Mark of the Beast: Literal or Sunday Worship?
Jan 15, 2010 · Posted in Bible, Prophecy, SabbathWhy People Fail to Understand Revelation (or the Bible)
When I was younger, I struggled to understand the Book of Revelation. It was so fascinating and cryptic that I longed to peek behind the veil of its sealed language. But I could not and nobody could help me.
Today, I do understand it very well and I consequently know why I failed to understand before. I had not learned back then that most of the Bible is more literal than we ever imagined. To read literal passages allegorically will lead you to wrong conclusions every time.
But it gets worse. These wrong conclusions will cloud your understanding of still other passages, kind of like a spreading infection. The false views you hold constantly contradict any true interpretations you think of or come across. Because you view truths as wrong, you reject or disregard them. As a result, you are unable to truly understand any of the deeper teachings or mysteries of the Bible properly. This includes the mysterious Book of Revelation.
The Mark of Beast and the Mark of Torah
Revelation’s Mark of the Beast is a good and instructive example in this regard.
Revelation 13:16-17 (HCSB) 16 And he requires everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of his name.
This seems straightforward. A mark consisting of a name or number on either your forehead or right hand. The mark will serve kind of like a credit card does today. Without it you cannot buy or sell everything you want. For example, you cannot rent a car or good hotel room without a credit card.
However, how does your view of Revelation 13’s mark change when you incorporate these verses:
Exodus 13:9 (HCSB) Let it serve as a sign for you on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the Lord’s instruction may be in your mouth; for the Lord brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand.
Deuteronomy 6:8 (HCSB) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.
It is because of these commands that Orthodox Jews put phylacteries or little Torah scroll boxes and straps on their forehead and hands. That’s a literal interpretation. Yet, most instead see this verse as an injunction by God to make his instructions tied to your thought and your actions always.
Mark of the Beast: Spiritual Mark?
Don’t these verses sound similar to Revelation? They associate God’s commands with the forehead and hand. This can cause you to question your literal view of Revelation’s mark. Perhaps it is not a literal mark, but it is a spiritual mark. Perhaps the mark really represents obeying the commands of the Beast in place of God’s commands?
At least that’s what the Seventh Day Adventist church teaches. They consider the mark of the beast to be symbolic. The symbolic meaning to them is a law to keep Sunday, or “Sunday Law”. Of course, they are the biggest Christian group that believes we are required to keep a Saturday Sabbath. They believe keeping Sunday instead of Sabbath is a serious sin before God.
The SDA interpretation looks reasonable especially with its “let the Bible interpret the Bible” methodology. Yet we will see that it is no accident they spiritualize the mark as they do. Their Sabbath view helps them to gloss over some important differences between the marks of Revelation and Exodus.
Mark of the Beast: Literal Mark
Here’s the main problem with equating Exodus 13:9 with Revelation 13:16. Exodus is taking an abstract thing (God’s instructions) and asking them to be “frontlets”, a “sign” or a “memorial” between the eyes and the hand. The most reasonable way to view this is figuratively as a command to always think and do according to God’s instructions. It is not practical or useful to fit a tiny Torah scroll on those body parts and go around with them in the way all the time.
Revelation, on the other hand, is taking a physical thing (a mark on the skin) and specifying where it can be located on the body. Indeed, all incidences of “mark” in the contexts of Revelation treat it as a physical and visible thing that you receive from the False Prophet. Visibility is required for the mark to work in commerce. One cannot look at you and tell if you kept Sunday when deciding whether to sell you food.
Notice also that Exodus 13:9 does not says “right” hand. Exodus does not specify which hand because it would be odd to do this when either hand is associated with work or action.
Further, in Revelation the mark is always a “mark” on the skin. It is not sometimes a sign, a frontlet, or a “mark” like God’s commandments are characterized by the Torah itself. Revelation 13 even specifies the mark as the name or number of the beast. Names and numbers are commonly written down. They would even fit on a person’s forehead or skin. The definition of the mark as the name or number of the Beast hurts the SDA view. This plain explanation of the mark contradicts assigning any other explanation to it. Their case would be better if the mark was left ambiguous by Revelation. But it is not.
Thus, when we allegorize the mark as “deciding to rest on Sunday instead of Saturday”, we are choosing to ignore the most natural and reasonable interpretation of the mark of the beast. The mark is a mark on the skin consisting of the name or number of the beast.
So why choose the weaker allegorized interpretation. There must be some other benefit to the weaker view in order to choose it. For SDA’s this false view supports their Sabbath-keeping doctrine. It puts some additional importance and fear behind their teaching. I can imagine them thinking that by keeping sabbath today, they are antichrist-proofing themselves.
Conclusion
Only a sabbath-keeping religion would come up with the idea that the mark of the beast will be “keeping Sunday instead of Saturday”. This interpretation presupposes that sabbath is required by God and by not keeping it you are sinning before God. However, the sabbath was part of the Old Covenant made with the nation of Ancient Israel. SDAs rip this single command out of its original national context and transplant it upon believers today scattered outside the land of the Torah. Ignoring the context of a verse is not the way to to get to “the truth no matter what it says”, as our goal should be.
This goes back to my original point. When you have even one wrong doctrine (e.g. “sabbath is required”), it will lead you to reject the true meanings of other verses (e.g. the mark is the name or number of the beast) and create even more wrong doctrines (e.g. “the mark is keeping Sunday”). And all of these errors are based on not accepting the Bible for what it plainly says (e.g. the Torah is for the nation of Israel in the land of Israel, not for Gentiles today – Acts 15).
In covering this example, I have not meant to pick on the SDAs. Other groups come up with other meanings that break the literalness of the mark of the beast, too. Indeed, we all fall into allegorizing verses that were meant literally. Hopefully, the next time you catch yourself thinking a verse does not mean what it plainly says you will stop and ask yourself two questions.
- What doctrine do I hold that is causing me to think this verse is not literal?
- Have I proven through diligent study that that doctrine itself is really correct?
See also: Can you Take the Mark of the Beast Today?
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The Sabbath is required as are ALL of the other 9 Commandments. The commandments haven’t been done away with, and they are never qualified, i.e. “10 for you Jews, 9 for you Gentiles and 7 or 8 for you Catholics.”
Jesus said “If you love me, follow my commmandments”.
John said “If you claim to know him but don’t follow his commandments, then you are a liar”.
Revelation – the last book in the bible, written about a time in the very near future – says “Blessed are the saints, who follow the commandments of God and keep the faith of Jesus”.
And I’m not SDA – I was a Catholic for 50 years and awakened to the Sabbath. I am a member of the United Church of God – An International Organization.
You’re making the common mistake of thinking God has one set of commandments for all, or universal law. This is easily debunked if you just read and see how the commands change even in the Torah from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Specific commands were given to Israel and for the foreigner living with them but are not required on the foreigner living outside Israel.
In Acts 15 Gentiles were told only four things were required. Even specifically they do not have to CIRCUMCISE or keep ANY of the yoke of Torah (Acts 21:25 KJV).
What are Jesus’ commandments? When Jesus was asked how to have eternal life, he defined his commandments. He answered with only the last six commandments. He excluded the first four commandments. This always bothered me when I thought all ten were required. Then I noticed that those first four nobody would have any way of knowing without special revelation (the Bible) and are really just matters of purity. So how could people be accountable to commands that no one can know without a prophet? The last six are ones that common senses or morality governments or your neighbor will teach you on quickly
So it would be to your benefit (Satan) That I go through life waiting for a microchip or a literal mark to be placed on me to avoid and then i will not focus on the truth of keeping Gods Commands and worship Satan on Sunday! So your telling me that its ok to not follow the commandments, so i can go and kill and steal and worship idols now that the old law is done away with? Pathetic! You will be judged on the day before your Lord! You will Bow before Christ and answer for all the souls you are directing away from Gods Law! God Bless you for you know not what you do! May God have Mercy on you! The Pope is God too right? Whatever! This site is Garbage!
You forgot to ask me “have you stopped beating your wife yet?”, too. Seriously, I don’t teach any of the words you put in my mouth. But I can see you are angry and not looking at what I say impartially without any investment over someone disagreeing with your “Sabbath is required today” view.
I don’t want anyone to do anything except not do damage to the Scripture by twisting a “mark on the skin of a name or number” into “keeping Sunday instead of Saturday”. Peace. Keeping sabbath is a great blessing. There’s no need to invent more verses to get people to do what you choose to do.
Hi Tim, I wrote a comment yesterday but I think I messed up again and it got erased! I severly detest my computer and am praying for patience! I am learning truth since discovering your site (I am SO glad I did) I am still a bit confused about keeping the Sabbath! Did Jesus mean that for non Jews as well (Keep the Sabbath)? Jesus said you would be blessed for keeping the Sabbath! I might have totally missed your point earlier but anyhow…..
Friday evening, I forgot it was the start of the Sabbath and only remembered it on Sat morn. I guess I still kept it for the most part and will remember to keep it from now on as to be Blessed! OK, that being said, I am a Christian of a certain number of years who knows Jesus personally as Lord and Savior. If one forgets to observe the Sabbath, does one ask for forgiveness or what? Also, not to be rude but is it something that I should continue to observe. I was raised a Catholic and got out back in 1993. Now I am studying in-depth to I guess become a better person in Him and learn His true purpose in my life. I have been recently called back to Him after hearing His voice several times and not listening to it! Lets just say that I back slid ALOT! As a Christian and not a Jew….Tim, do you as a Christian observe the Sabbath and when do you observe it?(From when till when?)
Thanx for your insights again!
Dear Tim,
Really liked your book.
I grew up Catholic and was rebirthed by water and the Spirit some 20+ years ago. I’ve never been inside an SDA church or any other Sabbath church except once with a group of Messianic Jews.
The web address above is not mine but one I reference at the end of this note.
I am glad this Sabbath thing came up. Funny how we have been lied to all these years- How many jokers believe that there are 3 days from Friday to Sunday. You would never buy a vacation that said 3 days in paradise- your plane leaves on Friday at sunset and returns on Sunday at sunrise. Does that sound like a three day vacation to you? Only if you are a Laodicean.
My best advice is: don’t (any longer) fall into the trap of being a Sunday Christian. (Laodicean)
That is one who believes Jesus was crucified on Friday and raised on Sunday. This is a lie; a Muslim confronted me with this lie about “my religion”. First he asked me about the sign of Jonah, as a trap. Luckily I had done my homework and was able to explain to him that the “Sabbath” on that Passover was not a Friday-Saturday Sabbath, it was a Passover-Feast Sabbath. So Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday and raised after sundown on SATURDAY (it is still Saturday after sundown, but if you were a Hebrew it was the first day of the week). I can guarantee that He did not sit in there and wait for Sunday at midnight once the sun was set! His 3 days and 3 nights were done!
So that throws all the “Sunday is the Lord’s day” garbage right out the window where it belongs. See the web address above and below for a better explanation. -No relation to me at all.
No mystery that the Council of Laodicea (who would have guessed) changed the observance of the 7th Day Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday in 336 AD. (So they break the fourth commandment-and maintain that anyone who follows along with this thinking is under the Popes authority.) If the Catholic Church is the mother of harlots- then who are the daughters?
The Sabbath is certainly nothing more than an act of will on the part of a believer- a seal between you and God. It is certainly the “least of these commandments”. I have to say I hope that you are no longer willing to be called “least in the kingdom of God” – Mat 5.
19″Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least (X)in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is LORD of the Sabbath, What an honor to be in charge of the day that many of the people called by His name IGNORE.
After you wrote about Jesus returning in a Sabbath Year I thought you totally “got it”. Evidently not, not yet anyway. Nothing wrong with going to church on Sunday of course, it just is not the Sabbath-never was and never will be. If you are going to second guess what Jesus said about “His commandments”…you are stepping out on some very thin ice.
One more thing:
The Sabbath starts in Genesis- is it chapter 3. Then the thousand years in the Book of Revelation is the Sabbath Millennium. This Sabbath theme goes all the way through the Bible-so don’t blow it off, it is important.- Rom. 3:31Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
And now a note from the Catholics…
From: http://godkind.org/sunday-2.html
Convert’s Catechism
“Ques. – Which is the Sabbath day?
“Ans. – Saturday is the Sabbath day.
“Ques. – Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
“Ans. – We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”
Source: The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, written by Reverend Peter Geiermann, C.S.R., and blessed by Pope Pius X on the 25th of January 1910, Second edition, page 50.
Remember- 3 things
-The 10 commandments tablets were/are kept inside the Arc of the Covenant, the Mosaic law never was inside the Arc.
Rom. 3:31Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law. (Not the mosaic law-don’t be confused.)
-The law will not pass way until we are all judged (and probably found guilty) by it (Mat 5 again), THEN the Book of Life is opened.
My best to you,
SR Harris
With all due respect, I perceive you to be confusing two separate arguments as one and the same. One you have correct, the “literal” mark of Revelation, the other I must advise you to reconsider, the importance of observing the Seventh-Day Sabbath. Brian had many good and valid points which you dismissed by confusing ceremonial law (circumcision) for God’s Commandments, which if a man shall keep, he shall surely live. Maybe we should check in with Isaiah, who was echoed & validated by Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 58:13-14
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
As I stated, I agree that the mark of the beast reeferred to in Revelation is a literal mark, that will be openly accepted by many Sunday-worshipping, so-called christians who forgot the Greatest Commandment as proclaimed by Jesus Christ Himself:
Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength
If you say that you do, but you do not honor and respect the day HE set apart, then what does that make you?
3 commandments has God given us that we might show our Love for Him in truth – NOT bowing to idols, NOT using His name in vain, and keeping His Sabbath Holy. The rest we show by how much we love our “neighbors”.
Puffin, thanks for trying to help but unfortunately you are confused as to why I dismissed Brian’s points (and why I must now dismiss yours). You keep speaking as if God gave the sabbath command to all mankind. He never did. Ancient Israel is the one he made aware of this sabbath requirement through the miracle of the manna. Then he made them aware of the rest of his covenant requirements for them through giving the written law or Torah. But mankind is not aware of this rest-day requirement. It was never given to them. Those few who do read the Bible today rightly conclude that it was given to the Jews and not required on Gentiles as Acts 15 makes pretty plain.
So you, like Brian, are making the classic exegetical mistake in forgetting who the audience is and then carelessly try to apply what was meant for another audience to people today living in a different time, culture and land.
Another mistake is you seem to imagine that everyone has a Bible and reads it and understands it and is therefore accountable to do things in it. Nobody knows about sabbath, idols, or his name without revelation and a leader or prophet reminding them of it, like Israel had. We don’t have that today. Even Israel does not have that today. God is not judging people for things he never made them accountable to know. And Israel is not being punished for breaking Torah as they do now and did back in the First Century because they are no longer accountable for it being unable to do it without prophets, priests, judges, altars, temples, red heifers, etc. To say God is makes God very unjust. That is not the God I worship. Think it through.
I am disappointed. Wondering, is this just proding us to better understand, study? Surely you do not think James, Peter or Paul teach that the two houses are lawful and lawless? Why did James say Since the Law of Moses is taught in every City? I think that it acknowledges that the Gentiles would learn the laws of the Government of God even if they were not bound to Ritual observances, not that they did not have to obey God.
Anyway I have learned much from you and will not criticize you, just questioning this article.
Thank you and God Bless
Robert, please do question, I prefer that to judgment =).
If “For Moses is taught…” meant “follow Moses” then that would contradict all the preceding negative comments about keeping circumcision/Moses/Law that fill Acts 15. Acts 15 is pretty plainly against adding the yoke that our fathers could not bear on gentiles. So if you really want to know what the best answer in context for “for Moses is taught” read this: http://www.wcg.org/lit/bible/acts/decree1.htm Hint: What wrong conclusion do many Christians fall into who finally bother to read “Moses” (the OT) when they see phrases like “throughout your generations forever” and “the same law for the alien who lives among you”? This is what happens when Moses is read to the novice.
Perhaps it is just my current perspective on this issue. I am preparing a writing on the Torah which will not be completed anytime soon.
My perspective is to look at what God expects of all believers. The Books of Moses was the legal system for the Israelites coming out of Egypt, where the only law they knew was Pagan, Egyptian or Babylonian if you will.
God Himself gave the law to Moses. This law existed from the time of Adam. It was given in such great detail because of all the wrong practices that they were used to. Jesus simplified it by stating the two categories that encompased the whole law in both intent and practicality that is, love the lord you God and love your neighbor as yourself.
I look at the systems of Government of this Earth and say, Do we not need to be corrected and maybe incorporate some of these God given directions into our lives. Not to be saved but to sanctify our selves to God?
I agree that God’s ways in the OT sanctify us. It is good to adopt what you can today that make sense. They are called good and wisdom by the Bible. However, they are not required for salvation or required for any reason. The Bible teaches they are wisdom, but not required. When people say they are required they do not realize they are making themselves accountable to do the whole Torah which is not possible today or in other words cursed sinners (Gal 5:3; Jas 2:10).