Lizbeth
Well-Known Member
Amen..."we are marked in Him with a seal"....aka Holy Spirit. This is like the old covenant Jews who the Lord told to BIND the word of God to their right hand and forehead. Aka seal it to themselves. This was a shadow of the Holy Spirit to come with the true Messiah, Christ. And so, to me people taking the mark of the beast seems like a picture of those who are given over to a wrong spirit, of deception/delusion and worshiping the beast.Now concerning the mark of the forehead. As for the forehead, it is where the mind is, and is illustrative of man's thinking. By giving us spiritual images of believers with the name of God written in their foreheads, it is revealed their minds are sealed in Christ Jesus so that their thoughts become one with his. Believers all have one mind as they are all sealed or secured of the Spirit in Christ.
Again:
Believer's having the name of God written in their foreheads are illustrative of a people who are of one Spirit where God is guiding them in their will and in their thinking. It is the fulfilling of Old Covenant prophecy.
No one would look at Hebrews 10:16 and even begin to think that God means that He's literally written Scripture on someone's heart, or that He has literally carved laws on our foreheads or in our minds. Because of the Spirit we readily understand its imagery or a spiritual metaphor illustrating our spiritual nature. And yet, some theologians will take the verse in Revelation chapter 13, which is an even more obviously symbolic and spiritual book, and try and force the name or number of the non-literal beast, to be literally something marked in one's forehead. And ironically, usually, all while looking at the beast, it's horns, and it's rising from the earth and sea, as symbolic. There is no scriptural justification for this type of interpreting. Not in the context, content, or character of the chapter can we "read into" Scripture such ideas. The mark is no more talking about a literal mark, than Hebrews 10:16 is talking about literal marks of Scripture written upon our hearts or passages scribbled in our minds. It is mere symbolism that we are sealed with God's Spirit in our minds (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 4:30, Revelation 7:3), that we have an earnest desire to obey God's laws and do His will by our hand. It is by the Spirit ingrained upon our hearts and minds that we will and do.
All true believers have the spirit of a sound mind, the one mind in Christ Jesus. The name of Christ is the word of God, and that is what is spiritually sealed within our minds that we would obey and work and do.
By the same token, those who are deceived by the spirit of Satan also have the same mind and purpose in life. But instead of the mind of lawfulness, they have the mind of lawlessness once they have given themselves over to a false system of worshipping. Their desire is not to do the will of God, but to be disobedient and do the will of their father, the Devil. Even though the very ones given over to this spirit of antichrist are so blinded they truly think they are serving God, Jesus Christ, and following the scriptures! A STRONG DELUSION has been given to them by God by LEAVING THEM TO THEIR OWN SINFUL LUST just as God did to Pharaoh of old.
Jesus told the Scribes and Pharisees that their mind was defiled because they were of their father, the Devil. Why? Because the mind of the people of Israel was given over to that prince or ruler, Satan. Spiritually speaking, he had become their king and held them in bondage (John 8:36). In this same fashion, when the church falls into the apostasy illustrated in Revelation chapter 13, these also will be brought into bondage by Satan. And as the true believers are sealed in their foreheads to signify they are all of one mind in the Spirit of Christ, so these will be spiritually marked in their forehead signifying that they are all of one mind in the spirit of antichrist. Indeed, as it is written:
One mind, one spiritual father, one character of the beast. Collectively, we have either the mind of Christ, or the mind of Satan. And those who fall away are spiritually defiled. The same type of illustration as found in Titus, where it speaks about the mind of the unrighteous being defiled.
This is what the mark on the forehead symbolized. That their mind is defiled and they are all of one spirit to give their hand in work for the beast's kingdom. So again, the mark of the Beast in man's hand and forehead is not a carnal or fleshly mark, rather it is the mark of the flesh, or of carnality. For the carnal mind is illustrated in the will of the flesh. The mind being marked signifies carnal thinking, and the hand signifies the will of the flesh in agreement on the same gospel. The mark is a token of the nature of disobedience and signifies that one does not have the Spirit of God, but is sold out to the flesh. And one who has the mark of the beast in his head, has the sign of death upon him.
How can we answer the question, "What is the mark of the beast?" We answer that it is the carnal mind, the mind spiritually marked of the beast that has deceived them that they take on his character and do his will. Their hand is to serve in his kingdom to the same gospel, rather than in Christ's. And in this same cryptic fashion, Revelation 17:5 talks about the Harlot with a name written on her forehead saying "Mystery Babylon, the Great, the Mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth." Is this a literal woman with literal writing in her forehead? Again, not at all. It is symbolic language signifying a fallen spiritual city that outside looks rich and true, but inside is abominations and filth. To look for a literal woman with a name literally marked in her forehead would be foolishness. Yet this type of unsound hermeneutic is routinely practiced by many theologians in Revelation. But in these cryptic images we see battle against the one true God, and the images of the god of this world. One Kingdom of the Lamb, with the man of law serving God, and the other is the kingdom of the beast, with the man of lawlessness (sin) serving Satan. Images of the Christ, and of the false Christ.
I can't parse everything that is in Rev by far, but I believe God's word itself tells us what these things mean. So much of it, if not all of it, seems to reiterate things that have already been written in the bible. Eg, the only book in the bible that was sealed was the book of Daniel.....so it's no coincidence that so much of the allegory/imagery in Rev is taken from Daniel. Even the name Babylon. So the unsealing of that book meant that those prophecies in Daniel would now (shortly) be fulfilled.
Where we see 666 in the bible is with Solomon (flesh and blood king - a man - who built the temple of stone)...his annual income was 666 talents of gold....so wealth/money or the love of it is a characteristic with what is being portrayed...eg, merchants of that great city, false teachers making merchandise of us.....and Jesus' indictment of "you have turned my Father's house into a house of merchandise" Also in Babylon, the measurements of Nebby's idol (of gold!) is written as 60 x 6 x 6 cubits. I believe his image was that of what he had just previously seen in his dream, with himself - a man - as head of those earthly kingdoms. (Not until Nebby was driven insane would he acknowledge that God is the real Head of kingdoms because He is the one who sets over them who He wills.)
Babylon in scripture represents God's people and city, taken captive, ie, being given over to the false loves/lusts/beliefs of their hearts. It represents the people and things of God turned upside down and become perverse, as it were. And Jesus said the love of money is the root of all evil...we cannot serve two masters. Israel essentially became Babylon....Jerusalem , that great city, had become Babylon, spiritually speaking...serving two masters...."halting between two opinions"...trying to serve God and Baal/mammon both at the same time. Or maybe more accurate to say serving mammon in the name of God..... serving mammon but just using the name of God.
Well, these are some of my bits and pieces, peering through a glass darkly....I get so overwhelmed with all the details in the book of Rev, so I'll leave this for better heads than mine to weigh and sort out.
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