The Mark of God - By
Gary Stearman - http://www.prophecyinthenews.com/the-mark-of-god/
One of the most familiar of all the Bible's images is that in which 144,000 Jews are sealed - 12,000 from each of Israel's Twelve Tribes.
"2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having 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, 3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads" (Rev. 7:2,3).
At this point, the elect representatives of Israel's Twelve Tribes are "sealed." It is generally agreed that they are sealed for the specific reason that they have work to do. During the dark days of the Tribulation, they are God's chosen spiritual assembly. At this time, the believing Church has been removed from the Earth. Someone has to be sent forth among men to achieve God's purposes. These are the chosen.
The 144,000 are seen again in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation. There, they are seen as redeemed and justified before God. Furthermore, they are said to be virgins - a symbol of purity and dedication. In this vignette, they are later shown singing a victory song that is specific to their work. In other words, they are chosen - sealed - for a specific reason.
Many have speculated about the nature and purpose of their sealing. Some assert that they become God's evangelists for a given period, and this can be easily demonstrated. But the full reason for their sealing is not clearly given. Among their many activities, they will no doubt act as a force against the Antichrist.
Why does Scripture go to the trouble to describe the sealing process, when its true significance seems so obscure? But in fact, as is always the case, the Bible has an answer to such questions. If we are simply wise enough to discern the meaning, it gives us the information we need.
The Seal as Identification
In the ancient world, seals were used to indicate ownership, authenticity and protection. Cylinder seals and signet rings were used to impress a mark or depiction upon soft clay or wax. Using their seals, kings authenticated property and documents.
Potters impressed seals into their wares before firing, to create a sort of trademark. An unbroken wax or clay seal upon an object like a scroll or jar indicated that it had not been violated. When the king's servants threw Daniel into the lion's den, it was sealed to ward off anyone who would attempt to save him. To assure that His disciples would not steal the Lord's body, the Romans sealed the tomb of Jesus. To break that seal was to challenge the power of Caesar.
As a metaphor for the believer's spiritual condition, the seal also indicates ownership and protection; it identifies the believer as belonging to the Lord. At the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus spoke of His own spiritual sealing:
"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 hath God the Father sealed" (John 6:27).
Here, Jesus links the idea of His sealing with eternal provision. The saint is assured that the Lord will unfailingly provide him with heavenly nourishment.
Paul spoke of salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as sealing:
"Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (II Cor. 1:22).
In this passage of Scripture, Paul links the sealing process with the giving of the Holy Spirit. As in Romans 6, where Paul describes the believer as being baptized into the death of Christ. This proceeding assures the believer that he will be raised from death into a new life. Thus, the giving of the Spirit is a kind of sealing.
Paul also described sealing as assurance given after one trusts in the Lord. This assurance is unconditional. Validated by the "earnest" payment of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we have a virtual guarantee that His work will come to completion in the life of the believer.
"13 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, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:13,14).
This "earnest" constitutes a legal action ... constituting a promise that God's initial work will be fulfilled.
Is the Seal a Mark?
Just as in the case of the 144,000 Jews, the verses above give us certainty that the work of God will be completed in us and through us.
By faith, we accept the fact that God has made some sort of personal, internal change that has designated us as His own. We bear an identifying mark of some sort. No doubt, it is visible to the Lord. To humans, however, it is invisible. Can we, therefore, consider it a real mark of identification ... one that on a certain plane, has reality and meaning? In other words, if the Lord opened our eyes, could we actually see the mark?
At least a small part of the answer can be found in a wonderful narrative in Ezekiel that throws a great deal of light upon this subject. In fact, it enables us to discover the very shape and meaning of God's mark!
It tells the story of Jerusalem's judgment. Here, we encounter the remarkable incident of seven angels who enter the city, then come into the Temple by way of the upper or northern gate. Having arrived, they stand before the Lord in the inner, upper court, which is higher than the surrounding platform.
Six of these angels carry some sort of destroying weapon. One, however, appears as a scribe, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. The Lord's instruction to them is terse and clear. The angel, garbed as a scribe, is told to mark those who will be spared. We are left to assume that he uses the "ink and pen" that he carries.
