Steve,
I know the last question was a little out there. But…
I agree with your assessment of Babylon the Great. I realized recently that indeed, if the three angels messages of Revelation 14 are sequential, then the collapse of Babylon the Great ushers in the Mark of the Beast, which will in my opinion package commerce together with worship. So God’s servants will need to opt out of the Beast system. In Rev 17 & 18, Babylon is pictured riding the Beast, but is eventually thrown off, stripped, devoured, and burned. So the Beast and Babylon the Great are separate entities. It’s easy to get them confused.
Like your work,
Lee
MYREPLY
Dear Lee,
There are many diverse opinions about the prophecies in the book of Revelation, but I don’t think that there is any doubt that the “Babylon the Great” system which now dominates the globe will be overthrown and replaced by a new global system called “the beast.” Revelation 17 clearly makes that point. You are correct that Believers will need to avoid giving their allegiance to the beast system, but the beast system may begin in a benign fashion that deceives Believers into thinking the system isn’t so bad. Jesus Himself warned in Matthew 24:24 that the deceptiveness of the final global system on the earth will be so incredible that “if it were possible,” even the “very elect” would fall for it. This indicates that determining the “mark of the beast” may not be so “cut and dried” as most people think. Revelation 13:16-18 prophesies that at some point, the beast system will involve a globally-integrated currency and monetary system. That could easily happen in response to a global currency crisis. Is there a commandment which says “Thou shalt not do business in a global currency?” No there isn’t. Is it the “mark of the beast” to simply have an identity card or chip of some kind if that chip involves no aspect of worshipping anyone or anything? Even God himself required a marking in the flesh of some people in certain instances for identification purposes (Exodus 21:5-6). It is possible, given Christ’s warning in Matthew 24:24, that Believers may choose to resist things which do not actually constitute the “mark of the beast” and then later accept something which seems benign in human eyes but will be idolatrous in God’s eyes. I don’t think we fully understand what the “mark of the beast” will be yet. If we had it all figured out already, then Christ’s warning to us in Matthew 24:24 would make no sense.
Somehow, the beast system’s economic system will eventually morph into one which involves worshiping the beast system itself, but that may not be the case until the beast system’s true nature comes out later in its reign. At first, a new global currency may simply be an effort to rebuild a system of global trade and commerce in the aftermath of the collapse of Babylon the Great’s system.
Steve
