Hi Mike,

I hope you are fairing well.

Is there ever going to be a time when the mark of the beast will be physical or outward? Given that the word has both outward and inward fulfillment.

Ybic,

M​____

Hi M____,

No, there will never be an outward mark of the beast on people​’​s right hands and in their foreheads.

The outward “mark of the beast” is simply our natural beastly bodies, which are symbolized by the number of mankind. The number that symbolizes mankind is 666. Mankind is the outward beast:

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are [outward] beasts.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has a mind calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is the number of mankind, and its number is six hundred sixty-six.

Remember verse 3 of chapter ​1​:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

The time to keep the things which are written in this prophecy was at hand 2,000 years ago, and it has been at hand in every generation since. Every man ever born is born with “the  mark of the beast, the image of the beast and with the number of his name, which is the number of mankind:

Rev 13:16  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:
Rev 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.

“All, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond” is “all” inclusive, and it omits no one. There is no one who does not fit into one of those groups, and they have all been given that mark from Adam until today because we are all born with a physical body and a carnal mind.

While the whole world is looking for an outward mark, the ‘beast’ sits smugly in the temple of God, which is our bodies, laughing at how we all look everywhere but in that temple for an outward beast:

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Paul and the converted Thessalonians and Corinthians knew exactly what Paul meant by “the temple of God” because Paul had made that very clear in both epistles to the Corinthians:

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

1Co 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

This ‘mark’ was “kept” by the generation in which these words were first written, and the outward fulfilling of this ‘mark’ is the corruptible flesh of every person who has ever drawn breath. The inward fulfillment is that rebellious carnal mind which will be intact when it comes up at the white throne judgment to be cast into the lake of fire.

There is no physical outward lake of fire either. It is a very small spiritual lake “prepared for the [spiritual] devil and his angels” and the fire of that “lake” is the words of Christ in our mouths as we are given to purify all the rest of mankind through that ‘fire’.

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

It is a mere “lake” as opposed to a great ‘sea’ because there are very few chosen in this age who are given to have the words of God, the fire of that lake, within them:

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He [The “few chosen] that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

I hope this helps,

YbitC, Mike