Charagma [ χάραγμα ]: "The Mark"

Revelation 13:16-17 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

It never occurred to me why taking the "mark of the beast" [Gk: charagma tou therion] mentioned in Revelation is such a horrendous act. We know what the numerics are but why on the forehead or the hand? Why is it not acceptable? We need to revisit the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 6 (the Sherma or Greatest Commandment) to find the answer.

Deuteronomy 6:4-8 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. In Deuteronomy 6 it is "oth" instead of 'charagma". Both words are set forth with the connotation of being signs. When used in the context of Deuteronomy 6, "mark" and "sign" are interchangeable. Regardless, as with other signs of the Old Testament they are meant to be permanent reminders. Signs direct people towards other things. What are that those things?

Verses 4-5 above are Israel's doctrinal confession in its most distilled form. It is the core principle to covenant and even Jesus reiterated it in the New Testament.

Matthew 22:36-37 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment..."

The key to understanding the inappropriateness of taking the mark of the beast on the forehead or hand is Deuteronomy 6:8. The Israelites were to bind the commandments on these areas. God's greatest commandments. Modern devout Jews still do this. They are called Phylacteries or Tefillin. The little square boxes that they bind to their head and arms/hands contain small folded pieces of Deuteronomy 6:5-9, 11:13-21 and Exodus 13:1-16.

Deuteronomy 11:13-21 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul-then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

Instead of binding what God commands His people to bind in the areas of the forehead and hand, His people will instead take the "mark" in these areas. It is essentially mocking and belittling what God told the Israelites was to be done to remind them what He considered most important, which is love and obedience. It is the most disobedient form of disobedience and shows a complete lack of love for God and His statutes by taking "the mark". By placing the number of man or man's identifier in God's place it is an attempt to bring God down to mans level or elevate man to Gods place (both are absurd). It is symbolically giving God the middle finger. I don't know about you but I felt really uncomfortable typing this sentence just now. I can't imagine being stupid enough to get an "emblem" on my forehead but apparently many will have absolutely no qualms in doing so. I pity them. Additionally, the right hand was a symbol of power as is noted when Scripture refers to Jesus sitting at the Fathers right hand.

The Phylacteries/Tefillin direct man towards God. The Mark of the Beast directs man towards man or towards evil and system of this world. A system that has nothing to do with Biblical love or obedience.

Only God alone is worthy of worship. To obey God is to love God (John 14:15). To identify anything else in the place of God is a mockery of God. God's proper position is above all. There should be no other God's before him.

Caught In The Acts

So why does Acts end abruptly?

Paul is shipwrecked and islanders show him unusual kindness. He is bitten by a viper and suffers no ill effects. After wintering on an island he goes to Rome and remains in his imprisonment under Roman Guard and...

"For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ." ~Acts 28:30-31.

Here the Book of Acts ends. Why? No explanation of what happens to Paul in Rome. No explanation of what happens after. Why?

Because at the time there was nothing else for Luke to write (an unsubstantiated theory says Luke died).

A more likely reason for an abrupt ending to Acts is because the Acts of the apostles were still taking place at the time Luke wrote The Book of Acts. The most likely date for the writing of Acts is approximately 60-62AD. The approximate date that Paul is transported under Roman Guard to Rome for an audience with Nero was around 60AD (he was later released). Essentially the continuation of Acts is in the letters Paul wrote to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians and Philippians while under house arrest in Rome. These Prison letters or prison epistles were written around A.D. 60 to 61. Subsequntly, further arrests and imprisonments took place and finally the beheading of Paul which most likely took place around 64-65AD.

