Passover
Saturday, April 12, after sunset
"And Yahweh spake unto Moses and Aaron
in the land
of Egypt,
saying,
"This month [shall be] unto you the
beginning of months: it [shall be] the first month of the year to
you.
"Speak ye unto all the congregation of
Israel, saying, In the tenth [day] of this month they shall take to
them every man a lamb, according to the house of [their] fathers, a
lamb for an house:
"And if the household be too little
for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take
[it] according to the number of the souls; every man according to
his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
"Your lamb shall be without blemish, a
male of the first year: ye shall take [it] out from the sheep, or
from the goats:
"And ye shall keep it up until the
fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the
congregation of
Israel
shall kill it in the evening.
"And they shall take of the blood, and
strike [it] on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the
houses, wherein they shall eat it...
"And the blood shall be to you for a
token upon the houses where ye [are]: and when I see the blood, I
will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy
[you], when I smite the
land of Egypt.
"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it
a feast to Yahweh throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a
feast by an ordinance for ever."
AND GOD SPAKE ALL THESE WORDS,
SAYING,
- I [am] Yahweh thy
God, which have brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage,
- Thou shalt have no
other gods before Me.
- Thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of
any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is]
in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water
under the earth:
- Thou shalt not bow
down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I
Yahweh thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto
the third and fourth [generation] of them that
hate Me;
- And shewing mercy
unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My
commandments.
- Thou shalt not
consider the name of Yahweh thy God to be a vain
thing: for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless
that considers His name meaningless.
- Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Six days shalt thou
labour, and do all thy work:
- But the seventh day
[is] the Sabbath of Yahweh thy God: [in it] thou
shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within
thy gates:
- For [in] six days
Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all
that in them [is], and rested the seventh day:
wherefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and
hallowed it.
- Honour thy father
and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon
the land which Yahweh thy God giveth thee.
- Thou shalt not kill.
- Thou shalt not
commit adultery.
- Thou shalt not
steal.
- Thou shalt not bear
false witness against thy neighbour.
- Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet
thy neighbour's wife, nor his ox, nor his ass,
nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour's.
Rev. 21:1 - The End of
Prophecy?
In Rev. 20, Scripture reveals a Millennial
rule after Yahshua’s return, with those found worthy to be part of the first
resurrection reigning as kings and priests with Yahshua the Messiah, while Satan
is held bound in a bottomless pit. At the end of the 1,000 years, Satan is
released to deceive the nations - whose number is “as the sand of the sea” - and
bring them to war against “the beloved city”, where they are devoured by fire
from God. After Satan is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone we see a
second resurrection to judgement, where not only are “whosoever was not found
written in the book of life” cast into the lake of fire, but also death and the
grave are cast in as well.
Chapter 21 begins with these words:
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”
Rev. 21:2 through the end of chapter 22
gives us a detailed description of New Jerusalem, which has “[come] down from
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” For the
purpose of this article, our particular focus is on the following passages:
21:3 –
“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God [is] with mankind, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be
His people, and God Himself shall be with them, [and be] their God.”
21:8 –
“…the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have
their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is
the second death.”
21:22 –
“And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are
the temple of it.”
22:1-2
– “And he shewed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the
street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of
life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit
every month: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the
nations.”
22:14-15
– “Blessed [are] they that do His commandments, that they may have right
to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Without [are] dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and
idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”
To set the foundation for our first point,
we must look to the prophet Ezekiel, beginning in ch. 39:17-19, where Ezekiel
sets the stage with wording that corresponds to John’s words in Rev. 19:17-18:
”And,
thou son of man, thus saith the Lord Yahweh; Speak unto every feathered fowl,
and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather
yourselves on every side to My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, [even] a
great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink
blood.
“Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood
of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all
of them fatlings of Bashan.
“And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till
ye be drunken, of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.”
If these passages are indeed describing the
same event, just after Yahshua’s return, then we can look further to see if this
similarity continues. Beginning in chapter 40, Ezekiel goes on to describe in
detail a temple and the surrounding area, aspects of worship, and in chapter
47:1-2 and 7-12 a description of waters flowing from the temple:
“Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and,
behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for
the forefront of the house [stood toward] the east, and the waters came down
from under from the right side of the house, at the south [side] of the altar.
“Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led
me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward;
and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side…
“Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river [were]
very many trees on the one side and on the other.
“Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go
down into the desert, and go into the sea: [which being]
brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
“And it shall come to pass, [that] every thing that liveth, which
moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a
very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they
shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.
“And it shall come to pass, [that] the fishers shall stand upon
it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a [place] to spread forth nets;
their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea,
exceeding many.
“But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not
be healed; they shall be given to salt.
“And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall
grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit
thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months,
because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof
shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.”
And finally, Ezekiel 48:35 tells us,
“…and the name of the city from [that] day [shall be], Yahweh [is] there.”
Now we must rightly divide the word of God:
Both Ezekiel and John are describing conditions during the Millennium, after
Yahshua’s return and while He and the Father are dwelling with mankind; however,
Revelation 21:1 has nothing to do with this time frame. New Jerusalem is not
part of the new heavens and the new earth: The waters of Ezekiel – and by
extension, those in Revelation - run to a sea which does not exist in the new
earth. If this is true, then what is happening at the end of Revelation?
The answer is simple: The first verse of
Rev. 21 should actually be the last verse of chapter 20. Any student of
Scripture knows that the chapter, verse, and even sentence divisions are an
arbitrary construct introduced for the sake of convenience; a glance at any
early manuscript will prove this, as the Greek has no punctuation, paragraph
divisions, or spaces between words. If Rev. 21:1 should actually be 20:16,
then we can take the rest of chapter 21 and chapter 22 as “inset chapters”,
which back up and describe conditions on earth during the Millennial time of Rev. 20:4-6, before
the White Throne judgement, and not existence after the new heaven and
new earth are instituted. In addition to the issue of “no sea”, there are other
details which support this idea.
Rev. 21:8 says “…the fearful, and
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers,
and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which
burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” This is describing
a time BEFORE God’s judgement. Proof of this is that outside the city are
“…dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and
whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” (22:15) - people who are destined to be destroyed in
the lake of fire after the Millennium, upon their judgement before the
White Throne.
Also, unless we are to take all the details,
measurements, and descriptions in both Ezekiel and Revelation as completely
symbolic, it is clear that they are describing physical conditions on this
earth, not after the coming of a new heavens and earth. It is our contention
that Revelation 21:1 is functionally the end of the prophetic timeline revealed
to mankind: What happens after God introduces the new heavens and new earth is
a complete unknown.
Prophecy is not given for foresight, but for
hindsight, so that we might recognize when things happen that they are God’s
word being fulfilled before our eyes. With this in mind, we cannot clearly
discern every detail of the prophecies in Ezekiel and Revelation: Ezekiel
describes a temple, but it cannot be in New Jerusalem because there is no temple
there: “…the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” New
Jerusalem is described as a cube of some 1,500 miles on each side – where is it
to rest, if it is a physical thing that rests at all? Notice that it is
described as “descending” and “coming down”, but not coming to rest.
A final caveat: The mysteries of prophecy are hard to
understand, as Isaiah 64:4 tells us: “…since the beginning of the world [men]
have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God,
beside Thee, [what] He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.” However, as
Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 2:10, “…God hath revealed [them] unto us by His Spirit,
for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”
Revelation shows us things that will be after Yahshua's return, but darkly as
through a clouded glass, and subject to interpretation. While it is
interesting to meditate on things to come, we will always face the uncertainty of unfulfilled
prophecy. Our lives should be more intensely focused on the things revealed to us
clearly in Scripture: God's laws, His will for us, the knowledge of Yahshua as
our Saviour, and the assurance that God's promises to us will be fulfilled, both
now and in the world to come. Let us strive daily to live our lives in a
manner pleasing to our Father, keeping His
commandments and the testimony of Yahshua, so as to be worthy to receive these
promises when the time comes. Maranatha.
Exodus 6:3 - A Question of Contradiction
Is
the Bible truly non-contradictory, or is it simply a collection of
stories made up by mankind as an organized mythology to support
their superstitions, heritage, history, etc.?
Our
focus for this article is Exodus 6:3, where the KJV reads,
"And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac,
and unto Jacob, by [the name of] God Almighty, but by my name
Yahweh was I not known to them."
