WHAT IS THE MARK OF THE BEAST?

There are many opinions on what the mark of the beast is. In our studies we try to allow the Bible to interpret itself. In addition to the mark of the beast, there is a mark of God. We will thoroughly examine this question in this short study allowing the Bible to interpret itself and using current historical information.

Where is God’s Mark?                                                                                                                                               “And The Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” To the others He said in my hearing, “Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity.  Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple. Ezekiel 9.4-6

And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. Rev 9.4

We see that God puts a “mark” on those who obey Him. Who are those who obey?                                                   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 in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Hebrews 8.10

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Deut 6.8

 It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. Ex 13.9

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31.31-33

Binding God’s law on our mind and hearts is part of the New Covenant. We obey God because we love Him as our Lord and Savior. Why did Yahweh chastise His people?                                                                                      “Therefore I made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.  And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them. Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; Ezekiel 20.10-13

“Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, and were not careful to observe My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them but they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness. Nevertheless I withdrew My hand and acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out.  Also I raised My hand in an oath to those in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them throughout the countries, because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols. Ezekiel 20.21-24

God chastised His people for disobedience. They had not executed His judgments, despised His statues, did not follow God’s seventh day Sabbath, and worshipped idols. Do men do the same things today?

Sin and disobedience is lawlessness:                                                                                                                         Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.  Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3.4-8

The law of God is righteous and just: Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth (Ps 119.142.

The spirit of Antichrist is already in the world:                                                                                                               Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. 1 John 2.18-19

Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.  Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 1 John 2.22-23

John says the “spirit” of Antichrist is already in the world. It is a spirit of lawlessness and rebellion towards God.

What is God’s “mark” or “sign” that identifies His people from all others?                                                  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. Exodus 20.8-10

“Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Exodus 31.13-14

 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.  It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” Exodus 31.16-17

Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. Ezekiel 20.12

“…hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20.20

And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev 12.17

“If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. Rev 14.9-12. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

We are also told in the scriptures that Yahweh seals His people with His law. Bind up the testimony, Seal the law among my disciples. Isaiah 8.16

If we allow the Bible to interpret itself we find that God’s identifying mark on His people is the Sabbath!

Where does the Beast place his mark?                                                                                                               He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads. Rev 13.16                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. Rev 14.9-10

The Lord’s Sabbaths – There is a weekly Sabbath the last day of the week (Saturday) and there are High Sabbaths that occur on feast days. The High Sabbaths are: The Feasts of Unleavened Bread. Pentecost, Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23).

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. Genesis 2:2-3

The Antichrist who appears at the end of this age is “the man of sin” in the Bible:                                   Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day 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. 2 Thessalonians 2.1-4

The Plan of the Antichrist                                                                                                                                                   The Antichrist or “man of sin” at the end of this age sets himself up as God and hates God’s people, time, and calendar. He sets out to change God’s times and laws:

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. Dan 7.25

The Antichrist is coming out against God’s time and calendar. The time and calendar the entire Bible is written in. He desires to destroy all things of God and he seeks to establish an Antichrist time and calendar, counterfeit feast days and Sabbaths! 

The Scriptures call the true weekly Sabbath of Saturday and the seven annual Feast Days the sacred calendar of Yahweh.

The Mark of the Beast, the Lawless One, by process of simple deduction, must be the bogus Sabbath of Sunday and the pagan festivals which currently pose as Christian Holy Days. (Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, Easter, Whitsun, Halloween, All Saints Day, Christmas, New Years Day).

These popular holidays are not found in the scriptures, nor are they sanctified by the Lord. A true study of church history will prove they were adopted by the early church after the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E. Once Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, around 391 C.E. these pagan holidays were incorporated into the religion to appease and please all the pagans which were coming in. You no longer had to be “born again” but rather, you were “just born” a Christian, because it was now the official religion of the empire. You didn’t have to do anything.

Other gods were mixed into Christianity. This is called syncretism—mixing of various religions together. The Word of God is clear in Leviticus 23 what the true feasts of the Lord are. Anything else has been mixed in. The Lord abhors mixture.

In light of all this, let him who has ears to hear and eyes to see, realize that the mark of the beast will be a false calendar and prescribed days of worship. Those who follow Yahweh’s Sabbaths and calendar will become enemies of the Antichrist system.

The false calendar and Sabbath days is already functioning in the world today. In the European Union Monday is the first day of the week! When the Antichrist makes his appearance on the world scene, then every soul on earth will be compelled to choose between Yahweh’s signature and the Beast’s Mark. It is at that time, when those who refuse the mark are not allowed to buy and sell, then – and then only – will we be able to say who has the Mark of the Beast. But at the moment (2017), no one officially has the Mark of the Beast.

This article is establishing what the mark of the beast will be. At that time God’s people will be marked with the seal of God and the tribulation will be around the midway point. The spirit of the Lawless One, the Antichrist, is already at work deceiving millions of Christians into thinking that Yahweh’s law, the irrevocable constitution of the mighty universe, is obsolete. “We are not under the law” is the favorite saying of those who refuse to obey God’s commands.

Beware of that subtle and dangerous deception. The book of Revelation says six times that the whole world is deceived by the Antichrist system. Six is the number of man (Rev 13.18). The Antichrist does not recognize the number seven which is God’s appointed number and day of rest. He goes against God’s law and declares himself to be God.

If this message disturbs you my prayer is that you will diligently seek the Lord for His truth on this matter. In time you will understand the truth and the truth will set you free. Truth is hidden in plain sight throughout God’s Word. Prepare yourself now. Seek and you shall find.

And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Ezek 9.4

And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. Rev 9.4