Having been brought up in a church with a social gospel, I had never even heard the term "the mark of the beast." I have still never heard it from the Lord, but He has talked to me about His mark upon our foreheads. Few realize that the Lord is "marking" His people. They give that no thought, but rather, place all their attention on what the "beast" is going to do!
In the late sixties, the Lord began to deal with my heart to write for Him—to be a confirmer to those who are out of the church system. I was not quick to obey, for I felt there were so many others more qualified than I to write spiritual things. The Lord finally gave me a big "push" and I yielded. The push was a revelation of the mark of the Lord from Ezek. Ch. 9. A missionary was moved by the spirit to tell me that I had been called to the Inkhorn Ministry spoken of in Ezekiel.
The account tells us of six men, each with a slaughter weapon in his hand, and one man clothed with linen who had a writer’s inkhorn by his side. This writer was sent on ahead, to "Go through the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof."
To the others who would follow, He said, "Slay utterly old and young ... but come not near any man upon whom is the mark: begin at my sanctuary." Shortly after this vision, Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, but Jeremiah and Baruch and many poor of the land were spared.
The man with the inkhorn symbolizes God’s care for His own, and the mark He made on the foreheads of the faithful of that day was symbolic, so the sealing of the elect in Rev. 7 is symbolic and spiritual, not literal and physical. Today there is also a remnant who are sighing and crying continually before God because of the conditions they see. These will be the ones who are found with the mind of Christ, even the mark of God and the judgments upon the present-day systems of man will not affect them.
Eph. 4:30 says, "Ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." The Lord doesn’t stamp us on the forehead or hand, but looses us, progressively, from one realm to another, from one nature to another, from one mind to another. We are being delivered from a world of self-assertive religious activities, and from the dominion of the carnal mind.
This verse has put terror into many hearts who view it in a literal manner: "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" Rev. 13:17. This book is a symbolical, and spiritual book, intended to be spiritually understood. Buying and selling has a much more significant meaning than supermarket shopping!
The first use of a word in the Book of Revelation establishes its meaning. Rev. 3:18 says, "I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich." This is not a buying of natural things with money, but divine nature exchanged for the carnal nature! To "buy the truth" means to pay the price to embrace the truth. The price of truth is often to be willing to give up or "sell" an error! "Selling" as a symbol, indicates the dealing out of truth, the ministering of the things of the Spirit. "Buying" typifies the acceptance of truth, the receiving of the things of God.
John Bunyon, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, was jailed for many years for refusing to obtain a license to preach. He refused to take the "mark" or the "image" of the beastly systems of man, so he was not allowed to buy or sell (the Word of God). He was forbidden to deal out the truth and people were kept from buying from him.
Things haven’t changed any. Today, all who refuse to subscribe to the traditions, dogmas, and defilements of the religious system are accused of being heretics and are ostracized as truly as martyrs of past ages who refused to bow down to the bestial system of this world. I am sure that I would not be welcomed to speak at any denominational church, even though I have much truth to share. You see, I cannot "buy or sell" with them unless I take the mark and number and name of their denomination. Religion is big business and If I don’t bear their stamp, I can’t "do business" with them.
I am far more interested in the mark of God than in anything of the bestial system, since to bear His mark insures me against coming under the mark of the beast (Rev. 13:8). Jesus came to imprint or impress His character upon us.
Both the mark of God and the mark of the beast are superimposed upon men. The Greek word translated "mark" in Rev. 13:16 is from the same root from which we get our English word "character." In Heb.1:3 this word is translated as "express image." "Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person." The express image of God is the manifestation of God as revealed through His and our character. The mark speaks of that handiwork and the inward thinking which brings forth an expression of character in line with the very source from which the mark comes. Either we will find ourselves expressing the character of God, or else the character of the beast. It does not speak of a visible tattoo or brand, nor any outward form, but it refers to that inner quality of His character which is being developed in us, which shall be revealed in due time.
