03 - GUARANTEED TRUTH

I once received an advertisement from a firm that said in large print, “Our projectors are guaranteed until Jesus come.” Have you ever heard of such a warranty on any appliance? The men who manage this particular firm believe that the second coming of Jesus is near, and that their projectors will operate until then.

Are you aware that the gospel Jesus has sent you carries a double warranty: Guaranteed to be all truth, and guaranteed for eternity? The gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s guarantee that when you receive Jesus as your personal Saviour, He forgives all your past sins and changes you into a new person on the inside by a spiritual rebirth. Then He takes up residence in your renewed heart by the Holy Spirit, to live in you a life of obedience to God. The warranty never fails when there is cooperation on your part by true faith and a continuing surrender to the Lord Jesus.

This super warranty for eternity is spelled out in words such as this: “He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36). “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa. 35:10).

Some declare there was no gospel of salvation until Jesus came to be borne at Bethlehem and to die upon the cross for the sins of all mankind. Some think that God had different gospels for the various ages in the history of man. These concepts are unscriptural; they are not the truth.

There cannot be different ways of salvation. There is only one true God and one true Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (Isa. 43:11; Acts 4:12). So there has been only one true gospel of Christ from the day Adam sinned until the day of salvation ends.

The Galatian Christians turned from the one true gospel of salvation by faith to salvation by the works of he law. They thought they had advanced into another gospel. Paul declared that this so-called gospel was not another gospel (Gal. 1:6, 7). It was simply a perversion being urge upon them by false teachers.

Some ask, “Doesn’t the Bible mention several different gospels?” Eight different terms are applied to the one true gospel: “the gospel of Christ” (Rom. 1:16); “the gospel of God” (Rom. 15:16); “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24); “this gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 24:14); “the gospel of peace” (Eph. 6:15); “the everlasting gospel” (Rev. 14:6); “the gospel of the uncircumcision” (Gal. 2:7); and “the gospel of the circumcision” (Gal. 2:7). The last two refer to the good news for the Gentiles and the Jews, respectively.

These designations do not imply that there are eight different gospels any more than the many names applied in the Bible to Christ imply there are numerous Christs. As there is only one true Christ set forth in the Bible, so there is only one true gospel from Genesis to Revelation. The various descriptive terms are various facets of the one super diamond of truth in the gospel.

This one true gospel has been presented in every age in the form appropriate for hat time or circumstance, and in harmony with the progressive unfolding of God’s eternal purpose for humanity. And the gospel has always had as its canter Christ, the only Saviour. Its saving message has always been justification by faith through Him.

The Old and the New Testaments are the two complementary rails on which the gospel train is travelling to the grand union station of the New Jerusalem, bearing the saved of all generations to their heavenly destination.

The Santa Fe Railway has one continuous line from Chicago to Los Angeles. The passenger train that leaves Chicago is the same all the way to Los Angeles. People in different cities along the route get on board for the union station in Los Angeles.

God’s gospel train started when Adam and Eve sinned. They got on board. So did Abel. Cain was left behind. When the Flood came, Noah and seven of his family got on board. All the others in the world perished. In every age God’s obedient people have climbed abroad. Soon Jesus will come to gather the faithful of all generations, and the gospel train will roll into the great union station of the New Jerusalem. Make sure you are on board now by being obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul equates “the word of truth” with “the gospel of your salvation” (Eph. 1:13). In the broadest sense, the preaching of the Word of God is preaching the gospel. So we read, “The word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:25).

Many expect this present world order to continue for centuries. On the other hand, not a few scientists and nonreligious people, in addition to many Christians, believe we are now in the final days of earth’s history.

The magazine One World, for October, 1977, said: “Short of a miracle, our world is about to end. The evidence comes not from wild-eyed, long-haired prophets, but short-back-and-sided, soberminded scientists, armed to the teeth with Ph. D.`s and slide rules. If evangelists talk about sin without mentioning the balance of nuclear terror, then they shortchange the truth about evil.”

