The Three Messages of Revelation 14:6-12

CHAPTER 2 - THE PROCLAMATION OF THE FIRST ANGEL

Identity of the Angels of Revelation 14:6 and 10:1 - The Open Book of Chapter 10 - Nature of this Proclamation - Time when it is heard - Extent of the Warning - Evidences of which it is based - Reference to John the Baptist - The Disappointment

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:6, 7. TMR 25.1

WE call this the first angel, because it is the first of the series. See verse 9. John calls it “another angel,” from the fact that he had previously seen an angel flying through the midst of heaven, after the fourth angel had sounded, announcing the last three trumpets as woe trumpets. See Chap. 8:13. This was about the close of the sixth century, and this fact shows that the first angel of Revelation 14 does not belong to the apostolic age. TMR 25.2

We understand that this angel is the same as the one brought to view in Revelation 10. We shall therefore briefly refer to that chapter as explanatory of chap. 14:6, 7, and as furnishing an important argument respecting the time of its fulfillment. Chap.9 presents the first and second woes. The prophetic period connected with the second woe terminated with the political power of the Ottoman Empire, Aug. 11,1840. ¹ Thus ends the ninth chapter, and the tenth opens with the descent of a mighty angel from heaven with a little book in his hand, who cries with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth, and then lifts up his hand to heaven, and swears that time shall be no longer. TMR 26.1

This oath cannot mean duration as measured by days and years, for in chap. 20 we have 1000 years measured off between the two resurrections; and, for aught that appears to the contrary, duration will ever be measured thus. Nor can it mean probationary time, for two reasons: 1. It is certain, from verse 7, that this announcement precedes the voice of the seventh angel, and it is in the days of the commencement of his voice that the mystery of God is finished; 2. After this oath of the angel, it is said to John, who doubtless personates the church, that he must prophesy again. These reasons furnish conclusive proof that probation has not closed when this oath is uttered. Hence we understand that this oath has reference to the prophetic periods, and that this angel with the little book open in his hand is the same as the angel of Chap. 14, announcing that the hour of God’s Judgment has come. The little book which was open in his hand, we understand to be the prophecy of Daniel, which was to be sealed up until the time of the end. The angel of Chap. 10 preached from this little book, and it is this prophecy of Daniel that contains the prophetic time on which the angel of Chap. 14:6 bases his proclamation that the hour of God’s Judgment is come. TMR 26.2

This proclamation is one of pre-eminent importance. It is not a mere local judgment, but one that concerns all the inhabitants of the earth. Hence it has reference to the final Judgment scene. It is the same gospel that Paul preached that is here styled the “everlasting gospel.” But the great truth uttered by this angel would not have been a truth if uttered by Paul; for he lived at the commencement of the gospel dispensation, and this proclamation relates to its closing scenes. It seems to be the same as “this gospel of the kingdom” that our Lord presents in Matthew 24:14 as the sign of the end of this dispensation. TMR 27.1

The truth on this point is well expressed in the following language of the late Sylvester Bliss:- TMR 27.2

“As an indication of the approach of the end, there was, however, to be seen another angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Revelation 14:6. The burden of this angel was to be the same gospel which had been before proclaimed; but connected with it was the additional motive of the proximity of the kingdom - ‘saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the seas, and the fountains of waters.’ Verse 7. No mere preaching of the gospel, without announcing its proximity, could fulfill this message. ¹ TMR 27.3

We firmly believe that this proclamation has been made, and that the preaching of the immediate advent of our lord has been in fulfillment in this prophecy. Prior to the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1840, it had been shown by those who were preaching the immediate advent of Christ, that the hour, day, month, and year of Ottoman supremacy would expire the 11th of August, 1840. When the event verified the truthfulness of this calculation, the way was prepared for the advent message to go with mighty power. The prophecies were not only unsealed, but, in the providence of God, a demonstration of the truthfulness of the mode of calculation respecting the prophetic times was given to the world. Thus, at the very time when the mighty angel of God was to come down with the little book open in his hand, and to cry with a loud voice, the advent message began to be proclaimed with great power. It was the good news of the everlasting kingdom, and of the advent of our glorious King. TMR 28.1

