Ellen White:
"The Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the seal of the living God. It points to God as the Creator, and is the sign of His rightful authority over the beings He has made. Those who obey this law will bear the seal of God, for He has set apart this day as a sign of loyalty between Himself and His people. To Moses on Mount Sinai He said, "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.", Signs of the Times, March 22, 1910 par. 4
"The mark of the beast is the opposite of this,--the observance of the first day of the week as the sabbath enforced by human law. This mark distinguishes those who acknowledge the supremacy of the papal authority from those who acknowledge the authority of God.", Signs of the Times, March 22, 1910 par. 5
"The Sabbath was placed in the decalogue as the seal of the living God, pointing out the Law-giver, and making known his right to rule. It was a sign between God and his people, a test of their loyalty to him. Moses was commanded to say to them from the Lord: "Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." And when some of the people went out on the Sabbath to gather manna, the Lord asked, "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?", Signs of the Times, May 13, 1886 par. 8
"But the Adventists who had clung to their confidence in the fulfillment of prophecy on October 22 and who were now accepting the Sabbath of the fourth commandment as the sign or seal of the living God were devising ways and means of presenting their message to the world. "You are too late with your sealing message," their fellow believers of earlier days asserted, "for the battle of the great day and the Lord's actual coming are right upon us.", 1BIO 153
"The enemies of God's law, from the ministers down to the least among them, have a new conception of truth and duty. Too late they see that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the seal of the living God. Too late they see the true nature of their spurious sabbath, and the sandy foundation upon which they have been building. They find that they have been fighting against God. Religious teachers have led souls to perdition while professing to guide them to the gates of Paradise. Not until the day of final accounts will it be known how great is the responsibility of men in holy office, and how terrible are the results of their unfaithfulness. Only in eternity can we rightly estimate the loss of a single soul. Fearful will be the doom of him to whom God shall say, Depart, thou wicked servant.", Great Controversy, page 640 (1888)
"ACCORDING TO REV. 14: 9-12, THEY WHO DO NOT RECEIVE THE MARK OF THE BEAST KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD; AND THE SABBATH IS IN THE FOURTH PRECEPT; THEY KEEP THE SABBATH OF THE LORD; THEY HAVE HIS SIGN OR SEAL. THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS SIGN IS SHOWN IN THIS, THAT THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT IS THE ONLY ONE IN THE LAW WHICH DISTINGUISHES THE CREATOR FROM FALSE GODS. COMPARE JER. 10:10 12 ACTS 17:23, 24; REV. 14:6, 7, ETC. AND IT IS THAT PART OF HIS LAW FOR KEEPING WHICH HIS PEOPLE WILL SUFFER PERSECUTION. BUT WHEN THE WRATH OF GOD COMES UPON THE PERSECUTORS WHO ARE FOUND ENFORCING THE SIGN OR MARK OF THE BEAST, THEN THEY WILL REALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SABBATH,--THE SEAL OF THE LIVING GOD. THEY WHO TURN AWAY FROM THAT WHICH THE LORD SPOKE WHEN HIS VOICE SHOOK THE EARTH, WILL CONFESS THEIR FATAL ERROR WHEN HIS VOICE SHALL SHAKE THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. HEB. 12:25, 26; JOEL 3:9-16, AND OTHERS. SEE ALSO PAGES 639, 640 OF THIS BOOK.", Great Controversy, page 691 (1888)
"If parents allow their children to receive an education with the world, and make the Sabbath a common day, then the seal of God cannot be placed upon them. They will be destroyed with the world; and will not their blood rest upon the parents? But if we faithfully teach our children God's commandments, bring them into subjection to parental authority, and then by faith and prayer commit them to God, he will work with our efforts; for he has promised it. And when the overflowing scourge shall pass through the land, they with us may be hidden in the secret of the Lord's pavilion.", HS, page 217
Ellen White
Testimonies for the Church, Volume Five (1882-1889)/Chap. 24, page 211.1.
The Seal of God.
The class who do not feel grieved over their own spiritual declension, nor mourn over the sins of others, will be left without the seal of God. The Lord commissions His messengers, the men with slaughtering weapons in their hands: "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. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house."
Testimonies for the Church, Volume Five (1882-1889)/Chap. 24, page 213.2.
The Seal of God.
There are many even among those who teach the truth to others who will not receive the seal of God in their foreheads. They had the light of truth, they knew their Master's will, they understood every point of our faith, but they had not corresponding works. These who were so familiar with prophecy and the treasures of divine wisdom should have acted their faith. They should have commanded their households after them, that by a well-ordered family they might present to the world the influence of the truth upon the human heart.
Testimonies for the Church, Volume Five (1882-1889)/Chap. 24, page 214.2.
Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. Then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost.
Testimonies for the Church, Volume Five (1882-1889)/Chap. 24, page 214.1-2.
