Mark Master Mason

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Little is known about the captioned title except in the circles of Royal Arch Masons and only then, to the adept RAM.  When one looks at the Masonic family as a family and not as a secret society knowing things that no other group knows (supposedly), then one can see the correlation between the bridge of the Royal Arch transcending the Old and New Testaments, and the Royal Arch finding its being in the Symbolic Degrees of Freemasonry.  So it is with the Mark Master Mason.

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The Mark Master represents a Fellowcraft and the finished work; a work that will either be used in the building of King Solomon's Temple, or cast in the rubbish pile of rejection.  The decision lies in the hands of the overseer of the work, and the Mark Master is admonished to do good work, and "mark well" his work, that he may be paid for his labor.  His mark would have to be distinctive, for there were over 80,000 workmen laboring some distance from the Temple site.  All day long, the Fellowcraft labored, and with pride that spoke of his profession, he put his mark on the stone, a perfect ashler, one to be used in the Temple walls.  He put a number on his stone so that it would be put in the proper place.  If the overseer passed his work, he was paid, and his labor would be rewarded by his mark being etched in stone for all times.

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However, if his work is not acceptable, there was a rubbish pile in strategic locations about the Temple site where all rejected stones were placed, probably to be used as "filler" stones.  These stones were places in areas where visitors to the Temple would not be able to see them, or would be used in another building or inferior grade.  This meant that the Fellowcraft would not get paid as much as he normally would have, and consequently, the Fellowcraft would laboriously long to insure the acceptance of his work.  Even today, as we walk down city sidewalks, we see the various marks of the companies that laid the concrete.  Then there are other walks that have no marks at all, and the identity of the laborer is lost or known only to a relatively few.

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In Ezekiel 44:5, the prophet is told to, "mark well" to insure that only the righteous would enter the Temple.  There was only one gate to go by, and each entrant would have to pass inspection of the "prince," the only one to open the gate, and receive a mark of acceptance or rejection by the prince.  This is further borne out in Revelation when John saw 12,000 from each tribe of Israel sealed for acceptance in the New Jerusalem.  This was the "seal of the living God," one that would identify to the writer of Revelation just who they were.  It is worthy to note that an unusual 12 were listed, namely:  Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin.  Ephraim was not listed as Dan was not.

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Most people are not afraid to study Revelation, for the fear comes upon those that have seen and did not see, and had heard and did not hear.  The book of Revelation is a rewarding book for the true Mark Master Mason, for John did not see the Gentiles, or some of the other Hebrews that have died in the name of the Lord.  Surely we would not be so naive to believe that only 144,000 from the 12 Tribes of Israel would make it in.  John kept looking and saw a greater number from, "all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues..."  When the question was asked, "What are these which are arrayed in white robes?," the answer came back fulfilling the prophecies of a reward waiting up yonder, "There are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb."

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What is the reward for the Mark Master Mason, the true one?  It is the same as the one for all righteous people, eternal life around God's throne.  If the stone worker has done his work good, the stones are accepted for the "spiritual building, not made by human hands, but eternal in the heavens."  Bad work is heaved over to a lake of fire.