You can view an in-depth discussion of The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast Part 2 in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. Click on the image to view: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDKD-hroUeE&w=560&h=315]

With thanks to

Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

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Join us for continued discussion on Lesson 12, The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 2

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Even now, perhaps, the stage is being set for this impending persecution. On June 6, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI made this urgent appeal to more than 15,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Rome that Sunday must be a day of rest for everyone, so people can be free to be with their families and with God. “By defending Sunday, one defends human freedom.” This isn’t, of course, the same thing as demanding that others keep this day, as opposed to the biblical Sabbath, but it does show that the idea of Sunday as the “day of rest” is, definitely, a real issue. Sooner or later, laws will be passed, and those who conscientiously follow the Word of God and keep the true Sabbath will be labeled as opposing society’s best interests.

In this time of crisis, God’s faithful people will, by His grace and through His power, stand firm in their convictions to follow Him. They will not yield to the pressure.

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In contrast to the mark of the beast, they will receive the seal of God. Seals were used in ancient times to attest to the authenticity of official documents. We would then expect to find God’s seal embedded in His law. Ancient seals were a distinctive individualized mark. Isaiah the prophet says, “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples” (Isaiah 8:16, NKJV).

Read Exodus 20:8-11. What elements of a biblical seal do you find in the Sabbath commandment? How is the Sabbath command different from all the other commandments?

The fourth commandment contains three elements of an authentic seal. First, the name of the sealer: “The LORD your God” (Exodus 20:10, NKJV). Second, the title of the sealer: the Lord who “made,” (Exodus 20:11) or the Creator. And third, the territory of the sealer: “the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them” (Exodus 20:11, NKJV). According to Revelation 7:1-3, the seal of God is placed only on our foreheads, a symbol of our minds. Jesus respects our freedom of choice. He invites us to let Him shape our minds by His Holy Spirit so that we cannot be moved from the anchor of our faith in the Word of God (Ephesians 4:30). Thus, we understand that the faithful are those who “keep the commandments of God, and [have] the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12), and included in those commandments is the fourth, the one commandment the beast power thought to change (Daniel 7:25).

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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As Adventists we understand from the book of Revelation that the anti-Christ is the papacy putting itself in the place of God. Of course, any system putting itself in the place of God is an anti-Christ. In 1 John 2:18, John writes, “even now are there many anti-Christs; whereby we know that it is the last time.” So was John implying there were more anti-Christs besides just the papacy? If so, could you or I have anti-Christ characteristics?

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To answer this question, let’s back up a little. In studying the Three Angels’ Message, we see that a so-called religious system, Babylon, falls. Again we know from studying Revelation that this is a specific system. However, we also see that this system has an attitude. That attitude is legalism. Man-made laws and a man-made day of worship combine to make a man-made way of salvation, outside of trusting in the merits of Jesus. While Revelation pinpoints this system, it is clear that this attitude can be found in other systems as well, and history has demonstrated it. Were not the Sadducees and Pharisees making their own laws and trusting their own works for salvation? Yet they were not Babylon. So could it be that if I am not careful to crucify self and die daily, that this same attitude of Babylon could be found in my heart too?

So, if it is possible for me to have the attitude of Babylon, would it also be possible for me to have the same attitude as the anti-Christ, thus making me one of many anti-Christs? An anti-Christ is someone who sets himself up as Christ, just as the man of sin mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” Here we see that the man of sin, or anti-Christ sits in the place of God. So how could I possibly be an anti-Christ, sitting in the place of God? Isaiah 33:22 tells us; “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver.” Our Lord God is our lawgiver and judge. So, when I set myself up as judge of other people’s motives, or think that I can interpret the law for everybody, I am usurping the seat of God and setting myself up as God, and thus becoming an anti-Christ!

Like Babylon, Anti-Christ is more than a system. It is an attitude. Ellen White explains that, while the pilgrims came to the new world to escape the anti-Christ, they carried the attitude of anti-Christ with them to the New World:

It was the desire for liberty of conscience that inspired the Pilgrims to brave the perils of the long journey across the sea, to endure the hardships and dangers of the wilderness, and with God’s blessing to lay, on the shores of America, the foundation of a mighty nation. Yet honest and God-fearing as they were, the Pilgrims did not yet comprehend the great principle of religious liberty. The freedom which they sacrificed so much to secure for themselves, they were not equally ready to grant to others. “Very few, even of the foremost thinkers and moralists of the seventeenth century, had any just conception of that grand principle, the outgrowth of the New Testament, which acknowledges God as the sole judge of human faith.” (W. Carlos Martyn, The Life and Times of Luther, Vol. 5, p. 297.) The doctrine that God has committed to the church the right to control the conscience and to define and punish heresy, is one of the most deeply rooted of papal errors.-Ellen White, The Great Controversy, pp. 292-3

2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that the Scriptures are profitable for doctrine and correction. I can only define God’s law by what is in the Scriptures , but not by my personal opinions or traditions, like the Pharisees in Christ’s time and religious leaders in the Dark Ages did. I am not the interpreter of the Law for the whole world, nor can I think to change times and laws to meet with my own opinions or inclinations. Since I am not the Lawgiver, I cannot judge people by my own standards.

While open sin must be dealt with by the community of believers, according to 1 Corinthians 6, I, as an individual, cannot judge inward motives. In judging outward actions we must still be careful. Joseph almost put poor Mary away thinking he had all the evidence of an affair. Even with his overwhelming evidence, he was wrong! Even with all his evidence, he tried to put her away privately, without any public embarrassment. What a great example for us to imitate! Even with his incontrovertible evidence, Joseph was not going to judge Mary’s heart.

In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul teaches that churches, not individuals, are to judge open and outward actions very carefully. He teaches no one to judge the heart and inward motives. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that God and the Scriptures alone tell us what is right and wrong. I am not the Lawgiver, nor the interpreter of the law for the rest of the world.

Only the Lord our God is our Lawgiver and Judge, and when we judge people according to our own standards, opinions and understanding, we usurp the throne of God and become an anti-Christ.

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Surveys reveal a deep lack of trust in institutions and governments. Millions wonder, “Where is there someone who is morally fit to lead the world?” Revelation’s prophecies identify the beast power as the one who, under the auspices of a religious/political union, will be the power believed to fill this role.

Read Revelation 17:12-14. How does John describe these final scenes of earth’s history? What powerful contrast is seen here?

There are three significant points John makes in this passage. First, the political powers have “one mind” and “give their power and authority” to the beast. Second, this conglomerate of error makes war against Jesus the Lamb. Third, in earth’s last war, Christ and His followers are triumphant. The beast does not win; Jesus does.

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Have you ever wondered what strategy the devil might use to unite the nations? History often repeats itself. We discover valuable lessons from the collapse of the Roman Empire. When the Germanic invasions from the north threatened Western Europe, the Roman Emperor Constantine turned to religion. The authority of the church, combined with the power of the state, became the very instrument Constantine needed. The continual strengthening of the sanctity of Sunday in the fourth century was a calculated political and religious move to unite the empire at a time of crisis. Constantine wanted his empire united, and the Roman Church wanted it “converted.” The renowned historian Arthur Weigall states it clearly: “The church made a sacred day of Sunday … largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun; for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition and give them Christian significance.” — The Paganism in Our Christianity (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928), p. 145.

At a time of great crisis, when all the world is scared, hurting, and fearful, people will be desperate for someone to bring some stability and protection. This is how tyranny has arisen in the past, and there’s no reason to think that it could not happen again. According to prophecy, something will bring about these final events.

Though it’s hard to know how all this could unfold, the world has already seen how great changes can come, and very quickly, too. Though we don’t know details about what is coming, we need to be ready for whatever does come.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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