Sabbath Afternoon - June 10, 2023

Reading for the Week

Rev. 12:6, 14; Dan. 7:25; 2 Thess. 2:3, 4; Deut. 6:8; Deut. 11:18; Exod. 20:8-11. 


Prayer Thought

There can be only two classes. Each party is distinctly stamped, either with the seal of the living God, or with the mark of the beast or his image.--RH Jan. 30, 1900. {LDE 215.1}

In the great conflict between faith and unbelief the whole Christian world will be involved. All will take sides. Some apparently may not engage in the conflict on either side. They may not appear to take sides against the truth, but they will not come out boldly for Christ through fear of losing property or suffering reproach. All such are numbered with the enemies of Christ.--RH Feb. 7, 1893. {LDE 215.2}

As we near the close of time the demarcation between the children of light and the children of darkness will be more and more decided. They will be more and more at variance. This difference is expressed in the words of Christ, "born again"-- created anew in Christ, dead to the world, and alive unto God. These are the walls of separation that divide the heavenly from the earthly and describe the difference between those who belong to the world and those who are chosen out of it, who are elect, precious in the sight of God.--Special Testimony to the Battle Creek Church (Ph 155) 3 (1882). {LDE 215.3}


Memory Text

He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.  {Rev. 13:10}


This week's SS Lesson will dig deeper into the system that has paved the way for a million of people who had been and will be deceived, the power that has been wounded by the Truth - the Word of God and its image in the last days. This also includes the description of how the Papacy will be copied (Satan's Strategic innovations) by the Two-Horned Beast of Rev. 13:11-18.


Please follow this link for a deeper study: Meat In Due Season - 16. The Two-horned Beast (2HB) (google.com) 


Study Outline

The Road to the Apostasy

Sunday - June 11, 2023

The Deadly Wound is Healed

Rev. 13:3, 5, 12; 12:6, 14; Dan. 7:25; 9:24-27; Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6

Monday - June 12, 2023

A Horn, a Beast, a Lawless One - The Falling Away

2Thess. 2:3, 4, 9-12; Rev. 18:4; Mat. 7:12

The Apostasy

Tuesday - June 13, 2023

How will it Happen? Satan's Final Strategy

Rev. 17:12-14 

Wednesday - June 14, 2023

What is the Mark of the Beast, and How it Be Received? 

Rev. 14:9, 12; Deut. 6:8; 11:18

Thursday - June 15, 2023

The Seal of the Redeemed

Isa. 8:16; Exo. 20:8-11; Rev. 7:1-3; 14:12; Eph. 4:30; Dan. 7:25


Friday - June 16, 2023

Further Study and Meditation

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The Road to the Apostasy

Sunday - June 11, 2023

The Deadly Wound is Healed

Rev. 13:3, 5, 12; 12:6, 14; Dan. 7:25; 9:24-27; Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6

“And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.” (Revelation 13:3)


The Work for This Time 

We are standing upon the threshold of great and solemn events. Prophecies are fulfilling. Strange, eventful history is being recorded in the books of heaven. Everything in our world is in agitation. There are wars and rumors of wars. The nations are angry, and the time of the dead has come, that they should be judged. Events are changing to bring about the day of God, which hasteth greatly. Only a moment of time, as it were, yet remains. But while already nation is rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, there is not now a general engagement. As yet the four winds are held until the servants of God shall be sealed in their foreheads. Then the powers of earth will marshal their forces for the last great battle.  {6T 14.1}  


What Cause its Wound and the Healing

"And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: And all the world wondered after the beast." Rev. 13:3.   It is generally understood among Seventh-day Adventists that since the Italian government granted civil power to the pope on the 11th day of Feb., 1929, to be the event of the prophetic fulfillment, we shall grant that the interpretation is correct, and the "deadly wound" has been healed.  Note the verbs "was" and "healed" are both in past tense.  This being so, it is evident that this particular prophecy is to be fully understood after its fulfillment (as to when and how accomplished). 

If the event of the above stated date fulfilled the prophecy, then we would make no mistake if we should suppose that the last part of the verse has as well met its fulfillment.  "And all the world wondered after the beast."  Quoting from Volume 6T 14: "The prophecy of the Revelation is being fulfilled, that 'all the world wondered after the beast.' Rev. 13:3."  The world being now at this present time in no better spiritual condition, but worse, we may conclude that the Scripture has fully met its fulfillment.  The wound has been "healed" as well as the world has "wondered after the beast."

