I Think Most People Fail to See a Deeper Meaning Behind the Mark of the Beast
I remembered when I was newly saved and I thought about the Mark of the Beast. I even hear that people should not even accept a biochip implant in this day and age because it's the mark of the Beast. The claim that the current biochip is the mark of the Beast is stupid because it's not even the Tribulation period yet. Also, why are people so afraid of social security, membership shopping and whatever prototype the mark of the Beast has when it's not even the mark of the Beast? You can have membership shopping and social security - just don't take the mark of the Beast.
Now another debate is that is accepting it unforgivable? I remembered an accusation against Dr. John F. MacArthur where some critics said he "condones" to accepting it. On the contrary, here's something interesting he said from the blog post "Unforgivable?":
Yes, Revelation 14:9–11 says, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” Clearly, receiving the mark is a sin that will send those who commit it to hell.
But the Bible also says, “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10). In short, all sin carries the threat of eternal doom, and some particularly heinous sins have a built-in hardening effect that makes them particularly dangerous. Scripture occasionally singles out common sins that have this peculiarly soul-destroying effect.
On the other hand, only one very specific sin is ever said to be unforgivable. Any sin that is repented of is forgivable. Immediately after declaring all fornicators, drunkards, and swindlers unfit for heaven, the apostle writes, “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). After saying, “Whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven,” Jesus famously forgave Peter, who denied Him before men.
Jesus Himself said, “Any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven ” (Matthew 12:31, emphasis added). The one unpardonable sin was the sin of those who had seen His miracles with their own eyes; they knew He was the true Messiah; they were part of the generation to whom He was personally sent. And yet they attributed His powers to Satan. That was unforgivable because it was such a hard-hearted, willful expression of utter rejection from fully enlightened hearts, who punctuated their rejection with an extreme blasphemy. Those Pharisees had stood in the presence of the living embodiment of all truth; they heard His words and saw His works. All the mysteries of Christ had been unveiled before their very eyes. And yet they spurned Him. There was nothing else that could be shown to them to enlighten them further. They were not deceived; they knew full well what they were doing. That’s why their sin was unpardonable (cf. 1 Timothy 1:13).
Revelation 19:20 indicates that multitudes will take the mark of the Beast because they are deceived. Scripture does not say that they are thereby automatically hardened forever against repentance. That is not the point of the strong warnings.
The more I read through Revelation, the more I see that there's a deeper meaning behind the mark of the Beast. It's not just to buy and sell. If you noticed, eight times the mark is mentioned eight times in Revelation. These are Revelation 13:16-17, 14:9, 14:11, 15:2, 16:2, 19:20 and Revelation 20:4. Do you know the ultimate purpose of receiving the mark? It's already linked to one word namely worship. You can see the whole thing is linked to worship.
Why are these people who received the mark going to the Lake of Fire? Why are they damned? If you think about it Revelation 13:8 tells us the ugly truth that those whose names are not written down in the Lamb's Book of Life will worship the Antichrist. They aren't saved and that's why these people are worshiping the Beast. What's more important to think is that Revelation 16:9-11 gives us the ugly truth that those who received the mark of the Beast repented not. That alone implies that God may still be willing to forgive those who accepted the mark of the Beast but they repented not. Instead, the same crowd that received the mark of the Beast continued in their rebellion. They could have been saved if it wasn't for that one fact: they repented not.
Why I think the Tribulation Christians will not accept the mark and get martyred as a result. For the Christian, the world is nothing and they would rather suffer for Christ's sake. They would rather forsake the right to buy and sell than to renounce Jesus. If they got born again after the Rapture then they are ready to face the Tribulation period. I doubt that the New World Order will even reward anyone with the 666 identification mark unless they declare the Antichrist as God first. This would result in the martyrdom of those in this terrible time period. Those who accepted the mark may have already decided to forever harden their hearts. That alone may also prove why Reformed Theologians believe in Election. They make Election the reason why some people respond to soulwinning and others will not. It's the job of the Christians to find the Elect by soulwinning.