"ARE YOU READY TO DO SOME SHOUTING?"

Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place, Osoyoos

Pulpit Series Volume 22, Issue 12     April 22, 2012

Mark:  a special sign or brand; a sign of ownership

Seal:  a mark of authority and authenticity,
             an official mark of ownership

Brand:  a mark to signify ownership

Some Christians instead of resting in the fact that they are marked by God are walking in fear that they may some how get the mark of the beast!

For every reference to the mark of the beast there are at least two references to the mark or seal of God?

Everybody will be marked or branded…..it simply depends on who’s outfit you ride for.

God has set in place a certain sign or

mark to identify those that are His.

These marked ones are protected by His very Word.

Exodus 12:13  “And the blood shall be to you for a token... and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague will not touch you... God said “When I see the blood!”

According to Ephesians 4:30 we are sealed to the day of redemption by the Holy Spirit of God.

Ephesians 1:13  “...sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.”

The seal

• is the indwelling Holy Spirit

His presence in our hearts is the evidence of our approval in the sight of God.

The sealer is God

• He gives the Spirit to them that believe

The sealed are they “who hearing the Gospel trusted in Christ.”

The significance being that a seal is given as the closing of a deal and a sign of ownership.

The sealing of the Holy Spirit speaks of:

Security

• Sealed with the kings signet that the purpose might not be changed.

II Timothy 2:19  “Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows them that are his. None shall pluck them out of His hand.”

Ownership

• Those sealed by the Spirit of God are owned of God.

We are bought with a price!  The blood of Christ redeems us to God.  The Holy Spirit possesses us for God!

We, in reality, have been purchased by the precious blood of the Lamb…therefore we are in the greatest sense no longer our own.  It would be good for us to think of our body, soul, mind, emotions and spirit to be “under new management”.

Authority

• The seal of God is a sign of authority.

Thus, those who are sealed of God act in the King’s name, they act in Christ’s stead.

Likeness

• A seal imparts its own image to the object sealed.

That is why the object sealed must be soft enough to receive the mark.  Those sealed by the Spirit will have the mind of the spirit, which is the mind of Christ.

Just as the mark of the antichrist system -

the mark of the beast is placed on the foreheads so is the mark for the redeemed.

Revelation 14:1  “And a Lamb stood on the mount Zion and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.”

The royal stamp of Heaven is set on all the souls that belong to the kingdom of God.

Every redeemed one is a marked one!

Come with me for a minute to Psalms 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

“.... thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

To understand what David is really saying here, we must turn to 2 scriptures:

Leviticus 27:32  “And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, [even] of whatsoever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the LORD.”

Ezekiel 20:37  “I will cause you to pass under the rod, I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.”

Let’s see how God’s marked men behave...

Ezekiel 9:1-6  “He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; 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. 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: 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.”

See if this doesn’t sound familiar when we read:

Revelation 7:3  “Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”

And look at Revelation 9:4  “And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.”

Thank God for David’s insight….
        “thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”