Mark of the Beast (Video) — Carter Conlon

The Mark of the Beast in Revelation 13

I want to speak to you about the mark of the beast this morning, the mark of the beast. Revelation 13, beginning at verse 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.

And he causes 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 had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred, three score or sixty and six. Now this is talking about an end time event.

When all of the world as we know it today begins to spiral out of control. I don't know if it begins with a financial meltdown, a military confrontation, whatever it is. Men's hearts so begin to fail them that a cry comes for a one world government.

We must have a one world government. There is no other way that peace and prosperity can return to the world, but there must be a single government. Consider it something like a federal government over the world.

And there must be a leader. We have to have a leader that leads this government. Now the scripture tells us that a man will arise and will lead this world government. And this person is known in the scriptures as the Antichrist.

You come on the scenes as a peaceful man, but inside he's not peaceful. There is a demonic power that ultimately will be Satan himself will indwell him. He will cause people on the earth to receive a mark in their forehead or their right hand.

In other words, you either comply to our system or you starve to death. And no one will be able to buy or sell without this mark on their right hand or on their forehead. Now a lot of Christian people have spent a lot of time over the years worrying about this mark.

Now may I just begin this morning by telling you that you don't need to be worried and you'll understand why when we get to the end or close to the end of this message. This, in order to understand what this is all about, you have to go back to the beginning.

Humanity's Fall and the Desire to Be God

Again, we need to see that Satan exalted himself against God and thought that he could be as God and subsequently was deposed coming down into the garden of Eden. He took that which God had created in his own image, mankind, Adam and Eve, our father and our mother, every one of us that are here are all traced back to Adam and Eve.

And he sowed in them that seed which they partook of that you can be as God. You don't have to be under God. You don't have to listen to God. You don't have to acknowledge God, but you can be God. You can chart your own destiny and you can even add religion to it if you want, but you can be God.

It can be your mind that determines what is good and what is evil and you can chart your own course and you can be God. That is the besetting sin. That's the original sin of humankind. That's what's in our nature.

That's what's called the fallen nature, that which within us wants to be God and wants to be as God, wants to literally live any way we want and not suffer any consequence. And in our minds, at least, concoct some kind of an eternal euphoria that we're going to live in, in spite of the fact that we have declared ourselves to be God.

Now, 666, most numerologists, biblical numerologists ascribe the number six to man. And they ascribe a different number to God, three to God, seven to God's perfection. I'm not going to get into all that.

But 666 is a trinity. And realistically, it's man and his body, his soul and his spirit indwelt by Satan himself. It's finally when Satan, the rebellion that began in Eden finally reaches its climax, where man declares himself, a man indwelt by Satan, declares himself to be God.

He will actually go into Israel, go into the temple, and he will declare himself physically to be God. That's been Satan's goal right from the beginning. And he will finally have created an unholy trinity as it is.

And all of humanity that agrees with that, all of humanity that agrees that man can be God, it will be nothing to these people to receive a mark on their forehead or their hand because they've already agreed with it long before the mark ever comes.

They've already agreed with this fallen thinking, this fallen theology. In their minds, they've been given to this fallen condition that man can be as God in the right hand, which always represents the hand of power.

Remember, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. Christ stands at the right hand of the poor. The scripture says to strengthen him and to lift him up. And the right hand is the hand of strength. It's where we're reaching.

It's what we're ascribing to be and to attain. It's what we've set our hand to do. So it will be just natural to receive that mark as it is on the right hand because the pursuit has already been in line with the thinking of Satan himself.

Noah's Generation and the Scorn of Christ's Return

Jesus himself told us in Matthew 24 and verse 38 that as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark.

Now, obviously, eating and drinking are not a bad thing. And marrying and giving in marriage, even the scripture says it's a good thing. But it implies a preoccupation with security and pretending that all is well.

Convincing ourselves that there is no God, no judgment, no everlasting peril just ahead of us. And even if there is some acknowledgement of God, it comes with an inner scorning. Peter said in 2 Peter chapter 3, verses 3 and 4, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts, given to this pursuit of self as it is and saying, where's the promise of his coming?

Now, it implies, doesn't it imply to you, it does to me that there is some knowledge of the scriptures here. There are people out there that have never even considered this, so they're not really included in this.

These have to be people that at least at some point had some knowledge of the word of God, knowing that Jesus was crucified for sin, died, rose again the third day and is promised to come back to rule and reign on the earth with those that are his own.

But there's a scorning in those who walk after their own lusts, not given to the things of God. Their minds are not fixed on the things of heaven. Their hands are not reaching out to what is legitimately in the scriptures the work of God.

And so a scoffing comes into the heart and they said, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. It's the type of person who sits here today and says, oh no, not another message about the coming of Christ.

They've been preaching that for 2000 years. You know, my father used to tell me, he said, son, live every day like it's going to be your last because one day you're going to be right. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 3, he said, that day, that's the day of Christ, will not come except there come a falling away first.

Falling away. In order to fall away, you have to have been somewhere to fall away. A falling away, a falling away of people who sat in church, but never embraced the work of God. Never really had, didn't want to go to hell, but didn't want to live for heaven either.

Didn't really wanted the cross for redemption, but did not want the cross for a lifestyle. Didn't want to really go any deeper than just a super official reading, sing a few songs, feel good in church.

And that was in a sense the extent of it. But folks, that won't keep you in a storm. When things got tough in these last days according to this, they fell away to a secondary, another reasoning. It's important to understand what it is they fell away to.

The Valley of Decision and a Life Fully Surrendered to God

Joel, the prophet in chapter 3 verse 14, he clearly speaks of multitudes in the valley of decision, or actually the word for decision is threshing. As the time leading to the Lord's final judgment on this world draws to a close.

Joel's speaking of God leading armies as it is around the world into this valley where there's going to be a reckoning with a holy God. And multitudes are in a place of deciding something. And maybe that's you this morning.

Maybe you are one of the multitude. The world is being gathered to a point. It's being gathered divinely by God. Nothing is happening that the Lord has not foretold us of. Everything is unfolding exactly as he planned it from before the foundation of the world.

It's all been about a bride, a church, his son, and eternity with him. And the world is going to be folded away. And leaders and kings are all in the hand of God. There's nobody can form a plan that is outside of the will of God.

And when you and I finally understand that, we're being brought to this, I think the culmination of the world as we know it is very, very close. And there are multitudes in a place of decision now. How deep am I going to go with God?

How far am I going to go? How much am I going to let him rule my life? How willing am I to let his value system become mine? His plan for my feet become the plan of my life as opposed to my own plan, which really does make me the God of my own life, doesn't it?

If you're bringing in here some plan today and you're asking God to bless it, aren't you God in your own? Haven't you fallen into the trap of Satan himself? As I read the scriptures, I'm not called to bring my plan to God.

I'm called to come to him and get his plan for me. And he promises me power to walk in that plan. He promises me life. He promises me that I will bear fruit for his kingdom. He promises me supernatural empowerment and change.

He promises that I'll have a joy in the midst of sorrow. There'll be a firmness in my mind and in my heart no matter what happens. Like the Psalmist David, he said, even if the seas roar and the mountains fall into the midst of the sea, I'll not be afraid because God is with me.

God is the God of my strength. It's not about now, it's about forever. And now forever is just beginning for me today. Luke 21, 26, Jesus says, men's hearts will fail them for fear and for looking after the things which are coming on the earth.

Earthly Values, Esau, and the Choice of Eternal Inheritance

You notice how suddenly everything just started to spiral out of control? Just a few years ago there were more millionaires than ever in the history of America. And now all of a sudden we're seeing riots in France and we're seeing instability in Greece and Japan is on the brink of collapse again.

And there's talk everywhere that the almighty American dollar is losing its strength and its value. And there's a concern which you should rightly have in your heart. If your value system is in these things, you really should be concerned.

And just like Esau did, many who still have access to the promises of God are going to have to make a choice. Now Esau was one of the sons of, let me not just go into all the history, but he had access to the promise that God gave to Abraham.

The promise of life, the promise of supernatural empowerment, the promise that he would be a blessing in the earth and it was going to flow through him. Just like you have that promise, I have that promise, but he had a choice to make.

And one day he walked in and he was hungry and he saw, he had a choice between what is promised tomorrow and will be eternal or what is here today and won't last for long. And it's almost inconceivable that he traded off the life of Christ that could have flowed through him for stew, for a bowl of stew.

But you see, he held no value to the life of Christ. And it became the natural thing to trade it off. Why will people fall away? Well, because they've been part of the family, but never really internally embraced what that means.

Never really came to a place of awe and saying, God, you promised me life. You promised to come and dwell within this earth and body. You promised Lord to make me much more than I could ever be in myself.

You promised to lead me on a path through this earth and then into eternity where I'll rule and reign with you. And much of that is promise. You may not see the fulfillment of all of it on this side of eternity.

And Esau was a man who just said, no, I just want it now. Just like the prodigal son, give me my inheritance now. I want the kingdom now. I don't want to wait until this physical life is over. I want it all right here and I want it all right now.

