In years past, all sorts of suggestions have been advanced to identify the mark. Back in the 1930s, some in America connected it with the Social Security cards required by the Roosevelt administration. Others have seen sinister implications in the universal product codes read by electronic scanners in supermarkets. Still others have been suspicious of various identification cards and even bank ATM and credit cards. A number of Protestant Evangelicals expect some sort of tattoo or implanted computer chip to be foisted upon an unsuspecting populace.

But all of these wild guesses are just "shots in the dark." We can't really understand any particular biblical symbol unless we examine everything the Scriptures have to say about it.

The Image of the Beast

Let's consider the symbols in the order in which they appear in Revelation 13. The first is the other beast, "coming up out of the earth" (v. 11). We know, then, that it has an earthly origin, not a heavenly one, even though it outwardly appears "like a lamb"--thus seeking to be identified with Christ, the Lamb of God (cf. John 1:29). Worse still, while masquerading as Christian, it "spoke like a dragon"--receiving its power, therefore, from the devil, that old dragon (Rev. 12:9). And this creature is pictured with two horns, representing rule or authority. Moreover, Revelation13:12 reveals that this Beast" exercises all the authority of the first beast [the Roman Empire] in his presence." And it insists that all give their allegiance and loyalty to the Holy Roman Empire, the Beast whose deadly wound was healed.

Clearly there can be no mistaking this false church that exercised "all the authority" of the Roman Empire. What else but the Church of Rome could be indicated? No other religious institution insisted on loyalty to the Holy Roman Empire throughout the medieval period. And what of the two horns? This church has been, and still is, both an ecclesiastical and a civil government. Its head is both a religious leader and a civil head of state. But what about the "great signs" this church performs in the Beast's presence (vv. 13-14)? Throughout the centuries, "miraculous" events have been reported within the false church--although none have been of the caliber portrayed here. The answer is that, as Bible prophecy shows, the church-state union of the Middle Ages was a forerunner of end-time events, which will be similar but on a much grander scale. At the end time, a final leader of this religious system will arise called the "false prophet." It is he who will perform the "great signs" (19:20).

According to Revelation 13:14, the Beast from the earth--the great false church--instructs its adherents to make an "image" of the Beast from the sea, the Roman Empire. What is an image? It's a copy, model, representation or counterpart. The "image of the beast" is therefore a counterpart of the old Roman Empire, something modeled after the pagan Roman kingdom or government. Notice the plain statement by British historian and statesman James Bryce that the "papal [system] itself had been modeled after the elder Empire" (The Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages, p. 53).

Note also the analysis of historian Will Durant: "It became a triumphant Church by inheriting the organizing patterns and genius of Rome.... As Judea had given Christianity ethics, and Greece had given it theology, so now Rome gave it organization.... The Roman gift was above all a vast framework of government, which, as secular authority failed, became the structure of ecclesiastical rule. Soon the bishops, rather than the Roman prefects, would be the source of order and the seat of power in the cities; the metropolitans, or archbishops, would support, if not supplant, the provincial governors; and the synod of bishops would succeed the provincial assembly. The Roman Church followed in the footsteps of the Roman state" (vol. 3, pp. 575, 618-619).

Using the institutions and practices of the Roman Empire as a model, a humanly devised church governmental structure was adopted. Political maneuvering became a substitute for seeking God's will. Popular and appeasing teachings were substituted for the plain Word of God, which offers correction and rebuke.

The Roman Empire of the first century was authoritarian. But many don't realize that election to various offices was also a time-honored practice. Even the emperor was elected, ostensibly by the Senate, but more commonly by the Praetorian Guard or simply by the army. And in the Roman municipalities, public meetings were held to elect officers. Notice what historian Arthur Boak says: "These municipalities were patterned closely after Rome, although certain titles, like those of consul and Senate, were reserved for the capital city.... All officials were popularly elected" (A History of Rome to 565 A.D., 1965, p. 370).

