God Wants to Mark Us!

I Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

Body marking is all the rage in our culture.  Tattooing, cosmetic implants, and bizarre piercings are everywhere and on all sorts of people.

Those of us who know a little bit of scripture might quote from the Mosaic Law. “Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos.  I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:28 NLT).  The response we are guaranteed to hear, “That is the Old Testament Law!”

Buffaloed for a response, and in a desperate quest to avoid the taint of legalism, our bluff has just been called, and the Church has become mute on these very practical matters that impact our lives.  Silence.

But people are begging for answers, guidance, direction.  How shall we lead them?

Scripture contains an incredible truth about body marking.  The Bible teaches us two corresponding truths:  our bodies are not our own and God wants to mark us as His own.

Yes, the Hebrews had prohibitions from God about tattooing and marking their bodies for the dead.  Tattooing was associated with pagan worship, and God was trying to raise up a holy nation that was separate from the prevailing influences of the sex and religion cults of their neighbors.  Ancient people believed that cutting and piercing the skin allowed demons passageways in and out of the body.  The priests of Baal practiced this sort of physical mutilation on Mount Carmel before their defeat by the God of Elijah, who brought fire from heaven consuming the sacrifices Elijah offered.

But there were some marks that God wanted His people of the Old Covenant to embrace.  God provided Hebrew slaves with the voluntary mark of the love slave.

“And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; ‘I will not go,’ then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.” (Exodus 21:5-6)

Abraham was given the mark of male circumcision for himself and all of his offspring.  The mark of circumcision became a defining mark in the flesh that identified men as Hebrew.

And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:9-13).

In Ezekiel’s time, God commanded an angel to mark the foreheads of the righteous prayer warriors who were crying out to God in repentance for their nation.

"Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it" (Ezekiel 9:4).

The Old Testament marks of the love slave’s pierced ear, male circumcision, and the angelic mark on the forehead of the righteous were prophetic symbols of the marks described in the New Testament.  Here are some incredible Biblical symbols of God’s mark of holiness upon His people.

•       God wants to circumcise our hearts by faith. “In whom (Jesus) also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (Colossians 2:11).

•       God wants to mark us as His Love Slaves. “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” (Romans 6:22).

•       God wants to place the seal of the Spirit upon us. “Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (II Corinthians 1:21-22).

•       God wants to write His law on our hearts. “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33b).

•       God wants to write His name upon us.  "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name” (Revelation  3:12).  

These are the spiritual marks I must know. Do you know the mark of God’s holiness upon your life and character?  He longs to mark us.