Andrew Fischer, of Omaha, Nebraska is quite an entrepreneur. He came up with the idea of offering advertising space on his forehead. According to World magazine, the highest bidder on eBay was “Snorestop,” a snoring remedy. The company is paying Fischer $37,375 to display the company logo on his forehead for a month. (It seems to me that for that kind of money they ought to get more than a month’s advertising!)

Would you be willing to advertise on your forehead? That may just become the way we all “use our heads” in the future. Some of us might be willing to get a permanent Coca-Cola ad, or something like that, for the right kind of money.

Revelation 13 describes some beasts that rise up and oppose the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (13:8). One of the beasts “causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 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” (13:16-17). This mark in the right hand or the forehead is a mark of ownership. John continues, saying, that “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six” (13:18).

People have concocted all sorts of theories to suggest what this mark is, or shall be, including the social security number, tattoos, etc. If they would just read the next verse, however, they would see that the mark is symbolic, not literal. “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads” (14:1). Those who follow the beast are marked as his followers by their actions, and those who follow the Lamb are also marked by their actions.

All of us are already marked as serving the Lamb or the beast. It is not always as obvious as a “Snorestop” ad on the forehead, but our actions show who we belong to. What do people see in your life? Are you marked as a servant of God, or do your actions mark you as a servant of the beast?

Marked in the Forehead

by Bob Prichard

www.oxfordchurchofchrist.com