The anti-Christ represents a system, not an individual person
A beast is a Kingdom or political power.
Dan 7:23
The last beast is mixed with clay and iron- so it is a religious and political power.
It would have a man at its head who could speak for it
Daniel 7:8
It would make war with and persecute the saints
Daniel 7:21,
25
- Was there a great persecution for what this system called heretics
It would “speak great words against” or blaspheme God
Daniel 7:25 KJV. In
Revelation 13:5, the Bible says the same power speaks “great things and blasphemies.”
- Claiming to forgive sins Luke 5:21
- Claiming to be God John 10:33 Is there a man who is part of a system who claims to be Christ on earth
It would change times and law”
Daniel 7:25-
- Is there a system who claims they changed God's commandment that deals with time?
Arrayed in purple and scarlet
Rev 17:4
Sits on 7 hills
Rev 17:9
The mark of the beast is about worship
Revelation 13:4 So they
worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they
worshiped the beast, saying, “Who
is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”
Rev 13: 12 And he exercises all the
authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to
worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:15 He was granted
power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not
worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 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 17 and
that no one may buy or sell except one who has [
g]t
he mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
The mark which will be either in their right hand or forehead does not represent a literal mark. It's symbolic as to who we worship. The mark on the right hand represents our actions and the forehead our decisions. The mark will be received in two ways. In the forehead- those who knows what they are doing and does it anyway (like Adam) and by the hand- doesn't know they are being deceived but is (like Eve).
It brings us to this.
Deut 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
Jesus taught us what false worship is and that is keeping our rules over the commandments of God and He quotes directly from the Ten Commandments saying when we keep our rules over obeying God's commandments- one worships in vain i.e. false worship
Mat 15:3-14 Mark 7:7-13
We see this play out in end times...
False worship:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever;
and they have no rest day or night,
who worship the beast and
his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
Next verse, the antidote-
True Worship
Rev 14:12 Here is
the patience of the saints; here
are those who
keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
The commandments of God here are
God's version, not what was changed by man that we were warned about
Dan 7:25 that God said He would not alter
Psa 89:34
A beast is a kingdom (government) as we see in
Dan 7:23 and the mark is something this beast will enforce that is contrary to God's commandments. The mark is something the beast (government) will enforce though some sort of decree, much like Daniel when the gold image was made and they were told to bow to it, breaking one of the Ten Commandments. The mark represents who we worship. Is our allegiance to the Authority of God and what He commands or by contrast the authority of the beast that is contrary to God's law found in Exodus 20 that God personally spoke and personally wrote.
Exo 32:16 Exo 31:18 Who we obey is the image we take on. God's character which is found through His law or the power that wants to exalt himself above God.
Isa 14:14 this power works though the beast on earth.
The whole world will wonder after the beast Revelation 13:3 (so it means most are deceived) - it will be a religious and political power that exalts himself like Christ that all nations will follow and listen to over the Authority of God. The way to avoid the mark of the beast is to have God's seal
Isa 8:16 which is found in one of God's commandments- the only commandment that reveals the Author of His law and Creator of everything, its the commandment this beast thought to change on their authority
Dan 7:25 which they claim is above God's Authority..
No wonder God is calling us out of our false teachings
Rev 18:4
Just like Adam and Eve were tested over a tree and many people think, what does a tree matter, while it was never really about the tree, it is about who we yield ourselves servants to obey- God on His authority or by default the other spirit we were warned about
The mark of the beast is about worship. And it will be a political system mixed with religion that the world will make an image to (duplicate) that prohibits God's people from obeying one of God's commandments- just like the decree went out with Daniel and his friends against the commandments of God.
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