Rev. 13:16-17 BIG MAN, BIG DEAL

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark...And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark." (Rev. 13:16-17)

Let's move on, God says. Altho' man may think of himself as important, there really is no need to spend much time here. (Quite the opposite of what happened a few verses earlier, when GOD wanted to STOP, and it was the humiliated beast that wanted to move on. カッコワルイところはhe didn't want to have people really see. I wouldn't either!

Now this verse deals with man: small/ great, rich/poor, free/enslaved. Today, a great deal of talk is heard of equality and individualism; of how everyone needs to be allowed to reach his full potential. Yet sinful man doesn't know how to help him do that, without somewhere in there, corrupting the entire thing with oppression and power play. Often, we end up thinking "It wasn't supposed to be this way."

"My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him." (Ps. 62:5)

"But Jesus did not commit himself unto them...for he knew what was in man." (Jn. 2:24-25)

Readers who have just jumped in may need to be told: this series is NOT a book study of Revelation. It's just that when scripture memory was being done of the book, these were some of the thoughts journaled while reading through passages being learned.

Neither is it a "Spiritual Historic Interpretation of Revelations" (that says concrete interpretations are not important but their spiritual applications are the only important thing). It is not an interpretation at all!

If you want to study the book of Revelation properly, please do it in Bible School classes or church Bible Studies set aside to teach it, ok? These journaled musings cannot give you anything near what those lessons can!