The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast
THE SEAL OF GOD
This is only a brief overview of this topic and it would be advisable to read the full and detailed document from 666 mark of the Beast or mark of the beast to find the origin of 666 the number of the beast. When I ask people what is their understanding of the Mark of the Beast, they almost always respond that the Mark is the number 666. Is this actually true or have we already been deceived at this point in our understanding? In actual fact, Revelation 13:17 shows quite clearly that the Mark of the Beast is different to the number, which is the number of a man. It says, "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." It is true that Satan counterfeits many things of God, such as healing, tongues and other miracles. Is it possible that Satan is also going to counterfeit God's mark, which is called the Seal of God? Was the mark the Lord set upon Cain a physical mark or a spiritual mark? Genesis 4:15 reads, "…And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." Did Cain spend the rest of his life with writing on His forehead? And assuming this, would others that existed then known about or bothered to take notice of any such mark on his head?
Some interpret the mark of the beast as a tattoo of some sort or perhaps a microchip injected into the hand or the forehead. Others think it might be connected to a credit card, national health card or bar code. From a practical standpoint this is a monumental task that would be difficult to accomplish on a worldwide basis. I would like to present an alternate interpretation that you may not have heard before. I will present a logical interpretation of both the seal of God and the mark of the beast that complement each other. The following verses refer to a seal of God.
q John 6:27 "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."
q 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."
q Ephesians 1:13 "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."
q Ephesians 4:30 "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
q 2 Timothy 2:19 "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
The previous verses seem to indicate a figurative or symbolic seal rather than a physical seal. Some show being sealed with the Holy Spirit. The following verses would seem to be a physical seal of some kind on the forehead.
q Revelation 7:2-3 "Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."
q Revelation 9:4 "They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads."
At this point, let's define a seal. The seal of a king contains three things, first the name, second his title or claim to authority, and thirdly, the region of his rule. Henry VIII, King of Britain, Wales and Scotland for example. What is the purpose of a King's seal? The Bible tells us clearly:
q Daniel 6:15-17 "Then these men approached the king, and said to the king, "Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed." 16 So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, "Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you." 17 Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed."
So the seal of the King is a statement that his decree is NOT to be changed and NOT to be changed by anyone.
q Romans 4:11 "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,"
Note that the sign of circumcision is also a seal of righteousness and that a sign and a seal can be synonymous.
q Isaiah 8:16 "Bind up the testimony, Seal the law among my disciples."
q Deuteronomy 6:6-8 NIV "These Commandments [Ten Commandments] that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. … Tie them as symbols on your HANDS and bind them on your FOREHEADS."
A very important point here is that the disciples of God are sealed with His law. The seal of God is in His law and this is clearly a symbolic seal and not a literal one shown also by the law being a sign where the mark of the beast goes.
q Exodus 31:13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you."
q Exodus 31:16-17 "Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."
So the Sabbath is a sign of God, or His seal, representing His authority as Creator.
q Exodus 32:15-16 "And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. 16 Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets."
Note the Commandments are written on both sides of the stone tablets. In Old Testament times, covenants were stamped with the kings seal right in the middle of the text which made them unreadable were the seal was. To solve this problem, covenants were written on both sides. The fourth Commandment, the Sabbath is exactly in the middle of God's Commandments. If you count the Hebrew syllables on each side of the fourth Commandment you will get precisely the same count, it is exactly in the middle and not by coincidence. This being the case you would expect to find the seal of God in the fourth Commandment which it indeed is. A seal is typically made up of three things; the kings Name, his Title and his Domain. Notice that we can find the seal of God in the fourth Commandment below. His name is the Lord and His title is Creator and His domain is the Heaven and Earth, the Sea, and all that in them.
q Exodus 20:8-11 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
So the fourth Commandment (3rd by Catholic count) declares the seventh day (Saturday) to be the Sabbath. To attest to the validity of this declaration, the seal of God has been affixed to this Commandment. The intention of this seal is to establish the authority of God and that no man can change His Law. The seal of God is not a literal seal. It is affixed to, and obtained by, those who worship the one true God on the day He specified in His Law. Those who worship on the Saturday Sabbath and believe it to be a continuing testament to the Creator, have the seal of God on the forehead (they know the truth and follow the Law of God).
THE MARK OF THE BEAST
Now here are verses that refer to the mark of the beast: (Note the mark and the number are not the same.)
q Revelation 13:16-18 "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, 17 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. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666."
q Revelation 14:9-12 "Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." 12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."
q Revelation 15:2 "And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God."
q Revelation 16:2 "So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image."
q Revelation 19:20 "Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone."
q Revelation 20:4 "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years."
