Avoiding the Beast's Mark—The Book of Revelation
Rick
Joyner
We continue here our study of how Revelation was given to the Lord to give to
His bondservants. In Revelation 7, we are told that the Lord will hold back the
four winds of the earth until His bondservants have been sealed. Therefore,
only those who have embraced the life of a bondservant can fully understand
this vision and are assured of not taking the mark of the beast.
One question some have is, does the life of a bondservant mean that we never do
anything for ourselves? No. On the contrary, there is no greater freedom that
we could ever know than being the Lord’s slave, nor is there anything more
fulfilling in life than when we put His interests first. He is the most wonderful
Master we could ever have, and He showed how great His love for us is by the
price He paid—His own sacrifice on the cross.
It is written that the Lord knew us and formed us before the foundation of the
world, and His ultimate purpose that we become all that He created us to be.
However, as He taught, “For whoever
wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake
will find it” (Matthew 16:25).
We are made in the image of God, or more accurately, we are made in the nature
of God. His nature is to love, and through love, to give. He so loved the world
that He gave the world His best—His only Son. That is the highest expression of
His nature, and likewise the highest expression of who He created us to be is
found in giving.
The Book of Revelation is
clear that the time is coming when anyone who will not take the mark of the
beast will not be able to buy, sell, and trade, but those who have become
bondservants of the Lord will not need to because they have the Lord as their
Source. So the main thing we can do to prepare for this time is grow in our
trust in the Lord as our Provider.
This does not mean that we will not be called to do some things in the natural,
such as storing provisions, to prepare for these times, , but we will do these
things out of faith, not fear. Above all, we must learn the lesson Jesus taught
in John 4:32-34:
He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."
Therefore the disciples said
to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to
eat?"
Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish
His work.
When we do our Master’s work, He will sustain us. Jesus walked in a place where
He did not even need natural food and He came to show us how we too can live.
Even if it comes to the place where we cannot eat without taking the mark of
the beast, then we can count on Him to either provide for us or sustain us
without natural provision.
We should resolve, like
Daniel’s three friends who would not bow to worship the golden statue of
Nebuchadnezzar, that the Lord can deliver us from anything. Even if He chooses
not to deliver us, we will not worship anyone but Him.
Being a disciple
of Christ is not an easy life, but it is the path to the best, most fulfilling
life we can live. This is a life of maturing in Christ by “growing up in all
things into Him” (see Ephesians 4:15). After salvation, if we go on to become a
disciple, we will discern the calling of the bondservant. Those who are
faithful servants can be elevated to being friends of God. The faithful friends
can be elevated to being sons and daughters of God—eternal members of His own
household.