The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast

[devotional at egwlists.whiteestate.org]

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Ellen G. White Estate, Devotional for July 22
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The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast

Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. Isa. 8:16. 


The living righteous will receive the seal of God prior to the close of
probation. 

The sign, or seal, of God is revealed in the observance of the
seventh-day Sabbath, the Lord's memorial of creation. . . . The mark of
the beast is the opposite of this--the observance of the first day of
the week. 

Sunday keeping is not yet the mark of the beast, and will not be until
the decree goes forth causing men to worship this idol Sabbath. The time
will come when this day will be the test, but that time has not come
yet. 

No one has yet received the mark of the beast. The testing time has not
yet come. There are true Christians in every church, not excepting the
Roman Catholic communion. None are condemned until they have had the
light and have seen the obligation of the fourth commandment. But when
the decree shall go forth enforcing the counterfeit Sabbath, and the
loud cry of the third angel shall warn men against the worship of the
beast and his image, the line will be clearly drawn between the false
and the true. Then those who still continue in transgression will
receive the mark of the beast. 

If the light of truth has been presented to you, revealing the Sabbath
of the fourth commandment, and showing that there is no foundation in
the Word of God for Sunday observance, and yet you still cling to the
false Sabbath, refusing to keep holy the Sabbath which God calls "my
holy day," you receive the mark of the beast. When does this take place?
When you obey the decree that commands you to cease from labor on Sunday
and worship God, while you know that there is not a word in the Bible
showing Sunday to be other than a common working day, you consent to
receive the mark of the beast, and refuse the seal of God. 

In a little while every one who is a child of God will have His seal
placed upon him. O that it may be placed upon our foreheads! Who can
endure the thought of being passed by when the angel goes forth to seal
the servants of God in their foreheads? 

>From Maranatha - Page 211