What are you doing, brethren, in the great work of preparation? Those who are uniting with the world are receiving the worldly mold and preparing for the mark of the beast. Those who are distrustful of self, who are humbling themselves before God and purifying their souls by obeying the truth these are receiving the heavenly mold and preparing for the seal of God in their foreheads. When the decree goes forth and the stamp is impressed, their character will remain pure and spotless for eternity.
Now is the time to prepare. The seal of God will never be placed upon the forehead of an impure man or woman. It will never be placed upon the forehead of the ambitious, world-loving man or woman. It will never be placed upon the forehead of men or women of false tongues or deceitful hearts. All who receive the seal must be without spot before God--candidates for heaven. Go forward, my brethren and sisters. I can only write briefly upon these points at this time, merely calling your attention to the necessity of preparation. Search the Scriptures for yourselves, that you may understand the fearful solemnity of the present hour.
Special Testimony to Battle Creek Church (Ph 86) 6, 7 (1897).
"He causeth all, both small and great, . . . to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads" (Rev. 13:16). Not only are men not to work with their hands on Sunday, but with their minds are they to acknowledge Sunday as the Sabbath.
Signs of the Times, November 1, 1899.
The seal of God, the token or sign of His authority, is found in the fourth commandment. This is the only precept of the Decalogue that points to God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and clearly distinguishes the true God from all false gods. Throughout the Scriptures the fact of God's creative power is cited as proof that He is above all heathen deities.
Testimonies, Volume 8 (1904), page 117.
The sign, or seal, of God is revealed in the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, the Lord's memorial of creation. "The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." Exodus 31:12, 13. Here the Sabbath is clearly designated as a sign between God and His people.
The mark of the beast is the opposite of this--the observance of the first day of the week. This mark distinguishes those who acknowledge the supremacy of the papal authority from those who acknowledge the authority of God.
The Signs of the Times /March 22, 1910.
The Sign of Loyalty
The Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the seal of the living God. It points to God as the Creator, and is the sign of His rightful authority over the beings He has made. Those who obey this law will bear the seal of God, for He has set apart this day as a sign of loyalty between Himself and His people. To Moses on Mount Sinai He said, "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." {ST, March 22, 1910 par. 4}
The mark of the beast is the opposite of this,--the observance of the first day of the week as the sabbath enforced by human law. This mark distinguishes those who acknowledge the supremacy of the papal authority from those who acknowledge the authority of God. {ST, March 22, 1910 par. 5}
Claimed as Her Mark
As the sign of the authority of the Catholic Church, papist writers cite "the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of, . . . because by keeping Sunday strictly they acknowledge the church's power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin."
The Roman church thus declares that by observing the first day of the week as the sabbath, Protestants are recognizing her power to legislate in divine things. And it is true that those who, understanding the claims of the fourth commandment, choose to observe a false sabbath in the place of the true, are thereby paying homage to that power by which alone it is commanded.
The Roman church has not relinquished her claim to supremacy; and when the world and the Protestant churches accept a sabbath of her creating, while they reject the Bible Sabbath, they virtually admit this assumption. They may claim the authority of tradition and of the Fathers for the change; but in so doing they ignore the very principle which separates them from Rome,--that "the Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." The papist can see that they are deceiving themselves, willingly closing their eyes to the facts in the case. As the movement for Sunday enforcement gains favor, he rejoices, feeling assured that it will eventually bring the whole Protestant world under the banner of Rome.
With rapid steps we are approaching this period. When the Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution: when the state shall use its power to enforce the decrees and sustain the institutions of the church,--then will Protestant America have formed an image to the Papacy, and there will be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin.
Great Controversy, page 605 (1911).
While the observance of the false sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God's law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one class, by accepting the sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of the beast, the other, choosing the token of allegiance to divine authority, receive the seal of God.
Stephen N. Haskell, Bible Handbook (1919), The Seal of God, pages 86-87.
Esther 8:8. A seal attached to a document makes it legal. A legal seal gives the name of person issuing seal, also his title and territory. In this text Ahasuerus was the name, king the title, and Persia the territory over which he ruled.
Romans 4:11. Sign and seal synonymous.
Isaiah 8:16. The seal of earthly rulers is attached to their laws to make them binding upon their subjects. The seal of God is attached to His law to make it binding upon all His subjects. Patriarchs and Prophets, page 307.
Matthew 5:17, 18; Romans 7:7; James 2:8-12; Exodus 24:12; Deuteronomy 4:9-13. God's law is the ten commandments.
Exodus 20:8-11. Read carefully each commandment and find where God has attached His seal, -- His name, title and territory.
Exodus 20:11. In the last part of the fourth commandment, we find all the specifications of the seal. Lord, His name; Creator, His title; His territory, the heavens and earth. All within that territory are amenable to His law.
