No cogent interpretation of the Mark of the Beast can exist without a clear concept of the Seal of God. This important topic identifies the ways God does – and does not – recognize us as His faithful people.

<p>No cogent interpretation of the Mark of the Beast can exist without a clear concept of the Seal of God. This important topic identifies the ways God does – and does not – recognize us as His faithful people.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Unlocking Prophecy

Chester Clark

1- Fools Who Fight the Future- Part 1

2- Fools Who Fight the Future- Part 2

3- Revelation’s Greatest Climax

4- Lamb on the Altar, Lion on the Throne

5- The Hero of Revelation’s Seals

6- A Game of Thrones and Revelation’s Answer to Evil

7- Revelation’s Ultimate Message

8- Humanity, Morality, and Society

9- Revelation’s Call to Worship

10- The Beast’s Greatest Conspiracy

11- How to Escape the Seven Last Plagues

12- The Certain, Unavoidable Identity of the Antichrist

13- Making a New Start

14- Facing Death Unafraid

15- Good News About Hell

16- Messages from Beyond the Stars

17- Prophecy Predicts a People

18- The Best is Yet to Come!

19. Daniel’s Worst Nightmare

20. Daniel 9 and Jesus

21. Daniel 9 and the Rapture

22. Revelation’s First Beast

23. The Seal of God

24. The Mark of the Beast

This evening we are going to be looking at the seal of God.

This is a topic which I hope that you will find encouraging and enlightening.

We agreed last night, didn't we, that if God was going to give such strong warnings against the mark of the beast, then certainly he must be willing and we must be able to find out an understanding of what that is, right?

God wouldn't warn us against something with such fearful warnings if it wasn't something that we could understand.

So last night we took a look at what the first beast of Revelation 13 is and I hope that was clear.

I know for some people who haven't been here through the 22 nights that we've been through already and giving a groundwork, a foundation in the book of Daniel and even some in Revelation, it might be a little bit confusing or it might seem like drinking out of a fire hose, but we want to make it as simple as possible.

We want to make it as clear as possible and throughout the seminar last fall we saw that there was a theme that emerged, a theme that emerged in end-time Bible prophecy.

It's just a story, but it actually introduces the theme, and that is, who are you going to obey?

In Daniel chapter 1, They have to make a decision about something as simple as the diet.

They're going to eat I mean who could be so pecuniary who could be so particular as to care what they ate?

Well Daniel did Daniel said he says he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the food which the king ate and the wine which he drank.

And so he wanted to honor God, even in small things.

I don't think that it was because God wanted to, Daniel wanted to earn God's favor.

I think it was because Daniel loved God, and he wanted to do those things that pleased him.

And so we have this story, in Daniel chapter 3, the issue comes back, doesn't it?

The great golden image set up on the plain of Dura, and Daniel's not there, but his 3 friends are, And they said, you know what, King, even if you want to kill us, our God's able to save us even from you.

But if he doesn't, we're still not going to worship the image because we're not going to bow down and serve the gods of Babylon.

And you remember, this is really the story that Revelation 13 borrows from when we once again find Babylon setting up another image in the last days, commanding the world to worship it, and that on pain of death.

So it's a very, very important story in the context of what we're talking about.

In Daniel chapter 5, once again, well, we have the fall of Babylon.

Daniel chapter 6, we have the story of the lion's den.

And once again, Daniel has to make a decision.

Does he obey the king's decree that no 1 can pray to any other god except the emperor of the Medes and Persians or does he continue praying with his window open towards Jerusalem as he always has, witnessing of his faith and praying to his God.

And he decides, I'd rather be thrown into the den of lions than stop obeying my faith.

And so, Revelation comes back with that, Revelation chapter 13.

There's a lot of foundation that we've had here, and what we've seen is that we are saved by grace through faith, amen?

We're saved by nothing that we do of ourselves.

However, when we are saved, as Ephesians 2, chapter 10 says, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, right?

So he recreates us, and we're gonna talk about that tonight.

This is part of the new covenant promise, that He does something for us that we cannot do for ourselves.

We can't by our own good righteousness pull ourselves up into heaven by our own bootstraps.

We can't make ourselves good or even better really.

All we have, like sheep, have gone astray, right?

All of our own righteousness is theirs as filthy rags And yet God invites us, God invites us to have this opportunity to experience salvation through Him, salvation by His grace.

And that's what we're going to be talking about tonight.

So, actually, is my slides just going on their own here?

We're gonna be looking at the seal of God.

We're gonna be looking at how it's the antithesis of the mark in Revelation, right?

And we're going to be looking at how we can understand it as we understand the book of Revelation better.

1 is associated with worshiping the Creator, while the other is associated with worshiping the beast.

Let's just have a word of prayer as we begin here tonight.

Father in heaven, I want to thank you for your goodness.

I want to thank you that we can come to you tonight and that we can worship you as the spirit of, as the God of truth, through the spirit of truth, as you promised.

And today we just want to pray that as we study, as we open your word, that you would open our minds, that we might understand better what you have for us to understand tonight.

Alright, so we're looking at the mark of God, we're looking at the seal of God versus the mark of the beast.

Now as we think about this I want us to just remember that God has given us a warning And in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 we read about this warning also.

Let no 1 deceive you by any means for that day, the second coming, will not come unless the falling away comes first.

And the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Do not remember that when I was with you still, I told you these things.

And he goes on and he says, and now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time.

Last night we went in some detail over this passage and we saw how it parallels the predictions of Daniel chapter 7, the Little Horn, and the great apostasy, the falling away that would take place in the Christian church that would last for the Middle Ages.

And then he goes on, he says, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

Now, I believe that is talking about pagan Rome, who stood in the way of the great lawless 1, the mystery of iniquity, the man of sin coming to power.

Now it wasn't that the mystery of iniquity wasn't already present, it wasn't already working.

It's already, even in my day, it's already getting started.

But it couldn't have civil power until pagan Rome was taken out of the way.

And then the lawless 1 will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and destroy with the brightness of His coming." So how is this power described here?

How is it described in 2 Thessalonians 2?

It's described as the man of sin, it's described as the what?

And here we find that God's warning is against those who will put aside what he says and teach instead what man says.

The lawless 1 who's going to be destroyed with the brightness of his coming.

Now Jesus said that not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.

Remember, we're talking about the seal of God tonight.

And in our discussion questions, I had 3 choices there.

I didn't put it out to say 1 is right and the other is wrong.

I wanted to hear it discussed I don't really I don't even know if I know the answer exactly if I would stick with just 1 of them but 1 thing I do know is That the seal of God can't be claiming to be a Christian.

Because Jesus here in Matthew chapter 7, he says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.

So in other words, just because we claim that we're Christians doesn't mean that we really are Christians.

Now I don't want us to go out from here, please.

The point of the word of God is not for us to go out from here judging other people.

Maybe if you don't do this and this and this and this that I think that Christians should do, then you're not really a Christian.

Listen, the point of the word of God is for us to apply it to our own hearts.

Series

Unlocking Prophecy

23. The Seal of God

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Unlocking Prophecy

9- Revelation’s Call to Worship

1h 1m

Understanding Difficult Topics

4. The Mark of the Beast

1h 15m

Keys of Revelation

13. The Antichrist’s Accomplice

1h

The Three Angels' Message for the Millennial Generation

5. Mark of the Beast and Seal of the Living God

1h 16m

The Sanctuary

12. Sealed or Marked- Part 1

54m

Jesus on Prophecy

55m

Unlocking Prophecy

22. Revelation’s First Beast

1h

The Mark of the Beast in Scripture

37m

Unlocking Prophecy

7- Revelation’s Ultimate Message

57m

Which Way, America?

14 How to Avoid the Mark of the Beast

58m

The Sanctuary

13. Sealed or Marked- Part 2

43m

Sound Doctrine