Dr. Boak goes on to say that the organization of Roman professional and religious associations--called colleges--"was modeled on that of the municipalities" (p. 371). Even some early true Christian congregations were apparently deceived into following their example of electing officials after the municipal pattern. In time, these congregations would be Christian in name only. Regarding the structure within the communities of the developing Catholic Church, Dr. Boak adds, "In their organization these communities were all of the same general type, resembling the Roman religious collegia" (p. 401). In fact, the "college" of pagan priests, based on Roman civil government, was the forerunner of the "College of Cardinals," which today elects the pope. Yet in the Roman Church, as in Roman civil government, once officials were elected, they ruled with rigid authoritarianism in a well-defined hierarchy.

Historian Edward Gibbon records the state of affairs in nominal Christianity following Constantine's reign, as influenced by the election model:

The Venerable Day of the Sun

A wrong form of government was not the only worldly element incorporated by the great false church. To attract more converts, this "daughter of Babylon" had a regular practice of adopting pagan themes and celebrations and pasting the name of Christ over them. Commenting on the transparency of this deception, historian Will Durant says, "Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it" (vol. 3, p. 595).

While it is true that, through pagan religion, Satan counterfeited many elements of the true religion--such as the death and resurrection of a savior--it is also true that he added many false ideas. This tactic has been so pervasive and apparently "successful" that most of the world religion called Christianity today is not really of Christ at all. Faced with traditional Christian teaching, Durant stated, "Christianity was the last great creation of the ancient pagan world" (p. 595). He added, "Christianity became the last and greatest of the mystery religions" (p. 599). Thus its name--Mystery, Babylon the Great!

One of the greatest hallmarks of the ancient mystery religions was the veneration or worship of the sun. In ancient Babylon, the first of the four world empires, kings served as high priests of Bel-Marduk, the sun god. To "take the hand of Bel-Marduk" was part of the king's inauguration ceremony in Assyria and Babylon (Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Babylonian and Assyrian Religion," 11th ed.). The winter solstice was celebrated as the birthday of the sun. Festivities included gift-giving and displaying the sacred evergreen tree.

Not only did much of pagan worship in Babylon focus on the sun, but so did the religions of Babylon's successors--Persia, Greece and Rome. In fact, sun worship rose to prominence as the imperial religion in each of these empires.

In Persia, Babylon's first successor, many worshiped Mithras, the god of light. As a result of Babylonian influence, however, Mithras came to be identified with the Babylonian sun god. The Greeks of Asia Minor identified Mithras with their ancient sun god, Helios, and the cult of the sun spread westward. Alexander the Great traveled to the Egyptian Temple of Amon-Ra to be proclaimed by the priests as the literal son of the sun god.

And what of Rome? Prior to the days of the Empire, there was a cult devoted to Sol, the sun. But what about during the Empire? Wasn't the deified emperor the focus of Roman worship? Yes, but sun worship was also promoted by the emperors and even linked with emperor worship--so much so that "Mithras, identified with Sol Invictus [Unconquered Sun] at Rome... became the giver of authority and victory to the imperial house" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Mithras," 11th ed.).

Lempriere's Classical Dictionary states that Sol, the sun god of Rome, was worshiped as the Baal or Bel of the Babylonians (p. 590). In modern Syria is a tiny Arab village called Baalbek, the site of the ruins of two majestic temples, once the pride of Heliopolis, the Greco-Roman "City of the Sun." According to Durant, "Augustus planted a small colony there, and the town grew as the sacred seat of Baal the Sun-God.... Under [Emperor] Antoninus Pius and his successors Roman, Greek, and Syrian architects and engineers raised, on the site of an old Phoenician temple to Baal, an imposing shrine to Iuppiter Heliopolitanus" (vol. 3, p. 511). Thus the Roman god Jupiter was identified with Baal, the ancient sun god.

