The Book of 'Allegory'?

Question

"And he 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." (Revelation 13:16-17)


Take a moment with me to reflect on this prophecy, penned by the Apostle John sometime in the latter part of the 1st century. In John's day, there were perhaps 200 million people living in the known world of the Roman Empire.

None of them had driver's licenses. There was no such thing as an identity card. There was no central database containing the names and addresses of the Empire's citizens. There was no central banking system in place. There was no global economy, no Federal Reserve, no paper scrip, and no way to track either the movement or the economic activity of the general population.

In John's day, such strict governmental control was utterly impossible. It would be more than eighteen hundred years before any of the elements necessary to fulfill John's prophecy were even dreamed of, let alone invented.

It wasn't even possible fifty years ago. The global economy wasn't possible until Bell Labs invented the transistor chip in 1948, giving birth to the Computer Age.

And it wasn't until the mid-1960's that computers were sophisticated enough to begin to compile databases of a country's citizens. And it wasn't until the early 1990's that it was even possible to track the movements of large segments of the population.

Now, look with me again at what John predicted. He predicted that the antichrist would have such detailed command and control that he would be able to restrict a person's ability to buy or sell unless they became part of his system.

That is one of the reasons that the Book of Revelation was always considered to be a book of symbols and allegory and not to be taken literally.

Martin Luther at first considered Revelation to be "neither apostolic nor prophetic" and stated that "Christ is neither taught nor known in it." The Book of the Revelation was the only book in the Scripture John Calvin didn't write a commentary on.

In the 4th century, St. John Chrysostom and other bishops argued against including this book in the New Testament canon, chiefly because of the difficulties of interpreting it and the danger for abuse.

Christians in Syria also reject it because of the Montanists' heavy reliance on it. In the 9th century, it was included with the Apocalypse of Peter among "disputed" books in the Stichometry of St. Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople.

In the end it was included in the accepted canon, although it remains the only book of the New Testament that is not read within the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Traffic gridlock in Atlanta, Ga. has inspired two companies to develop a traffic monitoring system by tracking the cell phone signals inside cars.

By using anonymous data from wireless providers to mark how fast cell-phone handsets are moving — and overlaying that information with location data and maps — IntelliOne and AirSage hope to offer more detailed information and pragmatic advice than other firms that monitor traffic through radar, helicopters or cameras.

Both systems rely on wireless companies allowing them to process the data from their towers that calculate the position of each phone about twice a second when it's being used and once every 30 seconds when it's not.

IntelliOne, in business since 1999, uses technology that can track vehicles to within 330 feet without using Global Positioning System satellites.

AirSage has a similar strategy and has partnered with Sprint Nextel Corp. to offer government customers real-time traffic data.

The company already has four contracts with state transit departments and recently announced a plan with the Georgia Department of Transportation to extend traffic coverage between Atlanta and Macon.

It sounds like a good idea. Individual customers would be able to buy a single use or pay a monthly fee for personalized information and a service that sends alternate routes when traffic takes a turn for the worse.

But once the government has that data, it is up to the government how it wants to use it. Once the data begins to flow, the government will find all kinds of extra uses for it.

The Book of the Revelation used to be viewed as symbols and allegory because it was too high-tech to understand. It took two thousand years for us to catch up with it technologically.

To understand it in this generation, all one needs as a study guide is the morning newspaper.

"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28)

Answer 1

Good truth. We need more of this. Thanks.

Answer 2

Ah! A literalist wants to talk about allegory!

In my experience, the more things change, the more they stay the same. No, they didn't have databases or identity chips back in the day, but there are always ways to discriminate. In John's time, the Romans had a simple test. People who paid their respects to the statue of the divine emperor of Rome were allowed into the marketplace to sell their produce and wares. Those who didn't bow had to find some other place or way to make their livelihood. This was a sore point among Christians of the day. Do you pretent to worship an imaginary god to get by, or do you refuse and expose your antisocial, traitorous, Christian faith? A simple choice, no card required.

There is nothing sinister about bar codes or RFIDs or magnetic strips. They are tools. It's what you do with them that is subject to moral judgment. If we did not have these, there would be other ways to identify, classify, sort and segregate, whether it be yellow stars, armbands, thumbprints or retinal scans. We really should worry about our right to privacy and the growing power of government, but there's nothing biblical about it.

Answer 3

This is living proof that "hindsight is 20/20."

During biblical times, the mark could well have been a brand or a tattoo. Your logic is only worthwhile from the perspective of distance and an ability to create modern associations with a biblical prophesy.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you read Revelations from top to bottom it becomes painfully clear that John was suffering from a fever dream. Even our history speaks to the fact that he was sick while on the Isle of Platmos.

Read into it what you want, draw associations where you can creatively find them, but John was sick. He was hallucinating as a result of a fever dream.

Answer 4

I understand and agree with your statement but I failed to see a question here.

I know that Christ's return is a mere moment away. All that I can comment on is His words He left us stating, "Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." (Mark 13:35-37)

Answer 5

Pass!