MARK OF THE BEAST PART I

So many are questioning what the Mark of the Beast is in Revelation. We have to go back to prophecy, in history where the beast began and where he received his power. The “Mark” is the mark of the beast, and the “Beast” is the Roman Empire. In Rev. 17 a later stage of this wild beast is pictured, and there a “Woman”- a great church- sits astride it; rules over it, the mark of the Roman Empire. Now in Rev. 13:11, another “Beast” is pictured.

This beast has two horns, like a lamb, but speaks as a Dragon. The Bible plainly reveals this second “beast” to be the Roman Catholic Church. This Church is an Ecclesiastical World Empire - a Government. It took over, exercised, and wielded all the power of the first beast, the Roman Empire. After 554 A.D., the Roman Catholic Church did do this and rules for 1260 years as prophesied!
Now here is a deceived Church, both herself deceived by, and therefore used by the Devil, and has deceived the whole world. This Church did not actually herself kill these martyrs, she merely caused them to be killed. She is then the one who causes all under her domination to receive the dreaded Mark of the Beast.

The Brand of Rome.
“He”, the Catholic Church that formed the Papacy and originated human Church Government modeled after that of the Roman Empire. “Causeth” All to receive this Mark. It is the Church, not the civil government, which forces this brand on people. It is the same power which caused the Martyrdom of the Saints. It brands on the people the mark of the “Beast” that is, the Mark of the Roman Empire, not the Mark of the Church.

This Mark is received in the right hand, and in the forehead. So the Mark is that of the Roman Empire, which the Roman Church did cause or caused the whole world to receive.

One of the main ways that Satan deceives is by getting Ministers and followers of Christ to ignore God’s time elements, or to misunderstand them in prophecy. This is especially true about the Beast and the Image of that beast in Rev. 13.
This 42 months is the same as the time given the “Little Horn” of Dan. 7:7-8, 24-26. A “Time” is one year, “Times”, plural, is two years, and the “Dividing of Time” is ½ year. The total is 3 ½ years, or 42 months, as in Rev. 13:5. This same 3 ½ years is mentioned in Rev. 12:14, and in verse 6, it is reduced to days, 1260 days. God’s time element as He outlined world history in Bible prophecy in Daniel 2 and 7 gives no place for such a world ruler in these last days. Are the Beast, Two-Horned Beast and Image of the Beast yet future? Many are teaching and believing this!

What does the beast, sea, head, horns symbolize?
Beast= Kingdoms, Nations Sea= People, multitudes, Nations, tongues Rev. 17:15 Heads=Governments Horns= Nations, Kingdoms Little Horn, the Catholic Church.

Rev. 13:1 Having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns
Dan. 7:1-8, 23-27 Four great beasts rise up out of the sea. The Lion was Babylon, the Bear was Media-Persia, the Leopard with four heads was the Grecian Kingdom, and that fourth great and terrible beast with ten horns was Rome. Rome, that fourth Gentile Kingdom, was to be the last before God’s Kingdom, Dan. 2:43-44, 7:27. This fourth beast with ten horns in Dan 7 is the symbol of the Roman Empire, and so is the ten-horn beast of Rev. 13:1-2.

Rev. 13:2 The Beast which I saw was like a leopard, the dragon gave him his power. Dan. 7:2,7 The fourth beast,(winds), deceptive and destruction, (sea-people) Rev. 12:9 That old serpent, called the devil, and satan. This one beast, or kingdom, had a body like a leopard beast of Dan. 7:3-6. It also had feet like a bear, and a mouth like a lion. These were all found in that one beast, or Roman Empire, and that old serpent called the Devil; gave him power, and great Authority, 2 Thess. 2:1-11.