TWO MARKS TO CHOOSE FROM

 The Bible is described by God as, “The book of the generations of Adam.” (Gen 5:1a). That sounds as if it means the very generation of the person, “Adam.” However, it is more than that! It is the ontology of ‘ada  kind who is both man and God.

  In fact, the Bible is not about Adam at all, but Jesus. Adam was prototypical Jesus: “In the likeness of God made he him” (Gen 5:1c). Th generations of Adam is the generation of Jesus. All the while the Bible focused on ‘adam-kind, the real focus was on Jesus, to wit:

⁶ Who (Christ Jesus), being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: ⁷ But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: ⁸ And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Phil 2:6-8)

  If you’ll remember, Adam and Eve, after they ate of the forbidden tree, were no longer in the image of God but became as God in their own eyes. Thereafter they were in the image of Lucifer; not through male ‘adam but female ‘adam who is “mother of all living” (Gen 3:20). That implies that Adam was not the father of all living. The Bible is not only about the generations of Adam-kind but Eve-kind as well; not male and female ‘adams but the images of God and the images of Satan.

  Often Christians say, “Jesus and God” as if He is two separate beings. According to the key verses, Jesus equals God. When anyone sees Jesus, it is God who is manifested. Jesus said to Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Jesus is not the reflection of God but God in the Flesh.

  Jesus was humble; he took on the form of a servant. Adam was assigned that role: “The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Gen 2:15). Adam was to serve God.

  Jesus, in the form of a servant, came to serve ‘adami (men). And Jesus was “made in the likeness of men” Greek; anthropos) — of a different order than angels, animals, or plants. Adam was made a living being and so was Jesus. Mankind is called “human beings” because human is derived from humane — “marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

  The mark of the Beast is “666” and the Beast is inhumane, or non-human without compassion, etc. The Serpent was the first inhumane Beast with Satan in him. Cain was “of the Wicked One” and he was also an inhumane Beast killing his own kind.

  Judas was a Beast because he had no compassion on his Friend, Jesus, and implemented the coup that crucified Jesus. The Antichrist is an inhumane Beast that will come to destroy the “second Adam” (Jesus) as he did the “first Adam.” Beasts are inhumane creatures with Satan in them, and part animal and part demon.

  The Mark of God is on the forehead: “‘Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servant of our God with a seal on their foreheads.” (Rev 7:3). Paul said, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14). Just what is the Mark of God? Humaneness — “marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals.” Webster omitted compassion and consideration for God. Humaneness is commanded:

³⁶ Master, which is the great commandment in the law? ³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Mat 22:36-40)

 

  The Greatest Commandment is the Mark of God, not on the hand, but on the forehead. Humane beings think of God and their fellow men (‘adami) with compassion and so forth. That is what separates men (‘adami) from the beasts. Domestic animals seem to be instinctually compassionate and feral animals, or beasts, instinctually without compassion. Cain was the first beast-man, taking his instincts from Eve (‘adam) and Satan in the Serpent.

  Whereas Jesus is the Son of Man (Mary, ‘adam) and the Son of God, Judas was the son of Eve (‘adam) and the son of the Devil because he had Satan in him.

  Thus, the Bible is about the generations of ‘adam (mankind). It is the story of humane kind and inhumane kind. Humane kind are in the image of God and inhumane kind in the image of the Beast (Satan). Regrettably, the Bible is more about inhumane kind than humane kind.

  Hidden within the Old Testament is the most Humane of any kind. That is God-kind and Jesus is the only One of that kind. The “Compassion of Jesus” is the Image of God serving mankind. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Neither humane kind nor beast-kind can save ‘adam-kind.

  Humane kind is social justice and the works of humane people. That is not saving. Liberation theology is beast-kind and it certainly cannot save but only cause to perish. The only Kind that can save is the One-of-a-Kind, Jesus. He is full of compassion and no one else is! He presented His own Body as a living sacrifice for inhumane kind — the sons of the Beast.

  The mark of the Beast must never be placed over the Mark of God. The Beast cannot mark. It is the mind of people that allows the mark to be placed. Satan only imprints the mark — on the hand as works or on the forehead as thoughts. Evil thoughts are as bad as evil works. Satan marks with sinners doing humane works and thinking that they have saved themselves.

  The Mark of God is neither works of the hand nor thoughts of the mind. It is a compassionate quality imbued on the repentant as a mark of servanthood. The Mark of God is a covering of Living Water that is called the “Holy Ghost.”  Marked by God and covered with His Spirit, the repentant are sealed with a seal that only blasphemy can wane. Yes, God waxes the seal and the Beast’s sole role is to wane the seal of God and cover the Mark of God at all costs. In the end, like Judas before him, Satan will be the sacrifice for all inhumane ‘adami.

  But is that not the purpose of Jesus? Indeed, it is! “Born again” is trusting Jesus to sacrifice Satan for all the sins of the generations of ‘adam. Jesus will throw the Beast into the bottomless pit and all those with his mark as well… into the Well of Souls, right there beneath the Foundation Stone in Jerusalem.

  Satan cannot be cast into the abyss beneath the Foundation Stone until it is again God’s “threshing floor.” Saudi Muslims at the present are in the process of eliminating that rock as an Islamic Holy Place. They returning the Foundation Stone and God’s Threshing Floor to its rightful owner, and when the Temple is rebuilt, then the eschatology of the ‘adam-kind will be threshed out by God.

  Words mean things. That short phrase, “The book of the generations of Adam” seems benign but it is the ontology of mankind from beginning to end!

(picture credit: Texas Monthly)