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2nd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Three Cosmic Messages

Mark Finley

01 Jesus Wins- Satan Loses

02 A Moment of Destiny

03 The Everlasting Gospel

04 Fear God and Give Glory to Him

05 The Good News of the Judgment

06 The Hour of His Judgment

07 Worshiping the Creator

08 The Sabbath and the End

09 A City Called Confusion

10 Satan’s Final Deceptions

11 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 1

12 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 2


Welcome back and thank you for joining us for lesson 12 in our Sabbath School studies, this quarter titled 3 Cosmic Messages. Let's review a little bit about what we studied last week. We pointed out that the great conflict in the book of Revelation is over worship. In Revelation chapter 14 verse 7, it discusses worshiping the Creator or worshiping Jesus Christ as Creator of heavens and earth. And we do that by keeping the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is the external symbol of a heart that's committed to worshiping the Creator. In fact, in Revelation 14 verse 7, where it says, Fear God, that is reverence, respect, or obey God. Give glory to him in your lifestyle, for the hour of his judgment has come and worship the 1 that made heaven, earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters." Now, that expression, the heavens, earth, sea, and the fountains of waters, is a direct quote from the fourth commandment, the Sabbath. So we worship the Creator by observing the seventh-day Sabbath. Then when you look at verse 9, in contradistinction to worshipping the Creator, there is the warning against worshipping the beast.

In Revelation 14 verse 12, it says, here are those that keep the commandments of God and of the faith of Jesus. Keeping the commandments of God becomes the focal point of a final controversy between good and evil over worship, and the Sabbath is at the very center of the law of God, at the very heart of this conflict over worship. Now if there is a warning against the beast power and receiving the mark of the beast, then the Bible would clearly identify who the beast is. And it does. In Revelation chapter 13, the Bible gives you identifying marks of the beast power.

First, the beast receives its power, seat, and authority from pagan Rome. The dragon, Satan, acting through a political power, pagan Rome, gives to papal Rome its authority. That is 1 of the first identifying mark in Revelation 13. Second, the beast power of Revelation 13 is a power that demands worship. The beast is a king or a kingdom.

It's a kingdom of a political or religious power, authority. So it demands worship. So we know it's a religious political power. Thirdly, it's blasphemes. That is, that it claims the authority and prerogatives of God and the ability to forgive sin.

We looked at those last week. It's also a persecuting power. It says it makes war with the saints. So did you get those first 4 identifying marks of this beast power? It gets its authority from pagan Rome.

It's a worldwide system of worship. It's a blasphemous power, assuming the privileges and prerogatives of God. And it's a persecuting power for those that don't go along with the church state union. Fifthly, and this is where we come to the lesson of today. It would receive a deadly wound after 1260 years.

We find this in Revelation, chapter 13, verse 5. Revelation 13, verse 5 talks about this deadly wound that this power would receive in Revelation 13, 5, it says. And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue 42 months. Now, you read in Revelation chapter 12, verse 6 and verse 14, that the woman, God's church, went into the wilderness for this same period of time, time, times, and a half a time, 1260 days or 42 months. You read the same thing in Daniel 7, verse 25.

So there's a political religious union for this 42 prophetic months. In Bible prophecy there were 30 prophetic days in a prophetic month, 30 times 42 or 1260 prophetic days or 1260 years. Time, times, and half a time is the exact same period as is the 1260 days. So what we find is a prediction that this church-state union, namely the papal power, would reign supreme for 1260 years. Justinian, the pagan Roman emperor, gave to Vigilis II, the Pope of Rome, civil and religious authority in 538 AD.

This began the supreme reign of the papacy. It lasted for 1260 years to 1798 when Napoleon, French leader, general, looks to the south, he's threatened by the Pope of Rome, and he sends his general Berthier down. The Pope is taken captive, and he ultimately dies in France. The Bible says the deadly wound would be healed. And in 1929, Mussolini signs a concordant with the Pope of Rome to restore the papal state.

All of this is part of prophecy. All of this is part of the fulfillment of prophecy. Revelation 13, 18 also mentions, here is wisdom, let him that has understanding count the number of the beast, for it's the number of a man and his number is 666. So the Bible indeed describes this power, this power of 666. And we find this in the power of the papacy in Vicarius Filii dei, a Roman power.

Now, the Bible predicted that there would be a falling away, that there would be a departure from biblical truth. This departure from biblical truth is described in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3 and 4. So 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3, verse 4. If you have it, just take your Bible and turn to 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3, verse 4. Notice the clarity of this.

Let no 1 deceive you by any means. So the Bible says, don't be deceived, doesn't it? For that day will not come unless there is a falling away first. The man of sin is revealed, the Son of Perdition. What does he do?

He opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. So here you have a power that exalts itself above God, changes the very law of God, and demands worship on a political, religious unification. Now, what's Satan's final strategy? You find that in Tuesday's lesson. See, surveys reveal right now a deep lack of trust in institutions and governments, and millions of people wonder, where is somebody morally fit to lead the world?

And Revelation's prophecies identify the beast power as the 1 who'll try to bring the whole world together. You find that in Revelation 17 and verse 14. Revelation 17 And you're looking there at verse 14. Notice what it says, the clarity of this passage. These, well, let's go back to read verse 13 and 14.

These are of 1 mind, they give their power and authority to the beast. So this, the political powers, the political and economic powers of the world give their authority to the beast power. And it says, these will make war with the lamb. The lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords. He is King of kings, and those that are with him are called.

We're called by God. We're chosen by God, faithful to God. So these have 1 mind. So here you have the political powers, the financial powers, and the religious powers uniting in this coalition to save the world. 1 mind, 1 world government under the auspices of a religious political power.

Now, when we say 1 world government, what do we mean? Do we mean that all of the nations of the world are under 1 government, not at all. We use that term, that expression, to describe the unity of political, religious, and civil powers. It won't be that the whole world has 1 religion. There'll still be Buddhists, there'll still be Muslims, there'll still be Baptists, and Presbyterians, and Catholics, et cetera.

There'll still be different governments of the world, in Europe, Asia, the United States. But they coalesce on the unity. They have 1 mind. That is to say, they coalesce around that which they have in common, namely, the immortality of the soul, namely, Sunday sacredness. It is interesting to observe The difference when you look at Revelation 14, 9, if any man worships the beast, and you compare that to Revelation 14, 12 and Revelation 14, 7, worship the creator, don't worship the beast, finding its focal point in the keeping of the commandments of God.

There's an amazing statement that Ellen White makes, and I give a paragraph and then I quote Ellen White. I'm going to first read the paragraph that I have written and then the paragraph from Ellen White. 1 group worships the beast, this is Wednesday's lesson, and keeps the commandments of God, which includes the fourth, the 1 commandment, the beast's power thought to change, and has the faith of Jesus. That's the contrast. Working through the sea and land beast, the devil attempts to undermine God's authority by attacking the heart of worship, the Sabbath.

So this attempt to undermine the authority of God, bringing the world together. Ellen White in Great Controversy 592 says, those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. The conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They'll be accused of disaffection toward the government. So what happens?

A common day of rest and worship becomes the focal point of world unity at a time of chaos and calamity. You say impossible, could never happen. Well, June 6th, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI speaks to 15, 000 people in St. Peter's Square, and he says, by defending Sunday, 1 defends freedom. Now this, of course, isn't the same thing as demanding others to keep Sunday.

But what it's doing is it's bringing in a common day of worship to protect the workers, to have a family day, to bring unity to the world. In contrast to that, God has a sign. Remember the commandment says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 6 days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Notice, seals authenticate a document.

A seal must have the name of the sealer, the title of the sealer, and the domain of the sealer. So the Lord thy God, the name of the sealer, who made the creator, the title of the sealer, heaven and earth, the domain of the sealer. So on the 1 hand, you have the mark of the beast. Now, let me assure you, nobody has the mark of the beast yet. But the mark of papal authority, the first day of the week, will ultimately be enforced by law.

And standing in opposition to that will be God's people who keep the Bible Sabbath, who have his seal. What is the seal of God? It is a settling into the truth both spiritually and intellectually so we cannot be moved. So the Holy Spirit confirms in us this commitment to Christ, so we stand for Christ at any cost. We stand determined to be faithful to Christ.

In this week's lesson, there is the call to be faithful to Jesus, to be faithful to the truths of the Bible, to receive His seal and live for Him in these troublesome times. Let me pray. Father in Heaven, thank you so much for Jesus. Thank you for His love and grace and goodness. And O Lord, help us to be faithful to you and sealed by the Holy Spirit to stand through these traumatic times.

In Jesus' name, Amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about Audioverse or if you

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Series

2nd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Three Cosmic Messages

12 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 2

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

01 Jesus Wins- Satan Loses

10m

02 A Moment of Destiny

8m

03 The Everlasting Gospel

9m

04 Fear God and Give Glory to Him

11m

05 The Good News of the Judgment

7m

06 The Hour of His Judgment

11m

07 Worshiping the Creator

8m

08 The Sabbath and the End

10m

09 A City Called Confusion

13m

10 Satan’s Final Deceptions

13m

11 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 1

15m

12 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 2

12m

Sound Doctrine