The Book of Revelation #94: 666 - THE CONSEQUENCES OF REFUSING THE MARK

666 - THE infamous number that strikes dread in all who hear of it.  It is the mark of the beast and the number of his name.

The mark is symbolic for loyalty -- loyalty to the great system of deception and of control.  But WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF DENYING THE MARK?

We take a journey through history in this episode and trace out the experience of thise who, out of loyaty to Jesus, have refused to take the mark.

Revelation 13:16 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, 17 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. 18 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

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Transcript

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Welcome to the Bible Unbound Podcast, the book of Revelation we find ourselves today in Revelation chapter 13, we've considered the two beasts, one who comes out of the sea, the beast who comes out of the land. But now we have to turn to the idea of the mark, the identifying factor of those who follow the beast. That is the number six. Six, six. So we're glad you've joined us here. We hope you enjoy this episode. Today we're going to talk about the mark of the beast. We looked at its nature last week. We will look at the consequences of the mark, and then next week the calculation of the mark. So the consequences of the mark of the beast are found in verse 17, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark that is the name of the beast on the number of its name. So the consequences of having or not having the mark of the beast are clear. It has to do with engaging in commerce. If you got the mark, you're gonna be able to buy and sell everything that's gonna be fried. You're able to provide for your family. If you don't have the mark. It's gonna be pretty different. So that's what it really boils down to. Last week we considered the nature of the numbering room. Remember, it was a parody that falls Christ, it falls beside Jesus said they would come and they will come as a result of this second beast. And so I said that the way to be familiar, the way to understand and recognize the true Christ. Is to by being familiar with the genuine, like a bank teller is familiar with dollars, they can tell when a a counterfeit bill comes across their desk. We as believers by peering into the unsearchable riches of Jesus that Paul talked about. That's the way we become familiar with the genuine. If we lose that straightforward peering into he who Paul says is preeminent in all things, and we start dabbling around the edges, like so much of Bo Evangel do. We even talked about this unique label that's come up within the last few years, istic, therapeutic deism that tends to become. The wrappings of much of modern day evangelicalism. And so the focus is on self and focuses on my needs and what will help me. How can I get over these issues rather than looking at the greatness, the grandeur of the glory of God? How often do we hear, preach from the pulpit, the deep things of Jesus Christ? You know what the highest point of all Christology is, and there's a lot of high points of Christology. Colossians one 15 through 20 is ultra high. Ephesians chapter one and two ultra high. You're in the Alps, you're in the mountain piece. Philippians two, five through 11. You're back up on the mountain pizza getting in. Inner eye as to who Christ is and to what he has done and to how he fits as the center. When you think about logos, you're actually in touch with the mind of God. The mind of God conveyed through the one who took upon flesh and dwelt among us as the logos. And so there's the riches of the christological narrative flowing through the whole by the, not just the New Testament. And then it finds its highest climax here in Revelation four and five. Revelation. The entire chapter is devoted to the backdrop of the coronation of the lamb. The backdrop is ground zero, nucleus of heaven, crystal seat emerald, rainbow throne, lightnings, flashings, and it is a father seated on the throne, and he has a scroll in this guy. That's the backdrop. That's Revelation four. Can you imagine? Turn Revelation four into a teaching on the silly rapture doctor. Much of the church has done that. Oh, this, that's the rapture. I think that's a cosmic transgression. Given the, that the precise context is the greatest and grandest because then in chapter five, John looks and no man is found worthy to take the scroll from, he sits upon the throne and he is directed to the lion of the tribe of Judah, because he's conquered, he turns and he sees the lab as if he'd been slain. And from that point on. All the angelic praise, all the hopes to come. It's pointed toward Jesus in what he has accomplished and who he is. And if we are not saturated by that vision, as Christians can, we expect as Steven did when he was being stoned, he looks and there he is. Jesus steady. At the right hand of the father, there was Paul Saul