This is why, in a historical context, the Book of Acts' prose is more a combination of the Letters of Paul and the Gospels of Jesus Christ. The Gospels were written after the fact because the 1st century Jewish aural/oral tradition maintained them orally for a period of approximately 15-20 years during the dispersion of early Christians through the Mediterranean area after Pentecost. Heresy and false teaching like Neo-Marcionism began to encroach on the church so it was deemed imperative that the Gospels of Christ be written down for posterity. Conversely, Paul's letters were written concurrent with the time Paul experienced them or very close thereafter(becasue they were letters!). Acts is a little of both. The Acts are a retrospection of things to the point in time where Luke writes for Theophilus or as Luke put it in his Gospel of Luke introduction:

"Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught." Luke 1:1-4

The key words in the aforementioned passage are "fulfilled" which implies they were events in the past. The other key word is "everything" or all the information Luke had at the time of writing Luke/Acts. It is obvious that 99% of Acts was written as an "after the fact" documentary but Luke appears to end the book in the "heat of the "Acts"ion. Luke and Paul were contemporaries and more than likely were writing at the same time. Luke didn't know the outcome of Paul's trip to Rome under house arrest.

Acts 28 was "in-process" when it was being written by Luke. He literally caught the Apostles in the "Acts". Anything after Acts 28:31 hadn't happened yet. As it stands nothing further was written because it would've been a future event. Instead we need to then jump to Paul's prison epistles to see what further takes place in Paul's life.

Addendum:
It is my belief that the Acts of the Holy Spirit continue to this day. I will not claim cessationist beliefs. I am convicted that there is always the possibility that they do still exist. I feel if I say they are now impossible in the post-apostolic age I am somehow limiting the Holy Spirit. The truth is God can do what He wants when He wants. What I will say is that the Holy Spirit is still "acting" and working in His Church every minute of everyday since the Church began. How He works and how much He works in this world and in a believers life is indicative of the believer's faith.

Let My People Go!

I am not sure how I missed this so many times I read the story of the Exodus. It is the life of the believer in an encapsulated form. It is obviously the Almighty miraculously intervening in the lives of His people. It is also a foreshadowing of the non-believer before he is saved, during his conversion and is eventual glorification that is achieved by faith through grace.

Egypt in this story is the world system and the trappings of life that cause us to be and remain sinners. Then comes God's miraculous intervention (election/reprobation) to save His people from the world system that enslaves them. In the case of the Exodus it is Pharaoh's enslavement of the Hebrew slaves. God warns and warns and warns but Pharaoh/the world's system continues to harden its heart making it less and less receptive to the voice of God and His commands. It takes a mighty and divine act of the death of the firstborn and the passover (which is another portion of the storyline I'm not prepared to go down right now) for Pharaoh to temporarily relent. Once the Hebrew slaves are released Pharaoh again changes His mind and goes in hot pursuit. At this point God's mercy and grace ends and the hammer falls killing Pharaoh's army. Each event until this point in time appeared to be horrible punishments for the Egyptians but in reality they were merciful half measures to allow the Egyptians chances to repent and were perfect examples of God's long-suffering attitude for His creation. The incident at the Red Sea ends this. The Egyptians finally crossed a line they shouldn't have crossed.

The release of the Hebrews from captivity is another foreshadowing of a believer's release from the captivity of sin through conversion. Pharaoh, being the evil world system pursues them vehemently and attempts to stop them. The system of this world, it's powers and principalities don't want to release their slaves either. Misery loves company. Inevitably, like Pharaoh sin will be crushed, God will crush the world's system because it is reprobate.

Even in light of their amazing release from captivity and momentous crossing of the Red Sea, the fledgling nation of Israel chose to bow down to a God that they made with their own hands. Since they couldn't return to Egypt they brought Egypt to themselves. More specifically they allowed Egypt (sin & the world) to dwell in them. They complained incessantly and actually wanted to return to Egypt because they were eating manna everyday (and were sick of it) and wanted to melons, onions, leeks and cucumbers which are analogous to the trappings of this world. God had every right to annihilate them at this point but did not. They continue to sin and God continued to be patient. Because of continued rebellion against the God that delivered them they were condemned to wander the desert for 40 years until all but two of the original people from the Egyptian exodus died. Only then were Joshua, Caleb and the next generation allowed entrance into the Promised Land. The Promised Land is analogous to Heaven. A land flowing with milk and honey. A place of rest after a long and sometimes painful wandering. A purposeful wandering inflicted on the future Israelites for the purpose of punishment but also a lesson of building faith and dependence on God. The due punishment for sin is death. Every Christian knows this or should know it. The analogy is to a modern day Christian's act of sanctification on a winding road of trial and error towards eventual death and glorification.

