Bible Readings for the Home

Chapter 91

The "Mark" of Apostasy

Against what does the third angel warn?
"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb." Revelation 14:9,10.

By what power is this mark enforced on those who receive it?
"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads." Revelation 13:16.

What will those keep, who do not receive the mark of the beast?
"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Revelation 14:12.
NOTE. - It is evident from the foregoing scriptures that the mark of the beast is something directly opposed to the commandments of God. In the preceding chapter it is shown that as the first beast itself had enforced the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, by the secular power, so the two-horned beast will, in making an image to that beast, enforce the same observance by the same means.

What day is the Sabbath?
"But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." Exodus 20:10.

What does God call the Sabbath?
"If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words." Isaiah 58:13.

Of what day is Christ the Lord?
"Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath." Mark 2:28.

What do eminent men say regarding the change of the Sabbath to the first day?
Lyman Abbott, editor of the Christian Union, says in that paper of June 20, 1890: "The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament."
The Watchman (Baptist), in reply to a correspondent, says: "The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath... There is no scriptural authority for so doing, nor, of course, any scriptural obligation."
The Protestant Episcopal Church says: "The day is now changed from the seventh to the first day;... but as we meet with no scriptural direction for the change, we may conclude it was done by the authority of the church." Explanation of Catechism.

What does the papacy set forth as the mark, or sign of its authority in commanding men under sin?
"By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of... Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church's power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin." Abridgement of Christian Doctrine, page 58.

What are several modern Sunday advocacy organizations trying to do at the present time?
To enforce Sunday as a religious institution that all of the people, without exception, will have to observe.

How are they described who submit to this unscriptural requirement?
As being worshipers of the beast and his image.

How strongly will this worship and mark be urged?
"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Revelation 13:15-17.

What warning does the Lord give against the reception of this mark?
"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb." Revelation 14:9,10.

What is this wine of God's wrath?
"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God." Revelation 15:1.

How extensive will be the worship of the beast?
"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Revelation 13:8.
NOTE. - "But in this homage to the papacy the United States will not be alone. The Influence of Rome in the countries that once acknowledged her dominion is still far from being destroyed. And prophecy foretells a restoration of her power. 'I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast.' The infliction of the deadly wound points to the abolition of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the prophet, 'His deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast.' Paul states plainly that the man of sin will continue until the second advent. To the very close of time he will carry forward his work of deception... 'All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life.' ...In both the Old and the New World, the papacy will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests solely upon the authority of the Roman Church." Great Controversy, page 579.

Will all receive this mark?
"And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." Revelation 15:2.

The third angel's message warns against the worship of the beast, and the reception of his mark. What follows this message?
"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle." Revelation 14:14.

What does He do at this time?
"And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." Revelation 14:16.

What is the reaping time, or the harvest, called?
"The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels." Matthew 13:39.
NOTE. - When the mark of the beast is enforced, it will be one of the most critical times the church of God has ever passed through. As is shown from the last few Scripture quotations, the Lord's coming and the end of the world follow close after the enforcement of the mark. The third angel's message, which warns men against the work of the beast and his image, becomes to the present generation one of the most important concerns of this life.