The mark of the beast already happened, but no churches are talking about this. Now you're probably wondering, wait what? It already happened? Yes, it did. And today we're going to cover this in detail. But before we get into the video, if you guys like Christian content, please give this video a like, subscribe to my channel down below if you are new, and turn on my post notifications so you never miss a new video. Without further ado, let's get into it. One of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible is about the mark of the beast. For the longest time, we've been taught that the mark of the beast is some futuristic end times microchip, which would send those that take it to hell for eternity. Even myself at one point held this worldview because not many churches actually teach the true context of this verse. To understand what the mark of the beast is, we need to learn the context of the time frame in when the book of Revelation was written. The book of Revelation was written around 70 AD. During this time, paganism and persecution was creeping into the churches at Asia Minor. The Lord Jesus appeared to John the Revelator when he was on the island of Patmos and gave him a message to warn the seven churches about the heirs regarding their faith. Now, all scripture is 100% true, but not all scripture is literal. When I say it's not literal, I'm not invalidating scripture at all. The Bible is a literal historical book that also contains thematical rich literature. Some scripture is explained in a thematic way with the literal interpretation being something different. For example, Jesus spoke in parables to the multitude as a thematic way of preaching when he was doing his ministry. He also spoke in a thematic and literal way when he was describing his death and resurrection. The thematic way he described it was in John 219 where he said, Jesus answered them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Jesus also spoke in a literal way about this in Matthew 1722 to 23, where it says, as they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day, and they were greatly distressed. The book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature that consists of thematic and literal writings. Revelation 13 where John described the beast is thematic writing, and Revelation 19 through 22 about Jesus coming back, as well as creating a new heavens and a new earth is literal writing. That is something that is actually going to happen. So there's a mixture of thematic and literal writings in the book of Revelation. Now when John is describing the beast, John actually uses inspiration from Daniel 7 for his inspiration on apocalyptic literature that he writes in Revelation 13 when he was describing an empire as a beast. In Daniel 7 Daniel had very descriptive dreams and visions, where literal beasts were being shown to him that had abnormal features, uncommon to mankind's understanding. However, in Daniel 7 15 through 18, he receives an interpretation for these beasts that he saw that was actually interpreted as kings, and not literal beastly creatures. Daniel further inquires about the fourth beast that he saw in the vision, and in Daniel 7 23 this fourth beast was identified as a kingdom, or what we know today as an empire or government. It's very likely that John viewed himself as a modern day Daniel at the time, considering they were both in an exolic period where God's people were heavily persecuted. When you read Daniel and John's writings, they are very similar to one another, in the way that they're both using thematic literature to describe something that is completely different in the physical. So the beast that John is writing about is in the same metaphorical context as Daniel. It is not a literal creature, but rather a government or empire system that is being backed by Satan. And Satan is not the beast because the book of Revelation clearly makes a distinguished difference between Satan and the beast, which is the empire that he's describing. So John describes Satan as literal, but the beast as metaphorical. The beast's correspondence with Satan in this context is the indication of the vile nature that the empire embodies when it's fully aligned with the devil's will. Now that you know that the beast is referring to a government and not a literal creature, the next question is, what is the mark of the beast? First, we need to see what government was ruling during that time that the book of Revelation was written. Historically, we see that the Roman Empire reign during that period. Now, when the Roman Empire acquired slaves, they would brand their slaves on their forehead or their hand. And this was their way of marking their slaves. Given that the book of Revelation was written during Emperor Nero's reign, who was the ruler of the Roman Empire at that time, John is using the mark in the same context that the empire would brand their slaves. The mark in this context is being used as a thematic description of ownership by showing allegiance to the Roman Empire. The mark of the beast is an identification of the followers of the counterfeit religion and God that opposes the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of this world, and in that context, that was the Roman Empire, which was fully backed by satanic pagan practices. The mark that John wrote about is not a literal mark, but a symbolic representation of spiritual commitment to the satanic Roman Empire at that time that greatly opposed God and his people. Now, we learn that those who take the mark cannot buy or