PART 3
THREE ANGELS' MESSAGES OF
REVELATION 14
A Letter to a Friend
Dear Tom,
Thank you for your letter. I do not want to offend or cause grief or pain, but I have come to realize that we have been going over the same ground, and although we are using the same scriptures neither one of us is seeing and understanding what the other is trying to say. In that sense, we are both spiritually non-productive, but take heart, the spirit of truth whether on my part or yours will prevail. Truth always prevails, doesn't it?
In the past we were hung up on specifics, i.e. old covenant versus new covenant, ceremonial law versus moral law, types versus antitypes, shadows versus substance, what was abolished at the Cross, what wasn't abolished, etc., and I felt that I failed to delineate the "big picture" and hence, the specifics appeared shadowed and dimmed. When the big picture is presented and understood, these specifics will shine forth in brilliant luster as God intended them to be, shining like a bright star in the blackest of night. Here's the big picture:
There is a last warning message (a message of eternal life and eternal death) that is to be proclaimed to the whole world before the return of Jesus Christ. The reason for this proclamation is to warn earth's inhabitants to turn away from sin--turn away from breaking God's law including the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and return to God. Everyone will be made to know that this warning comes from the heart of God who loves the world and wants to save it. As a result of this warning, people will make intelligent decisions whether to obey and honor God or disobey God and receive the mark of the Beast.
This solemn warning message encompasses three angels' messages found in Rev 14:6-12. These three-fold messages include the proclamation of the everlasting Gospel, the warning of the fall of Babylon, and the warning against worshipping the Beast. The fourth angel of Rev 18, having great power that lightens the earth with his glory, joins the three angels in proclaiming the same message but additionally giving the warning for God's people to come out of Babylon and not be partakers of her sins and receive of her plagues.
Not many in Christendom have a clear understanding of these messages; hence, their import is lost in the shuffle of the prevalent peace-and-safety, sentimentalism, honk-your-horn-if-you-love-Jesus theology. I'm sure you may have your own interpretation of these messages, but for now, please hear me out. At least you would know and wouldn't be surprised when the wall of separation between church and state in this country is broken down completely in the near future, and the state is enforcing church dogmas (as happened in the Dark Ages). They say if we don't know our history and have not learned from it, we're bound to repeat its tragic mistakes.
When church and state in this country are combined, the inevitable result would be the legislating and enforcing of moral issues including a national Sunday law to make Sunday, the venerable day of the sun god a day to "worship God". A death decree would be issued as penalty for violation. Sounds far-fetched? Not so.
As succinctly described in the graphic below, our country was founded on the principles of religious freedom and a separation of church and state. But according to Bible prophecy it will not be far off in the future when every principle of our Constitution will be repudiated and religious freedom taken away by the ruling religious class. Those who disagree with the establishment will be persecuted big time. "...And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book (Dan 12:1; Matt 24:21; Mark 13:19).
As a Jehovah's Witness, you would know first hand the tampering and meddling of the state in the free exercise of your religious beliefs. Have not the state interfered with your people by taking children away from parents for refusing blood transfusion? This is nothing but a meddling of the state in religious matters.
Already we're hearing statements from well-known religious TV personalities that the separation of church and state is one of Satan's most cunning deception. If this is not a shocking statement, I don't know what is. This meddling of church and state would get worse and worse as the Pat Robertsons, Jerry Falwells, and Joyce Meyers of the land take control and cause the legislation of moral issues to tamper with liberty of conscience--enforcing upon others morality as they have defined it and taking away the rights of the minority to exercise their religious beliefs.
Issues advocated by these evangelicals, i.e. abortions, same-sex marriages, other pro-life issues are all well and good, but these should be addressed from the pulpits, not from the halls of Congress. With the help of the Holy Spirit, people make personal decisions on moral issues. It is interesting that, referring to the federal marriage amendment, Dr. James Dobson, the host of a very popular Christian radio program, mentioned that it is now time to let Congress do what we can't do individually. In other words, we, the church, have failed to do our job; therefore, let the state, the civil powers, enforce our church dogmas.
