Revelation 13:3 –
I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast.
This is one of those interesting chapters that has many verses to touch on. This one stood out not because of the biblical implications, but more about the predictions of Nostradamus. Although I have never really read his predictions, years ago I saw a show that covered some that came true and were in the future. Allegedly he has predicted many events, but in reading them it’s very open to interpretation, hence why I stopped reading them. But the one thing I remember was the “third antichrist” wore a blue turban and recovered from a fatal wound. So Nostradamus appears to be hijacking John’s work and claiming it as his own.
You will notice many of the stories in the Bible are repeated over time, with different characters. In reading the Bible you will find many stories you have read that before with roots in the Bible. Unfortunately I cannot think of any this morning, but will try to give specifics soon. Nostradamus took the account of end times in Revelation and applies it to a time line and gets specific in details. If you want to research it, the interpretations are interesting.
Now this beast is the one that gives the “mark”, as you see in verse 16-18. I always find it interesting that the “mark” is getting closer and closer to becoming necessary due to “identity theft”. Think about how many people have had their identity taken and abused, only to leave them standing with the bill. I hate to say this but my belief is “cloud computing” will make this even more common. Once our information becomes easier to access, it will become easier to steel. It will eventually get to the point that some “bio metric” will be needed to identify you and this may be an implanted chip or “mark”. No one will be able to buy or sell without this “mark” so don’t think you will be immune to getting it if you want to survive.
Verse 8 also caught my eye since it talks about the Book of Life and the names written in it. Notice they are there before this world has begun. This implies to me that if we are “predestined” to be with God or not, which goes against the idea of free will. So as you see this is a difficult concept to understand since it goes against much of what we have learned. Honestly if it’s already written, why bother sharing our faith? I disagree with this comment unless it’s something that everyone is written into the book of life, it’s our choice not to accept the gift and be erased. Exodus 32 implies your name may be erased as with other verse, so this implies we need to be diligent to keep everyone in the book! So don’t stop sharing, we are all destined to remain in the book, just not to be erased.