This morning we’re going to discuss the Seal of God. Do you want to be sealed with the seal of God? I hope so, because if not, there’s no hope of immortality. And so, I assume that being saved in God’s kingdom is why you’re listening to me right now. And in order to understand what this seal is, I think it would be a good idea to first define the word “seal.” The meaning in the Greek is “signet” or a “stamp impressed.” That’s what the Bible concordance says. Years ago, kings had a signet ring that they would press into hot wax that made an impression authenticating a document or closing a document so it couldn’t be tampered with.

And so, a seal is “something that confirms, ratifies, or makes secure, and a few synonyms that come to mind in today’s language are words like “emblem,” “logo,” “trademark,” “brand,” “watermark,” etc., you get the idea. It’s something that guarantees ownership, and again, it’s something that can’t be messed with. In other words, when God sets His seal upon a person, that person belongs to Him, and no outside forces can fool with it without being detected. And according to God’s word, being sealed has something to do with the Ten Commandments.

Notice what Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:19, “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from (what?) iniquity,” or “unrighteousness,” and 1 John 5:17 says “all unrighteousness is sin,” and 1 John 3:4 says, “sin is the transgression of the law.” In other words, those who are sealed with God’s seal are those who have departed from sin, or those that have stopped transgressing God’s law. Is that possible? Yes, it is possible, Jesus said so, and not only is it possible, but Romans 8:37 says, “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” And Jude 1:24 says God, “is able to keep you from falling (into sin), and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”

If you would ask the average Christian today if they can stop sinning, you would probably receive a negative answer. Most would say, “no, I’m a sinner, and I always will be, but I’m still saved.” And the reason they say that is because the devil has been very successful in convincing people that they are saved in sin; that’s Satan’s big fat lie, but God put that deception to bed when the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to say that Jesus came into this world to “save His people from their sins,” not in their sins. (Matthew 1:21) And remember what Jesus said to Mary when all the hypocrites were ready to stone her? He said, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and (do what?) sin no more,” (John 8:11) and Jesus never told anyone to do something that couldn’t be done, otherwise He would be a liar and unworthy to be our Saviour. And so, I want to give you some encouragement this morning that all three members of the Godhead are there to help you be victorious over the sin that so easily besets you. Yes, it takes sacrifice on our part, but when full surrender to the revealed will of God is acknowledged and accepted, victory will come, praise the Lord!

Now, here’s something I would like you to consider for a few minutes. Jesus is coming back to this earth, do you believe that? Yes, that’s very clear in His word, but who is He coming back for? He’s coming back for those who are sealed with the seal of God, and the good news is, Satan has no power to tamper with that seal unless we let him, and we also need to understand that salvation is a daily choice and not a once in a lifetime experience. Just because a person accepted Christ 20 or 30 or 50 years ago, doesn’t mean they are home free. We not only need to be justified, or pardoned, but we need to be sanctified, or made holy, and that’s a process that goes on as long as we live, and we can choose not to be made holy any time we want, because God forces no one. We are free moral agents, and we can determine our own destiny.

When Jesus was here, in Luke 24:49 He told His disciples to tarry in Jerusalem “until ye be endued with power from on high,” and if we can believe it, that same power is available to us, and that power will give us victory over the temptation to sin. But you say, “I just don’t have enough faith to believe that.” And why don’t you? And I say this with all due respect, it’s because you don’t know God as it is your privilege to know Him. And how do we take advantage of that privilege? It’s very simple: Romans 10:17 says, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” What does that mean? Let me paraphrase, “Only as people hear, or listen to what God is telling them in His word, will they be able to have faith in what they have heard.”

In other words, if you spend quality time with God’s word and listen to what the Holy Spirit inspired holy men of old to write, God’s promise is that your faith will grow, and as it grows He will give you a strong desire to obey Him from the heart, and when it’s in the heart to obey, you will experience a life of victory, that’s the way it works!

Because isn’t it much easier to do something you want to do than it is to do something you don’t want to do? Friends, if we will allow Him, God is able to create within us a desire to obey Him, and when we have that desire, we will want to obey. Oh, we can fight with the conviction of the Holy Spirit and follow the fallen flesh if we choose, but God loves us too much to make it easy for us to do that once He has given us a new heart when we first accepted Him. You see, the Holy Spirit works through your Bible educated conscience, but you can work at cross purposes with that conviction if you want to, it’s called free will, which will never be taken away, and the more you choose to work at cross purposes, it becomes easier with each repetition until you silence the voice that says, “this is the way, walk ye in it.” Better known as the sin against the Holy Ghost, or the unpardonable sin; unpardonable because you can’t repent of sin when there’s no conviction, and if that voice has been silenced, it’s all over for you. And so, we must avoid that at all cost, because there’s nothing in this whole wide world that is worth missing out on the things God has prepared for those who love Him.

And the other point is that our faith will begin to diminish if we begin to neglect our time with God and His word until we find ourselves in the same boat we were in, or worse, before we were given that new heart. And so, we must have that daily experience with God in order to maintain a level of faith that will grow from a mustard seed into a full grown plant that’s big enough for the birds of the air to nest in, as Jesus said in Luke 13:19.

Notice what it says in Ezekiel 36:25-27. Here God is telling Ezekiel how He will use Israel to sanctify His own name among the heathen nations, even after they had been so rebellious, just like we all have, and He says, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you (or make it possible for you) to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them,” and with that new heart and new spirit to do it willingly I might add. Isn’t that the experience you want? You can have it if by faith you are willing to follow God’s instructions, that’s our small part.

Also there’s great encouragement in 2 Corinthians 5:17 where it says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is (what?) a new creature: old things are passed away (the chains of sinful habit have been broken); behold, all things are become new.” That’s the born again experience, and I hope you have had that experience, but even if you have, you can lose it if you don’t spend time with God on a daily basis.

In 1 Corinthians 15:31 the apostle Paul said, “I die daily.” That means that we must choose to make a conscious choice each day to say, “God, I want You to rule in my life today and not my fallen flesh.” And then after a prayer like that you spend time with Him in His word, and you will then gain the strength and the desire you need to do what He asks you to do.

And in 2 Corinthians 1:22 it says God is the One, “Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest (or His pledge) of the Spirit (where?) in our hearts.” You see brothers and sisters, when we accept Jesus into our life, He places His mark of ownership upon us, and gives us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the guarantee that He will perform in us all that He has promised.

In giving us the Holy Spirit, besides already having given us His Son, it was absolutely impossible for our Father in heaven to give more. No one is going to be able to say, “I’m lost, and it’s because God could have done thus and so to save me, but He didn’t do it.” No friend! If we are lost, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves, because God has given all, and yet how few appreciate the fact that our salvation has been so costly and so free to all who will accept it. And Jesus Himself encourages us to ask for the Holy Spirit. In Luke 11:13 Jesus said our heavenly Father is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children.” And Acts 5:32 says the Spirit is “given to them that obey Him.”

Why do you suppose God gives us promises like this? It’s so that these promises might inspire us with a desire to have them fulfilled in our own lives. Who hasn’t made promises to their own children that if they do a certain thing that they will receive that promise? It’s to encourage, is it not? God wants us to believe Him and be able to approach His throne of grace with earnestness and assurance, and if we do, the promise is that we will receive. In Luke 11:9 Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” That requires a little effort on our part, doesn’t it? And is that unreasonable, considering the benefits we receive by so doing? Is that too much for Him to ask? If we are unwilling to put forth that little bit of effort compared with such a big promise, we will not receive it.

This makes me think of a story in 2 Kings 5 about Naaman who was the captain of the Syrian army. You’ll remember he had leprosy, and the little maid that had been captured out of the land of Israel suggested that he go to the prophet Elisha in Samaria to be healed. When he came to Elisha, Elisha didn’t even come out of his house to greet him, but told his servant to tell him to go down to the river Jordan and wash seven times and he would be healed. But Naaman was kind of put out about it, because he thought Elisha would show a little respect and come out and lay his hands upon him and heal him. So he decided to just go back home until one of his men persuaded him to follow Elisha’s directions, and you know the rest of the story.

