Mark of the Beast

Revelation 13:16 - He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads,

Revelation 13:17 - and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

It is established from Scriptures that the Holy Spirit is the Seal of God.

If the Seal of God is a Spiritual Seal, will the Mark of the Beast be a Physical one?

If the Beast is not a Physical beast, will the mark be Physical?

The Mark of the Beast, like the Seal of God, is a Spiritual Mark.

Deuteronomy 11:18 - Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

Deuteronomy 6:8 - You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

The Mark of the Beast means that you revere (Mark on the forehead) the antichrist Pope, and that you obey (Mark on the right hand) his commands.

The sides are drawn. Those who obey the Popes of Rome, have the Mark of The Beast on them, and they will be punished by the wrath of God.

Those who were obliged to receive the mark in the right hand seem to be the clergy, such who entered into (un)holy orders; who lifted up their right hand, and swore and vowed allegiance to the pope, and testified they were ready to defend and support his religion and interest; and who in their ordination are said to have an indelible character impressed on them.

Those who received the mark on their foreheads are the catholics in general, who one and all have the same impress upon them;

Now, as to what is said of the Mark, The Mark of the Beast is nothing but the name; therefore it is called the Mark or Name of the beast, the Mark of his Name (Revelation 14:11).

There is an allusion here to the ancient custom, by which slaves were marked with the names of their masters, and soldiers with that of their general; (slaves on the forehead & soldiers on the hand); Therefore, in a like manner, the followers of the Lamb, are inscribed on the forehead with the names of the Lamb and the Father (Revelation 14:1).

The former (who have the Mark of the Beast) professed themselves to be the servants of the beast and his image, the latter of Christ and his Father.

To receive the Mark of the Name of the beast then, is to devote oneself to his power, and to confess his dominion; but to be of his number, is to embrace his impiety, derived from the dragon, namely, the Catholic idolatry.

Revelation 13:17 - and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

It has been common in Rome to prohibit, by express law, all traffic with heretics (True Christians).

Thus a canon of the Lateran council, under Pope Alexander III, commanded that no man should entertain or cherish the heretics (True Christians) in his house or land, or trade (buy/sell) with them.

The Synod of Tours, under the same Pope Alexander, passed the law that no man should presume to receive or assist the heretics, no, not so much as to exercise commerce with them in selling or buying.

And so, too, the Council of Constance as expressed in Pope Martin‘s bull (Elliott, vol. 3)

Church of South India and Ecumenism

Revelation 18:4 - And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.