IT is believed by some that God's seal is the Holy Spirit, while others assert that it is the Sabbath. The writer would agree with both of these classes and would add the further statement that God's seal is His name. Then as the climax of all this, he would state emphatically that God has but one seal.
Some of the readers of this article are doubtless ready to exclaim, "How can these things be!" To make this matter clear is the purpose of the following paragraphs:
The Holy Spirit Necessary.
No ordinance of the Gospel, either in the Old Testament or in the New, is of any value whatever without the accompaniment and cooperation of the Holy Spirit. Take circumcision. It was not simply an outward form. Unless the man's heart was changed, it was wrong to say that he was circumcised. "Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter." Rom. 2:29. In Lev. 26:41, the Lord speaks of His people having "uncircumcised hearts;" and in Deut. 10:16, He says, "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart." See also Jer. 4:4; Phil. 3:3. Circumcision was a seal of righteousness by faith, which is the righteousness of Christ, received by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Circumcision, therefore, consisted in an outward ceremony accompanied by a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit. Yet there was but one circumcision, altho two elements were necessary to meet the requirement.
Both an Outward and an Inward Work.
Take baptism. The Scriptures teach that we are to be baptized with water (Acts 8:35-39); and they also say, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." Acts 1:5. Both are necessary, but this does not make two baptisms, for the Scriptures say plainly "one baptism." Eph. 4:5.
It is the same with every ordinance of the Gospel. There is an outward work and an inward work. The outward work is man's part, the inward work is God's part. God's part is done thru the agency of the Holy Spirit. Man must be willing to do his part to the best of his knowledge and ability, then God's part will be wrought with man. In speaking of an ordinance, sometimes only man's part is referred to, and sometimes only God's part; but it takes both parts to make the complete ordinance.
In the case of God's seal, the Sabbath is the outward part—man's part—and the giving of the Spirit to sanctify is God's part. The Sabbath is rightly called God's sign, or seal, and the Holy Spirit bears the same title.
"Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Eph. 1:13. The Holy Spirit is "the earnest [pledge] of our inheritance" (verse 14), and so is the Sabbath (Isa. 58:13, 14). The indwelling Spirit tells us we are the children of God, that we belong to Him. The Sabbath tells us the same thing. "And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Eze. 20:20. Those who are sealed with God's Sabbath and the Holy Spirit together have their Father's name written in their foreheads. Rev. 14:1.
Sign and Memorial.
A thing is called a sign because it calls attention to, or represents, something. A memorial does the same thing. Therefore they are used in the same sense in the Bible. See Ex. 13:9. The Jewish version of Ps. 111:4 reads, "He hath made a memorial for His wonderful works." Now we know that just as soon as His works were finished, God made the Sabbath, and the fourth commandment tells us for what purpose. Therefore it is plain that the Sabbath is God's memorial. God's name is also called His memorial. "And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: and this is My name forever, and this is My memorial unto all generations." Ex. 3:15.
As it was stated in the beginning that God has but one seal, so it may be stated here that He has but one memorial of Himself. This is true because God has chosen the Sabbath to represent His name. We can understand this readily by a simple comparison.
A man may have several different ways of signing his name. When he wishes to sign his name to a document or book, he spells it out with letters, but when he desires to place his name upon a horse or other animal, he uses his sign, or mark, commonly called his brand. He may choose anything he pleases for his brand, and it may have no resemblance to the characters ordinarily used in writing his name; yet when this brand is stamped upon an animal, it represents the owner's name as truly as the letters with which he spells it upon paper.
God's Name on the Individual.
When God desires to place His name upon an individual, He offers him His sign, or mark, which is the seventh day. As the Sabbath is the sign of sanctification, and as it is the Holy Spirit that sanctifies (1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Thess. 2:13), it is therefore certain that the Sabbath and the Holy Spirit go together. God has blended the Holy Spirit and burial in water together to form "one baptism;" and He has blended the Holy Spirit and the Sabbath together to constitute His seal. "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
As God's Sabbath represents His name, we should naturally expect that a spurious or counterfeit Sabbath would be chosen to represent the name of the opposing power. And so we find it; for in Rev. 14:11 the5mark of the beast is called "the mark of his name."
God's name and God's character go together. Therefore those who would bear His name must first possess His character. Likewise the character of the beast and his name go together. As the beast is agent of Satan, of course the name, the mark, and the character belong to Satan. So the question resolves itself into this: Shall we accept God's character and the mark of His name? or shall we take Satan's character and the mark of his name?
The Manifestation of God's Character.
God has manifested His character to the world in the person of Jesus Christ. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." "But we all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit." "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son." In the Syriac New Testament, it reads, "He sealed them with the likeness of the image of His Son."
This is what it means to have the seal of God. This is the purpose and work of the Holy Spirit. This is the character which God has set His Sabbath to represent. It is no use to accept the Sabbath without the Holy Spirit; and where the Holy Spirit abides, the character will be seen.
The Sabbath is therefore a sign of the character of Jesus Christ in the believer. No one has a right to the sign unless he has the character; and no one can have the character who is unwilling to accept the sign when he knows what it is. Thousands of people to-day have the character who do not have the external part of the sign. This is because they do not yet understand it. As soon as they understand, they will accept the sign, or they will begin to backslide and lose the spirit and character of Christ. So to all those who have the sign without the character, I will say, Accept the character, or you will ere long give up the sign. And to those who have the character without the sign, I would say, Accept the sign or the time will certainly come when you will lose the character. "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." Heb. 10:26.