What Is the Mark of the Beast? (Summary)
Bible Study Guide
(Verse 14) It’ll be the second beast(false prophet) out of the earth that will force people on earth to get the mark of the beast.
Here we are at probably the most popular part of the Bible. The passage that talks of the mark of the beast. There have been thousands of nonsensical ideas and mathematical formulas offered to explain the mark of the beast. These verses have become a free for all for anyone who thinks they have the answer that calls for wisdom. These ideas have met by failure after failure.
The reason for this failure is most miss the mark in the Bible’s understanding of wisdom.
We’re going to do our best to put this idea of the mark of the beast in a summary. We’ll stick to the context of the Bible. We’re going to allow the Bible to interpret itself. This will be accomplished by using a literal interpretation of John’s visions.
This passage just like the remainder of the Bible is Holy Spirit inspired. It’s not open for debate. God is not reaching out to us to help him explain what it means. He’s not asking for our opinion or thoughts.
John makes it clear in verse 14 that the second beast out of the earth is not attempting to establish a democracy. He’s not attempting to set up a system that gives people options. While they will have options, John is going to record in the next verse that the wrong choice would be a fatal one.
“It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.” (Revelation 13:14)
Does Artificial Intelligence Reveal the Coming of the Mark of the Beast?
Let’s look at this verse carefully. There has been so much written about this mark and what it might be. I want to keep this mark of the beast summary as concise as possible. This will help to make it easier to comprehend.
Those who are left on earth at this time are ordered to set up an image of the beast. Why would the false prophet (beast out of the earth) ask the world to set up an image of the beast?
Remember, Satan is a liar, a fake, a fraud, and an imitator. He will attempt to imitate everything about God in order to try and overcome God and exalt himself to be greater than God.
This setting up of the beast is so that everyone across the globe will see an image of the beast. Satan has already set up his omnipotence to imitate God. This is going to be how Satan will show his counterfeit omnipresence to the entire world. Again, attempting to imitate God’s omnipresence.
The same image of the first beast (Antichrist) that someone sees and worships in Denmark will be the same beast (Antichrist) image that a person in Ecuador will see and worship.
(Verse 15) Inhabitants of the earth will not think of this as simply an image. The second beast (false prophet) will have the power to give breath to the first beast (Antichrist) so it appears to be real and alive.
It’s likely that these could be some type of holographic image of the beast across the entire globe. There could be tens of thousands of these images across the globe that the world will be ordered to worship.
The Mark of the Beast Is All About Control
For centuries, people have scratched their heads wondering how such a feat could be pulled off. Even twenty years ago, this would’ve been hard to imagine. But today, this has all changed.
In order to pull off something like this, it would take massive amounts of computing power and energy to drive that power to perform what the false prophet is asking mankind to accomplish.
With artificial intelligence, this possibility becomes reality.
In summary, as we approach the meaning behind the mark of the beast we want to focus on the important parts of Revelation 13. Notice that one of the most famous parts of the Bible represents only three verses in chapter 13. These are verses 16-18 about the mark itself.
With everything that’s been written and spoken about the what the mark of the beast might mean, you’d expect it to have at least an entire chapter dedicated to it. But this is not at all the case. There’s something much more important happening here that we must pay attention to in order to understand Revelation 13 as a whole.
Paul, the apostle summarizes this chapter best when he speaks about the Antichrist and his appearance in the last days. It can be found in his second letter to the Thessalonians.
“He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:4)
The Unholy Trinity and the Mark of the Beast in Summary
In order for the Antichrist to declare himself God and demand to be worshiped as God, he has to create the most powerful characteristics of God. This is exactly what Revelation 13 is all about.
Satan (dragon) establishes his unholy trinity with the beast out of the sea as the Antichrist and the beast out of the earth as the false prophet. We have Satan, who wants to exalt himself above God, the Antichrist who’s Satan’s inverted version of Christ, and the false prophet who’s Satan’s inverted version of the Holy Spirit.
Now that he’s created his own false version of the trinity, there’s something more powerful that he needs in order to attempt to be like God. Even though we know he’ll never be like God. Satan must show that he possess the same abilities as God to be omnipotent, omnipresence, and omniscience.
He’ll Attempt to Be Like God
If he can demonstrate to the world that he possesses these qualities, he knows he can draw the masses to follow him and his one world religion. Unlike God, he’ll use these false powers to force people of earth to follow and worship him, or die.
So far, he’s demonstrated his false omnipotence by falsely deceiving the world that the man called the Antichrist was resurrected as John witnessed in the beginning of this chapter. He established his deceptive omnipresence by forcing the masses to set up an image of himself so that people will worship the image. In order for this to be successful, it’ll have to be an image that is present globally. Artificial intelligence will be able to perform such a deceptive feat.
There is one deceptive characteristic left that he must pull off. This is the third of God’s three powerful capabilities, the ability to “be all knowing” through His power of omniscience. How will he do it?
What’s the Mark of the Beast in Summary
(Verse 16) The beast out of the sea (false prophet) will force people to get a mark, either on their forehead or right hand. This will likely be a device implanted under the skin that holds everyone’s personal information.
Not only that, but just like a cellphone that has location software, this device also will likely contain location capabilities. This will give the Antichrist the ability to track your every move. This can already be done if you have your phone with you because your phone is being tracked. This will eventually move to this thing the Bible calls the “mark.”
(Verse 17) Then John learns what the reason is going to be for the mark of the beast. Only those who get the mark will be allowed to participate in the global economic system. Those without it will be left on their own. They’ll likely be hunted down and killed.
This is a monumental task of epic technological abilities. To monitor every single human on the planet to see where they’re at and what they’re about to do. Then give it permission to participate in purchasing items at a store, purchasing prescriptions, buying gas for your vehicle. It will likely control whether you’ll even have access to a hospital or any healthcare services.
Twenty years ago this was unfathomable. But now it’s a reality with the introduction and growth of artificial intelligence. AI has or will soon have the ability to monitor, watch, compute and deny or allow anyone access to the global economic system.
It’s all about control and Satan possessing that third powerful characteristic of God, which is to be all knowing. Through AI, the Antichrist will be “all knowing” of what you’re doing and where you are.
The Mark of the Beast Represents Man
(Verse 18) The ancient world had it’s mark. In fact, the Greek word for “mark” was associated with the Roman Empire. The same resurrected empire from which the Antichrist will rise out from. So just like the old Roman Empire, that Daniel describes with the image of a beast, the Antichrist will have his own mark also.
John reminds the reader to have wisdom in understanding the mark of the beast. He’s not referring to the world’s wisdom, but of the wisdom of God. If you have been blessed through the Holy Spirit with the wisdom and knowledge of God, then you’re likely to know what the mark means.
The “666” the represents the mark of the beast is obviously a reference to the number 6. This is the number of mankind. Mankind was created on the sixth day. Some reasonable ideas have revolved around the three 6’s as an emphasis on the human-only aspect of this number and the beast.
After all, it’s humanity that has brought all of this upon itself. Beyond that, it’s wise not to embrace any worldly ideas of fantasy around exactly what it means or who the Antichrist might be.
More importantly, it represents the Antichrist’s ability to control humanity. We can already see that control creeping into our lives almost daily. This is a build up to the last days events and the Tribulation.
This Mark of the Beast Is All About Control
Read the recent chilling words of Sam Altman, who’s one of the leaders of the $500 billion AI project called “Stargate.”
“OpenAI CEO Sam Altman predicts that artificial general intelligence will lead to lower costs for many goods, but has also warned that AI could be leveraged by authoritarian governments aiming to control people.”
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