The FIRST angel brought a message of judgment near - both God’s and ours.

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Revelation 14:6-7

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This message was a special generational addition to the everlasting gospel, which, as its name tells us, has been sounding since the entrance of sin, and which will continue till the last sinner rejects it completely. All three of the angels have the gospel of the grace of God as a natural part of their work, and it is to this that they add their particular messages.

We should be able to see that these angels represent God’s people on earth for they are the ones who have been entrusted with the work of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth. Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen." Matthew 28:18-20.

So, with these three urgent and dangerous warnings we must present the way of escape, in this case, the gospel. 1 Corinthians 10:7.

It is to be presented, not as a lifeless theory, but as a living force to change the life, for God desires that the receivers and publishers of His grace shall be witnesses to its power. Those whose course has been most offensive to Him He freely accepts. When they repent, He imparts to them His divine Spirit, places them in the highest positions of trust, and sends them forth into the camp of the disloyal to proclaim His boundless mercy. He would have us bear testimony to the fact that through His free gift men and women may possess Christlikeness of character, and may rejoice in the assurance of His great love. He would have us bear testimony to the fact that He cannot be satisfied until all those who will accept His grace are reclaimed and reinstated in their holy privileges as His sons and daughters.

In Christ is the tenderness of the shepherd, the affection of the parent, and the matchless grace of the compassionate Saviour. He presents His blessings in the most alluring terms, and so should we. He is not content merely to announce them; He presents them in the most attractive way, to excite a desire to possess them. So His servants are to present the riches of the glory of the unspeakable Gift. The wonderful love of Christ will melt and subdue hearts, when the mere reiteration of doctrines would accomplish nothing. He tells us how to do this:

"Comfort you, comfort you My people, says your God. . . ."

"O Zion, that brings good tidings, get you up into the high mountain;

O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, lift up your voice with strength;

lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah,

Behold your God! . . . He shall feed His flock like a shepherd:

He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom."

Isaiah 40:1, 9-11.

"That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." Luke 2:35. Simeon’s speech at the infant Jesus’ presentation has great meaning. In the light of the Saviour's life, the hearts of all, even from the Creator to the prince of darkness, are revealed. Satan has represented God as selfish and oppressive, as claiming all, and giving nothing, as requiring the service of His creatures for His own glory, and making no sacrifice for their good. But the gift of Christ reveals the Father's heart. It testifies that the thoughts of God toward us are "thoughts of peace, and not of evil." Jeremiah 29:11.

It declares that while God's hatred of sin is as strong as death, His love for the sinner is stronger than death.

Having undertaken our redemption, He will spare nothing, however dear, which is necessary to the completion of His work. No truth essential to our salvation is withheld, no miracle of mercy is neglected, no divine agency is left unemployed. Favour is heaped upon favour, gift upon gift. The whole treasury of heaven is open to those He seeks to save. Having collected the riches of the universe, and laid open the resources of infinite power, He gives them all into the hands of Christ, and says, "All these are for man. Use these gifts to convince him that there is no love greater than Mine in earth or heaven. His greatest happiness will be found in loving Me."

At the cross of Calvary, love and selfishness stood face to face. Here was their crowning manifestation. While on earth Christ had lived only to comfort and bless, and in putting Him to death, Satan manifested the malignity of his hatred against God. He made it evident that the real purpose of his rebellion was to dethrone God, and to destroy Him through whom the love of God was shown.

By the life and the death of Christ, the thoughts of men and women also are brought to view. From the manger to the cross, the life of Jesus was a call to self-surrender, and to fellowship in suffering. It unveiled the purposes of mankind. Jesus came with the truth of heaven, and all who were listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit were drawn to Him. The worshippers of self belonged to Satan's kingdom. In their attitude toward Christ, all would show on which side they stood. And thus everyone passes judgment on himself or herself.

In the day of final judgment, every lost soul will understand the nature of his or her own rejection of truth. The cross will be presented, and its real bearing will be seen by every mind that has been blinded by transgression. Before the vision of Calvary with its mysterious Victim, sinners will stand condemned. Every lying excuse will be swept away. Human apostasy will appear in its monstrous character. All will see what their choice has been. Every question of truth and error in the long-standing controversy will then have been made plain. In the judgment of the universe, God will stand clear of blame for the existence or continuance of evil. It will be demonstrated that the divine decrees are not accessory to sin. There was no defect in God's government, no cause for disaffection.

When the thoughts of all hearts shall be revealed, both the loyal and the rebellious will unite in declaring, "Just and true are Your ways, You King of saints. Who shall not fear You, O LORD, and glorify Your name? . . . for Your judgments are made manifest." Revelation 15:3-4.