Hence it is evident that the advent proclamation comes in at the right time in this prophecy. The declaration of this angel, that the mystery of God should be finished in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, as He had declared to his servants the prophets, presents several important facts: 1. That the angel bases his preaching upon the authority of the prophets; 2. That the finishing of the mystery of God occupies days at the commencement of the voice of the seventh angel, and we understand the days of this angel to be years, as were those of the fifth and sixth angels of chap. 9; 3. That it shall be finished in the days of the voice of the seventh angel in the manner that the prophets have declared. One of them, Daniel, has told how the mystery of God should be finished at the end of the 2300 days; viz., the Sanctuary should be cleansed, which event accomplishes the work of our great High Priest. TMR 28.2

The extent of this proclamation is worthy of notice. An English writer, Mourant Brock, thus remarks:- TMR 29.1

“It is not merely in great Britain that the expectation of the near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of warning raised, but also in America, India, and on the continent of Europe. In America, about three hundred ministers of the word are thus preaching ‘this gospel of the kingdom;’ while in this country, about seven hundred of the Church of England are raising the same cry.” ¹ TMR 29.2

Dr. Joseph Wolfe traveled in Arabia Felix, through the region inhabited by the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. In Yemen, he saw a book which he mentions thus:- TMR 29.3

“The Arabs of this place have a book called SEERA. which treats of the second coming of Christ, and his reign in glory! In Yemen, he spent six days with the Rechabites. ‘They drink no wine, plant no vineyards, sow no seed, live in tents, and remember the words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab.’ With them were children of Israel, of the tribe of Dan, who reside near Tarim in Hadhramaut, who expect, in common with the children of Rechab, the speedy arrival of the Messiah in the clouds of heaven.” ¹ TMR 29.4

The “Voice of the Church,” by D. T. Taylor, speaks as follows concerning the wide diffusion of the advent sentiment:- TMR 30.1

“In Württemberg there is a Christian colony numbering hundreds, who look for the speedy advent of Christ; also another of like belief on the shores of the Caspian; the Molokans, a large body of dissenters from the Russian Greek Church, residing on the shores of the Baltic, — a very pious people of whom it is said, ‘Taking the Bible alone for their creed, the norm of their faith is simply the Holy Scriptures,’ — are characterized by the ‘expectation of Christ’s immediate and visible reign upon earth.’ In Russia, the doctrine of Christ’s coming and reign is preached to some extent and received by many of the lower class. It has been extensively agitated in Germany, particularly in the south part among the Moravians. In Norway, charts and books on the advent have been circulated extensively, and the doctrine has been received by many. Among the Tartars in Tartary, there prevails an expectation of Christ’s advent about this time. English and American publications on this doctrine have been sent to Holland, Germany, India, Ireland, Constantinople, Rome, and to nearly every missionary station on the globe. At the Turks Islands, it has been received to some extent among the Wesleyans. TMR 30.2

“Mr. Fox, a Scottish missionary to the Teloogoo people, was a believer in Christ’s soon coming. James MacGregor Bertram, a Scottish missionary of the Baptist order at St. Helena, has sounded the cry extensively on that island, making many converts and pre-millennialists; he has also preached it at South Africa at the missionary stations there. David N. Lord informs us that a large proportion of the missionaries who have gone from Great Britain to make known the gospel to the heathen, and who are now laboring in Asia and Africa, are millenarians; and Joseph Wolfe, D. D., according to his journals, between the years 1821 and 1845 proclaimed the Lord’s speedy advent in Palestine, Egypt, on the shores of the Red Sea, Mesopotamia, the Crimea, Persia, Georgia, throughout the Ottoman Empire, in Greece, Arabia, Turkistan, Bokhara, Afghanistan, Cashmere, Hindoostan, Thibet, in Holland, Scotland, and Ireland, at Constantinople, Jerusalem, St. Helena, also on shipboard in the Mediterranean, and at New York City to all denominations. He declares he has preached among Jews, Turks, Mohammedans, Parsees, Hindoos, Chaldeans, Yescedes, Syrians, Sabeans, to pashas, sheiks, shahs, the kings of Organtsh and Bokhara, the queen of Greece, etc; and of his extraordinary labors the Investigator says, ‘No individual has, perhaps, given greater publicity to the doctrine of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ than has this well-known missionary to the world. Wherever he goes, he proclaims the approaching advent of the Messiah in glory.’” ¹ TMR 31.1

