What do you think the "mark" will be, and will it be obvious?

[dana b]

wait are you agreeing?..lol

what i see from this is that he commanded them not to go to judah...perhaps to protect them....

Yes, I'm agreeing possibly. I am not on this forum to argue or just set up opposing views. I am here to get your help to learn. I expose what I think even when I may not be sure. Then you all give me your opinions and sometime you show me what I may have missed. Sometimes, although probably not many times, I may show someone some little things that they might have missed. These forums are good for that.

So, why did God have the tribe of Judah be the ones who would not accept Jesus as the Christ? For their protection from what? Or is it because he would use them as Jesus used Judah to betray him and thereby have him to be "raised Up?" As Jesus himself inferred about his crucifixion, He said it had to be done.

Judah served Jesus in this way, as the tribe of Judah, the Jews, are today serving God. What do you think?

 

[ldrkert4]

a helpful study guide for the end times is the break down of sections. watch the end of age show for really good info then go to scripture
1.things which hast seen
2.things which are
3.things which shall be hereafter

and I do believe the mark is real. it will be in the hand or forehead. and I feel that the blessing at the end of revelation is the knowledge that God has given for his children to know what to look for

 

[dfw69]

Yes, I'm agreeing possibly. I am not on this forum to argue or just set up opposing views. I am here to get your help to learn. I expose what I think even when I may not be sure. Then you all give me your opinions and sometime you show me what I may have missed. Sometimes, although probably not many times, I may show someone some little things that they might have missed. These forums are good for that.

So, why did God have the tribe of Judah be the ones who would not accept Jesus as the Christ? For their protection from what? Or is it because he would use them as Jesus used Judah to betray him and thereby have him to be "raised Up?" As Jesus himself inferred about his crucifixion, He said it had to be done.

Judah served Jesus in this way, as the tribe of Judah, the Jews, are today serving God. What do you think?

I was not gloating or anything....its just that finding anyone to agree with me is a rare thing...we all have strong convictions on what we hold as true...
What i was saying is i believe jesus wanted his disciples not to preach in judah...for fear that his diciples might be put to death or be cast into prison...i believe all the house of israel, the 12 tribes in the end rejected jesus as the messiah....

i believe pauls teachings and he seems to be teaching that israel has been cut off from the promises...and we have been grafted in ....not cut off entirely...for individual jews may still may come to the faith and be saved....but the old testament is forfeit by israel when they rejected the new covenant...yet god will offer the covenant again to israel as a whole and in those days they will keep the new covenant forever

 

[Elder 111]

of course its real mark, its indentifiable simply because you can't buy or sell without it, it goes hand in hand with worshiping the beast, while there will be many forerunners of the mark, as we see already with social security, credit cards, and probably even a cashless system in place before the anti-christ arrives, its only with his institution of a special mark that will indentify who he is, one more identifying detail is he follows a king who imposes taxes on the glorious kingdom, but within a few days this king will be destroyed, but not in anger or in battle, then rises the anti-christ, he will not be of royalty but will take the kingdom through intrigue

With today's technology we do not need a real mark. All info can be tied to or ID.

 

[Elder 111]

I was not gloating or anything....its just that finding anyone to agree with me is a rare thing...we all have strong convictions on what we hold as true...
What i was saying is i believe jesus wanted his disciples not to preach in judah...for fear that his diciples might be put to death or be cast into prison...i believe all the house of israel, the 12 tribes in the end rejected jesus as the messiah....

i believe pauls teachings and he seems to be teaching that israel has been cut off from the promises...and we have been grafted in ....not cut off entirely...for individual jews may still may come to the faith and be saved....but the old testament is forfeit by israel when they rejected the new covenant...yet god will offer the covenant again to israel as a whole and in those days they will keep the new covenant forever

Are the scriptures really saying that?

 

[dfw69]

of course it can, its an identifiable mark for those who serve the anti-christ, its a form of worship like the good ole boys getting a tatoo for which outfit they served with, navy, army, marines, this mark shows your loyalty, who you honor, who you respect.

satan will have his own separation of goats from sheep, only he's looking for sheep who do not carry his mark to kill them, he already knows his goats are as good as dead as he is, the verses pertaining to the mark are all literal in that there is three things you can either have,

a mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name, will be visable on either your hand or forehead to either allow you to buy or sell, the number will equal 666, i'm guessing the mark will be a symbol of the number, much like symbolism is used today, many christians don't even know they wear satanic symbols in their jewelry and on their clothes

i also agree on the tatoo thing....and the 3 diffrrent marks...since it will originate in jerusalem....and pushed upon israel by the false prophet claiming to be elijah....perhaps they are terms of the new covenant the antichrist or false messiah is seeking...the mark may be the star of david....his name will be emmanuel...and the number of his name are 616 commandments all israel must obey...when israel is commanded to worship the golem...they will deny him and flee...knowing what is to come next

 

[dfw69]

Are the scriptures really saying that?

i believe so...why?...what are you thinking?

 

[Stan Tei]

17 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.

The Mark, OR the Name, OR the Number of his name.

These are three different things. The mark is not the same as the number. The number identifies the Antichrist and the Beast. The Mark identifies those who worship him.

18 ...count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

 

[Manasseh_]

Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.......................

all the emphasis seems to be placed on the mark these days, then following is a mass speculation game of "let's guess what the mark will be"

seems rare to see discussion on the worship of the beast or satan or the beast's image and what it may be

if we go right back to Rev 13 we find that the world's population is deceived by the false prophet...........deception causes one to break God's commandments............and that's just what all these people do, they WORSHIP satan, then WORSHIP the beast and his image................it all goes to one question, who are you going to be obedient to...........?

According to Rev 15 John in vision sees the saints get the victory , not only of the mark, but all that he mentions in the verse, things that should receive more thought than this constant speculation of what the mark is.....................

ok, done with my rant.....................

 

[Stan Tei]

Manasseh
How true. The mark will become evident at the unrolling of the scroll. The Antichrist's objective is to turn people away from the Law of God. Thus they will be condemned by their own sin.
The number however, is imminent, and soon to be completed. It must identify BOTH the man AND the beast.

 

[dana b]

Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.......................

all the emphasis seems to be placed on the mark these days, then following is a mass speculation game of "let's guess what the mark will be"

seems rare to see discussion on the worship of the beast or satan or the beast's image and what it may be

if we go right back to Rev 13 we find that the world's population is deceived by the false prophet...........deception causes one to break God's commandments............and that's just what all these people do, they WORSHIP satan, then WORSHIP the beast and his image................it all goes to one question, who are you going to be obedient to...........?

According to Rev 15 John in vision sees the saints get the victory , not only of the mark, but all that he mentions in the verse, things that should receive more thought than this constant speculation of what the mark is.....................

ok, done with my rant.....................

You've done an excelent job by bringing this to our attention. That there are four identifiable traits, that those standing above the Sea of Glass have gotten the victory over. These four "traits," for lack of a better word, are the four ways that this "beast" can be identified by. But the beast is a method of power and not the necessarily the worst guy of the unholy trinity. The Serpent and the False Prophet are also major negetive players. They are an unholy negative trinity mentioned in Revelations three times.

I believe that all 12 tribes of Israel have been "regenerated" today as Jesus told us they would in Matt.19;28. So I hold no pregidice against any of the 12 tribes regardless of what difficult and possibly unpopular role they must play for Jesus and God. But others that don't understand, can quote the truth against them. They will be wrong. All twelve tribes are important and have made themselves holy today unto God. Pregidice against any one tribe, I want no part of that!

But nonetheless it is written in the Bible of what exactly these four traits are that identify both of the two beasts of Rev.13.

I will not put up my charts as some do complain that I put them up to often. But here are the page numbers identifiying the "beast, his moving speaking image, his mark, and his number.

In www.christianidentityrevealed2012.com

1. The Beast - Chapter 21 p.427, 428

2. The image of the Beast - Chapter 21 p.445, 451

3. The mark of the Beast - Chapter 21 p.443(made by sword of Rev.13;3)

4. The number of his name(666.666....) Chapter 17 p.353

 

[dana b]

I was not gloating or anything....its just that finding anyone to agree with me is a rare thing...we all have strong convictions on what we hold as true...
What i was saying is i believe jesus wanted his disciples not to preach in judah...for fear that his diciples might be put to death or be cast into prison...i believe all the house of israel, the 12 tribes in the end rejected jesus as the messiah....

i believe pauls teachings and he seems to be teaching that israel has been cut off from the promises...and we have been grafted in ....not cut off entirely...for individual jews may still may come to the faith and be saved....but the old testament is forfeit by israel when they rejected the new covenant...yet god will offer the covenant again to israel as a whole and in those days they will keep the new covenant forever

FIRST POINT

You say above that You believe "all the 12 tribes in the end rejected Jesus." I don't think it was all the members of all of the 12 tribes because of the verses typed below;

Romans 11;1 - I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

2. - God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? How he maketh interssion to God against Israel saying,

3. - Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

4. - But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men................"