We need not assume that the world would have to enroll in the membership of that body of people in order to fulfill the prophecy.  Note the world wondered not after the wounded head but after the beast.  The scripture deals in the sense of spiritual matters.  Again, quoting from 6T 15.1: "This demon-worship was revealed to him [John], and it seemed to him as if the whole world were standing on the brink of perdition."  The world has partaken of the spirit of the beast, thus fulfilling the divine prediction.


For further study please follow the link: Meat In Due Season - 15. The Leopard Like Beast (google.com) 


The Harvest of the First Fruit and Its Message 

This demon worship was revealed to him, and it seemed to him as if the whole world were standing on the brink of perdition. But as he looked with intense interest he beheld the company of God's commandment-keeping people. They had upon their foreheads the seal of the living God, and he said: "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God." Revelation 14:12-19.  {6T 15.1}  


Please click this link for more information: Present Truth Lessons 2020 - Lesson 6 Judgment for the Living (google.com) 


Consider the Following

The prophecy stated that “the beast” would have authority for 42 months (Revelation 13:5).

Revelation 11 explains that those 42 months are 1,260 days. During that time, God’s witnesses would prophesy with difficulty (Revelation 11:2-3).

In Revelation 12, 1,260 days are equal to “a time and times and half a time” (Revelation 12:6, 14), the same period that Daniel foretold for the persecution of God’s people (Daniel 7:25).

Following the day-year Bible principle, we can interpret the 1,260 days as 1,260 years (Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6; Leviticus 25:8). Therefore, the 1,260 days took place from 538 AD to 1798 AD.

The prophecy goes beyond these events. The beast was deathly wounded and lost its authority, but it would recover its power (Revelation 13:3).

Between 1870 AD and 1929 AD, the Pope didn’t have any territory and the Vatican was part of Italy. On February 11, 1929, Pope Pius XI and Benito Mussolini created the Vatican City State. The wound was healed.


Monday - June 12, 2023

A Horn, a Beast, a Lawless One - The Falling Away

2Thess. 2:3, 4, 9-12; Rev. 18:4; Mat. 7:12

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,” (2 Thessalonians 2:9)


The Man of Sin be Revealed

But before the coming of Christ, important developments in the religious world, foretold in prophecy, were to take place. The apostle declared: "Be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."  {AA 265.1}  


The Great Apostasy - The Establishment of Papal Power

The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of the papal power. He declared that the day of Christ should not come, “except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” [2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7.] And furthermore, the apostle warns his brethren that “the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” [2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7.] Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy.  {GC88 49.1} 


Consider the Following

A horn (Daniel 7:25)

He shall speak pompous words against the Most High

Shall persecute the saints of the Most High

Then the saints shall be given into his hands for a time and times and half a time


PDF: The World History in Prophetic Symbols | 3 ANGELS' CRY (3angelscry.org) 


A beast (Revelation 13:2-7)

The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority

He was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies

He was given authority to continue for forty-two months

It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them

Meat In Due Season - 15. The Leopard Like Beast (google.com) 

A lawless one (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12)

He sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan

Daniel, John, and Paul identified the same power: The Roman Catholic Church (as an institution, not the church members themselves).


The Apostasy

Tuesday - June 13, 2023

How will it Happen? Satan's Final Strategy

Rev. 17:12-14  

“These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.” (Revelation 17:13)

 

The Scarlet Colored Beast - REV. 17

"So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns." (Rev. 17:3.)  This particular beast cannot be a symbol of Rome as some have thought.  The first reason is, that the non-descript beast of Daniel 7, as previously explained, is a symbol of Rome, and was seen coming up from the sea; but the scarlet colored beast, John says, was in the desert.  Therefore, the forces that brought the scarlet colored beast on the stage of action is the opposite of that which produced the non-descript. 

The second reason is, as the angel was about to show the vision to John, he said to him, "Come hither; I will show thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters." (Rev. 17:1.)  Then John was carried into the wilderness and there he saw the woman riding on the beast.  The reason the vision is given is to show him the judgment of the woman.  But she was not judged in the days of Rome; her judgment is yet in the future, and will be executed under the "Loud Cry" angel of Revelation 18. (See verses 8, 10.)  The riding on the beast is her last act; therefore, the beast must represent the period in which she is judged.  There is a third reason why the beast cannot be a symbol of Rome.  The book of Daniel, and the book of Revelation were written especially for the generation living at the time of the end, and not so much for the Roman world. (See Dan. 12:4.)   They had no understanding of the writings that pertained to the last days, and thus could not have profited by them.  Therefore, it would have been improper and unwise on the part of God to apply all the beasts to Rome, and leave the period to which the books apply without symbolical representation.

