The Mark of the Beast - Part 2

It’s a Marriage

Our relationship with God is like a marriage.  God uses the marriage analogy a lot for those who belong to Him.   Isaiah 62:5, as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. The ancient Jewish wedding custom is a picture of our union with Jesus.  There are many good articles out there that go through the details of the Jewish wedding and its symbolism of Jesus, as our bridegroom.  I would like to recommend a great video that explains the Jewish wedding and it’s Biblical meaning to the church.  It’s entitled “Before the Wrath” and can be found at https://vimeo.com/458013019 

In part 1, I explained that the mark of the beast is something a person will need to receive in their right hand or forehead during the tribulation in order to buy or sell anything.  The mark will be necessary for easier survival as they won’t be able to work or buy groceries without it.  The false prophet will perform miraculous signs that will convince people to take this mark.  There will be plenty of people more than willing to accept it and those who will sadly give into the pressure.

In this article I will delve into the reasons I believe someone who takes the mark of the beast will lose their salvation.  Some think salvation will be lost because the mark will physically change a person and may cause their mind to connect to the cloud.  It is believed this may cause them to lose their free will and be controlled.  Others think the mark could change a person’s DNA and cause them to become a type of hybrid person like the Nephilim.  Technology is amazing and maybe that will be the case or play some part in it.  I would like to explain why I feel salvation will no longer be offered from a Biblical marriage perspective.    

Marriage Symbolism

There are a few things we see when someone gets married.  Traditionally, the couple will place outward symbols of their union on their body.  We place them on the hand and in some cultures on the forehead, to show we are taken.  The bride will usually take the name of her husband.  Back in the day when a Jewish man proposed, he would present a written marriage covenant AKA a ketubah.  Malachi 2:14, … she is your companion and your wife by covenant.  When a Jewish bride accepts the covenant of marriage, she drinks wine from the same cup as her suitor, to seal the betrothal.  Communion is symbolic of our acceptance of Jesus’ proposal.  Even though the Jewish wedding will not occur for probably another year or two, once she accepts the covenant by drinking from the cup, they are legally committed to each other. 

God has a covenant with Israel. Jesus has a new covenant with his bride, the church. The Devil and the antichrist will also have a covenant with their bride the harlot.

Marriage covenants are blood covenants.  Blood is shed in the union of Israel and God, the union of the church and Jesus, and with the harlot and the antichrist.  Our earthly marriages are images of our union with God.  On the wedding night when a virgin is intimate with her husband, the hymen is broken, and blood is shed, sealing their union together. 

I will go through the marriage symbolisms for each of these unions, and will show you why I believe the mark of the beast is a union between an individual and the antichrist.  In each of these unions, we will see a marriage covenant, a betrothal cup, a union sealed with blood, symbols of that union on the hand or forehead, and the bride receiving the groom’s name.

The Father’s Marriage with Israel

The Covenant

God entered into a marriage covenant with Israel.  Ezekiel 16:8, Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So, I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord GOD.  Exodus 19:5, Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine. 

God became Israel’s husband.  Isaiah 54:5, For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name… 

The Cup and The Blood

Israel accepted God’s proposal.  Psalm 116:13, I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

Exodus 24:7-8, Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”  And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 

Symbols of The Union

When a marriage union is finalized, often, we receive a mark on the hand such as a wedding ring to show that we belong to someone.  In some Hindu cultures women will wear what is called a Bindi.  This is a red dot on the forehead to show they are married. 

The Bible also uses symbols on the hand and forehead.  We see examples in the Old Testament where people will mark their hand or forehead to show their love and worship of the Lord.   Deuteronomy 11:18, Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. See also Exodus 13:16, Isaiah 44:5 Job 37:7.

We are also a symbol on God’s hand.  Isaiah 49:16, Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…

God places a mark or a seal on those who belong to him.  In Ezekiel 9:4-6 God caused the wicked in the city to be killed but those that had God’s mark on their forehead were kept safe.  God will continue to seal his people on the foreheads during the tribulation.  See Revelation 7:2-4

Receiving of The Groom’s Name

God’s name is received by the Jewish people. Numbers 6:27, So they shall put My name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

Once a married woman takes her husband’s name, she is then called by that name. Daniel 9:19, O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” See also Jeremiah 14:9, Jeremiah 15:16, 2 Chronicles 7:14, Revelation 14:1

The Broken Covenant

Israel’s heart turned from God.  Jeremiah 31:32, …my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.  See also Ezekiel 16:8. I believe the covenant that Israel broke was a marriage covenant.  Israel committed adultery and God divorced her.  Jeremiah 3:8, She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. 

What was Israel doing that God looked on it as adultery?  Ezekiel 23:37, …With their idols they have committed adultery…  Idolatry is adultery to God.  Israel’s heart was not with God but belonged to others.  Adultery is a one of two reasons God gives for divorce.  See Matthew 5:32  19:9.

When you hear the word idolatry, most people think of a gold statue that someone bows down to and worships.  While that was what some people did in the Bible that is not the full definition of idolatry.  Merriam-Webster’s dictionary says idolatry is an immoderate attachment or devotion to something.  When you are attached or devoted to someone or something more than God, then you are committing idolatry (spiritual adultery).  See Colossians 3:5, Leviticus 20:6,  Matthew 6:24.  God wants to be your 1st love. (Matthew 22:36-38).

