Greetings! This is our last post in our study of Revelation chapter 13, our study about the false prophet. In our last post, we talked about how the false prophet beast will cause an image of the Antichrist beast to be made and then force everyone to worship it, under the threat of death. In this post, we’re going to talk about the mark of the beast and how everyone will be forced to take it. And then we’ll answer the question, “Is the Universal Product Code the mark of the beast?” It’s all very interesting. So are you ready to get into this?

Revelation 13:11–18

Eighth in an Eight-Part Series
By Karen Thompson

A Second Beast: The False Prophet

Rev. 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 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. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

The Mark of the Beast

Now let’s look at the last three verses of Revelation chapter 13: “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 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. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six” (vv. 16–18).

In the last three verses of chapter 13, we further see how much power the false prophet will have. He will have the authority to force everyone in the kingdom, “both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.” We see all classes of people are required to receive this mark—great and small, meaning people with power and people without power, rich and poor, free and bond. No one will be exempt from having to receive this mark.

The people who receive this mark will be able to buy and sell, meaning they cannot do business without this mark. If you don’t have this mark, you’re out of the system. You become a non-person, invisible. Hungry? Too bad, without the mark, you’re not going to be able to purchase food to eat. Need to make money? Too bad, without the mark, no one will buy what you have to sell. You’re blocked from the marketplace.

What is the purpose of the mark? I think we can surmise that the system of marking will be to force people into allegiance with the Antichrist beast. Even with the pressure of the threat of death, there will be those who will refuse to worship the beast. For those who refuse to worship the beast, there will be a way to stay under the radar and remain undetected in their defiance. It will be difficult to identify every single person that refuses to worship the beast, but the system of marking the people will eliminate the ability of people to fly under the radar and remain undetected in their refusal to worship the beast. Without the mark, you will be left out of the marketplace. You won’t be able to provide for your family. You’ll starve. Your family will starve. It a great motive to force people into allegiance with Antichrist.

What is the mark? We don’t really know, but the followers of the beast will have the mark put on their foreheads or their right hands. Verse 17 says they will have three different choices: “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.” They can have either the mark of the beast, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name put on either their foreheads or their right hands.

We don’t know what is the mark of the beast or what is the name of the beast, but verse 18 tells us what is the number of the beast: “Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” His number is 666, perhaps the most famous number in all the world. This number has been used to evoke fear, and quite frankly, it’s been used as the punch line for a lot of jokes. However, when people are forced to have this mark placed on their bodies, no one will be laughing. Will the people be able to choose which one they want—the mark, the name, or the number? Or will the different marks be used to classify people into different groups? We don’t know. We can only speculate.

Is the Bar Code the Mark of the Beast?

For years, there has been a lot of attention given to the Universal Product Code barcodes as paving the way for the mark of the beast. Everyone is aware of barcodes, those bars and numbers that are on practically everything. The barcode was invented by George Laurer in 1971 to help eliminate human error made by cashiers in grocery stores. Since then, barcodes have become practically ubiquitous. You can hardly buy anything anywhere in the world without a barcode on it.

There has been a lot of speculation as to whether barcodes really are the coming mark of the beast. Sermons have been preached and books have even been written about barcodes. I’m not a proponent of the barcode being the mark of the beast, so I’m not going to go into detail about why they believe it to be the mark of the beast. But suffice it to say that many believe the number 666 is embedded in the barcodes. In fact, there is so much speculation about this that Mr. Laurer addressed this very topic on his website.

I think the idea that the barcoding system will be the mark of the beast is silly, but the fact that so many people believe it is the mark of the beast makes it necessary to discuss it. There are a few very good reasons why the barcode cannot possibly be the mark of the beast. First of all, as we’ve already discussed, the mark of the beast is a choice of three things: some kind of mark, the name of Antichrist, or his number of 666. Simply put, the barcode does not match the Bible’s description of the mark of the beast. In my opinion, just this fact alone should end the discussion as to whether barcodes will be the mark of the beast.

Second, barcodes would be an inefficient way to mark people. Imagine the difficulty a scanner would have trying to scan a barcode printed on human skin. What if a person gets an insect bite or gets a cut on his skin where he has his bar code? What about pimples or wrinkles? All these things would make it difficult to scan a bar code on human skin.

Thirdly, why in the world would the false prophet choose to use the barcode system, a system that is set up to scan products to show how much they cost? If the mark of the beast is a barcode, what, pray tell me, would the machine be scanning for? A price? Why would it be necessary to scan the mark? As far as the Bible informs us, the only purpose for the mark of the beast is to show allegiance to the beast. A mark like a simple tattoo on either the forehead or the right hand would be sufficient.

And, again, remember, there will be only three and one-half years that the false prophet will have to initiate a system of barcoding. It would take significant time to set up the system throughout the land and to work out all the bugs. We don’t even know how soon the false prophet will set in motion the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast might not be initiated until a year or two after they build the image of the beast. This is information we can’t know. I doubt there will be enough time to set a system of barcoding into place. Sorry, but the barcoding system as the mark of the beast is a dumb idea.

Summary of Chapter 13

In summary, chapter 13 tells us about two beasts—the Antichrist beast and the false prophet beast. About the Antichrist beast, we are told two basic things. We are told he will die and come back to life and that he will make war with the saints of God and invade nations. That’s all.

Chapter 13 really isn’t so much about the Antichrist beast. The focus of chapter 13 is to identify the character of the false prophet and to tell us what part he will play in the second half of Daniel’s 70^th week. Here’s what we know about the false prophet beast. He will operate in the same authority and power as the Antichrist beast. He will have the authority to initiate worship of the Antichrist beast. He will have the ability to perform wonders, like fire coming out of heaven. He will have power to deceive people, so they are persuaded to make an image of the Antichrist beast. He will have the power to give life to the image of the beast so that it is able to talk. And, sadly, he will have the power to cause those who refuse to worship the beast to be put to death. And he will come up with a way to put pressure on the people to force their allegiance to the beast by causing the people to receive the mark of the beast, without which no one can buy or sell. 

The false prophet will be a major figure during this time. Since he is identified as a false prophet, I’m confident his authority will have a religious nature. The Antichrist beast will rule as the leader of the nation, but the false prophet beast will rule as the religious authority over the kingdom. They will be in sync with each other.

What is curious about this chapter is that we are told of the beginning of the Antichrist beast and the false prophet beast, but we are not yet told of their end. We are only told of the activities of the false prophet during the last half of Daniel’s 70^th week, but not his end. The telling of the end of the two beasts is reserved for a special time in Revelation.

Just to remind you that during this time when the false prophet is forcing people to worship the beast, forcing them to take the mark of the beast, and killing anyone who resists, the Jewish people that fled into the wilderness will be safely tucked away and will not experience this oppression by Antichrist. And they will be nourished, taken care of, for the entire length of the three and one-half years they will be in the wilderness.

Also during this time, the two witnesses will be in Jerusalem fulfilling their ministry assignment. The false prophet may be able to make fire descend from heaven, but the two witnesses will be able to kill anyone that tries to harm them with fire that comes out of their mouths. The false prophet will perform numerous wonders, but so will the two witnesses. I have no doubt the false prophet and the two witnesses will be in conflict. 

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