Untitled article by Dexter Daniels

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, November 26, 1867

MARK OF THE BEAST.

By Dexter Daniels

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

Some tell us that we cannot tell what the mark of the beast is. But it does not look consistent to me that God should threaten his creatures with such awful punishment if they worship the beast, and receive his mark, if no one can tell what that mark is. It would seem unjust in God to punish a man without mercy for what he could not understand. But if God has not given us some rule whereby we can tell what that mark is, we must remain in ignorance as to what constitutes this mark. But we think that God has given us a rule in his word, whereby we may understand it.

God has a sign to distinguish between his true people and the world. And it seems to me, that if we can find what constitutes the sign between God and his true people, we may find by the same rule, what constitutes the sign of the beast. But we find the sign that God has given to his true people, in Deut. v and vi. In the 5th chapter we find the ten commandments repeated unto the children of Israel by Moses, and in the 6th chapter he says, “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up; and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.”

Here it is, in the forehead and upon the hand. It is the holy law of God lived out in the life. “And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thine house, and on thy gates.” As the blood of the lamb was a sign to shield the children of Israel from the destroying angel, Ex. xii, 1-13, so the holy law of God lived out in our lives will be our shield and buckler in the seven last plagues. “His truth will be thy shield and buckler.” Ps. xci, 4. “The law of God is the truth.” Ps. cxix, 142. “Bind up the testimonies. Seal the law among my disciples.” Isa. viii, 16. This is the mark of God in the forehead and in the hand.

Now what is the mark of the beast? It must be counterfeit commandments, that pass for the commandments of God. Most of the churches believe that the ten commandments of God are in full force now, but they hold the counterfeit for the genuine. Satan is a counterfeiter. He has always since his fall been at his work, counterfeiting the most important work of God, and passing it off, among cold-hearted professors, for the genuine. They live so far from God that they do not understand the difference. Satan has counterfeited baptism, he has counterfeited the power of God. The seventh day is the genuine Sabbath; but the counterfeit is in circulation. Immersion is the true baptism, but the counterfeit is in circulation. The power of God is manifested in his church; but the counterfeit is in the world to be passed to those who do not know the difference. But God’s true, loyal people understand the genuine commandments, and they understand the counterfeit. They do not study the detector, so they do not know the difference. If they keep the counterfeit Sabbath, they know that they have the sign of the beast in the forehead and in the hand. They know that to whom they yield themselves servants to obey, his servants they are to whom they obey.

But the mark of God is his true holy Sabbath. God says, “I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign, (or mark) between me and them, that they may know that I am the Lord, that sanctify them.” Eze. xx, 12-20; Eze. xxxi, 13-17. God has commanded his people to

keep his holy law all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they teach their children. Deut. iv, 9-13.

God is a merciful God. He is too good to punish his creatures without mercy before he has revealed to them his will. The mark of God is in his holy law. Deut. vi, 1-9; and the mark of the beast is the counterfeit; for he has thought to change God’s law. He has counterfeited it. Dan. vii, 25. And blessed will that man be that will repair the breach in the holy law of God, that the man of sin has made, and keep the genuine Sabbath. Isa. lviii, 12-14. Blessed will that man be that will keep the true Sabbath, and take hold of the holy covenant of God. Even them, God says he will bring to his holy mountain. Isa. lvi, 1-7. Blessed will they be who keep the holy commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. They will have right to the tree of life; they will enter in through the gates into the city. Rev. xxii, 14. The Holy One will say, Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation that keepeth the truth may enter in. Isa. xxvi, 2; Ps. cxviii, 19, 20.

I want to be one that shall enter in. I am trying to overcome all my besetments that I may go in with all the loyal people of God into the holy city. I have many trials to pass through, but I am not discouraged. I am sometimes cast down, but not destroyed. I know that it is through much tribulation that we must enter into that holy city. I love the truth for this time. The Health Reform has been a great blessing to me, and I am trying to live it out. I believe it is a part of the third angel’s message. I believe that God is in it, and is purifying unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

DEXTER DANIELS.