Seal of God

Mark Finley: He's inviting you right now to make a decision that all you want is to please Him. To ask Him to seal you. Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit. Ask Him to help you live an obedient godly life. Ask Him.
Guest (Male): This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: Seal of God. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up-to-date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: The Book of Revelation has a number of sequences of seven. There are seven churches in Revelation two and three, dealing with the spiritual condition of God's church and its impact on the world in every generation. There are seven seals in Revelation chapters six and seven. Right after the sixth seal, and the sixth seal is really traumatic. In the sixth seal, the Bible talks about the earth shaking. It talks about every mountain and isle moved out of its place. In fact, let's read about that sixth seal in Revelation chapter six. It says, Revelation 6 verse 12, "I looked and when he opened the sixth seal, behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree, its late figs when it is shaken. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it's rolled up, every mountain and isle were moved out of its place." Think of that natural disaster. The earth shakes in the greatest earthquake in history as yet to come. Although there was a great earthquake in 1755 in Lisbon, Portugal, the greatest earthquake is yet to come, and we've had multiple earthquakes since that time. The stars from heaven did fall in 1833. That was a miniature falling to kind of introduce the final days, the judgment hour. But here it says that the stars of heaven fell. It says there was this great earthquake. It says the sun became black and the moon became like blood. The sky receded. Every mountain and isle were moved out of its place. Verse 15, Revelation six, "The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and rocks of the mountains. And they said to the rocks and mountains, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne from the wrath of the Lamb." So at this point, the wicked are running and fleeing. This description must be a description of the coming of Jesus. It's a description of all nature in upheaval. It's a description of the wicked running and crying for the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them. It's a description that although Christ has spoken through His Spirit to men and women, they've rejected His claims, they've taken the mark of the beast. That would be this group before the coming of Jesus. But then verse 17 asks a provocative question: "For the great day of his wrath is come, who is able to stand?" So that's the question we end Revelation 6 with: Who is able to stand? When we come to Revelation chapter 7, it answers that question: "After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth." Four corners of the earth: north, south, east, west. Winds of the earth: the winds of destruction that would come during that sixth plague, the devastation, the disaster that would come during that sixth plague. So the angels are going to hold back those winds from that sixth seal, that last dramatic event. They're going to hold back those winds and it says, how long are they going to hold them back? So the wind should not blow on the earth and on the sea and on the tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living God. So what is this seal of the living God? This seal of God that is placed upon the forehead of God's people? That will enable them to get through the final crisis. What is that seal? Do you remember in the book of Exodus it talks about the plagues of Egypt? And you remember the last of those plagues where the Egyptians who were holding the Israelites in bondage, captivity, that the firstborn of all the Egyptians was slain? And what about the Israelites? They had the blood upon the doorpost. And that blood was a sign. It was a seal of their home as God's protection. So just as God protected the Israelites during the plagues of Egypt, so likewise, He will have His seal of protection upon His people in the last days. But let's probe a little bit about this seal. In ancient times, seals were used to authenticate a document. For example, let's suppose that one city was selling grain to another city. And there was a bill of sale from that one city to the other city. The magistrate of the city where the grain was being sold to authenticate that document and to consummate the deal would stamp or seal that document. Now the seals sometimes were used, they were clay seals, and the clay would harden, of course. Other times they were wax seals. So the purpose of a seal is to authenticate a document. It will typically have the name of the magistrate, it will have his authority, and it will have his territory. Throughout the Bible then, seals are used that way. Seals show the originality of that document. Seals show the fact that the document is authenticated, that it has the power of the sealer behind it. But in addition to that, seals were also used as a sign of ownership. A very good example of that is found in the book of Genesis, the 17th chapter. In Genesis chapter 17, we find the story of Abraham. And in this story of Abraham, the practice of circumcision is introduced. And so you have Genesis 17 verse 9 and 10. God said to Abraham, "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after throughout your generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised." So God says circumcision is part of His covenant and that covenant enables God's people to have a sense of His ownership, that they are His people, they belong to Him. So a seal can also be a sign of the covenant. You look, for example, at Romans chapter 4 and verse 11. Romans 4 verse 11, "He received," this is Abraham now, "he received the sign of circumcision, the seal of righteousness of faith which he had while still uncircumcised that he might be the father of all those who believe." So when you're thinking about a seal, you're thinking about the seal authenticates a document. It says it's genuine. It says that circumcision was a sign or seal. It was a sign or seal of the covenant that God made with Abraham, that God's people stood out from all the heathen nations. They stood out from the idolaters, that God's people indeed were His own possession, His own people. So a seal is an indication of the ownership of God, that these are God's people. There's another thing about a seal and that's the indication of God's guardianship. You find that, for example, in Exodus chapter 12. God's guardianship. I mentioned it earlier, but we really should go back and take a