Automatic Transcript Generated
Speaker 1
Let’s get our next question up here. So Philippe is asking, was the grave flood done by God or was it performed by Satan?
Speaker 2
And seems like a simple question, Felipe, but I know it has profound ramifications, perhaps. So let’s take a look. So, short answer is by God. Genesis 67 so the Lord said, I will destroy man who I have created from the face of the earth both man and beast, creepy thing and birds, and on and on. Genesis 613 and God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the Earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the Earth. And I want to emphasize here that God destroys. Yes, we’re going to look at even some more examples of this, but there’s a difference between destruction by God and destruction by Satan. I believe we have both of those forces going on. And when Satan does it, he just likes to destroy things. He likes to hurt things. He loves to cause death. And if you do a study of the Bible, in a sense, Satan is one who’s taken advantage of the power of death. He realizes that breaking the law leads to sin and death, and thus he tries to get us to sin, tries to then get us to die.
Speaker 2
That’s what he wants to do. And he glories yeah, just revels in it. Loves it. Every time someone dies, I’m sure he throws a little party almost in his heart. God destroys, but he does it as a matter of executing a judgment. It’s almost the difference between what if a cop just runs up, grabs you and throws you in prison versus, okay, so that’s one example. What about a cop arrests you, you then go before court. You have a jury, you have a judge, you have a trial. And then the judge says, okay, yeah, you broke the law. You now need to go to prison. There’s a big difference between the two end result you both end up in prison. Right? But the second one, you had due process, and God follows due process. God doesn’t just act arbitrarily and just lock us up. God gives us warnings. God does whatever he can to avoid it. But then the time I come where God executes a judgment, he says, you have gone so far. I need to stop you from what you’re doing because it’s just absolutely unacceptable. I can’t tolerate this anymore. And that’s what happened at the time of the flood.
Speaker 2
It got so bad, so wicked. God said, I have to destroy even the Earth, my beautiful Earth that I made. I have to even destroy that to get rid of mankind because they’re so wicked.
Speaker 1
And he’s sorry about that.
Speaker 2
And he is sorry about that. Yeah, I kind of skipped over that on genesis 67 says he was sorry about that. But Genesis 63, Jesus says, and the Lord said my spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years. And a lot of people read this as God’s shortening people’s lifespan, and that’s reasonable interpretation of this. But also God gave about 120 years of warning after this point when God decided he’s going to send the flood and Noah’s building the ark, he’s saying there’s going to be big rain coming. So God gives this huge warning that everybody had knowledge about and they made a decision not to get into the ark. God provided a way out of it. People didn’t have to die, they chose not to go in. That’s the difference between God and Satan. So Psalm 145 20. It reads, the Lord preserves all them that love him, but all the wicked he shall destroy. Lamentations 322 the Lord’s mercies are through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. We are new every morning great is your faithfulness.
Speaker 2
And two Peter, chapter three. I love this verse, verse nine. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And this verse is also in the context of talking about the time of the flood. God doesn’t want anybody to die. He does what he can, but at some point he executes his judgment because that’s the right thing to do. And Revelation tells us there’ll be a time where everybody will say like, yes, God, your judgments are true, they’re right, they’re good. There’s no other like God, who’s no other better judge than Him. So hope that answers the question. Great question. Next question. Or do you have thoughts too?
Speaker 3
No, I mean, I think that’s pretty concise summary. The flood is always such an interesting story to me because it’s a sign pointing towards the second coming of Christ. And so that’s always so important to remember that story and to think about, you know, what brought it about and why it happened, and just kind of thinking that we’re kind of in that same situation. There is a flood coming, but it’s not water, it’s the coming of Christ, and he’s going to come soon. And so we need to get in that ark, which is Jesus, which is our Savior, and we’re only safe in Him.
Speaker 2
And actually, that’s interesting thought. You talked about how the flood points to the end, so does Sodom and Gomorrah. And in that situation it says, the fire and brimstone reign from God, from out of heaven. So God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah. And then another one that represents the end times is the plagues against Egypt. And again, it keeps saying God was bringing those things. There was even an angel of death there playing them. And some might read that even as it was the angel of Jehovah himself.
Speaker 3
Definitely.
Speaker 1
All right, let’s go ahead and get our next question up. So Raymond is asking, what is the mark of the beast?
Speaker 3
Well, my friend Raymond, that is a loaded question. There is a simple answer and there is a long answer. So I don’t know if we have time for too big of an answer today, but basically, when you’re looking at the mark of the beast, you really need to be looking at the whole verse. I’m guessing you’re looking at Revelation chapter 13, and if you look in verse 15, it says something very interesting that really points to what is this image of the beast and kind of its nature. So if you don’t mind, can we pull up Revelation 1315? Thank you. And it says, he was granted power. So this is the beast, sorry, the second beast was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. So really the issue here is an issue of worship, right? It’s saying that you have to worship the image of the beast.
Speaker 2
I heard that word earlier today.
Speaker 3
Yeah, the word worship.
Speaker 2
Yes.
Speaker 3
This is so key. Worship is really the key to our lives. And as far as where we’re going, whose person we are, are we gods? Do we worship God or do we worship Him not? And that’s really kind of what it comes down to. So as far as the mark of the beast goes, a lot of people are like, oh, it’s this image, like maybe it’s a barcode, or now people are saying it’s the vials from the vaccine because it’s a computer chip they’re going to implant in you. There’s all these things like physical things that they’re talking about as far as being the image. But when it comes to the image of the beast, really it comes down to an issue of worship, which is very interesting because if you look at the word for the image, it’s the word elkhome, which is Greek for basically a likeness of something. It’s the same word that Jesus used when he was talking about the image of Caesar on a coin, but it’s also talking about Jesus being the likeness of God in other verses and reflecting his character. And so really it’s do we have a system of worship where we love God, where we’re worshiping God, or do we have a system of worship where we’re just doing things that are not in harmony with God and his character?
Speaker 3
And so as far as what is God’s character, then? What is a transcript of God’s character? Well, that would definitely be what he wrote in Tables of Stone being the Ten Commandments that we see on Mount Sinai. Because again, going back to love, god says, if you love me, keep my commandments. And so the sign that Israel had between God and his people was keeping the fourth commandment, the 7th day Sabbath. You see that in Ezekiel chapter 20, verse 20, that that would be a sign between God and his people. So to me, what I see the mark of the beast pointing to is basically a breaking of God’s law, not showing God that love by breaking his law. And the way that we really see that the only commandment that really that’s different than any other law that God writes because thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, those are in harmony with most any law of the land. But the Sabbath day is a very special law of God. And so to me, I see the mark of the beast being a violation of God’s law, specifically of the 7th day Sabbath.
Speaker 3
As you see in like it says that the Sabbath is a sign or a symbol between God and his people. And you see that multiple places in the Bible, but especially in Ezekiel, chapter 20, verse 20. And so this false system of worship would be something that is calling us out of worshiping the true God, the way that he states he wants to be worshiped, following the Ten Commandments into a false system, whether that be a Sunday law or some other law enforcing us to break God’s commandment.
Speaker 2
Any other exactly, you hit the key points and yeah, the Bible is so nice in that it always gives us these dichotomies. So if you know one, you almost can know the other. So yeah, if you know the seal of God, you know that it’s worshipping Him by loving Him, by keeping his commandments, like all the same thing in a sense, then you know that the opposite is going to be more or less the mark of the beast.
Speaker 3
Exactly. And just reiterating what you just said, that God’s people who don’t have the mark of the beast, you see them in Revelation 14, verse twelve. It says and here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus. And so those are God’s people who show who he is in the end of time and don’t receive the mark because they are faithful and true to God in his law.
Speaker 2
And talk about image, we’re supposed to be in the image of God and if God is love, we need to be love also. It just keeps coming back to that one concept love.
Speaker 3
Amen.
Speaker 2
Everything makes sense. It does.
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In His Service
BibleAsk Team
