Revelation 14-
VERSE 6. And I saw
another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to
preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people, 7. Saying with a loud
voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come:
and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of
waters. 8. And there followed another angel,
saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all
nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If
any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead,
or in his hand, 10. The same shall drink of the wine of
the wrath of God, 'which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his
indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever:
and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and
whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. 12. Here is
the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God,
and the faith of Jesus.
(Excerpt from Daniel
and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897-1911)
The First Message.
- Another scene and another chain of prophetic events is introduced in
these verses. We know that this is so, because the preceding verses of this
chapter describe a company of the redeemed in the immortal state - a scene
which constitutes a part of the prophetic chain commencing
p 632 --
(picture omitted)
p 633 -- with the
first verse of chapter 12, and with which that chain of events closes; for no
prophecy goes beyond the immortal state; and whenever we are brought in a line
of prophecy to the end of the world, we know that that line there ends, and that
what is introduced subsequently belongs to a new series of events. The
Revelation in particular is composed of these independent prophetic chains, as
has already been set forth, of which fact, previous to this instance, we have
had a number of examples.
The messages
described in these verses are known as "the three angel's messages of
Revelation 14." We are justified in applying to them the ordinals, first
second, and third, by the prophecy itself; for the last one is distinctly
called "the third angel," from which it follows that the one
preceding was the second angel; and the one before that, the first angel.
These angels are
evidently symbolic; for the work assigned them is that of preaching the
everlasting gospel to the people. But the preaching of the gospel has not been
entrusted to literal angels; it has been committed unto men, who are
responsible for this sacred trust placed in their hands. Each of these three
angels, therefore, symbolizes a body of religious teachers, who are
commissioned to make known to their fellow men the special truths which
constitute the burden of these messages respectively.
But we are to
consider further that angels, literally, are intensely interested in the work
of grace among men, being sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of
salvation. And as there is order in all the movements and appointments of the
heavenly world, it may not be fanciful to suppose that a literal angel has
charge and oversight of the work of each message. Heb. 1:14; Rev. 1:1; 22:16.
In these symbols we
see the sharp contrast the Bible draws between earthly and heavenly things.
Wherever earthly governments are to be represented, - even the best of them, -
the most appropriate symbol that can be found is a cruel and ravenous wild beast;
but when the work of God is to be set forth, an angel, clad in beauty and girt
with power, is taken to symbolize it.
p 634 -- The
importance of the work set forth in the verses last quoted will be apparent to
any one who will attentively study them. Whenever these messages are due, and
are proclaimed, they must, from the very nature of the case, constitute the
great theme of interest for that generation. We do not mean that the great mass
of mankind then living will give them attention; for in every age of the world,
the present truth for that time has been generally overlooked; but they will
constitute the theme to which the people would pay most earnest regard if they
were awake to that which concerns their highest interests. When God commissions
his ministers to announce to the world that the hour of his judgment is come,
that Babylon has fallen, and that whoever worships the beast and his image must
drink of his wrath poured out unmingled into the cup of his indignation, - a
threatening more terrible than any other which can be found in the Scriptures
of truth, - no man, except at the peril of his soul, can treat these warnings
as nonessential, passing them by with neglect and disregard. Hence the
necessity for the most earnest endeavor in every age, and especially in the
present age, when so many evidences betoken the soon-coming of earth's final
crisis, to understand the work of the Lord, lest we lose the benefit of the
present truth.
This angel of Rev.
14:6 is called "another angel," from the fact that John had
previously seen an angel flying through heaven in a similar manner, as
described in chapter 8:13, proclaiming that the last three of the series of
seven trumpets were woe trumpets. This was near the close of the sixth century.
(See under chapter 8:12.)
The first point to
be determined is the chronology of this message. When may the proclamation,
"The hour of his judgment is come," be consistently expected? The
bare possibility that it may be in our own day renders it very becoming in us
to examine this question with serious attention; but the great probability,
nay, more, the positive proof that this is so, which will appear in the
development of this argument, should set every pulse bounding, and every heart
beating high with a sense of the thrilling importance of this hour.
p 635 -- Three
positions only are possible on this question of the chronology of this
prophecy, and as might be expected, all of them are taken by different
expositors. These positions are (1) That this
message has been given in the past; as, first, in the days of the apostles; or
secondly, in the days of the Reformers; (2) that
it is to be given in a future age; or (3) that it
belongs to the present generation.