Many translations read, "...I was not known to them" or some
variation of that rendering. The problem is that Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob DID know the name Yahweh, there is no doubt about
this: the patriarchs expressly called upon the name Yahweh
repeatedly in Genesis and even named at least one place after Him –
see Gen. 12:8, 21:33, 22:14, 26:25, 49:18, among others. If we
accept the common interpretation of Ex. 6:3, it presents a complete
contradiction of these passages; however, if we believe that God’s word is
non-contradictory, we know there is a better interpretation to be
found. Let us seek that better interpretation together.
To
begin with, a modicum of research on the internet concerning this
verse reveals various weak explanations for this apparent
self-contradiction, the two most common being:
1.
That God revealed Himself
to the patriarchs as El Shaddai, the Almighty God, but they
didn’t “know” or understand Him as Yahweh in His “covenant”
manifestation. This is a subterfuge which flies in the face of
the covenants Yahweh made mankind and the patriarchs in Genesis,
as well as making a lie of the proven use of His name there, so
it must be rejected out of hand.
2.
That the Bible is a “collection
of material that the Israelites assembled to try to understand
their past…”:
i.e., it is man-made, not God breathed, and therefore subject to
errors and contradictions just like any other human writing.
An
interesting attitude rears its head when we research this verse:
those who subscribe to the second opinion above use the verse almost
gleefully in support of that opinion and their rejection of the
non-contradictory nature of Scripture. There is no real search for
a valid explanation of the verse, only mockery of the concept of
“inerrancy” and of those who reject contradiction within Scripture.
It’s very apparent that anyone who does not believe the Bible will
not seek or offer explanations that resolve a contradiction, mostly
because it is a non-issue for them: they are quite ready to accept
contradictions within their “mythology.”
Knowing as we do that our Scriptures are authored by God and not
mankind, we must also reject the second “explanation” as well, so
let us now look to Scripture itself to find our answer.
Firstly, if we look Exodus 6:3 in context, even going back into
chapter 5, we see that Moses is speaking to Yahweh about the
children of Israel, and in 6:1 Yahweh says, "...with a strong hand
shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out
of his land." Can we not understand the "them" in 6:3 to mean
not the patriarchs, but the children of Israel in captivity? This
interpretation suggests that the children of Israel in Egypt did not
know or use the name Yahweh by the time Moses was sent to lead them
out of captivity. Is this true? Let’s look at three points in
support of this idea:
1. When God appears to Moses in
chapter 3, He identifies Himself simply as the God of the
patriarchs, not by His name. Moses has to ask what name he
should give the children of Israel when he tells them he's been
sent by "the God of (their) fathers." Why? Why didn’t Yahweh
appear to Moses as “Yahweh, the God of your fathers, of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob”, unless it’s simply because by then the
name wasn’t known to the children of Israel in Egypt. Is
there support for this interpretation? As we shall see, there
is.
2. The name Yahweh appears more and
more infrequently in Genesis as we get closer to its end. The
name 'Yahweh' appears from Genesis 2:4 through Genesis 39:23
some 158 times, an average of more than 4 occurrences per
chapter in 38 chapters. The name appears only once in the
remaining eleven chapters from Genesis 40:1 through Genesis
50:26, when it is used in Genesis 49:18 by Jacob. The next
occurrence of the name Yahweh is three chapters into the
next book, in Exodus 3:2. The first time that name is uttered
by a human being in Exodus is in verse 4:1, where it is
spoken by Moses, over 400 years after Gen. 49:18. This supports
very well the likelihood that the vast majority or even all of
Israel had forgotten the name Yahweh by the time He appeared to
Moses in the desert.
3. Finally, there are several examples of unclear antecedents
and uncertain pronouns in Scripture, interestingly in Ex.
4:21-26, where at first glance it appears that Yahweh sought to
kill Moses. However, it's clear from the context that He meant
to kill the uncircumcised firstborn son, not Moses. Yahweh met
him (Moses), and sought to kill him (the firstborn son). That's
why Zipporah circumcised the boy - to save his life. We also
see this cloudy pronoun usage in 2 Kings 19:35: "And it came to
pass that night, that the angel of Yahweh went out, and smote in
the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five
thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they
[were] all dead corpses." They - Judah, they - the Assyrians.
