Page 17 - The Mark of the Beast

to the earth becoming formless and void and covered in darkness, so too do we read of the
creation of man, and almost immediately afterwards we read of the fall of man and the
judgment that accrued to him. Even as the earth became formless and void, so man failed
to attain the form of God and his life was made an empty wasteland. Even as the earth was
sealed in darkness, so darkness descended upon man.

Ephesians 5:8
For you were formerly darkness...

Matthew 4:16
"The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those who were
sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned."

The gospel of Matthew repeats the words of the prophet Isaiah. These words were not
declaring that the land of Israel was any darker than any of the other nations. In the natural
it has just as much light as any other land, and more than most since it lies close to the
equator. What Isaiah and Matthew were referring to was the darkened condition of man
that is the portion of all who are born of Adam. The darkness is a darkness of death as
Matthew reveals. God spoke to Adam and told him that the day he ate of the forbidden tree
he would surely die. It is a spiritual darkness that has been the lot of all men, for man was
created to be a temple filled with the light of God’s Spirit, but until Messiah no such man
had been seen.
What then must happen in order for God to bring the earth, and man, back into the
fashion and form which He can declare is good? The first event is to remove the darkness,
and this we see occurring to the earth in Genesis chapter one.

Genesis 1:3-5
Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. God saw that the light was
good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and
the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one
day.

If man is also to take on a form that God can declare is good, then he must also follow
the same pattern. He must receive light, and the curse of darkness must be removed. A
parallel is here seen between the Old and New Testaments, for the Old Testament speaks
of light coming into the earth, while the New Testament speaks of light coming to man.

John 1:4-5
In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John 8:12
Then Yahshua again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who
follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."

John 9:5
"While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."