in rebelled against Scott, knocked off his donkey at the noon day with a light that showed brighter than the sun. This is our conquering king, and we better know him.'cause if we don't, if possible, Jesus said the deception would overtake even the elect. It's that serious, it's that close. The call is that close. So it's really serious that we understand the true and the genuine as opposed to all the things that are gonna come, whether it be AI or Jesus apps, or thoroughly therapeutic ministry. Whatever it comes, we need to know the true Christ. Okay, I'm gonna work very quickly through this'cause I've got a lot of material, but I want to leave time for discussion. So we have the dual mark. There was a mark for a believer, there was a mark for unbeliever. Remember that the priorities on the mark of the believer, the Revelation 13. We have the mark of the unbeliever and we'll look at the calculation again next week. But, quick reminder of chapter 13 as a whole. We met the beast from the sea verses one through two. We met the dragon who gives power and authority to that beast. Verse two, we saw the mortal wound that was revealed. It was as if dead came to life. Another parody of the resurrection. We saw in fourth place the global worship submission to the sea beast human governmental structures. When we saw the fact that the Beast from the Sea Exercises authority for a period of 42 months. What's interesting is that 42 month, that's the same period that the two witnesses witnessed, that the church has had a witness. It's also the same period that the church is protected from the dragon. You gotta put your thinking cap on. List. This 42 months actually mean it's a period where there's faithful witnesses, a period where the church is protected. It's also a period that this antichrist being beast system exercises authority. You can go all the way back to one John two and one John four lead to see that at least in John's mind, antichrist were already there at that day with nothing new. So then there was a rise of deceptive false prophets. That was beast number two, signs and wonders. There was a command to make an image, gives breath to the image, the deception of communication. That's what launched us into the idea of AI possibly being a platform. Maybe it is. And then where we are now the mark is actually being given and we're going to look at the consequences. So when we have these two beats, when these two beats join in union together, which is always the case, they work hand in hand and they become a toxic union. For example, during the Middle Ages when Roman Catholics is a joined with the government of France and what the government of Spain, suddenly you had a kind of religious system that merged with the government. And the power and the control that came out of that was fierce. Or Marxism joined with communism, so the ideology of Marxism, which would be the second beast, joined with the power of the communist system, whether it was stolen or then you had later on, Anglicanism joined with Stateism. Stateism is. Where the state wants to be, God, that's all. Doesn't want any rivals. And then of course we've seen Plenty of Islam as the false prophet joined with nationalism. It's a natural combination. So Beast One plus Beast Two does equal the Antichrist, whether it's presented as a system or a person or both, that's what you've got. Beast joined to Beast as illustrated. In Daniel three, if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the fiery furnace and what God can deliver you. Interesting thought that in Acts eight, Jesus is getting ready to ascend into glory and have bestowed him his coronation. What does he say to his followers at that point? He says, you will be my witnesses. In Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth. Who knows what that word witness actually is in the grief? It's Marty loss, where we obviously get the word Marty. He's calling his followers martyrs. I think the meaning is we are martyrs to God if need be, so we always carry about that willingness. That commitment, even though we may not have to, a few of us will have to actually endure a martyr. But that's who you are. You all martyrs, every one of you. So the theme, the dreadful consequences of 6, 6, 6, being financially displaced, marginalized, disadvantaged due to central financial economic control. In other words you're a slave, you're Christian, you're a slave. Unless you receive the mark of beast, then you're not a Christian. So if you refuse to take the mark of the Beast, history clearly reveals the cyclical manifestation of Beast joining with Beast and those who will resist it. So what we're going to do is just take a little trip through history and show you those times when people of God have said no. To the mark of the beast. We'll take a look at the trade guilds of the first century. We'll look at the hugins. Some of you may or not have heard of some of these people. You get a little history. This the Scottish covenanters. It is the first time you've ever heard of them. The