Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Seal of God.

"The Sabbath reform-the sealing work of Rev. 7:1-4-arose as the sun. For some years there were only a few that kept the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; but as individuals here and there, in all parts of the world, found that the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation teaches that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and that Christ 43 and the apostles 44 kept it, they accepted it; 45 and today in every division of the earth there are those who honor God as the Creator, by keeping holy the day which He sanctified and blessed as a memorial of His creative work. {1914 SNH, CIS 364.2}
In the Christian church there is neither Jew nor Gentile; all are one in Christ Jesus. 46 We are all grafted into the family of Abraham. 47 The one hundred and forty-four thousand are not necessarily literal descendants of the Jews, 48 but they are those who have received the seal of the living God in their foreheads, whose lives are in harmony with the holy precepts of Jehovah. {1914 SNH, CIS 364.3}
In Rev. 14: 9-14 we are told of a power that is opposed to God's law, and that has a mark which it will try to enforce upon the people by means of the civil power. 49 Since the Sabbath of
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the Lord is given by Jehovah as a sign of His power and His right to rule, the counterfeit sabbath, or Sunday, the first day of the week, will be the mark of the opposing power. God's law commands all to keep holy the seventh day of the week, God's memorial of creation; but the laws of the land will command all to rest upon Sunday, the first day of the week. 50 {1914 SNH, CIS 364.4}
When this test comes, each person will have to decide for himself. Many, like Peter and John, when they faced the magistrates and imprisonment, will say, "We ought to obey God rather than men." 51 {1914 SNH, CIS 365.1}
This conflict will continue, says John, until the dragon, Satan, will become so angry with the church that he will "make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." 52 {1914 SNH, CIS 365.2}
Out of this conflict the one hundred and forty-four thousand
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will be gathered. Their experience will be similar to that of the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. Pharaoh would not allow them to rest on the Sabbath. He called the instruction of Moses and Aaron "vain words;" 53 or as Dr. Adam Clarke expresses it, Pharaoh said, "Let religion alone, and mind your work." On "the same day" 54 that Pharaoh complained because Moses and Aaron were instructing the people to rest, the king gave the command, "Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick," and the burdens of the children of Israel were greatly increased. 56 Satan was determined that the Israelites should not honor the Sabbath of the Lord; but God delivered His people and destroyed Pharaoh and all his host. {1914 SNH, CIS 365.3}
On earth the distinguishing mark of the one hundred and forty-four thousand is the seal of God in their foreheads; in heaven it will be the wonderful song which they will sing: "They sung as it were a new song before the throne: . . . and no man could learn that song but the one hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." 57 "They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb." 58 It is a song of experience-wonderful melody! Not even the angel choir can join in those marvelous strains as they echo through the arches of heaven. Even Abraham, the friend of God, with all his faith, cannot join in that song. What a chorus that will be! one hundred and forty-four thousand voices all in perfect accord, singing the "song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb." {1914 SNH, CIS 366.1}
As the twelve tribes, after crossing the Red Sea, all united in the song of triumph, so the last representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel on earth, as they stand a mighty phalanx on the sea of glass before the throne of God in heaven, will sing the song of Moses and the Lamb." {1914 SNH, CIS 366.2} Steven Haskell

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