 |
Worship The Beast or Die
Study 6
page 1 of 2
l page 1 l page 2 l
A Time of Testing
Someone has said that
truth can be stranger than fiction. If this is
true, then there is a truth that could be
stranger than fiction: The Bible predicts the
final generation will face a life and death
controversy over the question of worship.
Many people think worship means going to
church, but worship involves far more than
going to a worship service. Worship means
submission and obedience to God as in
fulfilling a divine obligation or duty out of
love for God. A terrible controversy over worship
will occur during the Great Tribulation because
salvation will come through the worship of Jesus
Christ (John 5:23,24) and condemnation will come
through the worship of the Antichrist.
(Revelation 14: 9,10)
When Abel sacrificed the required
lamb, he worshiped God. When Cain offered
fruit to God, he did not worship God he
offended God because he did not do what God
commanded. Often, worship is considered a causal
matter. When and how (or if) an individual
worships is a personal matter for the most part.
Worship is sometimes described as a celebration
service or meditation. Worship is regarded as an
expression of devotion to God and each religious
body is free to worship according to what it
believes is Gods will. When the Great
Tribulation begins, the topic of worship will
suddenly change from that of personal taste to
that of corporate responsibility. Suddenly, the
issue of how God is to be worshiped will be
debated because people will assume that they can
appease Gods wrath by worshiping Him
properly. According to Revelation, the people of
Earth will become sharply divided over the
worship of God during the Great Tribulation.
Ultimately, there will be two camps of
worshipers, one will worship the Lamb (the sheep)
and the other will worship the lamb-like beast
(the goats.)
The Bible predicts the
first four trumpet judgments of God will kill 25%
of the worlds population. (Revelation 6:8)
As a result, despair, anxiety and depression will
be pandemic. In this awful and desperate setting,
consider the simplicity of these words:
All inhabitants of the Earth will worship
the beast [Babylon] all whose names have
not been written in the book of life belonging to
the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the
world. (Revelation 13:8, insertion
mine) The words all inhabitants of the
Earth are inclusive. The only people who
refuse to worship the beast will be the saints.
It is hard to believe that millions of people
will rebel against God and submit to the
authority of Babylon, but it is true. When the
devil appears on Earth, he will consolidate the
diversity of Babylons religions into a
one-world church/state. At that time, wicked
people rebelling against both God and the devil
will have no choice but to worship the devil or
die. Notice the horrible consequences that will
befall the people who worship the devil:
If anyone worships the [lamb-like]
beast and his image and receives his mark on the
forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of
the wine of Gods fury, which has been
poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.
He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the
presence of the holy angels and of the
Lamb. (Revelation 14:9,10, insertion
mine) This verse contains one of the most solemn
warnings found in the entire Bible. God means
what He says and we can be sure that death by
burning sulfur will not be a pleasant experience.
The other side of the
controversy will have deadly consequences also.
Many saints will be tortured and killed by the
devils forces for refusing to worship the
beast!
He [the lamb-like
beast] ordered them to set up an image in
honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword
and yet lived. He was given power to give breath
to the image of the first beast, so that it could
speak and cause all who refused to worship the
image to be killed. (Revelation
13:14,15, insertion mine)
Revelation says a huge
number of saints will be killed during the Great
Tribulation. When he [the Lamb]
opened the fifth seal, I saw under the alter the
souls of those who had been slain because of the
word of God and the testimony they had
maintained. They called out in a loud voice,
How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true,
until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and
avenge our blood? (Revelation
6:9,10) When the devil gains control of Earth, he
will not tolerate rebellion against his
authority. The devil will be more cruel and
ruthless than Hitler. Millions will be martyred.
John writes, This calls for patient
endurance on the part of the saints who obey
Gods commandments and remain faithful to
Jesus. (Revelation 14: 12) God
will give a martyrs faith to everyone
facing a martyrs death. Jesus said,
And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of
the age. (Matthew 28:20) All
this I have told you that you will not go astray.
They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact,
a time is coming when anyone who kills you will
think he is offering a service to God. They
do such things because they have not known the
Father or me. (John 16:1-3)
While we are considering
the coming martyrdom of saints, consider
Gods wrath upon those who kill His saints: The
third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and
the springs of water, and they became blood. Then
I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
You are just in these judgments, you who
are and who were, the Holy One, because you have
so judged; for they shed the blood of your saints
and prophets, and you have given them blood to
drink as they deserve. (Revelation
16:4-6) This verse describes the third bowl that
occurs during the seven last plagues (Gods
destructive wrath). God pours the third bowl of
His wrath full strength upon those
people who participated in killing His saints
during the Great Tribulation. God avenges the
innocent blood of His saints by giving these
bloodthirsty people blood to drink. These evil
people will suffer horribly for their crimes
against humanity. In addition to this horrible
suffering, their lives will be sustained so that
they might perish in burning sulfur. The wrath of
God is far worse than anything man can do. Jesus
warned, But I will show you whom you
should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of
the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes,
I tell you, fear him. (Like 12:5)
Powerful Irony
When Gods judgments
begin, Gods servants, the 144,000, will
tell a dazed and reeling world that God is angry
because there is no respect for His laws or His
authority. They will remind everyone that
Gods Ten Commandments are ten demands the
Creator imposes on all creation. Specifically,
the fourth commandment requires the cessation of
work on Gods seventh day Sabbath.
Ironically, the leaders of the religious
coalition will say the same thing! The problem
will be that Babylons Sabbath and
Gods Sabbath will be on two different days!
This disparity will make the issue of
worship very interesting. The
religious leaders of Babylon will say with a
united voice that God has sent judgments upon
mankind because Earths inhabitants have
sinned greatly and have become degenerate. They
will call for immediate action to appease God.
The religious leaders of Babylon will sincerely
demand laws from their legislators requiring
everyone to honor and worship the God of Heaven.
Hindu and Buddhist leaders will solve the worship
problem by imposing their views upon their
nations. Jewish rabbis, Catholic priests and
Protestant clergy will all do the same.
A Holy Day Mystery
God has clearly expressed
in the Bible how His subjects are to worship Him.
This is not a matter left to human design, for if
it was, humans would have greater authority than
God. The one dictating the time and manner of
worship has highest authority. Unfortunately,
the devil has obscured Gods truth about
worship and implemented false religion around the
world. During the end time, Babylon will face a
peculiar problem. Each religious system in
Babylon will demand that God be worshiped in a
variety of ways. For example, Moslems, regard
Friday as a holy day, Jews regard Saturday as a
holy day and Christians regard Sunday as a holy
day! Therefore, each religion will ask its
lawmakers to enact laws exalting their day of
worship. The Bible says that when people obey the
laws of Babylon, they will be worshiping the
devil because the devil is the power within
Babylon. Men worshiped the dragon [devil]
because he had given authority to the beast
[Babylon], and they also worshiped the beast [Babylon]
and asked, Who is like the beast [Babylon]?
Who can make war [rebel] against
him? (Revelation 13:4)
The story of Cain and
Abel is recorded in the Bible because it
illustrates the primary difference between true
worship and false worship. Both men built altars.
Abel worshiped God by obediently sacrificing a
lamb according to Gods instructions. Cain
refused to obey God. Instead, he chose to do what
he thought was best. In effect, Cain presumed to
tell his Creator how He would be worshiped. By
doing this, Cain insulted God and God rejected
Cains offering. (Genesis 4: 1-6)
Cains rebellious
heart led to Cains rejection. Because of
rejection, Cain became violently angry and killed
his brother. John warns, Do not be like
Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered
his brother. And why did he murder him? Because
his own actions were evil and his brothers
were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers,
if the world hates you. (1 John 3:
12,13) John says Cains act of
worship was evil! In fact, God considered
it a blasphemous act because Cain assumed the
prerogatives that only belong to God. Cain
thought he could tell God how or when He should
be worshiped! Look at this from Gods
perspective for a moment. If a created being can
tell his Creator how or when He is to be
worshiped, then the created being is greater than
his Creator. Remember, the one dictating the
time and manner of worship has highest authority.
The crux of the matter is this: God accepts our
worship if we worship Him in Spirit and in truth;
that is, if we honestly worship God according to
all we know to be right and true. At the present
time, many people worship God thinking they are
doing the right thing, when in reality they are
not worshiping God as He commands. God kindly
winks at our ignorance. However, during the Great
Tribulation, God has determined that the whole
world must be informed about worship. This is why
worship will become the central issue during the
Great Tribulation. The 144,000 will preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred
and tongue as a testimony to all nations.
(Matthew 24:14) and the gospel of Jesus Christ
contains specific information about the worship
of Jesus. The 144,000 will proclaim
Fear
God and give him glory, because the hour of his
judgment has come, Worship him who made the
Heavens, the Earth, the sea and the springs of
water. (Revelation 14:7) The 144,000
will present the first message that will be
fear God and worship the
Creator because the vast majority of the
worlds population does neither. God
understands Earths spiritual darkness and
He has winked at our ignorance for a ling time,
but overnight, He will remove the darkness that
covers the subject of worship by display of
awesome power, He will have everyones
attention. Then, He will send His servants
throughout the world and with Holy Spirit power;
they will expel the darkness that Satan has
placed around the subject of worshiping God on
His holy Sabbath, the seventh day of the week.
The honest in heart within every religion will
hear the call to worship Jesus and they will
receive Christ as their Savior and worship Jesus
according to our Creators demands.
Worship the Creator
This may come as a
surprise, but 95% of the references about God in
the Bible refer to Jesus. The Father rarely
speaks in the Bible. Jesus is the God of the Old
Testament and He is the God of the New Testament.
(Isaiah 45; John 5:39,40; 8:58) Jesus is the
Creator of Heaven and Earth. (John 1:1-14;
Colossians 1:16-19; Hebrews 1:1-3) These facts
are presented because Jesus is not a lesser God
than the Father as many suppose. (John 5:23;
Colossians 2:9) Jesus is fully God and He did not
leave worship to human design. Jesus clearly
explains in the Ten Commandments how He is to be
worshiped. Carefully review His first four
commands. They are found in Exodus 20: 3-11)
Commandment 1. You shall not have no gods
before me.
Commandment 2.
You shall not make for yourself an idol in
the form of anything in heaven above or on Earth
beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow
down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord
your God, am a jealous God, punishing the
children for the sin of the fathers to the third
and fourth generation of those who hate me, but
showing love to thousands who love me and keep my
commandments.
Commandment 3. You shall not misuse the
name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not
hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
Commandment 4. Remember the Sabbath day by
keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do
all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath
to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any
work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor
your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals,
nor the alien within your gates. For in six days
the Lord made the heavens and the Earth, the sea,
and all that is in them, but he rested on the
seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day and made it holy.
These four commandments
outline the basics of worship. They explain the
reverence and respect due our Creator. We are not
to obey and reverence any other God. We are not
to create an idol and bow down before it. We are
not to use or represent the name of God in a
careless way. In addition, we are to observe the
seventh day of the week as a memorial to our
Creator and our Redeemer by resting from our
labors on Saturday, just as He rested from His.
Confrontational Issue
When confronted with the
demands of the fourth commandment, most
Christians argue that the seventh day Sabbath was
abolished or nailed to the cross. The implication
is that when Jesus came to Earth, He did away
with the Ten Commandments, including the
Sabbath of the Jews. The Bible
disagrees. The fourth commandment does not grant
ownership of the Sabbath to the Jews. Rather, it
says, The seventh day is a Sabbath to
the Lord your God. The Bible indicates
the seventh day was made holy long before there
was any Jew on earth! In fact, the seventh day
Sabbath was created and set apart as a special
day at Creation. When properly understood, the
beauty of Gods Sabbath shines from
Creations week revealing a special gift
that Jesus gave to mankind. Think of it
Gods Sabbath was the first full day of life
for Adam and Eve! Jesus created the Sabbath, He
made it holy at Creation and He gave it to man: Thus
the heavens and the earth were completed in all
their vast array. By the seventh day God had
finished the work he had been doing; so on the
seventh day he rested from all his work. And God
blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because
on it he rested from all the work of creating
that he had done. (Genesis 2:1-3) Four
thousand years later Jesus said,
The
Sabbath was made for man, not man for the
Sabbath, so the Son of Man is Lord even of the
Sabbath. (Mark 2:27,28)
If the topic of the
seventh day Sabbath is a controversial subject in
the best of times, what will it be during the
worst of times? Gods seventh day Sabbath
will prove to be highly controversial during the
Great Tribulation for three reasons: First, our
carnal nature is inherently opposed to obeying
Gods law: The sinful mind is
hostile to God. It does not submit to gods
law, nor can it do so. (Romans 8:7)
Second, few people have enough time to get
everything done that needs to be done throughout
the week. Asking most people to give
up 24 hours each week to worship God seems
to be asking too much. Last, Gods Sabbath
has a very determined adversary. The devil has
made sure that Saturday observance puts a person
at odds with the social and religious orders of
life. The observance of Sabbath interrupts every
aspect of life. This is why God created the
Sabbath in the first place. Jesus wanted to
interrupt mans relentless pursuit for money
and pleasure every week with a whole day of rest.
Because Jesus knew that mankind would stray from
His Sabbath, God bound the observance of His
Sabbath upon mankind with the authority of law.
When these factors are added together, it is easy
to see why most of the world prefers to worship
God according to their own ideas. They believe
that Jesus wants too much.
The Ten Commandments are
divided into two groups, and therefore, they were
written on two tablets of stone. (Exodus 34:29)
The first four commandments deal with mans
relationship to God, and the last six deal with
mans relationship to his neighbor.
Actually, the Ten Commandments summarize the two
essential laws of life. Jesus summarized them
saying,
Love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind. This is the first
and greatest commandment. And the second is like
it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments. (Matthew 22:37-40; Jesus
quotes from Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18.)
Love and faith are the
foundation of salvation. Love makes submission a
joy, and faith (believing Gods Word) is the
basis for obedience. The two love
commandments that Jesus mentioned are defined by
the Ten Commandments. The meaning of love is
not left to human definition. Unfortunately,
the word love today, commonly means
sex, lust or passion. What a perversion!
According to Jesus, true love is a high and holy
principle that produces joyful obedience!
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he
is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be
loved by my Father, and I too will love him and
show myself to him
.If anyone loves me, he
will obey my teachings
.He who does not love
me will not obey my teaching
.
(John 14:21-24)
As we would expect, Satan
has effectively led the human race to diminish
the importance of the Ten Commandments. The devil
has especially tried to hide the requirement of
the fourth commandment which contains instruction
on how to worship an when to
worship our Creator. Satans purpose for
doing this is simple. Bible history confirms that
when people ignore the Sabbath of their Creator,
they also forget their Creator. When people
forget their creator, they soon create false gods
that are compatible with the carnal nature
because mankind inherently needs something to
exalt and worship. God created this desire within
us. Satan has enjoyed enormous success displacing
our Creator with false gods. Many people have no
idea that god demands rest on the seventh day of
the week. God has winked at mans ignorance
and darkness on this subject for a long time.
This is not Gods loss; it is mans
loss because an all-knowing Creator created the
Sabbath for man! Every violation of Gods
law diminishes the quality of life that God wants
for His children. Degeneracy is the result of
rebellion and separation from the renewing power
of God. If a person does not love and obey his or
her Creator, he or she has broken the first
commandment because that person will love and
obey another god. Who foretold this long
ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was
it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God
apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and
there is no other. (Isaiah 45:21,22)
Jesus will use the first
four trumpets to strip away our financial
security and our foolish attraction for gods of
wood, metal, stone, pleasure, materialism and
self reliance. A $75,000 Mercedes will be of no
value without fuel or roads on which to drive. A
$500,000 house will be worthless if it is reduced
to a pile of rubble by the first global
earthquake. God is about to awaken people all
over the world. Then everyone will get a chance
to see how great our corporate rebellion is
against Him. This rebellion will center on the
issue of worship, specifically on the observance
of our Creators Sabbath.
Jesus is Almighty God
Knowledge of an omnipotent and angry God will
explode all over the Earth during the Great
Tribulation! No one will be able to deny
Gods wrath. Gods silence with the
transgression of His law will end and all
creation will know that He sits enthroned in
Heaven. He is Almighty God. He is Sovereign over
Heaven and Earth and He will send a clarion call
throughout the earth to worship Him on His holy
day Saturday, the seventh day of the week.
The call to worship Him as He dictates will
separate the sheep from the goats.
Consider these three
points:
1. God
declared the seventh day of the week holy at
Creation because He rested on the seventh day to
commemorate His creation of this world! The word holy
means set apart. God made the seventh
day uniquely different from the other six days at
Creation not at Mount Sinai! It was God
who set the seventh day apart from the others.
(Genesis 2:2,3)
2. Because
foreknew that Satan would successfully lead the
world to forget or deny the holiness of the
seventh day Sabbath, the fourth commandment
begins with the word Remember.
(Exodus 20:8)
3.
Contrary to what religious leaders say, god
Himself declared the seventh day of the week to
be holy and He has not rescinded this
declaration. All other days, according to
God, are for work and common activities. (Exodus
20:9)
l page 1 l page 2 l
|