This Calls for Wisdom

A temporary deviation from Psalms.

Sorry, but not sorry.

Revelation 13

1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.

2 And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.

3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.

4 And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

5 And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.

6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,fn that is, those who dwell in heaven.

7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.fn And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation,

8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear:

10 If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Second Beast

11 Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.

12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.

13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,

14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence offn the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.

16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,

17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666 or 616

Thoughts:

A lot seems to have transpired in a relatively short period of time, there's the news of a digital id being rolled out in the UK, the news of Vietnam deactivating over 86 million accounts as part of a national effort to enforce biometric verification requirements. Sweden is set to be fully cashless by this year, China is in the high 90's, India, Japan, Australia, Middle East: Saudi Arabia and the UAE and also Europe are on track to reach 75% by 2025. Just as cash has it good and bad points so does a cashless society. A cashless society does make somethings easier and lineup better for scripture and timelines. I don't believe a cashless system is the mark of the beast anymore than a face or fingerprint biometric on our phones which some of us currently use to make payments with our digital wallets is evil.

Lets take a look at scripture and what it has to say on this topic. Revelation chapter thirteen tells us about a beast and who the dragon (the Devil) gives his authority to (the Anti-Christ). This person has a mortal wound that is healed. It's really unclear what this will look like or how it will all play out. Will the Anti-Christ be a war hero that was wounded and miraculously healed or a leader who somehow survives a botched assassination. A supposed innocent man, the son of a tradesman that survives a public decapitation. These are all just thoughts with no concrete basis in scripture. The things we do know and will become evident is that this person will hate GOD, heaven, and the spiritual beings we call angels. This person may deny their very existence while vehemently hating something they say isn't real. This person's focus will be to make war with the saints, all the people called the children of GOD. There will be another person close to the first (beast) that will perform miraculous signs and wonders, and this person will give life to an image of the Anti-Christ that will be an artificial copy. It is this copy that will be used to institute a forced worship of the anti-Christ at the threat of death. This image will cause everyone regardless of societal standing to be marked, hand or forehead, with the name of the Anti-Christ and those that refuse will not be able to buy or sell period. My thought, if you refuse to worship the image to begin with the buying and selling will be a secondary problem.

For those in Christ we will immediately recognize this and will not take this very specific mark, it will obvious and blatant. It will not happen first and then Anti-Christ, the second beast and the image of the Anti-Christ will jump out from behind a curtain and say surprise we tricked you. He will use and misuse the things that are part of GOD's creation, but remember Jesus recognized him immediately in the wilderness and Christ in you the hope of glory will recognize him too.

My prayer is that these things wouldn't alarm you, but call you to be wise. The time is short, Jesus' return is closer now than ever before. Revelations 22 verse 20 - He who testifies to these things (His revelation, not my thoughts on it) say, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!