The point is, Naaman had to do something, as simple as it was, before healing would come, and friends, God has not changed. Hebrews 13:8  says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Don’t you like that about God? We can trust Him to do exactly what He says, whether His promises come from the Old Testament or the New.

And so, there’s a lesson in this story for us today, in that God expects us to do our part if we would be spiritually healed from the snake bite of sin, which is another story with a lesson that Israel had to learn. All they had to do was look and live, and those who didn’t, died. How much easier could it get, just look! But those who had no faith to look, died in the wilderness. And this world is like that, a wilderness where poisonous snakes live, but we don’t have to die when we get bitten if we will but look to Jesus who became sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,” says 2 Corinthians 5:21. God’s desire is that we have enough faith to do what He says, even if we have a little doubt, like Naaman. And if we do we will be made whole.

In John 6:27 Jesus said, “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him (that is Christ) hath God the Father sealed.”

In other words, God the Father has confirmed, or placed His stamp of approval upon Jesus, and in turn He can then put His stamp of approval upon us. This means that Jesus is the only One through which life comes. So, if we want life we have to get it from Him, plain and simple! And if we want to be a savor of life unto life to others, we have to have this life in order to share it. And if we have it, we then have a part in fulfilling the gospel commission to go into all the world and preach that good news.

Notice what it says in Ephesians 1:12-14. The apostle Paul says, “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is (what?) the earnest (or God’s guarantee that we will receiving it) which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession (which is immortal life), unto the praise of his glory.”

Now, this sealing Paul mentions here does not mean that we are once saved always saved. I know that may be a comforting thought, but it comes from the father of lies. It’s true that we can have the assurance of salvation today, and we should, and we can even have the assurance of  salvation in the end, but we have to remain faithful to the end before we  receive it. In Matthew 24:13 Jesus said, “He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved.”

Just as a person can be disinherited by a father who writes his will, so can we be disinherited from “the purchased possession” that was paid for by the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross. So it means everything to us to conduct ourselves in such a way so we can remain in the will and realize the fulfillment of the promise. When the apostle Paul speaks of “the earnest of our inheritance,” it’s like the person who puts earnest money on a piece of property, but the property isn’t his until the deal is done. The earnest of the Spirit is something given in advance as security that the rest will come, but we can pull out of the deal any time we want, but if we do we lose our earnest money.

Now, how do we know that what I just said about not being saved until the deal is done is true? We can know because Paul clarifies it in Ephesians 4:30 when he admonishes us by saying, “grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” So, we see clearly here that we can be unsealed, as it were, if we grieve, or if we cause sorrow to the Holy Spirit by rejecting salvation after having accepted it.

Also in 2 Timothy 2:11, 12 Paul says, “It is a faithful saying (in other words, this is absolutely true and reliable): for if we be dead with him (dead to self, or buried with Christ in baptism), we shall also live with him: if we suffer (for our faith), we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, (or disavow Him) he also will (what?) deny us.” Friends, this is plain language! Which means that if we deny Him our name will not be retained in the Lamb’s book of life after having accepted Christ, but will be blotted out as God told Moses in Exodus 32:32.

Now, let’s switch gears, because all the things we’ve been talking about so far are only one aspect of the seal of God, but that’s not all there is regarding this subject by any means. In fact, as far as these last days are concerned, there are prophecies that specifically identifies the seal of God, and not just in a general sense as we’ve been discussing. And so, let’s read a few of these verses that pinpoints the seal of God in a more definite way.

Revelation 7:2-4. John says, “And I saw another angel ascending from the east (having what?) the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed (who?) the servants of our God in their foreheads. (So, if we want to be sealed, we must serve God, that’s very plain. And a servant is someone who does what their Master says and not someone who is just passive, or unresponsive) Verse 4, And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of (who?) all the tribes of the children of Israel.”

