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.
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.
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