And he shall make all, both little and great, rich and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a character in their right hand, or on their foreheads. And that no man might buy or sell, but he that hath the character, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

5. The Mark Of The Beast.
Verses 16 to end.

Verse 16

All classes of people whom the doctrines, and signs of Antichrist will captivate and mislead are named in this verse. Those who will not accept the true faith shall then be at the mercy of error. Another idea is contained in this verse: Antichrist will abolish all class distinction and make his followers alone the elite. It points to something like communism. The educated and refined, the uneducated and rude will submit.
The mark of distinction borne by antichristians will be a brand like that seared on the forehead of slaves in Roman limes. Those who are steeped in vice, who are enthusiastic about Antichrist and are stupefied by the marvels of his signs will proclaim themselves his slaves and have his stamp put on their foreheads. Others will go still farther and have their right hands dedicated to him becoming his soldiers. This alludes to the signing of the faithful in chapter VII. The foreheads of all Christians are signed in the sacraments, while the hands of the priest are also annointed. The False Prophet may institute secret rites, through which the followers of Antichrist will be advanced by degrees into the deeper mysticism of his cult. A sort of diabolical sacramental system would thus be instituted conferring the graces of Satan and consecrating people to the service of the Beast. They will bear this mark of disgrace openly and thus easily recognize one another and those who do not follow the Beast. The adorers of the Beast will worship the animate statue in awe and reverence. And in the spiritual darkness into which sin has led them they are convinced, because they wish to be, that Antichrist is God.
All commentators who try to force this chapter as fulfilled in St. John’s time are constrained to admit that they are confronted with a fact prophesied and not fulfilled, for those provincials who conformed to the caesar-cult were not branded as here stated. Since the preceding part of this chapter only uses the Roman empire existing then as a model for the description of the empire and times of Antichrist, so do these last verses. The Apocalypse is a genuine prophecy and depicts future history, whether we hold verbal dictation or not, and is not a mere poetic embellishment of existing conditions. Those commentators who do not see the foretelling of real future events in this prophecy find no satisfactory explanation for anything contained in it.

Verse 17

By the absence of the mark on the hand or forehead, the followers of the Beast will know those who have not adored him and will deprive them of all rights as far as they can. External submission to the Beast will be enforced wherever he gains control, and economic boycott will be employed against all who refuse. They will not be able to procure the necessities of life. Everyone who would engage in business must have the mark of the Beast on his forehead or right hand or profess belief in his divinity and reverence his name by wearing the number of it. The purpose is to drive out of business all who will not join the wicked, who alone aim to get control of the sources of wealth and exploit the laborers. Catholics will thus lose their property, and Antichrist will have the wealth of the world at his disposal to prosecute the war against the Christian nations and to compel submission to himself.
A very similar thing was done in England after Protestantism was triumphant. Catholics were fined and fined again for not worshipping God in a Protestant way, until they were reduced to utter pauperism. Their property was confiscated, and all political rights were wrested from them. The tactics of the Roman empire were followed.
If such boycott were resorted to in the United States, the whole economic structure of this immense nation would collapse. The economic balance is too exact to admit the imposition of such radical restrictions. Not only the 30,000,000 Catholics (they may be 100,000,000 by that time) would refuse adoration of the Beast, but the big majority even of those who are not friendly to the Catholic Church would spurn any interference with their liberty. Still the domination of Antichrist could be initiated as stealthily as the country was lured into the first world-war in 1917 against the wishes of the majority.
Although at the time of these revelations, those who would not profess their belief in the divinity of the emperor and adore the gods of Rome could not hold an official position, and though emperor-worship had reached its height under Domitian, St. John could not have feared at this point in the revelations a speedy fulfillment of this verse, for the other visions had to become actuality first, and then the 200,000,000 horsemen had to destroy one third of mankind. He therefore did not write of his own time but of what was to come in the reign of Antichrist. During some of the later persecutions, statues of the gods of Rome were placed in the forums, and all customers had to offer incense and bow to them. But nothing such as is narrated in this verse occurred to coerce men to adore a statue of Caesar.

16. The followers of Antichrist will be marked with a character in imitation of the sign that St. John saw upon the foreheads of the servants of God.'" This indicates that Antichrist and his prophet will introduce ceremonies to imitate the Sacraments of the Church. In fact there will be a complete organization—a church of Satan set up in opposition to the Church of Christ. Satan will assume the part of God the Father; Antichrist will be honored as Saviour, and his prophet will usurp the role of Pope. Their ceremonies will counterfeit the Sacraments and their works of magic be heralded as miracles. A similar project was attempted in the fourth century when Julian the Apostate counterfeited Catholic worship with pagan ceremonies in honor of Mithras and Cybele. He established a priesthood and instituted ceremonies in imitation of Baptism and Confirmation.

17. During the persecution under Diocletian statues of the gods were set up in stores and market places where customers were obliged to honor them and offer incense. None could buy or sell without the contamination of pagan worship.'" In the days of Antichrist the false prophet will adopt similar tactics to accomplish the downfall of the faithful. No one will be able to buy or sell the necessities of life without implicating himself in the worship of Antichrist.

And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes.

The design of this injunction was not, however, to enforce the wearing of such bandages, as the Pharisees imagined, (matt. xxiii,5) but to put all in mind that they ought to meditate frequently upon the commandments and regulate their lives by their direction.

So confession wouldn't be valid??