Last week we learned that because of the root of evil (the love of money), and the coming of the beast and his mark (an economic mark), understanding and living by Christian economics is going to become one of the important issues of our time.
Christians are called to be “in the world but not of it.” As we progress toward the end of this age, and the beginning of the next, we must extract ourselves from the systems of this present evil age and build our lives on the kingdom of God that is coming. To serve the Lord as we are called in this time requires that each of us have the following basic economic plan for our life:
- We live on the unlimited supply of God’s kingdom, having an abundance for everything we are called to do.
- We owe no man anything but to love them.
This is the simplicity of God’s economic plan for our lives. But how do we get there from here? This is what we intend to lay out in a clear, step-by-step plan over the next few weeks. This week we will cover how not to take the mark of the beast.
There is a very simple answer to this nearly two thousand year old question. The way we will be sure of not taking the mark of the beast is to take God’s mark. So, one of the ultimate questions that we could ask is, how do we take God’s mark? The answer to this begins in Revelation 7:1-3:
And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,
saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads."
Such a seal is the mark of ownership. I believe that this is the time we are in right now. The Lord is restraining the “winds of the earth” until His bond-servants can be sealed. If we have God’s mark of ownership, the devil will not be able to put his mark on us.
In this text we must note that it does not say that the Lord is sealing all Christians, or believers, but bond-servants. That the Lord is sealing His bond-servants is crucial to understanding how we will be free from taking the mark of the beast. Not all Christians are bond-servants. We are called to be, and may have an understanding of what it is, but in fact very few are true bond-servants of the Lord.
A bond-servant does not wake up each day and decide what he wants to do. His time is not his own—his time belongs to his Master. A bond-servant does not just decide what he wants to spend his money on. What he has is not his own, but belongs to his Master. The bond-servant is a steward who would not make any major purchases without the permission of his Master. To the bond-servant even his family is not his own. All that he has is his Master’s, and he is always conscious that he is but a steward of anything entrusted to him.
The truth is that very few Christians are living as true bond-servants of Christ. We may claim to live our lives for the Lord, but in truth most Christians still live their lives for themselves instead of for the Lord. These make decisions based on their own concerns and wants rather than the interests of the Lord. It is not those who have a good understanding about being a bond-servant who are being sealed by God, but those who are true bond-servants. We are not who we are based on our knowledge, but rather on our life.
Being a true bond-servant of Christ is fundamental to the true Christian life. What we do with our time, money, possessions and so on, says a lot about who we really are, and what we really believe. If we really believe the gospel, we will not be so caught up in the temporary affairs of this present age, but will live for the eternal purposes of Christ. This will be reflected in all we do, and how we treat whatever we have been entrusted with. At the end of this age the pretenders will be separated from those who know Jesus as their Way, their Truth, and their Life.
Even if we have “known the Lord” for many years but have not lived as a true bond-servant, this can be changed in a day. It is not too late to repent and become a bond-servant. He is calling His bond-servants right now. Becoming His bond-servant will establish His mark of ownership on us that no one can erase.
Even though it may seem to be a paradox, those who are the Lord’s slaves will be the freest human beings on the face of the earth. The reason His bond-servants will not take the mark of the beast is because they will not need to “buy, sell, or trade” according to the ways of this world. It is the master’s responsibility to provide for the needs of his slaves, and there is no Master more capable of this than the Lord. Those who are His true bond-servants never need to fear that they will be lacking all they need. In fact, this miraculous economy of the kingdom of God, and the peace that rests on those who are a part of it, will be one of the great contrasts between those who are of the light, and those who have given themselves over to darkness.
In the coming weeks we will study these issues in more depth, making them very practical. If you are hearing the Master’s call now to give yourself as His bond-servant, do not wait until next week. As we are told in II Corinthians 6:1-2, and Hebrews 3:7-4:3:
for He says, "At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you"; behold, now is "the acceptable time," behold, now is "the day of salvation"—
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years.
"Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart; And they did not know My ways';
As I swore in My wrath,'They shall not enter My rest.' "
Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God.
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end;
while it is said, "Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me."
For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?
And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.
For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said.
Again, there is no greater peace or no greater rest that we could ever experience than being the Lord’s bond-servant. As we read in this text, the rest that we are called to live in as believers is even equated with the Promised Land. This is our goal, our destination. There is nothing on this earth more exciting, more compelling, or more fulfilling. Why would we ever waste our time building on that which is sure to pass away when we have such an eternal inheritance made available to us? To not seize this opportunity to serve the Lord, to be His bond-servant, will only insure our place in eternity with the greatest of fools. Those who are wise enough to hear His call and respond will be the most blessed for eternity. As the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16:24-28:
"For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.
"For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
"For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds.
"Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."