We believe that there must be more complete symbolical information for this present generation than for any previous one.  Thus, it is very inconsistent and unreasonable of those who have applied the "leopard-like beast" of Revelation 13, and the "scarlet colored" of Revelation 17, in addition to the "non-descript beast" of Daniel 7, as symbols of Rome.  Why so many symbols of Rome and none of the period for which the books were written?  Furthermore, there are no facts to support such claims.  The greatest rebuke to such assertions in that they derive the same lesson from one beast as they do from the other.  If there is no special lesson in each of them, why are they given?  Applying the heads, as they do the horns to symbols of governments, shows that they had no light from the great and all-wise God.  If each term means government, why did Inspiration use both horns and heads? 


Consider the Following

— During the final apostasy, the scarlet beast on which Babylon is seated (not the beast in Revelation 13) will use the civil powers (symbolized by its 10 horns) to give the power to the beast (Revelation 17:12-13).

— How will it happen? We don’t know the details, but the world will look for a leader who could help them in the greatest crisis ever. Both the religious and political leaders will choose one main leader: the horn, the beast, the lawless one. The image of the beast will impose its mark of loyalty.

Inspiration declares,

"Youth and children of both sexes engage in moral pollution and practice this disgusting, soul-and-body- destroying vice. Many professed Christians are so benumbed by the same practice that their moral sensibilities cannot be aroused to understand that it is sin, and that if continued its sure results will be utter shipwreck of body and mind. Man, the noblest being upon the earth, formed in the image of God, transforms himself into a beast! He makes himself gross and corrupt. Every Christian will have to learn to restrain his passions and be controlled by principle. Unless he does this, he is unworthy of the Christian name.  {CG 441.2}  


Wednesday - June 14, 2023

What is the Mark of the Beast, and How it Be Received? 

Rev. 14:9, 12; Deut. 6:8; 11:18

“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,” (Revelation 13:16)


The Decree - The Mark of the Beast

The decree is to go forth that all who will not receive the mark of the beast shall neither buy nor sell and, finally, that they shall be put to death. But the saints of God do not receive this mark. The prophet of Patmos beheld those who had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. . . . {CTr 366.5} 


Worship the Beast and His Image

The worshipers of God will be especially distinguished by their regard for the fourth commandment, since this is the sign of God's creative power and the witness to His claim upon man's reverence and homage. The wicked will be distinguished by their efforts to tear down the Creator's memorial and to exalt the institution of Rome. In the issue of the conflict all Christendom will be divided into two great classes, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and those who worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark. Although church and state will unite their power to compel all, "both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond," to receive the mark of the beast, yet the people of God will not receive it. Revelation 13:16. The prophet of Patmos beholds "them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God," and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Revelation 15:2. {CCh 39.6} 


For deeper and much comprehensive studies please follow the links below:


Consider the Following

The mark can be received in two ways (Revelation 13:16):

(1) On the right hand. By obeying the imposed rules even if we don’t agree.

(2) On the forehead. By actually believing that the imposed rules are true.

The mark is related to worship (Revelation 13:15). According to Revelation 13:17, the mark “is the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

Names in the Bible represent the character of the person. Therefore, we will have to choose between God’s character or the beast’s.

The worldly powers will suggest that everyone will have to worship or rest on the same day in order to overcome the crisis. And that day will be Rome’s one, Sunday.


Thursday - June 15, 2023

The Seal of the Redeemed

Isa. 8:16; Exo. 20:8-11; Rev. 7:1-3; 14:12; Eph. 4:30; Dan. 7:25

“Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.” (Revelation 14:1)


The Seal of God Placed upon the Foreheads

The day of God's vengeance is just upon us. The seal of God will be placed upon the foreheads of those only who sigh and cry for the abominations done in the land. Those who link in sympathy with the world are eating and drinking with the drunken and will surely be destroyed with the workers of iniquity. "The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." 1 Peter 3:12. {CCh 333.3} 

Our own course of action will determine whether we shall receive the seal of the living God or be cut down by the destroying weapons. Already a few drops of God's wrath have fallen upon the earth; but when the seven last plagues shall be poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation, then it will be forever too late to repent and find shelter. No atoning blood will then wash away the stains of sin. {CCh 333.4} 

