Avoiding the Mark of the Beast

Mark Finley: John 8:32, Jesus says, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." The truth frees us from deception. The truth frees us from error. Jesus says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Guest (Male): This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: Avoiding the Mark of the Beast. Enjoy, and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay updated with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And stay with us for a free Bible study offer later in this program. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: We've come in our studies of the Book of Revelation to Revelation the 13th chapter. Revelation 13 is one of the most fascinating chapters in all the Book of Revelation, and I think this chapter has given rise to more speculative interpretation than any other chapter in the Book of Revelation. You remember in Revelation 13, it talks about the beast power, the beast that rises from the sea in the first part of the chapter, and then the beast that rises from the land in the second part of the chapter. The beast from the sea and the beast from the land unite, and eventually causes as many as would not worship the beast should be killed. Ultimately, those that don't worship the beast, before this death decree is passed, ultimately, they can't buy or they can't sell. It's interesting as well that the beast from the sea and the beast from the land as they unite, the miracle-working power of spiritualism is manifest through these powers as they attempt to restrict religious liberty and freedom of conscience. As that takes place, there is the miracle-working power of Satan that gives some credence to their work, and all the world follows them. Now, rather than being speculative on our program today, what I'm going to do is simply read the Bible, read the interpretation of the symbols, and I'm not going to try to interpret for you who the beast is or what the mark of the beast is. But I'm going to read to you from scripture what the Bible says and let you come to those conclusions yourself. Is that fair enough? Because this chapter is so incredibly important, let's pray. Father in heaven, as we go through Revelation 13 and as we let the Bible explain itself, you, Father, explain to us the deeper meaning of these symbols. Thank you that you're going to be with us, but may this be information we not only put in our head, but may it be information that changes our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Revelation 13:1, we're going to go through this pretty much verse by verse, phrase by phrase, and then I will read other passages that explain what we are reading. This program is going to be largely Bible reading, and I'm going to let you interpret who you believe the beast power is rather than my telling you based on the interpretation of the Bible. Revelation 13:1, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and 10 horns, and upon his horns 10 crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." There's a lot in that passage. First, the beast rises from where? The sea. What does the sea represent? Revelation chapter 17 and verse 15. It says in Revelation 17:15, "The waters or the sea which you saw where the horse sits are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues." So in the Bible, the sea represents, in Bible prophecy, a great sea of humanity. It represents nations, people, or tongues. So the beast from the sea is a beast that rises from the great populated areas of the world. Now, the second thing we notice about this beast is that it is a beast. In Bible prophecy, what does beast represent? You remember that Daniel and Revelation are companion books. So we go back to the Book of Daniel to see if we can discover what the beast represents. Daniel 7:17, after talking about the lion, the bear, the leopard, the dragon, the four great empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. It says in verse 17, "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings that shall arise from the earth." Now when he talks about those four kings, is he talking about human beings, individuals who are kings? Verse 23 helps you. "Thus he says, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth, shall tread it down and pieces." So kings represent kingdoms. So here in Revelation chapter 13, it says, "I stood upon the stand of the sea and saw a beast rise up." That's a kingdom. This could be a political kingdom or a religious kingdom; we have to find out as we go on. Out of the sea, so there's some kind of kingdom that's rising in the populated areas of the earth, that has seven heads. We've read about the great nations—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome—these are all part of those heads that would rise. 10 horns, the divisions of the Roman Empire. Upon his horns, 10 crowns. Crowns imply kingly authority. So here you have a power that is rising with kingly authority from the populated areas of the world. It is called a beast power, political or religious power, and it's on his heads the name of blasphemy. We're going to look at later what blasphemy is. Now what's this beast like? Revelation 13:2, "The beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, his mouth was like the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power, his seat, and great authority." So notice, let's go backward here, let's look at this. Do you remember any other time in the Bible we read about a leopard, a bear, and a lion? Wait a minute, that was Daniel 7 exactly, wasn't it? The lion representing Babylon, the bear representing Medo-Persia, the leopard representing Greece. So these beasts would represent very clearly for the Bible student when you look at Daniel 7, they'd represent Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. And then Greece. Then the dragon, and who is the dragon? Well, the dragon is the devil, but the dragon has to work through earthly powers. So the dragon would be the one who works through the pagan power of Rome. Because you have here the lion, Babylon, you have the bear, Medo-Persia, you have the leopard, Greece, and now you have the dragon, which would be the devil working through pagan Rome. You remember in Revelation chapter 12, it talked about the dragon trying to destroy Christ. So who did the dragon work through? Pagan Rome. It was a pagan Roman Emperor, Herod, that passed a decree that all children under two be killed that were Jewish. He was trying to destroy Jesus. It was a Roman governor that tried Jesus. It was Roman soldiers that put nails through his hands and put him on the cross. There was a Roman seal that sealed his tomb, and a Roman guard guarded the tomb. So the dragon in Revelation 12 works through pagan Rome. And here it says that the dragon, pagan Rome, would give this new power its power, its seat of government, and its authority.
