First the world wonders after the antichrist, yet not "forced" to wonder:
Revelation 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Then they worshipped the antichrist, yet not "forced" to worship:
Revelation 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Then all that dwell on the earth worship the antichrist, except those written in the Lambs book of life:
Revelation 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The false prophet causes the earth dwellers to worship the antichrist by the great wonders and miracles he does:
Revelation 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14a And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast;
Then the image that the false prophet gives life to, causes those who don't worship it to be killed:
Revelation 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
So, who are the people not worshipping the image of the antichrist?The people who already worship the antichrist probably won't, at that point, need to be forced, by fear of death, to worship the antichrist's image.Especially since they already worship the antichrist.
But, then, the false prophet causes all to receive the mark of the antichrist:
Revelation 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:
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.
He previously "caused" people to worship the antichrist by "miraculous" deception, he didn't force them, the antichrist worshippers did so by a freewill choice.Here, again, he "causes" people to receive the mark, and the word "receive" implies that it is not forced upon them, but a freewill choice to receive it.But, then, only those who "have" the mark, will be able to buy or sell.By this point, won't those who chose to worship the antichrist, and chose to worship his image, then also choose to receive the mark?They certainly aren't being "forced" at this point, to take the mark out of fear of not being able to buy or sell.
So, who are those that will be kept from buying selling?Won't it be those who are "not worshipping" the antichrist?Clearly they had escaped being in the presence of the image, because it would have caused them to be killed for not worshipping it.However, the image is not omnipresent, it is not even close to ubiquitous.So, something more pervasive is needed, and the mark fits the bill.The mark will be seen, or the lack of the mark will be noticed, anywhere will people will be.
So, is it possible that the mark is not necessarily used to force people to take the mark, but more to "smoke out" those who don't have it?In Daniel 3, it doesn't seem that people worship the image totally out of fear, but rather because the king said to.By the decree of the fiery furnace, only those who truly won't worship, will be the ones standing out.Only the LORD knows what is in the heart, so the scheme seems to be spiritual warfare, designed to expose those who, in their hearts, won't worship the image.In the same way, so does the mark seem to show, not necessarily the worshippers of the antichrist, but rather those who will not worship him.In other words, it seems to be a scheme to find those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
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