It's Gonna Hurt Me More Than It's Gonna Hurt You

Children inherit the sinful natures from their parents and they can also inherit specific sins. When I say inherit I mean spiritually, not evolutionary.

Exodus 34:6-7
"The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation."

"Visiting" [Paqad] in Hebrew in this context means "be concerned with, make a search for, punish". This is an expression of grace. Certain sins run in a family, alcoholism, drug use, adultery to name a few. God essentially promises to track sins down and eliminate them in order to keep them from propagating from one generation to the next. If the Lord Almighty didn't do this we would literally wipe ourselves out with sin. Sin has a pervasive rippling effect in families. A proclivity for a particular sin. We've all seen this too. David-Solomon, Abraham-Issac/Jacob...deceivers, impatient, adulterous, polygamists, lack or self-control, prone to bad decision-making because of a prevalence to drift away from God.

We need to be faithful and consistent. Break the will not the spirit. Explain the offense. Reaffirm the child. End the matter. Don't let it drag on. Deal with issues decisively. Cultivate self-worth in the child. Acknowledge the child's personal identity instilled in them by God. Children help form the parent also. Teach them authenticity by living it. Arrest your sins with the Lord's help or don't expect your children to. Reward obedience to God and parents. We as parents are only stewards of our children. If they disobey us we are creating a pattern of disobedience when it comes time for us to turn them over to God whom they rightfully belong to . If they disobey us and and rebel against us they will be the same way with the Lord. Better for us to teach and punish them now than to have them go errant and have them punished by God eternally. Understand also that the worst acts of evil can be perpetrated or found in the most structured and respected homes. Unresolved evils can fester into larger problems and can cause more evils. It is amazing how much evil can grow behind the closed doors of a seemingly "normal" home.

Some of the defining characteristics of a good parent (and believe me, I need to work on these too). They create a comfortable, loving, nurturing, Grace-filled home. Jesus described a man who was approachable and gracious. A parent willing to release a child totally when the time was appropriate. A parent willing to wait on God, worship God and be a good role model in all things holy and Godly. A parent that is willing to accept and forgive and restore a child. How many times do you allow reconciliation after someone has "blown it"?

I try to humble myself (and fail most of the time), I pray to find the problem and fix it, not find blame and affix the blame (guilty of this also). Operate with correct motives not selfish motives. Above all be patient as God is with us. Think about how long suffering God has been with humanity and it puts you trivial problems in perspective. They barely warrant notice let alone dwelling on them.

Children are a gift. You were a child once also. You still are a child (albeit a different type) even if you are 80 years old. You are God's child. If we have indifference towards our children we will have indifference towards God because we are not obeying His commands. Sometimes we are actually allowed to be punished here and are allowed to repent. How much punishment we are allowed to get here on earth before being given up to eternal punishment is a matter of grace and mercy. No parent likes to punish but if a parent doesn't punish, THEY should be punished

We are all branches from the vine and each successive generation produces new shoots/new life. Each successive shoot off the vine is only as healthy and productive as the previous branch it is attached to. When in Christ we can be like Him. Christ's life wasn't always a primrose path, He suffered for our sin. It is only because of Him we are allowed this merciful punishment rather than immediate death. To suffer is to gain.

Contend Earnestly For The Faith

Genesis 32:24-29
And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him.

The angel in this Scripture is in actuality, the Angel of the Lord who is God. A preincarnate appearance or theophany of Jesus Christ. This is confirmed by Scripture also...

Hosea 12:4
He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us-the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD is his memorial name: "So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice,and wait continually for your God."

