It's not really just about technology or economics, is it?

     Why do so many, when considering the mark of the beast, think first technologically, and then secondly economically? When credit cards began to proliferate, people said that we then had the technology for the mark. Recently people have now been saying the same with chips, that technology has now made the mark possible. But Revelation 13 is not about technology, but about worship, worship of the beast. The first thought about the mark should not be technological, but religious.

    Again, the chapter is about worship, not about the ushering in of a new economic system. The second thought about the mark should not be economical, but religious. But it is brought up 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. Considering that the chapter is about worship, and most of the world wonders after the beast and willingly worships him, not because they are forced to by economic coercion, then it may be that not letting people buy or sell without the mark, name, or number, is not for those who already will be worshipping the beast, but for those who will not be worshipping the beast, i.e. the believers at that time. It would seem that the restriction is not to force worship, but to "smoke-out" those who don't.

     Like in Daniel 3, the devil didn't need to have Nebuchadnezzar force people into worship by fear, as it seems that most all those people there would have willingly gone along with the worship without coercion, but it looks like the devil wanted to "smoke-out" any true believing Jews, which it did, or to destroy the faith of any of the "fence-sitting" Jews, who were there. The devil already had all those Gentiles in his hip pocket, so to speak. It seems that he uses the same tactic against people who will be believing in Jesus, at the time of the beast.