brick kills of Pakistan. The current CBDC option. That. If there's anything that fits right into Revelation 13, that's it. We're gonna talk about that a little bit. Listen to Dave Ramsey, what he has to say about it. There were many others. Then the ones I just spoke to you, there was horrendous Hussites followers of John Huss, the 50th century Nagasaki, Japan, some people don't understand, but was very Christian. Place, but endured incredible persecution. They would say no to the mark of Beast Malice China. Obviously Hitler, who was beast number one, and ethnic supremacy and hyper nationalism were beast. Number two, Stalins Beast number one, atheism and Stateism was beast Number two. Here's an interesting one, the Ottoman Empire, which was Islamic and it took place primarily in Turkey. And so the Empire leaders the Islamic leaders were beast number one. And beast number two was Islam itself. And under the Ottoman Empire came one of the most horrendous genocides that has ever taken place. Now Turkey will deny it. This thing, which is absolutely ridiculous'cause it's been documented a thousand times. The Armenian genocide. Armenia was, is the oldest Christian nation, oldest nation that has never been conquered by Islam. It's never dropped the ball. It's always had a faithful Christian presentation. And Jim, if you know a little bit more about this, you can add to it. The likewise is Syrian, Syria, a very faithful, godly nation. But gen, all I know about it is that Ethiopian and Armenia had a very tight relationship. I think when the Ethiopians were fighting the Italians, the Armenians came in with arms and stuff and helped them a lot. Yeah. So they still have, it's waned over the years, but it was very strong. At one point, the Armenian genocide they tended to take the men. And immediately and slayed them, got rid of'em. Then they took the women and took'em on long death marches. The women were raped and were brutalized along the way. Most of them died on the death marches, and that's how they ended all because they said no to the beast system. So these system arises and revolts primarily when the state feels threatened as it is in China today. Chi the CCP has cracked down over the last week even deeper and rougher resistance against the Christian community in the house. Churches. Why?'cause they're growing. They're growing. Chi is is scared. Scar the pants off. Too many Christians. Stateism in John's day was the Roman Empire beast one where the Caesars Beast two was emperor worship, along with Pagan, Roman and Greek deities. Christians were in fact called atheists'cause they wouldn't believe in emperor worship or in the. Regional Greek and Roman deities. So in rural agrarian areas, many were shepherds. Persecution was not so bad. Same tent, we said for the cities, it was very different. And this takes us to our first category, which is trade guilds. Trade guilds were common, the first to the fifth century professional associations in the Roman Empire that organized artisans, merchants. Craftsmen primarily in the cities in the seven cities that John wrote to. Trade guilds were very common there, numerous thriving, and Ephesus where John was from actually there's a lot of archeological evidence, including inscriptions and Trade Guild records, and there's a piece of one. But membership in a trade guild often required participation in the rituals. So all the rituals, not good emperor worship, veneration of Patrick deities, not to mention the sex, the orgies, and the crazy stuff that would go on even Acts chapter 19 When Paul was in Ephesus, he sparked one of these rebellions of the trade guilt. Naming Demetrius and the craftsmen with him. They ran, they tried to run Paul out of town on rail. So these trade guilds would be a very difficult place for a Christian to participate. You just took your, said no to the beast like you, and it was not just you who suffered, but it was your family. It was your kids. They were bullied, they were. Marginalized ostracized from society. And so they faced persecution under guys like Nero and Demian, who demanded loyalty through the Cultic system. So it's hard to be Christian first century in that sense, first through fifth. Now I wanna talk about the Cubans. Who's heard? Who's heard of the Cuban? Okay, so the Cubans were a French. Protestant Resistance Group. They're very accurate in their understanding of the Bible. And yet France swarmed with the beast of the French government along with the beast of Roman Catholicism. And when they joined together, the bans found themselves cast out. And so the OTs had to endure great starvation, economic deprivation under Louis the 14th. He would command that soldiers ported in the homes of Ganau there. They would wreak havoc in that home. Soldiers would consume and destroy food supplies, livestock, household goods run rampant. And it was all an attempt to get them back under the fold of the Catholic Church. But the hugins increasingly barred from employment, law, medicine, public office trade guilds were all controlled by the Catholics, and this marginalization reduced their income. So the, there was a mass exodus of the hus, approximately 200,000, but they had to sell their homes and their assets for next to nothing. And so when they ended up in England or in Holland or the Netherlands, they had very little, they were the poorest of the poor at that point. Eventually, there was a siege in a place called La Rochelle where there was approximately 200,000 Cubans slaughtered because they wouldn't say yes to the beast. Dying from hunger. Following them about 80 years later were what was called the scotch covenanters. The scotch covenanters were Presbyterian and then don't think of moderate presbyterianism. When I say Presbyterian, talking about very conservative Protestant they they were facing the joint beasts. Of the state religion of Anglicanism in England and the Stewart Dynasty, very powerful, very authoritative, very hungry for Power Dynasty in the later 16 hundreds. Scotch Covenanters they just wanted to be left alone. They just wanted to worship and in fact, they got, after they got booted, out of all the buildings, church buildings. They began to meet in what they call conicals, which were in Moores or caves or forests or beaches. Anywhere where they could adhere to two documents. Now, number one, the Solemn League and Covenant, which was basically their statement that on a political basis we say no to the beast. Okay, so it was a formative document. Covenant. No. Beast. You're not gonna rule us. And the political side was what's called the Westminster Confession of Faith. They're the ones who wrote it. You've probably heard of the Westminster Confession of Faith. It's still used today by many churches as a faithful guy. The government forces left those communities devastated, especially in Presbyterian strongholds. Soldiers destroyed crops, seized livestock consumed household. Commodities and the covenanters were left to flee, living as fugitives in remote areas struggling to survive. Few sympathetic locals drilled out into the Scottish covenanters To show you one illustration that's very touching. The two s, this is what they did. Horrific scene of courageous martyrdom. You can never forget. It happened in May, 1685. Horrible scene Beast Patrol took these two women named Margaret to a point to where the river bla not merged into Wigtown Bay. And if you know anything about this Scotland in the fjords of the MOS and all the tide is very Iraq and can rise very quickly and it can lower very quickly. And the beast knew just the spot that would work the best. So they took Margaret McClanahan, 63 years old, I'm sorry, Margaret McLaughlin, 63 years old, and they tied her to a stink. And they drove that stake far out into the bay, but at a point where they knew that the tide would rise. And so there she was giving up her life for her fate, saying no to the beast. And they took the other Margaret Wilson, she's only 18 years old and they staked her closer in, but facing. Her elder friend Margaret McLaughlin, and she was made to watch the older, the Elder Margaret Parish under the water. The younger Margaret eventually succumbed to the rising tide, not before crying out. Praise to God, and reciting from Psalm 25. They're charge attending illegal les. It's a picture rough picture. There's a memorial to the state and go see it. Speaking of the killing times, slaughter of Scottish covenanters. Okay, bring up to today the brick kilns of Pakistan. Pakistan, approximately 4.5 million people or 20,000 of these brick counts across the country. Pakistan is one of the central suppliers of building materials, including brick, and so they've got 20,000 of these brick counts 4.5 million people, many of whom are Christians, and they work in these brick kilns full of. Horrible, horrible heat, 2000 degrees heat and breathing in all this dust and becoming sick and having no access to health and very little access to food and water, and they weren't allowed to worship as Christians, victims of religious discrimination. It's all documented, and again, I say there's an organization. I can't think of the guy's name. It's associated with Summit that provides needs primarily in the month of December, as I understand it, to where these people can have some sense of a Christmas with a good meal. So they haven't had a good meal at all, and they're sick and they become indenture because they're paid two to$4 for every thousand bricks. And then they have to borrow money for their sick child to go see a doctor. And then they're strapped on high interest rates and they become indentured service for generations and they can never escape the debt. The debt load. That's a picture of what happens.'cause they're saying no to the beast. The toil 10 to 16 hours a day mixing clay and molding bricks. Lung diseases, vision loss, skin conditions, little to no access to healthcare, education, or worship. I'm thankful to hear of what is being done through Summit to meet the needs of these poor people in the brick kilns of Pakistan. Finally