On the seventh day you must explain to your children, ‘I am celebrating what the Lord did for me when I left Egypt.’ This annual festival will be a visible sign to you, like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. Let it remind you always to recite this teaching of the Lord:‘With a strong hand, the Lord rescued you from Egypt.’ So observe the decree of this festival at the appointed time each year. -Exodus 13:8-10
Today is the seventh day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and it is observed as a day of rest, a Sabbath, dedicated to the Lord. This annual festival, and the obedience of God’s people in observing it, was a visible sign, a mark, which set them apart from all other nations and signified that they are God’s chosen people. God had rescued them from the bitterness and oppression of slavery and delivered them out of Egypt to be a nation set apart to Him. For the full seven days of this festival, the Hebrew people eat bread without leaven (or yeast) and not a trace of it is to be found in their homes. This serves as a reminder to Israel that when God delivered their ancestors from Egypt, they left in such a hurry that they did not have time to add yeast to their bread dough – so they ate unleavened bread.
Later in their history when God delivered His people into the Promised Land, they were instructed to dedicate every firstborn son to God as a sign, a mark, which reminded them that God had spared their firstborn sons from death, while the destroyer angel killed the firstborn of the Egyptians. The firstborn sons of the Egyptians were struck down, and the screams of terror swept through all of Egypt while the Hebrew section of the land was so quiet that not even a dog barked.
The nation of Israel was set apart from all other nations by God and the laws which God had given them. These laws of God are summed up by the Great Commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.”
The people of Israel were instructed to tie God’s commands as symbols on their hands and bind them on their foreheads and write them on the door frames of their homes and gates as a sign, a mark, which reminded them of God’s ways which are pure and perfect.They applied this quite literally by making tefillin and mazuzas, leather cubes that were bound to their arm and dangled on their forehead and small cases on their doorposts, both filled with strips of parchment paper on which the Word of God is written.
Much later in Israel’s history, God’s people became over-indulgent in the land which He had given them, even turning to other gods, defying God’s laws of justice and righteousness, and performing perverted and abominable acts even worse than the other nations around them. The prophet Ezekiel had a vision of a man clothed in pure white linen with a writer’s briefcase. The man received instructions from the Lord pertaining to the small remnant of His people who had remained faithful to Him. This man in linen went throughout Jerusalem placing a seal, a mark, on every person who wept with remorse and compassion over the sad and sorry state of God’s people. Each Hebrew person who was deeply and genuinely grieved by the happenings in the land of Israel and the state of God’s people was set apart by this mark on their forehead, and those who did not receive the mark were subject to God’s wrath and destruction.
Just as the Israelites are set apart by these marks of remembrance, Christians today are set apart by distinguishing marks. A disciple of Christ removes all traces of the yeast of hypocrisy from their life by obeying the teachings of Jesus. A disciple of Christ is marked by their faith that God did not spare His firstborn Son but gave Him up in order to save us from death. Followers of Jesus are marked by their love for God and their love for one another and are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit who dwells, not only on their arm, forehead, or doorpost but in their innermost being. Disciples of Christ are marked because they weep with grief and compassion for the poor and needy in this world and the condition of the Church. You see, although the times and seasons of the course of history may significantly change, the distinguishing marks of God’s chosen people have not.
When the appointed time comes for this earth to pass away and the state of mankind has become over-indulgent, treacherous, and violent, and abominations are running rampant, everyone will bear a mark on their forehead. Everyone will bear either the mark of the beast or the seal of the living God. Those marked with the seal of God will be spared from destruction, but those bearing the mark of the beast will surely perish in the destruction.
If that day were to come tomorrow, what would be the mark on your forehead? If you are unsure, then begin today by walking in the obedience of faith. Receive the free gift and promise of salvation offered by God through His Son, Jesus Christ. If you already know Him, then commit your life to Him afresh with renewed passion, zeal, and willingness to follow Him wherever He may lead you. For this, you will be marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit, a deposit and promise of eternal life and by this, you are set apart as a child of God.
Scripture References: Exodus 13, Deuteronomy4:7-8, Deuteronomy 6, Ma hew 22:36-40, Ezekiel 9, Revelation 7, 9, Ma hew 24:35, Revelation 21:4, Ephesians 2:8-9
Originally published as: "The Mark on Your Forehead" - Reprinted from The Obedience of Faith Blog - Copyright © 2013 Wendy Bowen – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORLDWIDE