What is the mark of the beast? The truth is that no one knows exactly what this will look like, or if it is even a physical mark (remember, Revelation largely uses figurative language).  In today’s discussion, we start off talking through what people have believed was the mark of the beast. Then we define that mark as the mark of the world. We are identified by what we believe and do, where we allow our affections to run. If the mark of the beast is the mark of the world, then how it appears in our lives is going to be running with, pleasing, and falling into the ways of the world.  For the final word, we turn to a sermon preached a few years ago by Richard Owen Roberts: Twelve Marks of Spiritual Death, from Ephesians 2:1-3.

Welcome to the Church and Family Life podcast. Church and Family Life exists to proclaim the sufficiency of Scripture. And it's so great to be with you again Jason. Hey. Hi Scott.

Howdy and John Snyder from New Albany, Mississippi. Yeah, good to be here. John, thanks for joining us. Of course, John is a pastor at Christ Church in New Albany And so you're joining us here to talk about the Mark of the Beast. People all over the place are talking about the Mark of the Beast as it is when there's tumult in the world.

You know, the mark is the word garagma in, or karagma in Greek, and is it a computer chip? You know, is it a barcode? I've heard people say, it's the vaccine, It's the mark of the beast. So, we're here to talk about the mark of the beast. I'll read the biblical language in sort of the context of where it appears, because it's an important subject.

It's a subject that God has given us to understand. So in Revelation 13, 16-18, we learn about this beast that deceives the whole world. He exercises great authority, he's very convincing, he's like a lamb and a dragon at the same time, he has compelling qualities, wildly popular, but he does something. And I'll read what he does. Verse 16 in Revelation 13, 11.

He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666. So what is the Mark of the Beast?

So John, as it turns out, you preached through the book of Revelation a few years ago, and you have a sermon on chapter 13 where you describe your understanding of the Mark of the Beast. So, tell us. Yeah, well, that's quite a daunting question. I would have actually put a lot of money down on a bet that I would never be having this conversation on a podcast. So I do want to say that this is, like you mentioned, this is something that God has given to His church.

So we don't want to kind of mockingly look down on people who are trying to understand this. But it is also a thing that has really been given to abuse, especially in our lifetime. And I grew up with films about everyone disappearing at once and then, what was the mark of the beast? We watched these as I was a member of a youth group, so we would go watch these. And so, you know, it's just, it's given, it's been given a lot of bad interpretations.

So let me just, I'll try to do my best to say as much as I can understand about it. Let's take those two beasts. The first beast, which you didn't mention, but there's a beast earlier in the chapter that is terrifying with all these different expressions of irresistible power. And it's a mark of the world governments, and especially as they often find themselves aligned against the rights of Christ. And then the second beast, which you mentioned, it is fascinating that the second beast is a very safe looking animal, a lamb, two small horns.

And as you mentioned, the Bible says though, but it does speak like a dragon. So we have one, the second beast is actually in many ways more dangerous than the first, because it appears to be safe. What is it? Well, it appears here in chapter 13, again, we find the beast mentioned in, you know, 14 and 19 and 20, these are being judged. We find a false prophet appearing later, which I believe is synonymous with this second beast.

The second beast, as best as we can understand, is an expression of world religion or world philosophies that appear to be very safe, maybe even beneficial. After all, think, what seems to us to be a better, what's the best way to fix our lives? Well, we think, well, religion. And what better religion for a man who's never been conquered by the claims of Christ and the love of Christ? His height of religion is a religion that's all about Him.

So really a me-centered, worldly view of what life is all about. And when we wake up and live based on a religion that's all about me and what I want and what I feel I deserve, or we wake up and live by kind of a pragmatic philosophy of what works and this is the best way for me, then really we are followers of this second beast. And so I think the mark is not a physical outward mark that appears at the very end of the end of times, right before Christ comes, but these end times, these last days in Revelation refer to the period of time from the ascension of Christ to the return of Christ, so we have 2,000 years. There is a mark that has enduringly been given to the followers of this false religion for 2,000 years. What is the mark?

And I believe that these are spiritual qualities that go hand in hand with a self-deceiving religion. Right. And I would just add, it's the mark that defines you. It's the mark of the world. It's what you believe.

It's your worldview. You've accepted a satanic worldview, and that is what marks you. You think like the world. You talk like the world. Now, you may use religious language like we think that this second beast probably does, but it's running with and pleasing the world and yourself, and that's what marks your life.

Is it a 666 written on your forehead? Probably not, but it's a mark of the world. Satan is always mimicking God. When Moses said, you shall write them on your hand and put them on your forehead, the devil is just mimicking this. When Moses told the children of Israel to do that, He's saying your life is marked by the Word of God.

Your whole life, what you do with your hands is marked by the Word of God, what you do in your thinking, everything about your house, it's marked by the holiness of God. In contrast, I think you have this mark here. It's just a mark of the world. So with that, John, you were in your church several years ago, and Richard Owen Roberts came and delivered a message. And we kind of want to think about that message and what he said in terms of this mark.

What is the mark of the world? Because he delivered some really clear points that help us understand the mark of the world. So why don't you tell us about that? Yeah, it was a sermon entitled, 12 Marks of Death. Now we were talking about, you know, the marks of life, regeneration.

How do we know that we're spiritually alive? But he approached it from classic Mr. Roberts, you know, he approached it from the opposite perspective How can you tell that you're spiritually dead? This is one of the sermons that actually led to my wife's conversion or Or really gave her an assurance that that great change had taken place After the church had started she was the second person we know of that was wonderfully converted She listened to that sermon and she realized all my religion up to this point was marked by these 12 evidences of spiritual death. And I think if a person's going to invest their lives in searching out a mark, you would be, really, it would be much wiser.

Instead of listening to the newest theory, the newest conspiracy theory about how the government is going to mark you, but rather look at the last 2,000 years, what does the scripture describe as the mark of a life, as Scott, you just mentioned, in what we do and how we think, what marks the slave of sin and what marks the slave of Christ. There is such a different picture there. I'm just going to read them. There are ten of them, and then we can just try to pick off a few of them. We'll let you lead us in there.

So the first is to be unaffected by God's sovereign rights in your life or in the world. Number two, a carelessness or indifference about the state of one's own soul. Number three, To sin freely without any powerful conviction of sin. 4. To have no dread of hell or the propriety of God to send you there.

5. To be unchanged by what you know and confess to believe about Jesus Christ. 6. To be Pharisee-like within interest in forms of religion rather than truth and heartfelt religion. Seven, to be indifferent to the means of grace.

Eight, to want enough religion to be free from the penalty of sin, but not its power. Number nine, to be recognized by the world as one of its own. 10, to fail to love God with all the heart, soul, mind, strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself." So there are the 10... Boy, oh, there are 12, I'm sorry. Number 11, 12, not 10.

Yeah. To be uncaring concerning the glory of God and the spread of His kingdom throughout the world. Number 12, to be earthly minded instead of heavenly minded. So those are very penetrating. So let's talk about them.

John, where do you want to lead us on this? Yeah, well, we don't have time to go through all 12, so maybe we could just hit a few. And I want to say that if you can imagine a person who is concerned in our day with the upheaval of so much that we, as Americans have come to see as secure things like basic moral issues, and now everything is turned on its head. So it can be a scary time. Can you imagine how frightened a person would be if they looked in the mirror tomorrow morning and they began to see the forming of these numbers on their head?

I mean, what would they do? They would do anything. They would search out these pastors. What can I do? I'm one of them, you know.

But how easy we rest with these marks. So for example, a carelessness or an indifference about the state of your soul, how many people do show up at church occasionally, but their life could be genuinely described as being marked by a pretty distinct carelessness about issues regarding their soul, and they are not afraid of that at all. And he mentions ways that that would show up, and one of them there is an indifference to the means of grace. So while we would never rest easy with a tattoo of 666 on our forehead or on our hands, we do rest easy with dusty Bibles, with churches that we are officially members of but rarely attend, with opportunities to pray that are continually neglected. Those kinds of things tend not to frighten us, and they ought to.

Pete You know, one of the prophets talks about the people shrugging their shoulders at his laws. You know, they're not really against them that much, but they're just shrugging their shoulders. They're not into it. Yeah, and you can, and a lot of these, we do have to be discerning, because a lot of these demonstrate that there could be an outward appearance of being very serious about Christ, but God knows that the inward heart is marked with the mark of the beast. So, for example, being Pharisee-like in our interest of maintaining the form of religion, that is, the exoskeleton, you know, the appearance of being a pretty serious Christian, but in the heart having no real yearning for Christ, no real life.

Yeah, Scott, the one that strikes me is on this list is number four, to have no dread of hell or the propriety of God to send you there. Just the phrase, The propriety of God to send you there, just the phrase, the propriety of God to send you to hell, I think the average churchgoer wouldn't know what to do with the language there. Is it proper for God to send religious, respectable people to hell. And the testimony of Scripture is that hell will be filled up with people who are very respectable to their neighbors. Well, when you go out and witness to people, what is the number one quality of the conversation?

Well, God wouldn't send somebody like me to hell. I'm not that bad, you know? So, the whole matter of propriety is lost. Matthew 18 on number eight, he mentions wanting enough religion to be free from the penalty of sin, but not its power. So, if a person does admit, well, yeah, I guess I would end up there, but I've got enough of Christ to keep me from there.

One of the illustrations I remember Robert's giving, It's not a perfect illustration because it's hypothetical. And so it's not, in a sense, it's not a biblical possibility. But he gave this quick illustration. And actually, his wasn't quick. I'll have to give it quickly.

He said, what if Christ appeared in your bedroom tonight and said to you, there is no more room in heaven for anyone and so if you follow me, you need to know at the end of time, you will not be rewarded with heaven but you will be sent to hell. And he asked the question, would that change your love for Christ? Or, you know, would that change, would you say, well, if I'm not going to get heaven, then I don't want anything to do with you. And he said, now, imagine a completely different scene. Imagine that you're a lost person and Christ comes and says to you, no matter how you live, I'm going to bring you to heaven.

Would you be glad to hear that? Would you say, well, great, because I want to live. There's all these sins I plan to enjoy. And if I get heaven and these favorite sins, that's all the more better. And he was just using these hypotheticals to demonstrate that the heart of the believer in each of those situations, there's a very distinct response.

I want Christ, even if I'm not being promised heaven. And I don't want heaven without Christ and without His holiness. So, you know, are we fooling ourselves when we say that we're really serious about Christianity, but all we really want is a get out of jail free card. Scott, something that's not direct to this, but it's very, very related to something that Jesus says in John chapter 8. I'll read John chapter 8, 42 through 44.

Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come from myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do.

He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." And so, the marks of the sons of the devil here are the marks that characterize the devil himself. He's full of hatred and falsehood. And so, those are marks. The stunning thing about this text is who Jesus says this to.

He says this to the most religious. He's talking to practicing, quote, unquote, faithful Jews, and yet he's calling them sons of the devil, really marked by the things that characterize him. You know, and he said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. That's all part of that whole scheme. You would, even if you weren't promised anything, you would want His commandments, because they're holy and they're good.

I think it goes right to the point of what John has been speaking a lot about, which is that the great line isn't between the religious and the irreligious. It's between those who have trusted in Christ and those who have not. Yeah, number five, you can think of demonic faith to be unchanged by what you know and confess to believe about Jesus Christ. So very much like a demonic faith from James, demons believe, in a sense they have really good doctrine. They know that there is one God, et cetera.

And yet they are not altered by that belief, that does not bring them to submission and love to the King. It makes no beneficial change in them. And what if the mark of the beast is that we have a head full of religious phrases and we are not altered at all? You know, no one watching us from a distance would be able to tell that we believed anything differently than they did. And that's the terrifying thing about evangelicalism.

You have, I think we have millions whose lives haven't been changed, and yet able to go to church, probably really like the live stream, you know, and still be able to maintain the basic ethical propositions, but the ongoing daily transformation of life isn't happening. Yeah, and you know, we don't want to be negative in the sense that it's not all dark, obviously. Revelation is giving a terrible warning here, but that's not all that Revelation has said. A person could take this list of 12 things and reverse them, and we would see the beauty of what God works in a soul when He graciously unites that soul to a living Savior. And, you know, so all of these marks, as ugly as they are, the flip, the reverse, the true Christian is so beautiful.

And what God does in us is so precious that we don't want to forget that there are marks of life to be pursued. Pete Hey, so let's do that. Let's flip them. Okay, I'll take the first one. The first one is to be unaffected by God's sovereign rights in your life or in the world, to make it, to turn it to the positive, to be delighted by God's sovereign rights in your life and in the world.

Pete Yeah. Or number two, to be very careful and diligent with regard to the state of our soul. Number three was to sin freely without any powerful conviction of sin. The opposite of that would be when sin is part of the life of the believer. It impacts them tremendously.

They can't get free of the nagging sense that this dishonors the Lord. And so, number four is to have no dread of hell or the propriety of God to send you there, to state it positively, to see the propriety of God to send you to hell and be so thankful that He wouldn't because of the blood of Christ. And number five, to be wonderfully altered by what we know and confess to believe about Jesus Christ. Number six, to have the heart of religion and not just, I think you used the word exoskeleton of religion, just this outward facade, but have the heart of it. Number seven, to desire the means of grace with all your heart.

Number eight, to not be satisfied simply to be told by your pastor that you're not going to hell, but to long for the powerful work of Christ within. Number nine was to be recognized by the world as one of its own, as a sign of death. So, a sign of life would be to be disowned by the world as one of its own. And then ten, to find in yourself that You love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and you love your neighbor as yourself. R.

Number 11 would be to be wonderfully concerned about the glory or the reputation or the honor of our God and the spread of His rule throughout the world. And finally, number 12 would be to be heavenly-minded instead of earthly-minded. So that's great. What a wonderful, wonderful picture of what God does in the heart of a person, to make them want to love Him and make them want to follow Him. That's the mark, not of the beast, but it's the mark of the shepherd.

He's such a good shepherd. And when you Think about all those that we just read on the positive side—how life-giving, how encouraging, how happy they are to have them in your soul. To enter into that life, just ongoing, day by day, to lay your life before the Lord and say, Lord, help me, lead me, be my shepherd, be my king. That's a wonderful thing. So there you have it, the mark of the beast.

The mark of the beast is to not think so much of the shepherd, but to think quite a bit about yourself and about the world. That's the mark of the beast. A 666 probably won't appear on your head, but it is in your heart, and it will determine your eternal state. Okay, any last comments, John? John, why don't you give us something and then Jason, and then we'll wind it up.

Yeah, well, as you mentioned, these are beautiful things that Christ gives, but it's not just a one-time gift at regeneration. That's the opening of a fountain of living water in a life that once was a desert, and it's spreading. So there is something to be grateful for. God did it, not us. But then there is that, you mentioned, going to God, cultivating these precious gifts.

And I think of Bunyan's picture, because we do live in a scary day and people can be frightened unnecessarily in many ways because of what they're listening to. Think of Bunyan's picture of God sustaining these wonderful traits in the life of a Christian. You remember he goes to interpreter's house and there's a fireplace and the enemy is there dousing it with water, but the fire can't be put out. It seems to rage all the more. And he goes around behind that wall and he sees Christ throwing oil on the fire.

So regardless of what the world, the terrors, the doubts, and the insecurities you may feel, if you will dwell near your King and pursue Him through these means of grace, He will sustain and grow these wonderful pictures of His work. Amen. So, I just wanna double down on that and say walking near, walking with the Lord, walking closely with Him is the antidote. The Mark of the Beast has been made tremendously complex and mysterious, but the antidote is very simple, and it's just walking closely with the Lord. Pete Slauson Amen.

Okay, so, it's time to get clear on the mark of the beast and stop watching some of those silly films. But God is so kind. He draws us to Himself, not the beast, where we want Him, and not the things of this world. That's the kindness of the Lord. Okay, brothers, thank you so much for joining us.

What a neat proposition. And thank you for joining us on the Church and Family Life podcast, and we'll see you next time. Us go to churchandfamilylife.com. See you next Monday for our next broadcast of the Church and Family Life podcast.