So what is the passage in Genesis telling us and Hosea reaffirming? We are to strive tenaciously with God. We are to continually petition Him. Why? One, it shows a lively faith that is demonstrating perseverance which brings God's favor. What else does it show? That eventually man needs to yield to God not the other way around. Trust me on this one, the Lord had the ability to end this any time He pleased but it pleased Him more to see Jacob "strive" or dedicate serious effort or energy to it. Why? Because it glorifies God to show a man that has such a firm and tenacious faith in God that he is willing to go to the "n"th degree to garner His blessing. This shows a tremendous amount of spirit working in Jacob.

What else does it show? It shows that no one walks away from an encounter with the Living God without being permanently changed. In Jacobs case it was is hip joint maimed and his name (and identity). Jacob wrestled with everything he had in the gas tank but it took only a touch from God to permanently change Jacob for the remainder of his physical life. A little reminder of how powerful the Almighty is.

There is nothing quite like the appreciation of something that toiling instills in a person. I imagine this is intentional. We need to work towards things to understand this too. Gaining something through toiling teaches us to persevere. Sometimes through pain it teaches us also. Sometimes we need to get hurt to remember because some of us are a little thick-headed. Ironically, God has already put it within us to do what we do. It is not us but Christ that works in us. We need to work it out with fear and trembling before the Lord. God works through our hard work. He works through our suffering to make us more like Him. Through our suffering we are brought more in line with the mind of Christ.

Philippians 2:12
...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling

I wasn't turning over any new stones on this post. I was just stating what would've been obvious to all that content earnestly for the faith everyday. Although some have to strive harder because their obstacles are more pronounced we all strive just the same. The more we do so the better our chances of getting things right. If we are busy trying to win God's favor, trying to be more holy and walking in the ways of the righteous...we have less time to pursue the evil of the world.

Please don't get me wrong either. I am not preaching a "prosperity" gospel here. There are no guarantees that you will be rewarded in this life for obedience. What I am saying is that you may have a better chance at holiness and a better relationship with the Lord if you actually show a little interest and put forth a little effort.

Nothing ventured nothing gained.

That Settles It, We Have 10% of the Data...Evolution Is True

Extra-biblical sources are incomplete therefore not wholly reliable. You need to take the Bible at face value and wait for science and the secular man to catch up to what the Bible has known and clearly stated for millennia. When science criticizes the Bible, science needs to be asked a question. Do you know all there is to know? If not, the burden of proof is on the criticizer. The Scripture tells me it is reliable...and it has proven its reliability over and over.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent equipped for every good work.

Of course this above statement will make absolutely no sense to those that cannot biblically and spiritually discern things. It will appear as foolishness to the non-biblical and theologically illiterate.

1 Corinthians 1:18
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Has science proved itself reliable over and over across the entire spectrum that it addresses? Hardly. Phrenology, Social Darwinism and Scientific Racism to name just a few have been "EPIC FAIL" material. All these things help lead to the Nazi purge in Germany of the Jews and is still used to this day under the guise of ethnic cleansing.

Bottom line? I can no longer put my "faith" in a creation(s) of man because they've "blown it" too many times. A majority of biological or biologically based science is based on a theory that is contradictory to the Bible (evolution) that doesn't have a shred of scientific proof to validate macro evolution. No evidence that a living life form has ever "evolved" outside of its type/species. No transitional fossils. Nothing scientific, nothing repeatably observable.

Genesis 1:24-25 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good."

"Kind": family, species.

When alleged transition fossils are produced it is bone fragments that or potions of a skull that is less than 10% of the original bone mass (i.e. partial skeletons). Skulls that could clearly be defined as primate are redefined as proto-human to fit an evolutionary agenda when it is quite possible they could be minute variations on the micro-evolutionary level within the primate species.

