October 6: THE MARK OF THE BEAST (part 2)
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 13:17
As governor in Judah, Nehemiah endeavored to influence his brethren to honor the Sabbath day. If the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath. (Nehemiah 10:31)
But after being out of Jerusalem for a time, he returned and was grieved by what he saw: In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. “Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” (13:15,18)
In God’s economy, the idea of not buying or selling on the Sabbath day is directly connected to His provision for us in Creation and resting in Him. It is a way for believers to show that they are trusting the Creator for all of their needs. The Sabbath day is the crown of Creation, carved out by God as a refuge from the tyranny of time. Creation was finished, yet He added this seventh day as a “temple in time,” set apart from the other six to nurture relationships with Him and those we love. The commandment to rest and devote one-seventh of our lives away from work is not a suggestion but a nonnegotiable point, every bit as much as honoring parents, and prohibitions against having other gods, worshiping idols, taking His name in vain, murder, adultery, theft, lying, and covetousness.
Satan’s attempts to destroy the Sabbath have been varied. In Jesus’s day, the religious leadership had added so many of their own rules for Sabbath keeping that the day of rest was made into a terrible burden. Jesus kept the Sabbath perfectly, though He was steadily accused of breaking it because He would not heed their man-made laws. In the early centuries, Sunday began to be substituted as a political strategy by Emperor Constantine to bring unity to the crumbling Roman Empire. It did not work! Nevertheless, the Catholic Church later made it “official.” A few quotes from Catholic sources:
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.” C.F.Thomas, chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons, in answer to a letter regarding the change of the Sabbath 11/11/1895
“Tradition, not Scripture, is the rock on which the church of Jesus Christ is built.” Adrien Nampon, Catholic Doctrine as Defined by the Council of Trent (p.157)
“We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” Reverend Peter Geiermann C.SS.R., The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (p.50)
“The Church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.” Catholic Record 9/1/1923
“The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the Church.” Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today (p.213)
Satan will lead the world to banish all buying and selling as appropriate punishment, prior to a death decree, for those who voluntarily refrain from buying and selling to honor the Lord’s Holy Day of rest. Yet the result will be very different from the expectation…
The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over [Babylon], for no one buys their merchandise any more: merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men. Revelation 18:11-13
For further study: Ezekiel 8 & 9; Daniel 7:25