becoming CBDC financial system. Right now it's on hold, but it is a favored child of most politicians. Thankfully, Trump is holding it back, but it wants to lose itself. It wants to lose itself by most of the powerful elites, the deep state for sure. Recently, Dave Ramsey sent out a, an urgent warning. Y'all know who Da Dave Ramsey is? Yeah. Sent out an urgent warning to Christians. He said, here's what it's gonna look like under CBDC. If you're struggling with your mortgage on a particular month, you can't do it. Odd job to get you through. Why? Because there'll be no cash. There'll be no more cash. Your child can't go and help the local farmer to earn a bit of seller cash. Can't do that. No more cash slipped into the hands of a child from their grandparent when going on holidays, no more money in birthday cards. No more piggybacks for your child to collect pocket money to learn about the value saving. No more little jobs on the side'cause your wage is barely covered. The bills are put food on the table. That's all gone. No more cash for a rainy day for fun. Something special. You've been putting 20 bucks away every week for That's gone. No more charity collections. Pass the plate that's gone. No more selling bits and pieces from your home. Can't have garage sale. No more garage sale, it's done. No more cash gifts from relatives or loved ones. Here's what you go here. This is what CPDC does guarantee no question. Every transaction will be recorded on the block sheet. Banks will have full control of every single penny you want. They do it already pretty close now. Venmo Cash app, you know you do that. Somebody knows you're given$200. Why? They want to know why you're doing that. You think of all that and then take away the cash. Now just remove all cash from that. So all your movements and actions are being traced. You'll have no choice but to declare and be taxed on every dollar in your possession. Dave Ramsey would know a little bit about that. Access to your money can be blocked at the click of a button. At banks need clarification, which we were just talking about, which could take up to three weeks, thousands of questions and tons of passwords. The government will decide what you can and cannot purchase. If your transactions are deemed in any way questionable, those who create questions, your money will be frozen for your own good. There's even talk of the being able to set up like digital fences. If they don't want you, the co COVID thing, if they don't want you leaving an area, you go outside that fence, you're cut off called geofencing. That's what I happened to the Canadian truck drivers. No. That's so fast. Not It's so fast. China's digital one has programmable expiration dates and limits spending to specific vendors, so it's already being done totally in China. CBDC is tied to your social credit score, so if you attend a house, church, you got a low score, you might not be able to ride the trade. You're out. But the ability to exclude people from economic participation mirrors the feast system perfectly, even as it did recent history. Patrick already mentioned 2022, the Canadian trucker convoy protests. Do you remember what they did? Do you remember what. It was Revelation 13, pure and simple. Justin Trudeau pulled the plug on the accounts of people who supported the truckers. The protestors unbelievable. They, our government did it to Trump. De banked him and his whole family. They couldn't, they could only have like little amounts of money in multiple places. They couldn't have the big billionaire bank accounts. They did it to him and his whole family until he got reelected de banked. It's called being de banked. And when did you say COVID was just a foreshadow of revelation? Absolutely. I think there's a real strong link between COVID and the Beast System. Oh yeah, of course. So Patrick, thank you for bringing up that Deb, about the truckers. You're right on track. Exactly what happened. So anyway, again we've got things that seem to be perfectly lining. With Revelation chapter 13, this stuff's been going on forever. Persecution of Christians who would not say yes to the beast. So in closing, one observation that I find very valuable is to consider the brevity and the fragility of life itself. The fact is if eternal life is not true, then all of the martyrs died in vain. That something. But if eternal life is true, then there is deep joy. Moses wrote, Lord, you've been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth. Whenever you had formed the earth in the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. I'm gonna fall into that gut. That's the one I want to fall into from everlasting to everlasting. You are God. The here now just isn't that big a deal, and that's how Paul felt. Very much so when he pinned words like Philippians chapter three, verse 10. He said oh, that I may know you oh Lord, and the power of your resurrection and in fellowship with your sufferings and to be made conformable to your death. Again. See, Paul was fixated on the person of