"4 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" (Ezekiel 9:4).
The other angels are to march ruthlessly through the city, slaying everyone who is left unmarked - old and young, women and children, alike:
"5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: 6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house" (Ezekiel 9:5,6).
The amazing thing about this incident is that it actually records the sealing of a divinely ordained remnant from the House of David.
It is as though we could be present at the sealing of the Twelve Tribes, as given in Revelation 7. Here, however, we are allowed to see the action in some detail. Those who lament the sins that have been committed in Jerusalem are set aside - sealed and protected as God's people. The scribe- angel places a visible mark on their foreheads.
This gives us remarkable insight into the ways of the Lord. But in the original Hebrew rendering of this narrative, we are able to see much more, namely, the mark, itself!
This letter has a long tradition of meaning and symbolism that reveals volumes about those upon whom God places His seal.
The Letter Tahv
The Sign of the Cross
On the cross, Christ declared this truth when He cried, "It is finished" (John 19:30). In this statement, He spoke words of truth, regarding a completed transaction that guaranteed redemption for humanity.
Every Old Testament prophecy of this redemption looks forward to the cross. Every New Testament truth depends upon the historical fact of its fulfillment. Not only is it the guarantee of God's saving grace, it is the apex of human history.
"19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven" (Col. 1:19, 20).
Here, we see that the cross became both the actualization and the symbol of reconciliation, not merely for the sin of man, but for the chaos of a universe darkened by the iniquity of Satan. It was the instrument that provided universal restoration, in heaven as well as Earth. What better symbol could there be for God's truth and perfection?
As a symbol for His creative foreknowledge, there is no higher manifestation of metaphor than the cross. It is, therefore, the most elegant expression of His purpose to discover that in ancient days, the letter , tahv was originally fashioned as a cross! It has only been written in its present block form since the first century.
The sign of truth and perfection began as a cross. In the era of Ezekiel (around 570 B.C.), this was its written form. Sometimes, it appeared in the shape of an [?] and sometimes as a [+], or even a classic cross.
In one of those great "coincidences" that isn't really a coincidence in Ezekiel's narrative, the faithful of Jerusalem were sealed by having the sign of the cross written on their foreheads. It is God's ordained mark of protection and possession for the faithful. As witnessed by the prophet Ezekiel, he saw the angel inscribe a cross upon the foreheads of the faithful!
This was a prophecy of Christ's future work. With an understanding of the alphabet, Ezekiel would also have understood that it was the symbol of truth and perfection.
The Crooked Cross
At this point, there is another historical footnote that brings even greater clarity to the story of the cross. A brief study reveals that, long before the time of Jesus, both God and Satan realized the importance of the cross.
In the fourth chapter of Genesis, the Lord is described as having placed a curse upon Cain. He declared that the earth would no longer provide blessing and bounty for this sinful son of Adam. Henceforth, He said, Cain would become a wanderer, never able to settle in a civilized way. Cain's response and the Lord's provision show that the symbolism of the cross was already in place, even in the ancient era of the world's first family:
"13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. 15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. 16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden" (Genesis 4:13-16).
From this encounter, we see that the Lord's grace extended even to Cain. He received a mark of protection that would keep him from being slain. We learn that Cain was considered by his peers to be a pariah. Yet even as a social outcast, he was under God's watchful care. A visible mark was placed upon him. What was this mark?
In some ways, it seems to function in the same way as the mark upon the faithful in the time of Ezekiel. Yet, in this case, Cain was far from righteousness. How could he receive the sign of truth and perfection?
The answer can be found in the Genesis text. And it is in direct opposition to the mark with which God seals His elect.
This "mark," as given in Genesis 4:15, is translated from the Hebrew word ,ut (oht) a word that indicates a mark or sign. The symbol placed on Cain is spelled t aleph, u vav, , tahv [,ut]; the mark of the saints is spelled , tahv, u vav [u,]. That is, the very letters of the word for Cain's mark are the exact reverse of the word used by Ezekiel in the sealing of Jerusalem's saints.
The u, tahv of truth becomes the ,u oht of reversal, perhaps even perversion.
