THE THREE ANGELS’ MESSAGES

12. THE MARK OF THE BEAST OR THE SEAL OF GOD?

THE SECOND BEAST: AN IMAGE TO THE FIRST [SEA] BEAST

REVELATION 13:16And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads...

• Second Beast: Reject separation [Church & state]• Second Beast: Revive repression [Roman system]• Second Beast: Lamblike--speaks like a dragon• Second Beast: Force all to receive the beast’ mark• Second Beast: Military-Political-Economic-

Religious

CONTRAST: THE MARK AND THE SEAL

MARK OF THE BEAST

REVELATION 14:9, 11

• Mark: Forehead or right hand

• Mark: Those who choose to worship the beast and his image

• Mark: Dictated upon all who refuse God’s call to come out of Babylon

THE SEAL OF GOD

REVELATION 14:1

• Seal: Foreheads

• Seal: Those who choose to worship the true God and not an image of the beast

• Seal: Given in free will to those who accept to come out of Babylon

CONTRAST: LOST AND SAVED

LOST: DISOBEDIENCE

REVELATION 6:15-17

• Kings of the earth

• Great men

• Rich men

• Chief captains

• Mighty men

• Bondmen

• Freemen

SAVED: OBEDIENCE

REVELATION 7:1-3

• Kings of the earth

• Great men

• Rich men

• Chief captains

• Mighty men

• Bondmen

• Freemen

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND THE SEAL OF GOD?

Israel’s history prior to Babylonian captivity

• EZEKIEL 16:2, 8, 30; 23 [Professes to be God’s true people]

• EZEKIEL 23:40 [Decked with ornaments, jewelleries and eyes accessories]

• EZEKIEL 8:16, 17; 16:45 [Commits abomination]

• EZEKIEL 7:1, 2; REVELATION 7:1 [God’s judgment ]

• EZEKIEL 9:1-6 [Warning & sealing prior to his destruction]

• EZEKIEL 11:22, 23 [God’s glory left Jerusalem]

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER GOD’S GLORY LEFT THE CITY?

Historical Account• Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city and took Israel

captive [2 CHRONICLES 36:17]Why? Because of Israel’s abominations...[Sun

Worship]

JEREMIAH 17:27But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

BUT…WHY THE SABBATH?EZEKIEL 20:12, 20

Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I [am] the LORD that sanctify them. And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I [am] the LORD your God.

JEREMIAH 5:30, 31 [Israel’s unfaithfulness] Priests, pastors, and prophets prophesy by Baal worship and led Israel astray [JEREMIAH 2:8].

1. Sun Worship

2. Sabbath Worship

ISRAEL’S APOSTASY: O.T. & N.T…?

EPHESIANS 5:25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

REVELATION 2:2-4I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

REVELATION 2:20Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

ISRAEL’S APOSTASY AND THE APOSTATE WOMAN [BEAST]

REVELATION 2:20 & REVELATION 17:1-5• Woman apostatizes [Jezebel in her midst]• Woman commits harlotry• Woman represents the Beast• Woman commits abominations and fornications• Woman is filled with the blood of the saints• Woman controls the nations of the world• Woman is decked with silver-gold-precious stonesJEREMIAH 51:7

Babylon [hath been] a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; …the nations are mad.

FALSE PROPHET(S), IMAGE, AND DAUGHTER(S)…

Case in Point: Prophet Elijah [1 KINGS 18]• King: Ahab• Harlot: Jezebel• False Prophets of Baal: Jezebel’s table

Case in Point: Prophet John the Baptist [MATTHEW 14]

• King: Herod• Harlot: Herodias• Daughter: Salome [Herodias’ daughter]

WRITING NAMES ON TAGS

Application

• The Dragon represents Satan

• The Civil power represents the Beast

• The Papacy represents the Pope/Church

• The False Prophet represents the United States of America

WHAT IS THE MARK OF THE BEAST?

What is the Seal of God? ECCLESIASTES 12:13

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.

EZEKIEL 20:20And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I [am] the LORD your God.

• So then, what day depicts the sign of God’s seal?

CONTRAST: EZEKIEL 20:20 & REVELATION 14:9

EZEKIEL 20:20And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I [am] the LORD your God

REVELATION 14:9And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand...

