Following a topic through the entire bible provides for some pondering. Today let’s look at the words typically translated as sign or mark.
“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. (Exodus 12:12-13)
You shall bind them (statutes, judgments, and commands of YHWH/God) as a sign (mark, signal, proof, evidence) on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (Exodus 13:9, Exodus 13:16, Deuteronomy 6:8 and Deuteronomy 11:18)
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy. … The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” (Exodus 31)
“Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” (Ezekiel 9:6)
“Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed (marked) the servants of our God on their foreheads” (Revelation 7:3)
They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, but only those men who do not have the seal (mark) of God on their foreheads (Revelation 9:4).
All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands (the testimony) and decrees he gave you. They (curses) will be a sign (mark) and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. (Deuteronomy 28:45-46)
“You shall have no other gods before me. … You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments (the testimony).: (Exodus 20)
It (the second beast) exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast … 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, (Revelation 13:16-17)
A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. (Revelation 14:9-10)
I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4)
Jesus said:
“If you love me, keep my commands(the testimony). And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:15-21)
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