Builders of Faith

Builders of Faith Explorer II:  Exploring End-Time Prophecy

Lesson 12—The Three Angels’ Messages

1.    How many messages are proclaimed in Revelation 14?

“Then I saw another angel….”  Revelation 14:6.  “And another angel followed….”  Revelation 14:8.  “Then a third angel followed them….”  Revelation 14:9.

Answer:  There are three messages proclaimed in Revelation 14.


2.    To whom are these messages given?

“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—….”  Revelation 14:6.

Answer:  These messages are to be preached to the whole world, without exception.


3.    When are these three messages to be proclaimed to the whole world?

A.    Everlasting Gospel (verse 6)—If the gospel is part of these messages, then they must be preached while people still have an opportunity to accept the gospel and be saved.  Thus, these messages are to be given before the Second Coming of Jesus.

B.    Hour of God’s Judgment (verse 7)—In Lesson #6, we learned that this is a reference to the Pre-Advent Investigative Judgment, which began in the fall of 1844.  Therefore, these messages could not have been given before 1844.  This means that they are to be given during what Daniel calls “the time of the end”.  Review our previous lesson, Lesson #11.

C.    Warnings Against Babylon and Mark of the Beast (verses 8-11)—These can be preached any time during “the time of the end”, but they will have increasing importance once the Sabbath-Sunday issue has been made a political issue.


4.    Are the angels who proclaim these three messages literal or symbolic?

“And He [Jesus] said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’”  Mark 16:15.  “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand….”  I Corinthians 15:1.  “…if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”  Colossians 1:23.

Answer:  First, the Greek word for angel is actually messenger.  Obviously in context here, these messengers are God’s messengers.  Most of the time, the same Hebrew and Greek words for messenger are angelic beings.  At least one time it was a reference to Jesus as the Messiah (Malachi 3:1) and once to John the Baptist (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 11:10-11).  Second, the texts above show us that the preaching of the gospel is to be done by Christians.  Since these three messages are connected by their sequence, then all three messages will be proclaimed by God’s last-day movement.


5.    What is the relationship between the everlasting gospel and the Pre-Advent Judgment?

“…having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth…, saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come….’”  Revelation 14:6-7.  “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved….  …that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day….”  I Corinthians 14:1-4.

Answer:  Review Explorer I, Lesson #21 for a discussion of the Pre-Advent Investigative Judgment.  Paul makes it very clear that the gospel—the “good news” about Jesus—is what saves a person.  Properly understood the judgment is good news because, by their lives, the saved testify that they belong to Jesus and have accepted His perfect righteousness in place of their sins.  Their lives confirm that they belong to Jesus, not because they are perfect, but because the spiritual direction of their lives points to Jesus, Who is their perfection!  No wonder that Daniel exclaimed that this Pre-Advent Judgment “was made in favor of the saints of the Most High…” (Daniel 7:22).  In other words, the everlasting gospel is how God's faithful people go safely through the Pre-Advent Judgment.


6.    What does the expression “Fear God” mean, and what is it commonly associated with in Scripture?

“…‘Fear God….’”  Revelation 14:7.  “Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.  For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.”  Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.

Answer:  For those who love God, to fear Him is to be in awe of Him or to revere Him.  It is a form of worship.  In connection with the judgment, as it is in both passages above, it always results in obedience to God’s commandments.  In other words, God’s true people will care more of what God thinks of them than they do what other people think of them—even if some of those commandments are inconvenient or unpopular.  How much more important this will be in the context of the final crisis over worship in the context of enormous political pressure and the hour of God’s judgment!


7.    What does it mean to give glory to God?

“…‘Fear God and give glory to Him….’”  Revelation 14:7.  “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body….”  I Corinthians 6:19-20.  “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  I Corinthians 10:31.

Answer:  Again, giving glory or credit to God is another form of worship of God.  The Corinthian passages here demonstrate that most Bible references to glorifying God in the New Testament concern the actions of God’s people.  True worship includes the whole physical body as well as the mind.  These actions include keeping your body from sexual immorality and keeping it in the best healthful condition possible.  Given what we know about the relationship of the body to the mind, Christians should live a healthy lifestyle.  Thus, we should expect God’s last-day movement proclaiming these three angels’ messages to also emphasize health reform, both (1) to make our body-temple fit for the Holy Spirit, and (2) to give even more glory to God.  Therefore, good religion includes good health!


8.    To whom is worship due, and why is it so important in the end-time?

“…and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”  Revelation 14:7.  “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them….”  Exodus 20:11.

Answer:  As you can see from the two texts here, Revelation 14:7 paraphrases a part of the Sabbath Commandment.  Worship is due to God particularly because He is the Creator of the universe and of us.  In an age where evolution dominates our culture, God’s last-day movement will stand up for the Creator—which is illustrated and commemorated in the weekly 7th-day Sabbath (Saturday).  You may ask why we focus so much attention on the Sabbath.  The answer is that (1) it is taught in the only Commandment that starts with the word Remember, and almost the whole world has forgotten, and (2) it will be the subject of the final showdown between true and false worship in the final crisis.


9.    Who is Babylon in Revelation, and what does her wine represent?

“And another angel followed, saying, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”  Revelation 14:8.  “…‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot [Babylon] who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.’”  Revelation 17:1-2.

