Study # 7 – The Seal of God

&
The Mark of the Beast

What warning does God give us in the Bible about the 'mark of the beast'?

Rev 14:9-10
9 And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone
worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand ,

10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in
the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of
the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

There have been endless efforts to identify the mark of the beast. Most recently, in this
new age of technology, many people have speculated that this mark might be a bar code
etched by laser into our foreheads or hands. Others have suggested that we might receive
a micro computer chip implanted in our foreheads or our hands that could be
programmed with all of our personal information, like identification, bank account
balances, employment information, etc. These speculations are made partially because of
what we read in Revelation 13: 16, 17.

Rev 13:16-17
16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be
given a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead,
17 and he provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the
name of the beast or the number of his name.

The people who make these speculations argue that such a bar code or micro-computer chip could be used to
control whether we are able to buy or sell in an age of automatic teller machines and bar code scanners at
checkout lines. These technologies might in fact be employed in such ways. But instead of idle speculation, we
need to look to the Bible for an explanation of this mark.

Could a bar code or a computer chip be the mark of the beast?

 Rev 14:9-10
9 And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying
with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his
image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his
hand,
10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and
he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

Notice that the mark of the beast has to do with worship. This is our first clue that a micro chip or a bar code
cannot be the mark of the beast. Notice also that the mark is placed in the forehead or the hand. Revelation
talks about another mark that is placed in people's foreheads.

What other mark does the Bible talk about that may be placed on people's foreheads?

Rev 7:1-3 Ezek 9:3-6

1 After this I saw four angels 3 Then the glory of the God of Israel
standing at the four corners of the went up from the cherub on which it
earth, holding back the four winds had been, to the threshold of the
of the earth, so that no wind should temple. And He called to the man
blow on the earth or on the sea or on clothed in linen at whose loins was the
any tree. writing case.
2 And I saw another angel 4 And the LORD said to him, "Go
ascending from the rising of the sun, through the midst of the city, even
having the seal of the living God ; through the midst of Jerusalem, and
and he cried out with a loud voice to put a mark on the foreheads of the men
the four angels to whom it was who sigh and groan over all the
granted to harm the earth and the abominations which are being
sea, committed in its midst."
3 saying, "Do not harm the earth 5 But to the others He said in my
or the sea or the trees, until we have hearing, "Go through the city after him
sealed the bond-servants of our God and strike; do not let your eye have
on their foreheads." pity, and do not spare.
6 "Utterly slay old men, young men,
The prophet Ezekiel saw essentially maidens, little children, and women,
the same vision as John about the but do not touch any man on whom is
Seal of God. Ezekiel referred to this the mark; and you shall start from My
seal as a mark sanctuary." So they started with the
elders who were before the temple.

Actually, although Satan is the father of lies, he is really not very creative. Satan's mode of operations is to take
something that God has created to be good and pervert it to be bad. One example is love. Physical intimacy
between a husband and a wife is one of the most beautiful gifts that God gave to the human race. But Satan has
taken God's good gift, added selfishness, and perverted it into lust. Intimacy without love is just lust -something
hollow, shallow and meaningless. There are an endless number of examples. Take something as simple as grape
juice. It was given to us by God. It tastes good; it is refreshing; and it is full of nutritional value that helps your
body grow stronger and fight disease. Compare that to grape flavor soda pop. It looks similar and tastes very
much the same, but it has virtually no nutritional value and enough processed sugar to actually suppress the
effectiveness of your immune system for several hours.

Satan has a counterfeit for every good thing God created. And remember that the best lie is the one that
contains the most truth. The more closely the false resembles the true, the more likely people are to be deceived.
The mark of the beast and the seal of God are just such a matched pair. The Seal of God is a good gift that God
has given to His people. The mark of the beast is a Satan's counterfeit, which he uses to deceive people. I think
that as we look into the Bible and identify the Seal of God, the mark of the beast will become obvious.

Both the mark of the beast and the Seal of God are placed in the forehead or the hand.
What does the Bible say these marks represent?

Rev 14:1
1 And I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him
one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father
written on their foreheads.

Rev 22:3-4
3 And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb
shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him;
4 and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.

Rev 13:16-17
16 And he [the beast] causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor,
and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand, or on their
forehead ,
17 and he provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who
has the mark , either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

The Seal of God is the name of Jesus and God the Father! The mark of the beast is the name of Satan! It is
important to understand that in the Bible a name represents character. A person's name told something about
their character. For instance the name Satan means "adversary" in Hebrew and "accuser" in Greek. The
different names for God in the Bible are almost endless. The name Jesus means "God who saves". Emanuel
means "God with us". Therefore, both the mark of the beast and the Seal of God are, in some way, a reflection
of the character of Satan and the character of God in their respective followers. Revelation indicates that at the
end of the age, at Jesus return, everyone will have one mark or the other - either the mark of the beast or the
Seal of God. There will be no middle ground. You will either be a servant of God or a servant of Satan.