Christ. He was dominated by the power of Jesus. When he said phrase, just consider a couple of phrases that Paul uses. Oh, that I may know him. What in life is more important than that? Lemme think of anything more important that you know Christ. That's why Paul prayed in Ephesians one, oh Lord. Grant them the spirit of wisdom and revelation into the fuller knowledge of God and that their hearts might be in illuminated, hear that action of the Holy Spirit that he's pleading for, that they might know. And then again in glorious prayer in chapter three, he says, oh, that the Holy Spirit might strengthen you all in power in the inner man that you might come to know what is the breadth and height and width of death, and to know the love of Christ, which by the way, costs us knowledge. How come you know something you can't know? It's a deep mystery. It's a deep mystery before which we should park our never dying souls. There is a love in Christ that I cannot even comprehend. It is that deep. It's an ocean. Full and broad. And when I am in his presence, I'm going to see the reality of thirst. John four 15, God is loved and I'm gonna feel that in every core of my being. I'm gonna be loved, like I've never thought of being loved. All the loves I've known throughout my earthly life, put together exploding times, 10,000 times, 10,000, and you're going to feel the grasp of his love. In an instant through the door that we call death Power of his resurrection. Paul says, that's what I want. A life that's elevated above the shadows of the things we call reality. A life that's transcendent and not a slave to the fear of death. As there are so many looking not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are unseen, some things that are unseen are internal. Things that are seen are temple. I gotta think Paul is smart. I'll follow Paul. He says that's what we do. That's what we do. He says, if sharing in his sufferings is glory. He said in Philippians one, seven, to you, it has been granted not only to believe, but to suffer in his name. Whoa. Just as much as the gift of faith has been granted me, so has the gift of suffering. A Christian suffers with meaning, intense meaning and purpose. God's in this. God's in this. He's teaching. Peter says, Hey, don't fear the fiery trial as though some strange thing has come upon you. It's not strange for the believer. Suffering has meaning and has purpose. Finally, Paul Pauls becoming like him at his death. Paul knew, Hey, I don't know which to choose to be with. Christ is very much better. But to be here remain on is service to you. And I don't know which to choose that. That's where his value system scaled out. You want to serve, be also wonder just to sit the feet of Jesus. Oh, death. Where is th stigma? Grave, where is thy victory? I'll close with these last few sayings. John 1224. Truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. You know anybody who's so alone, so much the center of their universe, so out of touch with community or family or friends, they just sit there and wait to die. Jesus said, let it go. Let the great if we fall to the earth and die, whoever gives his life, for my sake of the gospel the same. That's found it. It's always been the case that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. You've probably heard that saying it's true. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Maybe you haven't heard this one though. The Church of Jesus Christ. Could be described as an anvil that has broken many hammers. So true. We were part of that. Part of the anvil that has broken many mini hammers. Okay. Thoughts, questions. Further contribution. I think realization to me, I dunno why it's so slow in that, is that the antichrist has been here. I've always heard we're going look for and so forth. The other thing is, personally, I've always identified with Peter. I would like to think that I could say no, but just like Peter denied Christ, can I, will I be able to do that? If you followed Peter's footsteps, you would follow him out of that gated area and you would fall on your face when the cop crowed and you would cry like a little baby, and you would hear Jesus. Tell the disciples to go and tell the disciples and Peter that I had risen, and then you would hear him say to you, Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. So you really won't know until he faced that point. Depends on who you are. We're all different. Peter was made of a different kind of stuff. Peter was aggressive. Peter was a fix it guy. Peter was a dominant individual, but he wasn't perfect. None of us are. I don't think you'll know, but the more you stay in your faith and strengthen yourself, there's a better chance that you're deny. If you're weak in your faith that's most likely what you can. I think that interchange between Peter and Jesus though were. Jesus says, Peter, do you agape me? And Peter answers the Lord, I phileo you. And it happens twice and until they come into agreement. Peter, do you philo? You know I do. No resolution you have.