The menace of the mark of the beast
Throw the number 666 into any conversation these days and boundless theories will pop up. Most are interesting takes on various ways and means the government, through an amalgamation of tech companies and less than philanthropic private entities, plan on installing chips under your skin, either the hand or forehead. It’s possible; I won’t say they won’t and certainly would never say that they can’t, but if we step back a moment and read the passages in Scripture that form the basis for these theories in their proper context, something quite different emerges.
The text in Revelation seems literal enough:
“forced all the people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to be given a stamped image on their right hands or their foreheads, so that no one could buy or sell except one who had the stamped image of the beast’s name or the number that stood for its name. Wisdom is needed here; one who understands can calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number that stands for a person, his number is six hundred and sixty-six” (Rev. 13:16-18).
Father Charles Grondin helps put things in perspective while he introduces us to the fact that the literal sense some use to interpret Scripture may not be as literal as it seems on the surface.
“The Book of Revelation makes great use of symbolic imagery and theological themes. It used the events contemporaneous to its composition to deliver a message about the ultimate triumph of Christ. The beast symbolizes the various Roman emperors who persecuted the early Christians but mainly is a symbol of Caesar Nero (whose name in Hebrew has the numerical value of 666). The so-called “mark of the beast” is presumed by most scholars to allude to the coins of the Roman Empire that bore the image of the emperor.
The Book of Revelation states quite clearly that this mark was forced upon all the people; there is no mention of it being voluntary. The only thing that Revelation mentions regarding the Book of Life and the beast is that those who choose to worship the beast do not have their names in the Book of Life. However, this is quite distinct from the forced mark of the beast.”
I would also point out that scholars agree (mostly) that the first twenty chapters of Revelation refer to events in play at the time it was written. John even says in the beginning of the book that these things “Must soon take place.” Only the last chapters are considered truly prophetic. So we have to be careful when applying 21st century knowledge to first century literature.
This is not the same thing as saying that a certain mark may also be employed in the near future as seen in the form of vaccine mandates or the continued interest in a world monetary unit. Certainly these things could be the mark spoken of in Revelation. But the one thing that need be kept in mind is whether or not the beast is to be worshipped should a mark be employed, or do we keep our free will while spending euros for bread.
As one of those who chose not to accept the science behind the covid 19 vaccine, every day I wondered if I would be relegated to online shopping, door to door shipping and making my own coffee. I wondered if cash would be scarce and it was. In fact, Walmart for a number of months wouldn’t accept cash at the self- checkout. Was this another way of dictating compliance?
I had a choice that wasn’t really any choice at all. I could wait in line at the three out of seventeen lines left open, or use my credit card at the thirty seven self- serve lines that were fully open. I felt like cattle feel when pushed up the ramp; one at a time. Not to mention the coin shortage.
How is it that only coins came up short? Obviously the mints were working; we printed over four trillion dollars during the whole thing. Was nickel scarce, did the nickel mines collapse? Gold and silver don’t back our coins anymore so why the shortage. Why was I forced to make a decision about which charity my change went to and why was I forced to choose between just two when my tendencies lie with others that fit my Christian values?
Anyway. The reality is the scriptures referring to the mark of the beast are much deeper than a surface reading of the related passages. What Father Grondin was getting at above is that there are rules of Scriptural interpretation at play in the field of the Lord. The Book of Revelation, (Apocalypse simply means revelation, not nuclear war) and every Biblical book needs to be read with those rules in mind or things tend to get nutty. So we need to understand the rules first and only then can we try to unpack what John meant when he wrote the most infamous book of the Bible.
The Catholic Church in her catechism briefly restates two major rules associated with the proper understanding of Biblical interpretation as handed down through the last two millennia. The early fathers of the Church and subsequent Popes, scholars and theologians fought countless battles against heretics, anti-popes and renegade clergy to foster a clear and rigorous accounting of the text.
First, there are two senses of scripture — the literal and the spiritual, the latter divided into four parts: the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. So as to clear up any confusion, the spiritual sense is sub-divided for ease of explanation to give each sense a proper place or a lens so to speak.
All other senses of scripture are based on the literal. Although true, it needs be clarified what is meant by literal. Though all languages strive to be precise, many, like English, employ rules that, if misunderstood, can lead to some pretty terrible renderings of a Biblical text. We employ these rules in daily conversation without even recognizing that we are.
