Friday: Further Thought ~ The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 2
Further Thought:
“When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country [the United States] shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.” — Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 451.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“We have tended to overlook the fact that Sunday is the day of worship of the opposing forces … in the story line of the Book of Revelation. Sunday is an extremely important symbol, revealing the unbelievable craftiness and sophistry of the dragon. … This … change of God’s law expresses in one simple action the very essence of the hatred of the dragon against God in the cosmic conflict. Its simplicity is highly deceptive. The dragon has sought to usurp God’s place in the cosmos by depicting himself as the true object of worship and arguing that God’s law is unjust — that it should be changed. The dragon changed the law at the juncture within the Decalogue where God is identified as Creator and Redeemer, the only one worthy of worship (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:1-33; cf. Revelation 4:11; Revelation 5:9, Revelation 5:13-14). The change of the law manifests not only the dragon’s hatred for the will of the Lord (the law), but it is also his attempt to usurp God’s place by becoming the object of worship. … The universalization of this change in the law would assure him victory.” — Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, “The Closing of the Cosmic Conflict: Role of the Three Angels’ Messages,” unpublished manuscript, Pages 53, 54.
Discussion Questions:
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I go bird-watching along bush tracks nearly every day. While these tracks are well-made, they are uneven and undulating. I sometimes get so intent on looking up into the trees for birds that I trip over a tree root. I have indeed fallen over a couple of times and that is sometimes a bit painful because I don't want to drop my camera and lens in the process. Carmel continually reminds me that I am old and more fragile than I used to be, and her usual comment when I start my walk is to watch my step. Mostly, nowadays, I don't look for birds and walk at the same time - at least that is what I tell Carmel.
There is a serious danger in our spiritual lives that we become so intent on the latter day events, that we trip over the present. Satan is a strategist. He attracts our attention to something and lets us trip up over our everyday follies and mistakes.
I know that the context of this scripture is about physical needs but it has an important application to our spiritual lives as well. Our interpretation of the prophecies about end-time events may well be right, but there are no brownie points in being able to say "Gotcha!" when it happens. We are in the middle of an intense battle for our minds right now.
Our prophetic interpretation is spot on; however, our problem is application not interpretation. For example, what does it imply about our lives that we say we are Laodicea--the church where Jesus is knocking at our door? If Jesus is knocking, that means He's outside, not inside! *That* should arrest our attention. Another example Rev.14:12 happens to be one of the central texts in the lesson. It mentions "the faith of Jesus." Jesus asked a vital question about that very thing: "...when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our understanding of prophecy should lead us to go 'Jesus-watching' in such a way that it helps us to avoid tripping over the roots, rocks, and ruts on the way. My greatest sadness is that I find it so easy to explain it and so hard to live by it.
Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Jesus.
[Silence]
One thing we can be sure of is that God can't make a single mistake. Perfection exists, but it is not within us. Nevertheless, there is no sin in looking for it, to improve it daily. There is nothing we can do to change God's will, which will be fulfilled whether we want it or not. So it might be easier just to be joyful for life, for today's present, and for His most important gift to humanity, His Son!
While what the lesson says about Sunday being the day of worship of the opposing forces is a message that needs to be brought to the attention of the world, especially when theological intellectuals produce pages of seemingly logical reasons to observe Sunday, yet it seems the most important part -- the "seal of God" is only touched upon.
What is the seal of God?
How is it received?
Yes, the Sabbath will be a SIGN, a visible sign of having the seal of God when the whole world is enforcing the counterfeit Sunday. Yes, the Sabbath commandment has the name of God, the territory of God, the reason He is the owner and is worthy of worship. But the Sabbath sign will only reveal the inner condition of the heart of the person who has fully committed themselves to following the Lamb.
When the test comes, those who keep Sabbath only as a cultural practice will switch to the popular Sunday, while those who have dedicated their lives to follow Christ will switch from Sunday to the day blessed and sanctified by the Creator.
The pattern and choices for or against Christ today will determine which way people will turn when the test comes.
The issue is always Who do we worship and obey.
The seal of God is more than the sign of the seal.
The seal of God means the person receiving it is a citizen of the heavenly kingdom! Its means they love God with all their hearts, minds and soul, being in Christ in truth and full commitment.
The Holy Spirit does the sealing, the mission of those who know the message is to share the message and live it themselves. The shocking truth revealed is that when the test comes there will be a huge shifting as to who receives the final seal signifying they are citizens of God's kingdom.
A huge number who profess to be following God's commandments will then set aside God's Sabbath for the spurious day; setting aside God's commands for what is more convenient has been the pattern of their lives, but also, multitudes who didn't fully understand the issues before, but the love for Christ is kindled in their hearts, will fully commit to following the Creator God at any cost to their temporal wellbeing.
In fact -- if you reread the message of the angels you will notice many of God's people are yet in Babylon. Those who have fully committed themselves to Christ will come out!
And yes, it is easier to talk about it. The door to Christ needs to be thrown wide open and His presence sought and enjoyed daily, constantly, then we can follow Him where ever He leads.