Indeed, there is much to learn from the example of Gallio, the deputy of Achaia in southern Greece when they brought the Apostle Paul in for judgment. Before Paul could speak on his behalf, Gallio told the Jews that he would judge in civil matters pertaining to right and wrong, but he wouldn't have anything to do with judging church matters, and he let Paul go free (Acts 18:12-17). Also, there's much to learn from Christ Himself who said "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's (Matt 22:21)." Then, at one point when the crowd wanted to take Him by force and "crown" Him king and ruler of Israel that would vanquish the hated Romans, Jesus withdrew because His Kingdom is spiritual; it is not of this world (John 6:14,15). There was no crown of gold upon His head and no jeweled scepter for Him to hold, yet He had a Kingdom and He surveyed it, not from an ivory throne, but from an old rugged cross.
Daniel 2 describes Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The head of gold represents the Babylonian kingdom. The breast and arms of silver represent the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. The belly and thighs of brass represent Greece. The legs of iron represent the iron monarchy of Rome. The feet and ten toes represent the division of the Roman empire into the ten kingdoms of western Europe. Out of these ten kingdoms shall arise one that is diverse from the others and shall subdue three kings. This diverse kingdom is none other than the little horn power of Daniel 7 which is the Papacy. Martin Luther, John Wesley, John Calvin, John Knox, and other Reformers were right on target when they identified this power as the Papacy.
History tells us that the Papacy annihilated the Vandals, Ostrogoths and Heruli. That's why you don't see these nations today in western Europe. The feet and toes of this great image are comprised of partly iron and partly clay meaning a kingdom where church and state are combined. Everything in Nebuchadnezzar's prophetic dream has been fulfilled except the second coming of Jesus Christ. We are living in the 'toe nails' of this magnificent prophecy.
Maybe you're asking: How in the world did I come up with the conclusion that 'partly of iron and partly of clay' means church and state combined? Well, we already know that the iron is the Roman kingdom (state). Let's have the Bible tell us what clay represents.
In Jer 18:1-6 God told Jeremiah to go down to the potter's house, and there he saw the clay vessel in the potter's hand marred so that he had to make it again. God said "O House of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? ...Behold as the clay is in the potter's hand so are ye in mine hand." Ancient Israel was God's Church. When God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, he breathed into his nostril the breath of life or spirit, and Adam became a living soul. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit animated His Church of whom Jesus was the Head. Clay, therefore, represents people who make up the Christian church.
Catholicism and apostate Protestantism as well as other religions would be united (with one mind or purpose - Rev 17:13) in the end, the wall of separation between church and state would be broken down, and Protestant America would have erected an image to the Papal power with its system of false worship thus fulfilling the prophecy of Revelation 13.
Revelation 13 describes Protestant America as the lamb-like beast that came out of the earth as contrast to the four previous beasts (kingdoms) that came out of the sea (water). Water in prophecy symbolizes multitudes of nations (Isa 17:12,13; Rev 17:15).
The United States was a young nation like a tender plant that came out of the earth around the same time frame when French General Berthier took the Pope captive in 1798. It came about not from conquest as the other four kingdoms did in Dan 2. The two horns symbolize dual kingdoms meaning a worldly (secular/civil) kingdom and a spiritual (church) kingdom yet separate from one another. The horns represent Republicanism and Protestantism--a nation without a king and a church without a pope.
The United States is seen prophetically as a global power, an economic power, and a military power that would aid the first beast in its ascendancy to world power. According to Rev 13, Protestant America would erect an image to the Papal power and would speak like a dragon and cause many to be killed who would not give in to a false religious system to worship the image to the beast.
What constitutes a false religious system? The books of Daniel and Revelation as well as secular history books describe this system as coming out of pagan Rome which incorporated a lot of pagan religious customs and practices into the Christian Church. Prayer beads and candles were used that were never used by Jesus and the disciples. Graven images were worshipped. The pagan statue of Jupiter was renamed Peter, the great apostle of Jesus Christ, and statues of goddesses were renamed with names of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and other female saints. These images were worshipped in gross violation of the first and second commandments.