We inquire, first,
respecting the past. The very nature of the message forbids the idea that it
could have been given in the apostles' days. They did not proclaim that the
hour of God's judgment had come. If they had, it would not have been true, and
their message would have been stamped with the infamy of falsehood. They did
have something to say, however, respecting the judgment; but they pointed to an
indefinite future for its accomplishment. In Matt. 10:15; 11:21-24, a quotation
from Christ's own words, the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre, Sidon,
Chorazin, and Capernaum, was located indefinitely in the future from that day.
Paul declared to the superstitious Athenians that God had appointed a day in
which he would judge the world. Acts 17:31. He reasoned before Felix "of
righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come." Acts 24:25. To the
Romans he wrote, directing their minds forward to a day when God should judge
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Rom. 2:16. He pointed the Corinthians
forward to a time when we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. 2
Cor. 5:10. James wrote to the brethren scattered abroad that they were, at some
time in the future, to be judged by the law of liberty. James 2:12. And both
Peter and Jude speak of the first rebel angels as reserved unto the judgment of
the great day, still in the future at that time (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6), to which
the ungodly in this world are also reserved. 2 Peter 2:9. How different is all
this from ringing out upon the world the startling declaration that "the
hour of his judgment is come!" - a sound which must be heard whenever the
solemn message before us is fulfilled.
From the days of the
apostles nothing has taken place which any one, so far as we are aware, could
construe into a suggestion
p 636 -- of the
fulfilment of the message, till we come to the Reformation of the sixteenth
century. Here some seem disposed to make quite a determined stand, claiming
that Luther and his colaborers gave the first message, and that the two
following messages have been given since his day. This is a question to be to
be decided by historical fact rather than by argument; and hence we inquire for
the evidence that the Reformers made any such proclamation. Their teaching has
been very fully recorded, and their writings preserved. When and where did they
arouse the world with the proclamation that the hour of God's judgment had
come? We find no record that such was the burden of their preaching at all. On
the contrary, it is recorded of Luther that he placed the judgment some three
hundred years in the future from his day. Such records ought to be decisive, so
far as the Reformers are concerned.
The foregoing
considerations being sufficient to forbid utterly the application of the
message to the past, we now turn to that view which locates it in a future age.
By "future age" is meant a period subsequent to the second advent;
and the reason urged for locating the message in that age is the fact that John
saw the angel flying through heaven, immediately after having seen the Lamb
standing on Mount Zion with the 144,000, which is a future event. If the book
of Revelation were one consecutive prophecy, there would be force in this
reasoning; but as it consists of a series of independent lines of prophecy, and
as it has already been shown that one such chain ends with verse 5 of this
chapter, and a new one begins with verse 6, the foregoing view cannot be urged.
To show that the message cannot have its fulfilment in a future age, it will be
sufficient to remark: -
1. The apostolic commission extended only to the
"harvest," which is the end of the world. If, therefore, this angel
with the "everlasting gospel" comes after that event, he preaches
another gospel, and subjects himself to the anathema of Paul in Gal. 1:8.
2. The second message cannot, of course, be given before the first;
but the second message announces the fall of Babylon, and a voice is heard from
heaven after that, saying,
p 637 -- "Come
out of her, my people." How absurd to locate this after the second advent
of Christ, seeing that all God's people, both living and dead, are at that time
caught up to meet the Lord in the air, to be thenceforth forever with him. They
cannot be called out of Babylon after this. Christ does not take them to
Babylon, but to the Father's house, where there
are many mansions.
John 14: 2, 3.
3. A glance at the third angel's message, which must be fulfilled
in a future age if the first one is, will still further show the absurdity of
this view. This message warns against the worship of the beast, which refers,
beyond question, to the papal beast. But the papal beast is destroyed and given
to the burning flame when Christ comes. Dan. 7:11; 2 Thess. 2:8. He goes into
the lake of fire at that time, to disturb the saints of the Most High no more.
Rev. 19:20. Why will people involve themselves in the absurdity of locating a
message against the worship of the beast at a time when the beast has ceased to
exist, and his worship is impossible?
In verse 13 of
Revelation 14, a blessing is pronounced upon the dead which die in the Lord
"from henceforth;" that is, from the time the third message begins to
be given. This is a complete demonstration of the fact that the message must be
given prior to the first resurrection; for after that event all who have a part
therein (and this includes all, both living and dead, who are not assigned to
the second death) become as the angels of God, and can die no more. We
therefore dismiss this view concerning the future age as unscriptural, absurd,
and impossible.
We are now prepared
to examine the third view, that the message belongs to the present generation.
