OK, so tell me now, what is the “beast,” what is the “mark,” or “name” of the beast, and what is the “number of his name”? What does it all mean?
Do you know of any government document explaining what the symbol is and that it includes Jesus?
Symbols mean whatever meaning you want to give them. It means whatever the American people believe it means. We know that it includes Jesus because we know that the Founding Founders of the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence deeply religious people of the Christian faith, and designed the Constitution based on Christian values. The expression, “
In God We Trust” is the official motto of the United States, adopted by an Act of Congress in 1956. It is an expression of the nation’s belief and trust in God.
The “All Seeing Eye” is part of a larger more complex circular design, which itself forms part of the
Great Seal of the United States, which was publicly first used in 1782. It is a complex design containing many deeply symbolic references. The symbology of it is explained in the Wikipedia article as follows:
Reverse (of the Seal)
The 1782 resolution adopting the seal describes the image on the reverse as “A pyramid unfinished. In the zenith an eye in a triangle, surrounded by a glory, proper.” The pyramid is conventionally shown as consisting of thirteen layers of blocks to refer to the thirteen original states. There are also thirteen sides shown on the ribbon. The adopting resolution provides that it is inscribed on its base with the date MDCCLXXVI (1776) in Roman numerals. Where the top of the pyramid should be, the so-called Eye of Providence watches over it. Two mottos appear: Annuit Cœptis signifies that the Eye of Providence has “nodded at (our) beginnings.” Novus Ordo Seclorum, freely taken from Virgil, means “a new order of the ages.” It is incorrectly rendered as “New World Order” by some theorists, and “a new secular order” by others. The word seclorum does not mean “secular”, as one might assume, but is the genitive (possessive) plural form of the word saeculum, meaning (in this context) generation, century, or age. Saeculum did come to mean “age, world” in late, Christian, Latin, and “secular” is derived from it, through secularis. However, the adjective “secularis,” meaning “worldly,” is not equivalent to the nominative plural possessive “seclorum,” meaning “of the ages.” The reverse has never been cut (as a seal) but appears, for example, on the back of the one-dollar bill.
The all-seeing eye was a well-known classical symbol of the Renaissance. The eye in a triangle design originally was suggested by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere, and later heraldist William Barton improved upon the design. In Du Simitière’s original sketch, two figures stand next to a shield with the all-seeing pyramid above them. The August 20, 1776 report of the first Great Seal Committee describes the seal as “Crest The Eye of Providence in a radiant Triangle whose Glory extends over the Shield and beyond the Figures.”
Abstract of all elements counting thirteen
In honor of the fact that there were originally thirteen States in the Union, items consisting of this number is a common motif in the seal. There are:
- 13 stars (in the “glory” above the eagle’s head)
- 13 stripes on the sheild
- 13 arrows in the eagle’s talon
- 13 letters in the mottos “e pluribus unum” and “annuit coeptis” (apparently coincidental; there are 52 letters on the whole seal, which is itself evenly divisible by 13)
- 13 olive leaves (by custom, not by law)
- 13 olives on the branch (by custom, not by law)
- 13 brick levels of the pyramid (by custom, not by law)
- 13 sides showing on the ribbon (by custom, not by law)
The history of it is explained in more detail in the Wikipedia article I had referenced.
Jesus is saying paying Caesar’s tax isn’t worshiping Caesar, or the Roman goddesses Lady Liberty or Justice for that matter, as long as you worship the real God of Israel.
That is not what He is saying at all. They are asking Him whether it is lawful (according to Jewish Law) that they should pay taxes to Caesar or not. He is saying to them that the money doesn’t belong to you any way, it belongs to Caesar, therefore give Caesar’s money back to Caesar, and give to God what (devotion) belongs to God. What it means is that you are not breaking God’s law by paying tribute to Caesar. You break God’s law when you disobey Him.
zerinus
