Episode 2044: lesson 9 Wednesday May 29: the mark of the beast

Read Revelation 12:12, 17 and Revelation 13:7. How do these texts reveal Satan’s wrath? Why is the devil so angry with God’s end-time people?Revelation 12 outlines the cosmic conflict between Christ and Satan down through the ages. It climaxes with Satan’s final attack on the people of God. Revelation 13 introduces the dragon’s two allies, the beast from the sea and the beast from the land. These two powers join him in making war on God’s people.Read Revelation 13:4, 8, 12, 15 and Revelation 14:7, 9–11. (See also Rev. 15:4, Rev. 16:2, Rev. 19:20, Rev. 20:4, Rev. 22:9.) What one key theme appears in all of these verses?Note the contrast. Either people worship the Creator or they worship something else. The Creator is worthy of worship (Rev. 5:9). The controversy between Christ and Satan began in heaven over worship: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High” (Isa. 14:14, NKJV). Satan wanted the worship belonging only to the Creator. According to Revelation 13, he succeeds through the activity of the land beast (Rev. 13:4).A comparison with Daniel 7 shows that this land beast is the same as the little horn that “seeks to change times and laws” and exercises authority for 1,260 prophetic “days,” that is, for 1,260 years (Dan. 7:25; compare Rev. 13:5; see lesson 6). The only part of God’s law, the Ten Commandments, dealing with time is the fourth commandment. This church has attempted to change the day of worship from Saturday, the seventh day, to Sunday, the first day of the week.For an earthly power to seek to change the day of worship, the seventh-day Sabbath, which God Himself gave as a sign of His authority (Exod. 31:13; Ezek. 20:12, 20), is an attempt to usurp divine authority at the most basic level possible. On this point, then, is the focus of the final conflict over true and false worship.For this reason, Revelation identifies the people who are faithful to God as those “who keep the commandments of God” (Rev. 12:17, Rev. 14:12). This includes the seventh-day Sabbath, not Sunday. Those who refuse the final call of the three angels to worship God on His holy day (Isa. 58:13) and who worship the beast on his counterfeit sabbath, Sunday, will receive the mark of the beast (see lesson 11).