The argument on the two preceding points has done much to establish the present
proposition; for if the message has not been given in the past, and cannot be
given in the future after Christ comes, where else can we locate it but in the
present generation, if we are in the last days, as we suppose? Indeed, the very
nature of the message itself confines it to the last generation of men. It
proclaims the hour of God's judgment come. But the judgment pertains to the
closing up of the work of salvation
p 638 -- for the
world; and the proclamation announcing its approach can therefore be made only
as we come near the end. It is further shown that the message belongs to the
present time when it is proved that this angel is identical with the angel of
Revelation 10, who utters his message in this generation. That the first angel
of Revelation 14 and the angel of Revelation 10 are identical, see argument on
the latter chapter.
But the strongest
and most conclusive evidence that the message belongs to the present time will
consist in finding some movement in this generation through which its
fulfilment has been, or is going forward. On this point we refer to a movement
of which it would now be hard to find any one who is wholly ignorant. It is the
great advent movement of the last century. As early as 1831, Wm. Miller, of Low
Hampton, N.Y., by an earnest and consistent study of the prophecies, was led to
the conclusion that the gospel dispensation was near its close. He placed the
termination, which he thought would occur at the end of the prophetic periods,
about the year 1843. This date was afterward extended to the autumn of 1844.
(See diagram and argument under Dan. 9:24-27. [Webmaster note: on p 214 --
Picture (Diagram of the 70 Weeks and 2300 Days] ) We call his investigations a
consistent study of the prophecies, because he adopted that rule of
interpretation which will be found lying at the base of every religious reformation,
and of every advance movement in prophetic knowledge; namely, to take all the
language of the Scriptures, just as we would that of any other book, to be
literal, unless the context or the laws of language require it to be understood
figuratively; and to let scripture interpret scripture. True, on a vital point
he made a mistake, as will be explained hereafter; but in principle, and in a
great number of particulars, he was correct. He was on the right road, and made
an immense advance over every theological system of his day. When he began to
promulgate his views, they met with general favor, and were followed by great
religious awakenings in different parts of the land. Soon a multitude of
colaborers gathered around his standard, among whom may be mentioned such men
as F. G. Brown, Chas. Fitch, Josiah Litch, J. V. Himes,
p 639 -- and others,
who were then eminent for piety, and men of influence in the religious world.
The period marked by the years 1840-1844 was one of intense activity and great
progress in this work. A message was proclaimed to the world which bore every
characteristic of a fulfilment of the proclamation of Rev. 14:6, 7. The
preaching was emphatically such as might be called the everlasting
(age-lasting) gospel. It pertained to the closing up of this age, and the
incoming of the everlasting age ( aiwn ) of the King of righteousness. It was
that gospel of the kingdom which Christ declared should be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations, and then the end should come. Matt.
24:14. The fulfilment of either of these scriptures involves the preaching of
the nearness of the end. The gospel could not be preached to all nations as a
sign of the end, unless it was understood to be such, and the proximity of the
end was at least one of its leading themes. The Advent Herald of Dec. 14, 1850,
well expressed the truth on this point in the following language: -
"As an
indication of the approach of the end, there was, however, to be seen another
angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to
preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people. Rev. 14:6. The burden of this angel was to be the same
gospel which had been before proclaimed; but connected with it was the
additional motive of the proximity of the kingdom - 'saying with a loud voice,
Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and
worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of
waters.' Verse 7. No mere preaching of the gospel, without announcing its
proximity, could fulfil this message."
The persons who were
engaged in this movement supposed it to be a fulfilment of prophecy, and
claimed that they were giving the message of Rev. 14: 6, 7.
With this movement
also began the fulfilment of the parable of the ten virgins, recorded in
Matthew 25, which our Lord uttered to illustrate and enforce the doctrine of
his second coming and the end of the world, which he had just set forth
p 640 -- in Matthew
24. Those who became interested in this movement went forth to meet the
Bridegroom; that is, they were aroused to expect the coming of Christ, and to
look and wait for his return from heaven. The Bridegroom tarried. The first
point of expectation, the close of the year 1843, which according to Jewish
reckoning ended in the spring of 1844, passed by, and the Lord did not come.
While he tarried, they all slumbered and slept. Surprised by the unexpected
doubt and uncertainty into which they were thrown, the interest of the people
began to wane, and their efforts to flag. At midnight there was a cry made,
"Behold, the Bridegroom cometh! go ye out to meet him." Midway
between the spring of 1844, where it was at first supposed that the 2300 days
would terminate, and that point in the autumn of 1844 to which it was afterward
ascertained that they really extended, just such a cry as this was suddenly
raised. Involuntarily, this very phraseology was adopted: "Behold, the
Bridegroom cometh." The cause of this sudden arousing was the discovery
that the great prophetic period of 2300 days (years) of Dan. 8:14 did not end
in the spring of 1844, but would extend to the autumn of that year, and
consequently that the time at which they supposed they were warranted to look
for the appearing of the Lord had not passed by, but was indeed at the door. At
the same time, the relation between the type and the antitype relating to the
cleansing of the sanctuary was partially seen. The prophecy declared that at
the end of the 2300 days the sanctuary should be cleansed; and as in the type
the sanctuary was cleansed on the tenth day of the seventh month of the Jewish
year, that point in the autumn of 1844 was accordingly fixed upon for the
termination of the 2300 years. It fell on the 22d of October. Between the
mid-summer of 1844, when the light on these subjects was first seen, and the
day and month above named when the 2300 years terminated, perhaps no movement
ever exhibited greater actitvity than this respecting the soon coming of
Christ, and in no cause was ever more accomplished in so short a space of time.
A religious wave swept over this country, and the nation was stirred as no
people have been stirred since the opening of the great
p 641 -- Reformation
of the sixteenth century. This was called the "seventh-month
movement," and was more particularly confined to the United States and
Canada.
But the general
movement respecting the second advent of Christ, and the proclamation that
"the hour of his judgment is come," was not confined to this
hemisphere. It was worldwide. It fulfilled in this respect the proclamation of
the angel "to every nation and kindred and tongue and people." In
Advent Tracts, Vol. II, p. 135, Mourant Brock, an English writer, is quoted as
saying: -
"It is not
merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the near return of the Redeemer
is entertained, and the voice of warning raised, but also in America, India,
and on the continent of Europe. In America, about three hundred ministers of
the word are thus preaching ' this gospel of the kingdom;' while in this
country [Great Britain], about seven hundred of the Church of England are
raising the same cry."
Dr. Joseph Wolff
traveled in Arabia Felix, through the region inhabited by the descendants of
Hobab, Moses' father-in-law. In his mission to Bokhara, he speaks as follows of
a book which he saw in Yemen: -
"The Arabs of
this place have a book called 'Seera,' which treats of the second coming of
Christ, and his reign in glory! In Yemen I spent six days with the Rechabites.
'They drink no wine, plant no vineyards, sow no seed, live in tents, and
remember the words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab.' With them were the children
of Israel of the tribe of Dan, who reside near Terim in Hatramawt, who expect,
in common with the children of Rechab, the speedy arrival of the Messiah in the
clouds of heaven."
The Voice of the
Church, by D. T. Taylor, pp. 342-344, speaks as follows concerning the wide
diffusion of the advent sentiment: -
"In Wurtemberg,
there is a Christian colony numbering hundreds, who look for the speedy advent
of Christ; also another of like belief on the shores of the Caspian; the
Molokaners, a large body of Dissenters from the Russian Greek Church, residing
on the shores of the Baltic - a very pious
p 642 -- people, of
whom it is said, 'Taking the Bible alone for their creed, the norm of their
faith is simply the Holy Scriptures' - are characterized by the 'expectation of
Christ's immediate and visible reign upon earth.' In Russia, the doctrine of Christ's
coming and reign is preached to some extent, and received by many of the lower
class. It has been extensively agitated in Germany, particularly in the south
part among the Moravians. In Norway, charts and books on the advent have been
circulated extensively, and the doctrine has been received by many. Among the
Tartars in Tartary, there prevails an expectation of Christ's advent about this
time. English and American publications on this doctrine have been sent to
Holland, Germany, India, Ireland, Constantinople, Rome, and to nearly every
missionary station on the globe. At the Turk's Islands, it has been received to
some extent among the Wesleyans.
"Mr Fox, a
Scottish missionary to the Teloogoo people, was a believer in Christ's soon
coming. James McGregor Bertram, a Scottish missionary of the Baptist order at
St. Helena, has sounded the cry extensively on that island, making many
converts and premillennialists; he has also preached it at South Africa at the
missionary stations there. David N. Lord informs us that a large proportion of
the missionaries who have gone from Great Britain to make known the gospel to
the heathen, and who are now laboring in Asia and Africa are millenarians; and
Joseph Wolff, D.D., according to his journals, between the years 1821 and 1845,
proclaimed the Lord's speedy advent in Palestine, Egypt, on the shores of the
Red Sea, Mesopotamia, the Crimea, Persia, Georgia, throughout the Ottoman
empire, in Greece, Arabia, Toorkistan, Bokhara, Afghanistan, Cashmere,
Hindustan, Thibet, Holland, Scotland, and Ireland, at Constantinople,
Jerusalem, St. Helena, also on shipboard in the Mediterranean, and at New York
City to all denominations. He declares he has preached among Jews, Turks,
Mohammedans, Parsees, Hindus, Chaldeans, Yeseedes, Syrians, Sabeans, to pashas,
sheiks, shahs, the kings of Organtsh and Bokhara, the queen of Greece, etc.;
and of his extraordinary labors the Investigator says, 'No individual has,
perhaps, given greater publicity to the doctrine of the second
p 643 -- coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ than has this well-known missionary to the world.
Wherever he goes, he proclaims the approaching advent of the Messiah in
glory.'"
Elder J. N. Andrews,
in his work on The Three Messages of Revelation 14:6-12, pp. 32-35, speaks as
follows concerning the message under consideration: -
"None can deny
that this world-wide warning of impending judgment has been given. The nature
of the evidence adduced in its support now claims our attention, as furnishing
the most conclusive testimony that it was a message from Heaven.
"All the great
outlines of the world's prophetic history were shown to be complete in the
present generation. The great prophetic chain of Daniel 2, also those of
chapters 7, 8, 11, and 12, were shown to be just accomplished. The same was
true of our Lord's prophetic description of the gospel dispensation. Matthew
24; Mark 13; Luke 21. The prophetic periods of Daniel 7, 8, 9, 12; Revelation
11, 12, 13, were shown to harmonize with, and unitedly to sustain, this great
proclamation. The signs in the heavens and upon the earth and sea, in the
church and among the nations, with one voice bore witness to the warning which
God addressed to the human family. Joel 2:30, 31; Matt. 24:29-31; Mark
13:24-26; Luke 21:25-36; 2 Timothy 3; 2 Peter 3; Rev. 6:12, 13. And besides the
mighty array of evidence on which this warning is based, the great outpouring
of the Holy Spirit in connection with this proclamation set the seal of Heaven
to its truth.
"The warning of
John the Baptist, which was to prepare the way for the first advent of our
Lord, was of short duration, and limited in its extent. For each prophetic
testimony which sustained the work of John, we have several which support the
proclamation of Christ's near advent. John had not the aid of the press to
disseminate his proclamation, nor the facility of Nahum's chariots; he was a
humble man, dressed in camel's hair, and he performed no miracles. If the
Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves in not
being baptized of John, how great must be the guilt of those
p 644 -- who reject
the warning sent by God to prepare the way of the second advent!
"But those were
disappointed who expected the Lord in 1843 and 1844. This fact is with many a
sufficient reason for rejecting all the testimony in this case. We acknowledge
the disappointment, but cannot acknowledge that this furnishes a just reason
for denying the hand of God in this work. The Jewish church was disappointed
when, at the close of the work of John the Baptist, Jesus presented himself as
the promised Messiah. And the trusting disciples were most sadly disappointed
when he whom they expected to deliver Israel was by wicked hands taken and
slain. And after his resurrection, when they expected him to restore again the
kingdom to Israel, they could not but be disappointed when they understood that
he was going away to his Father, and that they were to be left for a long
season to tribulation and anguish. But disappointment does not prove that God
has no hand in the guidance of his people. It should lead them to correct their
errors, but it should not lead them to cast away their confidence in God. It
was because the children of Israel were disappointed in the wilderness that
they so often denied divine guidance. They are set forth as an admonition to
us, that we should not fall after the same example of unbelief.
*******
Disappointment.
God knew we'd feel
this. God knew we'd murmur.
2Pe 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one
thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,
as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Yet thousands of
years later we wait and we MUST believe our thousands of years are but a couple
of days for our Lord. A couple
days. Our SAVIOR will NOT be accused of
being SLACK concerning His promise of salvation towards us. What we may cry out is too long, He cries out
that He doesn't want any that would be His to perish! He wants to give ALL a
chance! How can we deny the very One who
is willing to save us from our wretched, death deserving sins a chance to save
as many as would choose Him? How can we
cut short the horrors that appall us on so many levels when there is yet
another who would belong to Christ.
Yes, we are tempted
to disappointment, tempted to doubt, tempted to think things we shouldn't and
only by the grace of our Lord will we be
forgiven for these wrongs.
We must believe that
our Savior will return at the right time, and all that we suffer until then is
necessary because EVERYTHING here is temporary to eternity but the LOVE of our GOD!
By the grace and
mercy of our Lord may we be ready as HIS fully submitted to HIM in all things.
Now and forever may
we be HIS.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment