"... Revelation 13:17 says “they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.” You could do little in commerce in the ancient world (13:17) without handling such a “mark,” because allusions to the emperor’s divinity appeared on many coins and even shipping bills and other documents. In fact, a mid-third-century emperor demanded certificates of sacrifice to the emperor to participate in commerce and escape prosecution; he likely sought to eradicate Christians. Many Christians compromised by bribing officials or by using other practices; some preferred death and were accordingly executed. Even in John’s day, however, one could not handle money without involvement in the imperial system. To withdraw from an economic system permeated with imperial worship—even to withdraw from trade guilds, whose meetings included meat offered to idols—was in many cities economic suicide. Well-to-do Jewish communities in cities like Sardis had much to lose by boycotting the system, and Christian merchants as a smaller minority would lose even more. Under other circumstances, a blockade preventing some from buying and selling could lead to their starvation (1 Maccabees 13:49) ..."