serious look at it. This, of course, is in the plagues, and you're going to look there at Exodus chapter 12 and we're going to look at verse 7, 8, and 9. And here's what scripture says: "They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts," remember we talked about that, "and on the lintel of the houses that they eat, then they shall eat the flesh of the night." So they're putting this blood on the doorpost. Why? Because verse 11, "it's the Lord's Passover. For I'll pass through the land of Egypt," verse 12, "on that night, I'll strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. Now the blood will be a sign," again it's a sign or seal, same thing, "on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I'll pass over you." So this seal is this sense of God's guardianship. So three things about the seal so far. Number one, a seal authenticates a document. Number two, a seal represents ownership. Number three, a seal represents guardianship. You find this also in Ezekiel chapter 9. Ezekiel 9 is quite an amazing chapter because it's talking about the final days of earth's history. It's talking about those that have the mark of God and those that don't. And Ezekiel the ninth chapter, you're looking here at verse 4 and 5, "And the Lord said to him, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it. To the others he said in my hearing, go after through the city and kill, do not let your eye spare nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young." What's God doing there? Last days of earth's history, only two classes: those that have the seal of God and those that have the mark of the beast. Those that have God's sign, those that have the beast's sign. And so Ezekiel 9 points out that the idea of a sign, a seal, or a mark, the sign, seal, or mark of God is a sign of God's guardianship. Those that have that sign, seal, or mark will be protected in the last days of earth's history when the crisis finally breaks. When we look at the idea of a seal, so we're thinking about how many things now? Do you have it? We're thinking about something that's authentic, that makes the document authentic. We're thinking about the fact that our loving Lord sets us apart, that we are His, His sons, His daughters. Seal, sign, or mark indicates His ownership of our lives, that our lives are totally, completely given to Him. And it indicates as well that He is our divine protector. He's the one that's going to guard us during crisis periods of time, like He did the Israelites with the blood on the doorpost, like He said in Ezekiel chapter 9. Now, does the Bible say anything about seals previous to end time? Because it's only as we understand how when you take the Bible as a whole and we can understand about seals. It does. The Bible talks about Jesus being sealed. Did you know that? It does. John chapter 6 and verse 27. John 6 and verse 27. Jesus is speaking and He says in John 6 verse 27, "Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal upon Him."
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Mark Finley: God the Father has set His seal upon His Son Jesus Christ. Now we might ask, why would God set His seal upon Jesus and how did Jesus get that seal upon Him? Now what is a seal? A seal authenticates a document. Jesus is the authentic, real, divine Son of God. He has God's seal. Secondly, the seal is a sign of God's ownership. Jesus' life is totally committed to the Father. He is the possession of the Father in that sense. He's the Son of God. And thirdly, a seal is a sign of guardianship. The Father was guarding over Jesus all the days of His life. All the powers of hell could not destroy Him, even on the cross when Jesus said, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" God still had a plan and Jesus' last words were, "It is finished." What's finished? He didn't say, "I am finished." He said, "It is finished." The plan of salvation is finished. My death to redeem the human race is complete. My sacrifice on the cross is complete. So Jesus sealed. Why was He sealed? Well, the Bible says in John 8 verse 29, "I do always those things that please Him." In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 7, Jesus says, "I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will." So the sealed one is the authentic, genuine Christian, like Jesus, who is possessed by Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, has the guardianship of God over his life, and he's willing to do anything that Jesus asks him to do. Now throughout the Bible, we have that concept of the seal. Look at Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. And here you'll have the concept of the seal, and this is probably the clearest text in the Bible on this whole idea of sealing and how that works. We're looking here at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13 and 14. "In Him," now who's the Him? Jesus. "In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." When are we sealed? When we come to Christ, according to this verse. In Him you also trusted. We trust in Christ after you heard the word of truth. We hear the truth of Jesus. "The gospel of your salvation, in whom having you had believed you were sealed with the seal of promise." When we come to Christ, when we give our lives to Jesus, when we're redeemed by His grace and charmed by His love and transformed by His spirit, when we believe and accept and live His truth through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are sealed by the Spirit. Now when you put the seal in any document, if it's a clay seal and you stamp it there, that clay is still forming. The seal is there. You can see the seal, but the clay is not hardened yet. If you take a wax seal, the wax is soft and it must harden. So when the Bible talks about this initial sealing at conversion, when we trust, when we believe, another way to look at this is found in Second Corinthians chapter 12. Second Corinthians chapter 12. We're going to compare this sealing at conversion to the end time sealing. Second Corinthians, it's actually chapter 1. Second Corinthians chapter 1, and we're going to look there at chapter 1 and we're going down to verse 18, 19, and 20, and onward, 21, 22. "But as God is faithful," He is faithful, isn't He? "Our word to you was not yes and no." Verse 19, Second Corinthians 1, "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me, Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, but in Him was yes." In other words, all the promises of God are yes. Everything that God promises you, He will do. Now notice, verse 21, "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ as anointed us in God, who has sealed us," He has what? What does this