Shincheonji lesson 47: figurative seal

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This lesson’s board is unusually direct: “Babylon = Christianity, Orthodox Churches, Christian churches outside SCJ,” “Mount Zion = Shincheonji Church of Jesus” and “God’s will for my life is be part of the 144,000.” It defines the seal with “Seal = The Word,” says “to seal means to testify” and “To be sealed means to hear and accept,” and says that “At the second coming, the one who receives the testimony and is instructed to consume it becomes the seal (New John).” It says the mark of the beast is about whose words you listen to and repeat, and that “it is possible to already have the mark.” SCJ’s The Explanation of Parables (p. 75) says “an angel seals the 144,000 of the Twelve Tribes through the seal of God — the one who overcomes,” and believers “must be harvested, sealed with the revealed word, and be a part of the Twelve Tribes.” Scripture says plainly what God’s seal is, and when believers receive it.

1. 1. The board names the churches

   After 46 lessons of figures and hints, the board says it outright:

   • Babylon is “Christianity, Orthodox Churches, Christian churches outside SCJ.”
   • Mount Zion is “Shincheonji Church of Jesus.”

   Every earlier lesson’s call to come out, flee to the mountain and find the place now has a destination and a target. Revelation’s Babylon is a world city of trade and power (17:18; 18:11-19), and believers have already come to Mount Zion through Jesus (Hebrews 12:22-24). (See Lesson 35, Lesson 41 and Lesson 44; their new sections aren’t live yet, so the links go to the lesson pages.)

2. 2. God’s will for your life

   The teacher promises that by the end of the lesson students will know God’s will for their lives, and the board says: “God’s will for my life is be part of the 144,000.”

   • Jesus states the Father’s will: “this is the will of my Father—for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life” (John 6:40).
   • God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
   • Paul names God’s will for believers: “that you become holy” (1 Thessalonians 4:3), and “in everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (5:18).

   Nowhere does Scripture say God’s will for a person’s life is to join a numbered group.

3. 3. God’s seal is the Holy Spirit, given when you believe

   The lesson says, “The seal that God wants to put on people’s foreheads is His Word.”

   Paul says what God’s seal is and when it’s given:

   • “when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13).
   • God “also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment” (2 Corinthians 1:22).
   • “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30).

   Believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit when they believe the gospel. They aren’t waiting for a later seal through a new John’s testimony.

4. 4. Revelation’s seal: The name of the Lamb and the Father

   • The 144,000 have “his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1).
   • In the new creation, God’s servants “will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (22:4).
   • God’s foundation bears this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Timothy 2:19).

   The seal marks people as belonging to God and the Lamb. Revelation doesn’t define it as accepting a testimony about recent events.

5. 5. John 3:31-34: The testimony is Jesus’

   The lesson uses John 3:31-34 to say “to seal means to testify” and “To be sealed means to hear and accept.”

   • The one testifying in John 3 is Jesus: “The one who comes from above is superior to all … He testifies about what he has seen and heard” (3:31-32).
   • “The one who has accepted his testimony has confirmed clearly that God is truthful” (3:33). Accepting Jesus’ testimony is certifying that God is true.
   • “the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly” (3:34). The sent one is Jesus.
   • The passage is about receiving Jesus’ own testimony, not a later witness’s account of events.

6. 6. Haggai 2:23 and John 6:27: The seal is on Jesus

   • Haggai 2:23 promises Zerubbabel, governor of Judah after the exile, that God will make him “like a signet ring.” Zerubbabel appears in Jesus’ genealogy (Matthew 1:12-13), and the promise reaches its fulfillment in Christ.
   • “God the Father has put his seal of approval on him” (John 6:27). The Son is the one sealed.
   • The lesson agrees Jesus was God’s seal at the first coming. Scripture doesn’t say the role passes to another person later. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!” (Hebrews 13:8).

7. 7. Revelation 7: An angel has the seal

   The notes say the New John “becomes the seal.” SCJ’s book calls the seal “the one who overcomes.”

   • “Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, who had the seal of the living God” (7:2). The angel says, “until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God” (7:3).
   • In the vision, angels apply God’s seal. No human becomes the seal.
   • John himself ate the little scroll and wrote the book (10:9-10; 22:8). (See Lesson 39; its new section isn’t live yet, so the link goes to the lesson page.)

8. 8. The 144,000 and the great multitude

   The lesson encourages students to think, “Maybe I could be part of the number.”

   • Revelation 7 lists the 144,000 by the twelve tribes of Israel, 12,000 from each (7:4-8).
   • Then John looks and sees “an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language,” standing before the throne (7:9). They “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (7:14).
   • Revelation 14 says the 144,000 “were redeemed from humanity as firstfruits” and “follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (14:4).
   • SCJ treats the 144,000 as a number to be filled by its own members. Revelation ends the scene with a multitude no one can count. God’s people aren’t limited to a quota.

9. 9. “These are the ones who betrayed. These are the ones who destroyed.”

   The lesson says the true testimony will name names and give places and dates.

   • This points to SCJ’s account of its own history, where specific people in a Korean church are identified as Revelation’s betrayers and destroyers. (See Lesson 10.)
   • Revelation’s testimony is “the testimony about Jesus” (19:10), and John is the one who saw and heard (22:8). (See Lesson 43; its new section isn’t live yet, so the link goes to the lesson page.)

10. 10. The mark of the beast: Buying and selling

    The lesson says the mark is Satan’s lies, and since “to buy” is to listen and “to sell” is to speak (from Isaiah 55:1), the mark is about whose words you hear and repeat: “Yes, it is possible to already have the mark.”

    • In Revelation 13:16-17, the beast “caused everyone … to obtain a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. Thus no one was allowed to buy or sell things unless he bore the mark of the beast.” It describes economic exclusion: no buying or selling of goods.
    • Isaiah 55:1 uses “buy” for receiving God’s gift “without money.” Moving that figure into Revelation 13 changes the meaning of a different passage.
    • Revelation ties the mark to worshiping the beast (13:15; 14:9-11). Those who receive it are those “whose name has not been written … in the book of life belonging to the Lamb” (13:8).
    • Believers are “sealed for the day of redemption” by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). Telling students raised in churches that they may already have the mark uses fear to push them away from their churches.

11. 11. “Oh, maybe I’ll stop now and do it later”

    The lesson warns that stopping now means life only gets “busier and busier,” and tells students God “picked this perfect time in my life to study.”

    • This builds a sense of being chosen and a fear of missing the moment, right as the board reveals the course is SCJ.
    • “now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2) is about receiving God’s grace in Christ, which believers already have. It isn’t about not leaving a course.