Marked & Sealed
- Feb 19, 2025
- 8 min read
If you've been a Christian for more than a minute then you will likely have heard about the passage in Revelation where those who are opposed to God receive the Mark of the Beast on their forehead or right hand (Revelation 13:16-17). It's a frightening verse, and all that is related to the Beast in Revelation should be frightening, but often times when we focus on this verse we miss out on something important. Look at Revelation 7:3 and you will see that God's followers are also marked, that they also possess a sign on their foreheads. Not only in chapter 7, but also in 14:1 and 22:4 do we find this sign on the foreheads of the faithful. There is a thread connecting this to the Old Testament Scripture, this marking of the faithful on their forehead for protection, and this is what I wish to explore in this article.
This is not to be misleading, because it is all tied together, but the passage that I really want to focus on is Ezekiel 9:4-6, since it ties so well the Revelation passage and other Old Testament passages. The context for Ezekiel right now is that he is prophesying against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah and passing judgement on them as the Lord commands. Specifically in this moment Ezekiel is being given a command by God and the prophet is listening to what he's being told. Here is the Scripture below.
4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in its midst. 5 And to the others he said in my hearing, Go you after him through the city, and kill: let not your eye spare, neither have you pity: 6 Slay utterly old and young, both maidens, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the elders who were before the house.
All those who do not have the mark on their foreheads are condemned to death because they either participate in the atrocities of the culture around them, or ascent to them by their silence. Those who do cry out against the evils and advocate for righteousness are good in the eyes of the Lord and so they are spared from the impending slaughter of the city.
The first parallel, or perhaps echo, or you may call it a reference of sorts, of the Ezekiel passage is to Exodus 12:23-36. In this part of Exodus the Hebrew people are to mark their doors with the blood of a sacrificed lamb in order to be protected from the calamity to come. Those doors that are not marked with the blood become subject to the Angel of Death, and he goes to slay the first born sons of all those left unprotected by the mark. The "face" of their houses has a mark placed on it, just as the faces of the Hebrews are given a mark in Ezekiel to designate them as exempt from the punishment about to come down.
Now I wish to briefly step away from Scripture and speak of some Christian tradition, and tie it back to the mentioned passages again. If you read works from the Church Fathers you will find them speaking about the Sign of the Cross being "given" to you at your baptism, as a gift. It was often, and is still often, called "the seal of baptism" where a small cross is traced upon the person's forehead to signify their marking, just as those in Revelation and Ezekiel receive marks on their foreheads. The seal of baptism provides to us citizenship of the Kingdom of Heaven, allowing us to claim a place among those before the Lord. In the book of Revelation what is being told is, in part, the story of the end times, and so those souls that are set aside by the mark has been read by some as the seal of baptism which spares us from having to be apart from the Lord.
There are many Catholics who will know that the Sign of the Cross is ancient in our faith, it has been part of Christianity since the beginning and has evolved in its form over time. As was just mentioned, in ancient times it was often used to seal those in their baptism, but when you read accounts from Christians from long ago you will find that it was used for much more than that. Take the writings from the ecclesial writer Tertulian (AD155-AD220) where he speaks on exactly this, the frequency which Christians mark themselves with the cross.
“At every forward step and movement. At every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead The Sign.”
Something to note, the Sign of the Cross, which has also been called the Sign of the Passion, was not so large as it is today. While today we start the gesture at our foreheads then bring it down to our chest, then from shoulder to shoulder, it used to be at the very beginning that it was simply tracing the shape of the cross on our foreheads. Roman Catholics will recognize this as something they do when the Gospel is proclaimed at Mass, where they trace a cross on their forehead, mouth, then heart. This was the ancient form of the Cross back to the first few centuries, except that they only traced The Sign on the forehead, and there is a tradition that says this was taught by the Apostles to the first Christians. So, it could be that after the resurrection of Christ it was He who taught it to these men, or perhaps they started doing this sign of their own accord. This is a theory held by some. I find it plausible that Christ handed this sign to them for the fact that the tracing of the cross on the forehead long predated our Lord's incarnation, which I will show to you now.
Return to Ezekiel 9:4 with me for a moment. The Hebrew word used in the passage is not a word which means "sign" or "mark", but was actually the Hebrew letter tau, or t. The Scripture originally says "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a tau upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in its midst." Put a cross on the foreheads of these men. God protected His people with this Sign before Christ became incarnate in the world, and He continues His protection of us today as we continue to make ourselves witnesses by using that sign. In Revelation those who are saved are marked with a seal on their foreheads, the seal of baptism with the cross being traced on our foreheads. In Revelation 14:1 and 22:4 the believers all have the name of the Father and the Son on their foreheads. I don't think it's a stretch to think that when we are making the Sign of the Cross with the name of the Holy Trinity that we are placing the name upon us.
And what of the power of this Sign? Obviously it is not magic, God is not magic. But we Cross ourselves often, and what is the purpose of this? In part it is for apologetics, to identify ourselves as Catholic Christians. This is true, but this is not all it is because Christians were making this sign while they were being persecuted and killed in Rome, they were in hiding, so this was not simply a public way to identify yourself, it is much more than just that. The writer Tertullian also writes about a woman who makes the Sign over her bed, and Cyril of Jerusalem mentions how Christians make the Sign over the bread and drink that they consume. We make the Sign over things, and over ourselves to mark them for God, and to seek out God's blessings upon them. But still, there is more to it than just these things.
Emperor Diocletian, who reigned over the Eastern Empire of Rome, took power in AD284. This was the time when Christians were still persecuted, but was right before what has been called the Great Persecution. This reinvigoration of imprisoning, torturing, and killing Christians by Diocletian took place because of an encounter he had during one of his pagan rituals. Rather than tell you what happened, I will give you the direct recording of the story and explain things afterwards. The following text is called de Mortibus Persecutorum, or on Persecutors' Deaths in English, by a man named Lactantius. I will not include the whole text, and I will add emphasis to focus you on certain points.
Diocletian, as being of a timorous disposition, was a searcher into futurity, and during his abode in the East he began to slay victims, that from their livers he might obtain a prognostic of events; and while he sacrificed, some attendants of his, who were Christians, stood by, and they put the immortal sign on their foreheads. At this the demons were chased away, and the holy rites interrupted.... They frequently repeated the sacrifices, as if the former had been unpropitious; but the victims, slain from time to time, afforded no tokens for divination. At length Tages, the chief of the soothsayers, either from guess or from his own observation, said, "There are profane persons here, who obstruct the rites."
So, here follows a summary of the above text. Diocletian went to a pagan ceremony where demons would normally tell him the future so that he could have insight into what he should do next to be prosperous. In his company of advisers were Christians, and while the pagan ceremony was going on they made what's called the immortal sign on their foreheads and this scared all the demons away. It is because of this, in part or in whole, that persecutions of Christians ramped up again.
What is the "immortal sign" then? Of course, it is the Sign of the Cross. This is to continue the earlier paragraph talking about the significance of the Sign we make. It is many things, but it is also a Sign of power, an authoritative gesture. Evil flees from the Sign of our Lord, and the Sign of the Cross has even been identified as a minor exorcism. It is not something that should be done flippantly, because it carries the power of God with it, and it is a sign of what our Lord has done in sacrifice for us.
And now I will recap the important points of this article. In Revelation we see that all the chosen by God bear a seal upon their foreheads which is also the name of God. We are "sealed" with "the Sign" in our baptism, bringing us into the family of God. In Ezekiel, pointing back to Exodus and forwards to Revelation, only those with the mark, the tau, on their forehead will be spared from ultimate suffering. This mark is the Cross, in whatever way you make the Sign on yourself, and more than just as a sign of your faith does crossing yourself carry significance but also in the fact that it carries power with it.
We should be intentional when marking ourselves with this Sign. Of course do not be flippant about it. But more than that, be intentional, and be cognizant of the the gravity of what you are calling forth. We are marked and sealed in the Lord. We have been given a piece of His power - not something that we can wield against others, but as a beacon to shine as a witness to His mercy. This beacon should draw others into the warmth of the fire, the safety and comfort of His presence. We should be - and if we are not then shame on us -reminded of salvation every time we mark ourselves with this Sign. When we mark ourselves as belonging to the Lord we are given graces to better be like who He made us to be. Don't neglect this grace.
Other writings related to this subject:
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0705.htm (chapter 10)
Written for VME Catholic, by Ethan Hall
Comments