THE BEAST TRAMPLING ON GOD’S SEAL & LAW

REVELATION 14:9, 10And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:• MARK OF THE BEAST [SUN WORSHIP]

• SEAL OF GOD [SABBATH & LAW]

WHOM DO YOU WORSHIP?EZEKIEL 8:16

And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, …between the porch and the altar, [were] about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.

EZEKIEL 9:3, 4 …..And he called to the man clothed with linen, which

[had] the writer's inkhorn by his side; And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

RELATIONSHIP: MARK OF THE BEAST AND SUN WORSHIP?

DEUTERONOMY 6:5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

• Which table of the law…? • What does God tell us to do with this table of the

law? DEUTERONOMY 6:8

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

• Does the Seal on the forehead [frontlets] have anything to do with the First Table of the law?

ISAIAH 8:16

Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

HEBREWS 10:16

This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I

write them;

WHICH GROUP WILL THE BEAST WAR AGAINST?

REVELATION 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and

went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

If REVELATION 13 is parallel to REVELATION 12, would you expect one of the two characteristics

that’s contrasted to be the Devil’s mark?

WORSHIP: GENUINE & COUNTERFEITDEVIL’S MARK

Counterfeit

REVELATION 13

MARK OF THE BEAST

Covetousness

Sun Worship [Secular]

False Prophet

SEAL OF GOD

Genuine

REVELATION 12

SEAL OF GOD

Love

Sabbath Worship [Sacred]

True Prophet

A SEAL CONTAINS THREE THINGS1. The signature or signet

2. Territory [Governs]3. Official Title

• Did you know that the ten commandments were written both of their sides?

EXODUS 32:15, 16And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony [were] in his hand: the tables [were] written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other [were] they written. And the tables [were] the work of God, and the writing [was] the writing of God, graven upon the tables.

QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERS• Where would you expect to find the seal of God?

• At the center of his Law• What must that SEAL have?1. HIS NAME2. HIS TERRITORY3. HIS TITLEThe seal of GOD is the Sabbath: EXODUS 20:8-11• What then would be the mark of the beast?

EZEKIEL 8:16 {Sun Worship}DANIEL 7:25

And he shall speak [great] words against the most High,…and think to change times and laws.

HOW DARE HIM [BEAST] CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS!

• Does the Roman Catholic church claim to change God’s Law?

- September 1, 1923, the catholic record: “Sunday is our mark of authority” “The church is above the bible; and this transference is proof of that fact.”

- Translated from Lucius Ferraris, prompta bibliotheca (ready library), “ papa,” art. 2.

“The pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine laws...the pope can modify law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent [deputy/magistrate with delegated power] of God upon earth.”

Catechism of the council of Trent (Donovan's translation, 1867), part 3, chap. 4, p. 345

“It pleased the church of God, that the religious celebration of the Sabbath day should be transferred to ‘the lord’s day.”

-council of Trent: McHugh and Callan Translation (1937 ed.), p. 402. “Question. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holydays? “Answer. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.”

A Doctrinal Catechism (3d ed.), p. 174.

“Question. Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precepts?“Answer. had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; -- she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.”

The converts catechism of the catholic doctrine (1946 ed.), p. 50.

“Question. Which is the Sabbath day?

“Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.

“Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

“Answer. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the catholic church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”

WHO’LL MAKE AN IMAGE OF/TO THE BEAST?

The Second beast [land beast] or America [USA]

• What does an image to the beast mean?

• What is this image expected to do?

1. The church controls or dictates to the state and advices her to enforce her demands.

2. It will enforce the mark of the beast.

1. The forehead [frontlet] mind…believes the beast is right.

2. Right hand: Carries out the work of the beast

ECCLESIASTES 9:10Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do [it] with thy might; for [there is] no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

DISOBEDIENCE AND ITS REPERCUSSIONAdam & Eve: TEN Commandments [Sabbath]

1. No other gods/carved images

2. No bowing down

3. Using God’s name in vain: [Serpent]

4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy

5. Honour thy father and thy mother

6. Don’t murder

7. Don’t commit adultery

8. Don’t steal [pilfer/take in secret without consent]

9. Don’t bear false witness: GENESIS 3:3 Eat/Touch

10. Don’t covet

A CLOSER LOOK: ISRAEL

EXODUS 31:16

Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, [for] a perpetual covenant. It [is] a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

EXODUS 19:8

And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do….

• Read the book of EZEKIEL

LUKE 16:10

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

• If you are unwilling to loose your honour, fortune, and livelihood, what makes you think you will be

willing to loose your life for JESUS CHRIST?