Answer:  First, note from Lesson #10 that Babylon primarily represents the Papal Antichrist.  However, all false religions will end up following her lead in the final crisis, so that in a more general sense, Babylon represents all false religion.  Second, note that the Hebrew word for Babylon means confusion, while the Chaldean name means “gate of the gods”.  Babylon declares that her teachings will lead the way to God.  But when people drink her wine, they become drunk and thus spiritually confused.  Therefore, the wine of Babylon must represent the false teachings of Babylon, especially the (1) claim to personally speak for God on earth, and (2) the demand to honor Sunday, the first day of the week.


10.    To what does the word “fornication” refer?

“And another angel followed, saying, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”  Revelation 14:8.  “…‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot [Babylon] who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.’”  Revelation 17:1-2.  “But you [Jerusalem, Judah] trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame….”  Ezekiel 16:15.

Answer:  Notice the element of coercion in Revelation 14:8, “…she has made all nations drink….”  Fornication or adultery is committed when two people who are not married to each other engage in sex.  This, of course, is spiritual fornication—which will take place when the world’s nations and people spiritually unite with spiritual Babylon.  Such fornication will bring upon these people the wrath of God.


11.    How is God’s wrath poured out on those who receive the mark of the beast?

“Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation….’”  Revelation 14:9-10.  “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous:  seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.”  Revelation 15:1.

Answer:  God’s wrath will be at “full strength” level, His complete wrath.  This wrath will take the form of the 7 Last Plagues, which is the subject of our very next lesson.


12.    Does Revelation 14:10-11 teach eternal torment of the wicked?

“…He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.  And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”  Revelation 14:10-11.

Answer:  In Explorer I, Lesson #24, we learned that this imagery was adopted from Isaiah 34.  There we learned that the smoke ascending forever was not literal but a poetic image that the fire behind the smoke will utterly destroy the wicked at the end-time—that literally, certain animals and plant life will eventually live there.  Therefore, if the smoke and fire eventually go away, and they are the source of the wicked peoples’ torment (see passage above), then the torment will not be eternal either.


13.    What will be required in order to be a part of God’s last-day church and movement?

“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments and the faith of Jesus.”  Revelation 14:12.

Answer:  The Greek word for patience would be better translated as perseverance, which refers to an ongoing struggle to, in this case, keep on the path toward heaven.  These end-time saints also will keep the commandments, and in Lesson #9, we learned that this points particularly to the Ten Commandments, the subject of the final crisis.  Then notice that the same verb keep that applies to the commandments also applies to faith.  Therefore, its focus here is not to have faith per se, but to “keep…the faith of Jesus”.  The emphasis is on keeping the faith of Jesus, that is, to keep that body of truth that Jesus holds.  In the very last days, we can only imagine how vital and how difficult that will be.  Therefore, it is high time to accept and keep the faith of Jesus now, so that it will be easier to keep it under severe threats from those around us in the final crisis.

 

Quiz for Lesson 12—The Three Angels’ Messages

 

1.  When are the three angels’ messages to be given to the whole world? (3)

  They could not have been proclaimed until the Pre-Advent Judgment began in 1844.

  They are to be proclaimed during Daniel’s “time of the end”.

  They will be proclaimed just after the 7 Last Plagues begin to fall.

  They are to be proclaimed before the Second Coming of Jesus.

 

2.  Who do the three angels represent? (2)

  They are three literal angels from heaven

  They represent God’s last-day movement.

  They represent all of the 144,000 special evangelists.

  They represent a Christian movement that warns people to be ready for Jesus’ return.

 

3.  Which of the following statements about the everlasting gospel and the Pre-Advent Judgment are true? (2)

  The everlasting gospel is the “good news” about Jesus that saves us.

  The judgment here is good news also because the living saved when Jesus returns will have reached spiritual perfection.

  The judgment is “good news” because the lives of God’s people demonstrate that they belong to Jesus and are thus saved by His righteousness alone.

 

4.  Which of the following statements about fearing God are true? (3)

  To fear God is to be terrified of His power.

  To fear God is to revere Him.

  Fearing God in the context of judgment always results in obedience to God’s Commandments.

  Fearing God is a form of worshiping God.

 

5.  Which statements below about giving glory to God are true? (3)

  It is another form of worshiping God.

  Most references to glorifying God in the New Testament refer to the good actions of His people.

  Spiritual health is certainly more important than physical health in God’s eyes.

  Health reform should be expected to be taught by God’s end-time movement.

 

6.  Why do you focus so much attention on the 7th-day Sabbath (Saturday)? (3)

  It is because part of the 1st angel’s message refers to the Sabbath Commandment.

  It is because it honors the Creator in an age when evolution is so prominently taught.

  It is because honoring the Sabbath honors the Jewish roots of Christianity.

  It is because the Sabbath-Sunday issue will dominate the mark of the beast crisis.

 

7.  The wine of Babylon warned against in the 2nd angel’s message are the false teachings of spiritual Babylon that intoxicate the people who adopt them. (1)

  True

  False

 

8.  How will all nations be guilty of “fornication” in the end-time? (2)

  They will enter into a formal relationship with the Papal Church, which is a church that is unfaithful to God.

  They will enforce the mark of the Papal Church (Sunday observance) in an act of unfaithfulness to God.

  Sexual immorality will be vastly increased in the false churches at the end-time.

 

9.  What happens to those who receive the mark of the beast? (1)

  They will prosper until Jesus returns in glory.

  God’s wrath will be poured out on them in the form of the 7 Last Plagues.

  They will be instantly killed just before Jesus returns.

 

10.  Which words or phrases below describe what God’s last-day church will need in order to go safely through the final tribulation? (3)

  Perseverance

  Keep the faith of Jesus

  Keep the annual festivals

  Patience