p. 297 | THE MARK OF THE BEAST

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Tuesday, May 12, 1885

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 62, No. 19

THE MARK OF THE BEAST.

susceptible of the clearest proof that the claim of Sunday by the papal power into the position of the Sabbath in place of the day which God blessed in the beginning, constitutes what in the Scriptures is called the “mark” of that power. It is the point on which it first attempted to dictate laws to the Christian world. It is an institution for which it only acknowledges that there is no authority so far as God has made known his will in the Scriptures. It claims that their church has been clothed with power to make such changes—a claim which no Protestant will admit. They say that in this they are directed by the Holy Spirit; but the Lord says that the Spirit and the word agree; hence any change that is in religious institutions contrary to the word, is not from above but from beneath.

Papists claim further that the Sunday institution is the grand symbol of their power to legislate in spiritual things independently of the Scriptures, and the almost universal adoption of the institution at their hands is the tacit testimony of Christendom to the correctness of their claim. The Sunday Sabbath thus stands forth as the great monument of the presumptive character of the Romish church. It is a fitting “mark” of that power.

But as this has been the situation for centuries, the query very naturally arises whether all those who have ever kept the Sunday, or are keeping it now, have not had, or do not now have, the mark of the beast. The conclusion seems inevitable to some that they have; and our enemies try persistently to prejudice the public against our work by representing the position we teach. Let us therefore try to look at the matter with that fairness and regard for the naked truth which all will feel constrained to maintain at the Judgment seat of Christ.

If it should be admitted that in a certain abstract sense Sunday-keepers have the mark of the beast, that would not affect the question before us; for the prophecy does not deal with abstractions, but with great practical questions. The third message of Revelation 14, addressed, as all evidence shows, to the present generation, is sent to nations of Sunday-keepers, and warns them against a position not yet taken, a sin not yet committed. “If any man worship the beast or his image, or receive his mark,” etc. Therefore, notwithstanding they are keeping the Sunday already, the message warns them not to receive the mark of the beast. They are not, therefore, considered as having the mark when the message is addressed to them.

And it seems very reasonable that this should be so. Consider the circumstances. The prophet says of this apostate papal power that she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; that is, she has corrupted all nations by her false doctrines. Among the most notable of these false doctrines is the Sunday Sabbath. But men have lost sight of the origin of that institution. Renouncing the papacy, they have unconsciously brought away with them many of its unscriptural figments. They have even come to think that this matter of Sunday-keeping is enjoined in the Bible. They are thus led to misapprehend the meaning of the fourth commandment, and deviate from its requirements, while still recognizing its authority. They observe the first day of the week without any reference to the anti-Christian power which has tried to change the Sabbath to that day, without any thought of doing it homage. It is a sin of ignorance, and therefore not to be laid to their charge.

But this condition of things cannot continue to the end. No rag of papal error and superstition must be found clinging to the garments of that church which is to be translated. Their robes of truth must be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Hence a special message is sent forth, presenting to the world the real situation in reference to the Sunday question, restoring to its place the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and calling upon men, as they regard the authority of Jehovah, to renounce the false and return to the true. Meanwhile the enemy of all righteousness, intent on making his deceptions the most effectual at the last, is fostering influences and directing movements so as to bring everywhere the strong arm of the civil power to compel men to bow to the usurpation.

When this issue is reached the question will at once assume a very different aspect. Then a crisis will be presented. Then men will show their position by the choice they make. Paul says that we are servants to him to whom we yield ourselves to obey. Rom. 6:16. There must be an intelligent and voluntary yielding to the requirements of some power for the very purpose of acknowledging its authority.

And until a person is brought to this issue in his Sunday observance, it is impossible to determine by his course of action what power he intends to honor; and until he does keep the day for the purpose of showing whose authority he does acknowledge, it cannot be, in his case, a “mark” of anything. When, however, he does keep the day for the purpose of showing that in this matter he yields to the demands of the papal power, then it becomes in his case a mark of that power; for he then, and thereby, shows himself to be a follower of that power, but not before. Even if a person with all the facts before him should step forth and say, I know God demands the observance of the seventh day; I know that the Roman church has substituted in its place the first day of the week; but I reject the authority of Jehovah and bow to that of the pope, and I therefore keep this day to show this—would that person even then have the mark of the beast? That would depend on his answer to certain questions to the following intent: “Is there any issue pressed upon you in this matter by any earthly power?”—“No.” “Are there any pains and penalties you now subject yourself to by refusing to keep Sunday?”—“No.” “Has any power said to you, If you will keep this day you will show that you yield to my authority, and will thereby escape the penalty threatened against all those who do not comply?”—“No.” “Then how are you ‘marked’ by keeping the day? We have, to be sure, your words in the matter; but they are as yet only so much empty air; for the circumstances do not yet exist to which they can apply. One might as well in the days of Julius Cæsar have set up to be a Guelph or Ghibelline.”

When, then, will a person receive the mark of the beast? Answer: When, with the clear truth and the claims of God before him, and the question brought to an issue under the enactment of civil penalties, he deliberately decides against the divine in favor of the human, and regulates his practice accordingly to avoid the penalty, then such a practice will become to him a “mark” in the sense of the prophecy; for in the eyes of the law it will distinguish him as occupying a position in accordance with its claims.

The mark of the beast, in the prophecy of Revelation, is set over against the seal of the living God—the true Sabbath with which the saints of God are to be sealed. But when a person receives the seal of God, his destiny is decided for everlasting life. Just so we understand when a person receives the mark of the beast in the prophetic issue of Rev. 13 and 14, his destiny is also decided and his portion appointed among the reprobate.

The same reasoning will apply, we apprehend, largely, if not to the same extent, to the communicants of the Romish church itself. They, of course, understand better than Protestants, the foundation on which the institution rests. But they have been persuaded that the Church has rightfully made the change it has. But when the light of truth and the claims of God are brought to bear upon them, they also can show themselves choosers between the authority of God and that of the pope, and choosing the wrong side, receive the mark the same as other classes will be caused to receive it.