“He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark in his right hand or in his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666” (Revelation 13:16-18).
When John wrote this, the highest form of technology of that day was the wheel, iron and a mule; and most of the trading of goods was done by bartering. By His sovereign grace, God gave the apostle John a look into the future and he describes almost exactly what is going on economically and culturally in 2004.
This passage confused Bible teachers and commentators for centuries, they knew it was true, but how it could happen was beyond their wildest imagination. But today we can understand what is being talked about in this passage of Scripture. For we understand that buying and selling is being done by numbers, almost all products are marked with a Universal Product Code (UPC), which uses numbers to price and identify the goods we sell and buy. The technology to provide the world with a means of having a cash-less society has been coming into place over the past 100 years.
Sometime in the future a man is going to appear on the scene, and he is going to mesmerize the world with his charisma and dynamic leadership. But beware, this man is Satan in the flesh. And to solve many of the problems of the world, he is going to set up a one-world government. To do that he will initiate a system that will keep track of everything a person buys or sells and where that person is located, anywhere on earth.
With the computer age, it is now possible to look at some of the ways that this could happen. Hand prints, and face and eye recognition are being tried as ways to recognize a person, but the hand creams, contact lenses, eye surgeries and other methods of altering the human body that are widely used in the population are causing problems in this technology. And there is still the problem of keeping track of where a person is at all times.
In the 1970s The US government began to put satellites into orbit that could be used to track anything or anyone who had a transmitter and receiver on them. Today this system is called the Global Positioning System. At first the accuracy was within about 200 yards, but now some of the GPS systems that you can buy are accurate to within 3 feet or less. Some of the GPS systems that are used in the farming and dirt moving industries are accurate within a few inches. Almost all airplanes and helicopters used for aerial spraying and fire fighting are now equipped with GPS.
This GPS system is now leaping into virtually every facet of the American economy; it is already creating a multi-billion dollar industry, from the farm or factory to the end product. The GPS technology will eventually be a part of everything that moves in our society; every shipping container, airplane, car, truck, farm tractor, bicycle, etc. will contain a computer chip that will track and report its location to a master computer system. GPS is going to pervade everything we do, anywhere on planet earth. There is also the super-secret Echelon system that uses spy satellites and super computers to monitor and track almost every type of electronic traffic in the world. Sending radio signals and receiving them from underground is now possible.
The technology exists today to embed a computer chip into a person’s body for identification purposes. This microchip emits a radio frequency signal that is detected by a special scanner. It is similar to the biochips that are used to identify pets and livestock. If this computer chip is linked with the GPS and Echelon systems, a person could be tracked and located anywhere in the world. As this computer chip is improved it will have the capacity to hold everything about a person’s life, from birth to death. A number could be assigned at birth and go with the person throughout their entire life. There is also the Multi-Technology Automated Reader Card (MARC) that is used by the military for identification and record keeping purposes.
There are those who think that the UPC code, the military MARC card, or some type of computer chip, are all a part of the future mark of the beast. How will the Antichrist put his mark on humans? I don’t know, and neither does anyone else. The mark of the beast will not be revealed until the middle of the tribulation when the Antichrist is ruling the world, and hopefully all of us will be in heaven with the Lord.
A person cannot take this mark accidentally, to take this mark is a deliberate and willing decision to give one’s self to Satan. No Christian should worry about inadvertently taking the mark of the beast and accidentally becoming a follower of Satan. The only people who have to worry about taking Satan’s mark are those unbelievers who are living during the tribulation. But those unbelievers should understand that once the choice is made to take this mark, it is eternal; they will be tormented with fire and brimstone for all eternity (Revelation 14:9-11).
God loves you beyond your wildest dreams. Get this hard-wired into your brain and turn you life over to Him. I can assure you that He can do a better job of running your life than you can. You have a choice in this life to choose your eternal destiny; and I do not know why anyone would want to pass up the chance to spend eternity with God in Heaven!