Our goal for these Words for the Week is to cover timely, important issues from a biblical perspective, with the depth needed to not only know the truth but to be able to stand on it. Understanding what is called “the beast” in Revelation and how it will attempt to rule the earth through its power to control the world economy—right down to who can buy, sell, or trade—will require a radical lifestyle change to escape. How?

      As we are told at the beginning of the Revelation, this vision was given to the Lord to give specifically to His bondservants. Of the levels of relationship to the Lord identified in Scripture, this is the third stage of our maturity in Christ. The first is to become a believer in Jesus and His atonement sacrifice for our redemption. Through this, our relationship to God is restored, and we begin to comprehend His redemption also of the earth upon which He will establish His kingdom.

      The next level is to become a disciple. A disciple makes it the top priority of their life to become like their Master, Jesus, and to do the works that He did and He is still doing through His people. We must be disciples to fully grasp what it means to become a bondservant. This requires that we—and all of our possessions—truly become the Lord’s. We are no longer owners but stewards of what has been entrusted to us.

      As with all of His truths, with our calling, it is not enough to know them, but we must do them. They cannot just be what we believe; they must become who we are. The mindset of a bondservant is required to understand the book of Revelation, as we will understand as we proceed. How does this relate to the coming “mark of the beast?”

      In relation to the beast and its requirement to worship it and take his mark in order to buy, sell, or trade, a bondservant will not do need to do this, because they have another Source. It is required for the Master of the slaves to provide for the slaves, and we could not have a better Master or Provider than Jesus. Of course, God can provide for us much better than we can provide for ourselves. The knowledge of God that we attain by being disciples will build in us the trust in Him that we need to reject taking this mark.

      When the “mark of the beast” is imposed on the world, the whole world will be tested as to whether they will worship God, or this beast. The beast is also “the man of sin,” or a personification of the sin of man. Do we want to go the way of the continually increasing rebellion of man against God or continue growing in our reconciliation to God? This is the valley of decision that everyone on earth is moving toward.

      This will obviously separate true Christians from pretenders. It will separate those who truly believe in the Lord so that they will trust Him for their physical, daily provision as well as for their eternal life. In this way, the mark of the beast will help reveal and mature some of the strongest saints there have ever been. Then, the body of Christ will truly be the greatest society that the world has ever seen, and it will be a “city on a hill” that all will see.

      As we have covered, it is by knowing God, worshipping Him, and trusting in Him that we remove the idols from our lives. As money has become the primary medium of exchange between people, money has become the primary idol that people love and trust more than God. The mark of the beast is going to reveal those who worship God and those who really worship money.

      So, an ultimate question for us now is, how do we start loving God and trusting Him more than anything on the earth, especially money? Abraham is our example for this. He was willing to sacrifice the most precious thing in his life to God—His son Isaac. We, too, must be willing to sacrifice anything required in order to obey the Lord and serve Him above all things.

      The only place in Scripture where God is called “Our Provider” is on Mount Moriah, where Abraham proved willing to sacrifice Isaac (see Genesis 22:14). Isaac was not only the most precious thing in his life, but Isaac was even his calling and inheritance in the Lord to produce a righteous seed in the earth. There is a way that Abraham got to this level of faith in God that he could do this. It is this same path we must follow as well. We will cover it in next week’s Word for the Week.

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