Rev 13.1 tells us about a seven-headed beast that arises out of the sea. It has a description of this beast and it is Leviathan, a picture of the False Messiah. We have already shown you in this teaching that Leviathan is a term for the False Messiah. He is also called “Tannin” or a sea monster or creature. This word is used in Gen 1.21. In Rev 13.11 we see that there is another beast that arises, this time coming out of the earth, or on land. This is going to be the False Prophet. If the false Messiah is a counterfeit, then there needs to be a false “Elijah” or messenger that goes before the False Messiah.
Now, who is looking for a Messiah? Judaism is looking for a Messiah, and Christianity is looking for a Messiah, and they call him “Christ.” But there needs to be a few requirements for a Messiah. He needs to be born in Bethlehem, from the tribe of Judah from the family of David. Everybody knows this. But, we have the classic “Christmas story” but it isn’t very accurate is it? If you study the birth of Yeshua, you will see the Christian Christmas story is classic Replacement Theology. This is so “glossed over” that everybody believes that was the way it was. Before the Messiah comes, according to Jewish belief, you must have an “Elijah” who precedes the coming of the Messiah. The False Messiah will have a False Elijah.
Rev 13.12-18 says that the False Prophet will cause the earth to worship the first beast (False Messiah-v 12). He will be a religious leader and he has two horns (the Eastern Church will be together with the Western Church again). He is “like a lamb” (seems like a believer) but he “spoke as a dragon” (liar). What we have is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing. There is a true belief in Yeshua, and then we have Replacement Theology Christianity.
Christianity is full of Replacement Theology. Many people in it are not true believers, but we are not saying that everybody in Christianity is not a true believer. There are true believers in Christianity but it is a system not of God and it gives us a picture of what people expect, and it has changed who the Messiah is. It has given us a “False Messiah” at its core and it has a False Prophet here. The biggest denomination in Christianity is Catholicism.
By the Second century, all of Gentile Christianity was called the “universal church” or “catholic.” This was true up until the Fourth Century. Then, as we go forward, it divides into the Eastern Church and the Western Church. These two factions will come together and the various denominations all over the world will come together under “one roof.” Miracles and signs and wonders will delude the people into thinking “this is it.” The false Prophet will do the signs of Elijah (Rev 13.13) and deceive many. He leads a move to make an image of the beast (false Messiah) called the Abomination of Desolation.
We have the idea of a resurrected one. The people are flocking to this because they have been conditioned by Christmas, Easter and every Sunday school quarterly that comes out. They have been conditioned by every movie, picture, painting that they have ever seen of “Jesus.” He will cause those who do not worship the image to be killed. This is what Hitler did, what Haman and Antiochus wanted to do. Send them away and kill all opponents.
A “mark” will be given on their right hand or on their forehead. Metaphorically, the right hand symbolizes service and support, and the forehead is the seat of comprehension and mental assent. This “mark” may be literal, but it also may be spiritual. This is an idiom for being non-Torah observant. In Deut 6.4-9 it says we are to bind the commandments as a sign upon your hand, meaning, we are not to lose them or let them go, we need to act them out in service to God. It also says the commandments should be as “frontlets on your forehead” meaning we are to remember them, think on them. These metaphors are not literal. Jews wear what is called “Tefillin” to fulfill this verse, but these phrases are idioms to act on, don’t lose them (bind).
These metaphors are also seen in Prov 1.9 where instruction should be “a graceful wreath to your head, and ornaments about your neck.” Song of Songs 8.6 says, “Put me as a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm.” Prov 3.1-3 says, “Do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments. For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Do not let kindness and truth leave you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablets of your heart.” Prov 6.20-21 says, “My son, observe the commandment of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother; bind them continually on your heart; tie them around your neck.” Prov 7.2-3 says, “Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching as the apple of your eye. Bind them on the tablet of your heart.” These are just a few of the metaphors similar to our passage in Rev 13.. There were not to be done externally. They indicate what guides your action and your thinking. God knows where your mind and heart is.
We read in Ezek 9.1-8 that God did not give an external mark on the people. He is judging them and he “marks” those who are Torah observant and moan and sigh over all the abominations which are being committed. Those without the mark god places are slain. In the same way, those who follow the Beast will be “marked” by what they do (the hand) and by what they believe and think (forehead). They will be non-Torah observant followers of the False Messiah, or “lawless” which means “no Torah.”
Rev 14.1 talks about the 144,000 who have the name of God and Yeshua written on their foreheads (the seat of comprehension, intellect, thinking and belief). That means the 144,000 are Torah observant believers in Yeshua. The name of God in Jewish thought is symbolized by the letter “Shin” in Hebrew. This letter can be seen on the Tefillin that is put on the forehead and hand of Jews when they pray. You have probably seen pictures of a Jewish person praying with a little black box on their forehead, and a black strap around their left arm. The Shin is the first letter of two of the names of God; Shaddai and Shalom.
This Shin can also be counterfeited by using the letter Vav in Hebrew. The letter Vav is the number six, the number of man. It would be 6,6,6. The letter Vav can look like a Yotaid (tent peg or nail) and a snake. Both images can be pictures of the false Messiah. By placing these three Vavs in a certain way, it can resemble the letter Shin. Those that are Torah observant will be known by their actions (hand) and by how they think (forehead). They will be marked like the believer were with God’s name, like in Ezekiel 9.4 and Rev 14.1. Those who are not and follow the False Messiah will also be known by what they do (hand) and how they think (forehead). It will not be in line with the Torah.
When it comes to the real Messiah, we know that he will send his messenger before him, the messenger of the covenant (Torah), as seen in Mal 3.1; 4.4-6. Everybody knows in Judaism that Elijah comes first. In the same way, the false Messiah will also have an “Elijah” but a false one. He commands that a mark be placed with the name of the beast, and we are told that the number of the beast is 6,6,6, or three Vavs. They are to receive it on the forehead (intellect) and their hand (action). We believe that this has more to do with what a person does and thinks. They are marked by what they do and False Prophet will cause people to do and think things that are not in line with the Torah.. We aren’t ruling out an actual “mark” but it does not have to be literal. What a deception and delusion that would be. People are looking for an actual mark, and when it doesn’t happen, they will think they are not getting a mark, but going along with what they have always done. They will not realize the “mark” is in their actions and thinking.
In Part 31. we will pick up here and develop the concept of the Shin and how it relates to the believer, but also how it relates to the “Mark of the Beast.”
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