At another important temple of pagan sun worship in Heliopolis, Egypt, stood a great obelisk considered sacred to the sun god. Around A.D. 40, Roman Emperor Caligula had this obelisk transported from Egypt to Rome and set on Vatican Hill. In 1586, by order of Pope Sixtus V, this huge ancient obelisk was moved a short distance, with great effort, to its present location--exactly centered before the entrance of St. Peter's Basilica, the main cathedral of the Vatican.

Thus, sun worship and its symbols were adopted by the Roman Empire from her predecessors and passed on to the entire Western world! World Religions from Ancient History to the Present explains the growth of sun worship in concert with Roman emperor worship:

Aurelian, emperor from 270-282, ascribed much of Rome's third-century moral and political chaos to religious disunity. He sought to unite the whole empire in the "worship of the sun-god, and of the Emperor as the vicar [substitute] of that deity on earth.... He built at Rome a resplendent Temple of the Sun, in which, he hoped, the Baal of Emesa and the god of Mithraism would merge.... Aurelian advanced that ["easternization"] of the monarchy which... would complete itself in Diocletian and Constantine" (Durant, p. 639).

Constantine--considered Rome's first Christian emperor, as we've seen--was himself a devotee of the sun god. "In fact the emperor Constantine's Christianity was ambiguous. His family owed traditional allegiance to the sun-god; the famous vision of the cross as he marched on Rome came to him from the sun; the sun continues to appear on his coins through the decade, and on his arch at Rome; his own statue at Constantinople bore the rayed crown of the sun-god" (Parrinder, p. 175).

The sun even had its own special day of the week, which we now call "Sunday." The seven-day week itself had originated at creation (Gen. 2:1-3; cf. Ex. 20:11), and the knowledge of the correct weekly cycle was preserved by the Jews, who called each weekday by when it fell after the Sabbath--i.e. first, second, third, etc. But by the first century, the seven-day "planetary week" was being popularized in Rome. Originating in ancient Babylonian religion, it associated each day of the week with the god attached to a particular "planet." In Roman times, the "seven planets" were--in week-day order--Sol (the sun), Luna (the moon), Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. The first day belonged to the sun.

As so many other pagan themes had been taken up by the false Roman Church, so too would elements of sun worship, including the honoring of the first day of the week, as briefly noted earlier. The Encyclopaedia Britannica records, "The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in 321 A.D., enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerabili die solis)" ("Sunday," 11th ed.). By this Latin term, more properly translated "venerable day of the Sun," Constantine was identifying the first day of the week with that day which was honored by custom from ancient times as the day dedicated to Sol, the sun. Thus, this professing Christian, though still an apparent sun worshiper, branded the so-called "Lord's Day" on Christianity.

However, the church of Rome had long honored this day. Durant states, "The serious temper of the Jewish Sabbath was transferred to the Christian Sunday that replaced it in the second century" (p. 599). The original true apostles continued to observe the same Sabbath the Jews did--Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. Indeed, the Catholic Church itself proudly admits, "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday" (James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, 1917). "The Church," a Catholic study course tells us, "transferred the obligation from Saturday to Sunday" (Father Smith Instructs Jackson).

So this is one way in which the little horn of Daniel 7 would "change times and law." And he would "persecute the saints of the Most High" (v. 25) who would not go along with his blasphemous changes. Around 365, the Catholic Council of Laodicea ruled, "Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord's Day, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found Judaizing, let them be anathema from Christ" (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vol. 14, p. 148). As we know, this was a virtual death sentence--until the Protestant Reformation of the 15th and 16th centuries!

To learn more about God's holy Sabbath day, please write for our booklet, Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? And to find out what happened to Christ's "little flock," which continued to keep God's Sabbath and other commandments despite persecution, also request God's Church Through the Ages. Both are available free of charge.