Rev 17 further describes this church as the mother of harlots riding upon a scarlet-colored beast. She was committing fornication or having an intimate relationship with the kings of the earth. This church and state union is treason in the sight of heaven. God has given His Church everything that pertains to life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3). Her moral rectitude is the result of the power of the Holy Spirit changing the hearts of its members as they study and meditate upon His Word. The Word of God quickens and gives life. It is mighty powerful! God spoke worlds into existence. His Church does not need the power of the state to legislate and enforce her dogmas in order to make people "moral". To be friends with the world we become adulterers and are enemies of God (Jam 4:4).
Here are some of the characteristics of the first beast of Rev 13 which is the same beast described in Dan 7 and elsewhere: It's different from other kingdoms because it is both political and religious. It's a persecuting power. Destitute of the power of the Holy Spirit, it sought to obtain power from the state. Its heyday was in the Dark Ages where the Bible (the Light of Truth) was hidden from the masses. "The noon of the papacy was the midnight of the world."--J. A. Wylie. Over 50 million people were slaughtered in the name of Christianity--a far cry from the example of the humble Nazarene who said He came not to destroy but to seek and to save that which was lost (Lk 9:56; 19:10).
This religious system changed God's prophetic time (calendar) by introducing the preterism and futurism interpretations of the 70th week prophecy in Dan 9:24-27. In the preterism interpretation, the antichrist was in the past, and it was in the person of Antiochus Epiphanes, the eighth king of the Seleucid kingdom, one of the four kingdoms that came about when the Grecian empire split up. In the futurism interpretation, the antichrist would come in the future. Hence the time frame of this Messianic prophecy was moved into the future and applied to the antichrist. How sacrilege can one get?
Obviously, the reason for these false interpretations of scripture is to mask the identity of the real antichrist--to take the focus off Rome. God's Word identifies the Papal system as already existing in Paul's day (2 Thes 2:7-9). It is here today and will continue to exist until Jesus returns when it will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming.
The Papacy not only changed God's prophetic time (calendar), it also changed God's law. It omitted the second commandment pertaining to graven images and changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day. It split the tenth commandment into two parts so that the total would still be ten. It's guilty of blasphemy. It speaks words against the Most High God claiming that the Pope is God on earth, able to forgive sins, is infallible and immortal, etc. The Bible says only God has immortality (1 Tim 6:16).
The Papal power is a persecuting power. Rev 12:6 reads: "And the woman (God's true church) fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days." As a religio-political entity, the Papacy governed from 538 A.D. to 1798 A.D., exactly 1260 literal years and it persecuted God's people. It received a deadly wound when French General Berthier captured Rome and took the Pope captive where he later died in captivity (Rev 13:10). Rome then became a republic, and the Church of Rome was stripped of the power of the state. However, the church would get this power back when the deadly wound gets completely healed (Rev 13:12).
The healing process began in 1929 when Mussolini signed the Lateran treaty which created Vatican City, restored diplomatic and political powers as well as guaranteed independent sovereignty to the Holy See. The deadly wound would completely heal when the image of the Beast is formed in the near future and persecution gets resurrected. Revelation 11 describes the 1260 years as a time when the Word of God (both the Old and the New Testaments) was suppressed from the masses, and darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people.
The Prophet Daniel describes this entity in Dan 7:25 - "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time."
In Daniel and Revelation, when you see these terms "1260 years; time, times and the dividing of time; and forty-two months, they all mean the time period where the Papacy reigned during the Dark Ages. Here's how you calculate it: 1260 years (42 months X 30 days in month = 1260). Time and times and the dividing of time = 1 + 2 + 1/2 = 3 1/2 years. 3 1/2 years = 42 months (12 + 24 + 6 = 42).
There is only one entity throughout human history that fits this description. Please note that when I write about this false religious system, I am not referring to individuals. There are many beautiful Catholics who are serving God the best way they know how, and God accepts that. They are His children.
