The Mark of the Beast and the Seal of God

A letter in 1984 about the seal of God and the mark of the beast.

I want to share something with you. You had asked about the mark of the beast. You did not ask about the seal of God. Everyone seems to pass over it. They seem to assume they know what the seal of God is. That is because everyone thinks they are righteous, that the seal of God is surely theirs, yet they do not know what the seal of God is. Let me tell you that when one surely discovers what is the seal of God, he or she will automatically know what is the mark of the beast.

When Moses was forty, he tried to help Israel. It was in his heart to do so. He failed. He had to flee for his life. His ambitions and work had failed utterly. For forty years he was in wilderness. Then God appeared to him and sent him to Egypt to deliver Israel. When he got there, he was withstood by Pharaoh's magicians. They were able to copy what Moses was able to do. They not only copied but they performed the same kinds of supernatural wonders. They had power. But Moses overcame. Why? Because they had the mark of the beast but he had the seal of God.

The seal of God is the death sentence. It is the crucifying factor in one's life. The seal of God is precisely and the only sure mark of distinction between good and evil, between those who are God's and those who are not. Both light and darkness can do great works. Both can perform miracles, heal, call fire down from heaven and do many wonders. But Moses prevailed over the magicians of Pharaoh's court because Moses had the true power of God with him. How did he receive it? He had died. His ambitions had been wiped out entirely. His work had failed. All died. It was sown in corruption but raised in incorruption. It was sown in weakness and raised in power. It was a work of God just as was the crucifixion of Christ as had been signified by Jonah. It is the only sign of life and authenticity.

Paul said that he determined to know nothing but Christ crucified. Paul knew the secret of God because he himself had the seal of God on his forehead. He had the death sentence on himself. That is the seal of God. That is the mark of a true servant of the Lord. It is the mark of a saint in maturity. It is Christ formed in us. There was a seal on the tomb of Christ. There is the seal on our tomb. That is the seal of God. Then in due time, in the fullness of time, as grain sown in the ground comes up, so are we resurrected in power and glory with Christ to serve Him in His chosen work for us here on earth. When God applies the seal to us, the world sees it as failure, falsehood, defeat, humiliation. And so it is to the carnal mind. Christ was killed. He was humiliated and that publicly. But the crucifixion was the very way of victory. So it is for all those who are His. They too must suffer death publicly, obediently, quietly, humbly and be patient for the sure and coming resurrection. As the Head, so the body. Otherwise, we are not His. Not that we have a choice. But knowing the truth helps us through our wilderness, through our death, through the receipt of the seal of God on our foreheads, which is a painful experience. It would be far easier to be literally branded on the forehead with an intensely hot iron.

Once the death has come upon the soul called by God to be His, there is nothing more that can hurt him. There is nothing more that can be done to him. No longer does he care what others may think or do. He is a dead man. Also he recognizes that there is no power but of God. He knows that no matter how powerful the enemy may be, he has nothing to fear. Nor does it matter even if they prevail. He knows that all is in God's hands. Though the flesh still agonizes and frets and fears, yet the inner man has come to a peace and a stillness that prevails. Moses was a brash and energetic man at forty. He was very self confident. In his own strength, he would deliver the children of Israel. He was called to that and he would do it. It was in his heart to do. From his mother's womb he was called by God to do it. Little did he know at the time that he was only seed grain and not the harvest grain. Little did he know that he had still to be planted, humiliated, "failured".

What then is the mark of the beast? Whereas the seal of God is the death sentence that breaks one, the mark of the beast is the exaltation of the flesh, the puffing up of a man making him bold and brash, enabling him to copy the works of God as did Jannes and Jambres of Moses. It is that pride and energy of the flesh which all these evangelists and preachers have on T.V. and radio, claiming to be serving God. And they deceive the UNDEAD. They deceive those who have chosen to live, those who have shrunk away from taking their cross and dying in following the Lord, those who also have accepted the mark of the beast. They have clung to their lives and in so doing, have failed of life. There is no life but in death. There is nothing for us if we choose to live and prevail in our works. We have worldly success, the respect and admiration and praise of some men and other worldly benefits, but we do not have the power or the favour or the glory of God. The religious have their reward; they live; they flourish; they thrive; they laugh...for now. In all these things they display the mark of the beast. In all these things when they think they are proving to be God's, they are unmistakably proving and demonstrating, to those who have eyes to see, that they are the beast's and the beast they serve. They receive power to do great things in the Name of God, in the Name of Jesus Christ. They are impudent, presumptuous, proud, haughty, fat-eyed, full-bellied, satisfied, lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, blasphemous, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, false accusers, unruly in their lusts, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS BUT DENYING THE POWER THEREOF: FROM SUCH...TURN AWAY. Ever learning and never coming to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (the truth). These always resist the truth even as did Jannes and Jambres withstand Moses, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for, the Bible says, their folly shall be manifest unto all men.

And notice that Paul goes on to say that his life is different....it is one of afflictions, persecutions, proper manner of life, faith, longsuffering, charity and patience. And he says that ALL THAT WILL LIVE GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS SHALL SUFFER PERSECUTION. But evil men shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. That is the lot of all those who profess Christ but who have nothing to do with Him.

To the carnal man, the seal of God appears to be the mark of the beast and the mark of the beast the seal of God. Paul said, For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life (II Cor. 2:15,16).