Can we discover the appropriate truth needed for such a time as our own? Yes. As we continue our study, we shall find that the crux of the true gospel for our day is set forth in a threefold message in Revelation 14:6-12. this message is called “an eternal gospel” in verse 6.

Many say, “There is no gospel in the Old Testament; the first time the term is found is in the New Testament, where we have the heading “The Gospel According to St. Matthew.” Actually, the most ancient of the extant Greek manuscripts for this book simply has “According to Matthew.” Later the term gospel, meaning “good tidings,” was added. It refers to the salvation that comes through Jesus. That salvation is described throughout the whole Bible.

There is an inseparable connection between the gospel and God’s pre-Creation plan. Paul declared that the gospel of Jesus Christ is “according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest… by the scriptures of the prophets” (Rom. 16:25, 26). The gospel by which we are saved is called “the mystery of godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16) and “the mystery of Christ…which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:4, 5).

How these words should enhance our appreciation of the salvation we enjoy by Christ Jesus! Our salvation is according to “a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification” (1 Cor. 2:7).

The gospel, God’s plan to save man should he sin, was worked out through Jesus and was part of God’s pre-Creation plan. We are saved “according to his (God’s) own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Tim. 1:9). In keeping with this, Christ preached the gospel to Adam and Eve on the day they sinned, by giving them the promise of a Redeemer (Gen. 3:15).

The gospel was preached to Abraham nineteen hundred years before Jesus` incarnation. We read in Galatians 3:8, “The scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.”

In Hebrews 4:2 we learn that the gospel was preached to the Israelites in the days of Moses: “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”

The gospel was always proclaimed in the appropriate setting for each particular time in accordance with the progressive unfolding of God’s pre-Creation plan. And every lamb sacrificed as a sin offering was proclaiming the gospel message: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Every soul admitted through the gates of the eternal city will be saved through the gospel – the grace of God shown through Jesus Christ – and not by good works. So it is written: “For by grace are ye save through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9).

04 - THE PRESENT TRUTH

God has given mankind timeless truths and truths for the times. Timeless truths are applicable to all people at all times. Some of these are salvation only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, pardon, obedience, love to God with all one’s heart, and love for one’s neighbour as for oneself.

In addition to these timeless truths are truths to meet certain situations at specific times. Examples are Noah’s message about the impending worldwide flood, Jonah’s message to the people of Nineveh, the message of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ, the preaching of the apostles during the first century, the message of Martin Luther and the other Reformers, and the preaching of William Miller and his associates in the 1830`s .

The concept of there being not only Christ’s timeless truths but also His truths for a particular time is of supreme importance to every soul because, together, these truths comprise the one way of Christ for our day. In view of numerous divergent teachings bidding for acceptance as the alleged right way, what is more essential than to know for a certainty God’s one true way and then follow it to the end?

The apostle Peter directed the Christians to “be established in the present truth” (2 Peter 1:12). What was the present truth in the days of the apostles? The New Testament clearly shows that it was adherence to the truths of Jesus for that day, plus God`s timeless truths from previous generations as they applied to Peter`s time.

Note one example of how timeless truth and truth for the time met, as described in Acts 18:24 tells of Apollos, “mighty in the scriptures,” who knew and preached the teachings of the Old Testament. Then he learned of the gospel unfolded by John the Baptist (verse 25). But Aquila and Priscilla taught him further truth for the time: they “expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly” (verse 26).

This is an example to teach us that Jesus`way, as the only right way for our day, is adherence to the truths that Christ has appointed particularly for us, plus the timeless truths of previous generations. Notice how this way into truth is set forth in the experience of Saul of Tarsus, who became the greatest apostle of Jesus Christ.

This learned and devout Jew had been adhering to all the timeless truths from previous generations, as he understood them. However, he was ignorant of the truth of Jesus for his time. In fact, he unwittingly hated that truth. He fought against it, and sought to have those who followed it put to death.