If the Bible has been wrong as many times as science has people would've lost faith in it a long time ago. It would've been a laughingstock. I believe this is why the Bible is attacked so viciously so often. I have a college level Biology book that dedicates 1300 pages to evolutionary biology and 1/2 a page to creationism. They only reason creationism was included in the book was to ridicule it BUT no attempt to disprove what it claims. Why? I believe it is either because those in the scientific community have never read and understood it or they know what I already do. That it is correct. If its correct then not only are they wrong, they have to admit they are sinners deserving of punishment. This will never happen because it will take science out of the drivers seat and man looses control. There has never really been a successful refutation of what the Bible states. Where it speaks to science (even though it is not a science book) it has never been wrong.

Suffix: "-ation" Latin- meaning an action or process

I've heard this said before and it needs to be repeated.

The Old Testament is: Anticipation
The Gospels are: Manifestation
The Book of Acts is: Explanation & Proclamation
Pauline & Pastoral Epistles are: Explanation
Revelation is: Consummation

Anticipation, manifestation, explanation, proclamation, explanation and consummation of what?

Jesus Christ, His sacrifice and our salvation. FAITH.

The Old Testament was needed to show man's need of forgiveness. The New Testament shows fulfillment of the law in a single act of divine sacrifice. Do you need another? Can anyone but God improve on His Righteousness?

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. ~Romans 3:21-26

Righteousness Through Faith. Made Righteous through Christ. Justification. We then work the rest of our lives with the Lord in an act of Sanctification. The Lord knows that we are incapable of doing it on our own. When we die and go to be in the presence of the Lord...Glorification.

A Family Tree

The Bible is an integrated design and it is based on a plan. Genesis 5 produces a rather profound demonstration of this in the genealogy of mankind from Adam to Noah. I have given the Hebraic/Aramaic translation of their names.

Adam: Man
Seth: Appointed/Substituted
Enosh: Mortal
Kenan: Sorrow
Mahalalel: Blessed God
Jared: Shall Come Down
Enoch: Teaching
Methuselah: His Death Shall Bring
Lamech: Death and Despairing
Noah: Comfort and Rest

Place these translated words/ideas together in a sentence and it reads as follows:

"Man [was] appointed mortal sorrow [which is death]. Blessed God shall come down teaching His death shall bring lament and despairing [then] comfort and rest."

The list goes on to reveal exactitude about Israel, kingdom, division, etc. but you get the picture.

In other words, Adam's sin brought death into the world. Christ came and taught the truth. He was crucified which brought lamenting and despair but when He was resurrected it brought comfort to those that were dying physically (bodily) and spiritually (in their sin). All that believe in Jesus will have rest in Him, salvation, comfort in eternal life.

The Bible doesn't make this exact analogy with mankind's genealogy (I did). I do not believe this genealogy with its members names meaning what they mean is an accident. Nor do I think they were cognizant of what they were doing when they named these men as such. God did, they did not. Believers know that nothing in the Bible is accidental. It is tragically ironic that genealogies are constructed on trees and because of the aforementioned family tree, Jesus would need to be nailed to a tree.

The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. ~Acts 5:30

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree" ~Galatians 3:13

I am trying not to read something into the text that is not their (eisegesis) but I do not believe it is any accident that Jesus cursed a fig "tree" either. The cursing of the fig tree was judgement being passed figuratively on Israel. At the same time this tree was being cursed other descendants of Adam were plotting Christ's death. This plotting and evil is the direct product of the sin started in the garden with Adam. Christ's death would end the line of sin started with Adam. Christ would be the last Adam. Jesus would bring rest to those that believed in Him. In Israel's place there would be a Kingdom that would produce the fruits of righteousness, holiness and the good the God originally intended before Genesis 3. Adams tree brought sorrow and death, Christ's tree brought salvation, comfort and rest. Although the exact interpretation of Mark 11:14 is judgement on Israel...what is Israel really? They are all descendants of Adam. It isn't just Israel either, it is all of mankind.

"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" ~Romans 3:23"

I would expound on this further but my head is swimming in the implications of this right now.