What is the Seal of God – Sabbath or the Holy Spirit

According to Ellen G White, the prophetess of the Seventh-day Adventist church, the Seal of God is seventh-day Sabbath observance, while the Sunday worshipers bear the mark of Satan. Before you read the following comments by Dr. Philip Moreno, I feel the need to clarify very briefly what the term “investigative judgment” means. This is a unique Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) teaching, which to my knowledge no other Christian denomination shares.

Investigative judgment (IJ) also called the “sanctuary doctrine” teaches that there is a judgment of the professed Christian believers going on in Heaven and this started in 1844 when Jesus entered The Most Holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. SDA’s arrive at this particular year based on interpretation of Daniel’s prophecy (Dan 8:14), which is supposed to be the end of 2300 year period. How accurate and biblical is this prophecy? That requires a longer explanation and another article, so for now we’ll just move on... During the IJ all believers (dead and alive) are being judged and their sins are either blotted out or their names are removed from the Book of Life. The end of IJ which marks the “close of probation” is the time when Jesus has done His atoning work in the sanctuary and after which no sins will be forgiven. This type of teaching obviously requires a perfection of character and those Christians who are still living would have to stop sinning completely in order to make it to Heaven. Here’s what Ellen White says regarding this time:

“Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle with evil.” – The Great Controversy, chapter 24

There is a huge problem with this teaching. It contradicts the gospel which teaches that those who believe in Christ are saved by grace alone. Mrs White says the believers must add “their own diligent effort” in order to be saved. The SDA official statement of beliefs # 24 says pretty much the same thing:

“The investigative judgment reveals to heavenly intelligences who among the dead are asleep in Christ and therefore, in Him, are deemed worthy to have part in the first resurrection. It also makes manifest who among the living are abiding in Christ, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and in Him, therefore, are ready for translation into His everlasting kingdom.” (#24 Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Beliefs)

So ultimately, SDA formula is GRACE + WORKS = SALVATION.

The bible on the other hand says that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was sufficient and final. There is nothing more we can add to it, we ether accept it or reject it. There will be no judgment for the believers in 1844:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." John 5:24

Now let’s review the comments made by Dr. Philip Moreno, regarding the Seal of God.

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Sabbath – God’s seal

The Seventh-day Adventist church teaches that God’s seal is the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, and Satan’s seal on the other hand is the observance of Sunday (EGWhite, 8T p117). Does the Bible support this doctrine and can it stand the test of truth?

Other facts:

• The author of this doctrine in 1889 said that an angel does the sealing. (Mar 211.6)
• Today the officials of the church say that it is the Holy Spirit that does the sealing. (MCaballero Sept 10, 2008)
• The sealing is done after the investigative judgment and right before the close of probation (EGWhite LDE p222), and will take only a very short time (Mar 242.1).

What do the facts mentioned above tell us?

• That the Sabbath is not the seal but is actually the requirement to qualify for the sealing. In this concept the sinner has to obey the Sabbath law first to obtain God’s seal. The seal though is not mentioned.
• That the Holy Spirit is not the seal but is just an agent that does the sealing [with the angel?].
• The doctrine fails to name, describe and pinpoint what the actual seal of God is. It states the requirement and the agent that does the sealing and the time of the sealing but stops short of describing and identifying the seal of God.
• There are conflicting statements regarding who does the sealing. An angel or the Holy Spirit?
• That ever since Calvary nobody has been sealed yet.
• That the Holy Spirit is not yet available to the Christian ever since it was promised in Joel 2:28-29.

The Holy Spirit – Seal of God

What is the Biblical concept of God’s seal and the sealing process?

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Eph 1:13-14)

Let’s focus on the sentence about the seal. “…you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit…” Anybody with adequate knowledge of the English language will testify that the seal of God mentioned here is nothing else but the Holy Spirit, and the Bible leaves no room for an exegetical hocus-pocus.

Facts from these verses:

• Those who will be sealed are those who have heard the gospel and profess faith in it.
• The seal is the “promised Holy Spirit.”
• That this seal, the Holy Spirit, is given immediately after the profession of faith.
• The seal guarantees and maintains the salvation of the believer.

These facts tell us the following:

• That the requirement for God’s seal is faith in the death of Jesus. Paul hammered in this fact when he scolded the Christians at Galatia for attempting to use obedience to the law as a means to acquire the Holy Spirit (Gal 3:1-5)
• That the seal of God is the Holy Spirit, no more and no less. This leaves something else like the Sabbath without biblical basis.
• That sealing takes place immediately on the believer, which means that ever since the Pentecost, in the upper room, the sealing has been ongoing.

Proof that the Sabbath is not the seal:

“Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads” (Rev 14:1-4)