Over the last few years in particular, there are so many Christians that ask me about the mark of the beast. They are fearful of taking on the mark of the beast inadvertently, and particularly so, since the Food and Drug Administration approved the marketing of a microchip that you can implant under human skin for medical identification. Paranoid prophecy pundits, of course, immediately began touting VeriChip technology as the mark of the beast spoken of in Revelation 13.
Contrary to newspaper eschatology, there is no biblical basis for believing that the mark of the beast is a silicon microchip. Biblically, the mark of the beast is a parody of the Mark of the Lamb. Just as the mark on the forehead of the 144,000, Revelation 14 symbolizes identity with the Lamb. So, the mark in Revelation 13 symbolizes identity with the Beast. Likewise, when Jesus says that on him who overcomes, "He is going to write the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, and write on him My new name" (Rev. 3:12), we intuitively realize that Jesus Christ does not have a “Magic Marker” in mind.
The forehead and the hands are Old Testament symbols. They’re symbols of a person’s beliefs and behaviors. In other words, what you believe and how you behave mark you as either belonging to God or belonging to Satan.
John’s reference to the mark of the beast in revelation is securely tethered to Scripture. Conversely, the notion that the mark of the beast is Sunday Worship or a Social Security Card or a silicone microchip has no biblical basis whatsoever. The mark of the beast is not something that can be taken inadvertently; it is the intentional denial in thought word and deed of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Rather than fearfully avoiding microchip technology, we should with fear and trembling resist the temptation to become conformed to the evil systems of the world. We must instead boldly accept the mark of the Lamb by offering our bodies as living sacrifice and by being transformed by the renewing of our minds, as Paul points out in Romans 12.
