Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.
Revelation 13:11-18
I pick
up from yesterday’s Reflection. Another 70 years after the first group of
exiles returned to Israel, Ezra led a second group back. At first, no Levites,
the people responsible for looking after the temple, wanted to go (see Ezra 8).
This was understandable because in Babylon they had worked and prospered like
everyone else. They probably thought they had too much to lose by leaving: even
the prospect of serving God in his Temple did lure them away from their
lifestyles.
Presumably,
the descendants of these Israelites were still living in Babylon when it fell
into decline. Although Alexander the Great wanted to restore Babylon’s glory,
making it the capital of both Europe and Asia, his ambition died with him.
Eventually, the city’s decay was so great that for centuries nobody even knew
where it had stood!
But
what else, beside such great loss, awaits the people who do not heed God’s call
to leave the Babylon portrayed in Revelation?
The
Mark of the Beast is one of the most potent symbols in history and generations
have speculated about what it might be. When I was young, many thought it would
be a tattoo on a person’s forehead or wrist; as I got older, they thought it
would be a microchip planted beneath a person’s skin. Many seem to think that
the symbol is, literally, the number 666; I would not rule that out but in
Revelation even the ‘real’ numbers are symbolic. But whatever the Mark is, and
however it is applied, it will be clear who has it.
The
Mark represents two things: devotion to the Beast and permission to buy and
sell. It seems to me that if ever the current global financial system that is
represented in Revelation by Babylon, the prostitute who dominated nations, were
to fail and fall, something like the Mark of the beast would be necessary in
order to regulate money.
The
free market system that currently prevails across the globe relies, largely, on
self-regulation. The market, on the whole, determines prices and, by and large,
what is acceptable behaviour for traders and investors. Governments tend to
step in only to curb excess and crime. But if the government or governments represented
by the Beast ever turned on Babylon, to bring an end to its domination, and
brought it down, as symbolised in Revelation 17-18, then the Beast would have
to directly regulate trade. The Mark of the Beast would, therefore, probably seem
like a good thing!
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Copyright © All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans
2013.
Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright
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