The Mysterious Mark

The Protestant churches that came out of Roman Catholicism repudiated many Catholic teachings. Unfortunately, Sunday worship was not one of them. For though they often don't realize it, by continuing in Sunday observance, the Protestant churches acknowledge the supremacy of the Catholic Church over the Bible. This is why the Church of Rome is happy to announce that it changed the day! Catholic Monsignor Segur wrote, "The observance of Sunday by Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church" (Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213).

Does that surprise you? Well here's an even more telling quote from the Roman Church: "Sunday is our MARK of authority. The church is above the Bible, and this transference of sabbath observance is proof of that fact" (The Catholic Record, Sept. 1, 1923). Their "MARK of authority"? Could this have anything to do with the "mark" mentioned in Revelation 13? It states that the false church "causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (vv. 16-17).

Just what is this "mark"? According to the Enhanced Strong's Lexicon, the Greek word here, charagma, means "a stamp, an imprinted mark... [used] of the mark stamped on the forehead or the right hand as the BADGE of the followers of the [Beast].... [and] the mark branded upon horses" (entry 5480). So it is probably some kind of badge or brand of identification.

What could be considered the mark or brand of the Beast, the Roman Empire? Could it be Sunday observance or other elements of sun worship, as we've just examined? For whatever this mark is, it has been around for centuries, because all of the righteous martyrs throughout the ages have rejected it (Rev. 20:4). Revelation 13, in describing the interaction of the Catholic Church and the medieval Holy Roman Empire, makes plain that, like the image, both the mark and the number of the Beast's name were around during the Middle Ages as forerunners of end-time events.

Because "no one may buy or sell" without the mark, many look to the "cashless society" we seem to be moving toward, with its account numbers and bar codes. They take the terms "right hand" and "foreheads" in the prophecy to be literal. However, Revelation 14:10 reveals that those who receive the mark of the Beast will have the wrath of God poured upon them--and Colossians 3:6 tells us that the wrath of God comes "upon the children of disobedience" (KJV). The mark of the Beast is therefore a figurative brand of disobedience to God, marking those who refuse to keep God's commandments in spite of the preaching of two end-time witnesses and even a final warning delivered by an angel of God (cf. Rev. 14:9-11).

Nowhere in the Bible does God forbid the receipt of an account number, having your name in some computer file or any such thing. Instead, the mark of the Beast is clearly a brand of disobedience to God and His laws. Does the Bible show any other kind of mark or sign being received in our foreheads or hands? Yes! Notice in Deuteronomy 6 that God wants us to "keep all His statutes and His commandments.... You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes" (vv. 2, 8). The hand is symbolic of actions while the forehead is the seat of intellect. This fits perfectly. God's sign in our right hand (actions) and forehead (will) is our keeping His commandments. The Beast's mark involves acting contrary to these commands.

Is there a particular commandment of God that might cause His people problems in "buying" and "selling"--i.e. business operations? Certainly! It is the same one that has always caused such problems for true Christians--the fourth commandment. It states, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work" (Ex. 20:8-10). In fact, the Sabbath is a mark of obedience that identifies God's true people. In Exodus 31:13-17, God declared that His Sabbaths were a "sign" between Him and His people forever. For as well as identifying the true God of Creation, the Sabbath is the test commandment, which helps to identify those who are obedient to His commands and laws (cf. Ex. 16:4).

This should all make sense now. The mark of the Beast is a brand of disobedience to God that many will receive to avoid problems in conducting their personal and business affairs. That means it probably involves the rejection of God's sign of obedience, the Sabbath. But it also indicates the acceptance of a counterfeit sign or mark, since it involves action and will. And because it is the mark of the Beast, it is a brand of identity tracing its roots to Babylon and Rome. Is there such a symbol that has come all the way down to modern times? We already know that there is! It is pagan sun worship, especially in the form of modern Sunday observance. No wonder The Catholic Record stated, "Sunday is our MARK of authority"! If it is indeed the mark of the Beast--as it appears to be--then, under the end-time system to come, it will be enforced. What is at issue is the acceptance or rejection of God's law. Those who have been warned will have to choose between the martyrdom that may possibly follow obedience to God or the wrath of God that will most certainly follow disobedience.

The Number of His Name

What of the mysterious number of the Beast's name--666? All sorts of ingenious solutions have been devised to label certain individuals with this number. Some think it too esoteric or incomprehensible to even try to decipher. Yet the Word of God says otherwise. Remember from Daniel 12 that the "wise" would understand in the end time (v. 10). Just what kinds of things would they be wise about and have understanding of? Well, all that we've been studying of course. But notice this from Revelation 13: "Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: his number is 666" (v. 18). So this is clearly something God wants us to do.

How do we go about calculating this number? The original King James Version says it more clearly: "count the number." But what are we to count? Verse 17 says it is the "number of his [the Beast's] name," while verse 18 says it is the "number of the beast" and the "number of a man." Which is it? Actually, it is all of the above. For what is the Beast? It's the Roman Empire as well as its leader! But how do we "count" this? Before Arabic numerals became accepted in the Western world in the 13th century, letters of the alphabet doubled as numerals. Most of us are familiar with Roman numerals, where the letters of the Latin alphabet have numeric value. In this system I=1, V=5, X=10 and so on. Hebrew and Greek, the languages in which the Bible was primarily written, both used similar systems. In such languages, any name could have numeric value by converting each of its letters to the number it represented and then adding them all together.

That brings us to the earliest proposed solution to the meaning of 666. It is a tradition attributed to Polycarp--disciple of the same Apostle John who wrote Revelation--preserved in the second-century writings of Irenaeus. The number 666 is "contained in the Greek letters of Lateinos" (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary on the Whole Bible). This fits well. Revelation was written in Greek to Greek-speaking Churches in Asia Minor--and Lateinos is a Greek term meaning "Latin man" or "Roman." This is certainly the name of the Beast for "Roman" is the name of the empire itself as well as every citizen of it. It should also be noted that Greek writers usually referred to the Roman Empire as "the Latin kingdom" (h Latine Basileia), which also has a numeric value of 666. We know of no other kingdom whose Greek name adds up to this same numerical value.

Another interesting explanation hinges on the name of the emperor Nero, who died about 25 years before John wrote Revelation. Though Nero was dead, he had nevertheless been a type of the end-time ruler of the Roman system. After coming to power with promises of constitutional reform and a return to the "Golden Age" of Augustus, Nero Caesar became increasingly cruel and despotic. In an atmosphere of intrigue and conspiracy, he abused his power and was responsible for the first official persecution of Christians by the Roman state. It was during his reign that most of the apostles, including both Peter and Paul, were martyred. When the Greek form of his name, Neron Kaesar, is spelled out in Hebrew characters, their numeric value also adds up to 666.

And there are other possibilities. The founder of ancient Rome was Romulus, from whose name "Rome" and "Roman" are derived. This is also the name of the last Roman emperor before the original fall of Rome. The Latin name Romulus is written in Hebrew as Romiith. In the Hebrew language this too adds up to 666. Thus, in both Greek and Hebrew, the two main languages of the Bible, the number 666 is stamped all over the Roman Empire. Remember that, when the seventh resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire finally occurs, the great false church will declare that no one may conduct business without receiving not only the Beast's mark (which we've already examined), but also the Beast's name and number--i.e. "Roman" and what that adds up to. Thus, it seems that all will be compelled to become part of the Roman system.

Perhaps, during the final revival, there will be some numeric significance to either the name, or even a special title, of its leader. But it is important to realize that the Roman system is already stamped with the number 666--and it is that system and its end-time resurrection that we have already identified as the Beast. In and of themselves, the various calculations given here are merely indicative of the Beast's identity. They do not constitute proof. However, when we combine them with what is clear from prophecy, they help to substantiate what this booklet has already concluded.

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