In Rev 13:16-17 it says
And he [the false prophet] causeth all, both small and great, rich and
poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in
their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or
the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
In this passage the mark of the beast is clearly some physical mark
that is branded or implanted on the forehead or hand and the mark is
used in conjuction with commerce to permit or disallow financial
transactions. However, in Rev 20:4 there is another reference to the
mark of the beast. That passage reads,
Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and
judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were
beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which
had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received
his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and
reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Now this verse presents a problem to those of us who take the
amillennial position, that is, those of us who hold that there is no
1000 year reign of Christ on the earth. It presents a problem because
during the thousand year period of Christ’s reign there are those in
heaven (according to the amillennial theory) with Christ who have the
mark of the beast. Now if the mark of the beast is a literal mark
given when the Man of Sin arises, and the reign of Christ in heaven
continues from Pentecost to the Second Coming, then the reign of
Christ in heaven with the souls of the saints also includes the 3 1/2
year reign of the Man of Sin. How, then, do these souls in heaven
with Christ who did not receive the mark of the beast fit into the
amillennial theory? These souls in heaven must have had opportunity
to receive the mark of the beast or nothing would have been said about
it.
One possibility to explain the presence of souls of the saints in
heaven who did not receive the mark of the beast is that these are
brethren martyred at the end of the world and John is seeing a
synopsis of the whole reign of Christ. This possibility rests upon
the analysis that there are several categories of saints involved in
the description of Christ’s reign in Rev 20:4. There appear to be the
following categories of saints:
1) Those who sat upon thrones and received judgment. These were
likely the 144,000 who rose with Christ. These are literally the
first resurrection. These are not souls, but risen saints in their
glorified bodies.
2) the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and
the word of God
3) the souls of them that worshipped not the beast or his image
Using the above analysis of Rev 20:4, then, the souls of those who
worshipped not the beast nor his image would be the ones spoken of in
Rev 13:15. in Rev 13 those who would not worship the image of the
beast were killed. Their souls would go to heaven and wait with
Christ for the Second Coming.
Another possibility is that the ones who did not receive the mark of
the beast are all those saints through the ages who refused to bow the
knee to the evil of the the then-current evil world power. An example
would be Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who refused to bow the knee
to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image (Dan 3:13-20). Nebuchadnezzar, of
course, was one of the seven world empires represented by the
seven-headed world-nation beast and so would be the head of the beast
that was active in 600 BC. The three Hebrew children are then a
possible example of those throughout history who would not receive the
mark of the beast. The problem with this possibility is that the
souls in heaven who did not receive the mark are spoken of as
rejecting the exact same physical mark as the men of the world who
serve the beast receive in Rev 13:16. Therefore, the passage in Rev
20:4 is far more likely to be referring to those saints martyred at
the end of the world for refusing the worship the beast.
The most likely explanation of the origin of these saints involved in
rejecting the mark of the beast is that they are slain at the end of
the world for their faithfulness to God. John therefore sees a
synopsis of heaven’s post-Ascension history in Rev 20:4. The first
saints He sees are those who arrive with Christ at the Ascension. The
second group are those who are martyred through the ages, and the last
group is the number who are martyred at the end of the world for their
refusal to worship the beast. The souls of those who reject the mark
of the beast are then not in heaven very long before they return to
the earth with Christ, but they are apparently numerous enough to
warrant special mention by John in Rev 20:4. Possibly the number of
the righteous slain for refusing to worship the beast is one of the
reasons that few saints exist at the coming of Christ (Lk 18:8). The
souls of the saints with Christ in heaven who reject the mark of the
beast in Rev 20:4 can thus be harmonized with the amillennial view.