When we “roll out the red carpet,” we know this to be an idiom, an expression with another meaning. It’s the same with Scripture. When we read that if your right hand offends you cut it off, or pluck out your eye so as to avoid hell, we recognize an exaggeration, a hyperbolic statement meant to highlight the gravity of sin. If we didn’t, and took this to be actual and literal, well…you see the point.
To take these passages in a literalistic way, that man could do himself harm. But maybe worse is the sort of confusion that comes with poor interpretations of Scripture. That’s the point of having sound principles to follow. So the trick is to dig deep and understand the text according to things like historical context, Jewish law and custom and the realization that there can be multiple senses surrounding passages if not single words in many of the Biblical texts.
And why wouldn’t it be so? God wrote it, and He’s pretty mysterious as well as omnipotent and omniscient which means His own word is probably a little more complicated and nigh on impossible for us to exhaust. In fact, I can’t think of anyone who’s done it yet.
So what does the spiritual sense mean? Some of those early Church Fathers and theologians, defenders of the Faith and Scripture, building upon the experience of those that came before them were summed up by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. In his Summa Theologica, (Part 1, 1 A, Q 1 art. 10) Thomas explains the different applications of the spiritual rules.
Things signified by words can also have their own signification. An example is found in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews where the Apostle says that the “Old Law is a figure of the New Law,” or Dionysius, “the New law itself is a figure of future glory.” And Thomas comments, “in the New Law, whatever our head (Christ) has done is a type of what we ought to do. Therefore, so far as the thigs of the Old Law signify the things of the new, that is the allegorical sense.” This sense seeks the hidden spiritual sense of the literal.
The things that Christ did, relate to Christ. Things that signify Christ are all types of what we ought to do and this is the moral sense. And those things that relate to eternal glory,
this is the anagogical.
In all of this it’s important to remember that the literal meaning of a word may not be evident at first. Context, history and realization of the limits of the reader’s language are certainly at play. There is no doubt that the spiritual senses are real.
Thomas again: “Since the literal sense is that which the author intends, and since the author of Holy Writ is God, who by one act comprehends all things by His intellect, it is not unfitting, as Augustine says (confessions xii) if, even according to the literal sense, one word in Holy Writ should have several senses.”
In the Catechism there is reference to “a medieval couplet that summarizes the significance of the four senses:”
“The letter speaks of deeds; the author’s intention.
Allegory to faith; recognizing their significance in Christ.ie: the red sea crossing is a sign or type of Christ’s victory and Baptism.
The Moral, how to act; Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As Saint Paul says; they were written for our instruction. (1 Cor 10-11)
Anagogical, our destiny: The eternal significance, (anagog, leading) leading us home. The Church on earth is a sign of our heavenly destiny.
So what does all this have to do with the mark of the beast? Everything really, but if you thought it was going to be easy to spot it when it comes, wel, you’re wrong. The mark has been employed all through the history of the world. Let’s name a few from just the past century or so.
To live in Hitler’s Nazi Germany, to eat and to work, you had to swear allegiance to the party, Stalin, the same thing. In both totalitarian systems the button you wore identified
you with the beast and if somehow you don’t think both systems were satanic, I know a great doctor you might want to see.
Let’s go even further back to the French Revolution. That was one where to be a plebe would actually save your life. But you had to believe or at least profess belief in the new ruling class. And recently, as mentioned, the whole pandemic in which the entire world lost its collective mind and would have sacrificed the unvaccinated for a piece of bread.
What it all comes down to is faith. Faith that our Lord is actually in charge, that the mark of the beast though a reality isn’t as easy to decipher and apply to these days as one might think. It is to remember that satan can only do what our Father allows him to do which is actually very little. He’s a pawn, a smooth operator with no idea what the Father has in store for him and the world.
So I know this. If I do my level headed best to keep my soul free from serious, mortal sin and I die in a state of grace, then I win. If I am forced to receive either a mark on my head or a mark on my hand it really doesn’t matter because I’ve already been marked for Christ in the indelible mark of baptism, and that is truly my only concern.
When next you read the book of Revelation, try to picture yourself as a first century Christian to whom John wrote and the hope that he instilled through some of the roughest times the Church ever experienced. In the end that’s what the book is about. We may suffer for a time in this life and we may even undergo the trials he spoke of. And that’s okay. As a friend of mine once said; people tend to die. I’ve noticed this. It only matters how.