Since we know that the description of the u, tahv is a cross, we can speculate about the nature of Cain's mark with a high probability of certainty. It is likely to be a variant of the cross - a broken cross.
Just such a mark is widely known in the annals of history and literature. Manly P. Hall calls it, "the most nearly universal of religious emblems." It is used by all the world's peoples, from Buddhists in the East, Hindus and Zoroastrians in the Middle East and by the tribes of the New World of the Americas. Its origins are shrouded in the mists of time, where it disappears into the post-Flood world of Noah and his three sons.
This sign - the swastika [?], or hooked cross - is universally referred to as "the earliest known symbol." A note in the Encyclopedia Americana is of great interest:
"[The swastika] is a symbol of the sun in the nature-religions of the Aryan races from Scandinavia to Persia and India; and similar devices occur in monumental remains of the Mexicans and Peruvians, and on objects exhumed from prehistoric burial grounds within the limits of the United States. The swastika consists of a Greek cross, either enclosed in a circle, the circumference of which passes through its extremities; or with its arms bent back thus to form the swastika. It is found invariably associated with the worship of the Aryan Sun-gods (Apollo, Odin) and is believed to represent the sun. The swastika was adopted as the German national symbol by the Nazis."
The Dark Side
Though couched in the dispassionate language of the encyclopedia, the final phrase brings a chill to those who remember the Germany of World War II and its fanatic dedication to the extermination of the Jews. The bent cross on the Nazi flag stood for Aryan purity. The Nazis wanted the Germans to become the race to inherit the world. Needless to say, that role has already been promised to Israel.
The swastika was chosen by the Germans precisely because of its historic connections with the so-called "pure" race that had once dominated the Old World. The crooked cross was (and is) the highest symbol of the rebellious man who believes that he can use his own resources to create a utopia. For Hitler, it was to be the thousand-year "Third Reich."
Many documentaries have attempted to explain the madness of the Nazi era. Most of them adopt social, economic or political interpretive schemes. And it is true that the devastated German economy of the thirties created a climate favorable to the rise of an opportunistic despot like Hitler. His shameless appeal to socialist politics lured a gullible people into self-destruction.
But a better rationale for Hitler's mad rush to power can be found in the often-ignored battleground of the spirit world. In their best- selling book, Morning of the Magicians, Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier document the Nazi connection with the world of the occult.
According to their lengthy study, Hitler believed in an alternative "science," which he believed would dominate his new kingdom. He said, "There is a Nordic and National-Socialist Science which is opposed to Judaeo-Liberal Science." In short, he believed that the Judeo- Christian worldview was about to be snuffed out, to be replaced by a new system of belief.
Many are surprised to learn that the inner circles of Nazism were governed by the leaders of a theosophical society, alternately called the "Thule Society" and the "Society of the Golden Dawn." These leaders, such as Guenon and Gurdjieff, were the early founders of what has since come to be called, "The New Age Movement." Supposedly, the Thule Society dates all the way back to the pre- Flood cultures of Cain's era.
There were many Tibetan monks in Hitler's retinue. One, called "the man with the green gloves," was reputed to have correctly foretold in the German press, the number of Hitlerian deputies to be elected to the Reichstag. He was regularly visited by Hitler, and said by his deputies "to possess the keys to the Kingdom of Agarthi." This is simply another name for the ancient spiritual kingdom of Thule.
According to historians Pauwels and Bergier, Hitler's closest aide, General Karl Haushofer, spent days, weeks and months on end indoctrinating Hitler with his occultic theories. They write, "Karl Haushofer was born in 1869. He paid several visits to India and the Far East, and was sent to Japan, where he learned the language. He believed that the German people originated in Central Asia, and that it was the Indo-Germanic race which guaranteed the permanence, nobility and greatness of the world." This "Indo-Germanic race" was the fictitious Aryan race that Hitler promoted.
Haushofer was initiated into one of the most important secret Buddhist societies. Failure of his mission called for suicide. It is a historical fact that on March 14, 1946, Haushofer killed his wife Martha and then executed himself in Japanese fashion.
