Yes, the “mark of the beast” will be implemented in the middle of the coming Tribulation Period and the church (made up of believers today) will be raptured to heaven prior to that. The Tribulation Period will begin shortly after the Rapture by the signing of a peace treaty recorded by Daniel the prophet in Daniel 9:27, “Then he (the Roman Prince) shall confirm a covenant with many (unbelieving Jews) for one week (a seven-year period).” The Roman Prince will be “the head of the Revived Roman Empire” which Daniel wrote about earlier in Daniel 7:15-26. He uses the word “beast” to describe the Roman Empire and John the Apostle also uses the word “beast” to describe the Roman Empire and its “ruler” in Revelation 13:1-10. Please read those two passages and you will see they are writing about the same empire and its king who will rule over it. In this seven-year covenant, this RULER will be forming an alliance with the Jews in Palestine and guaranteeing them military protection against their Arab and Muslim neighbors who may attack them. It will also include allowing them to resume their religious sacrifices in the newly built temple in Jerusalem.

We read on in Daniel 9:27, “But in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.” What does this mean? In means in the middle of the Tribulation Period the Roman Prince will end their sacrifices and offerings. Why? We see the answer to that in the next phrase: “And on the WING OF ABOMINATIONS shall be one who makes desolate.” To see exactly what this means we will quote words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24:15-16, “Therefore when you see the ‘ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, STANDING THE HOLY PLACE (whoever reads, let him understand, then let them, then let them in Judea flee into the mountains.” We learn exactly what this “abomination” is that stands in the temple in Jerusalem in Revelation 13:11-18 where another BEAST (the Antichrist) builds an “image of the FIRST BEAST (the Roman Prince)” and he places it in the temple and causes all to worship it and to take the “mark of the beast.” Here is an excerpt from that passage:

“And he (the Antichrist) deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the BEAST, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an IMAGE OF THE BEAST…He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive THE MARK OF THE BEAST on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666” (13:14-18).

The Antichrist is willing to place this image in the temple and cause people to worship him because of the alliance he made with the Roman Prince. He needs his protection from his enemies and thus he defiles the temple with this blasphemous image! This is an ABOMINATION to the Lord, and it will signal the beginning of the “second half of the Tribulation Period” which the Lord Jesus calls the GREAT TRIBULATION. “For THEN shall be GREAT TRIBULATION, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). How solemn this will be! The world has never experienced the horrors that will occur during those last 3 ½ years. We can praise the Lord that believers today will NOT be there (see Revelation 3:10-11). If my reader has not yet “believed on Christ as their Savior” (Acts 16:31), I would implore you to do so right now.  (DO)  (701.5)