Then he had a personal encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road. His reaction was, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6).

Jesus told him to go into Damascus, where he would be shown his duty. The Lord directed one of His followers, Ananias, to communicate to Paul the truth of Christ. Saul gladly accepted that truth for his time. Now he could be used of God to win thousands of Jews and Gentiles to the true way.

Note one more Bible example that illustrates the fact of timeless truth and truth for the time. Jesus declared that as it was in the days of Noah prior to the Flood, so it would be in the end-time when His second coming would be near (Matt. 24:37). It is obvious that the one true way of the Lord in the days of Noah was adherence to the timeless truths from the days of Adam, with the addition of the special truth for that time – preparation for the Flood.

A study of Genesis 7:6 compared with chapter 6:3,7 indicates that Noah was 480 years old when he received the special truth about the impending Flood. He already had the timeless truths handed down from Adam.

The timeless truths, plus the truth about the coming of the Flood, was Christ’s present truth during that 120-year period from the time Noah was 480 years old until the Flood came when he was 600 years old. The two truths merged, even as the Missouri River combines with the Mississippi and flows on to the Gulf of Mexico. The merging was like the letter Y, in which two diagonal lines merge into a short perpendicular line.

So Christ’s present truth for us is the timeless truths of the gospel from former times merged into His truths for our day. Some of these will be set forth from Bible prophecy in the following two chapters.

We do well to consider some of the timeless truths Noah had, because they are applicable to every person today:
1- Redemption through Jesus Christ (foreshadowed in sacrifices).
2- Love and loyalty to God, shown by obedience to Him. (the result of disobedience was well known through the experience of Adam and Eve.)
3- Worship of the only true God as the Creator of all. It is seen in the light of the New Testament that this Creator-God was the Lord Jesus Christ, who is also the only Saviour (John 1:1-3,14,10; Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:14-16; Heb. 1:1-2).
4- The acceptance by faith that the Lord made the world in six twenty-four-hour days. This creation was later described by Moses, in Genesis 1. many, on the basis of geology, believe that these six days were actually long periods of time. But the Word of God declares that each consisted of only an evening and a morning, being a twenty-four-hour period from one evening to the next (Genesis 1: 5,8, 13, 19, 23, 31).

God’s command for man to keep the seventh day as the Sabbath is specifically based upon His creation of the earth in six twenty-four-hour days. Having made the world in the first six days of the first week, God rested upon the seventh day and then sanctified it, or set it apart, as His Sabbath for man. (Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11.) This made the seventh-day Sabbath timeless truth for all the future, which is evident in that the Sabbath will be honored eternally in the new earth (Isa. 66:22, 23).

It should be remembered that from the days of Adam certain timeless truths, such as the Sabbath, have become testing truths for certain epochs, a part of the present truth for that period. Thus the keeping of the Sabbath was a testing truth when Israel came out of Egypt (Ex. 16:4, 22-30). Also, the manner of Sabbathkeeping was a testing truth in the days of Christ’s ministry (Matt. 12:1-13; John 5:1-17). So it is that the timeless truth of the true Lord’s day, the seventh day, is a testing truth for our time, as presented in God’s threefold message for the last days (see Rev. 14:7, 9-12). This message will be unfolded in the next two chapters.

In Exodus 31:16, 17, the Lord declares that the seventh-day Sabbath is a sign between Him and His people, the children of Israel, forever because He made the world in six days and rested upon the last day of the week, the seventh day. The nation of Israel was intended to be a nucleus for, and a type of, all God’s children. Paul makes it plain that it is God’s spiritual children who are the true Israel (Rom. 2: 28, 29; 9:6; Gal. 3:7-9). And Christ made it absolutely plain that because Israel “after the flesh” failed in its plain that because Israel “after the flesh” failed in its calling, the kingdom would be taken from it and given to a people who would manifest the character given to a people who would manifest the character of Jesus (Matt. 21:43). This people was the church that Jesus set up. God’s blessings and requirements for Israel are now for His church. Christ’s seventh-day Sabbath is continuing evidence that He made the world in six twenty-four-hour days.

Those who keep it as God has directed cannot be led astray by the false theory of evolution with its millions-of-years concept regarding man and the world.

Men have substituted the keeping of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the keeping of the seventh day, Saturday. We see the baneful results of this error in the millions of professed Christians who are committed to the false theory of evolution.

Thank God, there are many Christians among those who keep Sunday who still believe that the six days of Creation were twenty-four-hour days. It is good that they stand with Jesus in this. We pray they will go all the way with Him by keeping His seventh-day Sabbath as His appointed sign of the creation to show their faith by their works and keep the seventh day as His appointed Creation sign.

The seventh-day Sabbath is not only a sign of the Lord Jesus as the Creator (Ex. 31:16, 17), it is also a sign of the Lord Jesus as the only Saviour. The Lord declares that He gave His Sabbath to His people “to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them” (Eze. 20:12). Thus God’s Word presents the Sabbath as a double sign of Christ as our Creator and as our Re-creator, or Saviour. What a privilege, then, to keep the Sabbath as a link of love that binds our hearts to Jesus! As surely as you love Jesus, you will love the Sabbath as His sign that He is your blessed Creator-Saviour.

Many Christians who conscientiously keep Sunday preach Christ as the Creator and only Saviour. However, if they really follow through on their belief in Him, what can they do but keep the seventh day as His appointed sign that He is the Creator-Saviour, and as He has commanded in the Ten Commandments?

Some object, “The keeping of the seventh day is a sign of attempting salvation by works.” But god declares it is a sign of continuing sanctification (Eze 20:12); it is a sign of truly knowing Christ as our Creator and Saviour. Only a truly converted person can keep the Sabbath as God has commanded.

True Sabbathkeeping is an outward sign of the inner experience of righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ. When a born-again believer has Christ living in his life, the keeping of the seventh day of the Decalogue cannot be legalism any more than being honest, truthful, pure, kind, honouring one’s father and mother, being reverent, and worshiping the only true God, as called for in the other nine commandments, are legalism.

Some have declared that, since the word Sabbath is not mentioned in Genesis, the day was not instituted until the Israelites left Egypt. This contradicts God, because in His law He calls the seventh day, which He rested upon and sanctified at the close of Creation, “the Sabbath day” (Ex. 20:11).

God needs no Sabbath for rest. Therefore, when He sanctified, or set apart, the seventh day after He had rested upon it (Gen. 2:1-3), it must have been for man to observe (Mark 2:27).

Many honestly believe they are obeying Christ by celebrating Sunday in honor of His resurrection. But there is no text in the Bible directing anyone to celebrate the first day of the week for that or any other purpose. The celebration of Sunday as a weekly holy day rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon the Holy Scriptures. The observance of Sunday stands as a sign of submission to the authority of the Catholic power.

In the June, 1978, issue of Decision, the official organ of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, there appeared this question: “Are Christians required to refrain from work one day out of seven, as specified in the Fourth Commandment (Exodus 20: 8-11)?”

This was the answer by Gleason L. Archer, Jr., professor of Old Testament and Semitic language at Trinity Evagelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois:
“In his teaching ministry Jesus laid special emphasis upon the spiritual meaning and implication of the Ten Commandments – including the Fourth Commandment, about which he had more to say than any of the rest (by actual count of the verses in which he spoke of Sabbath-keeping). After his crucifixion and resurrection the disciples made a point of gathering each Sunday – the day on which Christ rose – in order to celebrate his Easter victory.

“Nowhere is it stated in the New Testament, nor is it even suggested, that the day of rest had lost its sacred character of refraining from gainful labour and activities appropriate for the other days of the week.”

This is true except for the observation “The disciples made a point of gathering each Sunday… to celebrate his Easter victory.” No Bible references are cited to support this, because there are no statements in the New Testament that declare this to be so. Christ appeared to the disciples on the Sunday night of the day He arose to convince them that He had risen from the dead (Mark 16:9-14).

No one need miss the certainty of the truth regarding the seventh day. While on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ did not rest on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ did not rest on any other day of the week. He never mentioned any change; therefore, no day aside from the seventh can ever be God’s as Creator, ever blessed, hallowed, or sanctified for man, it is the only day Christ commanded man to keep. It is the only day that will be honored as God’s holy day for man throughout eternity in the new earth (Isa. 66:22, 23). The seventh-day Sabbath spans the entire history of man, from Creation through all generations, and on into the eternal inheritance of all the saved. Surely these Bible facts establish the seventh day of the week as the only right day to observe.

In view of these plain scriptural considerations, all arguments in favour of the keeping of Sunday are futile. As Jesus said, “In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9).

Under the covenant of grace, the Lord Jesus has appointed four memorials: baptism by immersion in commemoration of His death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-5; Col. 2:12); the keeping of the seventh day to commemorate His creation and recreation, or redemption (Rom. 6:3-5; Col. 2:12); the keeping of the seventh day to commemorate His creation and re-creation, or redemption (Ex. 31:16, 17; 20:8-11; Eze. 20:12); the Lord’s supper to commemorate His body broken for us and His blood shed for our sins (1 Cor. 11:24-26); the ordinance of foot-washing preceding the Lord’s Supper as a sign of humiliation and love for one another (John 13:12-15).

The message John the Baptist proclaimed to prepare the way for the Messiah to be manifested to Israel at His first advent, and to prepare a people to receive Him, is an illustration of a special truth for a particular time. John’s message and mission were foretold by the prophet Isaiah: “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isa. 40:3). When John was asked by the religious authorities who he was, and why he was preaching a message so different from theirs, he pointed them to that prophecy: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias” (John 1:23).

Is there a prophecy in the Scriptures intended to prepare the way for Christ’s Second Advent and make ready a people to meet Him, as John prophesied to prepare for Christ’s first advent? Most assuredly. It is recorded in Revelation 14:6-12, as mentioned in the previous chapter. This threefold message is the way of the Lord for all people today, as John’s message was God’s way for Israel.

05 - A MESSAGE FROM HEAVEN

The true Christian faith delivered to the apostles by the Lord Jesus was the special truths He brought for that time plus the timeless truths of former times. In the same way, the true Christian faith for our day is adherence to the truths Christ has appointed for this end-time plus the timeless truths from former times. This is what you will find in the prophecy of Revelation 14:6-12.

The apostle John saw three angels flying in midair, one after another, preaching “the everlasting gospel” to the people of all the earth. These were symbolic, rather than real, angels. The preaching of the gospel has been committed not to angels, but to men and women. Jesus Christ entrusted the task of preaching the gospel to His followers (Mark 16:15). Therefore, the angels must represent Christians who will make known God’s truths to all the people in the world.

In Isaiah 40:3 the prophecy of the voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” foretold John the Baptist (John 1:19-23). Similarly, the three angels seen by John as preaching certain truths to every nation foretold a group of Christians who would communicate those truths to every nation.

What did John see that indicated when these messages would be proclaimed to all the world? “I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the could, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped” (Rev. 14:14-16).

This coming of the Son of man on the cloud to reap the harvest of the earth can only refer to the second coming of Christ. Jesus said, “The harvest is the end of the world” (Matt. 13:39). He was referring to His second advent, when He would appear in the clouds of heaven to “gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (chap. 24:30, 31).