Guest (Male): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers. If you want to learn more about the Bible, check out our free Bible series at globalbibleschool.org. Discover answers to your deepest questions straight from God's word. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: So at this point, we ask ourselves the question: What power was rising in Europe to prominence after Babylon, after Medo-Persia, after Greece? Where did it get its power from? Who gave it its authority? And who did pagan Rome give its authority to? You have to ask that question: What power rose after pagan Rome? It says, "I saw one of his heads as it was wounded to death, the deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast." So this becomes a universal power, but it's a religious power, because it says in verse 4, they worshipped the dragon that gave power to the beast, and they worshipped the beast saying, "Who is like unto the beast? Who's able to make war with him?" So a religious power would rise after the fall of Babylon, after the fall of Medo-Persia, after the fall of Greece, after the fall of pagan Rome. It would receive its authority from pagan Rome as Constantine moved his government from Rome to Constantinople in Turkey, and therefore there would be a vacancy in Rome that would be taken over by a religious-political power. It says in verse 5, there was given him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given to him for 42 months. In the Bible, one prophetic day is represented by one literal year—or one literal day, rather, is represented by one prophetic year. So 42 months, there are 30 days in a Hebrew month; 30 times 42 is 1260. So it says that this power would reign for 1260 years. Church and state would unite for 1260 years. At the end of that time, this power would receive a deadly wound. So what do we know so far? We know that a power would rise in Western Europe, out of the populated area of Western Europe. That this power would be a religio-political power because it would cause worship and cause others to worship it. It would be a universal power that would spread throughout the entire world. We also know that this power would reign supreme as church and state united during the 1260 years, or the Dark Ages period. We also have discovered that it says it would speak great things and blasphemies. Now most of the time when you think about blasphemy, you're thinking about an atheistic power. But let's let the Bible define what blasphemy is. In John chapter 10 and verse 31 and onward, it says, "Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him." Who were they going to stone? They were going to stone Jesus. Why were they going to stone Jesus? Verse 32, Jesus answered them, "Many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which of these works do you stone me?" Verse 33, the Jews answered him saying, "For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy because thou being a man makest thyself God." Was Jesus a blasphemer? Not at all. Why not? Because his declaration that he was the divine Son of God was true. He was God. But here blasphemy is defined by the Bible not as an atheistic power, but as one claiming to have the authority or equality with God. There's another interesting time in Jesus' life when blasphemy was claimed that Jesus was a blasphemer. We're looking at Luke chapter 5, the fifth chapter, and again, Jesus in Luke 5:20 says, "And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, 'Man, your sins are forgiven him.'" So Jesus claimed to forgive the sins of this man who was brought to him with the palsy. The scribes and Pharisees, verse 21, began to reason saying, "Who is this that commits blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Jesus was claimed to be a blasphemer, why? Because he claimed that he could forgive sins. So what do we find in Revelation chapter 13? We find the rise of a power coming out of Western Europe. A power that rises after Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. A power that gets its authority from pagan Rome as Constantine moves his capital from Rome to Constantinople. We find in this power also that church and state unite. We find as well that this power would claim to forgive sins or for its head to have equality on earth, the authority of God himself. We also discover that this is called a beast power, that it represents a religio-political power that would command worship. We come down to verse 7 that talks about this 1260-year period of the Dark Ages. It says, "It was given him to make war with the saints and overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds, tongues, and nations." So there would be this union of church and state. Those that did not go along during this period of time would be persecuted. Verse 8, "All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Verse 9, "If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity. He that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword." It's interesting that at the end of the 1260 years, 538 to 1798, the leader of the popular church of that time that had dominated for 1260 years was taken into captivity. Napoleon looked to the south to Rome, took the leader into captivity when his General Berthier invaded Rome, and the leader died in captivity. So here we see a profile. Now what does the Bible predict is going to happen under all of this? It predicts that in verse 11, "I beheld another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." Where did the first beast come up out of? The sea. And what was the sea? A populated area. The second beast comes up where? Out of the earth, an unpopulated area. He had two horns like a lamb. The first beast was a power that had existed for some time. Lion is a mature animal, bear mature, leopard mature, the dragon. So the first beast that gets its authority from pagan Rome would be a mature power. But here, this new power that has two horns like a lamb is a new power. It