Tonight, I was decorating my house for Christmas, so naturally I started thinking about Cain's mark and the Mark of the Beast. Ha! No, I didn't think of that until I was in bed reading. I was thinking how both marks were kind of connected. I don't know if I have heard or read about this before, but I felt compelled to write about it, so here goes.
After sin entered the world, God had told Adam and Eve how a lamb must be sacrificed. This was to point forward to the death of God himself for the human family. God's (Jesus, who is also God) blood would be shed, and as Adam laid his hand on the head of the sheep, confessing his sins, he would then kill it. It was to show the horrible result of sin and how it leads to death and how we are saved by the blood of Jesus.
Adam and Eve had many children; their first son was named Cain, the second named Abel. When it was time to sacrifice, Abel brought a lamb but Cain brought fruit. The Bible says God was not pleased with Cain's sacrifice because it was not according to God's plan. God came down to explain to Cain. "So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
After sin entered the world, God had told Adam and Eve how a lamb must be sacrificed. This was to point forward to the death of God himself for the human family. God's (Jesus, who is also God) blood would be shed, and as Adam laid his hand on the head of the sheep, confessing his sins, he would then kill it. It was to show the horrible result of sin and how it leads to death and how we are saved by the blood of Jesus.
Adam and Eve had many children; their first son was named Cain, the second named Abel. When it was time to sacrifice, Abel brought a lamb but Cain brought fruit. The Bible says God was not pleased with Cain's sacrifice because it was not according to God's plan. God came down to explain to Cain. "So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:5-7
The next sentence is a shocker, "Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field. While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."
One step away from the Garden of Eden and here was the first murder. And why? Why was Cain so angry?
The apostle John wrote, "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous." 1John 3:12
"By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead." Hebrews 11:4
So Abel had faith and obeyed God's directions in the way to worship. Cain did not have faith and worshiped God in a wrong way. Then when God tried to correct Cain, he grew so angry he killed his brother. So, like a teenager who has to come home by 11:00pm, he felt thwarted and dictated to and he wasn't going to put up with that. He rebelled against God.
Cain told God that now someone would probably kill him in revenge. God said, "Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
Okay, now to the Mark of the Beast. "And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain."
In the last days of earth's history, a power will come on the earth that will try to force its kind of worship on everyone possible. First this power will not allow anyone to buy food who does not obey the new laws. Eventually, they will enact the death penalty for those who refuse to worship in their way.
"It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name." Revelation 13:15-18
It is going to be very easy to keep track of what people buy these days. Everyone will probably have a card in order to buy anything. No big deal in this computer age.
It used to seem incredible that in the modern age this could happen in the West. It seems less incredible now when you see the mixture of religion and politics. Christians are getting more and more involved in politics; the world has become an increasingly dangerous place; the stage is being set for this religious, persecuting power.
All through history religious institutions have persecuted and killed those who disagree with their way of worshiping God. It is going on today all over the world. It will come to a head in the last days of earth. It began with murderous Cain, it continued with religious people who murdered Jesus, and it will end with worshipers of God who will murder those who disagree with them.
In contrast to the mark, God will set a seal in the foreheads of his people. The seal is the Holy Spirit, who lives in the hearts and minds of those who love God.
"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee." 2 Corinthians 1:22
So, Who is God?
Someone who has warned us about what will happen at the end of the world. Jesus said, "“If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time. Matthew 24
Read all of Matthew 24, because all this was important to Jesus.
Who am I? Someone who feels sad for the people of this world. I feel sad about those people who misrepresent God to the world. I feel sad about death, persecution and the lack of love in this world. But I feel happy about God, because he is doing all he can to reach every heart. I see it all around me and so does my husband. And I feel happy that God is my friend, my brother, my husband and my God.
