Hi Mike,
Could you explain in short detail how the verses of Revelation 13:16,17 apply to us in a spiritual sense of the scriptures?

P____

Hi P____,

Thank you for your question.

You ask:
“Could you explain in short detail how the verses of Revelation 13:16,17 apply to us in a spiritual sense of the scriptures?”

Here are the verses you reference:

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Who is this “he” that causes all men to receive a mark? Here is the verse which identifies this person:

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

Now if you can  constantly keep the following verse in you mind as you read this prophecy, you will benefit from the saying of this book. If you cannot keep this verse in mind, then you will be “blown about by every wind of doctrine” concerning “the words written in this prophecy.” Keep this verse in mind as you read this book:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

While the beast is each of us individually, this one beast has seven heads.

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Whatever these verses you are reading may mean, “the time is at hand for you to keep those things which are written therein.”

After all, this whole book is “the revelation of Jesus Christ,” and it is only through the revelation of Jesus that we come to know God and Christ, which is life eternal.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Gal 1:12  For I [Paul] neither received it [the gospel] of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.  

1Pe 1:13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

So the revelation of Jesus Christ, means coming to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. It is how we receive the gospel.

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 17:4  I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Joh 17:5  And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Joh 17:6  I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
Joh 17:7  Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Joh 17:8  For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received [them], and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
Joh 17:9  I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

“This is life eternal, that they might know Thee… and Jesus Christ…” So this prophecy whose “time is at hand to keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book” is revealing Christ. If you think this means only Christ who lived 2000 years ago, and that this prophecy has to do with His life at that time, then the admonition to “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book” will be meaningless to you. Only those who know that Christ considers those who follow Him, as being Himself, will understand the sayings of this book. Saul of Tarsus was not persecuting Christ Himself, or was he?

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
Act 9:3  And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
Act 9:4  And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 9:5  And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Saul of Tarsus was “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” but Christ said “Why are you persecuting Me?” So the revelation of Jesus Christ is the revelation of what His disciples must endure.

Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

There it is again, in the very last chapter we are admonished to “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” So we are all to be given “a mark in our right hands and in our foreheads” without which we “cannot buy or sell.”

That mark is the same mark Cain had. Cain’s ‘mark’ kept him from being killed. If Christ had had that mark, He would not have had to ‘die daily’ or been killed by “the beast that came up out of the earth [which] had two horns like a lamb, [but] spake as a dragon.” Cain certainly was not ‘dying daily’.
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” are the words of a dragon when they are coming from those who believe in Christ and yet stand against God’s elect. Those who slew Christ were “Jews which believed on Him,” just as those who believe on Christ today want all who abide and continue in his doctrine, dead. That is right, the greatest enemy of God’s elect is always God’s called but not chosen; Cain, Ishmael, Esau, King Saul, and the high priest and elders of God’s own people, Israel. It wasn’t Pilate and the Romans who were demanding that Christ be crucified. Pilate would have let Christ go free. It was a beast with two horns like a lamb, speaking as a dragon, which has always cried out for the death of God’s elect. So it is to this very day. It is those who say they are Jews but are not, who cast God’s elect out and do not allow them to buy or sell the truths of God in their synagogues:

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

The gold, clothing, and eyesalve, are all signs and symbols of God’s Truths, Christ’s doctrines, His commandments, His laws, as expressed by Christ in His New Testament. Those truths and doctrines, cannot be bought or sold in the churches of Babylon. If ever you attempt to do so, you will soon find your spiritual body lying dead in the streets of that great city wherein our Lord was crucified, because “that great city” is “Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the World.”

If we are God’s elect we will “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” Now let’s look at a few scriptures to back all of this up:  Who wanted Christ dead?

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue [Greek: abide] in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Christ’s “many” disciples do not continue to abide in His doctrine. Only the “few chosen” abide in Christ’s words, His doctrine. His words like, “Resist not evil” and “Love thine enemies” are utterly despised by those who “believe on Him” and at the same time want Him dead because His words have no place in them.

Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

These “Jews who believed on Him” are the sign and symbol of Christians today who will kill you if you say that, as a Christian, we are commanded to “resist not evil” and that as a Christian you should love the Arabs. It is the great men of Christianity who have our nation going to war time after time, in order to save the world ‘for Christ’. Yes, indeed, they do so because Christ Himself tells us that they “cannot hear His words,” but that simply tells us that we are to stay aloof of the affairs of this age, and when we do so we are “hated of all men.”

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

“Christ’s name’s sake” is not simply mouthing the name ‘Jesus Christ.’ The very people who will have you dead, do that all day long. “My name’s sake” is obey His doctrines and His words. That is what is the love of your fellow man, and that is what is the love of God:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

These verses give us the mark of God in our right hands and in our foreheads. We love God and keep His commandments. The mark of the beast is nothing more than the mark of mankind. It will give us the ability to love the words of that beast with two horns like a lamb who speaks as a dragon. We are all born with that mark so those who meet us do not kill us:

Gen 4:13  And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Gen 4:14  Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, [that] every one that findeth me shall slay me.
Gen 4:15  And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Cain’s punishment is death.

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Neither Cain, nor you, nor I, are able to bear it. Those in Christ have learned to die to the things of this life:

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Cain in us is not willing to die. He preserves his physical life but loses his soul in this age. It is the same with all who do not overcome the mark of the beast and the number of his name. Those who will reign with Christ overcome that mark after they receive it. “Receive not” means to overcome. It does not mean they never had the very mark with which we are all born.

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

This victory over the name, number and mark of the beast is at the culmination of a lifetime of overcoming the pulls of our flesh, the pulls of the beast within us all:

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

We are all shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. We are all marred in the hand of the potter, and before we become the sons of God, we are all in Babylon listening to the voice of our Father the devil.

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again [Hebrew: ‘is making it again’] another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Have we not all done “the lusts of our father the devil?” Indeed we all have done so.

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

“We all… by nature… are children of disobedience… in times past,” with the name, number, and mark of the beast. We cannot buy or sell the truths of God’s gold in the synagogues of Babylon. It is all signified, and we “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book” and “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for  the time is at hand.

Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

“The time is at hand… behold I come quickly… keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book… Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” For any who think they will be raptured away from the sayings of the prophecy of this book, or who think that any part of this book is not for them, we have this solemn warning here at the end of this prophecy:

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

All men of all time will “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book and every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” However, very few will do so in this life. Most will have their part taken out at this time to be lived later in an act of grace known as “the lake of fire.”

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, t hat through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

You and I believe through the unbelief of the masses of Christianity, so that the masses can come to God through our mercy.

I hope this helps you to see what the mark of the beast is and why those who do not have it cannot buy or sell with out that mark.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike