REVELATION 14
9. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb;
How does someone worship the Beast? Mankind was created on the 6th day with the animals or beasts. When Adam and Eve sinned, we inherited a sin nature from them. We also have a fleshly nature that wants its way like the animals. They basically want to eat and sleep all the time. Dogs love to bark all the time. And they would mate whenever they get the opportunity.
We have been created in the image of the Father. We are a 3-fold being – soul (heart) – mind (intellect) – body (flesh). We have been created to worship and love the Father, Sun and Holy Spirit with each part. How do we do that?
- Soul (Heart) – We are to love Him with all of our emotions so that we follow His ways and obey His commands, seeking His face because we want to with all our desire.
- Mind (Intellect) – We are to love Him with all of our mind by keeping it set apart and cleansed for Him. We are to allow no contaminating influences in our mind. We want the mind of Christ, so we are in agreement with Him. Satan speaks to the mind. We must be on guard always to kick him out and not believe his lies all the while being separate from the world.
- Body (Flesh) – We are to subdue the flesh by mortification, Romans 8:13. That means the flesh must die to its wants. We must stop feeding the flesh what it craves. If you have a plant, you must feed it sun and water to live. If you stop feeding it, it will die. The same with the flesh. We must tell it no or we will be bound by all manner of addictions. This is part of our worship. If the flesh is left to itself, self would be on the throne and lead us away from God.
Jesus and the Father come to dwell in hearts that are obeying His Word and commands, John 14:23. If Jesus does not sit on the throne of our hearts, then we are an open prey for Satan to come and deceive and bring 7 more with Him which is the Beast of Revelation 12-13. He is the master of deception and will make you think he is Jesus.
Satan will copy Jesus in every way, speaking wonderful lying wonders, masquerading as an angel of light. He will have his people marked with his name or character by their thoughts in the mind and the works of their hands. Thus, they will be spiritually marked doing homage to the beast and serving him as they are doing his will.
This angel is telling us that this is the time to worship the Lord because of the judgment that is at hand. Worship is our safe place. We must take an inventory of our mind, soul and body and find out who is reigning. What is our character? Who are we most like, Jesus or Satan? What a sad question to ask. But now is the time to ask it. How you spend your time will answer the question.