[EGW editor's January 2022 preface:  Twenty years ago when I first posted this article online there were many popular misconceptions about the mark of the Beast in the New Testament book of Revelation ranging from the branding scars of slavery to a tatoo of one’s social security number to an ultra-violet ink stamp of a bank account number to even registering one's thumbprint.  In our current Covid-19 culture nowadays the fears of mandated vaccines, microscopic nanites, and possible sub-dermal implants add to that list.  But what does the Bible actually teach about “the mark of the Beast”?  As with any question concerning what we hope to learn from the Bible, we must always strive to apply good hermeneutics and to let the Bible interpret itself.
     (For more tips on good Bible-reading skills, click the subjects Hermeneutics and Bible study)]

    In chapter 13 of the book of Revelation (the last book in the Bible) we see two terrible beasts.  One rises up out of the sea and demands for the people to worship him. The second beast rises from the earth and serves the first.  This second beast arranges for an image to be made of the first beast and causes that “as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”
     “And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave,” verse 16 begins, “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.”
     “Here is wisdom.” we are cautioned in verse 18.  “Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”
     
     The language in prophetic books and passages should always be understood to be figurative (i.e. as symbolic), unless there is a clear reason to understand it as literal.  The language in non-prophetic books and passages should be understood as literal, unless there is a clear reason to understand it as figurative.  This simple rule of Bible study can help eliminate a lot of confusion as we work to understand God’s word.
     The book of Revelation is a prophetic book written in prophetic language.  Therefore, we must first try to understand it as figurative, unless we see a clear reason to understand it as literal.  To understand what these symbols and images mean, we need to look at how they are used other places in the Bible.

     •  “... a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads ...” has been given many different interpretations by many different people over the centuries.  These interpretations have ranged from the branding scars of slavery to a tattoo of one’s social security number to an ultra-violet ink stamp of a bank account number to electronic implants injected under the skin.  However, we really need to let God interpret this for us.
     Is there a clear reason to understand this as an actual mark on real hands and foreheads?  No, there isn’t.  Therefore, we understand these words as figurative or symbolic.  So, what do these symbols represent?
     In Deuteronomy chapter 6, we find similar words being used figuratively.  Moses has been talking about God’s commandments and in verse 8 he tells the people, “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”  Is Moses saying to make bracelets and headbands out of God’s commandments?  No, definitely not.  Moses is simply stating a comparison here.  The word “as” tells us this is a simile and therefore figurative language.  (The simile is a figure of speech using the words “like” or “as” to illustrate a comparison.  For example, “John is as crafty as a fox.”  Another figure of speech, the metaphor, illustrates a comparison more strongly by saying the compared items are the same thing, although they obviously are not.  “John is a crafty fox.”  For more information about these and other figures of speech, read the Berean Break two-part article “Figures of Speech” by George Sinkie.)
     Open up your Bible and read from verse 31 in chapter five down through verse 7 of chapter six.  What is God really concerned about here?  He is concerned about actions and about understandings and about examples and about teachings.  With that in mind, we can understand these symbols better.
     A literal sign or mark indicates or points to something other than itself.  This “sign” points to God or to God’s commandments.  A man works and makes things with his hands, so this “hand” refers to a person’s actions, the things that a person does.  A person’s actions indicate whether that person follows or disobeys God’s commandments.
     Real frontlets would hang in a person’s face.  Anyone talking face to face with that person would see the frontlets and the wearer would always see frontlets before him.  God wants us to be aware of His commandments just as much as we would be of frontlets hanging in our faces.  We use our eyes to see the world about us and if we want to understand something, we “take a look at it.”  So these “eyes” are about how a person views the world and about a person’s understandings.  When we use God’s instructions to view and understand the world, we stay aware of God’s commandments and other people become aware of His commandments.
     Now let’s go back and apply this understanding to Revelation 13:16-17.  Is John talking about brands and tattoos and electronic implants?  No. The “mark of the beast” is what indicates that a person worships or follows the beast, an enemy of God.  A “mark on the hand” means that the person’s actions & lifestyle show an obedience to God’s enemies.  A “mark on the forehead” means that the person’s understandings & decisions indicate obedience to God’s enemies.  In short, these “mark”s refer to what a person does and thinks against God.
     
     •  The name in “... the name of the beast” used in the next verse would probably be less confusing in some other book or story.  “Open up in the name of the law!”  “In the name of the president, welcome to the United States of America.”  To act “in the name of…” means to act with authority given by that person or agency.  Instead of following the authority of God through His commandments, these people were living their lives in the name or authority of God’s enemies.
     
     •  So what does the “666” in verse 18 mean?  To understand that we need to know how the average Jew at that time applied figurative meanings to numbers.  It is not so hard when we realize that our culture does it, too.  “Our team was #1 in the conference.”  “That girl is a 10.” “13 is his unlucky number.”
     To Christians with a Jewish background, “1” could stand for unity or for a beginning.  “2” represented for strength, like using both hands to lift something or like a team of two horses working together.  “3” was a perfect* number and indicated spiritual completeness, an example being God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  Another perfect* number, “4” symbolized physical completeness, such as the four corners of the earth, the four winds, the four walls to make a room.  “5” does not appear to have a particular figurative meaning.
     Combinations of these numbers also had meanings.  “3 plus 4” is “7”, a complete (or perfect) number both spiritually and physically.  Likewise,“3 times 4” is “12”, also a spiritually and physically complete (or perfect) number.  “7”, a complete number, plus “1”, a beginning number, made “8”, a new beginning or resurrection.  “6”, being just short of “7”, was an incomplete or failing number.  “3½” was also an incomplete or failing number being half of “7”.
     Multiplying by ten added intensity as did squaring and cubing numbers.  “40” was an intensely physically complete number.  “12 times 12” would be complete times complete, or completely complete.  If you said that you picked “144,000” good apples in your orchard, you would be saying that you picked ALL – didn’t miss a single one – of the good apples.
     “666” is described as being the calculated number of a man in verse 18 of Revelation chapter 13.  “To calculate” means “to figure out” or “to think carefully” or “to reach a conclusion.”  Therefore, the number “6” is a conclusion that this person has come up short of being complete or perfect, that the person is incomplete both spiritually and physically… a failure.  Repeating the conclusion three times indicates that the conclusion is a spiritually complete measurement… that it is God’s accurate and thorough assessment.
     The interpretation of verses 16 through 18?  If a person is living without God and not submitting his or her life to His authority, it will show in that person’s actions and understandings.  God fully measures such a life as being completely incomplete… a total failure falling short of the grace of God (Hebrews 12:15) and of His kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; Hebrews 11:6, 12:28).
     
     * Today, we often use “perfect” to mean “sinless” and “without mistakes”.  However, in the Bible, “perfect” is used usually to mean “complete, finished, accomplished, fulfilled, made fit (as in right ordering and arrangement), fully-furnished, or framed” and sometimes to mean “fully-aged or mature.”  For example, a house still under construction would be described as “imperfect,” not because of flaws, but because it is not yet finished.  Later the same house would be described as “perfect” because it is completed and no longer partial or unfinished.  Likewise, children might be described as “imperfect” simply because they are not yet “fully-aged.” (back to place in article)