The Wide Path Dropout Mama
The Wide Path Dropout Mama
The Mark of the Father
What if everything you know about the mark of the beast is only half the story? Join me, Ginny, as we uncover the often-overlooked concept of the Father's mark in the Bible. We'll explore how Satan seeks to counterfeit everything God provides, from sacred feast days to authentic prayer, and how recognizing these patterns can deepen our understanding of scripture. Key scriptures such as Revelation 13:16 and Exodus 13 will be our guide as we reveal the cyclical nature of biblical themes and how these revelations can enrich our relationship with God.
We'll also delve into the profound importance of the Sabbath as a covenantal sign between YHWH and His people. By examining Exodus 31 and Ezekiel 20, we’ll discuss how observing the Sabbath is not just a day of rest but a mark of belonging to God, symbolizing obedience and holiness. We'll compare this divine mark to the mark of the beast. I’ll share my personal journey of committing to the Sabbath since October 2020. Tune in for a compelling discussion that will inspire you to live a life marked by love for God and neighbor, and join me next time for fresh insights on a well-known parable of Jesus through the lens of Middle Eastern cultural context.
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Hi, my name's Jenny. I'm a wife, a mom, an entrepreneur and, most importantly, a disciple of Yeshua Jesus. I've been a Christian for over a decade, having studied the Bible for at least that long or better. Until about three years ago, I thought I knew Jesus pretty well. Then my world was rocked. I started studying the Bible from its Middle Eastern context and culture, and what I found has completely changed my and my family's lives forever. Join me as I share all that I've learned about our Jewish Messiah and listen to my conversations with other moms on their own journey with Jesus, as we discuss the practical ways that we walk out our faith in our everyday lives. This is a conversation for the Christian mom who wants more. This is the Wide Path Dropout Mama podcast. Hello everybody, welcome back to the podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. It's been a minute.
Speaker 1:I, on my last episode I said I was going to try to get an episode out every week. Haha, what a joke that was. You know I'm just not going to say that anymore. I I'll just fill you in on a bit of my personal life. I have two young kids. I've got a girl and a boy. My son is 10 years old, my daughter six, so we're out for the summer. I also work from home. My husband and I have a small irrigation business that we operate together, and so life is very busy right now. So I have not had a chance to do an episode, but I wanted to get this one because I felt like the Father wanted me to talk about the subject.
Speaker 1:This is a subject that's kind of overlooked, and until I started becoming a daily reader of the Word and I went through a couple of cycles of reading the Word, I finally started picking up on this notion that I'm going to share with you today. You know, we have always heard about the mark of the beast from Revelation, but nobody ever talks about the fact that the Father has a mark, and he talks about it frequently in scripture, and it's something that people don't talk about enough. I know I myself have never, never heard anybody speak about it before, so it's something that I just wanted to share. It's not going to be a very long episode. It's not going to be, you know, my typical Hebraic perspective, but it is. I think it's something important that we should be aware of. So, without further ado, let's get into our episode for today.
Speaker 1:Today I'm going to run us through several scriptures that talk about the mark of the Father, but before I get into that, I wanted to lay a bit of a foundation down and just introduce an idea to you, if you've never heard this before. But everything that the Father has given us, the enemy also has a counterfeit to. So I'll give you a couple of examples of that. Look at the feast days of Yahweh right. Look at the feast days of Yahweh right, the enemy has elevated these man-made traditions and holidays above the feast days of Yahweh. Then take a look at the idea of prayer. So meditation, meditation is a counterfeit to authentic prayer.
Speaker 1:Now, there's a difference between actual meditation and meditating on the Word of God. Right, that's something that we should always be doing. We should always consistently be meditating on the Word of God, the manifest presence of God, the euphoric feeling that you get when you can tangibly feel him on my face. Sometimes it's the most amazing feeling, and the counterfeit to that would be, you know, getting high, being drunk. There's always a counterfeit to everything that the Lord has to offer. So, with that in mind, I want to talk about the mark of the Father and elevate His mark above the mark that we have heard more about, and that's the mark of the beast. So with that, let's go ahead and read the scripture that we get introduced to the mark in. So it's Revelation 13, chapter 13, verse 16. And it says Okay, so it goes on to talk about you know why you'll get that mark, what that mark's going to allow you to do. But let's take a look at the several scriptures that talk about the mark of the Father, and when we go through these scriptures, you're going to start to see a pattern. And that's one of my favorite things.
Speaker 1:When I started getting into about the third cycle, through becoming a daily reader of the Word and going through the Bible within a year, about the third go round in the Word of God for me, I realized that there are these patterns in these cycles, and I talked about it in the last episode. You know, in Ecclesiastes it says that there's nothing new under the sun. There's a season for everything and there is everything that we see happening. It's already been. There's nothing new that's happening now that hasn't already happened, which it just. That just brings me a lot of comfort. But anyway, back to this idea, right? So there's patterns and there's cycles, and so, as I was going through these scriptures to get ready for this podcast, I picked up on this pattern and you'll see it as well and I'll reveal it to you later.
