Page 21 - The Mark of the Beast

I Corinthians 15:41-42
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of
the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.

This fourth day then speaks of the saints as they reveal the life of Christ within them.
As a city set upon a hill they are to give off light. As virgins with oil in their lanterns they are
to give light. Even as the stars are used to navigate by, so the saints are to be signs by which
the world can know the path of righteousness, and the way of truth.
There will be much grief on the day of judgment when many saints come before God
having no oil in their lamps. The hour is already late for the saints to allow the light of
Christ to be seen in their lives. The hour to earn reward is almost over, and many have given
only the slightest concern to the matter. Like the wicked servant of Christ’s parable, they
have taken that which they have received and buried it in the earth of their flesh to give it
back to Christ when He should call for it. They have earned no interest on what was
entrusted to them. They have not brought forth increase for the Kingdom of God. They have
no fruit that will abide, and great will be their shame when they stand in God’s presence on
that day.
The lights in the expanse of the heaven then speaks of the saints of God who are set
as lights in the midst of darkness. The saints are to shine brightly out of the darkness. Yet
it is a great indictment on the church today that few can tell the Christians apart from those
who have not seen the light. Christians have allowed themselves to be conformed to a
darkened world, and thus we see that the following words of Revelation are speaking of
those who have been called of God, but who have failed to attain to the image of Christ.

Revelation 6:13
And the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when
shaken by a great wind.

The stars of the sky are the saints of God, and tragically there are many who are like
unripe figs. They have failed to come to maturity, which Paul describes as “the fulness of the
stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4). Since these failed to attain to the image of the heavenly,
they will be cast back down to the earth, for they stubbornly retain the image of the earthy.
Of the fifth day of creation we read:

Genesis 1:20-23
Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above
the earth in the open expanse of the heavens." God created the great sea monsters and every
living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every
winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, "Be
fruitful and multiply, and replenish the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the
earth." There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

The activity of the fifth day is continued on the sixth when God creates the beasts of
the field. On the fifth day that which is created is both below man, in the sea, and above
man, in the air. These creatures are spoken of again on the sixth day, and this makes it
suitable to look at these days together.