https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-64729442
Published in early 2023, this is a disturbing story on many levels. William Hague and Tony Blair are certainly evil men and their arguments and justifications for biometric identification are not to be trusted. The truth is after witnessing the events of the past decade or so, and given the growing instability within society, coupled with the sheer massiveness of modern populations, those sitting atop the state are nervous and fearing the spectre of chaos and the threat of pandemonium. They want mechanisms in place that allow them to exert and maintain control.
Is this biometric identification card the Mark of the Beast? It's not 'the' mark but it is certainly an expression of it. If you want to fully understand the implications of this one can look at a place like India where Modi's government has imposed a similar system. In the case of India, it's not mandatory but increasingly it's becoming difficult to function in society without the biometric identification card.
The Mark as per the Apocalypse is in reference to the world system and the kind of Bestial control and oppression it exerts – over and over again throughout history. From Babylon, to Persia, the Hellenistic empires, and Rome, as well as their myriad successors throughout subsequent history, these states impose what could be described as an invasive form of control on their subjects and for those who resist the idolatry inherent in the system and its expectations – hard times ensue. We see this in some capacity with the judgments and deprivations of the Four Horsemen in chapter 6 which spread misery and death - but whose actions are to the benefit of some. We see the Two Witnesses (a symbol of the Church) testifying in Revelation 11 against the world clothed in sackcloth, in other words rejecting the world – their testimony and words being a form of torment and condemnation to the Bestial system and what it represents.
The Mark is a kind of seal and it is contrasted with the Mark or Seal of God that is on the foreheads of believers – which nowhere is connected with some kind of physical sign or mark apart from the anointing of baptism. But as we know, not all who are of Israel are Israel. Some who are baptized do not live by faith and make their baptism (as it were) an un-baptism. They are functional if not actual apostates. In truth, the way the Mark or Seal of God is presented is in spiritual terms - something invisible to our eyes but discernible to the angels tasked with slaying the wicked.
Everyone is in one or the other camp. The narrow focus of Dispensationalism's hyper- (and often arbitrary) literalism stumbles at this point because the identification card, or credit score, or Smartphone aren't the literal hand and forehead marks which they insist on. Like the Jews who foolishly tie phylacteries to their persons, they miss the point. It's not about a literal object or mark being applied to (or tied to) these body parts. As the passages in Deuteronomy 6 and 11 suggest, the command was not about literally putting pieces of paper with passages of Scripture on the forehead, hands, or on your gate - but that the Word would characterize your life, your thoughts, actions, and it would regulate and define your home and family.
In Revelation 13 the lack of Mark suggests that you can't buy or sell and the literalist temptation is to absolutize this as was seen in the Thief in the Night films and other material produced by the Dispensationalists. And yet there's no reason to insist that it always has to be so literal – all the more when we can argue that just as Revelation is a series of repeating but modified visions (like what we see in Daniel and Zechariah), the Beast imagery indicates that history itself repeats and moves through Bestial cycles as evil empires wax and wane – always different and yet always the same. We also see this in the various composite Beast images in places like Revelation 13.2. This is not to suggest that history is merely cyclical. It is linear and moving toward the eschaton, but along the way there are repetitive cycles and patterns as the Scriptures seem to repeatedly indicate. Not every Beast is the same and not all are as severe, nor are all severe as they could be all the time. Compare Persia under Cyrus (clearly a Beast) with that of the Seleucids under Antiochus, or Rome under Nero. The imagery in Revelation 13 regarding the Mark is a generalization that applies to the idolatrous nature of the world system and how money is always wed to this order and its power, and the lost people who inhabit it. We would do well to remember Christ's words about serving mammon and how it stands in antithesis to His Kingdom. It is a teaching not only neglected but largely rejected by the Constantinian tradition - which would include the Protestants of the Magisterial Reformation. And it is a teaching which touches on a wider set of issues, principles, and ethics than most are willing to acknowledge.