None can deny that this world-wide warning of impending judgment has been given. The nature of the evidence adduced in its support now claims our attention, as furnishing the most conclusive testimony that it was a message from Heaven. TMR 32.1

All the great outlines of the world’s prophetic history were shown to be complete in the present generation. The great prophetic chain of Daniel 2, also the chains of chaps.7, 8, 11, 12, were shown to be just accomplished. The same was true of our Lord’s prophetic description of the gospel dispensation. Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21. The prophetic periods of Daniel 7, 8, 9, 12 and Revelation 11, 12, 13, were shown to harmonize with, and to unitedly sustain, this great proclamation. The signs in the heavens and upon the earth and sea, in the church and among the nations, with one voice bore witness to the warning which God addressed to the human family. Joel 2:30, 31; Matthew 24:29-31; Mark 13:24-26; Luke 21:25-36; 2 Timothy 3;2 Peter 3; Revelation 6:12, 13. And besides the mighty array of evidence on which this warning was based, the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in connection with this proclamation set the seal of Heaven to its truth. TMR 32.2

The warning of John the Baptist, which was to prepare the way for the first advent of our Lord, was of short duration, and limited in its extent. For each prophetic testimony which sustained the work of John, we have several which support the proclamation of Christ’s near advent. John had not the aid of the press to disseminate his proclamation, nor the facility of modern methods of travel; he was a humble man, dressed in camel’s hair, and he performed no miracles. If the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, in not being baptized of John, how great must be the guilt of those who reject the warning sent by God to prepare the way of the second advent! TMR 32.3

But those were disappointed who expected the Lord in 1843 and ‘44. This fact is with many a sufficient reason for rejecting all the testimony in this case. We acknowledge the disappointment, but cannot acknowledge that this furnishes a just reason for denying the hand of God in this work. The Jewish Church were disappointed when at the close of the work of John the Baptist, Jesus presented himself as the promised Messiah; and the trusting disciples were most sadly disappointed when He whom they expected to deliver Israel was by wicked hands taken and slain. And after his resurrection, when they expected him to restore again the kingdom to Israel, they could not but be disappointed when they understood that he was going away to his Father, and that they were to be left for a long season to tribulation and anguish. But disappointment does not prove that God has no hand in the guidance of his people. It should lead them to correct their errors, but it should not lead them to cast away their confidence in God. It was because the children of Israel were disappointed in the wilderness that they so often denied their guidance as divine. They are set forth as an admonition to us, that we should not fall after the same example of unbelief. TMR 33.1

But it must be apparent to every student of the Scriptures, that the angel who proclaims the hour of God’s Judgment does not give the latest message of mercy. Revelation 14 presents two other and later proclamations, before the close of human probation. This fact alone is sufficient to prove that the coming of the Lord does not take place until the second and third proclamations have been added to the first. The same thing may also be seen in the fact that after the angel of chap. 10 has sworn that time shall be no longer another work of prophesying before many people and nations is announced. Hence we understand that the first angel preaches the hour of God’s Judgment come; that is, he preaches the termination of the prophetic periods, and that this is the time which he swears shall be no longer. TMR 34.1

The Judgment does, of necessity, commence before the advent of Christ; for he comes to execute the Judgment (Jude 14, 15; Matthew 25:31-46; ? John 5:27); and at the sound of the last trumpet, he confers immortality upon every one of the righteous, and passes by all the wicked. The investigative Judgment does, therefore, precede the execution of the same by the Saviour. It is the province of the Father to preside in this investigative work, as set forth in Daniel 7. At this tribunal, the Son closes up his work as high priest, and is crowned king. Thence he comes to earth to execute the decisions of his Father. It is this work of judgment by the Father which the first angel introduces. TMR 34.2

The great period of 2300 days, which was the most important period in marking the definite time in that proclamation, extends to the cleansing of the Sanctuary. That the cleansing of the Sanctuary is not the cleansing of any part of the earth, but that it is the last work of our great High Priest in the heavenly Tabernacle, before his advent to the earth, has been clearly shown. And we understand that it is while the work of cleansing the Sanctuary takes place that the latest message of mercy is proclaimed. Thus it will be seen that the prophetic periods, and the proclamation which is based upon them, do not extend to the coming of the Lord. ¹ TMR 34.3