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The Mark Of The Persecuted

Today we hear about the persecuted church, but it is not only the church, the people of Israel are also persecuted, and many other faith’s as well. As we look we will see that there is a mark of the persecuted.

Genesis 4:14-15 tells us this about Cain, “Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and I will be hidden from Your face, and I will be a wanderer and a drifter on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”  So the Lord said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him seven times as much.” And the Lord placed a mark on Cain, so that no one finding him would kill him.”

According to the Jewish Rabbi Rashi in (Rab 22:12), he comments on Genesis 4:15 by saying that the mark was one of the Hebrew letters of the Tetragrammaton: YHWH that God engraved on Cain’s forehead. If this is true, then God punished Cain, but still considered Him as His own, at least to the point that Cain’s punishment was for Him to determine and not someone else’s. We have seen all throughout history that people were persecuted for their beliefs, such as Daniel, the three Hebrew boys, Jeremiah, and for that matter, all of the Prophets and most of the Apostles. But was it only because of what they spoke or stood for?

This may have been a big part of it, but I think there is more to it.  You have to ask, “Why would people have killed Cain?” Maybe because he was a murderer and once you murder, you may murder again. Was it because Cain’s heart was full of evil?   1 John 3 :11-12 gives us this insight into Cain. “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we are to love one another;  not as Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And for what reason did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.”

John tells us that Cain was of the evil one and all of his deeds were evil. We see that Cain had a son named Enoch.  Do not get confused with the righteous Enoch and later down the line came Lamech, do not get confused with the righteous Lamech. From Adam and Eve came a righteous line and an evil line. God protected Cain, but Lamech protected himself with vengeances. After a few generations the mark of Cain by God, which was for protection, turned into the mark of the evil one, which took matters into his own hand.  So we quickly see two marks, one for good and one for evil. When the antichrist comes he too, will have a mark as Revelation 13:16-17 tells us,  “ And he causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,  and he decrees that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. “

But so will God’s people as Revelation 7:2-3 tells us, “And I saw another angel coming from the east, carrying the Great Seal of the Living God. And he shouted out to those four angels who had been given power to injure earth and sea,  “Wait! Don’t do anything yet—hurt neither earth nor sea nor trees—until we have placed the Seal of God upon the foreheads of his servants.”

Also in Revelation 9:4,  “They were told not to hurt the grass or plants or trees, but to attack those people who did not have the mark of God on their foreheads.”

Revelation 12:17 tells us about the persecution that will come to those who have the mark of God  “So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Yeshua.”

During Hilter’s reign in Germany we also saw a mark. The Jewish people, even babies, had to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing to signify that they were Jewish. Even the store owners had to place a yellow star in the window.

In the eighth Century the yellow star was worn by Jews to separate them from the Muslims in the caliphate of Umar II and this practice carried on through the 12th century in many Arab countries. The Jewish people were persecuted in many ways, even having to dress a certain way,  like the women had to wear one shoe one color and another shoe another color. In Medieval Europe, the Catholics made the Jewish people wear an oval badge on the center of their chest. They were fined if the badge was not exactly right in dimensions or in placement. In every country, they had their own rules and markings that the Jewish people had to wear.

We have seen with Chrisitanity that the cross,  and at times even a nativity scene, or Ten Commandments  had to be taken down because it offended people. Some companies will not even let you wear religious jewelry or clothing. Schools will not allow Bibles or clothing with religious sayings or pictures.  John 15;18-21 tells us, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also.  But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me. “

So who will you serve? Do we think that if we protect ourselves like Lamech we will survive, and still be able to enter into the kingdom? Luke 9:26 says,

“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels.”

Today we see persecution of Jews and Chrisitans on an increase. Satan knows his time is short and he will not let God stand in his way of taking down as many people as he can. So he has to remove anyone or anything that is of God, that is true and righteous. We have to decide if we will stand firm and fight the evil one, or are we going to cut and run.  Many have, and many do, because they are really  not God’s people as Matthew 13:20-21 tells us, “The one sown with seed on the rocky places, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;  yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately he falls away. They, in their hearts, only pretend. Today, look deep into your heart, and determine now, if you will take the mark of the devil or the mark of Messiah, either way, you will be marked.  Make your choice today, so that tomorrow  you will stand tall, and be the light in the darkness.