comes up out of the earth, an unpopulated area, and have you ever heard the expression, "free as a lamb"? He has two horns; there are no crowns on his horns. The areas of a Republican or a Democratic form of government. But he exercises all the power of the first beast before him and causes the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. What does the Bible predict? It predicts a religio-political power coming out of Europe that becomes a dominant world power. It predicts a new nation arising around 1798 that is championing democracy and freedom and Republican form of government. It then predicts that these powers in some way would unite, and as they united, there would be persecution that comes upon those that did not yield to this church-state union. Look here, for example, at verse 13. He does great wonders so that he makes fire come down from heaven on earth in the sight of men, and he deceives them, verse 14, by the miracles which he has power to do in the sight of the beast. So the power of false miracles, the power of spiritualism, at a time of crisis, would bring together nations in the world with false religious ideologies in the world to persecute God's people. Therefore, notice what it says. He deceives them by miracles. So at a time of famine, fire, flood, at a time of natural disasters—hurricanes, tornadoes—at a time of war, conflict, and strife, at this period of time, there would be a union of church and state. Religious powers, political powers would unite. I thank God that the United States of America has championed religious freedom. I thank God that we have been the land of the free and the home of the brave. I thank God that our nation has stood for religious freedom. We celebrate this year, in the year 2026, we celebrate 250 years of freedom. What a blessed privilege that has been. The nations of Europe, many of them now, have also championed religious freedom. Nations around the world, many of them have respected religious freedom. But many of them have not, and what the Bible predicts is that the last days of earth's history under false religious ideology and a change at a time of crisis with the devil working through false miracles and spiritualism, that there would be a change. Church and state would unite again just like in the Dark Ages. And the Bible says here, verse 15, "He has power to give life to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak." Now if the beast is a political-religious power, and how does this beast power, this second beast, speak? Well, nations speak through their laws and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. So death decree through the laws, why? Because those that are obedient to God, those that are standing for God, would stand in the way of what this church-state union at a time of incredible crisis considers to be bringing in world peace. Verse 16, he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads. Now notice, the mark in their right hand—persecution. The hand is a symbol of totalitarianism, it's a symbol of oppression, it's a symbol of pressure, or in their foreheads—that's intellectual commitment. "That no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name." I want you to see the big picture today, and here's what the big picture is. The big picture is that at end time there'll be a union of church and state. Religious freedoms will be taken from God's people. They will be unable to buy or sell, and eventually, a death decree will hang over their heads. But here is the appeal of Christ for the people of God. Here is the appeal of Jesus to your heart and mine. The appeal of Jesus is this: Remember the Book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus. Jesus is our only Savior. Jesus is our only Redeemer. Jesus is our only Lord over all. Jesus is Lord and master of all. And Jesus invites us to respond to his grace, to live in harmony with his word, not to compromise the word of God for tradition. You remember what Jesus says? "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, worshipping the traditions of men." So Jesus says, "Come, come, accept the truth of my word. Accept the fact that thy word is truth." Jesus says John chapter 17 and verse 17. Let's look at some passages of the appeal of Christ. This is Jesus' appeal to your heart, to mine. The same John that wrote the Book of Revelation wrote the book of John, the Gospel of John. John 17:17, Jesus says, "Sanctify them through thy word, thy word is what? Truth." So it's the word of God that Jesus invites us to follow.
Guest (Male): You've been listening to Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you enjoyed today's message and that it increased your faith in God and his word. If you'd like to learn more, Pastor Mark invites you to visit globalbibleschool.org for an inspired, interactive Bible study experience. That's globalbibleschool.org. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: Jesus leads us to the way of salvation, so we can know his eternal truth. Church and state will unite in the last days at a time of crisis. The idea will be, let's bring all families together, let's bring peace to the world, let's have a spiritual revival that will bring God's favor upon our country. But any spiritual revival that is based on feeling and emotion is not a spiritual revival that comes from heaven. Dedicate your life to scripture. Let the Bible be your guide, and you will not be deceived. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for the Book of Revelation. We know that troublous times are coming, but we do believe that you are going to be with us, you're going to get us through those times when the consciences of people are coerced to worship in a certain way. We pray that Jesus will be with us, that he will not leave us or forsake us, and we're thankful that you've said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." So continue to guide us, filled with your word. In Christ's name, amen.