But when the National Sunday Law is enforced upon the land, God, through the proclamation of the three angels' messages of Rev 14, will call these precious souls out of Babylon. He will also call His people out from apostate Protestantism which is also Babylon because the harlot (unfaithful woman/church) has daughters (Rev 17:5).
If you look at the three angels' messages closely, you will find that there are many things involved especially with the first angel and what he had to say. In the first angel's message, you see that included in the preaching of the everlasting Gospel is the announcement to "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 water."
I will explain the specifics of all the terms underlined above. But first let me ask you. Where do you see in all the Bible the Name of God named, His title as Creator given, and His territory or jurisdiction (Heaven and Earth) cited? You will not find these three characteristics anywhere else in the Bible but in the heart of the moral law of God:
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God (His Name)....For in six days the Lord made (He's the Creator - His Title) heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is (His jurisdiction), and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex 20:8-11.
Without the Sabbath commandment we wouldn't know who created the heaven and the earth. Adam and Eve didn't see God create anything. When God created Eve, He caused Adam to sleep. "Remember the Sabbath" is a reminder for us to remember that He is our Creator and spend quality time with Him to worship Him and contemplate with wonder and admiration His creative work on the day that He has blessed and sanctified.
In the Near East, archaeologists have uncovered clay tablets containing covenants between kings stamped with their seals which contained their names, titles, and territories. The Sabbath commandment has all the attributes of a seal--name, title, and jurisdiction.
The Law of God is like a legal document written by God's own finger and stamped with His Seal, His Sabbath. His Seal signifies His authority--that He is the Creator and Lord of all His creatures. The Sabbath is His sign between Him and His people that He is not only the Creator and Lord of all, but He is the One who sanctifies them (sets them apart and makes them holy). See Eze 20:12, 20. Also, look what Isaiah 8:16 says: "Bind up the testimony, seal the law and the teaching among my disciples."
You might be saying: Wait a minute, we are sealed with God's Holy Spirit per Eph 4:30. True, but the Holy Spirit will not be given to dwell with us unless we are obedient to God's law. Acts 5:32 says "And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him." 1 John 3:24 says "And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." Obedience is a prerequisite of the Godhead abiding in the heart (John 14:23).
This letter will discuss more on the sealing of God's people. But first I want to explain some things that would be helpful in understanding Bible prophecy concerning the Jews and their beloved city Jerusalem. This is a major segment of the big picture. When this is not understood, all interpretations of end-time prophecies would be incorrect, misleading, and confusing.
In your letter, Tom, you attributed the Sabbath sign as pertaining to the sons of Israel (literal Israel) that it was a perpetual sign throughout their generations and that this does not apply to spiritual Israel. Please allow me to disagree. I will discuss who the Israel of God is today, and you can get more information by clicking here: Who Are the True Children of Abraham?
From the get-go, God's purpose for the Jewish nation was to disseminate a knowledge of Him, His law, and His Solution to the sin problem (broken law) to the whole world which was steeped in idolatry, superstition, and ignorance. God preached the Gospel to Abraham (Gal 3:8-9). The Bible says that Abraham saw Christ's day, and he rejoiced and was glad (John 8:56).
Through Abraham's Seed (Christ - Gal 3:16), all the families of the earth will be blessed. Abraham disseminated the plan of salvation to the heathens around him. Everywhere he went he built an altar, sacrificed an unblemished lamb which pointed forward to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. Abraham in faith accepted the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, and he worshipped and obeyed God. Many Canaanites became believers in the one true God because of Abraham.
However, Abraham's descendants were not faithful as he was. God showed favor to Abraham's descendants because He loved them, and He would keep the oath that he had sworn to their fathers (Deut 7). However, all this was contingent upon their love to God made manifest by obedience to Him. From the start they were a disobedient and rebellious bunch. Had they were obedient, God would have used them to be a part of His plan for the salvation of the world (John 3:16). CLICK on the NEXT Button to continue.