Notice how many times worship is mentioned in connection with the mark of the beast. Since the seal of God has been shown not to be a literal seal, why should the mark of the beast be a literal mark? If the mark on Cain was a literal mark, how would others have known to acknowledge it? Since those who worship on the Saturday Sabbath have the seal of God, what is a likely mark for the beast? It looks like worship is a factor. Notice in Revelation 13:17 that the mark of the beast is not the number of his name which is 666. Many people think this number is the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast and the name of the beast and the number of his name are separate things, all which must be avoided. Obviously, it is important we know who the beast is. As I have shown in the document titled " Sabbath and Antichrist truth revealed", the beast is the Papacy and Catholic Church identified in one instance by the number 666, which equates to the papal title of VICARIUS FILII DEI, when you add up the Roman numeral values for the letters. It means the Vicar of the Son of God or Vicar of Christ. A Vicar General is defined in the 1994 Catholic Almanac on page 330 as "a priest or bishop appointed by the bishop of a diocese to serve as his deputy, with ordinary executive power, in the administration of the diocese." So a vicar serves in the place of (substituting for) the bishop, and assumes his power of office for certain duties. The Papal title of VICAR OF CHRIST which in Latin is VICARIUS CHRISTI, means a Substitute For Christ, which is synonymous with Antichrist, i.e., assuming the power of God on earth. This blasphemous claim is made repeatedly by various Popes and is the very foundation of Roman Catholicism and its Papacy. The reformation was based on the identification of Roman Catholicism as the beast, and the Pope as the Antichrist, but this is something that has been forgotten or overlooked by Protestantism today. Now look at Revelation 14:9-12 and Deuteronomy 6:6-8 again. Note how the Ten Commandments are very significantly to be a sign upon our HANDS and FOREHEAD and how the saints of God are described in contrast to those with the mark of the beast? The saints keep the Commandments of God, and so they do not receive the mark of the beast! It is by no means a coincidence that the mark of the beast goes in exactly the same location that is a symbolic sign that God's Ten Commandment law is written in our hearts and minds so that we will not forget them.
So here is a summary of the mark of the beast made simple.
The mark is a symbolic sign on our HAND and FOREHEAD.
Revelation 13:16 “And 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:”
God's law is a symbolic sign on our HAND and FOREHEAD.
Deuteronomy 6:5-8 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a SIGN on your HAND and they shall be as frontals on your FOREHEAD.”
And of course we need to know who the beast is that enforces the mark.
All the following knew that the Roman Catholic Church is the little horn of Daniel 7, being synonymous with the first beast of Revelation 13. “John Wycliffe, William Tyndale (translated the Bible - Tyndale Bible), Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer; in the seventeenth century, Bunyan, the translators of the King James Bible and the men who published the Westminster and Baptist confessions of Faith; Sir Isaac Newton, John Wesley, Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards; and more recently Spurgeon, Bishop J.C. Ryle and Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones; these men among countless others, all saw the office of the Papacy as the antichrist. ” — All Roads Lead to Rome, by Michael de Semlyen. Dorchestor House Publications, p. 205. 1991.
Hence the mark of the beast is quite simply the mark of the Roman Catholic Church!
Scripture says the Roman Catholic Church would change the law of God.
Daniel 7:25 “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
And the Bible says that those who do not get the mark of the beast are keeping the law of God.
Revelation 14:12 “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, and the faith of Jesus.”
What does the Roman Catholic Church says their mark is? Why not ask them?
“Of course the Catholic church claims that the change [i.e. Sabbath to Sunday] was her act, and the act as a MARK of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things.” — H.F. Thomas, Chancellor to Cardinal Gibbons.
“Sunday is our MARK of authority. . .the church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact” — Catholic Record of London, Ontario Sept 1,1923.
So the truth is not hard to see. The Roman Catholic Church changed the law of God just as Scripture warned us they would, and those who keep the law of God do not get the mark. Hence it is about giving our allegiance to God and obeying His law. We either follow man and tradition, or we follow God and keep His Commandments.
If you keep Sunday, you give your allegiance to Satan who gave power to the beast. (Revelation 13:4) If you keep God's law and more specifically the one the beast changed, (the Sabbath) then you give your allegiance to God.
And if you follow the Trinity, you are worshipping a god on the Sabbath but it is not the one true God and His Son. Right day, wrong god! See Is the Trinity doctrine true or false or Biblical.
Acts 5:29 “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”