God's Last and Most Solemn Warning
By C. M. S.
EVER since the fall of man the mark of sin has been upon this race. All have borne that mark. It is seen in man's weakening vitality, in his shortened years, in his diminishing power to resist temptation, and in his inherent proneness to choose the broad way that leads down, rather than the narrow way that leads upward to light and liberty and endless life. We see the mark of sin in constitutions unable to resist the attacks of an ever-increasing number of diseases. But there is coming a day when the author of sin himself will place his individual mark of identification upon every soul in the world save those only who have refused to do his bidding, and whose names therefore are recorded in the "Lamb's book of life." While we may not know just what that mark will be, or how it will be made, yet it is possible for those who wish to do so to know the characteristics of that mark, so that they may be able to identify it when it comes. Against the reception of that mark the last and most solemn warning in all the Bible is directed; for those who receive that mark can have no part in the everlasting inheritance of the saints. It is the last great test over which men will decide their destiny, will decide whether they will be loyal to God or will join in the great confederacy against him. Those who constitute that company which stands upon the sea of glass, having the harps of God, are those who have triumphed over that power which would have placed upon them that disloyal mark, identifying them as the enemies of God and of his government. Of these the apostle says: "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." Rev. 15:2. This is the company whose destiny is everlasting life. They have listened to God's warning, and in his power have triumphed over the things against which he warned them. Here is that warning, the most solemn that has ever been given to the world; for it is the last warning message contained in the Book of God, and it ushers in the last epoch of his work in the earth:— "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." The beast, the image, and the mark,—these are the things against which God warns his people, the things over which the redeemed triumph; and they are the stones over which the great mass of humanity will finally stumble. That a mighty concourse goes down to ruin over the worship of the beast and his image and the reception of his mark, is shown by the following scripture:— "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the beast], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. . . . And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." In the warning of God against the beast, the image, and the mark, and in the insistence of that beast power that its worship and its identifying mark shall be accepted by the world, we see the great lining up for the final conflict. There will be no neutral ground. God will know who will be loyal to him, and that company of faithful ones will be sealed, having the name of the Lamb and of the Father written on their foreheads. See Rev. 14:1. By what sign shall we know the mark against which we are warned? In the first place, it is the mark, or badge, of authority of a power opposed to the government of God. It demands worship— a thing prohibited by the first and second commands of the decalogue. The people who are saved are spoken of as keeping "the commandments of God;" and it is this company against which the beast power is specially incensed, and whose death it decrees. Therefore the beast power which is seeking to enforce its mark upon all the people of the world, is a power opposed to the commandments of God as they stand, and opposed to those who keep them. So, when we see a power which persecutes and threatens those who keep the commandments of God, we have located a power which will have a mark to enforce. That mark will have to do with the law of God in some way. We know what power has attempted to change the law of God; we know what power has sought to abrogate and trample underfoot the Sabbath of the decalogue; and we may know that this culminating test will come through the instrumentality of that same power which has for so many centuries trampled upon the law of God. But the world will have been warned, faithfully warned—is being warned now. It will be easier to yield to the demands of the beast power than to withstand it and triumph over it; but upon those who yield will come the judgments which God has in store for the power to which they yield. To the loyal there is trial, but after the trial, everlasting life. The giving of this last and most solemn warning to the world is the most important business in this world. It is worthy of our best endeavor, of our time, our means, our all. C. M. S.