p. 9 | A Sealing Message by R. C. Porter

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 22, 1914

A Sealing Message

By R. C. Porter

THE third angel’s message is a sealing message. It seals its adherents for the heavenly kingdom with the seal of the living God.

The seal affixed to a document is its assurance of being genuine. It is a safeguard against fraud. So under the third angel’s message God is setting the seal of his approval upon genuine believers in the message, thus designating them as children of the kingdom. None but the genuine will be sealed.

The Sabbath the Seal

Upon what basis does the Lord affix the seal upon his people under this last-day message? It is upon the basis that they are genuinely sanctified to God.

“Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” Eze. 20: 12. This scripture plainly declares that only the genuinely sanctified are sealed, and that the true Sabbath, the sign of creative power, is the sign, seal, or mark, of the genuineness of their sanctification. The prophet Isaiah, viewing the conflicts of this company just before the close of time, said: “Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. . . . Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.” Isa. 8: 13-17. Here is the same sanctification, with the Sabbath as the seal of the law as its sign. The fifty-sixth and the fifty-eighth chapters of Isaiah complete the picture of this last-day reformation movement, with the people turning away their feet from trampling upon the long-downtrodden seal of God’s law.

A Shaking Time

Isaiah makes it very plain that there will be a shaking time: “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.” Isa. 8: 14, 15. Formal commandment keepers shall stumble and fall. Only the fully sanctified, who have surrendered all for Christ, will be able to stand the test during the shaking time, which removes the unsanctified from the church. One of the sifting agencies will be religious persecution. See Rev. 12: 17; 13: 14.

Sealing and Marking

Then comes the setting of “the seal of the living God” upon the sanctified, and the reception of “the mark of the beast” by those who join in the great apostasy from “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14: 9-12. One class, truly sanctified to God for the finishing of his work, have completely surrendered themselves to him for cleansing and for service. They have counted the cost and have decided for the kingdom of God though it costs the loss of earthly possessions, worldly honor, and even life itself. They are sealed for the kingdom. They marshal under the leadership of the King of kings, who, seated upon the “white horse” and followed by “the armies which were in heaven,” “in righteousness . . . doth judge and make war.” Rev. 19: 11-14. Their victory is sure. “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.

The complete and final defeat of those who are marked as belonging to the great last-day apostasy from the platform of the message, is also assured. “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” Rev. 19: 19, 20.

The forces are now operating which are to cause the separation between these two classes. “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple,” says Christ. Nothing less than uncompromising and unconditional fidelity to the Lord and the message will prepare a people to receive the seal of God and escape the apostasy that insures the reception of the mark of the beast.

The people of this generation face the most momentous issues, fraught with the most serious results, ever faced by any people. Shall we meet them loyally or disloyally? As in the parable, it took all to buy the field, so now all must be laid upon the altar to insure being sealed for the kingdom of God. No storm can drive him from his moorings who has fully reached this decision and is anchored by faith to the Rock of Ages within the veil; no persecution can swerve him from loyalty to God. Have you made the surrender? Will your anchor hold?

The Warning

The warning against the beast, his image, and his mark, is best given by presenting it in contrast with the seal of God in fulfillment of prophecy. This principle is very clearly stated in “Special Testimonies to Ministers,” Series A, No. 2, page 14, as follows:—

The best way to deal with error is to present the truth, and leave wild ideas to die out for want of notice. Contrasted with truth, the weakness of error is made apparent to every intelligent mind.

But while this instruction was given, it was also stated that—

the message we have to bear is not a message that men need cringe to declare. They are not to seek to cover it, to conceal its origin and purpose. Its advocates must be men who will not hold their peace day nor night. As those who have made solemn vows to God, and who have been commissioned as the messengers of Christ, as stewards of the mysteries of the grace of God, we are under obligation to declare faithfully the whole counsel of God. We are not to make less prominent the special truths that have separated us from the world and made us what we are; for they are fraught with eternal interests. God has given us light in regard to the things that are now taking place in the last remnant of time, and with pen and voice we are to proclaim the truth to the world, not in a tame, spiritless way, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power of God. The mightiest conflicts are involved in the furtherance of the message, and the results of its promulgation are of moment to both heaven and earth. . . .

Let us look at the case of Elijah. The time has come when he must meet his mortal enemy, the cruel Ahab, the despot of Israel, the apostate from the religion of his fathers. In anger the king inquires, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” Does Elijah weaken before the king? Does he cringe and cower, and resort to flattery in order to mollify the feelings of the enraged ruler? Israel has perverted her way, and forsaken the path of allegiance to God, and now shall the prophet, to preserve his life, betray sacred, holy trusts? Does he prophesy smooth things to please the king, and to obtain his favor? Will he evade the issue? Will he conceal from the king the true reason why the judgments of God are falling upon the land of Israel?—No; as the messenger of God he must proclaim the truth, just such truth as the occasion demands. He carries a great weight of sorrow on account of the apostasy of Israel. He must hold up before them their defection, that they may humble themselves in the sight of the Lord, that his fierce anger may be turned away from them. Elijah faces the enraged king, and answers, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.”

This instruction is plain, and strictly in keeping with the gospel teaching throughout. The appeal is to be made to those in error by showing them their defects for their salvation, not parading them before others for their condemnation. Acting upon this principle, the sealing message is to be fearlessly proclaimed before all nations, leaving the results with God.