I want to share a revelation that God has given me regarding tattoos. To start, I need to say something extremely important. If you are born-again and have a tattoo, let not no one, including yourself, condemn you for having a tattoo. Having a tattoo has no impact on your eternity. In the future, this may change if the reason for getting a tattoo is to show allegiance to a false deity. Today, this isn’t the case for most born-again people. In any case, I encourage you to not get any more tattoos. Even if you asked Father for permission to get a tattoo and he gave you the green light to get a tattoo, I still encourage you not to get any more. If you don’t have a tattoo, then please do not get one. In this post, I explain why you should not get a tattoo and I believe you will agree with the explanation.
I think you agree with me that the word of God tells us which activities are important to the kingdom of heaven. For example, we know the kingdom of heaven values that we remain married until physical death because Jesus’ response to a question about divorce. We know that we should forgive people if they repent for wronging us when Jesus told Peter he should forgive his brother if he sinned against him 490 times in one day. So, what does the word of God say about getting a tattoo?
The first place I am aware of where Father mentions tattoos is in Leviticus 19:28. I quote it here.
You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.
Unfortunately, some people think this passage is irrelevant because it is from the Old Covenant. Or they assume this only applies to getting tattoos in honor of a dead person. Both interpretations differ from how Jesus taught how to treat the laws of Moses. Jesus, during the Sermon on the Mount, said the following regarding God’s words found in the Old Covenant and from the prophets before Jesus. First, Jesus told us to have a deep respect for the law. In Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus says the following.
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
In several passages in the Sermon of Mount, Jesus demonstrates how we are supposed to view the law. For example, the law says a man shouldn’t be involved in any sexual activity with someone other than his wife. Jesus taught us to follow the standard on which this instruction was given: a man should only have sexual thoughts and acts with his wife.
However, I think the greatest illustration of Jesus contrasting the heavenly principle with the law is when Jesus explained why divorce is in the law of Moses in Matthew 19:8.
He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so
Father’s true intent for marriage is that we should never seek a divorce. However, because of our weakness, Father get divorced under certain circumstances.
What is the principle behind the law forbidding tattoos? To help us answer this question, let’s look at some passages where it says God or Jesus will write on us. The first passage I want to share with you is in Revelations 3:12.
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.
Does this passage mean Jesus will give us tattoos? I don’t think so. The new name for Jesus is more like a title or a phrase that describes an aspect of his character or role that we don’t know today. I believe this because of the names given to people during Bible times. In the Bible, people gave names to their children that reflected an aspect of Father’s character. For example, Elisha in Hebrew is the expression “God is salvation”. Whenever people called Elisha, they literally were saying God is salvation. When God revealed his name to Moses, God didn’t respond with Jehovah or Yahweh. He responded with the following from Exodus 34:6-7.
The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.
When Father revealed his name to Moses, he told him what he is known for. This is the same as revealing his glory. This entire incident in which God proclaims his name to Moses started when Moses asked, “Please show me Your glory” in Exodus 33:18. Father’s response was “I will make all My goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.”
What’s interesting about this incident is that after Moses came down from the mountain, his body physically reflected the glory that Father revealed to him. In Exodus 34:30 it says that “the skin of his face shone”. It was so noticeable that Moses covered up the shining with a veil. (Exodus 34:35). To me this means that Moses physically reflected the glory of the Lord which Father made known to him by proclaiming his name to him. Therefore, when Jesus says he will write his new name on us, I believe this means more than writing a few words on us. I believe we will reflect an aspect of Jesus’ character or nature that we don’t know about yet.
I also believe everywhere in the Bible it mentions a name being written on us, it means us reflecting an aspect of God’s glory. For example, when it says, “but do not come near anyone on who is the mark” in Ezekiel 9:6, I believe it means do not come near anyone who Father has identified as reflecting his glory by crying out about the abominations in Jerusalem.
What does Jesus writing his name on us have to do with tattoos? Jesus writing his name on us is his desire for us to reflect his glory. Tattoos, on the other hand, provide the means for us to reflect our glory. When a person gets a tattoo voluntarily, the choice of the tattoo reflects the person’s inner feelings or thoughts. Even if the inner feelings are about the person’s devotion or love for God, it’s still what the individual is thinking. However, the principle is for God and Jesus to write what they want on you. When they write on you it is an expression of their feelings and thoughts toward you. They want you to reflect qualities of their nature.
Getting a tattoo doesn’t prevent you from reflecting Father’s glory. However, it may mean you need to increase your understanding of why Revelation 13:16-18 says the following.
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has [a]the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
This passage simply says rebellion and outright rejection of God will be deeply rooted in our society. This passage uses the term “mark on their right hand or on their foreheads” and the “name of the beast” to show us the extent people will not want to reflect God’s glory. To buy and sell will require demonstrated rebellion against God.
I know you want to reflect God’s glory. You don’t need to do that with a tattoo. Don’t be entrapped with the things the world uses to demonstrate its rebellion against God. Make your focus ministering to the Lord and he will reflect his glory through you. His glory will shine so brightly that others will see it. Some will not see it with their physical eyes but will perceive something is different about you. It will not be anything physically they see, but they will feel it. This will make someone people happy, and others may feel uncomfortable around you. The bottom line is they will sense the glory of God shining through you.
If you need a more detailed explanation of why not to get a tattoo, please watch this video I created on the same topic.