So we can see from above that at least 7000 men from among the 12 tribes of Israel are still God's, they are reserved and were "foreknown." So not all of Israel is "blinded" as written in Rev.11;7,8

What do you think? Have I missed something here?

NEXT POINT

For me Jesus's statement to "go only to the lost tribes" indicated to the diciples not to preach to the tribe "who was not lost" but returned from it's 70 years in Babylonian Exile.

I believe, until I'm shown otherwise, that Jesus had a bigger and more serious reason for not sending them the Judah. Judah plays such a major role so many times in the 12 tribes of Israel's history. Judah sells Joseph. Jesus makes Judus of Judah the banker and later encourages him to betray him. He says he needs to be "lifted up."

The sceptre will not depart from Judah. Judah shall be the chief ruler but the birthright is Joseph's. Judah sacrifices his reputation among the tribes for the sake of the nation, and in another way for the sake of the world. Judah gave an "everlanting oath to both his father and to Joseph during the time of famine. There must be an important reason for Judah's ommision from hearing Jesus's message of salvation.

 

[dfw69]

FIRST POINT

You say above that You believe "all the 12 tribes in the end rejected Jesus." I don't think it was all the members of all of the 12 tribes because of the verses typed below;

Romans 11;1 - I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

2. - God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? How he maketh interssion to God against Israel saying,

3. - Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

4. - But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men................"

So we can see from above that at least 7000 men from among the 12 tribes of Israel are still God's, they are reserved and were "foreknown." So not all of Israel is "blinded" as written in Rev.11;7,8

What do you think? Have I missed something here?

NEXT POINT

For me Jesus's statement to "go only to the lost tribes" indicated to the diciples not to preach to the tribe "who was not lost" but returned from it's 70 years in Babylonian Exile.

I believe, until I'm shown otherwise, that Jesus had a bigger and more serious reason for not sending them the Judah. Judah plays such a major role so many times in the 12 tribes of Israel's history. Judah sells Joseph. Jesus makes Judus of Judah the banker and later encourages him to betray him. He says he needs to be "lifted up."

The sceptre will not depart from Judah. Judah shall be the chief ruler but the birthright is Joseph's. Judah sacrifices his reputation among the tribes for the sake of the nation, and in another way for the sake of the world. Judah gave an "everlanting oath to both his father and to Joseph during the time of famine. There must be an important reason for Judah's ommision from hearing Jesus's message of salvation.

so what your saying is god offered israel the kingdom of heaven....but it was rejected...only recieved by 7000...or a few accepted...thus the covenant is still valid?

The others who rejected were cut off....and given to nation who render fruits...iow...allowing gentiles nations in to fill the void....that israel left....they were cut off ...we were grafted in?

when jesus said go only to the lost sheep of israel....i see that he is saying to witness to jews....not gentiles...jews first....all jews including judah....What are you thinking about judah?



what do you mean joseph has the birthright?

 

[dana b]

so what your saying is god offered israel the kingdom of heaven....but it was rejected...only recieved by 7000...or a few accepted...thus the covenant is still valid?

The others who rejected were cut off....and given to nation who render fruits...iow...allowing gentiles nations in to fill the void....that israel left....they were cut off ...we were grafted in?

when jesus said go only to the lost sheep of israel....i see that he is saying to witness to jews....not gentiles...jews first....all jews including judah....What are you thinking about judah?



what do you mean joseph has the birthright?

You said earlier that there was none left of the Old Testament Covenant. But as is shown in Rm.11;1-4 there were, somewhere, 7000 men of this Old Testament that are "reserved" by God. Who are they today?

The tribe of Judah or the "Jews" are the only ones of the 12 tribes of Israel to not accept Jesus as the Messiah today.(in 921BC the ten northern tribes continued being called "Israel", but the one tribe who lived in the south and had occupied Jerusalem became called Judah.

Today the followers of Judaism are this one tribe called Judah.
These Old Testament believers, who have also taken over parts of Palistine today, still do not accept Jesus as the Messiah of all the tribes of Israel. In fact to them the name of Jesus is found offensive even to the point of they try to ban the saying of "Merry Christ-mas."

But what of the other ten "lost tribes" to whom Jesus told his diciples to preach to. Do we know if some of them accepted him as the Messiah? They were "lost" and we still arn't sure what happened to their decesdants.

Well, as Rm.11;1-4 says God does have some 7000 who were afortold and reserved. Are they 7000 men of the ten lost tribes who did accept Jesus as the Messiah. Or else who exactly are these 7000?

I think that some of the ten tribes who were exiled by Assyria in 721BC fled to Europe on Greek Ships. They saw the Assyrians approaching and some fought but some fled, that would be obviouse. It says twice in the Old Testament about this that some "escaped."

Judah is a special case in God's project with the tribes of Israel. I don't fully understand it but am filling in the dots and finding it does begin to show a picture. But the "birthright" is Joseph's as the Bible says in a few places. Each of Israel's sons had the chance to be the prime inheritor and have the birthright.

Reuben lost his chance because he defiled his father's bed by lying with Bilhah. Simeon and Levi lost there chance to inherit their father's inheritance because they embarassed him when they tricked and killed a neigbouring King's son and his men. But Judah, was forecast by Israel to hold the sceptre. So Judah was improtant above the other brothers in this way.

But Judah was Leah's son and Rachel was the most preferred wife. So when Rachel finally had her own son Joseph he recieved the "birthright." And on his death bed Israel prophesied that the "shepherd and stone would come of Joseph."

Judah the king and Joseph the prime inheritor of his father Israel. That is the basic foundation of the rest of the Bible's historical story. You need to know this basic foundation in order to at all understand the rest.

On this chart from www.christianidentityrevealed2012 the topic is about how the 12 tribes have today "regenerated" into European Christian Israel. But you can see the verse on the lower right side. The birthright is Josephs. And in a way, Jesus was of Joseph!

 

[Binyamin1]

It will be obvious in that it goes in the right hand or forehead and you cannot buy or sell without it according to Rev 13. But then the Bible says many will be decieved so its packaging will be tricky.

 

[Stan Tei]

Concerning the number 666, most people buy into what they've heard
before concerning it, but really do not know what it consists of, nor that
their own belief does not fit "ALL" that the prophecy says concerning that
number.

Revelation 13:17 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.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number
of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six
hundred threescore and six.

Look carefully at these elements:
the number of his name
count the number
the number of the beast
the number of a man

Further study into the prophecies of Revelation, reveals even more:

Rev 13:1 seven heads ...upon his heads the name of blasphemy
Rev 17:3 seven heads ...full of names of blasphemy

And:

The seven heads are seven mountains.
Now for the past 1,000 years, there has been the accusation that the
papacy is the beast of Revelation. I will not here divulge all that pertains
to this, as it is knowledge that is rampant on the 'net, let anyone who
wants to know go and see for themselves.

Another not-so-obvious fact of the book of Revelation is that it is written
in a chiastic parallel pattern. Again, I would post more concerning this,
directing you to links, but the rule is; I must have 50 posts before I am
allowed to post a link. But let it suffice for now that Rev 13:18 is directly
linked to Rev 17:9, 10 by the words: "Here is wisdom." and
"And here is the mind which hath wisdom."

The elements of the prophecy in both passages are interconnected.
Now the Beast is the papacy and the heads of the Beast would then be the
popes. The names of blasphemy are connected to the heads in Rev 13:1
as quoted above. Blasphemy is defined by 1: claiming to be God and 2:
claiming to have the power to forgive sins. This is the Biblical definition as
the Jews had accused the Messiah of blasphemy on both of these
accounts. The popes have many times claimed to be "God on earth" and
they all claim to have the power to forgive sins.

Now take the phrases "the number of his name" and "count the number"
and being connected to the heads. Each pope has a number (NUMBER) on
their names.

Does the number 666 have anything to do with the numbers of their
names? The short answer is "YES!" It is only a matter of having a look at
the papal record and see if the number is there.

Another prophetic element comes into play: Both Rev 13:10 and Rev 17:8
and history have a time-frame reference of 1798. For at that time
Napoleon sent his general Berthier into Rome and took Pope Pius VI
captive.

The papal record displays seven names of popes since 1798. These are
Pius, Leo, Gregory, Benedict, John, Paul and John Paul.