The Bible also indicates that the mark in the hand represents our works and the mark in the forehead represents
our minds or our understanding. (See Eccl 9:10, and Hebrews 8:10). Somehow, then, the Seal of God is a
reflection of God's character in our understanding. The mark of the beast is a reflection of Satan's character in
one's understanding or one's works.

How are God's people sealed? What effect does this have on their lives?
2 Cor 1:21-22
21 Now He who establishes
us with you in Christ and
anointed us is God,
22 who also sealed us and
gave us the Spirit in our hearts
as a pledge.
Eph 4:30
30 And do not grieve the
Holy Spirit of God, by whom
you were sealed for the day of
redemption.
Rom 8:4-5
4 in order that the requirement of
the Law might be fulfilled in us,
who do not walk according to the
flesh, but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who are according to
the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who are
according to the Spirit, the things of
the Spirit.
Gal 5:16
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit,
and you will not carry out the desire
of the flesh.
(See also Gal 5:17-26)

In the case of the people of God, we are primarily sealed with the Holy Spirit. Note that when the Bible talks
about our hearts, it means our minds or our affections, not our physical heart. Prov 23:7 tells us "For as he
thinks in his heart, so is he." We think with our minds, not our physical hearts. As we yield ourselves to the Holy
Spirit, He changes our attitudes and those changed attitudes reveal themselves in our actions. The Seal of God
is God's character revealed in our thoughts and our actions. However, the Bible actually makes it more specific
than that. We find the key in Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy is really just a summary of Exodus,
Leviticus, and Numbers. Chapters 1-4 tell about Israel's wanderings in the wilderness after the exodus from
Egypt. It highlights how God had led and provided for them. Chapter 5 restates the Ten Commandments.
Chapters 6-8 are admonitions, warnings, and promises of God associated with obeying or disobeying His laws.
Chapters 9 & 10 tell of Israel's disobedience and of how the tables containing the Ten Commandments were
broken and then replaced. Chapters 12 and onward begin to reiterate the Sanctuary laws and civil ordinances.
The interesting part is in Chapter 6. Just after God restates the Ten Commandments in Chapter 5, He
emphasizes the underlying principle of the Commandments.

After restating the Ten Commandments to His people in Deuteronomy 5, what counsel
does God give them regarding the Commandments? How does He describe where the
Commandments should be written?

Deut 6:4-9
4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is
one!
5 "And you shall love the LORD your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 "And these words, which I am commanding you
today, shall be on your heart;

7 and 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 "And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your
forehead.
9 "And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

This passage tells us that the Ten Commandments are a reflection of the love of God in our hearts, and that they
were to be as a mark on the forehead and the hand!! Obedience of the Ten Commandments is a visible sign of
being sealed with the Holy Spirit!!! Obedience of the Ten Commandments is the visible Seal of God.
Isa 8:16,20
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my
disciples.
20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak
according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
Deut 11:18-22
18 "You shall therefore impress these words of mine on
your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a
sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your
forehead.
19 "And you shall teach them to your sons, talking of
them when you sit in your house and when you walk along
the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.
20 "And you shall write them on the doorposts of your
house and on your gates,
What other institution does God speak of in this way (i.e. binding it as a sign on the
forehead and hand)?
Exod 12:6-7, 11-13
6 'And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the
same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation
of Israel is to kill it at twilight.
7 'Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it
on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in
which they eat it.
God only refers to two sets of commandments in this way - binding them on the forehead and hand. We just read
here about the Ten Commandments. The other situation God refers to in this manner is the Passover. The
Passover was the day God delivered Israel out of in Egypt.
21 so that your days and the days of your sons may be
multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your
fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above
the earth.
22 "For if you are careful to keep all this commandment
which I am commanding you, to do it, to love the LORD
your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him;
Heb 8:10
10 "For this is the
covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel
after those days, says the
Lord: I will put My laws
into their minds, and I will
write them upon their
hearts. And I will be their
God, and they shall be My
people.
11 'Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your
loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff
in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste-- it is the
LORD'S Passover.
12 'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that
night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land
of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods
of Egypt I will execute judgments-- I am the LORD.
13 'And the blood shall be a sign for you on the
houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will
pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy
you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Exod 13:9, 16
9 "And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand,
and as a reminder on your forehead , that the law of
the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a powerful
hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
16 "So it shall serve as a sign on your hand, and as
phylacteries on your forehead , for with a powerful
hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt ."
This next point is very important. Revelation identifies the Seal of God as being the name of God in the
forehead. There are two, and only two, institutions that God identifies in this exact same way in the Old
Testament - the Ten Commandments and the Passover. The Passover represents our deliverance from to sin.
Jesus was our Passover lamb and He was crucified on Passover. The Passover represents the character of
Jesus as our SAVIOR. The underlying principle of the Ten Commandments is love to God and love to our fellow
man (Matt 22:36-40, Deut 6:5, Lev 19:18). Obedience to the Ten Commandments represents the Character of
Jesus as our LORD. Jesus must be both our LORD and SAVIOR.