I want to be wealthy now. I want a mansion now. I want to rule now. I want it all now. And so he sold off what really is God and took the inheritance and headed in the wrong direction. Esau headed in the wrong direction and the prodigal son headed in the wrong direction.

Malachi 1 .3, the Lord said, I hated Esau and I laid his mountains and his heritage waste. God says, I hated the testimony of that man in the earth walking out and maybe professing, yeah, Abraham's my grandfather.

I mean, the promise is mine, but God said, I hated that image of God that this man portrayed in the earth. This self-focused, selfish, carnal man who claimed to be in the lineage of God. The Lord says, I hated this image of God in this man Esau.

And you could say that the mark of owning neither the presence nor the promise of God was on him. He was marked. Philippians 3 .18 and 19, Paul says, many walk of whom I've told you often and tell you now even weeping that are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

Their mind is on the things of the earth instead of the things of God, instead of the things of Christ. They live every day focused on the things of this world. Now, the Bible shows us in Genesis 4 .15 that the first mark man in the Bible was Cain.

And the scripture says, and the Lord set a mark upon Cain. Now he was a man who willfully brought to God less than he knew that God required of him. He willfully did so. I can't help but plead for some here today that you're coming in even to a place where the glory of God is as strong as it is here, but you're bringing willfully, willfully is the word, into God less than he requires of you.

There are things that you know that God is asking of you, but you're not willing. You're looking to be God in your own life and somehow circumvent God's will and God's word in your life. You're trying to justify practices, relationships, whatever it is that you're involved in.

You're trying to make what is wrong, right. You're trying to change the truth of God in your heart and bringing to God less than you know in your heart that he requires. And God put a mark on Cain and Cain became an unsatisfied wanderer.

In a sense, he was marked to a life of endless searching and never finding that which satisfies. And I can't help but wonder why Christian people in the last two decades have been running all over the world looking for Jesus Christ.

Is it possible there's a mark there? Is it possible that they're individually not bringing to God that which is known to them that he requires and so subsequently because there's nothing where they are, there's no living relationship, there's no prayer life, there's no revelation, then suddenly there's some manifestation somewhere in the world and they're on by the scores, they're on airplanes and flying all over the place looking for Jesus Christ.

But didn't Jesus himself say, if they say he's over here, he's in the desert, don't go there, don't believe it, he's everywhere, he's omnipresent, he's in the text of scripture and if you're a believer, he's inside of you.

You don't have to look very far for him. He's right here. That's why you'll cry out to the Lord and you'll say, here I am. If we begin to do the work of God according to Isaiah, Isaiah says, and then you'll say, Lord, where are you?

And you'll hear an inner voice saying, I'm right here, here I am. What is it that you want me to do? Because you're actually walking in unison, you're walking in link step with me. An unsatisfied wanderer marked to a life of endless searching and never finding that which satisfies.

The Passing World and the Peace of Those Who Trust God

The Lord gave me a picture of somebody inside the Titanic after it hit the iceberg and most everybody has fled the ship or in the process of trying to flee it at least. And you see a poor hapless soul down on the second or third deck examining the cabins, looking for a comfortable place, all excited about all that is here that everybody has left behind and say, wow, look at this one.

This one has gold faucets in it and the clothing, just like Akin when he went into Jericho thinking no harm is going to come to them. And the insanity of it all, of looking for comfort, looking for security in a ship that is going down to the bottom of the ocean.

And folks, it's the same for a Christian who's looking for fulfillment as it is and things that last in the things of this world. Now, I'm not suggesting you can't enjoy a walk in the park on a sunny day.

I'm not suggesting we walk around mournful, hanging our heads all day. No, that's not it. It's our identity, our satisfaction, who we are, what we're becoming is not in the things of this world, but in the things of God.

The world passes away, John says in 1 John 2, 15 to 17, and the lust of this world is passing away. That means everything that satisfies the flesh, that which delights the eyes, that which gives pride to the human heart.

But he that does the will of God abides forever. The man or woman who chooses to say not my will, but thine, the promise of God is you will abide. You will survive. You will live. You'll have a future.

You'll have strength where there is no strength. Doesn't the scripture say thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed upon thee. Though there be roaring on this side, though there be violence on this side, the minds of those, the lives of those who belong to Christ, there's a promise of peace.

There's a promise of strength and security to the believer. The people of the opening text received the mark because that's where their minds were. That's where their strength was given to, as I said earlier.

They failed to understand the seductive power of human reasoning that creates a path that it truly believes leads to safety, but it doesn't. Human mind is a seductive thing, and when you combine it with the power of evil and its reasoning, people can be led almost anywhere.