Speaker 1:But let's take a look at one of the first scriptures that we see that talks about the mark of the father, and that is in Exodus. So go to Exodus 13 in your Bibles, and this is where the Lord has rescued the Israelites out of Egypt and he is explaining to them how to observe Passover and telling them exactly how he wants them to do it, what he wants them to do, and he's getting ready to let them know like hey guys, this is going to be something that I want you to do throughout your generations. Every single year you're going to be doing this, and this is what's going to show. It's going to remind you who I am and who I am to you. It's going to remind you that you are mine, and it's also going to show everybody else who I am, else who I am. So let's take a look at Exodus 13, verse 9. It says the annual festival will be a visible sign to you, like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. Let it remind you always to recite this teaching of Yahweh With a strong hand. Yahweh rescued you from Egypt and then, if you go down in Exodus 13, 16, it says this ceremony will be like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead no-transcript. So we're already seeing that he is. When he's talking about this mark on their hands and their foreheads, he's referring to the Passover feast day. So let's continue on into the next scripture.
Speaker 1:This next scripture is one that is so very dear to me. It's something that when I was first introduced to it from its Hebraic perspective, I took it on as my own and I recited over my family every single night when we're saying our prayers with the kids for bed every night, this is what we say, and this is more than just a commandment from the father. This is actually a promise, and this is Deuteronomy, chapter six, verses four through nine, and this is referred to as the Shema, and Shema in Hebrew means to hear and obey. So it's more than just listen. It means I want you to listen to me and I also want you to do it. Hear me and obey me, shema, shema, israel. So it says this.
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy 6, chapter 4.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, chapter 6, verse 4. Hear O Israel, yahweh, our God. Yahweh is one, the Lord, our God. The Lord is one. Love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart, with all your soul and with all of your strength. That is more than just a commandment, it's also a promise. So when you're praying that over yourself and over your kids, you're saying you're not just repeating the words that the Lord told the Israelites, like, hey, you are to love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength. It's a promise. He promises that you will love me with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your strength. What a gift, right?
Speaker 1:If we, for those of us that love the Lord and we want to live for him, our prayer is I want to know you, like, give me a heart that loves you and that loves your word. And so he's reciting this commandment over them. But it's also a promise, like, if you love me with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your strength, I'm going to give you more of that love. I'm going to, I'm going to give you the desire to live that out for me, because I want you to do that. So I'm going to give you that desire, and that's just so beautiful to me. Going to give you that desire and that's just so beautiful to me. So let me just read this to you, because it's very important and it's just a way that we're called to live our lives.
Speaker 1:Hear O Israel, the Lord, our God. The Lord is one. Love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts, impress them on your children, talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on your doorframes of your houses and on your gates. So here we see it again Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. That verbiage is coming up again.
Speaker 1:So let's take a look at the next scripture. Okay, so I want to tie in what Jesus said when one of his disciples asked him hey, jesus, what are the greatest commandments? Well, he quotes Deuteronomy, chapter six, and verses four through nine. He says in Matthew 22,. Verses 36 through 40, it says Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus replied Love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is, like it Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. So he was quoting the scripture from Deuteronomy and he was also summarizing up the Ten Commandments in that little passage. So we're starting to see here that these commandments of the Lord and these practices that he's giving these Israelites are going to be his mark. He wants them to be as a brand marked on their hands and on their foreheads. So that's not it.
Speaker 1:Let's get into a couple of more scriptures. So let's take a look at the next scripture that I have on my list here, and that is going to be another one in Deuteronomy. So we're going to go over to Deuteronomy, chapter 11. And this comes from verses 13 through 21. And I'm going to read this whole passage and you will hear those familiar words again. So, Deuteronomy, chapter 11, starting in verse 13.
Speaker 1:So if you faithfully obey the commands that I am giving you today to love the Lord, your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. Then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain new wine and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then Yahweh's anger, and here comes our words in verse 18. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up, write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that Yahweh swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. So are you starting to see this pattern? He is basically saying if you obey my commandments, if you keep my words, they will be as a brand, as a mark on your hands and on your foreheads.
Speaker 1:And I want to now get into some other scriptures. These scriptures do not say specifically these will be a mark on your forehead and on your hands, but they talk about a sign. They talk about a sign between us and the Lord. If you do these things, they will be a sign of our covenant with each other. And to me, these kind of go hand in hand, they tie in together. And it's interesting to me that when you take a look at the scripture in Revelation and I want to go back there and I want to read it again, because I want you to see the difference here in what Yahweh is promising Okay, based off of what his mark is going to provide and then let's look at the mark of the beast and see what that mark is going to provide or allow for the people to do Okay. So, reading this passage in Revelation again, let's take a deeper look at this. So it's Revelation 13, verse 16.
Speaker 1:He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark which is the name of the beast, or the number of his name or the number of his name. So it's saying that when you get this mark, you're not gonna be able to buy or sell unless you have this mark. So, and also I wanna point out that the beast, you don't have a choice. If you don't take this mark, you will not be able to buy, you will not be able to sell, you basically will not be able to eat and live if you do not take this mark.
Speaker 1:In Yahweh's case, he is offering a life, he's offering a lifestyle, he's offering a promise. If you do this, I will do this. If and then. If you do this, I will do this if and then. If you do this, then I will. So, if you obey my commandments, I will give you life, I will give you rain on your crops, I will give you long life, I will give you peace in the land that I promise you. He's promising them good life, a good lifestyle, a lifestyle that allows them to love him and to love their neighbor, which creates this atmosphere of peace. And he's not saying that they have to do it, they have a choice. However, there are consequences. Right, they will not have as peaceful of a life they will not have rain on. They're going to have to work way harder without walking out his commandments than they would if they do stay in alignment with those commandments that he's given them, right.
Speaker 1:So let's move on to some of these other scriptures and those signs that I was talking about. So these scriptures are talking about a specific commandment that he's given and he says that when you honor this, this is a sign that you are in covenant with me. This is a sign that you are set apart as holy unto me. This is a sign that you and I belong to one another, we are in covenant with one another, and to me that is something that sounds really important. And he uses words like permanent and generation to generation. And I've said it before and I'll continue to say it Do you think the Lord knows what he means when he uses words and phrases like that permanent and generation to generation? Of course he does. It's us who need to really take stock of what he has said there and say if he said permanent, if he said generation to generation, he knew that he was going to send his son to die for us, he knew that there would be grace, he knew that there would be a time when the sacrifices would stop, because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. But he never said to stop obeying my commandments. He never said to stop observing my feast days. Even Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 17, I didn't come to abolish these things, I came to fulfill them. I came to show you how to walk these things out. So, when we really think about that and what it means, when you're reading these scriptures, when he's talking about this particular act of obedience and this particular sign of being in covenant with the Lord, I myself have really had really evaluated, wow, I really think that this is important to him. And if it's important to him, then it needs to be important to me. And it is important to me so much so that when I found out about this, I started observing it in October of 2020, and I have never not observed it since. And that is the Sabbath. So I'm going to read you a few of these scriptures where the Lord is talking about the Sabbath in regards to it being a sign of being in covenant with him. Covenant with him.
Speaker 1:Let's start in Exodus, chapter 31, verse 13. It says say to the Israelites you must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am Yahweh who makes you holy. And then it goes on to talk more about the Sabbath. And if you go down to verse 16, he says it again. He says the Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever. For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested. So it sounds like the Sabbath is really important to the Lord as a sign of covenant. And that's not the only place that it says that.
Speaker 1:Let's take a look at Ezekiel. If you go to Ezekiel, chapter 20, in verse 12, it says Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us so they would know that I, yahweh, made them holy. And here he's referring to him having taken the children of Israel out of Egypt and how his commandments would be a sign to the nations that they belong to him. And then he goes on to talk about the Sabbath again being a sign between them and him so that they would know that they belong to him and that he has set them apart to be holy. And then it says it again in Ezekiel 20, on down to verse 20. It says keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, your God. You guys, there are so many places that it says this, and so I can't get away from the fact that this is very important to him, and so let's go over this as a whole.
Speaker 1:So we first looked at the comparison between the mark of the beast and then these marks of the father, and then we also looked at the Sabbath as being a sign, and to me, what I'm seeing here is this pattern of the Lord's commandments and his words and everything that he says to do. If we do these things, they are the mark on our hands and on our foreheads. They are the sign that we are in covenant with the living God. They show the world and they declare to him and to the world that we belong to him, that we are set apart as holy, that we not only worship him in our minds and in our hearts, but we worship him in the deeds that we do. So that's going to do it for today's episode.
Speaker 1:I want to just go over and recap what we just learned. So we learned that everything that the Lord has given us, everything that he's given us in his word, the enemy always has a counterfeit. He's always looking to kind of twist God's word and to try to give us a counterfeit of the real thing. Right, he doesn't want us having the mark of the Father. He wants us to take his mark. And what we've learned today is that the Lord does have a mark of his own and his mark is obeying, is hearing and doing the words that he's given us, those commandments that he's given us to live by the commandments that he's given us, to give us an abundant life of loving him and loving our neighbor, just as Jesus told us, are the two greatest commandments, which summarize the entire commandments as a whole, and if we obey those commandments we will have that mark on us, we will have the mark of the Father. So when the enemy tries to come at us with the counterfeit, we've already got the real thing. So I hope this episode has encouraged you today. I hope that you learned something new and I hope that you will share it if you found it helpful or even enjoyable or fun to listen to, please share it with somebody that you think might enjoy it and come back for the next episode.
Speaker 1:On my next episode, I'm going to be talking about something that we have heard over and over. It's a parable that Jesus taught right before he was about to give himself up on the cross. It's a very interesting idea that we have heard it told one way, but if you dig into the Middle Eastern culture and context, it means something completely different and new and exciting. So I hope that you'll tune in for that and, as always, I pray that Yahweh blesses you and keeps you in perfect peace Until next time. On the Wide Path Dropout Mama podcast. Hey, before you go, I just wanted to remind you that you can find me on Instagram at Wide Path Dropout Mama Podcast. I'd love to hear from you and meet my listeners, and if there's any content that you would like to hear more about, please let me know, and I love hearing from you guys and, as always, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to me. I really appreciate it. God bless, and see you next time.