The Seal and the Mark

When earth’s probation ends and the books of record are closed, everyone will have taken their final stand. Some will bear the Mark of the Beast; some, the Seal of God. Everyone will have one or the other. Revelation 14:12 tells us what will distinguish the two groups: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

The Seal of God. The word “seal” has a number of meanings. It is related to the word “signet” (signature, signify, sign). In fact, the words “sign” and “seal” are used interchangeably in the Bible (Romans 4:11). So, when God calls the Sabbath His “sign” (Ezekiel 20:20), He is identifying it also as His “seal.”

Another definition of seal is, “An imprint, belonging exclusively to the user, affixed to a document to prove authenticity.” Esther 8:8 says, “The writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may no man reverse.” This type of seal would bear the name of the person issuing the document, his title or position, and his realm of jurisdiction. God has placed His seal, the Sabbath commandment, in the center of His law. That commandment alone declares His name (the LORD), His title (thy God), His distinction (Creator), and His realm of jurisdiction (heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is).

A third type of seal is “an adhesive agent used to close or secure something or to prevent seepage.” God says, “Seal the law among my disciples” (Isaiah 8:16). Notice how the Sabbath supplies this type of seal:

Through His prophets the Lord denounces the false priests who “have violated my law, and . . . have hid their eyes from my sabbaths” (Ezekiel 22:26). God’s broken law is likened to “a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall” (Isaiah 30:13). “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, . . . but I found none” (Ezekiel 22:30).

But the breach in God’s law was not to remain there forever. Through Isaiah, God foretold of a people who would “build the old waste places.” “And thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable” (Isaiah 58:12, 13). Thus the breach in the law is to be sealed.

The Seal of God is placed in, not on, the foreheads of God’s servants. God says, “I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them” (Hebrews 10:16).

The Mark of the Beast. As we have seen, God has declared the seventh day to be the sign of His authority, and Sabbath-keeping as the sign of our allegiance to Him. Correspondingly, the beast declares Sunday-keeping to be the mark of its authority to change God’s law.

Facing the Issue

The seventh-day Sabbath is God’s seal, to be inscribed in the minds of those who love Him. And when the issue—the law of God vs. the laws of men—comes down to the test, Sunday observance will be the mark of the beast. This will be the deciding issue regarding one’s loyalty.

Enforcing the beast’s mark of authority, the United States will legislate compulsory Sunday observance.

The beast’s mark may be received in the “forehead,” signifying a willing acceptance in the mind; or in the “hand,” indicating compliance even though it may not be agreeable. The Seal of God, however, can be received only in the “forehead,” as God never uses compulsion.

Satan hates the Sabbath because it is the sign of Christ’s authority as Creator and King. And in all ages Satan has tried to work through the governments of nations in his attacks against Christ and His people.

Just as in Bible times, so today, the major movements of nations and kings are the battleground of an even greater war – the war that began in heaven between Christ and Satan. In this war we are all involved. These final events of earth’s history will be the final climax of the great controversy that has been raging for 6,000 years.

The outcome of that battle is described in Revelation Chapter 19. Verses 7 and 8 describe the purification of God’s people that will take place during this trying time. Although outwardly it may appear difficult, “yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Texts such as James 1:3, 4 and 1 Peter 4:1 describe the blessings that come with standing for the right.

Revelation 19 describes the glorification of Christ’s church, the victorious return of our Lord, and the destruction of the earthly powers that attempted to enforce disobedience to God’s Law.

Then the promise is given that those “which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; . . . lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).