I'll gladly respond, Zeke...
not everything in Revelation is symbolic.
the KJV actually is wrong in its translation... the Word never says in the hand or forehead... it says
on the head or forehand.
Rev. 13:16
(ESV)
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead
(YLT)
And it maketh all, the small, and the great, and the rich, and the poor, and the freemen, and the servants, that it may give to them a mark upon their right hand or upon their foreheads,
Rev. 13:16 (GNT)
καὶ ποιεῖ πάντας, τοὺς μικροὺς καὶ τοὺς μεγάλους, καὶ τοὺς πλουσίους καὶ τοὺς πτωχούς, καὶ τοὺς ἐλευθέρους καὶ τοὺς δούλους, ἵνα δῶσιν αὐτοῖς χάραγμα
ἐπὶ τῆς χειρὸς αὐτῶν τῆς δεξιᾶς ἢ
ἐπὶ τὸ μέτωπον αὐτῶν,
G1909
ἐπί
epi
ep-ee'
A primary preposition properly meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etc.), as a relation of distribution [with the genitive case], that is, over, upon, etc.; of rest (with the dative case) at, on, etc.; of direction (with the accusative case) towards, upon, etc.: - about (the times), above, after, against, among, as long as (touching), at, beside, X have charge of, (be-, [where-]) fore, in (a place, as much as, the time of, -to), (because) of, (up-) on (behalf of) over, (by, for) the space of, through (-out), (un-) to (-ward), with. In compounds it retains essentially the same import, at, upon, etc. (literally or figuratively).