Would that be the literal children of Israel, or is this symbolic? It’s symbolic. Why? Because the nation of Israel failed to develop a character which would place upon them the seal of God, and they were rejected as a nation as a result. This was made clear when Jesus wept over Jerusalem, remember? In Matthew 23:37, 38 Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is (what?) left unto you desolate.” In other words, from that point forward God’s presence was no longer with ancient Israel, His presence was removed, and when that happens Christ is not there, and when Christ is not there, it’s a people who no longer belong to Him.

After Israel’s rejection of Christ, the Christian church is now God’s people, it has been for 2000 years, and will continue to be until Jesus comes. That doesn’t mean individual Jews can’t be saved, but as a nation they are rejected because they rejected the Mesiah that was to come. Jesus didn’t fit the description as a King that they believed would deliver them from being under the Roman yoke by misapplying the prophecies of His second coming to the first, and as a result they were not ready to accept the sacrifice of Christ that had been foreshadowed in their religious services for over a thousand years.

The apostle Paul tell us who spiritual Israel is in Galatians 3:27-29. Speaking of the Gentiles now, or the non-Jews  he says, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (making it clear that heredity has nothing to do with salvation, and the Jews should have known that). And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed (or spiritual Israel), and heirs according to the promise.”

By the way, this is the reason I believe the 144,000 is not a literal number, but symbolic, because if the 144,000 are not literal Israelites, then neither is the 144,000 a literal number. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me. And whether or not you agree with me on that, we can agree on one thing, we must all strive to be among that number or we will be left without the seal of God.

Earlier we read in 2 Timothy 2:19 that those who are sealed with the seal of God will have departed from (what?) iniquity, which is sin, and sin remember, is the transgression of the law. And so, the seal of God has to be connected somehow to His law, that’s very clear, and in order to determine where in the ten commandments we find God’s seal, we only have to look at number four, because this is the only place among the ten where we find that seal. Because you can keep nine of the commandments and worship any idol you want, any object you want, or any person you want, because only number four tells you who gave the law in the first place. Think about it? The fourth commandment says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Remember, because God knew people would forget) . . . For in six days (who made heaven and earth?) the Lord (the self-existent eternal One) made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day (not because He was tired, but as an example for mankind to follow): wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it,” or set it apart from the other six days for holy purposes. (Exodus 20: 8, 11).

We need to understand that the seal of God will only be placed upon those who bear a likeness to Christ in character. As wax takes the impression of the seal, so the soul is to take the impression of the Spirit of God and bare the image of Christ. And its obedience to the principles of the commandments of God that molds the character after the divine pattern. And so, without a doubt, the seal of God is found in the fourth commandment. This only, of all the ten, brings to view both the name and the title of the Lawgiver. It declares Him to be the Creator of the heavens and the earth and thus shows His claim to reverence and worship above all others. And so, except for the fourth commandment, there is nothing in the Decalogue to show by whose authority the law is given.

If someone picked up the Bible and read it for the first time without any outside interference from some preacher somewhere, they would have to conclude that the seventh day Sabbath is the day that is to be set aside for worship and spiritual renewal. Not Sunday or some other day, but the last day of the week, which today goes by the astrological day we call Saturday.

“But we’re supposed to keep Sunday in honor of the resurrection” someone says. But you know what? That’s impossible, because according to Romans 6:3-5 baptism is the memorial of the resurrection, not Sunday. Read it for yourself! Sunday is one of the six working days that we are to labor and do all our work, but mankind says, “nope, I’m going to do it my way,” not realizing that they have been fooled by the devil to reject a plain command from the Creator of heaven and earth, which after creation was written in stone with His own finger to show its immutability.

Notice what it says in Isaiah 8:16, “Bind up (which is to guard or to preserve) “Bind up the testimony (the testimony of the prophets, which is God’s word), seal the law among my disciples.”

And just a couple verses down in verse 20 God says, “To the law (the Ten Commandment law) and to the testimony (of the Scriptures): if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Over 50 times the Bible refers to the seventh day as the Sabbath, and to Sunday, not once! So who are you going to believe, God or a preacher that’s uplifting Sunday?