Exodus 31:13. The Sabbath is a sign or seal of God's authority. Great Controversy, page 605
Genesis 2:2,3. There were three steps in making the Sabbath. 1. God rested on the seventh-day; that made it God's rest day. 2. He blessed the seventh-day after He had rested; that made all succeeding seventh-days God's blessed rest days. 3. He sanctified it, or set it apart for holy use , and it became God's blessed, holy, rest day. Desire of Ages, page 281.
Joshua 5:15. It is God's presence that makes anything holy.
Isaiah 58:13. God calls the Sabbath His holy day. His presence is in the day.
Ezekiel 20:20. The Sabbath is the sign or seal of God. The one that hallows it acknowledges that he is a subject of God's kingdom, and knows that the Lord is his God. Testimonies volume 9, page 18.
Ezekiel 20:12. Just as the seventh day was set apart for holy use, so the keeping of the Sabbath becomes a sign of sanctification between God and the individual that keeps it. In the act of keeping the Sabbath he acknowledges he is set apart for holy work. God is first in all his work and business. Education, page 250.
Exodus 20:8. The Sabbath is holy; God wishes us to regard it as holy time.
Exodus 31:13. The one that in the fear of God will keep the Sabbath holy, becomes holy.
Exodus 31:17. The rest, refreshing, and blessing were placed on the seventh day, not in any other day.
Numbers 23:19,20. The blessing can not be transferred by man to any other day. God's blessing can not be reversed by man.
1 Chronicles 17:27. God's blessing continues forever.
Isaiah 66:22, 23. The Sabbath will be God's blessed, holy, rest day throughout eternity.
Stephen N. Haskell, Bible Handbook (1919), The Sealing Work, pages 87-89.
Isaiah 8:16-17. The command was given to bind up the testimony and seal the law, at the time they were waiting for the coming of the Lord. The law was broken and needed binding up. The seal had been taken from the law and must be replaced. Prophets and Kings, page 678.
Isaiah 58:13. The prophet foretold a period when the Sabbath would be trampled under foot. The seal disregarded and taken from the law.
Revelation 7:1-4. John saw a special sealing message going to the earth.
Revelation 7:1. Winds denote ware and strife. Daniel 11:40. The affairs of all earthly powers are held until the number of the redeemed is made up. The judgments of God that will affect the atmosphere, land, and water (Revelation 6:12-16), can not be poured out upon the earth until the sealing work is finished.
Revelation 7:1. When God said, "After these things," He must have referred to the events of Revelation 6:12, 13, as the last verses of Revelation 6 follow the sealing work. The stars fell in 1833. The special work of restoring the seal of God -- the fourth commandment -- to its proper position in the law of God, could not come earlier than that date.
Revelation 11:18, 19. In the time of the judgment of the dead, the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark containing the law revealed. after the disappointment of 1844, the people of God saw the light on the subject of the sanctuary in heaven. Then they saw the claim binding on the fourth commandment as well as the nine other commands of the decalogue. The Sabbath reform commenced at that time; by 1848 it began to be recognized as the fulfillment of Revelation 7:1-4.
Revelation 7:2. Like the sunlight on the earth, -- first the faint light of dawn, then the gradual increase until the noonday rays are felt, -- this work began feeble with only a few, but it has spread until those who hallow the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord are found in every nation on earth. It is rapidly increasing, and every individual will have an opportunity to reject or accept.
Stephen N. Haskell, Bible Handbook (1919), The Hundred and Forty-Four Thousand, or the Sealed Ones, pages 80-90.
Revelation 7:4. There are 144,000 of the sealed ones. Many children of God are dying daily who have never had their attention called to this truth, and are saved among the innumerable company. Revelation 7:9.
Ezekiel 9:1-4. The seal is hear spoken of as a mark, which is the same as a sign.
Revelation 7:3. The seal is placed on the forehead, -- the mind, or seat of affections.
Ezekiel 9:4. Those who have a burden of soul for others and are grieved on account of sin, will receive the mark. Testimonies, Volume 7, page 144.
Ezekiel 34:5, 6. The name of God is His character. Those who are sealed will partake of His character.
2 Timothy 2:19. All who have the seal depart from iniquity.
Revelation 14:3-5. They are to stand without fault, are to have no guile. They will follow the Lamb wheresoever He goeth. Testimonies, Volume 5, pages 214, 216.
Ephesians 4:30; 1:13. The Holy Spirit places the seal.
Revelation 14:9-12. They refuse the mark of the beast and his image. Prophets and Kings, page 188.
Revelation 15:1-3. This company stands on Mount Zion triumphant over every foe. God, not man, does the numbering.
Numbers 3:39; 26:62; Matthew 14:21; 15:38; acts 19:7. The way God numbers.
Ezekiel 9:11, margin. When everyone who will accept the message is sealed, the angel reports that the work is finished.
Ezekiel 9:5-7. The judgments of God follow the sealing work.
Ezekiel 9:8,9. So many that had been counted with Israel were slain that it looked as if all the people of God would be destroyed.
Romans 9:6. all who make a profession are not really Israel.
Ezekiel 9:6. Old and young stand on their own individual records.
Ezekiel 14:20. No one will be shielded or saved because of father's or mother's righteousness. Only an individual experience in the things of God will save any one.
Questions on Doctrine (1957), page 25.
III. In a Few Areas of Christian Thought, Our Doctrines Are Distinctive With Us. We Believe --
4. That the seal of God and the mark of the beast, mentioned in Revelation, are symbols of the opposing forces of good and evil in the last great conflict before Christ comes the second time.
Bible Readings For The Home (1963), The Seal of God and the Mark of Apostasy, pages 427-428.
Significance of a Seal
What is the purpose of a sign, or seal?
"Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed." Daniel 6:8
Note. -- That is, affix the signature of royalty, that it may have the proper authority. Ancient kings used a seal ring, containing the name, initials, or monogram for this purpose. Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, "wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal." (1 Kings 21:8) Of a Persian decree it is said that "in the name of King ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring." (Esther 3:12)
What are the three essentials of an official seal?
The seal of a lawgiver must show three things: (1) his name; (2) his official position, title, or authority, and so his right to rule; and (3) the extent of his dominion and jurisdiction.
God's Seal
What was the prophet commanded to seal?
"Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples." Isaiah 8:16
Which commandment alone of the Decalogue reveals the name, authority, and dominion of the Author of this law?
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 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: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11
Note. -- In six days, (1) the Lord (name); (2) made (office, Creator); (3) heaven and earth (domain). This commandment alone, therefore contains "the seal of the Living God." This commandment shows God's authority to enact all the commandments, and shows all other gods to be false gods. The Sabbath commandment, therefore, contains the seal of God; and the Sabbath itself, which is enjoined by the commandment, is inseparably connected with this seal. It is to be kept in memory of God's creation of all things, and it is itself called a "sign" of the knowledge of this great truth. (Exodus 31:17; Ezekiel 20:20.)
Why is the Sabbath a sign between God and His people?
"It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." Exodus 31:17.
Note. -- The Sabbath is the sign, or mark, or seal, of the Creator.
In what two ways does God say the Sabbath is a sign?
1. "and hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Ezekiel 20:20
2. "Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." Exodus 31:13.
Note. -- The Sabbath is the sign of God's creative power, whether manifested in creation or redemption; for redemption is creation -- re-creation. It requires the same power to redeem that it does to create. "Create in me a clean heart." Psalm 51:10. "We are ... created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Ephesians 2:10. God designs that each Sabbath shall call Him to mind a the One who created us and whose grace and sanctifying power are working in us to fit us for His eternal kingdom.
Special Sealing Work Predicted
What special sealing work is to take place just before the letting loose of the winds of destruction upon the earth?
"And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, ... saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." Revelation 7:2, 3. (See Ezekiel 9:1-6.)
What is said of the character of the sealed ones?
"And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God." Revelation 14:5.
How is the remnant church described by the revelator?
"And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Revelation 12:17.
Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 6, page 833.
John 6:27 KJV.
"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed."
2 Corinthians 1:21, 22 KJV.
"Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."
21. He which stablisheth. It was God who had established both Paul and the Corinthians as Christians. Paul had been God's messenger to establish them. Could one who is fickle and changeable -- as they had charged Paul with being -- establish others? But no credit is due Paul, for it is God who has established both him and them.
Hath anointed. Gr. chriõ, the verb form of the word translated Christ (see on Matthew 1:1). In a sense, all Christians are anointed, or consecrated, to God, by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the time of conversion and baptism. Possibly Paul refers to his own special consecration to the gospel ministry, but the context of 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22 would appear to indicate that the general anointing of all true believers is intended. The unction of the Holy Spirit qualified and empowered those who, like Paul, had been anointed for the effective accomplishment of their work.
22. Sealed. Gr. sphragizõ, "to mark with a seal," "to seal," "to authenticate," "to confirm." A seal is used to attest the genuineness of the document to which it is affixed. The "seal" that god places upon men and women acknowledges them as His sons and daughters, as established in Christ and dedicated to His service (v. 21). See on Ezekiel 9:4; John 6:27; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30; Revelation 7:2, 3; 14:1.
Earnest. Gr. arrabõn, "earnest," "down payment" related to the Hebrew `erabon, "pledge," as in Genesis 38:17-20.
Ephesians 1:13, 14 KJV.
"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."
Ephesians 4:30 KJV.
"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."
Revelation 7:2-4 KJV.
"And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel."
Revelation 9:4 KJV.
"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."
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