It seems that the central issue of this week's lesson is our need to be prepared for Christ's Second Coming. We've been given warnings and insights into the enemies plans, however that knowledge will not save us. What will save us is a personal intimate relationship with Jesus.
We can know about Jesus, we can know all the fundamental doctrines and be regular churchgoing Seventh-day Adventist and still not Know Jesus behind all of these good things. Only as we spend quality time with him that we become changed into his likeness and develop a faith like His.
To do this, E.G. White, in her book, The Desire of Ages pg 84 tells us that we should
As we study His life and teachings we will become fortified with the faith to see us through the final conflict. Then Christ's Holy Spirit will give us discernment to distinguish between truth and deception and give us strength to live for Christ.
Has Protestantism ‘stretched her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the 'Roman power' already?’ I would say yes, and with the worldwide evidence to support that, Ellen White’s warning should be taken very seriously.
More and more Christians can observe the workings of evil to make inroads into the very heart of America’s foundational principles, causing them to become corrupt and ineffective in leading the offices of the citizen's civic, judicial, administrative, and religious life. What is most disturbing is that a new 'religious' zealotry has evolved whose claime is to 'save the world' from impending doom using their way.
Spiritualism is expressed in many forms; 'protection/worship’ of gods of nature and commerce are aspects among many others, but all are used to actively foment the decline and health of nations through manipulation and real warfare. God permits these efforts by the spirit of antichrist to establish its humanistic form of ‘justice’, to separate the tares from the wheat - Matt.23:24-30.
The unholy union of religion and government is unfolding in front of our eyes. All the tentacles of this by evil inspired new world order impact every layer of civic and political life of the nations around the world. 10 nations, not yet fully formed but ready to become established as political, national powers, will lend their power to the beast for a short while – Rev.17:12-18.
In my opinion, under the guise of preventing the pollution and destruction of life on the earth, the dragon's system uses the peoples concerns and fears to unite with him. Their anxieties and manipulated concerns become the unifying cause/gateway to control every activity of the people and governments worldwide.
In order to achieve their goal of predictably managed, worldwide established network of commerce, they form a sham union to honore those who worship on any given day of the week. The through the ecclesiastical union sponsored Sunday laws are aimed to reach those already involved in organized religious worship, may it be on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
In my opinion, through implementing a coerced form of worship and selecting Sunday as the ‘day of worship’. This system assembles all organized religious institutions which emphasize the adherance to any form/type of manmade religious rites, preventing the believer to worship God in His Spirit and Truth directly. The call goes out to all who can hear Him saying: "come out of her my people" - Rev.18:3-5.
In the past, the effort to come together as one people came from Constantine, the Roman Emperor who envisioned this form of religious and political union could establish his power. Now, the effort comes through those who inspire the leaders represented by the 10 horns [who have no kingdom yet, but will give their power to the beast for a short time], in the attempt to control all aspects of life of their people.
In my opinion, the religious aspects are used to manipulate the people's support and so permitting the control and subjugation of a free people to follow the false gospels' aims to increase the world's influence and powers – Rev.17:17-18; Matt.24:24.
What do the false ministers of righteousness look like, what do they do? – 2 Cor.11:13-15NKJV The dragon does not have or exercises true spiritual powers. His are the powers of deception and persuasion to con the people and nations into 'drinking the wine of its corruption', causing them to use reason from the standpoint of a humanist, and seeing themselves as worthwhile and morally acceptable in their own eyes.
What constitutes the Mark of the Beast vs. the Mark of God? What causes mankind to become ensnared/devoted to the system of the Beast to want to follow it? Jesus admonishes everyone to learn to clearly distinguish the influences offered by false prophets vs. the Holy Spirit of Truth and Life. He calls His people to come out of Babylon, this false system. Only those who 'hear' can follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and do so – Matt.7:22-24.
To go along with Unruh’s post, I believe we as Seventh Day Adventisists tend to look at the 10 commandments as written in Exodus 20 and use these as the barometer of our Christianity. Unfortunately we can interpret these from the perspective of “outward appearance” and be deceived into thinking we are indeed keeping them when we are not. Jesus at the sermon on the mount removed the veil and revealed that at the heart of the 10 commandments is not just what we do, but our motives and how we think. We can affect our behavior by our wills but the selfishness of my motives and how I think drives me to Jesus on my knees. “Dear Jesus please save me from myself”. So I think when we talk about “here are they that keep the commandments of God” it would be helpful to unite the commandments as written in Exodus 20 with Jesus’ insights into the spiritual depth of those commandments in Mathew 5 and 6. Because what we do will not save us from how we think.
Michael – I agree with you that: “… at the heart of the 10 commandments is not just what we do, but our motives and how we think.” I suggest to include Matt.22:36-40 in your efforts to seek a deeper understanding of God’s revealed Truth.
All the commandments and the messages of the prophets are represented and satisfied through our act of faith - to love God with all our heart and being. The fulfillment comes through expressing His ‘loving kindness’ to those we interact with, so expressing the Truth and Light of the Word of God.
As a born-again believer engaged in living this Truth, through the Grace of God, we are blessed to receive the Holy Spirit – indeed, we are now a new creation in Christ Jesus based on God’s workmanship! – Eph.2:10.