God’s Fingerprint
Luke 11:20, “But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the Kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Does God have fingerprints? I think, that at least figuratively, we have to say that He does.
Let me give you a few facts about fingerprints before we get into the message today.
In about 2000 BC, Babylonians put fingerprints in soft clay to protect against forgery of important documents.
In ancient China impressions of fingerprints were used as signatures of those who couldn’t write.
Fingerprints first appear on a fetus about 4 months into a pregnancy.
Ps 139:13-16
13 For You have formed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother’s
Womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are
Your works. And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all
Were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none written.
Fingerprints were first accepted as valid police procedure in 1901, at Scotland Yard.
Prior to the use of fingerprints a system of identification known as the Bertillion system was used. The Bertillion system was developed in 1883, in France, and used the following information to identify a person:
A. Length and breadth of skull
B. Length of each foot
C. Length of forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger.
D. Length of the middle finger.
E. Exact size of the ears.
This system failed in 1903 at Leavenworth Penitentiary.
There were two men in custody there, one named Willie West, and the other named William West. They were both committed to Leavenworth in 1903, their Bertillion measurements were almost identical. Strangely enough, they were in no way related. Only their fingerprints could positively identify one from the other. The Scripture that I think we can apply here is found in 2 Cor 11:14-15
14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself in to an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
Now, you may be asking yourself right now just how this applies to the situation that I described. Well, I want us to apply the principle to our Christian walk.
Just because it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, doesn’t necessarily make it a duck. A person can make all the noises like a Christian, put up a good appearance of being a Christian (Know all the right works and cliché’s) without actually being a Christian.
Satan and his servants can fool us by appearing to be attractive, good, and moral people. A lot of unsuspecting people will follow a smooth-talking, Bible quoting “preacher” right into a cult. A cult that will alienate them from their families and into a practice of immorality and deceit. We can’t allow ourselves to be fooled by looking only at external appearances. Our impressions aren’t accurate indicators of who is, or who isn’t a true follower of Christ. We should ask three questions about any teaching or teacher:
A. Do their teachings confirm Scripture? (Acts 17:10-11)
10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.
When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 These were more fair-minded (KJV Noble) that those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with al readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
These verses give us guidelines for how we’re to evaluate sermons or teachings. The people of Berea researched the Scriptures themselves and looked for the truth in them to verify or disprove the message that they heard. We should always compare what we’re told, with what the Bible has to say on the subject.
B. Do the teachers affirm and proclaim that Jesus Christ is God who came
Into the world as a man to save people from their sins? (1 John 4:1-3)
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ
Has come in the flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
Is not of God. And is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was
Coming, and is now already in the world.
We shouldn’t believe everything we see or hear just because the one showing or telling claims that it’s a message from God. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who do just that, they believe whatever they see on TV, or read in a book, magazine, or newspaper.
Christians and supposed to have faith, but we’re not supposed to be gullible. Verify every message you hear. Even if you know the person who’s telling you a and they insist that it’s a message from God. If the message is truly from God, it’ll be consistent with Christ’s teachings.
C. Is their lifestyle consistent with Biblical morality?
Mt 12:33-37
33 Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.
2 Tim 3:1-5
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away.
We need to be looking not only at what people say, but how they’re living their lives before we allow them to teach us the things of God.
So now, back to fingerprints. What’s a fingerprint do?
Well, to start with, it positively identifies a person.
A “latent” fingerprint, (Barely visible, but can be developed for study) is positive physical evidence that a person has been at a given location.
So now, back to my original question. Does God have fingerprints?
To answer that question, lets look at some of the body parts mentioned in scripture.
God has a face: Rev 6:16; 22:4; and many others.
God has a hand: John 10:29; Psalm 89:10-13
God has arms: Deut 33:27; Ps 89:10-13
God has fingers: Ex 31:18; 8:19; Luke 11:20
The 10 Commandments were written by the “finger of God”. This not only gave them a personal touch, but we could possibly make the argument that, in a way, they’re an example of the fingerprint of God.
Next step: We’re the Body of Christ. Eph 1:22-23; 1 Cor 12:12-27; Col 1:24.
As a body we have fingerprints.
Does the Bible speak about fingerprints?
I believe that at least in a figurative sense we can go to Job 37:7 and give a yes answer to that question.
7 He seals the hand of every man, that all men may know His work.
Some word definitions are probably what’s needed here to clarify what I’m trying to say.
Seals: (Kaw-tham’): Mark, seal, stop up, close up, make an end.
Hand: (Yawd): Among many other things, thumb.
Know: (Yaw-dah’): To discover, to know by seeing.
Work: (Mah-as-eh’): Action (good or bad), activity.
In the verses that I’m about to read the 144,000 “sealed” Jews are the specific people being addressed, however the principle applies to us as well as them, and the same Greek words are used in the same context in other places where it’s talking about us specifically.
For the sake of the point that I’m making I believe that we can use the work “fingerprint” in a figurative way, each time the word “seal”, or “sealed”, is used.
Rev 7:1-8 (spec v3)
3 Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads.
A “seal” is a mark placed on something to mark it as private, personal, or for security and preservation. This word is used in the same context in Mt 27:66; Jn 3:33; 6:27; Eph 4:30; 1:13; 2 Cor 1:21-22.
An example of a mark of security or preservation is found in Exodus 12:1-14; 21-27 (spec v 13 & 14).
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and Ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
When we bring this up into the New Testament we find Jesus speaking in Luke 22:20 where HE & His disciples were at their Passover feast and He said, “…This cup is the New Testament in My Blood which is shed for you.”
And Paul in 1 Cor 11:17-32 (v26), “…For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death until He come.”
The Jews, in Exodus & following that time celebrated a physical passing over, because they were under the shed blood of a physical lamb. Today we can all celebrate a spiritual passing over because as believers, we’re under the shed blood of the Lamb of God
(1 Co 5:7) “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
C. Rev 9:4, “And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads,”
1. In this context the word “seal” means a stamp that’s impressed as a mark of privacy or genuiness. It’s used in the same context in several places in the book of the Revelation. In 5:1-2 for example,
1 “ And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?”
Then, when no one was found worthy, if (v5) we find that Jesus was found worthy and did open the book. I personally believe that these seals were pt there by the Father to insure the genuiness of the one who opened the scroll.
So, what is this seal that I‘ve been talking about? Well, I believe that it’s a combination of two things.
1. (Fig) A fingerprint, if you will, placed on our foreheads in the Blood of Christ at the time of our salvation. Think of it like this. At the exact time of our salvation, the time that we actually surrender our lives to Christ, God dips His thumb into the shed blood of Jesus Christ and places that fingerprint on our forehead (spiritually) as a mark of security and genuiness. When He looks at us in the future, that mark’s all He sees.
2. The Holy Spirit who was sent to earth by Christ upon His ascension into Heaven, to protect us, teach us, and to represent Christ on this earth until His return.
(a) John 14:16, “And I will pray the father and He shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever.
(b) 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
21 Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us is God ;
22 who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
Paul mentions two things that god gives us when we become believers.
A “seal” that’s Gods’ “mark of ownership”.
The Holy Spirit who guarantees that we’re the genuine article, protects us and teaches us.
(a) Ephesians 1:13, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
You could also think of it like the paint on a car. The paint’s applied, but without the clear coat it’ll begin to fade and pick up impurities from its exposure to the weather, or in our case the world. The clear coat seals the paint and keeps it pure and free from impurities, maintaining its original luster.
In closing:
We leave “latent” spiritual fingerprints on everyone we come in contact with. Whose prints are we leaving, Those of Jesus Christ or those of Satan?
1. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, “YE are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
2. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.
So, how does all of this apply to me?
As a Christian (a part of the Body of Christ), I need to “know” that I have God’s seal (fingerprint) in my forehead & that this seal is my security & preservation, not only from Satan, but from God’s judgment. It’s also a mark showing God that I’m genuine, the real thing.
As a Christian I must always remember that I leave a mark (fingerprint) on the life of everyone I come in contact with, and I must leave the mark (fingerprint) of Christ.
