• HOW are we sealed?

o John 6:27 “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

▪ Isaiah 42:1 “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.”

▪ Just as the Father sealed His Son with the Holy Spirit, Jesus offers to seal us with the same gift! How does this happen?

—> John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

o 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, (22) who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

o Ephesians 1:13 “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”

o Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

• WHAT is the seal?

o Rev. 14:1 “Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.”

▪ Our forehead represents our knowledge/understanding of who God is.

o Rev. 3:12 “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.”

▪ In contrast, the mark of the beast has the same layout, with different names: 
Rev. 17:4-5 “The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet… And on her forehead a name was written: Mystery [her god], Babylon the Great [her city], The Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth [her Christ].”

o “It is not a seal or mark that can be seen, but a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved.” (E. White, Manuscript 173, 1902)

• What is the SIGN that we have the seal?

o Ezekiel 20: 12, 20 “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.” “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.”

o “Those who would have the seal of God in their foreheads must keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. This is what distinguishes them from the disloyal, who have accepted a man-made institution in the place of the true Sabbath. The observance of God’s rest day is the mark of distinction between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.” (E. White, Manuscript 27, 1899)

o “All who keep the seventh day signify by this act that they are worshipers of Jehovah. The Sabbath is the sign of man’s allegiance to God as long as there are any upon the earth to serve Him. The fourth commandment is the only one of all the ten in which are found both the name and the title of the Lawgiver. It is the only one that shows by whose authority the law is given. Thus it contains the seal of God, affixed to His law as evidence of its authenticity and binding force.” (E. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, 307)

▪ Exodus 20:11 “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

▪ A seal includes a ruler’s name, authority, and territory: Yahweh, the Creator, the heavens, earth, sea, and all that is in them.

▪ When we truly know God, we will know His name, we will acknowledge His rulership as Creator of the universe, and because of this, we will keep His seventh-day Sabbath holy.

▪ It’s importance for us to understand that keeping the Sabbath doesn’t seal us, it is the sign of those who are sealed! They know who God is and want to worship Him as their Almighty Creator.

• God seals us by the promise of His Holy Spirit. It is by the Spirit that we are then brought into a true knowledge of who God is, and will then reverence His Sabbath as a sign to the world that we are His people!

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LASLO

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 believe there is great misunderstanding among (ex) SDA people about Sabbath, Seal and Mark.

First of all, the Seal of God is not Sabbath keeping! 
I know SDA have built a whole theology based on this concept, but it is an error.

We can read in the Revelation what is going to be on the Forehead of the 144000:

“And I looked, and, see, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an HUNDRED FORTY AND FOUR THOUSAND, having HIS FATHER'S NAME WRITTEN IN THEIR FOREHEADS.”
Rev 14:1

“Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the NAME OF MY GOD, and the NAME OF THE CITY of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I WILL WRITE ON HIM MY NEW NAME. “Rev 3:12

So the Seal has an exact description in the Bible. There are going to be 3 names on the Foreheads:
1 NAME OF MY GOD
2 Name of the Son of God
3 Name of the New Jerusalem.

It is quite a stretch to force Sabbath into this concept!
By looking at this revelation, surely “Who God” is much more relevant to the Seal. 
Without knowing who God is it is impossible to be among the 144 000!
Just as a side note, not everyone will be among the 144 000 but they will be saved. 
There are 2 groups and always been 2 groups. 
The first group the ordinary people throughout centuries, they will be saved with a limited understanding of God. They will be saved by Faith!
The Second group is the 144 000, the representation of perfected humanity, they are the Body of Christ, they are the Livings Stones in God Temple. 
If we cannot recognize these groups we misinterpret all the verses and misapply them. 
The 144 000 will be the only group which will survive the last days, and Revelation mainly talks about them because they are the pinnacle/fulfillment of all promises.

“The mark of the beast is exactly what it has been proclaimed to be. Not all in regard to this matter is yet understood, nor will it be understood until the unrolling of the scroll; but a most solemn work is to be accomplished in our world.” {6T 17.1}

“NOT ALL IN REGARD TO THIS MATTER IS YET UNDERSTOOD,”
Little more to understand or a lot more to understand?
She left a door open!
But to believe in EGW understood everything is a simple contradiction of Her belief! 
By the way, there is:

1 Mark of the Beast
2 Name of the Beast
3 Number of the Beast

Focus on the MARK only will not save from the other two!

Surely, the perfected 144 000 will live according to God’s will, so they will keep the Sabbath, but they won’t be the 144 000 because they are keeping the Sabbath, because there almost 600 Sabbath keeping denominations out there and the Jews, not only SDA members knows this truth. 
To say they will all be among the 144 000 is ludicrous!

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