text say? He has what? Sealed us, and given us the spirit in our hearts as a deposit. So when we come to Christ and we believe and we trust Jesus and we want to do nothing else but to please Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into our life and He seals us. He gives us the seal of promise. And in our hearts, we have that promise that a new world is coming. In our hearts, we have that promise that one day Jesus will come. One day disease and disaster and death will be no more. One day we'll live with Christ forever. One day we'll walk streets of gold and live in eternal mansions as we fellowship with Christ, as we walk with Christ and talk with Christ and as we live with Christ throughout eternity. The Bible says in Revelation 22:1 to 4, you shall see His face. But it's the Holy Spirit within us that is sealing us, that is giving us that deposit, that guarantee of eternal life in Christ. Now how then do we compare this sealing process that takes place at conversion with this indwelling of the Holy Spirit, with the fact that at conversion we become authentic Christians through the sealing of the spirit? At conversion, we become Christ's possession, His ownership. At conversion when we come to Christ, we then have His guardianship over our lives. How do we compare that sealing with the final sealing? Remember we talked about the wax? The seal is there, but it has to harden. The clay? The seal is there, but it has to harden. The sealing talked about in Revelation chapter 7 is the additional work of the Holy Spirit in the heart that prepares us to go through earth's last crisis so we will not fail. It is the sealing of the Spirit or the infilling of the Spirit that prepares us to go through that. In the Adventist Bible Commentary, there's a comment by Ellen White that says that the sealing is a settling into the truth both spiritually and intellectually so we cannot be moved. Now when you look at the final crisis, what does this sealing have to do with? We find in Revelation chapter 12 that we are entering into earth's last war. Revelation 12 verse 17 says, "The dragon," Satan, "was wroth," that's angry, viciously mad, "with the woman," the church, "and goes to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus." As we enter into the last days of earth's history with the final crisis of this world, the devil is going to make war with those who keep the commandments of God. Revelation chapter 13 tells us that the devil brings on two allies to participate with him in this war. Revelation 13 talks about the beast from the sea and the beast from the earth. The papacy and all fallen religions, the United States brought to bear in Revelation 13. In Revelation chapter 14, we have God's last-day message to the world, verses 6 to 12. Revelation 14:6 says, "I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come and worship Him who made heaven, earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters." That command, worship Him that made heaven, earth, sea, and the fountains of waters, is a command to worship the creator, the one who made heaven, earth, sea, and the fountains of waters. That's a direct quote from the fourth commandment, the Sabbath commandment. So just as circumcision was the sign or seal that authenticated Israel as God's people and as it was a sign or seal of God's ownership upon them, so the Sabbath becomes the visible manifestation of the inner seal that the Holy Spirit has sealed our hearts and we're totally loyal to Christ. Now how do we know that? Well, in Revelation chapter 14 verse 9, it says if any man worships the beast. So Revelation 14:7, worship the creator. Revelation 14:9, don't worship the beast. Revelation 14:12, "Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." So you put those three texts together. Worship the creator, don't worship the beast. You worship the creator by having the faith of Jesus, that's Christ's quality of faith living in your heart, and it leads you to keep the commandments of God. So the final conflict is over the law of God. The final conflict is over the specific aspect of the law that has to do with the worship of the creator, namely the Sabbath. Why? Because if Satan can undermine the Sabbath and if he can undermine creation, if he's able to do that, then there is no basis of worship at all. Why worship if I'm a being that has simply evolved? Why worship if I'm just merely a collection of genes and chromosomes? Why worship if I'm just an enlarged animal species? But if I've been created by God, redeemed by Christ, the Sabbath becomes that symbol or seal or sign that I am Christ's and He is mine, that I'm an authentic Christian, that indeed He is my guardian even in the most difficult times of the seven last plagues. That's what the seal is all about, my friend. In fact, in Isaiah 8, it puts it this way: Isaiah the eighth chapter. It talks about the seal in the law of God. In Isaiah chapter 8, it says, "Seal the law among my disciples." Seal the what? Seal the law. Verse, Isaiah 8:16, "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples." Verse 20, "To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, no light in them." So God is leading people back to worshipping Him as the creator, back to accepting Christ as their redeemer, back to being obedient to Him and keeping His law. And the Sabbath becomes the seal of obedience in the law. Now remember we talked about a seal? It must have the what? Name of the one who's doing the sealing. It must have the territory of the one who's doing the sealing. It must have the authority of the one who's doing the sealing. Remember the Sabbath commandment, Exodus chapter 20 verse 8 to 11 says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, for the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work." And then it goes down and it says, "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is." The seal must have the title of the one who is the sealer. The Lord thy God. Right there in the fourth commandment. It must have His territory. He's the Lord thy God that created heavens and earth. It's there in the fourth commandment. It must have His name. He's the creator. So He's the Lord, He's the creator. His title, His name, He is the one who created heaven and earth.
Guest (Male): You've been listening to HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.
Mark Finley: We're living in the last hours of earth's history. If you've never made a decision for Christ fully before, I invite you to make it now. Right now, wherever you are. If you've never made a decision to be obedient to Him and keep His commandments and keep the Bible Sabbath, I invite you to make that decision right now.