My short answer is No, but let me explain…

Revelation 13:17 clearly says 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 verse literally says the mark of the beast is “the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

The meaning of “name” is more than identity, it’s about character. The character of the beast is one of anti-Christ. It’s not just anti-Christ as in against Christ but also anti-Christ as in place of Christ. Anti means “against” and “in place of.” So the Anti-Christ takes the role of being against Christ and attempting to take the place of Christ.

In Bible prophecy we see that the term “beast” is used to depict a King or a nation’s authority (Daniel 7:17) and in the case of the mark of the beast we have an authority that is both nationalistic and religious.

I have another question on this topic that I plan to answer here later explaining the 666 of “the number of his name” but that is just another way to point to the Anti-Christ character of the beast system.

The connection between a reference of Name and Character is evident in the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9 when He taught us to start by saying “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name” and in Psalm 9:10 “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.”

The mark of the beast is not a thing, it’s not a tattoo, and it’s not any type of inanimate object. It is as the text says, “the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” The mark of the beast cannot be accidentally taken, unknowingly received, and no one can trick you into it.

It is hard for me to read Revelation 13:16-17 without thinking of the Old Testament symbolic references to our forehead and arms as indicating the exercise of our free will power by either believing it in our mind or just going along with it in our actions.

Deuteronomy 6:5-8 points this out, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart…You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” (ESV).

The book of Revelation is full of Old Testament references and spiritual symbolism, because it is a prophecy that unfolds the historical future, but I think the term “mark” is used in a similar symbolic way as is “seal” in Revelation 7:2-3, Ephesians 1:3 and Ephesians 4:30.

The seal of God, the sealing of our sanctification by the Holy Spirit, is mentioned as an anti-type of the beast’s mark. This is kind of in the sense that followers of Christ are empowered by the sealing of God’s Spirit and followers of the beast earthly system are empowered by the human spirit.

We talk of someone making their “mark” and means that what they have become known for or what really makes them stand out among others.

Ultimately, just know that the threat of harm against those who will not receive the mark, will not be successful. Revelation 13:8 states that “whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” will be the only ones to follow, worship, and take the mark of the best.

Those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ, whose names are in the book of life, will be delivered, just as the Israelite’s who were spared from the plaques of Egypt, just as Daniel’s friends in the fiery furnace were not harmed, and just as is promised in regard to the plaques in Revelation 16:2 that they will only fall upon “the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.”

I hope this answer helps you better understand the often overlooked points of the mark of the beast, and it at least causes you to consider that there is more to the the actual passage of Revelation 13 than what is being parroted by some prophecy teacher video channels.

As I mentioned earlier, I will delve into this topic a little deeper when I answer a question explaining the 666 of “the number of his name” so as they said in the old TV shows, Stay Tune…