To be released of a marriage covenant under the law, one of the spouses would need to pass away.  Romans 7:2, For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 

Israel was married to God.  God came down in the flesh and gave up his life, so she could be released from the old marriage covenant.  Romans 7:3, Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

The Jewish people are now legally released from the law that bound them.  Israel may now accept a new marriage covenant.  Whose covenant will she accept?

Jesus’ Marriage with the Church

The Covenant

Hebrews 9:15, Therefore he (Jesus) is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 

Hebrews 10:16, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” See also Hebrews 7:22.

The church is now betrothed to Jesus.  2 Corinthians 11:2, For, I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.  She has kept herself only for her husband.

The Cup and The Blood

1 Corinthians 11:25, … he (Jesus) took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  See also Luke 22:20.

Symbols of The Union

Ephesians 1:13-14, And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory.  See also Ephesians 4:30  2 Corinthians 1:22.

Like God has the names of those who belong to him written on the palm of his hand Jesus also has a mark on each of his hands symbolizing his love for us.  John 20:25, …But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Receiving of The Groom’s Name

The believers in Jesus receive his name.  Acts 19:5, When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Jesus is speaking to one of the Churches in Revelation.  Revelation 3:12, …I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.

Revelation 22:4, They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. See also Revelation 14:1  Revelation 9:4.

The Antichrist’s Marriage with the Harlot

Believers who collectively represent the bride become one body with Jesus when they are united with him in spirit (Ephesians 5:30-32).  The same thing happens with the believers who collectively represent the harlot, they will be united in one body with the antichrist.  1 Corinthians 6:16-17, Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”  But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

The Covenant

The marriage of the antichrist also starts with a covenant.  God and his Son have a covenant of life (Malachi 2:5) and the devil and the antichrist have one of death.  Isaiah 28:15, Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter”.

God is our refuge and our shelter (Psalm 91:1-2) and the father of all lies and falsehood is the harlot’s refuge and shelter.

The antichrist has a covenant with Israel, but it also says in Daniel 9:27 The covenant is with many.  I believe this may be a form of imitation because Jesus received for himself a bride that consists of both Jew and gentile.  Israel and the many will be united together to form the devil’s own version of Ephesians 2:15, He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups.  See also Galatians 3:28.  Just like Jesus made a covenant for all to receive, and many rejected him, many in Israel and around the world will reject the antichrist.  See Revelation 7:9-14.

The Cup and the Blood

The antichrist’s bride is the harlot and she has accepted a proposal from him.  She not only drank from the betrothal cup; she got drunk.  This covenant did not include the blood of animals or of the Lamb of God but it was sealed with the blood of the saints.

Revelation 17:4-6, The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.  And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”  And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. See also Jeremiah 51:7.

You can only accept one proposal and drink from one cup.  You can’t be married to two people. 

1 Corinthians 10:21, You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

Symbols of The Union

Those who make up the harlot will receive a symbol of their union with the antichrist in their hand or forehead.  Revelation 13:16, 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.

Receiving of The Groom’s Name

The bride of the antichrist will also take the name of her betrothed. Revelation 13:17, no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Those who receive the mark of his name will lose their souls.  Revelation 14:11, And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” 

Summary

For God the mark of the beast symbolizes a marriage and a rejection of him.  Salvation is lost the moment someone receives the mark of the beast.  Revelation 14:9-10, …“If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.  See also Revelation 19:20

The devil and his son, the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3), are looking for a bride to take with them to their eternal abode.  When someone receives the mark of the beast, they have accepted a marriage covenant with the antichrist.  The reason a person will lose their eternal salvation when they accept this mark is because God is not an adulterer.  Once you are married, you become off limits to God.  This is not a regular marriage to Jim down the street.  Our union with God is not a physical one but a spiritual one.  1 Corinthians 12:13, For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  The marriage to the antichrist is a spiritual union and a marriage with death. 

Jesus set all of us free from the law of sin and death (all of Romans 7).  You need to accept his proposal before you die and you don’t know when that will be!  Times are tough, there is sickness and crime everywhere.  Natural disasters and accidents happen every day.  Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).  I am not trying to scare you, but I’m trying to get you to realize that this proposal will expire when you do.

Jesus is not an insurance policy but a person who wants to be loved by you, just like you want to be loved.  He felt every whip of his back and every hammer of those nails.  He was marked for you.  You are not some random person in a world of billions to him.  You are not here because of an accident.  You were purposely created for God to love.  He knows every hair on your head.  Luke 12:7, Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.  He demonstrated that love for you by dying a horrific death just so you could be with him in heaven.  Now that is Love!  If you ask Jesus to save you, he will!  Up to the very moment, you marry someone else or you die.

Don’t wait!  You can accept the marriage proposal from Jesus right now.  You don’t need to be perfect and spotless when you come to him.  He wants you just the way you are.  A broken, dirty, unloved mess, is beautiful in his sight.  He has compassion and love for you.  He will clean you up.  You have been searching for love in all the wrong places.  He is the one you have been waiting for. 

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