Now back to our subject through the second angel:

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Revelation 14:8

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."

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In a further verse God's people heard a Voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her My people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues." Revelation 18:4.

The SECOND angel raised the thought that some churches claiming to be Christian were not so in fact, and that it would be a good idea for the Christians in them to "come out" and leave them to their own devices. Note that he says that it is "Babylon" that is fallen. What does he mean by that?

That those churches are not, and never have been, Christian, is obvious in the fact that the term used to describe them is geographic, and "Israel" has always meant the people of God while "Babylon" describes their main opposition (which always pretends to be Christian).

So what have they fallen from? The attention of the general population who no longer regard them as important! And this irks them! (The nations have a "hangover" from religion and don't much care for professed Christianity any more.) But "Babylon" needs the admiration of men as Nebuchadnezzar amply illustrates. "Is this not great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of MY power, and for the honour of MY majesty?" Daniel 4:30. So it will undoubtedly try to hold those it has and increase its power by adding more to its congregations through the influence of further flagons of "wine."

But our purpose here is the THIRD angel’s message (which is #3 of 7) to see what God wants us to proclaim to those who live on earth, for the main fulfilment of this third warning is yet future.

Here it is:

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Revelation 14:

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So here we have us as Christians warning the world (loudly) that there is a "beast" roaming the earth (it is a symbol of something that is worshipped), and that there will be a copy of it (so there will be two of them), which will both be issuing the same "mark." This "mark" can be received either in the mind or the hand (a belief or a practice), but either way it incurs the displeasure of God. So serious is this rejection of truth (for that is what it is) that those who practise it receive the fullness of God’s "wrath" without any mixture of mercy! They will become "dead drunk" to any appeal by the Spirit. Therefore we should be anxious to understand what God is telling us through the "angel" shouldn’t we?

We should also be warning the people of the world that the holders of the "mark" will experience the effects, or backlash, of it the whole time it exists. It must eventually cease to be, of course, for in God’s new world there will be nothing that hurts or destroys. Isaiah 11:9; 65:25.

Then the message is rounded off with the thought that if God’s commandment-keeping people wait in "patience" and the faith of (not in) Jesus, they will see its end.

So what does the Bible tell us about the "beast"?

We can know that Satan works through groups described as "beasts" or "living creatures" in the Bible and that they tell lies, for it is written:

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Genesis 3:

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Therefore when Satan or his agents interpret the Bible you can believe all you like that it is right, but that won’t make it really right, will it? A lie is a lie and can NEVER be the truth no matter how many believe in it. We must find out the truth for ourselves, and there is only one place for that, the Bible, with it being its own interpreter.

What will the "beast" of the future be saying and doing?

First, let’s find out who it represents.

Although there were four animals (four great nations plus ten horns, or smaller groups) the angel’s explanation ends with one horn being singled out as the worst opponent of God (verses 24-25). This "little horn" or little "beastly attribute" tries to change God’s times and laws but does not succeed in fooling everyone. (Verse 25) Eventually the judgment sits and awards the "kingdom" of earth to God’s followers. (Verse 26-27.)

So now we have the sequence. Who are they?

(It is amazing to the people of the universe that humans are so gullible and still want to believe the devil and his agents with their monstrous lies.)

From history we can see that this fourth "beast" (or living creature) is the "iron" kingdom of Rome. It has two phases, Pagan (168BC-538AD) and Papal (538AD-1798), and it is this latter one that the angel concentrates on. There is a saying, "the rest is history", but in this case we need to know what is present and future! Despite the nations being told by God's people in the Reformation that this religious aspect of Satan’s kingdom is NOT of God, its "deadly wound" has been healed and it is almost back in full respect again (but not control)!!! See Revelation 13:1-4. (Take particular note of verses 5-9.)

That the papal system is NOT Christian and never has been, has been publicly preached in various ways since the time of Martin Luther and the reformers in 1517AD, but somehow it manages to survive in the minds of its followers (and in the minds of many who are not!!) as a Christian system. But its power is based on the use of force in religion and it still maintains that no one can be saved outside of its communion. How’s that for a lie?

In that system, and in the smaller ones which follow the "Mother Church" (she is described as having impure "daughters" in Revelation 17:5) the use of force is a fact of history. And, as there is "no new thing under the sun" and "the thing that has been is that which shall be" we can be sure that there will be religious persecutions by them in the future. (Ecclesiastes 1:9.) Check Mark 13:7-10. So we should be able to see why the Son of God is so upset. He who died on a cross rather than exterminate sinners certainly doesn’t want that attitude in a church claiming to be His. When an occasion like that came up during His ministry, this is how He dealt with it.

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Mark 10:

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So, let’s think about the "mark of the beast".

The papal religion no longer has political or religious power over its opponents, or even its so-called "friends" but the scripture refers to a "copy" or "image" of that system. A "copy" may not have the same name, but "by any other name a rose smells just as sweet." In this case, the opposite applies! A stink by any other name is still a stink, so the "copy" or "image of the beast" will be just as bad. It could even be classed as worse right now, because it too is hiding behind the name of Christianity, and has not yet been widely identified as Satanic. That’s the work of the second angel. So it is an unknown force unless the Spirit can reveal it to you.

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2 Thessalonians 2:

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This newly revealed "Wicked" cannot be the papal system, for that church has been known to be in the fallen condition for centuries, rejected as Christian by all who listen to God. But when the churches identified as the fallen Babylon of the SECOND angel’s message try to revive their fortune, they will follow in the footsteps of their "Mother" and drastically increase their union with the state governments of their areas, applying to them for the power to enforce their religious ideas. Prominent among these is the thought that the first day of the week, the Sun’s day should be made the universal mark of what they call "Christianity". All will be required to come into line with that idea, and as greater disasters come upon the entire world as a result of God’s increasing distance from such people, the leaders of those churches will declare that God is angry and needs to be placated. Their deluded congregations will agree with this and the pressure for religious laws will rapidly expand under the tidal wave of public opinion. The "beast" says to them "that dwell on the earth, that THEY should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live." Revelation 13:14.

This will first become public in the home of so-called Protestantism, the United States of America (they no longer protest that the Roman Catholic church is not Christian), but then there will be a series of laws around the world culminating with zero tolerance on the part of the general congregations and a demand for a death decree for those who refuse to bow before the state religion. This is not new: consider Daniel in the lions’ den, and his three friends in the fiery furnace. Daniel chapters 3 and 6.

The "mark" or basic characteristic of Babylon is the use of force in religion to bend men’s minds to religious authority. However and whenever it is used it rejects God’s way of freedom so much that He cannot protect the perpetrator for long. That’s why He says that He will pour out His "wrath" upon such people, male or female. This simply means that the lack of His protecting power will allow them to get into a drunken-like state in which they will maintain that they are "sober." At the same time, while they are organising against Him, the Spirit will be bringing a great convicting power against them, trying in a last ditch effort to get them to change their mind and behaviour, so great torment will be the outcome!

To Christ the Lamb and His helpers the sight of such agony will be devastating, but what else can they do? They cannot allow the holders of the "mark" to perish without trying to save them. So the fact that the gospel ruins where it does not save (when it is rejected) will be amply demonstrated at that time. The struggle in the mind of a professed Christian to accept that he or she is NOT one will indeed be horrific. Rather than accept such a truth most will react as the high priest did in the case of Jesus, and believe that "one man should die" rather than many. John 11:49-50.

In this case, they will reason that it’s the minority, "the troublers in Israel" who must go. See 1 Kings 18:17.

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Matthew 24:

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At the very end of time this force will be directed only at the people of God, who in the simplicity of their faith, want to follow Him "whithersoever He goes." Revelation 14:4. All the other original dissenters will have fallen into line throughout the world. At that time there will be great unrest among those who have the mark of the beast, for "iron" and "clay" cannot really mix. Daniel 2:43. This will last until the second coming of Christ which is described in Revelation 14:14.

In this way, a GREAT tribulation will come upon the world.

Forces that have never before been seen clearly will come out, and great terror "such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be," will be unleashed onto the people of the world (Matthew 24:21).

The scenes to be enacted are so horrible that only one portion of recorded history can even BEGIN to illustrate them - the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution in 1793 to 1797 (3½ years). At that time the Bible and its God was rejected by a whole civilised nation and anarchy prevailed. But this was in one country and concentrated mainly in one area of that country, around Paris. What will it be like when it is universal?

That’s what our message is all about - we should be asking how can we get this across to professed Christians and unbelievers while there is still an opportunity for them to change by accepting the way out!

Those who follow the Lamb will have no fear for their own lives because of His promise.

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Psalm 91:

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But they will have a great sorrow for those who are not so protected and this will compel them to go out and warn!

Conclusion:

The third angel’s message is a warning of the terrible times which lie ahead for the people of the world when the "religious" forces of this earth attack God’s church. Those whose lives are not hid in Christ will not be able to stand alone at that time and they will eventually give in to the new controlling power, the "image of the beast." They will either wholeheartedly believe the lies or else accept that it is best to go along with the majority for their safety’s sake. Either way they will lose out, for Jesus has told us:

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Matthew 16:

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