Page 57 - The Mark of the Beast

Kings and Beasts

n previous chapters we have looked at God’s command to the man and woman to subdue
Iand rule over the beasts. This command is given in the very first chapter of the Bible. We
have also read in the very last book of the Bible that there will be a group of overcomers who
will know victory over the beast, his image, and the number of his name. From start to
finish the Bible is focused upon the plan of God for man to rule over the beast nature, and
we see this message in types and shadows throughout the pages of Scripture. We should not
be surprised then to find this same symbolism in the center of the Bible, in the book of
Psalms.

Psalms 8:4-8
What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for
him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory
and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all
things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds
of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

David repeats in this Psalm the same three classifications of animals that are
mentioned as being formed on the fifth and sixth days of creation. He speaks of the beasts
of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish and creatures of the sea. David testifies
that God made man to rule over these beasts.
God’s report of David is that he was “a man after My own heart.” People have taken
this expression to mean various things. Some have understood it to mean that David
pursued God and His will and pleasure, while others have taken it to mean that David’s
heart was like unto God’s own. I believe there is truth in both understandings, and that
David both sought after God and His will, and he became conformed to God’s image and
likeness in many ways.
The very first command that God gave to mankind was to subdue and rule over the
beasts, and one of the first things we learn of David is that he walked this out in a very
literal manner.

I Samuel 17:34-36
But David said to Saul, "Your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or
a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him,
and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his
beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the
bear....”

Even while a youth David had begun to subdue and rule over the beasts, both within
and without. What David performed in killing the lion and the bear was a symbol of his
inward victory over the beast nature. I believe the lion represents pride. We call a group of
lions a pride. Satan is depicted as a roaring lion and we know that pride was his downfall.
Paul, in writing to Timothy, speaks of Satan’s error. In speaking of the qualifications of one
who is fit to lead the church of Christ, he writes: