different group of people which also goes on the forehead.

Revelation 14:1
Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him
one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His
Father written on their foreheads.

Isn’t it amazing that the church doesn’t spend as much time trying to decipher what
form this mark will take that goes on the foreheads of the overcomers? They have not
theorized that God will use permanent ink, or that God will implant a chip in the forehead
of the saints that bears the names of the Father and the Son. No one is speaking about smart
chip technology, or bar codes, or discussing what language these names will be written in,
or how big the letters will be, or what color they will be. Why? Because most of the church
realizes that what is written is spiritual truth conveyed through symbolic means.
When we say that the overcomers will have the name of the Father and the Son written
on their foreheads, we understand that they are being sealed with the mind of Christ. Their
minds have been renewed, and even as the High Priest of the Old Covenant wore a band of
blue with letters of gold across his head with the words “Holy to Yahweh” written on it, so
these saints have separated themselves unto Yahweh to live for His purposes and to be
conformed to the image of Christ.
In this text of Revelation we read that the overcomers will have the names of God
“written” on their foreheads. The actual Greek word is “grapho” which means “to grave” and
it is the same word that would be used of a sculptor who carves an image out of wood or
stone. Similarly, the word that is rendered as “mark” when referring to the mark of the
beast is the Greek word “charagma,” and Strong’s Dictionary defines it in this way:

NT:5480 charagma (khar'-ag-mah); a scratch or etching, i.e. stamp (as a badge of
servitude), or scupltured figure (statue).