I can’t help but think of my parents’ generation and the scar that many of them had from getting the smallpox vaccine. If there ever was a tie between vaccines and some mark of the beast, that would have been it. Somehow, an entire generation made it through ok [/snark].
3 Likes
I have that scar on my left arm as I was born in Africa in the '70s and there was a risk still of smallpox! Watch out! 
Then I’ll just get the microchip in my lefthand so it can’t be the mark of the beast:
It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads
3 Likes
Come back to me when it is no longer a choice but rather a requirement.
Okay I’ll check back here in 2025.
Oh Id give it a few more years than that…
Just let know when I should expect a mandatory microchip that must go in my right hand (not my left) or forehead so I know when to come back to this thread.
Oh you wont need me to tell you, it will become mandatory in due course if you want to be able to buy food…
All of the talk of microchipping being the mark of the beast often makes me think about Jews before the Messiah. They missed the Messiah because they had in their minds built up the idea of what his coming would be like. When he actually came, it was completely different from how they pictured it. I cannot help but think the same about microchipping. People are so focused on that as the mark of the beast that they miss what is actually going on. What is actually going on is Christ’s kingdom, here and now. Revelations is a book of mysteries, not answers. And trying to fit all of today’s events and microchips into is tragic and misses the point, I think.
3 Likes
I’ve thought similar things about our approach to the scriptures. In my church background there was a lot of fixation on when the rapture was going to happen and which different things could be “signs of the times,” and you’re right, we often build up our own ideas of how things will look and miss what God is doing. As Jesus said in John 5:39:
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,
2 Likes
It is an error to try and fit our modern politics and fears into Revelation or just Bible prophecy in general. One needs to take great care when studying Revelation or prophecy in general so that our modern ideas don’t get involved in what the text is saying. While yes some parts of Revelation is set in the future, however, the message it tells is that regardless of what evil will arise, especially when the final beast emerges (if one does such arise of which I think so, 1st John speak of many anti-Christ’s before a final one appears as told in 1st John 2:18). Christ will have the victory and glory and all will bow before Him as Lord.
And its unfortunate that we do such thing. That seems to be the error with the futurist-dispensationalist crowd, trying to put modern events, politics and fears into Bible prophecy either to try and explain why such events are happening or to justify their personal crusade.
3 Likes
I can relate. My grandfather was a preacher and I heard little else other than hell, fire, brimstone, and the rapture as a child. A little traumatizing, to say the least. I have found it very freeing to discover there are other interpretations of Revelation, but even more than that, that the focus is Jesus and not signs. The verse from John that you quote is perfect.
3 Likes
To a large extent I agree, but it is equally wrong to shut your ears and eyes to the possible fulfillment of Biblical prophecy in the present. After all they will be fulfilled at some point. I just think some Christians, including those contributing to this blog, are too quick to dismiss it. And one has to ask the question, what exactly was the point of God showing John, Daniel etc visions of the future?
‘Revelations is a book of mysteries, not answers.’
Really? Firstly it’s singular not plural - Revelation. Secondly Revelation actually means ‘unveiling’ ( from the Greek apokalypsis) so it would seem to be the opposite of mystery which is how the sceptic often portrays it.
You also shouldnt forget that when Jesus was warning His then followers about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, He was very explicit as to the signs to watch out for, and what to do - run away to the hills! Strange how the God of Israel was so clear then (as He was to Daniel and the Jewish people as to the arrival and death of His Messiah) yet now it seems it’s all a ‘mystery’ regarding the end.
Except of course we are now 2000 years into that future from when Revelation was written! Why do so many view Revelation’s and other prophetic writings’ predictions to be in the distant future rather than the near? And again I would ask, what exactly was the point of john and others writing down what they were told and saw in such detail?
I do believe that Revelation does have relevance to the future, mainly Reve. 13 and Rev. 19-22. I take the rest of it from the idealist point of view with its heavy 2nd temple era Jewish apocalyptic symbolism which would made more sense to the 1st century church that is lost on us today in the 21st century. I take a mix of both futurism, idealism and preterism when it comes to Revelation, in that it had purpose and relevance for the 1st century Christians who got those letters and that it has a universal message to the church for all times and it does have some say for the future, in that before Christ returns a final beast like anti-Christ will emerge and bring a period of great chaos for the church but Jesus will come and slay him and there will be the millennial reign before the final judgement.
I would like to ask what you mean by “near”? Many of the prophetic writings tell of prophecy, some fulfilled and others not yet. It depends on how one views and understands which of these has been fulfilled and not yet. When it comes to Bible prophecy, I take a mix of both preterism and futurism, in that some prophecy has been fulfilled already and others not yet. That for example, Jesus Olivet Discourse and Daniel’s prophecy about the abomination of desolation has already been fulfilled by 70 AD but Daniel’s little horn, the war told in Dan. 11 and Paul’s man of lawlessness have not yet come about. Of course, I see the anti-Christ as both past and future, Nero was the anti-Christ for the 1st century church (the mark of the beast comes out as Nero Cesar) and a final beast like figure who will be like Nero and demand worship from the world in exchange of peace and security.
It shouldnt be forgotten that 2000 years ago Jesus said what was then happening was a direct fulfillment of some of the prophetic writings of scripture written centuries before by Daniel, Isaiah etc. He then went on to make his own predictions regarding the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and beyond. Many then dismissed what He said, both regarding the Messiah’s arrival and Jerusalem. Sound familiar?!
‘Near’ for me means within the next 100 years. I think it’s quite likely that the current micro-chipping trials are leading up to, in the next few decades, of a world-wide necessity for such chipping under the skin to enable day-to-day living (ie being able to buy food etc) without which you would struggle to live. Money in the form of physical cash will become redundant. All our personal details will be held by governments - they largely have this already, in conjunction with large private companies.
I also view the Chernobyl (‘Wormwood’) disaster as either that as described in Revelation or a precursor to the real event - a large nuclear event (hence a ‘star’).
Ah I see, for me on the topic of the mark of the beast I see it as symbolic as the early church would have no idea of micro-chipping and the system of the mark of the beast seems to work as an anti-Shema, that is instead of having the seal of God on the forehead or right hand, a system that is at odds with God is put in place instead and the system is economic or at least is married with the economy. This would have been the idea of the early church, If such a symbol was to be made physically, it would be a tattoo in my opinion. But I still see it as symbolic rather then a physical mark but I will agree with you, it will be tied to the economy and no one will be able to buy or sell without the mark. I’m sure it would be more complex then that and involve physical currency and involve maybe credit cards or even an app/cyber currency like Bitcoin. That is, no one can have the app/credit card without first swearing allegiance to the final beast and declaring him as Lord and Cesar of earth. Without such statement of allegiance no one is able to get the device to enter in the economy, thus not being able buy or sell.
That is quite possible although I am open to it being in the next couple decades or years as I personally see the many conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Israel/Palestine, and the Saudi-Yemen conflicts as events leading up to a much larger conflict as told in Dan.11. But that is just me guessing and I am open to being outright wrong. Though I live with the Christian hope of Christ returning in my life time, I am also open to the idea that it may not be in my lifetime that these events will transpire.
I find it odd what you have now written given what you wrote previously! There is a contradiction there.