Jesus tells us there is one sin which is unforgiven, which is blasphemy against God's Spirit, as found in Matthew 12;31,32.
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”
Yet, here is an action, receiving the “mark”, which is also not forgiven. Once received, there is no hope of redemption.
Considering both facts and accepting that both are true, there must be a correlation between both actions.
I've been noodling around different theories to try to understand how the mark can permanently and irrevocably condemn the recipient.
1- The “mark” permanently and irrevocably changes the recipient.
Maybe the mark changes the recipient to some sort of human hybrid on a basic physical level in one of two ways.
1a- Genetically, whereby the recipient is no longer “in God's image”. Jesus died and rose for humans and if the genetic makeup is altered, salvation is no longer available to the altered non-human, who is no longer “in God's image”
1b- The mark is digital, transforming the recipient into a member of a digital collective (the borg) hive mind where the recipient no longer has free will and is unable to come to salvation through free will.
2- The mark is a permanent, declarative blasphemy against God, so obvious in it's declaration and pronouncement that it is completely irrevocable. This aligns perfectly with Jesus's words in Matthew 12:31,32.
After much consideration, I suspect it is the latter, but also in combination with 1a and 1b. The mark clearly contains three elements. It is voluntary (of one's own free will), it is part of the beast worship system and it is financial. I believe that the latter is merely meant to exclude those who resist and control those who accept the mark, rather than a benefit to the recipient.
...that is all