If
these things are true, then we can understand Ex. 6:3 to be saying
that Yahweh appeared to the patriarchs as the Almighty God, but the
children of Israel didn't even know His name; that God actually
appeared to and interacted with the patriarchs personally, while the
children of Israel in captivity had even forgotten the name Yahweh.
Contradiction resolved.
Finally,
a second, even simpler explanation for the apparent contradiction in
Ex. 6:3 exists as well; we can read the passage in the following
way:
“And God spake unto
Moses, and said unto him, I [am] Yahweh:
“And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as GOD
ALMIGHTY;
but by My name YAHWEH was I not known to them?
By simply understanding the last phrase as a question
rather than a statement, all contradiction disappears, and this does
no violence to the Hebrew. One Biblical Hebrew professor has
advised that “Almost anything in Hebrew
(as in English) could be a question if asked in the right
tone of voice.” We see an example of this in Genesis 4:13, where we
can hear Cain ask, “Is my iniquity greater than can be forgiven
me?” This subject will be addressed in a related article, but here
briefly we see a possible answer to why Cain “got away with murder”,
why he was marked and protected after killing Abel: because his was
a question suggesting repentance, rather than a statement voicing
complaint.
As we can see, not only is
Exodus 6:3 not in contradiction to virtually the entirety of
Genesis, it can be understood by either of two renderings that are
both perfectly valid interpretations which support Genesis rather
than contradict it: Either Yahweh was reintroducing His name to the
children of Israel after their 400+ years in captivity and
ignorance, or Yahweh was emphasizing the fact that the patriarchs
knew Him both by the title “God Almighty” and also by the name
Yahweh.
In closing, let us remain
convinced of the truth and non-contradictory nature of God’s word
and hold to the faith that there is an answer for every question, if
only we are willing to search for it. Remember that Paul tells us
in 2 Tim. 3:16,
“All Scripture [is]
given by inspiration of God…”,
and therefore, it
cannot lie or contradict itself because
“God [is] not a
man, that He should lie.”
(Num. 23:19)
False
Dichotomy: The
"Lesser of Two Evils"
"False dichotomy:
The
fallacy of presenting only two choices, outcomes, or sides to an argument as the
only possibilities, when more are available."
Every human being alive is faced daily, even
hourly, with choices: what job to take, what to eat for dinner, what shoes
to buy, where to shop, on and on ad infinitum.
Most of these choices don't involve morality,
good, evil, or faith: they are simply judgements which we must make for
ourselves and our families in order to secure the best existence we can, and the
options are basically limitless. A problem can arise, however, when we are faced
with decisions that do involve morality, righteousness, sinfulness, or our
faith. Specifically, we may face a dilemma when it appears that there are
only two options to choose from and neither seems acceptable. When this
happens - and it seems to happen more and more frequently as time goes on - it
appears that many, if not most, people simply accept the situation and are willing
to choose "the lesser of two evils." Perhaps this approach works
when choosing between binge eating a quart of ice cream versus a pound of fudge,
but as God's people faced with real choices involving true evil in an increasingly sinful world, we must
do better. Let's search Scripture together for God's word on this matter.
To
begin with, Scripture clearly presents us with a world and an existence couched
in true dichotomies - sets of two things that are opposite or entirely different.
The creation hymn is filled with such opposites: darkness and light, the waters
and dry land, sun and moon, male and female, work and rest. Later we see
good and evil, obedience and rebellion, righteousness and sin, Urim and Thummim,
life and death, blessing and curse. Many of these involve no choice at
all, they're simply things that exist, such as day and night, waters and land.
Others do involve choice and there are clear instructions concerning
them: choose life (Deut. 30:19), be obedient (Ex. 19:5), live righteously; that
is, according to God's laws and commandments (Lev. 22:31, Hos. 10:12), seek
good (Amos 5:14). Our Creator obviously has no problem with
dichotomies existing: when two things are clearly opposite, it is easy
to tell the difference between them, and in moral issues the choice is glaringly
obvious.
So what
about the "grey areas", the subtle differences, the "lesser of two evils", when
it appears that there are only two choices but neither is really good?
What about a situation where there appear to be only two choices but both are
obviously bad? Does God approve of or condone choosing one evil over
another? Does such a thing as a "lesser evil" even exist?
