The mark of the beast is some type of chip or tattoo (most likely a computer chip implanted under the skin on the right hand or the forehead). In the future, another technology may replace the implantable chip.
The future Antichrist will issue his “mark” at the mid-point of the seven-year Tribulation. Those who refuse to take his “mark” will not be permitted to buy or sell anything or receive benefits of any kind from the government or corporation. No one will be able to work a job or own a business with the “mark.” Those who refuse to worship the Antichrist and take his mark will be executed (Revelation 13.15-17).
Even today (2013), if we were told that everyone on the planet must take a “mark” to be able to buy or sell there would be world wide armed resistance. The promoters of this agenda already know this so they are gradually conditioning the masses to eventually accept the “mark.”
One specific technology to create a “mark” system of buying and selling which virtually everyone in the Western world use is the credit card. More than 90% of all transactions (buying/selling) in the West are made with credit/debit cards or electronically. And according to news reports the government is keeping track of all credit/debit card transactions.
It will only be a matter of time before the masses are enticed to get an implanted computer chip or tattoo to “conveniently” replace credit/debit cards and all forms of identification. When the Antichrist commands everyone on earth to take his “mark” to be able to buy and sell, the vast majority will take it because they will have become conditioned to do so.
“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13.16-17).