Grace and peace.

According to Revelation 13, the False Prophet will order everyone in the world (except those whose names are written in the Book of Life) to receive a mark in their right hand and on their forehead:

“And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads…”

Revelation 13:16

Though there has been much speculation about what the mark will be, few have considered the significance of wearing the mark on the right hand and forehead. Perhaps the answer is in Exodus Chapter 13, where, on the eve of the Exodus out of Egypt, God speaks to Moses regarding the Passover:

“And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thy hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in thy mouth.”

Exodus 13:8-9

Thus began the Jewish practice of placing Scripture verses in two little boxes and binding them to the forehead and hand. The Old Testament calls these boxes frontlets…

“Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.”

Deuteronomy 11:18

…but in the New Testament they are referred to as phylacteries (Hebrew: tefillin):

“But all their works they [the scribes and the Pharisees] do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments.”

Matthew 23:5

The Jewish Encyclopedia defines phylacteries as:

“[T]wo leathern boxes—one worn on the arm and known as ‘shel yad’ or ‘shelzeroa’, and the other worn on the head and known as ‘shel rosh’—made of the skins of clean animals.”

www.JewishEncyclopedia.com

The Jews still wear phylacteries because, having rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah, they have also rejected the New Testament law of faith, and are living under the Old Testament law of works. The Bible says that they are blind to the truth:

“For if the ministration of death [the law of Moses], written and engraved in stones, was glorious…how shall not the ministration of the Spirit [the law of grace] be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For if that which was done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious.

“And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished [the Law]: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.”

2 Corinthians 3:7-15

The Word of God is Our Phylactery

Before the Lord Jesus Christ gave His life for the sins of the world, one could only make it to heaven by keeping the Old Testament law, which included offering a sacrifice for sin. But when the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, offered up Himself, He became the last and final sacrifice for sin. In giving Himself, the Lord did away with the Old Testament law of works, and replaced it with the New Testament law of faith. We no longer have to “do” anything to be saved. We don’t have to get physically circumcised, as we have circumcised the foreskin of our heart. And we don’t need to wear physical phylacteries, because the Word of God is laid up in our heart and in our soul, and has become spiritual frontlets on our spiritual hand and between our spiritual eyes (Deuteronomy 11:18).

The Mark of the Beast Is Satan’s Phylactery

The Bible says:

“The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”

1 Corinthians 15:56

As the law is the strength of sin, so the law is the source of Satan’s power. So, for Satan to have authority over us, he must get us to reject the New Testament law of faith and live under the Old Testament law of works. And he is very busy doing just that. This is why so many so-called Protestant churches these days emphasize the Old Testament, observe Passover, Sabbath, and other Jewish feasts, and call Jesus Jeshua or Jehuda. It is part of Satan’s plan to bring the Protestant Church back under the Old Testament law: to put a vail over our hearts and blind us to the Truth, so that Satan can have dominion over us again.

Satan wants to be like God (Isaiah 14:14), which is the origin of the phrase “As Above, So Below.” Whatever God is doing in Heaven, Satan wants to do in the earth. As God commanded the Jews to wear phylacteries on their hand and forehead to ensure that the law of God would be in their mouths, so will Satan, working through the Antichrist, command the world to wear his mark on their hand and forehead to ensure that his law is in their mouths. The mark of the beast will be the devil’s phylactery.

If you don’t know what the Mark of the Beast is, then you really should watch this video:

Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.

Tony