Let's
be immediately clear: The
answer is "NO." The truth is that all evil is evil, there are no
gradations, just as all sins are essentially equal because they are all
rebellion against God's will. As Ps. 51:4 says, "Against Thee, Thee only,
have I sinned, and done [this] evil in Thy sight": Bearing false witness breaks God's law just as
murder does, just as adultery does, just as worshipping idols does, just as not
keeping the Sabbath does. Yahweh tells us, "See, I have set before thee this day life and
good, and death and evil...therefore choose life" (Deut. 30:15, 19) - which
clearly also means not only "choose good", but also "reject evil". Anyone
who subscribes to the idea that God in any way approves of choosing between one
evil and another is ultimately advocating for choosing evil. If
true, this idea
creates a contradiction in Scripture and in God's own words, but
Scripture tells us that "God [is] not a
man, that He should lie... (Num. 23:19), and "...I
[am] Yahweh, I change not..." (Mal. 3:6). Our Father tells us to seek
good, therefore He would never contradict that instruction and go on to tell
us to choose evil for any reason: to do so would destroy all of Scripture
in a single stroke.
Now we come
to the concept of a false dichotomy. As stated above, a false
dichotomy involves the fallacy of there being only two choices on some issue
when other choices actually exist. In today's world we see this fallacy more and more
commonly, especially in the arena of politics, but it is not limited
to the area of politics: it pervades every aspect of life more and more as time
goes on (mainstream churchianity comes in a close second). However, politics is
where it is spread most obviously, and also seems to be most commonly accepted.
The world has turned to politicians for salvation despite the fact that
politicians and governments the world over are corrupt oppressors who are not interested
in
any way with saving anyone but themselves. In the United States, citizens
at the moment have been given a choice between two corrupt, deviant,
destructive, willfully sinful individuals - a choice, which if accepted, truly
would be choosing one of two evils. The truth is that anyone who
believes that choosing evil will save them or their country or gain one iota of
God's favor is deceiving him- or herself in the worst way possible.
So if
choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil; if we shall not
choose evil, but avoid even "the appearance of evil" (1 Thess
5:22); if we seem to only have two choices and both are evil, what do we do?
Remember that this is a false dichotomy. It is presented as a
choice between two evils, but this is a deception: there is always the
option of choosing good. The first step is to trust in God and not mankind
for salvation of any kind. Obey God's words first and foremost -
remember what Peter says in Acts 5:29: "We ought to obey God rather than
people." The second step is to refrain from comparing two evils and
concluding that one is less evil than the other, thereby justifying evil:
think of Proverbs 17:15 -
"He
that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both
[are] abomination to Yahweh." Isa. 5:20 tells us, "Woe
unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and
light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" - if we
compare evils and choose one as "lesser", we are calling that evil good.
Beware that trap.
Finally, do not lend your hand, your voice, or your money to support evil,
"lesser" or otherwise: if all else fails, abstain from participating in
the fallacy altogether. No one can claim that choosing good is always easy:
that pathway is narrow and strait. Choosing good and rejecting evil, however, is
required of God's people. If you cannot find another course in a situation
-
no "good" candidate to vote for, no assembly to attend which truly obeys God's words,
no righteous person to support in whatever troubles he or she may be suffering - then
there is always the option of choosing to obey God and reject evil.
Abstain from all appearance
of evil, do all the good that you can, and refuse to validate the fallacy of
"lesser evil": trust that soon your Father will open up a better way.
In
closing, consider what comes from accepting the concept of choosing a lesser
evil. You have not chosen good; you have not rejected evil. In
refusing both options, you bring yourself into the sphere of the "middle
ground", neither truly good or truly evil, merely tepid. Hear what God says to us
concerning this "choice":
"And
unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans
write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning
of the creation of God;
"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or
hot.
"So then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My
mouth."
Revelation 3:14-15
Choose good, and not evil;
Your Life depends on it.
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WHAT IS THE MARK OF THE BEAST?
“And he
causeth all, small and great,
rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark upon their right
hand, or upon their forehead:
“And that no one might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, the
name of the beast, or the number of his name.
“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of
the beast: for it is the number of a person; and his number [is] Six
hundred threescore [and] six.”
