The Bible warns of a specific event that will occur in our generation. It characterizes a certain human government as “the beast” and warns that it will implement the “mark of the beast.” Many will accept this mark: To them, it will make sense to do so. But God warns that those who do will suffer terrible curses.
The Bible reveals exactly what the mark is and how to avoid it. But we must look “here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10) to consider all the relevant scriptures.
Many think the mark will be something brand new. What does the Bible say?
Revelation 20:4 describes John seeing in a vision all those who have been killed for Christ. He wrote: “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands ….”
This vision depicted true Christians who have been martyred over the past 2,000 years. Some of these Christians, already dead, also refused the mark of the beast. This means that the mark is not a 21st-century invention.
The Bible also shows that this mark revolves around obedience to God and His law. The same passage in Revelation 14 that warns of the dire curses for those who accept the mark of the beast shows how those who refuse it are different. They “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (verse 12). Other scriptures state that the wrath of God falls on those who disobey (Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:5-6). Those who reject the mark and thus are targeted by the beast are those who “keep the commandments of God” (Revelation 12:17).
God will not visit these terrible punishments on someone who is scared by the government into receiving a vaccine. That decision will certainly have consequences. But a loving God isn’t going to visit this kind of punishment because someone is tricked into receiving something. This mark revolves not around whether you have been vaccinated, but around the question of whether you will accept or reject God’s commandments.
The mark of the beast is connected directly to one specific commandment. It has differentiated true Christians for millennia. It is the Fourth Commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
Generations of true Christians have been put to death for keeping Saturday and not Sunday. Then, as now, it was a “test commandment.” It was, and will be, easy to disobey, especially when persecution intensifies.
Who will you obey: the words of the Bible, or the religious traditions of men? Will you keep the day Jesus Christ kept (Mark 1:15, 38-39; Luke 4:16), the day that first-century Christians kept? (Acts 13:14-15, 42-44; 16:12-15; 17:2). Or will you follow the churches and governments of this world? Will it be God’s law that is figuratively written on your forehead and right hand (Deuteronomy 6:6-8)—or will it be a law of men?
Read a thorough biblical explanation of the mark of the beast in your free copy of Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? by Herbert W. Armstrong.