April 12: STRING-OF-CLUES (part 5)
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, and that no one may buy or sell except the one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Revelation 13:16-17
Beloved, if you are fully committed to following the Lord, you need not worry about how the world will “tighten the screws” in the attempt to pressure you into the world’s mold. If God’s Spirit is transforming you from within, others will perceive divine characteristics from Him in your life, not just “good human” characteristics. God’s life within you expresses itself as His life, emanating through you. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, His death became our death (for all who will accept it). This also means that His life becomes our life, if we will allow Him to sanctify and restore us. It is a rebuilding project from the ground up.
After the seventy-year Babylonian captivity of God’s people, only a remnant responded to the God-given invitation that came through Cyrus the Persian to re-establish the desolated land of Israel. This was God’s will for spreading the gospel to the world. The rebuilding would mean hardship and work, and it was much easier to just stay as they were, living as pagans in a plethora of pagan cultures.
As the return of Jesus approaches, God’s unaltered will is still to spread the pure gospel to the world. The invitation is already being proclaimed as a witness to all the nations (Matthew 24:14; Revelation 14:6) to return fully and wholeheartedly to the Lord. Reformation continues. Restoration* is the goal. Granted, it is much easier to just stay in spiritual Babylon and avoid the coming restriction on buying and selling. This punishment, implemented by the government under the influence of religious leaders, has an underlying satanic agenda: to mock those who rest from their labors on the Sabbath. In choosing to refrain from buying and selling on the seventh day, they are out of sync with the world. In choosing to worship Him while resting in His providence, they honor Him as Creator and Redeemer, actively extending the divine invitation to others (Exodus 20:10).
Yes, there will be a period of hardship for the Lord’s people while they are not permitted to buy or sell. But during this brief (Matthew 24:22) end-time period of chaos, those who attempt to avoid the crisis will ironically suffer a total deprivation of rest. They will have no rest day or night (Revelation 14:11). Beware of holding back in the matter of simple obedience to the commands of the LORD. The extensive list of human “reasons” for breaking the fourth (or any) commandment tragically serves to teach others that they can always find someone “in authority” (Revelation 13:2) who will reassure them by telling them what they want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3), supplying excuses for disobeying divine instructions that do not line up with their worldly agendas.
*Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. Acts 3:19-21