We emphasize this: Revelation 14:6-16 shows that the proclamation of the threefold message to all people will be followed by our Lord’s second advent. This is positive evidence that the truths referred to in these three angels` messages are appointed by Christ for all people in this end-time prior to His second advent. Therefore, these truths plus Christ’s timeless truths constitute the true way of Jesus for our day as surely as the message of Noah was Christ’s way for the antediluvians, the message of John the Baptist was the way for the people of his day, and as the message of the apostles was the right way, and as the message of the apostles was the right way of Jesus in their time. The declaration that the first angel has “the everlasting gospel” for all people signifies that his message is a fresh aspect of the gospel of the grace of Christ, the timeless message of the ages, as well as the final phase of the gospel.

A new fact is brought by the fist angel: “Fear God, and give glory to him; for (because) the hour of his judgment is come” (verse 7). This refers not to the executive phase of God’s judgment, which begins at the second advent of Christ, but to a preadvent phase of the judgment – an examination of the books of records.

Daniel was given a vision of this phase of the judgment to take place during the end-time. He said, “The judgment was set, and the books were opened” (Dan. 7:10; see Rev. 11:18, 19). The eighth and ninth chapters of the book of Daniel reveal that this phase of the judgment, sometimes termed the investigative judgment, was appointed to begin in heaven at the end of 2300 day-years (a prophetic day equal one year; see Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6), dated from the time the decree went into effect for the restoration of Jerusalem (see Dan. 8:13, 14; 9:24-26).

“Unto two thousand and there hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (cap. 8:14). This time period began simultaneously with the seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24, which, applying the year-day key, represents 490 years. This 490-year period was, we are told, “determined,” “decreed” or “cut of.” As other translations have it. From what was it cut off? The only logical answer must be, from the longer 2300-year period.

We understand that the 490-year period began with “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” (verse 25). It has been clearly established that this commandment to restore the destroyed city was issued by King Artaxerxes, of Persia, in 457 B.C. Beginning the 490. And the 2300-year periods at this date, in the autumn, the time when the decree was issued, brings us to A.D. 1844 as the end of the 2300 years.

What is the significance of the cleansing of the sanctuary prophesied to take place in 1844? The answer can be found by going back to the sanctuary service can be found by going back to the sanctuary service set up in the time of Moses. Elements of the ceremonies of that sanctuary were types of the ministry of Jesus in the true tabernacle in heaven (Heb. 8:1-5). In the Mosaic type there was a yearly day of cleansing (Lev. 16:29-31), which the Jews understood was also a time of judging. So, in the heavenly antitype, there was to be a similar judging, or cleansing. This cleansing, according to Daniel 8:14, was to begin in 1844. The cleansing, being also a judging, marked the beginning of God’s hour of judgment. So it is that the first angel’s message, “Fear God; … for the hour of his judgment is come,” pointed to1844 as the time when the threefold message would begin to be sounded.

The left vertical line represents the year 1844, when the pre-Advent judgment began in heaven. The vertical line on the right represents the end, when Jesus will come the second time. According to the scriptural evidence we have examined, the threefold message is applicable to those who live between 1844 and the second coming of Christ. So it is that in this threefold message God is speaking to you an me, and to evey soul in the world.

It has been declared that the threefold message of Revelation 14 was preached by Martin Luther and his fellow Reformers in the sixteenth century, and therefore has no significance for our day. This cannot be true because the warning “the hour of his (God’s) judgment is come” would not have been true in Luther’s time. God always times His messages properly, the truths in this message – the hour of judgement has come, Babylon is fallen, the warning against the reception of the mark of the beast lest one receive of the wrath of God-are not applicable to any period of history except that just prior to the Lord’s return.

This prophecy of the threefold message ushering in the return of Jesus is being fulfilled by a Christian movement that began to proclaim this judgment-hour message around 1844, and is today preaching it to all the world. A discussion of this movement follows.

06 - CHRIST`S GREAT TRUTH FOR OUR DAY

Christ’s threefold message in Revelation 14:6-12 is his great truth our day. It contains timeless truths of former times plus His appointed truths for our day.

Let us examine some of these truths. The first is “Fear god, and give glory to him; for (because) the hour of his judgement is come” (verse 7).

Every soul is directed to fear God, in modern terms we would say “Stand in awe of “ or “Reverence” Him, Why? Because the hour oh His judgement is come; the time has arrived when the acts of every life and the innermost secrets of every heart are to be evaluated in terms of eternity. In the preceding chapter we showed that this time of judgment began in 1844.

The second special truth is “Worship his that made heaven, and earth” (verse 7).

The true ground of all worship is found in man’s distinction between the Creator and the creature. How do we show that we worship God as the Creator? Some say, “By praying to God, reading the Bible, attending worship services, giving tithes and offerings, and obeying the Lord Jesus.” These are essentials in worshiping the Creator, but none of them is the distinguishing sign God Himself has appointed as His mark that He is the Creator. The followers of false religions pray to their gods, read so-called sacred writings, attend temple worship, give offerings, and so on.

What then is the distinguishing sign that we worship Him that made heaven and earth? True worship springs, of course, from a surrendered heart and will. But as an outward sign of this inward commitment God has instituted the keeping of the seventh day: “For (because) in six day the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed” (Ex. 31:17). The keepings of the seventh day is the distinguishing sign by which we show that we worship the true God.

Some object to this conclusion, based on Exodus 31:16, 17, because this text says the Sabbath is a sign between God and the children of Israel, and therefore it applied only to the Jews. But let us remember that Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27). Therefore, the Sabbath is a sign of Christ as Creator-Redeemer between Himself and His followers.

After the apostles died, there was a widespread departure from true Christian faith. As a result, the keeping of Sunday was established in the place of Christ’s true seventh-day Sabbath. This last-day call to “worship him that made heaven, and earth” signifies that Christ is calling His people back to His true Sabbath, lost sight of during centuries of departure from the true way of Jesus. The threefold message foretold the raising up of a Christian people, around 1844, who would keep the seventh-day Sabbath of the Decalogue.

The third special truth in this threefold message is “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Rev. 14:8).

In this instance, the word “Babylon” symbolizes all religions or other movements aside from those that obey the threefold message. The word “fallen” signifies a spiritual falling away from the true way of Christ. “The wine of…her fornication” signifies an unlawful union of the churches with the sinful ways of the world (see James 4:4), and also alliances with civil power to enforce their doctrines.

Later, in connection with this message, there comes a final appeal to God’s people. We call this the fourth special truth: “Babylon the great is fallen. … Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that we receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:2-4).

The fifth special truth is, One must not obey the beast and its image (anti-God powers), neither receive the mark of the beast (chap. 14:8-11).

Revelations 13:1-10, 18 presents certain specifications regarding the beast power. A careful study of these specifications shows they cannot apply to any other power than the papacy. The picture of the image to the beast suggests that a religious movement other than the beast will set up a counterpart of the beast that will succeed in getting its doctrines enforced by civil law (see verse 14). The chief of these will be the observance of Sunday. Many bible scholars are convinced that the image to the beast will be set up by the United States under the influence of its churches.

The mark of the beast pertains to the change the papacy has attempted to make in Christ’s Sabbath by substituting Sundaykeeping for it. No one has yet received the mark of the beast. But in the final test all people will have to choose between obeying Christ as supreme – which means they will have to obey His commands to keep the seventh day, as well as His other commandments – and obeying the laws of men as being above Christ’s, with regard to the first day of the week. Those who knowingly choose to keep the man-made Sabbath on the first day of the week will receive the mark of the beast. May none who read these pages be among those who make that choice?

Many think it makes no difference whether a Christian keeps Sunday or the Sabbath. But there is no neutral ground. When the issue becomes clear, every living soul will make a choice between keeping the seventh-day Sabbath in loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Creator-Saviour and keeping Sunday as a sign of submission to another power.

These two questions strike into the heart of the issue:

1- When a Christian regards the seventh day, or Saturday, as the Sabbath, whom does he obey? There is only one correct answer. The seventh day is the only day of the week Jesus Christ ever asked man to keep holy. So when a Christian keeps the seventh day, he is obeying the Lord Jesus. In the light of the scriptural principle “To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servant ye are” (Rom. 6:16), he shows that he is a servant of Christ.

2- When a person regards the first day of the week, or Sunday, as a holy day, whom does he obey? He may sincerely believe he is obeying the lord Jesus. And if he does not understand, God does not hold him responsible (James 4:17). But he is nevertheless wrong, because Jesus has never commanded anyone to keep Sunday. The celebration of Sunday rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not and not upon the divine warrant of the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, the observance of Sunday when one knows which is God’s true day, is a sign of submission to the authority of the Catholic Church.

This presents a decisive challenge. Which of the two signs do you choose for your life? Under whose banner do you choose to stand? Surely your choice is for Jesus, and to keep His Sabbath as His sign that he is your Creator-Saviour. You are ready to say, “Take the world, but give me Jesus.”

The sixth special truth of Christ’s threefold message is the keeping of “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12).

There is much confusion today about faith and works. Genuine faith works by love for obedience (Gal. 5:6), as contrasted with a so-called faith without appropriate works. There is also confusion regarding true grace – by which the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us (not by us or for us only) when we “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4) – and so-called free grace, which sets aside the obligation to obey the Decalogue. The true way of Christ in His threefold message presents the right balance between faith and works and grace and lay in that perfect guideline – keeping of the commandments of God and maintaining an unshaking truth in Jesus – set forth in Revelation 14:12.

There are millions of Christians who believe that all of the Tem Commandments are binding, but who keep Sunday. If you are one of them, we appeal to you to go all the way with Jesus by also adhering to His Sabbath commandment.

Connected with this threefold message is the seventh special truth: The literal, visible, personal, imminent return of Christ to reap the harvest of the gospel (verses 14:16). We discussed this truth of Jesus` second coming.

These seven truths are only a part of the threefold message. But they help us to discern the true way of Christ, which we want to follow. They also help us identify the group of Christians by whom this prophecy of Revelation 14:6-12 is being fulfilled.

Here are four specifications that characterize that group:
1- They are a people who adhere to those truths Christ has appointed for our day, plus His timeless truths from previous centuries.

2- Since they “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12), they are a Christian seventh-day (Saturday)-keeping people, according to the fourth commandment of the Decalogue

3- Since this threefold message came due when the hour of God’s judgment began in heaven (Rev. 14:7), in fulfilment of Daniel 7:9, 10; 8:14. The Seventh Day Adventist are a people who came into existence around 1844 and began to proclaim this threefold message, as called for in Revelation 14:6,7.

4- They are proclaiming to every nation the truths about the hour of God’s judgment, the worship of the Creator in keeping the Sabbath as His sign of Creation, the fall of Babylon, the call to come out of her, and the warning against obeying any power contrary to what God has commanded.

Actually, there is only one group of people who meet the four specifications, and they are called Seventh-day Adventists.

We would not suggest that only they will be saved. Many now connected with that movement will no t be saved because they do not have Christ living in them. God saves every person who fully accepts Christ and lives up to he light he has received.

The fulfilment of Revelation 14:6-12 by Seventh-day Adventists does not mean that they alone constitute God’s people. God has true followers in all denominations. But before Jesus returns, the world will clearly learn the issues involved (see Rev. 18:1-4), and the true one will join with those who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

There never was a time when so many religious beliefs were being proclaimed over the air and by the printed people to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life. But let none lose sight of this: In this end-time, as Revelation 14:6-14 shows, God has placed a priority on the acceptance of salvation by faith in Jesus in the setting of His special truths for this closing age. It is His will that we recognize this priority and adhere to these special truths proclaimed in that threefold message from heave, plus the timeless truths from former centuries. Every soul should respond to the call of God to follow through on His message for our day.