There's a way that seems right unto a man, the scripture says, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And Jesus said in Matthew 24, 39, they knew not until the flood came and took them all away. They knew not.

I think of the multitudes that must have passed by the ark that God was building at that time on their way into the city to do whatever it was they were doing in the city, and I'm not suggesting all the activity was evil, but I am suggesting it fell short of the glory of God.

And they knew where it was, and they passed by, and scripture tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness, and he would have been standing before the multitudes saying, there's a day of justice coming.

Folks, you've got to get right with God. You need to get into that place of safety, which he is preparing clearly, visibly before you. It's not hidden. It's not a secret. It's not something you can honestly ever say when you stand before God.

I didn't know it was there. I didn't know what it implied. You see, it implied a leaving of the pursuits as it is, the full pursuits of the things of this world and the beginning of the building of something that was being ridiculed by fallen man.

They knew not until the floods came and took them all away. Revelation chapter 12 tells us that Satan was cast down to the earth, knowing his time is short, and he cast out of his mouth water as a flood.

They knew not until the flood came and took them all away. Satan is one day physically, this scripture in Revelation will be fulfilled where this water comes. It's a combination of threat, promise, and deception.

This dirty water comes out of this vessel that claims himself to be God and deceives multitudes by this flood that are on the face of the earth. It speaks of a specific time yet to come. Yet this progression of lawlessness and deception, according to Paul in second Thessalonians chapter two and verse seven is already at work.

It's already here. There's already confusion at every turn. This society is getting confused, folks. There doesn't even seem to be a quest for truth anymore. In Matthew 24, Jesus said, there'll be two in a field.

One will be taken and one will be left. There'll be two working at a mill. One will be taken and one will be left. We ask ourselves, taken where? I just say they're taken into the protective hand of God.

That's where I need to be. That's where you need to be in this generation. Just take it in whatever form, whether you believe that's the rapture of the church or whatever. The fact remains it's God reaching down and saying, this one is mine and nothing is taking this one out of my hand.

I'm going to take you through. The promises I make to you are going to be yay and amen. You're not going to be left to the fears and the reasonings of others around you because you have made a choice.

A Heavenly Country and the Security of God's People

You've been working in the field. You've been working at the mill, but you made an inner choice. Let me read to you that inner choice that has been made by these that'll be taken into the hand of God.

In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 13, it says, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

But now they desire a better country that is a heavenly one where God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city. You see, it's people like you and me working at the same mill, working in the same field, but just like Cain and Abel, one is bringing a sacrifice that is acceptable, another is not.

Like Esau and Jacob, one really values the inheritance of God in Christ and another one holds it in his or her hands very, very lightly. In one of these people that Jesus speaks about, there was an inner longing for God.

This longing was so intense that they had in their hearts become strangers to this world. This message began a few weeks ago in my heart. Every day I have to go out and do some things in the city and I'd take my dog once in a while and go for a walk.

And lately there's just been this inner groaning in me. I said, God, I really, I don't like what this place has become. I don't, I don't like the violence. I don't like the violence. I don't like the man step on man to get what he needs and wants.

I don't like the evil conversation. I don't like the fact that everybody's yelling in their cell phones now in every corner, screaming at somebody. Everybody's screaming at somebody. Everybody's angry.

I don't, I don't like coming out of my apartment and seeing all the vomit this morning from, from last night. There's vomit on the street. There's vomit around the corner. I took my dog for a walk this morning and all the way down the street, ate and all the way down one of the side streets, there's just piles of vomit everywhere where people have been coming out of bars and clubs have been throwing up in the streets.

And there's just something inside of me that I, I, although I, I love my family beyond words and I love my, my grand sons desperately. There's something inside of me just, just wants to go home. This is not my home folks.

This is, this is not my home. I'm left here for your sake. And Paul said, I, Paul said, I'm not Paul, but I can, I can understand what he was saying. Paul said, I would love to go home, but it's more expedient for me to stay here.

See, Paul had a revelation of God. He had a revelation of the cross. He had a revelation of the purposes of God. And Paul was saying, I stay here just for that. That's the reason I'm here. Now Paul made tents.

He had an occupation. Paul traveled. Paul, Paul had times of joy. I'm sure Paul had times of laughter with some of his good friends. And we're not called to walk around mournful and not to enjoy life as God has given it to us.

But Paul was here for a specific reason that God had left him here, just as you and I are. This whole planet is going to perish as it presently exists. And men and women who don't know Jesus Christ are going into hell, a place called hell, which is the absence of God.

And all that means they're going there forever. They're going there into all eternity. And you and I are left here to warn people about this, to reach the poor man who has nobody, to tell them that God loves him, to go to the prostitute, to go to the lame, to go to the leper, to go into prisons, to go into places where people are sick, whether it's physically sick or sin sick, and tell them, not just tell them, but show them that God loves them.

That's the kingdom. How do I show people that God loves them? Let's say I was a trader on the trade floor and I'm yelling and screaming and scribbling on papers just like everybody else and frantic and fretting and chewing my nails and running outside and smoking on my break.

And then I go back in to try. Hey, by the way, did you know God loves you? Do you see the idiocy of it? It's an Esau. It's a completely embracing a wrong value system. But the man or woman of God, I'm not saying you can't work on the trading floor, but would you please keep it in perspective?

Would you please understand that all you're doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? Keep it in its right perspective. Don't try to say that I'm suggesting you shouldn't enjoy life or have a job.

I'm not suggesting that. But keep everything you do and what you're giving, keep it in the right perspective. Don't let your mind, don't stretch out your hand to that which is perishing and let it become your value system.

Let the work of God be what you value. Go to Ezekiel chapter nine, please. We're going to close with this this morning. Ezekiel chapter nine. It was a time where God was about to judge his own city, Jerusalem.

It was going to be a hard judgment. It was going to be thorough. It's society and it's religion. We're both going to go down. And it was going to happen suddenly and in a moment of time that people were not aware of it.

Most had chosen to put off that day. Most never believed. It's not possible that God would ever judge us. It's not possible he'd ever judge his temple. I mean, the history here, the prayers that have been prayed here, surely God could never do this.

You see, when we start to believe that we have, we've substituted our own thoughts for the word of God. In Ezekiel nine and verse three, it says, the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub and whereupon he was to the threshold of the house.

And he called to the man clothed with linen and he had a writer's ink horn by his side. And the Lord said to him, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark. Can I substitute New York there?

Would you mind? And the Lord said to him, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of New York and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

And to the others he said in my hearing, go after him throughout the city and smite. Let not your eyes spare, neither have pity. Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark and begin at my sanctuary.

Then they began at the ancient men, which were before the house. And he said to them, defile the house, fill the courts with the slain, go forth. And they went forth and slew in the city. And it came to pass while they were slain and I was left, I fell upon my face and cried and said, oh Lord God, will you destroy all the residue of Israel and pouring out of your fury upon Jerusalem?

Then he said to me, the iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great. And the land is full of blood and the city is full of perverseness. For they say the Lord has forsaken the earth and the Lord seeth not or the Lord's not aware of what we're doing.

And as for me also, mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head. And behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the incorn by his side reported the matter saying, I've done as thou has commanded me.

Now God was about to judge Jerusalem, but he had a man with a pen and ink horn and a certain type of ink. And he said, go and set a mark, set it on the foreheads. Remember the mark in revelation was on the forehead in the right hand, set it on the forehead of all the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

Set a mark upon those whose value system is in line with God, set a mark upon those who feel what God feels who are walking in a way that if Christ himself were on the streets of New York, that he would be thinking and feeling set, set a mark upon those whose value system is not so intertwined that they, they just walk down the streets, sing in New York, New York, what a wonderful place this is.

And they have no spiritual eyes. They don't see what's going on here. They don't understand the day we're living in. They're not aware of the peril. They're not even concerned about the plight of the eternity of those who are vomiting in the streets in the evening.

They don't care because their forehead, their mind and their hands are in with the same value system like lot was of the society that they're part of. They really don't have the value system of Christ.

Set a mark upon them. If you are walking the streets of this city, if you're sitting on the subway, single moms with your kids, and everybody's here today, if there's a sighing in your heart, you can be thankful for that today.

If you're walking around the city and it's not that you're morose, but there's this inward awareness that I don't belong here. This is not my home. My satisfaction is not here. I don't care if they gave me the tallest building in Manhattan.

What would it do for me? I don't care about these things. These things don't matter. I have a mansion in heaven. I have a promise of God. I have a promise of the life of Christ. God knows the scripture says those that are his, he said, set a mark on them.

God knows those that are his. God knows who you are out there. They're sealed, Jesus said, in the father's hand. That settles it to me, folks. Sealed in the hand of the father. Let, let hell throw what it may.

Let the devil send it flat out of his mouth. Let society get confused as it want to get. Those who belong to Christ, I am, you are sealed in the hand of almighty God and nobody, nobody can take you out of the hand of God.

Nobody, no flood, no fire, no army, no demonic power, no height, no depth, no battle, no evil, no situation, no poverty, no trial, nothing. Nothing can take you out of the hand of God. Nothing. And Paul said, I know whom I believed and I am persuaded he's able to keep that, that I've been trusted to him against that day.