Moses and the Mark of
the Beast
Lesson 50
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God is about to send a
series of devastating judgments on
the Earth (the seven trumpets of
Revelation) and during these
judgments, through His 144,000
servants; He will announce His will
to Earth’s inhabitants.
Revelation predicts that most men and
women will respond like Pharaoh:
“I do not know the Lord and I
will not obey….” When Moses
saw the elders being beaten because
they could not meet the quota of
bricks, “Moses returned to the
Lord and said, ‘O Lord, why have
you brought trouble upon this people?
Is this why you sent me? Ever since I
went to Pharaoh to speak in your
name, he has brought trouble upon
this people, and you have not rescued
your people at all.’”
(Exodus 5:22,23, italics mine) Moses
had presented God’s demands
before Pharaoh just as God required.
Imagine how Moses must have felt when
he saw the painful beatings. No
wonder Moses cried unto the Lord,
“You have not helped your
people! You are killing them
with the rod of Pharaoh!” If
Moses had understood that this was
exactly the situation the Lord
wanted. “Then the Lord said to
Moses, ‘Now you will see what I
do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty
hand he will let them go; because of
my mighty hand he will drive them out
of his country.’” (Exodus
6:1) God’s purposes and actions
are always manifold. In a spiritual
sense, this means that God
“kills several birds with one
stone.” His ways are always
higher and grander than our earthy
solutions. “As the heavens are
higher than the Earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts.” (Isaiah
55:9) God is Master Designer and
Moses’ story has many lessons
and parallels for you and me.
Summary Parallels
- The
sovereignty of God is a truth
and man’s awareness of
this fact is ever
evaporating. Lessons learned
yesterday are forgotten
tomorrow. Unless we are
careful, we can minimize
God’s power and like
young Moses and Abraham, take
matters into our own hands
and dishonor Him. The problem
with fallen humanity is that
we are always trying to
assume the prerogatives of
God. To compensate for this
sinister process, from time
to time, God creates
real-life dramas with
real-life players to remind
every person of His
sovereignty. Remember King
Nebuchadnezzar vainly thought
he was Sovereign over Earth?
After living like an animal
for seven years, he finally
conceded that God was
Sovereign. Pharaoh, on the
other hand, refused to
concede that God was
Sovereign, even after God
horribly decimated Egypt with
ten plagues! Pharaoh went to
his death (in the middle of
the Red Sea) because of his
defiant stubbornness.
Pharaoh’s experience
proves that rebellion can be
so complete within a
person’s heart that he
or she will never submit to
God. The truth remains,
however, that no sooner is
the knowledge of God’s
authority established on
Earth that it begins to
evaporate again. When God
created the seventh day, He
had His reasons for doing so.
God imposed His Sabbath rest
test on the Hebrews to show
His Sovereign power to the
Hebrews and the Egyptians. It
is a mystery that so many
people so not want to rest on
God’s Sabbath. People
offer a dozen reasons why we
should not observe God’s
Sabbath, but what are excuses
to God? When God demanded
that His Sabbaths be observed
as a precondition for
deliverance, the Hebrews
initially complied. When
Pharaoh learned that the
Israelites threatened his
sovereignty, he implemented
pain and torture. The slaves
were trapped between two
great powers and the penalty
for defying either was great!
During the Great
Tribulation, God will present His
Sabbath rest to the people of Earth
with the force of law. God’s
servants, the 144,000, will explain
how God’s seventh day Sabbath is
not a suggestion, nor an option
– it is the fourth commandment
of God’s law. Like Pharaoh, the
world does not currently submit to
god’s law or honor God’s
day of rest. During the Great
tribulation, a great conflict will
erupt over the issue of worship.
Bible prophecies reveal how this
conflict will occur: God will
initiate the Great Tribulation with a
series of destructive judgments.
Because these coming judgments will
be overwhelming and catastrophic
(killing more than 1.5 billion people
in a short time), the survivors on
Earth will suddenly wake up to the
reality that there is a living God
and He is angry with man’s
behavior. To appease God so that His
judgments will cease, the religious
and political leaders of the world
will unite and impose sinless laws
upon mankind. Eventually, these laws
will include laws mandating
that God be worshiped, but these laws
will directly oppose God’s law.
