By Betsy Mayer
The book of Revelation presents the mark of the beast as the last drama in an epic battle between Christ and Satan. If we want to avoid the beast’s mark, we need to understand this ancient controversy. The conflict has waged throughout history, with Satan contesting at every step.
The story can be found throughout the Bible, but portions of Revelation chapter 12 neatly summarize it.
“And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.” Rev. 12:7, 8.
It’s hard to imagine, but the Bible reveals that war, rebellion, and sin started in heaven, not on earth.
What caused the war? Satan, also known as Lucifer and the brightest angel in heaven, actually sought to unseat God from His throne: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Isa. 14:13.
He also convinced a third of the angels to join his rebellion. Rev. 12:4. We can assume that Satan used deception to do this, because in verse 9 Satan is described as a deceiver. Jesus also called Satan the father of lies. John 8:44.
God’s government is based on truth. Satan’s plan to take over heaven was based on lies. The stability of the universe was at stake.
“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Rev. 12:9.
Unrepentant and seething with hatred, Satan vowed revenge. If he couldn’t have heaven, he would set up his kingdom on God’s newly created earth. But first, he must recruit Adam and Eve to join his rebellion.
Because God respects the free will of all His beings, He allowed Adam and Eve access to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, while warning them that eating its fruit would result in their death (Gen. 2:26). Sadly, Satan convinced them that God was a liar bent on keeping them in naïve servitude.
We can assume that Satan hoped God would overlook their disobedience, giving him opportunity to press for a second chance. But God could not be just and excuse the disobedience of Adam and Eve and they were exiled from their dominion and from the tree of life. Deprived of its life-giving sustenance, death, decay, and disease immediately set in. Even worse, their moral natures became aligned with evil.
Satan wasted no time in setting up his government on Earth. He then infused men and women made in God’s image with his spirit of rebellion and claimed the doomed race as his rightful subjects.
But God could supply a remedy—the Messiah. He could send His Son as a human being who would pass tests of loyalty much harder than humankind would ever encounter and then offer Himself as a substitute for their sins—God’s sacrificial Lamb. By accepting His death in their place, they could receive a new nature infused with the Holy Spirit, putting enmity between them and Satan. Gen. 3:15.
Satan then set out to make humankind so evil that God would give up on them. Except for eight people, he succeeded in turning the human race against God before they were cut off by the Flood. Then he led the descendants of Noah into rebellion at Babel. God intervened again by confusing their speech and scattering them over all the earth.
God then raised up a people to whom He could reveal His character and the principles of His divine government. He entrusted them with His sacred oracles—which recorded His dealings with humankind and the revelation of His love, mercy and justice. Through them He would send the Messiah. They were to share all this with the world.
Again, Satan bent every effort to thwart God’s plan and to distress, deceive, or exterminate the Hebrew nation. Through apostasy, he reduced them from 12 tribes to two. He inspired oppressive and successive world empires to further reduce the tattered remnant’s influence.
But the promised Messiah came—right on time. Satan then bent every effort to destroy God’s Son.
“And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” Rev. 12:4.
He plotted the murder of God’s infant Son by the jealous King Herod. He sought at every turn to tempt Jesus to sin, so that the Son of God and sinners would be separated forever from heaven. But failing at all these, he orchestrated the murder of God’s Son, the Messiah, at the hands of His own people.
Yet again, the devil and his accomplices failed: “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” Rev. 12:5.
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnants of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17.
Since Satan can no longer attack Christ, he now attacks Christ’s church. He does this in two ways: through deception and coercion. If Satan can’t deceive and confuse Christ’s followers through false doctrine, false prophets, false miracles and signs, or through compromise with error, then he uses hardship, persecution, and even threats of death to intimidate and silence their witness.
At some periods in history we find the Christian church laden with error and compromise. At other times we find the church enduring terrible and brutal persecution. In fact, the more closely God’s people have clung to truth, the more vicious Satan has become.
The mark of the beast combines both deception and coercion. Satan is still promoting the lie that obeying God keeps us from personal fulfillment, or that we can alter His law to suit our own agendas. But if God’s law could have been changed, Adam and Eve could have stayed in Eden, and Jesus wouldn’t have needed to die.
The Lamb’s weapons are truth and love; the dragon’s weapons are deceit and coercion.
For those that won’t go along with his end-time deception, Satan will use a global collusion of religious and political leaders to enforce his mark so universally and thoroughly that God’s people will no longer be welcome anywhere in the world. Rev. 13:15. It will take supernatural loyalty to refuse the mark of the beast and honor God at this crisis hour.
Even though a vast majority joins Satan’s side in the war, Bible prophecy assures us that the Lamb and His followers win! “And the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” Rev. 7:14.
Through God’s grace, we may choose to be on the winning side.
Image credit: Semonview.com
Betsy Mayer is the managing editor of Last Generation magazine.