Notice also what it says in Exodus 31:13, 17. God told Moses to, “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel (and God is also speaking to spiritual Israel here, because remember, He doesn’t change. What applied to ancient Israel applies to spiritual Israel) “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is (what?) a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. . . Verse 17, It is a sign  (or My seal as it were) between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”

Notice: these verses refer to creation week, and that was 2500 years before the nation of Israel came into existence, so the Sabbath is not the Jewish Sabbath, but it was made for all mankind and still remains the sign that we belong to the One who created it. There’s not one rule for the Jews and another for the rest of the world, because remember, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Notice also Ezekiel 20:12, 20, “Moreover also 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. . . Verse 20, And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.”

And since we’re in Ezekiel let’s look at chapter 9:4, because there’s something interesting here. Ezekiel 9:4, “And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon (what?) the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” In other words, when you think about what this is saying, it becomes clear that those who don’t feel grieved over their own spiritual weakness, or mourn over the sins of others, will be left without God’s mark.

And here’s something else that’s interesting to consider, this “mark” is the same as the “seal” we read about earlier in Revelation 9:4. And so we have Ezekiel 9:4 and Revelation 9:4, and I don’t think that’s by accident, because both of these verses are speaking of the same mark, being put in the same place. This mark or seal of God isn’t anything  human eyes can see, but a mark that only God and holy angels can read, because it has to do with character. It’s the mark of redemption. Among those who are finally sealed, all sin will have been overcome and taken away, because they have settled into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so that they cannot be moved. Last Day Events, page 220.

Does that mean that everyone who professes to keep the seventh day Sabbath will be sealed in their foreheads? No, why? Because there are some who have the light of truth on this subject, they know what God’s will is, they understand every point of doctrine, but they don’t have corresponding works. They say they believe the truth, but they don’t act their faith, and unfortunately the majority will be like that, because Jesus said, “strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads unto life, and (what?) few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:14.

Now, there’s another mark spoken of in the Bible that’s a counterfeit of the true, and that’s the mark of the beast. So, if the seventh day Sabbath is God’s mark or seal or sign that we belong to Him, then what do you suppose the mark of the beast is? That would have to be another day of the week other than the seventh day, wouldn’t it? And what day would that be? Since there will only be a few that find the way of life Jesus spoke of and be sealed with the seal of God, it follows that the majority will be keeping another day of the week, and again, what day would that be? Only a few Christians, relatively speaking, are keeping the seventh day Sabbath, while the majority are keeping Sunday, isn’t that true? But here’s the point, the time is soon coming when the few will become even fewer and the majority even larger, why? Because Revelation 13:15, 16 says  there’s going to be a death decree for those who refuse to receive the mark of the beast. And because the majority of people don’t want to die and want to continue to be able to buy and sell, those with God’s seal will become even smaller, because they have come to the point that they would rather die than knowingly disobey God. This is the way it has always been through history, and this is the way it will be in the very near future. God’s true and faithful people have always been the few, and Satan’s followers the many.

Perhaps another word to describe the few would be “peculiar.” Remember what 1 Peter 2:9 says? In contrast with the worldly and disobedient element Peter says, “But ye (Christians) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people (or an odd people in the sense that they are fewer and different from people in general); that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness (out of a sinful lifestyle) into his marvellous light.” And make no mistake, transgressing the Sabbath commandment was a sin when God instituted it at the end of creation week, and it’s still a sin today.

Yes, God’s people in these last days will be a peculiar people, and the apostle Paul agrees with this in Titus 2:14 by saying Jesus “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, (or all sin) and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

Friends, the Bible is very plain: the seal of God will never be placed upon the forehead of an impure man or woman. It will never be placed upon the forehead of the ambitious, world-loving man or woman. It will never be placed upon the forehead of men or women who have deceitful hearts, or hearts of stone, and it will never be placed upon the forehead of men and women who have not learned how to be victorious over the temptation to sin. All who receive the seal of God must be without “spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that (we) should be holy and without blemish,” says Ephesians 5:27. That’s what it takes to be candidates for heaven. The question is, are we willing to surrender all to Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify us, or set us apart from the world? Because certainly, we can’t sanctify ourselves, it’s not in our DNA to do so. We need to partake of God’s DNA by partaking of His divine nature, which is our privilege to do according to 2 Peter 1:4, which allows God to then work in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

If we would be heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ to that promised immortal inheritance, we will be a peculiar people, so peculiar that God places a mark upon us as His, wholly His.