This contest that God has ordained
will cause the people of Earth (like
the Hebrews of old) to be caught
between two powerful forces. If
people obey the laws of men, they
will receive the seven bowls of
God’s wrath. (Revelation 16) If
people obey God’s law and honor
His seventh day Sabbath, the
governments of the world will
persecute, imprison or execute them
for rebellion. This is the coming
contest, and the story of Moses
offers an end time parallel for
God’s people so that our faith
in God is strengthened for this
eventuality.
- Remember that
God demanded the Hebrews to
observe His Sabbath as a
precondition for deliverance.
God sent this demand through
Moses because He wanted to
(a) demonstrate man’s
rebellion by confronting
Pharaoh, the most powerful
man on Earth at the time, (b)
teach the Hebrews their first
lesson in faith, the
importance of trusting in
God’s leading at any
cost or suffering, and (c)
use Israel and their
deliverance as an object
lesson for generations to
come. Unfortunately,
Pharaoh’s persecution
destroyed the faith of most
Hebrews. They lost confidence
in Moses and in God. So, God
sent them a message of hope:
“Therefore [Moses], say
to the Israelites: ‘I am
the Lord, and I will bring
you out from under the yoke
of the Egyptians. I will free
you from being slaves to
them, and I will redeem you
with an outstretched arm and
with mighty acts of judgment.
I will take you as my own
people, and I will be your
God. Then you will know that
I am the Lord your god, who
brought you out from under
the yoke pf the Egyptians.
And I will bring you to the
land I swore with uplifted
hand to give to Abraham, to
Isaac and to Jacob. I will
give it to you as a
possession. I am the
Lord.’ Moses reported
this to the Israelites, but
they did not listen to him
because of their
discouragement and cruel
bondage.” (Exodus 6:6-9,
italics mine) Did you notice
the last sentence? The
Hebrews murmured against
Almighty God, gave Moses a
good cussing and refused to
go along with God’s
plans. If the Hebrews could
have known all that we know
now, they would have rejoiced
at God’s words! However,
no murmuring, faithlessness,
discouragement, and
bitterness can shut out
God’s promises and
purposes. This is an end time
parallel here. God placed the
Hebrews in a tough situation
to test their faith and He
showed them they had no
faith. Unfortunately, they
did not catch the vision and
they gave up! Most of the
Hebrews went back to work on
Sabbath because they lacked
faith in God. Do not forget,
these same people died in the
wilderness because they never
overcame their lack of faith.
The end time parallel here is
so powerful. Believers in
Christ are now the Hebrews.
We are the children of God!
During the Great Tribulation,
God will once again set His
Sabbath rest up in direct
opposition to man’s
laws. Everyone who wants to
be delivered from the bondage
of sin must submit to god as
a precondition to being set
free! This will cause our
faith to be severely tested.
Salvation comes through faith
and god will test our faith
to see where each of us will
stand! When people
deliberately and
intentionally choose to
suffer because of their faith
in god, He makes their faith
pure, like gold. This
refining process produces the
type of people who will
inherit the Earth made new!
God says, “This third
[the remnant] I will bring
into the fire; I will refine
them like silver and test
them like gold. They will
call on my name and I will
answer them; I will say,
‘They are my
people,’ and they will
say, ‘ This Lord is our
God.’” (Zechariah
13:9, insertion mine)
- This study of
Moses and the Exodus gives us
one final unexpected
parallel. For thousands of
years, slaves have been
marked with tattoos or
hot-iron brands. (For a
picture of a hot iron used
for branding slaves during
the era of African slave
trading, see National
Geographic, September
1992, page 72) A person
cannot remove or lose a brand
or tattoo. It is not
transferable. Evan as late as
World War II, Hitter tattooed
millions of prisoners in his
concentration camps. The
reason for marking slaves is
simple. The owner/slave
relationship is permanent.
Children born of slaves are
also slaves. Normally, a
slave is never freed because
ownership never ends. This is
the ugly power of slavery
(sin). I believe that Pharaoh
adult slaves were marked with
tattoos or brands. This mark
prevented any possibility of
escape from Egypt, for no one
would dare purchase property
belonging to the Egyptian
Pharaoh. Did God forbid the
Hebrews from wearing tattoos
because they were no longer
slaves? He said, “Do not
cut your bodies for the dead
or put tattoo marks on
yourselves. I am the
Lord.” (Leviticus 19:28)
Perhaps the reason behind
this command is that
Gods’ people are never
slaves, because they are
always free to exercise the
power of choice. God did not
want His people to deface
their bodies with markings
associated with slavery. The
Lord said, “…I am
the Lord, and I will bring
you out from under the yoke
of the Egyptians. I will free
you from being slaves to
them, and I will redeem you
with an outstretched arm and
with mighty acts of judgment.
I will take you as my own
people, and I will be your
God. Then you will know that
I am the Lord your God, who
brought you out from under
the yoke of the Egyptians.
(Exodus 6:6,7
When Pharaoh’s
firstborn was killed during the
Passover night, he finally came to
the point of temporary submission. He
allowed Moses and the children Of
Israel to leave Egypt at sunrise. To
commemorate this marvelous
deliverance, god instituted an annual
memorial of this event. He told the
Israelites, “This observance
[the observance of Passover] will be
for you like a sign on your hand and
a reminder on your forehead that the
law of the Lord is to be on your
lips. For the Lord brought you out of
Egypt with his mighty hand.”
(Exodus 13:9, insertion mine) Another
interesting parallel is that
observing Passover (the day their
freedom began) was like a sign
on the hand or forehead. This
statement may reflect the fact that
Pharaoh’s slaves wore a sign (a
tattoo or branding) on their hand or
their foreheads indicating their
status. I believe a Hebrew foreman
probably wore the mark on his forehead,
while the rank and file slave
wore their status on their hands. The
parallel is that the mark of the
beast will be a tattoo or a branding
that will be worn on the right hand
or on the forehead! “He [the
Antichrist, the lamblike beast] also
forced everyone, small and great,
rich and poor, free and slave, to
receive a mark on his right hand or
on his forehead, so that no one could
buy or sell unless he had the mark,
which is the name of the [Antichrist,
the lamb-like] beast or the number of
his name.” (Revelation 13:16,17,
insertions mine)
When the devil
radiantly appears on Earth (fifth
trumpet), he will masquerade as God.
He will establish a new world order
and install himself as king of kings
and lord of lords. Only those people
who unite with his government can
conduct commerce, survival buying and
selling. (Revelation 13:17) Anyone
who refuses to unite with the
devil’s one-world government
will be killed. The permit to conduct
business will be a physical mark on
the hand or forehead. The mark will
be a tattoo or hot-iron brand. This
mark will not be transferable, so it
cannot be stolen or lost. This
“proof of membership” in
the new world order requires no
electricity or computers. This form
of identification will work in any
village on this planet. Satan’s
foreman will wear the name
that the Antichrist will assume on
their foreheads, and the rank and
file members will wear the evil
number, 666, on their right hand. To
survive, people will submit to the
devil’s demands rather than
submit to the authority of God!
When Jesus comes in
clouds of glory, two groups of people
will be on Earth: People who chose to
receive the mark of the beast and
people who are free of Satan’s
bondage. When Israel finally entered
the Promised Land after 40 years of
wandering in the wilderness, the new
generation did not bear the marks of
slavery on their bodies. They were
totally free! On the other hand, the
same adults whom God miraculously
delivered from Egypt died in the
wilderness. Even though they were
freed of Pharaoh’s slavery by
God’s mighty power, they never
did escape the bondage of their
carnal rebellion against God. This is
a profound lesson from Moses’
story: Our escape from the bondage of
sin is only possible through a
patient faith that produces total
submission to God’s demands.
Quiz:
1.
After reading this study on Moses and
the Mark of the Beast, what do you
think about slavery?
2.
What is a patient faith in God?
3.
What is the difference between a
leader and a servant leader?
4.
What does it mean, “timing is
everything with God?”
5.
Do you now understand what it
means to be in complete submission to
God?
6.
What does it mean that the wicked at
the end time will have the mind set
of the Sodomites of old and Egypt?
7.
What mark are you going to
permit to be put on your body at the
end time?
Notes:
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