End Times Prophecy Study - God's Sign of Love, Loyalty, Redemption, Creation, and Rest

God’s Sign of Love, Loyalty, Redemption, Creation, and Rest

What is God's mark, or symbol, of authority?

"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."Ezekiel 20:12. "It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth." Exodus 31:17. God is saying in the texts above that He gave us His Sabbath as a glorious sign of His power to create and His power to sanctify (convert and save) us. In the Bible, the words seal, sign, mark, and token are used interchangeably.⁷ God's sign, the Sabbath, represents His holy power to rule as Creator and Savior. Revelation 7:1-3 says it will be written upon the foreheads (minds, Hebrews 10:16) of His people. It will signify that they are owned by Him and have His character. Hebrews 4:4-10 confirms this by saying that when we enter His rest (receive salvation), we should keep His seventh-day Sabbath holy as a symbol, or mark, of salvation. True Sabbath-keeping signifies that a person has surrendered his life to Jesus Christ and is willing to follow wherever Jesus leads.

Since the symbol, or mark, of God's authority and power is His holy Sabbath day, it seems likely that the symbol, or mark, of God's challenger, the beast, might also involve a holy day. Let's see if it does.

(Compare Genesis 17:11 with Romans 4:11 and Revelation 7:3 with Ezekiel 9:4.)

What does the papacy say is her symbol, or mark, of authority?

Notice the following section from a Catholic catechism:

"Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?"

"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."

Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism [FRS No. 7.], (3rd American ed., rev.: New York, Edward Dunigan& Bro., 1876), p. 174.

So the papacy is here saying that it changed Sabbath to Sunday and that virtually all churches accepted the new holy day. Thus, the papacy claims that Sunday as a holy day is the mark, or symbol, of her power and authority.

Did God predict such a change in Scripture?

Oh yes he did!! In describing the Antichrist in Daniel 7:25, God said it would "think to change times and laws."

A. How has the papacy tried to change God's laws? 

In three different ways: In her catechisms she has (1) omitted the second commandment against veneration of images, and (2) shortened the fourth (Sabbath) commandment from 94 words to just eight. The Sabbath commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) clearly specifies Sabbath as the seventh day of the week. As changed by the papacy, the commandment reads: "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day." Written thus, it can refer to any day. And, finally, she (3) divided the tenth commandment into two commandments.

B. How has the papacy attempted to change God's times? 

In two ways: (1) She has changed the time of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day. (2) She has also changed God's "timing" for the beginning and closing hours of the Sabbath. Instead of counting the Sabbath day from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night as God mandates (Leviticus 23:32), she adopted the pagan Roman custom of counting the day from midnight Saturday night to midnight Sunday night. God predicted these "changes" would be attempted by the beast and/or Antichrist.

Notice the following section from a Catholic catechism:

"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."

Here is another Catholic statement: "The Church is above the Bible and this transference of Sabbath observance from Saturday to Sunday is proof positive of that fact."

The papacy is saying in these references that its successful change of Sabbath observance to Sunday worship is proof that its authority is greater, or "above," Scripture.

Peter Geiermann, The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (St. Louis, B. Herder Book Co., 1957 ed.), p. 50.

The Catholic Record (London, Ontario, Canada, Sept. 1, 1923).

How could anyone dare attempt to change God's holy day?

Answer:   We ask the papacy, "Did you really change Sabbath to Sunday?"

She replies, "Yes, we did. It is our symbol, or mark, of authority and power."

We ask, "How could you even think of doing that?"

It's a pertinent question. But the question the papacy officially asks Protestants is even more pertinent. Please read it carefully:

"You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed! but by whom? Who has authority to change an express commandment of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said, Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day, who shall dare to say, Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of worldly business on the seventh day but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its stead? This is a most important question, which I know not how you can answer. You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only and yet in so important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of that day which the Bible has commanded.

The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten Commandments you believe that the other nine are still binding who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible and the Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which this fourth commandment is expressly altered."

11 Library of Christian Doctrine: Why Don't You Keep Holy the Sabbath-Day? (London: Burns and Oates, Ltd.), pp. 3, 4.

Tragically, both Catholicism and Protestantism stand guilty before the judgment bar of heaven for rejecting God's holy Sabbath, His sacred sign of identification.

What solemn warnings has God given regarding His law and His sign, or mark?

A. God warns religious leaders against causing people to stumble by saying that some commandments do not matter (Malachi 2:7-9). For example, some ministers teach, "It doesn't matter what day you keep holy."

B. God warns people who want their ministers to preach smooth fables rather than the truth about His law (Isaiah 30:9,10).

C. God warns people about hardening their hearts against the truth of His law (Zechariah 7:12).

D. God warns people who say it would seem "strange" to keep God's lawlike the Sabbath, for example (Hosea 8:12).

E. God states that the upheaval, tragedy, problems, and woes of earth come because people refuse to follow His law, and have even tried to change it (Isaiah 24:4-6).

F. God warns religious leaders who refuse to preach the prophecies of the end time(Isaiah 29:10, 11).

G. God solemnly warns that leaders who teach there is really no difference between sacred things (such as God's holy Sabbath) and common things (such as Sunday) will face His indignation (Ezekiel 22:26, 31).

Revelation 13:16 says people will receive the mark of the beast in the forehead or in the hand. What does this mean?

The forehead represents the mind (Hebrews 10:16). A person will be marked in the forehead by a decision to keep Sunday as a holy day knowingly. The hand is a symbol of work (Ecclesiastes 9:10). A person will be marked in the hand by working on God's holy Sabbath or by going along with Sunday laws for practical reasons (job, family, etc.). The sign, or mark, for either God or the beast will be invisible to people. You will, in essence, mark yourself by accepting either God's sign or mark which is the Sabbath, or the beast's mark, Sunday. Though invisible to men, God will know who has which mark (2 Timothy 2:19).

According to Isaiah 58:1, 13, 14, what decisive message does God deliver to His people in the last days?

"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression." "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, ... Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord."Isaiah 58:1,13-14.

He says, show "my people" that they are (innocently perhaps) sinning because they are trampling on My holy day, and ask them to quit breaking My Sabbath so I can bless them. Speak loudly so they will hear you!

Notice that the third angel of Revelation 14:9-12, who brings the message about the mark of the beast, speaks with a loud voice also (verse 9). The message is too important to treat as ordinary. It's a life-or-death issue. Jesus says His sheep, or people, will follow Him when He calls them. (John 10:16, 27).

Do people who worship on Sunday (as a holy day) have the mark of the beast now?

No! No one will have the mark of the beast until Sunday worship becomes an issue forced by law. At that time (just ahead in the near future....who knows when exactly), those who decide to follow the false teachings of the beast and worship on Sunday (the beast's counterfeit holy day) will receive the mark of the beast.

Those who follow Jesus and obey His truth will keep His Sabbath day holy and receive His mark. Those who expect to refuse the beast's mark in the future must step under Jesus' Sabbath banner now. His power is available to those who obey Him (Acts 5:32). Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). With Him, all things are possible (Mark 10:27).

According to the book of Revelation, whom did John specifically see in God's eternal kingdom?

The answer is three fold and very clear to me:

A. Those who have God's mark, or sign (His Sabbath), in their foreheads (Revelation 7:3).

B. Those who refused to identify with the beast or his image and who refused to have his mark or name in their foreheads (Revelation 15:2).

C. The people who today, and for eternity, follow where Jesus leads, trusting Him fully in everything (Revelation 14:4). There is no other way.

What is Jesus saying to people today?

"He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12.

What a fantastic promise wouldn't you agree? If we follow Him, we will not end up in darkness but will, instead, have glorious truth. Nothing could be more exciting! Further, following Him and keeping His Sabbath will put God's mark on our foreheads and protect us from the dreadful plagues (Psalms 91:10) that will fall upon the disobedient (Revelation chapter 16). It also marks us as ready for translation at Jesus' second coming. What blessed protection and assurance God has offered us!