Not all who profess to keep the Sabbath will be sealed. There are many even among those who teach the truth to others who will not receive the seal of God in their foreheads. They had the light of truth, they knew their Master's will, they understood every point of our faith, but they had not corresponding works. These who were so familiar with prophecy and the treasures of divine wisdom should have acted their faith. They should have commanded their households after them, that by a well-ordered family they might present to the world the influence of the truth upon the human heart. {CCh 333.5} 


The Spirit of God set its seal upon their labors; many converts to the faith were made; and these, returning to their homes in different parts of the world, scattered the seeds of truth through all nations and among all classes of society.  {AA 165.1}  

The seal of the living God will be placed upon those only who bear a likeness to Christ in character.  {CG 182.1}  


The Seal Of God Is The Sabbath

I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. Ezekiel 20:19, 20. {CTr 355.1} 


The Sabbath was given to all humankind to commemorate the work of creation. The great Jehovah, when He had laid the foundations of the earth, when He had dressed the whole world in its garb of beauty, and created all the wonders of the land and the sea, instituted the Sabbath day and made it holy. . . . God sanctified and blessed the day in which He had rested from all His wondrous work. And this Sabbath, sanctified of God, was to be kept for a perpetual covenant. It was a memorial that was to stand from age to age, till the close of earth’s history. . . . {CTr 355.2} 


Not All who Profess to Keep the Sabbath will be Sealed

Not all who profess to keep the Sabbath will be sealed. There are many even among those who teach the truth to others who will not receive the seal of God in their foreheads. They had the light of truth, they knew their Master's will, they understood every point of our faith, but they had not corresponding works. These who were so familiar with prophecy and the treasures of divine wisdom should have acted their faith. They should have commanded their households after them, that by a well-ordered family they might present to the world the influence of the truth upon the human heart. {CCh 333.5} 


Michael will Stand with Those who are Sealed 

The day of God's vengeance is just upon us. The seal of God will be placed upon the foreheads of those only who sigh and cry for the abominations done in the land. Those who link in sympathy with the world are eating and drinking with the drunken, and will surely be destroyed with the workers of iniquity. "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry;" but "the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." Psalm 34:15, 16. {CET 187.2}  

 "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book." Daniel 12:1.

When this time of trouble comes, every case is decided; there is no longer probation, no longer mercy for the impenitent. The seal of the living God is upon His people. {CET 187.4}   

Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul-temple of every defilement. Then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost. {CET 189.2}   


For further study, please follow the link below:

Meat In Due Season - 16. The Two-horned Beast (2HB) (google.com) 


Consider the Following

Those who reject the mark of the beast will be sealed by God. They will have the name (character) of Jesus and will show it by keeping His commandments (Revelation 14:12).

The fourth commandment (the Sabbath) determines who we worship.


Friday - June 16, 2023

Further Study and Meditation

 The commencement of that act will be marked when the following prediction is fully realized: "When Protestantism shall stretch forth her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with Spiritualism, when under the influence of this three-fold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its constitution as a Protestant and Republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan, and that the end is near." -- "Testimonies for the Church," Vol. 5, p. 451.

Then, as the saints enter in through the pearly gates John's vision will meet its fulfillment: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." (Rev. 20:4.)   The righteous shall spend a thousand years judging the wicked dead.  For further study of the millennium see "Patriarchs and Prophets," p. 103; "The Great Controversy," pp. 321, 662.


Questions to Ponder


From the Pen of Inspiration

“Among earth's inhabitants, scattered in every land, there are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Like the stars of heaven, which appear only at night, these faithful ones will shine forth when darkness covers the earth […] and in the hour of deepest apostasy, when Satan's supreme effort is made to cause ‘all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond,’ to receive, under penalty of death, the sign of allegiance to a false rest day, these faithful ones, ‘blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke,’ will ‘shine as lights in the world.’ Revelation 13:16; Philippians 2:15. The darker the night, the more brilliantly will they shine.” .E. G. W. (Prophets and Kings, cp. 14, p. 188)


SSL-Q2-12-The-Seal-of-God-and-Mark-of-the-Beast-Part-2 (fliphtml5.com) 

https://3angelscry.org/pdf-ss-q2-l12-the-seal-of-god-and-the-mark-of-the-beast-part-2/