Worship in the Apocalypse
Part one - Revelation and the Everlasting Gospel, Part two - Babylon is Fallen?
9 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”
I strongly encourage you to listen to the audio above or the video here.
I will not write out the whole message but rather provide you with an outline of the core of the message. For more details you will have to listen to the audio.
This message is a warning for anyone who worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand.
So even if you don’t relieve believe the beast but you just behave like you do, you too will receive the curses mentioned in the message of the third angel.
Forehead and Hand
Speaking of signs in the forehead and hand, this is not the first time this is mentioned. Actually the language in Revelation 14:9 reminds me of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 where God tells His people about His laws and His will for their lives.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
- Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NKJV
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” v4
Love is at the core of the commandment.
Love of God and obedience to His will = a sign (a headband)
Love for God should shape your actions = hand
Love for God should shape your thoughts = forehead (headband)
Revelation mentions a seal for God’s people in Revelation 7.
After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 Then 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 granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
- Revelation 7:1-3 NKJV
God holds back the final troubles until his saints are sealed.
So you need to make your decision before things get terrible, you should not delay making your decision to follow God.
If God’s people must be sealed before the winds of strife and destruction are allowed to blow, then God must be aware of His saints and provide for them during that time of trouble or tribulation.
Look at verse 14
And I said to him, “Sir, you know.”
So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
- Revelation 7:14 NKJV
Seal
Speaking of seals, an official seal has a couple of necessary features. Let us look at the seal of the president of the United States as an example.
The title, in this case - President
The territory, in this case - The United States of America
Sabbath
Let’s take a look at the Sabbath for a moment.
We first discover it in the second chapter of the first book of the Bible.
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
-Genesis 2:1-3 NKJV
The Sabbath is the culmination of God’s creation. It reveals God’s desire to spend time with us and develop a personal relationship with us.
It is interesting to see how the Sabbath also meets the criteria to be the Seal of God.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
- Exodus 20:8-11 NKJV (bold mine)
In Exodus 20 tells us the title. The Sabbath of the LORD your God (v.10)
Verse 11 of the same chapter reveals God’s territory. “Made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them.”
Exodus and Ezekiel also specifically mention the Sabbath as a sign between God and His people.
12 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 13 “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
- Exodus 31:12-13 NKJV (bold mine)11 And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them.’ 12 Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
16 because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
- Ezekiel 20:11-12, 16 NKJV (bold mine)
Think about it, most world religions have commandments that are very similar to the other 9 commandments. What makes the 10 commandments so unique is not only the commands it leaves out but especially the inclusion of the Sabbath. It is where our love for God and for our neighbor meet. It affects directly our relationship with God and with one another.
All the other ones affect those relationships indirectly.
Ezekiel 20:16 specifically associates turning away form the Sabbath with turning to idols (other gods).
The Sabbath reminds us that we have a creator, a provider, and a redeemer. It identifies God is the true God, the creator God worthy to be worshiped.
Back to Revelation
In a proper study of Revelation, we would have already covered chapters 12-13 which set up the need for chapter 14. Revelation 12-13 is all about the powers that oppose God’s people.
Revelation 14 finally reveals what God’s people are up to and what will happen to those who are persecuting them.
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
- Revelation 13:11-17 NKJV
Here we see clearly that the mark of the beast on the right hand or on the forehead has to do with worship. At this point, no one has received the mark of the beast because there currently isn’t a religious power wielding the power of the state against those who worship God. But we can see that the mark will have to do with worship, the worship of a power that is not God but demands to be worshiped as God. We avoid the mark of the beast by being faithful to God’s revealed word as we have in the Bible.
God’s People
I would like to close with two descriptions of God’s people found in the book of Revelation.
I believe this description represents God’s people throughout history.
From Enoch to Noah, to Job, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, David, Peter, Paul, and so on throughout all the ages down to the last days until Jesus comes again.
12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
- Revelation 14:12 NKJV
The way to make sure you will not receive the mark of the beast is to keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
- Revelation 12:17 NKJV
What enables us to overcome extreme circumstances is God, just like God provided for Jesus.
Another similar description is found in Revelation 12:17.
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
- Revelation 12:17 NKJV
We must have the faith that Jesus had to trust the Father and to submit to His will. God’s people will also have the testimony of Jesus, described in Revelation 19:10 to be the spirit of Prophecy. Prophecy rightly understood testifies of Jesus, points to Jesus, reveals Jesus. and never contradicts or changes what Jesus taught.
The Bible must remain united as a whole and God’s people understand that.
We love God and follow His commandments, following Jesus’ example, washed by His blood and empowered by Him.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
-Galatians 2:20 NKJV