The number of popes named Pius are 12. This number all added up
equals 78. For Leo, there were 13, that adds up to 91. For Gregory there
were 16 which adds up to 136. For Benedict (barring antipopes) there
were 14, which adds up to 105. and for John, also barring antipopes and
a counting error in the papal record) there were 21, adding up to 231.
And then there was Paul, there were 6, which adds up to 21, and finally
John Paul, which were two, that gives us a count of three more.

The cumulative total thus far is 665. Do the math and see the papal
record for yourselves. All these figures are facts that can be verified by
anyone.

Now there remains another string of elements as outlined in Rev 17:10
"And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not
yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space."
Do these seven papal names fit this outline? "YES!"

The five fallen are Pius, Leo, Gregory, Benedict, and John. Paul would be
the sixth, and the seventh that is "not yet come" was John Paul, whose
choice for his name was a new one that followed Pope Paul VI, and thus
had "not yet come".

And the tenure as held by each of these names also displays that the
years of the two popes John Paul I & II, was 26½ years. whereas the
ohers range from 67 years to over 100 each. This would also fit the "short
space"

PS. I will not argue these elements here with anyone. Take it or leave it,
but be sure of one thing: that whatever you choose to believe, that EVERY
element of the prophecy must be considered and that it must fit. I
demonstrated here that not only does it all fit, but that the long string of
the elements of the prophecy fits and aligns with the long string of the
elements of history. NO OTHER INTERPRETATION DOES THIS!!!

Neither is therer any other interpretation concerning the number 666 that
crosses over the chiastic pattern of the book of Revelation to merge all of
the elements into one straight and simple pattern. I compare it to the two
strands of DNA, one being history and the other, the prophecy. As you all
know, DNA is a twin strand of identical elements.

The next pope, also predicted by St. Malachy is termed "the terrible judge"
and is the last pope in his list. So this interpretation matches that which
the Catholics also believe and fear.

 

[Stan Tei]

OK, it says I have now 50 posts:
The Chiastic pattern links:
The Chiastic Pattern of the Whole Book of Revelation
http://www.666beast.net/Chiastic.pdf

 

[dfw69]

You said earlier that there was none left of the Old Testament Covenant. But as is shown in Rm.11;1-4 there were, somewhere, 7000 men of this Old Testament that are "reserved" by God. Who are they today?

The tribe of Judah or the "Jews" are the only ones of the 12 tribes of Israel to not accept Jesus as the Messiah today.(in 921BC the ten northern tribes continued being called "Israel", but the one tribe who lived in the south and had occupied Jerusalem became called Judah.

Today the followers of Judaism are this one tribe called Judah.
These Old Testament believers, who have also taken over parts of Palistine today, still do not accept Jesus as the Messiah of all the tribes of Israel. In fact to them the name of Jesus is found offensive even to the point of they try to ban the saying of "Merry Christ-mas."

But what of the other ten "lost tribes" to whom Jesus told his diciples to preach to. Do we know if some of them accepted him as the Messiah? They were "lost" and we still arn't sure what happened to their decesdants.

Well, as Rm.11;1-4 says God does have some 7000 who were afortold and reserved. Are they 7000 men of the ten lost tribes who did accept Jesus as the Messiah. Or else who exactly are these 7000?

I think that some of the ten tribes who were exiled by Assyria in 721BC fled to Europe on Greek Ships. They saw the Assyrians approaching and some fought but some fled, that would be obviouse. It says twice in the Old Testament about this that some "escaped."

Judah is a special case in God's project with the tribes of Israel. I don't fully understand it but am filling in the dots and finding it does begin to show a picture. But the "birthright" is Joseph's as the Bible says in a few places. Each of Israel's sons had the chance to be the prime inheritor and have the birthright.

Reuben lost his chance because he defiled his father's bed by lying with Bilhah. Simeon and Levi lost there chance to inherit their father's inheritance because they embarassed him when they tricked and killed a neigbouring King's son and his men. But Judah, was forecast by Israel to hold the sceptre. So Judah was improtant above the other brothers in this way.

But Judah was Leah's son and Rachel was the most preferred wife. So when Rachel finally had her own son Joseph he recieved the "birthright." And on his death bed Israel prophesied that the "shepherd and stone would come of Joseph."