John 14:15
15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Rom 6:16-18
16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves
to someone as slaves for obedience, you are
slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in
death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of
sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of
teaching to which you were committed,
18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves
of righteousness.

The Ten Commandments and the Passover are symbols of Jesus as our LORD and SAVIOR. They are both
referred to as being bound on the forehead and hand (also the heart and as blood on the doorpost). The Ten
Commandments and the Passover are visible signs of the Seal of God!!

What one single institution does God directly connect with both the Ten Commandments
and the Passover?

Deut 5:12-15
12 'Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD
your God commanded you.
13 'Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
14 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in
it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or
your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your
donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with
you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest
as well as you.
15 'And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land
of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a
mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD
your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

There is one institution, and only one, that God connects directly to both the Ten Commandments and the
Passover. This institution is specifically identified in the context of the Ten Commandments as representing
God's deliverance from Egypt, or the Passover. The Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment is a memorial of the
Passover!!! No other institution represents both the Ten Commandments and the Passover! No other institution
points to Jesus as both our SAVIOR and LORD! No other institution is specifically identified as being a sign
between God and His people! The Sabbath is the Seal of God!!!

Is there any other scriptural evidence that connects the Sabbath with the Ten
Commandments and the Passover as the Seal of God?
Exod 31:13, 16-18
13 "But as for you, speak to the
sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall
surely observe My sabbaths; for
this is a sign between Me and you
throughout your generations, that
you may know that I am the
LORD who sanctifies you.
16 'So the sons of Israel shall
observe the sabbath, to celebrate
the sabbath throughout their
generations as a perpetual
covenant.'
17 "It is a sign between Me
and the sons of Israel forever; for
in six days the LORD made
heaven and earth, but on the
seventh day He ceased from
labor, and was refreshed."
18 And when He had finished
speaking with him upon Mount
Sinai, He gave Moses the two
tablets of the testimony [the Ten
Commandments], tablets of
stone, written by the finger of
God.
Ezek 20:10-12
10 "So I took them out of the
land of Egypt [at the Passover]
and brought them into the
wilderness .
11 "And I gave them My statutes
and informed them of My
ordinances, by which, if a man
observes them, he will live.
12 "And also I gave them My
sabbaths to be a sign between Me
and them, that they might know that
I am the LORD who sanctifies
them.
Ezek 20:19-20
19 'I am the LORD your God;
walk in My statutes, and keep My
ordinances, and observe them .
20 'And sanctify My sabbaths ;
and they shall be a sign between Me
and you, that you may know that I
am the LORD your God.'
Exod 20:8-11
8 "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 a
sabbath of the LORD your God; in
it you shall not do any work, you or
your son or your daughter, your
male or your female servant or your
cattle or your sojourner who stays
with you.
11 "For in six days the LORD
made the heavens and the earth, the
sea and all that is in them, and
rested on the seventh day; therefore
the LORD blessed the sabbath day
and made it holy.
Rev 14:6-7
6 And I saw another angel flying
in midheaven, having an eternal
gospel to preach to those who live
on the earth, and to every nation and
tribe and tongue and people;
7 and he said with a loud voice,
"Fear God, and give Him glory,
because the hour of His judgment
has come; and worship Him who
made the heaven and the earth and
sea and springs of waters."

Here is an overview of the steps that link the Sabbath and the Seal of God.

What is the Mark of the Beast?

The Sabbath is an outward manifestation of the Seal of God. The Bible only identifies one
day as the Sabbath day - Saturday. This is an undisputed fact among theologians. If the
seventh day Sabbath is the Seal of God, what do you think the mark of the beast could be?

The mark of the beast is a counterfeit of the Seal of God. It may look and feel like the Seal
of God, but it lacks the underlying power. Observing Sunday as the sabbath is a purely
human tradition, without any Biblical basis. Just as lust is like true intimacy that lacks the
love, Sunday is just like the true Sabbath, but it lacks God's special blessing. God set the
Sabbath hours aside as holy time. Sunday was given no such distinction. Man does not
have the prerogative to change what God has sanctified.
 Gen 2:2-3
2 And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His
work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created
and made.

The true issue is not a day, but worship and obedience!!!

Rom 6:16-18
16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one
whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching
to which you were committed,
18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Mark 7:7-8
7 'But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'
8 "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."

"There remains, therefore, a Sabbath Rest for the people of God…Today, if

you hear His voice do not harden your heart." - Heb 4: 9,7.

Please Note This Fact!!

Revelation only speaks of the mark of the beast and the Seal of God in context of the very last
days of human history, just before Jesus returns. The Sunday/Sabbath issue only takes on
this significance in context of last day events. Many pure hearted Christians now keep
Sunday as their holy day. Sunday only takes on the status of the mark of the beast if the truth
about the Sabbath is fully understood and then rejected. God only holds us accountable for
how we react to the light He has given us. The real issue with the Sabbath is not a day - the
real issue is obedience and authority. The last days are now upon us. Jesus is coming very
soon. Whose authority will you acknowledge in your life? Is Jesus your Lord and Savior?
Will you forsake the traditions of man and keep the commandments of God?