Article from Timing Revelation and More,
"What is the Mark of the Beast?"

What is the mark of the beast from the book of Revelation?

By Diane M. Hoffmann, B.Th., M.Th., PhD/Th., Ord./IAOG-Canada

Another article provided by Timing Revelation & more...


A lot of people are asking the question, “What is the mark of the beast?”. Is it a vaccine? (as some were asking during the Covid pandemic). Is it a microchip? Is it a number? Is it a “worship' action? What will it look like? What are we to be watching for when the time comes?

There are and have been many writers and preachers who took on the task to answer these questions. Most of them usually proceed with a long explanation of what this mark “might be”. However these are more or less speculative amalgamations of ideas and concepts.

But what does the Word of God (the Bible) say?

Like everything else when we search the meaning of scriptures, we need to examine the context of the passages of scriptures, the times and historical facts, cultures, etc.

And to do this, we have to look deeply into the words of the Word of God. Some think that just looking up a word to see its original meaning within the Greek or Hebrew is sufficient. There are even some Bible versions that show a whole list of words in parenthesis following words that raise questions. This makes it look as if “all” of those words listed apply or could apply.

However, they do not “all” apply to the particular scripture being researched. It means that these words in parenthesis are translated into the various words found throughout the Bible. But what we want to find out is where and how are any of those words being researched used within the same or similar context.

Let's take a look at the word “mark”

Let's go through a process right now of finding out what kind of “mark” the Bible is talking about. Because this will help to understand at least what the reference to the “mark of the beast” denotes.

First, let's read the scripture that refers to this matter. Speaking of the the beast, we read in Revelation 13:

V. 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:”

V. 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.

What we want to do next is check the word in question within the scriptures that carry the exact matches of “the mark of the beast”. So we'll search the very reliable Strong's Concordance, with references to the Thayer Greek Lexicon.

Scriptures with the exact matches of the word “the mark of the beast”:

Revelation 16:2

“And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.”

Revelation 19:20

“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”

And here are some more scriptures with just the words “the mark”, but all from the same original words in the Greek:

Revelation 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."

Revelation 14:11

"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."

Revelation 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."

Revelation 20:4

"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; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."

Translation of the word for “mark”

So, the translation of the word for “mark” is Strong's G5480, charagma (pronounced: khar'-ag-mah ), which means a stamp, an imprint, a scratch or etching amongst others like for instance the branding of horses, etc...

Now we need to look at the scriptures that will give us the context within which they are used in order to understand which of these words would relate to “the mark” that we are questioning or searching.

And here is the point of my comments at the beginning that people will look at “all” the words that are used throughout the scripture and apply them to any given word being queried.

To do that we have to look at all the scriptures that use THE SAME original word – in this case G5480, charagma. Following are all those that meet this criteria which I have listed here:

Act 17:29
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven (charagma) by art and man's device.

Notice in the next following scriptures that I have underlined “in their right hand, or in their foreheads”. These scriptures are an extra bonus to our research that tells us where the mark will be applied. There is no guess work as to where this mark of the beast will be placed. When we hear of various theories and speculations about what the mark is or will be, if it does not fit this description we can pretty safely discard that notion.

Rev 13:16
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark (charagma) 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 (charagma), or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Rev 14:9
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark (charagma) in his forehead, or in his hand,

Rev 14:11
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark (charagma) of his name.

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 (charagma), and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Rev 20:4
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 (charagma) upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

So from these scriptures we learn that the mark that will be received by people will be placed upon the forehead or the right hand. The rest only refer to the mark being that of the beast.

Now you probably noticed that some of the scriptures we read above also included “...or the name of the beast...”

So let's look at that now, to see if we learn something further on the mark of the beast or his name.

The word “name” as to the name of the beast

Revelation 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."

Rev. 14:11
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

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.

The Greek word for “name” is onoma (on'-om-ah )... from the Greek Lexicon, this word is used universally of proper names. The word name is used for everything that it covers and that brings thoughts, feelings, etc. to the mind as to man, God, rank, authority or deeds attached to that name. This word is used 929 times in the Bible, and means just that, “a name”, referring to man and God as well.

And of course we know also the scripture that refers to the name being six hundred, sixty six and six: Revelation 13:18, “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.

The Liberty Commentary Bible says this about it: “It is almost impossible to list the number of suggestions for 666; they range all the way from Nero in ancient Rome to persons in this day. Probably the most that can be gleaned is that since seven is the biblical number of completion, six, which falls short of it, is man's failure at its worst. Man's worship of man is, indeed, spiritual insanity to the highest degree.”

That's interesting. But I would add a little bit more to this...

Why 666 (three 6's)? I personally think that it may be reference to the false trinity of the beast, dragon and false prophet. That is the whole idea of Satan: to imitate the Holy Trinity of God. Seven is the number of perfection – God only is perfect.

The number seven is known to be representative of “perfection/completeness/fullness”. That is who God is! The number seven is seen throughout the Word of God, in Creation, History, God's Laws, God's Feasts, God's dispensations of time, i.e.: the seven thousand years of our physical world for instance, and numerous times throughout the scriptures.

The numbers “777” represent God's final Word in man's history, whereas “666” is the final attempt of Satan to try to defeat man and God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, The First and the Last.

So, What is the mark of the beast?

Well, according to the Word of God, as we have seen, the translation of the word for “mark” is Strong's G5480, charagma, which means a stamp, an imprint, a scratch or etching, amongst others, like for instance the branding of horses, etc... that will be placed in the right hand or on the forehead. And in the days we live in now, we could very well add to that list a “microchip” which the writer of the book of Revelation had never heard of yet in his days.

That's about all we can deduce at the present time. We shall see. But in the meantime let us stay close to the One who can deliver us from all evil and give us the wisdom to pray for those who don't know the Lord personally and have not received His Redemptive Grace.

/DMH

Back to Articles on End Times and Prophecies