Judah the king and Joseph the prime inheritor of his father Israel. That is the basic foundation of the rest of the Bible's historical story. You need to know this basic foundation in order to at all understand the rest.

On this chart from www.christianidentityrevealed2012 the topic is about how the 12 tribes have today "regenerated" into European Christian Israel. But you can see the verse on the lower right side. The birthright is Josephs. And in a way, Jesus was of Joseph!

yeah i dont know to much about thid to comment...

 

[dana b]

yeah i dont know to much about thid to comment...

Yes, in order to actually weigh and relize the real validity of everything written on the above chart you would have to have very good knowledge of Israel's sons, their mothers and birth orders and prophesis of Gen.49 and Deut.33.

You would also have to know the language, religious and ethnic areas of Europe and their history.

You would have to have compared and seen how these go together to form the Bible's picture.

 

[Achilles6129]

I wondered what different theories there are for the "mark of the beast".

I am new to the study of end times, so forgive me if this question seems a little on the basic or naive side!

I wondered, what do you think this mark will be? And, more interestingly, will be it obvious to even us believers, or could we be be almost duped into having it without realising??

Will the mark literally be a 666, if so, I'm guessing that spotting what the mark is will be easy!!!!! I didn't know if the 666 was literal or symbolic for something?!

Anyway thanks for your help.

Hello Fiona,

My opinion on the mark is that it is definitely literal. The fact that you cannot buy or sell without it clearly indicates that it is something physical. Obviously, the physical can represent the spiritual as well, which is something that people often forget.

Why the right hand or the forehead? The answer is that if you are an amputee (and many people who have fought in wars or been in the midst of wars are) the mark will go in your forehead. Otherwise, it will go in your right hand.

What is the mark? In my opinion (and I will support this with Scripture) it is a tattoo mark (probably of invisible ink):

"16 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:
17 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.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." Rev. 13:16-18

There is something quite interesting about the word 'six hundred threescore and six' in Greek:

5516. chi xi stigma khee xee stig'-ma the 22nd, 14th and an obsolete letter (4742 as a cross) of the Greek alphabet (intermediate between the 5th and 6th), used as numbers; denoting respectively 600, 60 and 6; 666 as a numeral:--six hundred threescore and six.

The interesting thing about the Greek used here is that 'stigma' is an obsolete Greek letter which is also a Greek word with a very significant meaning:

4742. stigma stig'-mah from a primary stizo (to "stick", i.e. prick); a mark incised or punched (for recognition of ownership), i.e. (figuratively) scar of service:--mark.

The fact that the obsolete letter 'stigma' (used in 666) corresponds to a Greek word that has clear reference to a mark put on a slave by his master is, in my mind, no small coincidence. The question then is, what sort of 'mark' is a stigma?

From Vine's Expositary Dictionary of the New Testament:

[SIZE=+1]<2,,4742,stigma> [/SIZE]
denotes "a tattooed mark" or "a mark burnt in, a brand" (akin to stizo, "to prick"), translated "marks" in Gal. 6:17. "It is probable that the Apostle refers to the physical sufferings he had endured since he began to proclaim Jesus as Messiah and Lord [e.g., at Lystra and Philippi]. It is probable, too, that this reference to his scars was intended to set off the insistence of the Judaizers upon a body-mark which cost them nothing. Over against the circumcision they demanded as a proof of obedience to the law he set the indelible tokens, sustained in his own body, of his loyalty to the Lord Jesus. As to the origin of the figure, it was indeed customary for a master to brand his slaves, but this language does not suggest that the Apostle had been branded by His Master. Soldiers and criminals also were branded on occasion; but to neither of these is the case of Paul as here described analogous. The religious devotee branded himself with the peculiar mark of the god whose cult he affected; so was Paul branded with the marks of his devotion to the Lord Jesus. It is true such markings were forbidden by the law, Lev. 19:28, but then Paul had not inflicted these on himself.

A dictionary will also tell you the etymoogy of the word: < Latin < Greek stígma tattoo mark, equivalent to stig- (stem of stízein to tattoo) + -ma noun suffix denoting result of action.

Therefore, I believe that the mark of the beast will be a tattoo mark, probably with invisible ink:

Before It's News

The above website is an example of a company who developed such technology (Somark).

So, those are the reasons why I think the mark of the beast will probably be an invisible ink tattoo. However, that does not necessarily rule out a microchip or something of that nature. Clearly it is coming, and it is only a matter of time.