In both Revelation chapters 9 and 14 we read of those who have the Father's name written on their foreheads, but Dispensationalism (having misunderstood the nature of the Apocalypse, prophecy in general as well as the structure of the New Testament) wrongly place this episode in the midst of their contrived Seven Year Tribulation (based in turn on a complete misunderstanding of Daniel 9). As such, the idiomatically represented 144,000 which is a symbolic number representing the Church (12x12x10, Old Testament tribes, New Testament apostles, multiplied to its fullest) is erroneously associated with converted Jews of 'restored Israel' during the seven year tribulation. If the latter theory collapses, so does the former. It should be clear that in the idiomatic mode of the Old Testament prophets, Revelation 7 presents one of many repeated scenes of the Last Judgment in which the people of God are described symbolically (and in keeping with the Apocalyptic style) in numerological terms as the tribes of Israel, and as is so often the case, this vision is repeated and expanded with the larger image of the multitude robed in white. The 144,000 are sealed prior to the final destruction of the Earth – these people of the sealed forehead are essentially the same as the white robed multitude. It's two closely related visions concerning the final judgment and ends with a miniaturized version of the account of Revelation 21-22. It's not a chapter within a linear seven year tribulation but one of several repeating parallel visions throughout the Apocalypse.
I would actually argue that the majority of the Church has already taken the Mark of the Beast (as it were) in the embrace of false doctrine concerning the sword and the coin – and the various forms of political idolatry manifest throughout history. In the post-Constantinian and post-Magisterial Reformation context, mammonism has been largely embraced and as such the Christians who flourish in the world and who form alliances with the Beast are part of the Whore-Harlot imagery we also see in the Apocalypse. In other words despite being Christians in fellowship with the Church, they are not actually sealed by Christ but instead bear a counterfeit Zion-Mark, the Mark of the Beast, and though Church members, they are of those whose names will be removed from the Book of Life (Revelation 3.5, 22.19). And as we might expect, a significant aspect of their alliance with the Beast is manifest in terms of economic gain and power – a rejection of the sackcloth-pilgrim calling. This also dovetails with the Sodom theme in Revelation 11 wherein the city is known not just for its perversity but for its wealth and decadence and as such is equated with apostate Jerusalem that killed the prophets and Christ. This parallels Ezekiel 16.46-50 wherein the covenant apostates are referred to as harlots and again equated with Sodom – the city condemned for its pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness as well as its failure to strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy. In other words, Sodom represented worldliness in the superlative, crushing the poor and weak, and yet decadent in its wealth and power. And consequently (and by implication) such decadence leads to the perversity, abomination, and reprobation the city is primarily known for.
The covenant people in a state of apostasy were being equated with such Sodomite harlotry as it were – the imagery being picked up in Revelation 11 and by implication Revelation 17. Zechariah 5 also hints at this condemning those who swear falsely by Jehovah's name and this flying scroll-condemnation is likewise tied in with the vision of the woman Wickedness – a picture of the harlot apostasy of God's people. Through demonic transport this woman is carried from Israel to Shinar where she is set on a base – or enthroned. Once again the Sodom-Harlot imagery and in particular the Mystery Babylon picture of Revelation 17 comes to mind.
During the Middle Ages to function as a non-Catholic or heretic in the context of Christendom was almost impossible and dissenting believers struggled to survive – some taking to the wilds, and others trying to get lost in the growing cities, but always facing danger and persecution.
In modern times technological development is taking the means of state monitoring and control into new territory and we are forced to wrestle with the implications of this. This is further complicated by the politicisation of these issues as the Right contests these developments not on the basis of Biblical principle but rather political calculation and self-interest. As was made all too clear after 9/11, the Right was more than happy to surrender any such 'rights' and questions of privacy to the interests of the state. It just depends on the context. In some cases they chafe at the notion of identification requirements but because they've been manipulated by their media handlers they practically trip over themselves to show identification in order to vote – to combat a voter fraud that doesn't actually exist.
Does getting a biometric identification card mean you've taken the Mark and thus you're bound for Hell? No, we can't be tricked into condemnation and one should reject some of the superstitious way these questions are dealt with in Dispensational-influenced circles. I and many other have experienced the angst over this - in my younger years dreading the possibility of being tricked into taking the mark. It's rather silly.
The point is not the card or even a microchip, bar-code, or whatever. I would certainly reject those things as well but not because they in themselves (in an almost anti-sacramental fashion) condemn me to Hell - as strange as it is, that's how the Dispensationalists seem to view the question.
It's what they represent and this is the irony because as I've said, so many that fret over the specifics of the Mark and express fears of being tricked – have in fact already taken the Mark in that they've sold out to the world and its values and effectively flourish within the confines of the idolatrous Babel-system. The fruit they produce is rotten and dead as it is disobedient to the New Testament and in other cases they explicitly reject its teachings and have found a host of false ear-tickling teachers to develop a theology and system of ethics that justifies their disobedience and effectively sanctifies their sin. They are in for a shock reminiscent of the episode in Matthew 7. Believing themselves to be in good standing, their deception and self-deception will be unmasked on that Day.