Mark of the Beast Explained: 666, the Antichrist, and Revelation 13

God is using the Church as a mighty Restrainer to hold back evil and to postpone the manifestation of the Antichrist and the onslaught of evil that will accompany his appearance at the end of the age.

Paul referred to the removal of the Restrainer in Second Thessalonians 2:7, where he wrote, “…He who now letteth [the Restrainer] will let [will restrain], until he be taken out of the way.” The Renner Interpretive Version (RIV) elaborates on this text as follows:

RIV of Second Thessalonians 2:7

These secretive, surreptitious dark events have been covertly in the making for a long time, yet the world at large doesn’t realize that a secret plan is being executed right under their own noses. The only thing that has kept this plan from being already consummated is the restraining force that has been holding it all back until now. But one day this force will be removed from the picture — and when that happens, these iniquitous events will quickly transpire. The removal of this restraining force will signal the moment when the Lawless One will finally make his grand appearance to the world.

The Mark of the Beast

A moment will finally come during the rule of the Antichrist when he will mandate the whole world (in the time of the Tribulation) to receive the “mark of the beast” that is referred to in Revelation 13:16 and 17, which says, “And he [the Antichrist] causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 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.”

The word “mark” in this verse is interpreted from the Greek word charagma, a word that means an engraving, stamp, or tattoo. In the ancient world, a rancher might “brand” a cow to prove it belonged to him — it was a brand-type mark used to identify the owner of an animal, or even a person in some cases. In fact, it was a common practice to mark slaves or soldiers with a brand or tattoo to indicate their allegiance and ownership. Such a charagma mark provided an irrefutable connection between a master and slave, or between a beast and its owner.

And similar to how slaves in ancient times received a brand or mark in their flesh that identified to whom they belonged, the Antichrist will require “both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark,” or brand, to denote their allegiance to him and his ownership of them. These words in this verse imply universality and show that the Antichrist will have jurisdiction over every part of the sophisticated world.

But according to Revelation 13:17, this “mark” will have “the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” This means every person who receives this mark will have the name of the Antichrist, or the numeric equation of his name, branded, engraved, stamped, or tattooed, into his or her flesh.

Some suggest that because the word charagma also means to engrave, this word could indicate the cutting of flesh to accommodate some kind of chip implantation. On page 357 of my book Fallen Angels, Giants, Monsters, and the World Before the Flood, I write about the goal of transhumanists to transform human beings by connecting their minds and bodies permanently to computers. It says:

The foundational belief of transhumanism is that human beings are weak and poor, both physically and morally. Therefore, to improve the human experience — which includes overcoming aging, disability, disease, and mental limitations — there must be a convergence between humans and technology to create transhumans that will be stronger and have greater abilities.

The drive of transhumanists to see humans and technology merged has already been achieved in some respects. For example, after interfacing with computers and other forms of technology, some disabled people have regained certain physical features and functions that were once lost, which is a positive development. But that is not the endgame; it is only the beginning.

On page 358 of the same book, I continued to explain:

Some transhumanists are looking so far into the future (which may not be as far as we think), and they envision a time when mankind as we know it will enter into a posthuman period. I know this sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but the fact is there are well-known companies that have already developed computer chips to be implanted into the brain or under the skin to merge humans with AI. This sounds very similar to what John jotted down in the book of Revelation about what will take place during the Tribulation (see Revelation 13:16; 14:9; 20:4). Hence, we’re living in a time where one can not only be transgender, but he or she can also become transhuman.

What is the long-term goal of transhumanists? The answer is singularity — the moment when humanity and technology merge and become one and transcend humanity. The dream is to so intertwine humans with technology that eventually a full convergence of bodies, minds, and emotions takes place. Ideally, transhumanists want to escape death and live forever — either through uploading one’s mind to computers, cloning, or by other means of technology.

I am not suggesting that computer chips are the mark of the beast; although, I do believe the goal of transhumanists is quite alarming, as the implanting of chips will at the least infringe on one’s privacy and potentially affect his or her day-to-day living. But whatever the mark is, or however it will appear, its presence on a person’s flesh or inside his flesh will be considered as proof that the person’s absolute allegiance is to the Antichrist and that he or she is fully owned by him.

We are living in a time when tattoos have become fashionable. In the past, tattoos were usually signs that one had been a prisoner, had been involved in criminal activity, or had perhaps served as a sailor or soldier. It was certainly not generally viewed as a fashion statement.

But today people tattoo all kinds of images into their flesh — including names and images of those they love, song lyrics, Bible verses, symbols of the faith they embrace, numbers that have special meaning to them, and patriotic emblems.

I am not implying the mark of the beast will be a tattoo, but the current trend to brand, engrave, mark, stamp, or tattoo one’s flesh has normalized these actions and numbed society to the idea of altering one’s flesh. So when the Antichrist finally requires a “mark” of some sort to be given to the world, it will not carry the stigma that it once carried. In fact, whatever the mark is, it may actually be considered fashionable.

Remember, we covered in a previous chapter that an ever-increasingly lawless society is actually being groomed right now to receive the Antichrist at the time of his unveiling after the Church has been evacuated from the earth. The more those who reject God cast off moral restraints in favor of embracing a societal mentality of “anything goes,” the more ready they will be to embrace the rulership of the Antichrist.

In fact, this Man of Lawlessness, or Man of Sin, will be highly esteemed by the population of the earth for the so-called “peace” he will broker — but we know that about halfway through the Tribulation, and therefore halfway through his reign, he will begin to show his true colors. All bets will be off in terms of bringing peace to a volatile world landscape — his reign of terror will unfurl like the mighty whipping, beating tail of a dragon as all those upon the earth become victims of his fierce cruelty.

Revelation 13:18 goes on to say, “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” It’s not just the stuff of fairy tales and urban legends — the Bible actually states that the mathematical equivalent of the Antichrist’s name will be 666.

There’s Still Much We Don’t Know

In past decades, there has been a lot of speculation about what the “mark of the beast” is and what the number 666 means. Some have speculated that the Social Security card, other identity cards, credit cards, computer chips, and even vaccines were the mark of the beast.

Such speculation has put believers into unneeded fear about these things. The reason I say “unneeded fear” is, the mark of the beast will not be implemented until after the rapture of the Church. There may be precursory types or “forerunners” of the mark of the beast — in fact, some of the aforementioned items could indeed be prototypes.

But just as the identity of the Antichrist will only be revealed after the rapture of the Church, the name of the beast and his mark — that is, the Antichrist’ name and the meaning of the numeric equation 666 — will not be understood completely until the Antichrist appears. Those who fixate on questions on this topic waste their time playing a guessing game.

If one genuinely receives Christ as Lord and Savior, he is sealed with the Holy Spirit and will be raptured when the Church is removed. This is the reason why there is no need for an authentic Christian who’s walking with God to fear the mark of the beast. The Church will be long gone when the Antichrist issues the mandate that every person living in the sophisticated world receive this damning mark.