Isaiah 58 English Standard Version

True and False Fasting

1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.

3 Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.

4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.

Why have we fasted? Now that is a loaded question. The assumption being that the issue of the fast is a choice we make with the intent to make ourselves heard.

6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily;

your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

When the Lord chooses our fast, we will discover what we have hidden from ourselves.

Let’s face it. We choose to do what we think is right without taking into account what the Lord would have us do. 

The reed that bows itself down has not responded to the breath of God.

Revelation 13:16-17 English Standard Version

16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

All shall be marked. No one is left out of that process.

Revelation 14:9-10 English Standard Version

9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

It is not all who have received the mark but all who have the mark and worshiped the beast and his image. Many who read these passages believe that having the mark alone is sufficient for God’s wrath. This is why they fear the number 666.

Strong’s definition of mark here is χάραγμα cháragma, khar’-ag-mah; from the same as G5482; a scratch or etching, i.e. stamp (as a badge of servitude), or scupltured figure (statue):—graven, mark.

The mark has given way to the imaginations of those who fear it, what it might look like and what form it might take. Ideas have been tossed around that it might be a microchip or possibly a tattoo. Some have gone so far as to imply that it might be the barcodes that are scanned to buy and sell in the market place using scanning chips embedded in our debit cards and credit cards.

Considering the implications and the connection between fact and fiction, we should be mindful that this marking only occurs in the later half of the Great Tribulation.

From all indications of prophetic words, we are not there yet.

If we should still feel like time is running out then do as the Lord commands.

Preach the gospel and call His bride to the wedding feast.