sell. So, what exactly does that mean? Why could they not buy or sell? Not being able to buy or sell in Revelation 1317 in its proper context was describing the ostracism of Christians from the Roman Empire and being able to partake in the financial system. In example of this was the Christians that were living in Thyatira. In the first century, this city was known for their dominance in trade guilds over the local economy. Every business in Thyatira was strictly controlled by these trade guilds. In order to work in any trade, one had to belong to the guild of that trade, and to belong to a guild was integrally connected with the pagan religions that were approved by the Roman government. All the guild meetings took places in pagan temples and they all shared a common meal, which was meat that was sacrificed to pagan gods. In addition to eating meat that was sacrificed to pagan idols, illicit sexual relations were a central aspect of pagan worship. Most temples had male and female prostitutes that were specifically designated to serve the temple and its worshipers. Any Christian that worked in this trade faced problems. Their commitment to Christ as well as living a life of holiness would affect his livelihood, his relationship with his peers, as well as being able to provide for his family. Because if they didn't attend these trade guilds where they were worshipping pagan deities, eating meat, sacrifice to pagan idols, as well as having mass orgies in the temple, they were shunned and ostracized from society. Not attending these guild meetings was a serious deal during that time, and this is what led many Christians from being excommunicated from being able to buy or sell, because they were not going to these trade guild meetings. However, some Christians ended up compromising for the sake of their financial livelihood, and this is exactly what Jesus addressed to the church about in Revelation 2 18 through 24. He said, and to the angel of the church in Thiaetira, write, the words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are burnish bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrifice to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sick bed, and those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am He who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thiaetira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. So now we know what the context of the beast is, what the mark is, and why you can't buy or sell without the mark. The final question is, why does it say that the number of the mark of the beast is 666. In Revelation 1318, it says, this calls for wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, or it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. Notice how John says, it is the number of a man. This is because in the ancient world, there was a system known as Gammatria, where every letter of the alphabet had a numeric value. Adding the value of each letter in a name could spell that name with a number. In fact, the occult and the satanic society still used Gammatria to this day. Of all the possibilities of what 666 could be, there's only one name in the Hebrew language that adds up to that number in this historical context, which is Caesar Neron, which was the name for the Roman Emperor Nero, who ruled during that time. Keep in mind, John the Revelator who wrote this book was Jewish, so he clearly was linking Emperor Nero's name to Hebrew Gammatria. To summarize it, the proper context of the beast was the Roman Empire. The mark was spiritual allegiance to the Roman Empire, and the number 666 was the Gammatria spelling of the Roman Emperor Nero. It is not a physical microchip, or the modern day understanding of what the church teaches. It is very important to study the Bible in the context that it was written in, because one of the agendas of Satan is to teach false end times theology, so that when it doesn't come to pass, it will shake genuine believers faith, and may even cause them to leave the faith altogether. The reason that it doesn't come to pass is because it was never true to begin with. People just created their own interpretation outside of the context it was written in, and then they just ran with it, and this is taught as fact when it really isn't. However, we can still take the biblical understanding of this context and apply it to the world today. Are you marked by Jesus Christ, or are you marked by the beast system of this world? Will you endure tough times during the persecution of the world's beastly empire, or will you submit to the beast in its satanic ways? As Christians, Jesus must always come first, no matter how hard the beast system tries to make our way of life. We are citizens of an eternal kingdom that will never perish, and it far surpasses any benefits that the kingdom of this world could ever provide. Let us keep our eyes above and seek Jesus, and most importantly, endure until the end, which is what the Apostle John emphasized in his letter to the seven churches. We must never compromise our loyalty to Jesus, no matter how hard life becomes. I want to thank you guys so much for watching today's video. If you made it all the way to the end, I want you to comment down below, I'm not Mark. If you guys want to financially so into this ministry, you can check the link in the description where I have an offering link, or you can go by my merch that I dropped. I'll see you guys soon for another video. I love you guys so much. May God bless all of you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Take care and peace out.