Revelation 13:16-18
Anyone reading these words immediately asks two obvious questions,
“What is the mark of the beast? What is this deadly mark, how can I
resist it?” Somehow the world has fixated on the number given, 666,
and searched for it in vain, everywhere from gematria to highway
numbers. In recent years people have begun to question technology:
Is it a tattoo, a barcode, a microchip, a DNA registry? Will it be
forced on me by a domineering world government bent on driving me
into submission and slavery? How can I know, where is the answer?
As always, the truth is contained within Scripture, and it is there
that we must search for the answer. Let us begin in Revelation
itself.
Revelation 13 tell us that in the end times we will see an
assortment of figures rising to power:
A beast in 13:1 who rises up, having 7
heads, 10 horns, and 10 crowns, and on his heads “the names of
blasphemy”. One of the heads is wounded unto death, but this wound
is healed.
A dragon in 13:4, who is introduced in 12:3,
also having 7 heads and 10 horns, but only 7 crowns. He is
worshipped and causes the world to also worship the beast with the
deadly head wound.
A second beast in 13:11 who has 2 horns,
speaks like a dragon, and exercises the power of the first beast.
He also causes the world to worship the first beast.
Then, in
verse 16 we see the mark introduced, given to all types of people,
that allows them the power to buy and sell. The mark seems to offer
freedom, at least in commerce, and life, for how can we live if we
cannot buy or sell? The fact is that while this mark may seem to
offer protection, the exact opposite is true. Revelation 14:9-11
tells us:
“And the third angel followed them, saying
with a loud voice, If any one worship the beast and his image, and
receive [his] mark upon his forehead, or upon his hand,
“The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he
shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the
holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
“And the smoke of their torment
ascendeth
up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who
worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
To receive this mark is to become the object of God’s wrath and to
endure terrible punishment and judgement as a consequence: The
vials of God’s wrath are poured out first upon those who have
received the mark, the beginning of a series of terrible plagues:
“And I heard a great voice out of the temple
saying to the seen angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of
the wrath of God upon the earth.
“And the first went forth, and poured out his vial upon the earth;
and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had
the mark of the beast, them which worshipped his image.”
Revelation 16:1-2
The
beginning of our answer, then, is that this mark is a deception,
designed to draw mankind into destruction. It is obviously a mark
related to religion, because these passages clearly connect
God’s wrath with people accepting this mark and worshipping the
beast. With this in mind, we can leave behind questions about
numbers, for there is no clear answer there. Our focus must become
the phrase in the opening passage - “upon their right hand, or upon
their forehead…” What does it mean to have a mark or sign upon one’s
hand or forehead? This is where we allow Scripture to guide us.
The first case of such a reference is found in Exodus 13:
“And it shall be for a token upon thine
hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by
strength of hand Yahweh brought us forth out of Egypt.”
Exodus 13:16
This
is a reference Yahweh’s commandments in Ex. 13:1-15 to Israel to not
only keep His memorial of Passover and the Days of Unleavening, but
also teaching these memorials to their children. Obedience to
Yahweh’s will in this matter is the “token”, a sign or signal
revealed by their actions. A search for other occurrences of
Strong’s #226, rendered “token” here, immediately shows us that
Yahweh gave His people many tokens, or signs, from the beginning:
The rainbow in
Gen. 9:13, a token of His covenant with mankind that He would never
destroy the world again by water
The ritual of
circumcision in Gen. 17:11, a token of the covenant made between Him
and Abraham to be his and his children’s God and to bring them into
Canaan
The promise in
Exodus 3:12, the sign to Moses that Yahweh had sent him, that He
would bring him back to Mt. Horeb to serve Him after Israel escaped
Egypt
The blood of the
lamb, the token of exemption from death for all those who obeyed
Yahweh’s commands concerning Passover
There are many other examples of Yahweh giving mankind tokens to
signal some action or agreement with them. In the case of Exodus
13:16, however, the token is a sign given by mankind unto Yahweh, a
sign of obedience to His will and commandments. This obedience is
spoken of repeatedly as being “upon thine hand, and between thine
eyes”: Ex. 13:9, 16, Deut. 6:8 & 11:18, etc.; also as in the
heart, around the neck, upon the fingers: Prov. 6:21 & 7:3. The
context in these passages clearly tell us that tokens between our
eyes and in our hands are both the things we believe in and how we live
according to those beliefs. We believe with our minds and hearts, we live
this belief through our actions, and God makes it very clear in many
passages (Ex. 15:26, Deut. 6 & 11, etc.) that our obedience to His
commandments will grant His people protection.