The whole book of Revelation is written in signs and symbols which represent spiritual realities. To claim that those symbols are reality is to do despite to the truths of God and to bring God’s people into a fear that takes their eyes off the Lord and puts them upon "self-preservation." It takes their minds off pressing into Him and keeps them looking anxiously toward various events that arise, wondering if these developments predict some future time when a fearful "beast" or "antichrist" will demand that they take a mark, without which they cannot buy or sell. Their doom will be sealed and they may be required to give their life in martyrdom as the price for remaining true to God.
The key to Rev. 13 that speaks of the mark of the beast is to be found in verse nine: "If any man have an ear to hear, let him hear." These words always accompany statements of profound spiritual significance. John is here telling us that the astonishing visions described there are the unfolding of deep spiritual mysteries. Those who write sensational books about the coming world government, with its superman dictator, and lasered numbers on the forehead and hand, do so because of their letter-of-the-word mentality. They do not have "ears to hear", or to perceive the spiritual in the external.
If the beast and his mark are to be fulfilled literally, then we must read the words with natural eyes, and understand them with a natural mind. But if the message is deeply spiritual, it will be understood only by "He that hath an ear to hear!"
How is the Inkhorn Ministry—the writers of the kingdom—writing this mark upon His people? I would say by exhorting them to walk in the Spirit and to put on the mind of Christ. This, I declare, is the seal of God! Is it not strange that we hear no such good news in Babylon? We hear no one there speak of the mark of God! Yet, the mark of the beast is upon every man’s lips! I would definitely call it a "decoy" that takes the eyes of God’s people off the true mark!
Preston Eby, with his anointed inkhorn, says: "Revelation, Chapters 13 and 14 belong to each other and should be read together. The neglect of this principle has caused much mischief in modern times. If present-day writers and preachers had set the mark of the beast of chapter 13 against the mark of the Father’s Name on the foreheads of the saints described in chapter 14, we would have had fewer frightful and ghastly events so confidently foretold in books readily devoured by precious Christians highly susceptible to prophetic sensationalism.
"It must be obvious to every spiritual mind that the writing of the Father’s name on those standing on mount Zion is a spiritual work. Zion represents the very highest position attainable in the Kingdom of God. From the literal mount Zion, David and the kings of Israel reigned gloriously and the Ark of God rested there all through the reign of David. But that Zion was only a faint shadow of the Zion to which we are come (Heb. 12:18-22). David was king over natural Israel. Christ is King over spiritual Israel. David dwelt on the natural mount Zion. Therefore Christ dwells upon the spiritual mount Zion. And this spiritual mount Zion is composed of those who reach the very highest pinnacle attainable in the Kingdom of God: those who, like David, are "a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfill all My will" (Acts 13:22). These are the kings and priests unto God, after the order of Melchisedek, those who have gone all the way with their Lord and shall now rule with Christ upon his throne.
"These are they of whom it is written, "And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on mount Zion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads," in distinction to those who, in Rev. 13:16 take "the mark of the beast." The mark of the beast denotes that those who bear it have been filled with the nature, spirit, ways, doctrines and idolatry of the bestial system. Therefore the mark which these 144,000 bear denotes that they are not defiled with the bestial spirit and shame and are in every respect cleansed, perfected, and made partakers of the Father’s nature. I have no ability to believe that the Father’s name in the forehead is anything more or less than the mind of Christ.
"Another wonderful picture of the working of God in His elect is found in Rev. 7:1-4. "After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads."
"Though we read many explanations of the mark of the beast, it is my conviction that it would be safe to lay them all aside in the understanding that the mark of the beast is nothing more or less than the mind of the serpent in man. The number of man is the number of the beast, even 666 which is the number of his name = flesh! It is man exalting himself as God! Six has always been the number of man’s labor apart from God’s rest. The carnal mind, which is everywhere evident in the religious systems, as in government, commerce, and every other institution spawned by man, is the enemy of God and had its beginning with the serpent in Eden. Neither the divine mark nor the devil’s mark can be a visible thing. Both are symbols bespeaking a nature possessing the mind and in turn manifesting through the outward actions of men(the hand)."
(These excerpts are copied from a series called THE ANTICHRIST. If you are interested in having them, they may be found in Bro. Eby’s writings on the Kingdom Bible Studies Web Site: http://www.kingdombiblestudies.org/index1.htm)