“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12, NKJV).
Chapter 6:17 ends with the question: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Chapter 7 answer the question: The 144,000 and the Great Multitude
Chapter 13 tells you that the earth-beast (United States powering the Papacy) will legislate laws and enforce those laws to make people worship Sunday for the dragon. They will not be able to buy or sell and will face a death decree. The obvious question is: who are these people?
Chapter 14:1-5 tells you who these people are, and what their message is. Notice that it only mentions the 144,000 here, not the Great Multitude. In 12:4 they are the first-fruits unto the Lamb, or the end time representatives of those who display the entire character of Jesus and follow Him devotedly where ever He goes. This is an amazing description of God’s end time people on this earth, in the face of overwhelming adversity!
This group of people, will present the Three Angel’s Message of warning to the world of the end to come, swelling into the Loud Cry of Rev. 18:1-4, in which the Five Wise Virgins heed the call with the extra oil in their lamps and call God’s people in every church to come out of Babylon. This time is not far off. Who as the extra oil, is the key question?
Worship will be key here. Whom you worship, Christ or Satan will be the issue. As mentioned in ch. 7, will you have the Seal of God in your forehead, or will you have, as mentioned in chapter 13:16, the mark of the beast in your forehead or in your hand. You will express your loyalty to God by keeping His Holy seventh-day Sabbath, or you will express your loyalty to Satan by keeping the day the sea/earth beast has set up, or Sunday. In the midst of great luxury in the 1st world countries, and in the midst of the most abject poverty in the third world countries, this Loud Cry and testing truth on the Sabbath will come. We cannot be far from these events.
Preaching the Everlasting Gospel Chapter 14
- The 144,000
Rev. 14:1-5 is another elaboration of what we saw of the 144,000 in Ch. 7. As recorded by John, this scene takes place on Mt. Zion, the Lamb standing there and the 144,000 with him. Having His Father’s name written on their foreheads means they have His character and look just like Him. This is a scene described by interpreters as an “already but not yet” moment. John is living on Patmos. Jesus and the 144,000 are in heaven, though they have not gone to heaven yet. This is a scene of what it will be like. Jesus is no longer the Sacrificial Lamb offered on Mt. Moriah, He is the conquering Lamb standing with his redeemed subjects on Mt. Zion.
John hears a voice in heaven, as the voice of many waters. Recall 1:15 which identifies this voice as Jesus talking with John. The 144,000 are the harpers, singing this new song in the heavenly court. They sing of this end time experience of living totally dependent on Jesus in the last days. Only the 144,000 can sing this song. Everyone who is saved has a song of experience to sing of, but only the 144,000 can sing this song on Mt. Zion.
The 144,000 have certain characteristics that identify them.
- They are not defiled with women. They are virgins. In Jeremiah 3:1, Israel is likened unto an adulterer who has played the harlot with many lovers. Yet God asks his people to return to Him. In other words, they had followed false gods and worshipped with the heathen nations and their gods. Later in Jeremiah 31:3, 4, God says He loves the “virgin of Israel” with an everlasting love and will draw them to Hi with lovingkindness.
The 144,000 describes those end time “virgins” who have not compromised their faith at the end time. They are virgins, in the sense they have resisted all defiling relationship with the great harlot Babylon, in 14:8, 17: and 18:3. They do not partake of the false beliefs and false teachings that abound in the end time. They adhere to the Scriptures and keep all ten of God’s commandments and have the faith of Jesus.
- They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Not a literal following in the physical footsteps of the Lamb for eons and eons, this instead signifies the totality of their devotion to Jesus. They would “follow” anywhere He leads and listen to whatever He says. They have endured privation, want, hunger, the rack, the stake, and have loved not their lives even unto death (Hebrews 11:32–40). Their following Jesus wherever
He bids them go is the signature of their devotion.
- They are the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb. This allusion to the first-fruits as a characteristic of the 144,000 signifies something unique about them. In the ancient Hebrew economy, they brought the first-fruits of the wheat, oil, wine, honey and all field crops to the sanctuary as an offering. The “first-fruits” of the harvest were offered to God at the sanctuary to show that the harvest belonged to Him and that He was the Creator and Sustainer of the harvest. That the 144,000 are first-fruits signals they are the guarantee of the harvest at the Second Coming of Christ.
- In their mouth is no guile. No guile means they tell no lies about God. Jesus had no guile or lies about God in his mouth, 1 Peter 2:22. They tell the truth about God 100% of the time.
- They are without “fault” or without blemish or blameless. If we accept the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, His spotless white robe, then it goes without saying that Jesus will present the church “to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:26, 27).”
- The Three Angel’s Message
When does the Three Angel’s Message occur in history? The message occurs in Ch. 14, the end-time portion of the book. This message is described in Ch. 10. The believers surviving the Great Disappointment are to “prophesy again.” They are to proclaim the gospel of Jesus found at the altar (sacrifice) and in the sanctuary (his ministry) (11:1-2). They are to proclaim judgment is come (the rod is measuring the people) (11:1). The 1st and 2nd Angel’s Message began to be preached in the Great Awakening, just before The Great Disappointment occurred on October 22, 1844, at the end of the 2300 year prophecy. The third of the Three Angel’s Message become prominent (three angels or messengers flying in the “midst of heaven),” since the Great Disappointment.
Who are these believers that present this Three Angel’s Message? They are the people who “ate the book of Daniel,” meaning they studied the 2300 year time prophecy and announced the second coming of Jesus. Now they proclaim the “everlasting gospel,” that the “the hour of His judgment is come,” and to “worship him who made the heaven and earth….” As noted previously, God and Jesus moved to the Most Holy Place to begin their work of Judgment on October 22, 1844. They are there now! (Daniel 7:9-13)
First Angel’s Message
- Fear God
Should we really “fear God?” Does that mean we are scared of Him? “To fear God does not mean to be afraid of Him but to take Him seriously and allow His presence in our lives. God’s end-time people are the ones who fear God (see Rev. 11:18, Rev. 19:5). God desires His people to love Him (Deut. 11:13, Matt. 22:37), obey Him (Deut. 5:29, Eccl. 12:13), and reflect His character (Gen. 22:12).” Paul tells us in Romans 3:18 that those who do wickedly have “no fear of God before their eyes.” The Apostle John is so instructive here. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 Jn. 4:18 KJV) Our love for Jesus casts out our fear. Satan wants us to fear our Creator and Redeemer!!! Satan adds fear to our hearts, God’s love casts fear out of our hearts! From Jacque Doukhan, “To fear God is to know that He is watching over all you do.49 To fail to fear God is to not care whether or not He is watching over all you do.”
- Give God glory!
There is a further aspect to the message to the end-time people on earth, “fear God and give glory to Him.” When we fear God and give glory to Him, we cast our vote, our allegiance, our resources, and our all, for Him. We enter into the covenant relationship with Him. We awe, reverence, respect, and obey Him. All our eyes and thoughts are on Him. We do not worship ourselves or anyone or anything else. All we have and all we are belong to God. Everything we do on this earth is for the glory of God. What are the identifying characteristics of the 144,000 in the final end times? These end-time believers keep all ten of the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus (12:17; 14:12). We all live in these end times! Fear God and give glory to Him!
- Hour of His Judgment is come
It is important for God’s people to give Him glory because “ ‘the hour of His judgment has come’ ” (Rev. 14:7, NKJV). The judgment in view here is the pre-Advent investigative judgment, which takes place prior to the Second Coming. The purpose of this judgment is to reveal whether or not we are truly serving God—a choice made manifest by our works (see 2 Cor. 5:10). At the conclusion of this judgment, the destiny of every person is decided (Rev. 22:11), and Jesus will come to bring His reward to every person according to his or her deeds (Rev. 22:12).Judgment in Revelation 14 is a part of the gospel. To those who are in a right relationship with God, judgment is good news; it means vindication, salvation, freedom, and eternal life. However, it is bad news for the disobedient, unless they repent and turn to God by accepting this end-time, judgment-hour message. God does not want anyone to perish but all to come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9).
- Worship Him that made the heavens and the earth.
Next, and certainly quite important is the call to “worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.” This everlasting Gospel is “an appeal for repentance and conversion to the God who created heaven and earth in the context of impending judgment.”[1] Verse 7 is acclaimed as a direct reference to Exodus 20:11, which is the Sabbath Commandment. The Last Day Remnant of God on earth will be proclaiming to worship God by keeping the seventh-day Sabbath of the Ten Commandments! Amazing! This is also a world-wide message to be given “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” The disappointed believers in 10:11 were told to prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues and kings.”
“The message proclaimed by the angel flying in the midst of heaven is the everlasting gospel, the same gospel that was declared in Eden when God said to the serpent, ‘I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel’ (Gen. 3:15). Here was the first promise of a Saviour who would stand on the field of battle to contest the power of Satan and prevail against him. Christ came to our world to represent the character of God as it is represented in His holy law; for His law is a transcript of His character. Christ was both the law and the gospel. The angel that proclaims the everlasting gospel proclaims the law of God; for the gospel of salvation brings men to obedience of the law, whereby their characters are formed after the divine similitude.”[2]
“While the observance of the false Sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God’s law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one class, by accepting the sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of the beast, the other choosing the token of allegiance to divine authority, receive the seal of God.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 605.
The three angels’ messages are proclaimed by God’s people to counter Satan and his end-time allies—the dragon, a symbol of paganism/spiritualism; the sea beast, which signifies Roman Catholicism; and the false prophet, or lamblike beast, representing apostate Protestantism (Revelation 13). They will operate up through the time of the sixth plague (Rev. 16:13, 14). Thus, the world is presented with two rival messages, each with the goal to win the allegiance of the people on earth.
Remember that Jesus himself came down in the form of an angel in chapter 10:1to call out a people who would proclaim this everlasting gospel. In the context of Rev. 7:1-5 and 14:1-5, God is calling a people out of Babylon to fully accept His righteousness, accept His character, and call people to worship Him. In other words, Jesus call us to put on his garment, that character which is characterized as Righteousness by Faith. God is calling a people, His 144,000, from all nations, tribes and kingdoms, to worship Him. It can be truly said, that “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Mat 24:14 KJV)
This end-time call to worship God is the last warning call to all the world. This message swells into the Loud Cry at the very end. Almost everyone is worshipping the sea-beast (Papacy), enforced by the earth-beast (United States). “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9). God’s Laodicean people are called to accept this Mystery of God, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Rev. 10:7; Col. 1:27), and proclaim the Three Angel’s Message to all who would accept Jesus.
- The Three Angel’s Message Pt. 2
Second Angel’s Message Babylon is fallen, is fallen.
The second angel’s message announces the fall, or apostasy, of Babylon and identifies it as a false religious system. In Revelation 17:5, “Babylon is said to be ‘the mother of harlots.’ By her daughters must be symbolized churches that cling to her doctrines and traditions, and follow her example of sacrificing the truth and the approval of God, in order to form an unlawful alliance with the world.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 382, 383.
The word Babylon occurs six times in the book (16:19; 17:6; 18:2, 10, 21). Or, if we include “the great city,” we see it in 11:8; 16:19; 17:18; 18:10, 16, 18, 19, 21, as well. In the Old Testament, two cities play a leading role—Jerusalem and Babylon. They stand for more than political and national entities. The two represent the religion of Yahweh and the false, counter-religious system. Jerusalem is now the new city, the abode of the redeemed, where the gates are never shut, and the Lord God is the light. Babylon, by contrast, is the world religious system that is doomed to come to naught at the Second Coming.
Spiritual Babylon represents all human attempts to provide a way of salvation apart from God’s plan of salvation. As anciently, Babylon, “the beauty of the Chaldees excellency” (Isaiah 13:19) fell in a spectacular demise, so spiritual Babylon, despite its apparent strength and confidence, will crumble in ruins when Jesus returns to earth.
According to Scripture, this Spiritual Babylon is going to fall, just like ancient Babylon before it.
Isaiah’s oracle concerning Ancient Babylon. And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. (Isa. 21:9 KJV)
John’s oracle concerning end time Babylon. 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. (Rev. 14:8 KJV)
The timing of the final message against Babylon during the Loud Cry; “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. (Rev. 18:2 KJV)
Spiritual Babylon had a great fall when it received the apparent deadly wound in February 15, 1798. When is spiritual Babylon going to have another fall? Looks like it will be sometime after the “deadly wound” is healed. This wound is healing rapidly but the break of the church/state combination in 1798 has not completely occurred yet, but should do so in the near future, according to Revelation 13.
The message of the second angel warns God’s people that this wicked system will depart further and further from the truth in consequence of her refusal of the light of the end-time gospel message. Only when “the union of the church with the world shall be fully accomplished throughout Christendom, will the fall of Babylon be complete.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 390.
WHY does Babylon fall? BECAUSE SHE MADE ALL NATIONS DRINK OF THE WINE OF THE WRATH OF HER FORNICATION! For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.1 (Rev. 18:3 KJV)
WHAT IS THE WINE THAT SHE GIVES EVERYONE TO DRINK? The wine of Babylon refers to the false teachings and false gospel offered by this apostate religious system. Today, as many Protestant churches, in fulfillment of Bible prophecy, rapidly erase the differences that once separated them from the Roman Catholic Church and turn away from biblical truth, we witness the corrupting influence of Babylon’s wine amongst the professed body of Christ: theistic evolution, which is implicitly contrasted with the reference to Creation in the first angel’s message; theological traditions replacing sola Scriptura; revised ethics abandoning biblical definitions of gender, marriage, and so forth. Intoxicated people cannot think clearly. As the people become spiritually inebriated by Babylon’s wine, Babylon will seduce them into worshiping the sea beast and receiving the mark of the beast.
Third Angel’s Message
Rev. 14:10-12 is the most fearsome warning in the Bible of the final end of those who rebel against God and refuse His offer of salvation through Jesus Christ. Those who have received the Mark of the Beast in their forehead or in their hand will join the Satan, the Papacy, and the evil angels in the earth-cleansing, sin-cleansing Lake of Fire. (19:20). Those who have accepted Jesus and His righteousness have the awesome task of giving this last-day message to everyone who would listen, and be saved before the coming onslaught.
WHY DO THE 144,000 EXTEND THE CALL TO THE HONEST-IN-HEART STILL IN BABYLON? “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 for ever 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.” (Rev. 14:9-11 KJV)
According to Scripture, this end time spiritual Babylon, this mixture of the human kingdoms led by the Apostate Protestantism of the United States, will “make” or force all nations to accept this false interpretation of Scripture, at the point of a death decree. All that is, except the 144,000. There’s will be a fearsome but potent message powered by the Holy Spirit, asking all who would, “come out of her my people, (18:4), and be not partakers of her sins or her plagues.
The Trumpet Judgments fell on 1/3 of people as a result of their apostasy. Rev. 9:20, 21. The Seven Last Plagues fall on the impenitent “unmixed” or not diluted out at all.
The statement of the torment with fire and brimstone refers to total destruction. Fire and brimstone is a means of judgment (Gen. 19:24, Isa. 34:8–10). The ascending smoke of destruction is a well-known image in the Bible. Isaiah prophesied of the future destruction of Edom by fire and brimstone: it will become a burning pitch; “it shall not be quenched night or day; its smoke shall ascend forever” (Isa. 34:10, NKJV). Jude describes the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah as suffering the punishment of “eternal fire” (Jude 7). These texts do not talk about endless burning, for none of these cities is burning today. The consequences are eternal, not the burning itself. The “eternal fire” in Revelation refers to annihilation; the burning will be long enough to make the consumption complete until nothing is left to burn.
Revelation shows that at the time of the end, God’s people are com-missioned with the proclamation of the end-time gospel to the world. The work before us seems daunting, all but impossible. However, we have the promise of God’s power. “The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening. . . . “The message will be carried not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The arguments have been presented. The seed has been sown, and now it will spring up and bear fruit.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 611, 612.The conclusion of the proclamation of God’s final message will result in a great separation that divides people in the world into two camps: those who love and obey God and those who follow and obey the beast. This separation is portrayed in terms of two harvests: the gathering of the wheat into the storehouses (Rev. 14:14–16) and the grapes to be trampled in the winepress (Rev. 14:17–20). This final separation is the subject of Revelation 17 and 18.
Notice this from the Kansas City Newspaper if you do not know for sure what Catholics think of the Sabbath.
“The Catholic Church abrogated “the Sabbath” and made “the change of day” from Saturday to Sunday by virtue of “the power” conferred upon her by Christ when He said: “all power is given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (St. Matthew, xxviii, 18.) “Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven.” (St. Matthew, xviii, 18.) Here is the warrant and commission given the Apostles and their successors the Bishops and pastors of the Church. He received “all power in heaven and on earth,”and He gave that “power” to the Apostles and their successors, and “sent” them “as the Father sent Him” (St. John, xx, 21) to “bind” and “loose upon earth,” and anything that the Church shall “bind” or “loose upon earth” shall be “bound” or “loosed also in heaven.” By “the power” of Jesus Christ her Founder the Catholic Church, in the plentitude of her infallible “power”, abrogated Saturday, “the Sabbath” of the Old Law, and substituted Sunday in its place, and commanded Sunday to be kept holy in the manner that she commands. We see, then, that not only do all who keep Sunday acknowledge the infallibility of the Catholic Church whether they wish to do so or not: but that to observe it in any other manner than the manner in which she commands, if it be observed at all, and yet claim that it is a religious observance, is insensate…The Catholic Church of its own infallible authority created Sunday a holy day to take the place of the Sabbath of the Old Law, and as Catholics are bound to obey the commands of the Church equally with the commands given on Sinai, Catholics must observe Sunday. But what in the world do Protestants mean by observing Sunday?” –Kansas City Catholic, 2-9-1893, pg. 4
Special
thanks to Ken Matthews, MD
[1] David Aune, Revelation 6-16, pg. 825.
[2] Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, bk. 2 (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association,
1958), 106.