In addition to requiring obedience to His commandments and laws,
Yahweh also requires His people to remember and revere His name.
Immediately after Yahweh promises Moses proof that He had sent him
in Exodus 3:12, He declares His name to Moses, instructing him to
proclaim it to the children of Israel and telling him “this is My
name forever, to be remembered for all generations.” Pharaoh was
raised up and Israel was brought out of Egypt by Yahweh in order
that “My name may be declared throughout all the earth” (Ex. 9:16)
The third commandment reads, “Thou shalt not consider the name of
Yahweh thy God to be a vain thing: for Yahweh will not hold him
guiltless that considers His name meaningless.” (Ex. 20:7) Finally,
Joel 2:30-32 gives us a clear reference to Revelation, closing
with “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the
name of Yahweh shall be delivered.”
Now returning to Revelation, we realize two things: 1) The
deception of the mark of the beast involves the “name of the beast”
and 2) this mark is a mockery of the seal of protection given by God
to His servants:
“Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea,
nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon
their foreheads.”
Rev. 7:3
“And it was commanded them that they should
not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither
any tree; but those people which have not the seal of God
upon their foreheads.”
Rev. 9:4
“And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is
come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou
shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear
Thy name, small and great; and shouldest
destroy them which destroy the earth.”
Rev. 11:18
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the
mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty [and] four thousand,
having His Father's name written upon their foreheads.”
Rev. 14:1
“Here is the patience of the saints, they
that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Yahshua.”
Rev. 14:12
“And they shall see His face; and His name
[shall be] upon their foreheads… Blessed [are] they that do His
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may
enter in through the gates into the city.”
Rev. 22:4, 14
As God has shown consistently throughout Scripture, He will protect
and reward those who obey His commandments, love His law, and
worship His name. He has also promised to punish those who reject
His laws and His name, pouring out His wrath upon them for their
false worship. Here we have the answer to our main question:
“What is this deadly mark, how can I resist it?” This mark of the
beast is acceptance of a false name, a false prophet, a false
Messiah, worship of anything other than our Creator. We resist the
deception by knowing our Father’s will, by knowing the true names
Yahweh and Yahshua, by keeping His commandments, and refusing to
accept the offer of man’s “safety” rather than His salvation.
Revelation clearly shows us that there are those who will be saved
or condemned by their actions, and that their actions are connected
to who and what they obey. The mark of the beast is a name or a
number that people will either accept or reject, it is not a
computer chip or tattoo that can be forced upon them. It may
involve new technology, but technology is only the means to an end,
not the goal itself, which is apostasy – something as old as mankind
itself. The mark of the beast is part of a system of belief that is
contrary to Yahweh and His commandments. It is the mark of
deception – for what people would knowingly blaspheme God and the
name of God as is done Rev. 16: 9, 11, and 21? Who would knowingly
embrace the destruction promised to those who accept the name of the
beast, except those who are deceived about God’s true name in the
first place?
Search the Scriptures, for the time is short. Pray that our Father
will open your heart to the truth of His Son’s name, to the truth of
His Holy Days and commandments and His Sabbath, to the blessing of
obedience to His truth. It is not enough to reject the lies, we
must embrace the truth; protection comes not just from rejecting the
beast’s mark, but from having God’s seal in our foreheads. We are
saved by both faith and by acting on that faith. The struggle ahead
is not against government or technology, it is against Satan
himself. Now is the time to learn the truth, for the day is coming
soon when there will be time no longer.
“And I saw as it
were a sea of glass mingled with
fire: and them that had gotten
the victory over the beast, and
over his image, and over the
number of his name, stand on the
sea of glass, having harps of
God.
“And they sing the song of Moses
the servant of God, and the song
of the Lamb, saying, Great and
marvellous
[are] Thy works, Lord God
Almighty; just and true [are]
Thy ways, Thou King of saints.
“Who shall not fear, O Lord, and
glorify Thy name? for [Thou]
only [art] holy: for all nations
shall come and worship before
Thee; for Thy judgments are made
manifest.”
Rev. 15:2-4
Matthew 10:28