Covid-19 and the Mark of the Beast!
Revelation 13:16-18 (NIV)
16 He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.
Please don’t let the title of this post, or the passage of scripture I opened with, cause you to be concerned that Mike Hart has “Done Gone off the Deep End!” I am in no way, shape, or form going to propose that the Covid-19 vaccine is the Mark of the Beast, although I have heard that suggested by others. Whew… I feel better having clarified that, hope you do too! I would like to explore some of the similarities however.
For as long as I have been a Christian, the concept of Revelation 13 has always seemed like an impossibility to me. We are talking about the entire world here, not just one or two countries. How in the world, no pun intended, can you impose this edict on all people everywhere and then hope to enforce it? I always thought that it could never happen.
Then along came Covid-19 and we witnessed a world-wide reaction to the virus. Quarantines were put in place, mask mandates were enacted, what was deemed “non-essential” businesses were closed, churches were closed. We were all told not to have family gatherings in the homes. (No Thanksgiving and no Christmas with family members.)
For the most part, people around the world submitted to these edicts. I asked myself, why was there world-wide compliance? The answer to my “WHY” question became very obvious as I pondered it. FEAR! As Bill Dixon, the American composer, activist and educator put it, “Fear is the biggest motivator.”
I began to realize that we the people can be made to do almost anything if there is sufficient fear attached. I took another look at Revelation 13 with verses 11 through 15 added for context. There it was in verse 15, fear of being killed if they didn’t comply! Yes, I believe that Christians will be gone in the rapture by this time, but what about those who are not?
Revelation 13:11-18 (NIV)
11 Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.
12 He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. 14 Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.
So, what does Covid-19 have to do with the mark of the beast? Maybe nothing; and then again they may have a lot in common. They are both motivated by fear, and that fear is used to get the population to submit to the powers that be!
Could the fear regarding the virus be a foreshadowing, or a test run if you will, of what is coming in the end times? Could it be something that we can use as an individual, to take an honest look at our own fear level?
Fear, left unchecked, will become more and more insidious. I pray that each of us will be ruled by FAITH not fear!
As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in his 1933 inaugural address, “We have nothing to fear but fear its self!”
2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)
7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.