Concerning the swastika, Pauwels and Bergier note, "In Europe, as in Asia, the swastika has always been considered a magic sign. It has been taken as a symbol of the sun, a source of life and fecundity, or of thunder and a manifestation of Divine wrath, which has to be appeased. In contrast to the cross, the triangle, the circle, or the crescent, the swastika is not a primitive sign which could have been invented and re-invented at any time in the history of humanity, or at any place on the globe, with a different symbolic meaning every time. It is, in fact, the first sign traced with a definite intention.
"The earliest known specimen of the swastika is supposed to have been found in Japan at the time of the introduction of Buddhism, which adopted it as an emblem. Of capital importance is the fact that it is entirely unknown, or only occurs accidentally, in all Semitic regions such as Egypt, Chaldea, Assyria and Phoenicia. It is an exclusively Aryan symbol."
They also quote the 1931 book, Le Symbolisme de la Croix [The Symbolism of the Cross] written by occultist Rene Guenon: "We read recently, in an article in the Journal des Debats of January 22, 1929, the following news item which shows that the old traditions are not as dead as people think: 'In 1925 the Cuna Indians rose in revolt, slaughtered the gendarmes from Panama who lived on their territory, and founded the independent Republic of Thule, whose flag is a swastika on an orange background with a red border. This republic exists to this day.' Of special interest is the association of the swastika with the name of Thule, which is one of the oldest designations of that supreme spiritual center, which has since been applied to some of its lesser branches." Obviously, it seems more than a coincidence that the Nazi swastika was set against an orange background.
There is a curious historical addition to the Nazi epic. Pauwels and Bergier repeat a widely known incident that came at the end of World War II: "It was in 1926 that a small Hindu and Tibetan colony settled in Berlin and Munich. When the Russians entered Berlin, they found among the corpses a thousand 'volunteers for death,' in German uniforms without any papers or badges, of Himalayan origin. As soon as the [Nazi] movement began to acquire extensive funds, it organized a number of expeditions to Tibet which succeeded one another practically without interruption until 1943."
Their documentation of the Nazi/occult connection continues for about 300 pages.
Suffice it to say that they demonstrate, without a shadow of doubt, that the bent cross of the Nazi flag was universally regarded by insiders as an occult symbol of the ancient powers that were destroyed several thousand years ago in a worldwide cataclysm.
It was the mark of Cain's culture that made an illicit pact with the fallen dark forces of the heavens. Though there is no certain connection between this movement (which exists to this day) and the mark that God placed upon Cain, it is logical to assume that they are one and the same. It was, after all, Cain's contemporaries who allowed themselves to be corrupted by the fallen angels. The legends of their great power fill the occultic volumes of all ages.
In great contrast, the universal Judeo-Christian symbol of redemption is the cross. It represents the hope of a lost humanity and God's restorative grace. The bent cross is the precise opposite. It stands for the power of man who, through unholy alliance with the forces of darkness, attempts to build his own world of pride and power.
Many have dreamed of regaining the lost power of the ancients. This illusion fires the hopes of New Age groups around the world. It is upon this blasphemous ground that the Antichrist will one day claim the power to enslave the peoples of all nations.
Sealed Until the Day
Thus, the battle rages on. One side is sealed with the cross, the tahv of truth and perfection in Christ. The other is marked by the hooked cross [?] of an ancient and corrupt culture. In Ephesians 4:17-19, Paul writes of their corruption:
"17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness" (Eph. 4:17-19).
A few verses later, he assures the faithful that they are, indeed, sealed by the action of God's Holy Spirit:
"30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30).
In some way that is instantly visible to the Lord, we carry the mark of the cross. Once placed, it can never be removed. In the ancient practice of sealing, something is fastened with a seal to prevent it from being moved from one position to another. It is the earliest method of assuring that one's property is marked. The seal was also traditionally engraved with a mark or design that spoke of the owner.
It has been said that, as believers, we are impressed with the signet of the Lord, Himself. We bear the mark of ownership.
In fact, God's own Holy Spirit is the one who does the sealing. In the verse above, it is He who is impressed upon us. We are thus guaranteed both redemption and protection. The Holy Spirit is a seal that cannot be broken. He is the guarantee that we will come safely to the ordained time of our redemption and the promise that we will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
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