Now, we don’t have a lot of time left, but I want to hit on one more point before we close, because it’s important that we not only understand what the mark of the beast is, but the identity of the beast as well. In Bible prophecy beasts represent kingdoms or nations according to Daniel chapters 2, 7, 8, you can read that for yourself. And speaking of the fourth beast Daniel mentions, which is Rome, first pagan, then papal, and that can be verified through history as well, Daniel 7:25 says this fourth kingdom, or Rome in its papal form, would “think (or intend) to change times and laws.” These two words “times and Laws” can also be translated in the singular form without doing violence to the Scriptures according to the Hebrew, and it actually makes more sense that way. The word “times” means “an appointed occasion,” and “laws” means “commandment.” Now let me ask you, which commandment in the law deals with time and is an appointed occasion? When God said “remember the Sabbath day, isn’t that the commandment dealing with an appointed occasion at a specific time, even from sundown to sundown as it says in Leviticus 23:32? Yes! Only one of the ten commandments deals with a certain time that God wants to meet with His people, and that’s the fourth commandment.

The devil, working through the papacy, or that fourth beast power, can’t really change God’s law, but he has been very successful in making people think so, since the larger majority of Christians today honor Sunday as a holy day, for which there is not one verse of Scripture that identifies it as such, and I find it amazing that the devil can pull the wool over so many eyes when the Bible is absolutely clear on this subject. Satan has had 6000 years to perfect his craft of deception here on earth, and who knows how much longer before he was cast out of heaven, and he’s become very good at it, especially in fooling people that are not taking that quality time with the Scriptures we talked about earlier.

In these last days especially, so closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Scriptures. By the testimony of God’s word every statement made by professedly religious men must be tested. And here’s something else that’s amazing, because the papacy boldly admits that they are the ones who thought to change the law that deals with time. Let me read you a few quotes from their own mouth.

This is a Letter from C.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons on October 28, 1895 — “Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change (from Sabbath to Sunday) was her act. It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything, in matters spiritual, ecclesiastical and religious without her. This act (of promoting Sunday worship) is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.”

This quote shows that nothing else the Catholic church has done is more important than the change of the Sabbath by her own admission. Nothing! Interesting, isn’t it? The Catholic church admits that Sunday is the mark of the beast.

This next quote is from “Saint Catherine Catholic Church Sentinel, May 21, 1995, one hundred years after the statement we just read, and as you will see, the papacy never changes. Just as God never changes, so the papacy never changes. Here’s what the Catholic church says, “Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. . . not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church’s sense of its own power.”

What about you my Christian friend, is it the Bible and the Bible only that is your rule of faith and practice, or is it the traditions of the Catholic church? And remember what Jesus said in Matthew 15:9. “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” And that’s exactly what Sunday sacredness is!

Here’s one from the Catholic Record, Sept. 1, 1923, “Sunday is our mark of authority. . . The church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.”

And here’s the last one I’ll share, although there are many more similar statements. Father Enright of the Redemptoral College, Kansas City, Mo., History of the Sabbath, p. 802.  — “It’s the mark of our authority to over-rule God’s law.” And that, my friends, is blasphemy!

I’m not sure what more I can say that would convince you about this Sabbath/Sunday issue. If we take God at His word, it’s as plain on the nose of our face! The problem is, too many people have the same problem the Laodiceans had, and one of those problems is spiritual blindness.

I’d like to close by reading a quote from Jesus Himself about the cure for this spiritual blindness from Revelation 3:18-22. Notice what Jesus says, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire (which is faith and love), that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment (which is Christ’s righteousness), that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve (from the Holy Spirit), that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door (of your heart), I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcomes (the temptation to transgress God’s law) will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame (the temptation to sin), and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

THE SEAL OF GOD