THE SEAL OF GOD
“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 the truth, they
knew their
Master’s will, they understood every
point of our faith, but
they had not corresponding works.” 5T
213, 214.
“What is the condition of those who keep
the commandments
of God and have the faith of Jesus? If
in families
there are those who are refusing
obedience to the Lord
in keeping His Sabbath, then the seal
cannot be placed
upon them. The sealing is a pledge from
God of perfect
security to His chosen ones. (Ex.
31:13-17). Sealing indicates
you are God’s chosen. He has
appropriated you to
Himself. As the sealed of God we are
Christ’s purchased
possession, and no one shall pluck us
out of His hands. The
seal given in the forehead is God, New
Jerusalem. ‘I will
write upon him the name of My God, and
the name of the
city of My God’ (Rev. 3:12).” 15MR 225.
“Only those who receive the seal of the
living God will
have the passport through the gates of
the
there are many who take upon themselves
responsibilities
in connection with the work of God who
are not wholehearted
believers, and while they remain thus
cannot
receive the seal of the living God. They
trust in their own
righteousness, which the Lord accounts
as foolishness.”
7BC 970.
“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.” 5T
214.
“The seal of God will never be placed
upon the forehead
of an impure man or woman. It will never
be placed
upon the forehead of the ambitious,
world-loving man or
woman. It will never be placed upon the
forehead of men
or women of false tongues or deceitful
hearts.” 5T 216.
“If we receive the image of God, if our
souls are cleansed
from every moral defilement, the seal of
God will be placed
upon our foreheads, and we shall be
prepared for the closing
scenes of this earth’s history.” SD 342.
“The class who do not feel grieved over
their own spiritual
declension, nor mourn over the sins of
others, will be
left without the seal of God.” 5T 211.
“Those who stand under the bloodstained
banner of
Prince Immanuel cannot be united with
the Free Masons or
with any secret organization. The seal
of the living God will
not be placed upon anyone who maintains
such a connection
after the light of truth has shone upon
his pathway. Christ is not divided, and Christians cannot serve God and mammon.
The Lord says, ‘Come out from among them, and be ye separate, . . . and touch
not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and
ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty’ (2 Cor. 6:17, 18).”
2SM 140.
There are many who teach the truth,
preach the gospel,
and believe and teach with energy the
second coming of
Christ. Notwithstanding, the prophetess
sees them howling
in agony in the time of trouble. While
the 144,000 triumph,
they are without a shelter:
“This was the time of Jacob’s trouble.
Then all the saints
cried out with anguish of spirit, and
were delivered by the
voice of God. Then the 144,000
triumphed. Their faces
were lighted up with the glory of God.
Then I was shown a
company who were howling in agony. On
their garments
was written in large characters, ‘Thou
art weighed in the
balance, and found wanting.’ I asked who
this company
were. The angel said, ‘These are they
who have once kept
the Sabbath and have given it up.’ I
heard them cry with a
loud voice, ‘we have believed in thy
coming, and taught it
with energy.’ And while they were
speaking, their eyes
would fall upon their garments and see
the writing, and
then they would wail aloud. I saw that
they have drunk of
the deep waters, and fouled the residue
with their feet—
trodden the Sabbath underfoot—and that
is why they were
weighed in the balance and found
wanting.” The Present
Truth, vol. 1, no. 3.
We have a duty, and we must do our part
so that we may
receive the seal of the living God in
our foreheads and be
sheltered in the day of slaughter. The
Spirit of Prophecy
tells 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.”
5T 212.
“Those who are distrustful of self, who
are humbling
themselves before God and purifying
their souls by obeying
the truth — these are receiving the
heavenly mold and
preparing for the seal of God in their
foreheads.” 5T 216.
“Every one must now search the Bible for
himself upon
his knees before God, with the humble,
teachable heart of
a child if he would know what the Lord
requires of him.”
5T 214.
“Those that overcome the world, the
flesh, and the
devil, will be the favored ones who
shall receive the seal of
the living God.” TM 445.
“You must learn in the
never be qualified to enter the higher
grade, receive the
seal of the living God, enter in through
the gates into the
city of
5T 502.
“Will this seal be put upon the impure
in mind, the
fornicator, the adulterer, the man who
covets his neighbor’s
wife? Let your souls answer this
question, Does my character
correspond to the qualifications
essential that I may
receive a passport to the mansions
Christ has prepared for
those who are fitted for them? Holiness
must be inwrought
in our character.” TM 446.
“I saw that those who of late have
embraced the truth
would have to know what it is to suffer
for Christ’s sake, that
they would have trials to pass through
that would be keen
and cutting, in order that they may be
purified and fitted
through suffering to receive the seal of
the living God, pass
through the time of trouble, and see the
King in His beauty,
and dwell in the presence of God, and in
the society of
pure and holy angels.” EW 67.
Since the Sabbath is the seal of the
living God we must
keep it according to the commandment if
we ever want to
be saved. Isaiah, the prophet, writes:
“Blessed is the man that doeth this, and
the son of man
that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the
sabbath from polluting
it, and keepeth his hand from doing any
evil.” Is. 56:2.
“And they that shall be of thee shall
build the old waste
places: thou shalt raise up the
foundations of many gen-
erations; and thou shalt be called, The
repairer of the
breach, The restorer of paths to dwell
in. If thou turn away
thy foot from the sabbath, from doing
thy pleasure on my
holy day; and call the sabbath a
delight, the holy of the
Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him,
not doing thine
own ways, nor finding thine own
pleasure, nor speaking
thine own words: Then shalt thou delight
thyself in the
Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon
the high places of
the earth, and feed thee with the
heritage of Jacob thy
father: for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it.” Isa.
58:12–14.
The Spirit of Prophecy speaks about true
Sabbathkeeping:
“If parents allow their children to
receive an education
with the world, and make the Sabbath a
common day, then
the seal of God cannot be placed upon
them.” HS 217.
“When your temporal circumstances seem to
require
attention, you violate the fourth
commandment without
compunction. You make the keeping of
God’s law a matter
of convenience, obeying or disobeying as
your business or
inclination indicates. This is not
honoring the Sabbath as a
sacred institution. You grieve the
Spirit of God and dishonor
your Redeemer by pursuing this reckless
course.
“A partial observance of the Sabbath law
is not accepted
by the Lord and has a worse effect upon
the minds of sinners
than if you made no profession of being
a
Sabbathkeeper.” 4T 248.
“Those who discuss business matters or
lay plans on
the Sabbath are regarded by God as
though engaged in
the actual transaction of business. To
keep the Sabbath
holy, we should not even allow our minds
to dwell upon
things of a worldly character. And the
commandment
includes all within our gates. The
inmates of the house are
to lay aside their worldly business
during the sacred hours.
All should unite to honor God by willing
service upon His
holy day.” PP 307, 308.
“On Friday let the preparation for the
Sabbath be completed.
See that all the clothing is in
readiness and that all
the cooking is done. Let the boots be
blacked and the baths
be taken. It is possible to do this. If
you make it a rule you
can do it. The Sabbath is not to be given
to the repairing of
garments, to the cooking of food, to
pleasure seeking, or to
any other worldly employment. Before the
setting of the
sun, let all secular work be laid aside
and all secular papers
be put out of sight. Parents, explain
your work and its purpose
to your children, and let them share in
your preparation
to keep the Sabbath according to the
commandment.
“We should jealously guard the edges of
the Sabbath.
Remember that every moment is
consecrated, holy time.
Whenever it is possible, employers
should give their workers
the hours from Friday noon until the
beginning of the
Sabbath. Give them time for preparation,
that they may welcome
the Lord’s day with quietness of mind. .
. .
“Before the setting of the sun let the
members of the
family assemble to read God’s word, to
sing and pray. There
is need of reform here, for many have
been remiss. We
need to confess to God and to one
another. We should
begin anew to make special arrangements
that every member
of the family may be prepared to honor
the day which
God has blessed and sanctified.” 6T
355-357.
“God designed that its [the Sabbath’s]
observance
should designate them [the Jews] as His
worshipers. It was
to be a token of their separation from
idolatry, and their
connection with the true God. But in
order to keep the
Sabbath holy, men must themselves be
holy. Through faith
they must become partakers of the
righteousness of Christ.”
DA 283.
Today is the time to keep the
commandments of God. Now
is the time to exalt the standard, to be
sanctified by true
Sabbathkeeping. Now is the time to
overcome, by the help and
grace of God, all our defects of
character and stand firm at the
final test. It is not possible for us by
our own power and
strength to be saved. Let us seek the
Lord with a humble heart,
confess our sins and faults, and ask Him
to do for us that which
we are unable to do, that the covering
may be drawn over us
and we may be sheltered, and have in our
foreheads the seal
of the living God, and be members of the
144,000.
“Now is the time for the law of God to
be in our minds,
foreheads, and written in our hearts.
“The Lord has shown me the danger of
letting our
minds be filled with worldly thoughts
and cares. . . . In
these things I saw great danger; for if
the mind is filled with
other things, present truth is shut out,
and there is no place
in our foreheads for the seal of the
living God.” EW 58.
“Let us strive with all power that God
has given us to be
among the hundred and forty-four
thousand.” RH March 9,
1905.