Time When The Proclamations Of Rev. 14 Are Made.
Importance of the Subject
Different Views of this Prophecy
The following reasons forbid the application of this prophecy to the future
age: 1.
This view would make the angel with the everlasting gospel to every
nation, kindred, and tongue, an angel from heaven with another gospel (Gal.
1:8); for the apostolic commission extended only to the harvest, which is the
end of the world. Matt. 28:19, 20; 24:14; 13:24-30; 36:43. Paul participated
in this commission (1 Tim. 1:11), and he thus declares its import: that God
"now commandeth all men everywhere to repent; because he hath appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness. " Acts 17:30,
31. The apostolic commission extended only to the end, - the day in which
God shall judge the world by Jesus Christ. A gospel preached in that day
would be another gospel than that preached by Paul, and one that has no
Saviour in it. This would indeed show that the angel of Rev. 14:6, 7 was the
very being on whom rests the curse of Paul in Gal. 1:8.
2. The second angel announces the fall of Babylon. Rev. 14:8. After this
proclamation, a voice is heard from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my
people. " Rev. 18:1-4. That the absurdity of placing this transaction after the
second advent may be seen, please read 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. It is there plainly
stated that at the coming of Christ, his people shall all be caught up to meet
him in the air, and thenceforward be forever with the Lord. Will the Lord
take his people to Babylon when he comes?
3. Let us now see whether the third Angel's Message can be applied to the
future age with any propriety. Those who will compare Rev. 14:9-12 and
13:11-17, will see at once that the warning voice of the third angel relates to
the fearful scene when the two-horned beast is to act its part in oppressing 8
the saints of the Lord. But if the third angel's proclamation relates to the
period which follows the second advent, then the work of the two-horned
beast must also transpire in the future age. And what a scene must the future
reign of the saints present, if Rev. 13:11-17 is to be fulfilled in that time!
But by turning to Rev. 20:4-6 it will be seen that the period for the triumph
of the beast and his image, and for the reception of his mark, precedes the
thousand years' reign of the saints. And when the reign of the saints
commences, the triumph of the beast is past.
The beast doubtless represents the papal power. Rev. 13:1-10; Dan 7:8, 20,
21, 25, 26. But by turning to 2 Thess. 2, we learn that the papacy is to be
destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming. Further, we learn from Rev.
19:19-21 that the final overthrow of the beast and the false prophet, or the
two-horned beast, takes place in the battle of the great day of God
Almighty, in immediate connection with the second advent. By these plain
testimonies we establish the fact that the beast will be destroyed at the
second advent. Therefore we ask, What danger will there be that men will
worship the beast at a time when there will be none for them to worship?
God will never send an angel to warn men against the worship of the beast
when the beast does not exist.
The language of verse 12, "Here is the patience of the saints, " is sufficient
of itself to overthrow the application of these messages to the future age.
The following scriptures clearly teach that the patience of the saints refers to
the present time, and not to the period of their future glorious reward: "Ye
have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might
receive the promise. " Heb. 10:36. "In your patience possess ye your souls. "
Luke 21:19. Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. "
James 5:7. Will the saints have need of patience in the kingdom of God?
Will they have to possess their souls in patience after they have received the
promise, even life everlasting? 1 John 2:25. It is tribulation that worketh
patience. Rom. 5:3 James 1:2, 3. Are the saints in tribulation after they are
made immortal and crowned with everlasting joy?
But verse 12 concludes thus: "Here are they that keep the commandments of
God and the faith of Jesus. " It is evident that this refers to the period when
the remnant are keeping the commandments of God while exposed to the
wrath of the dragon (Rev. 12:17), and that it does not refer to the period 9
when the commandment-keepers shall have entered in through the gates
into the holy city (Rev. 22:14); and that it refers to the period when the
saints are living by faith (Heb. 10:38, 39), and not to the period when they
shall have received the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls. 1 Pet.
1:9.
But verse 13, which pronounces a blessing on the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth, that is, from a point of time as late, at least, as the
third Angel's Message, presents a testimony which cannot be evaded. It
demonstrates that this part of John's vision relates to a period prior to the
first resurrection; for the saints cannot die after being made immortal. 1
Cor. 15:51-56. Our Lord testifies that they can die no more, but are equal
unto the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the
resurrection. Luke 20:36. If any are still disposed to locate these angels'
messages in the day of God itself, let them carefully read the following
Scriptures: Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-30; Gen. 7:21, 22; Luke 21:35; Ps.
2:6-9; Rev. 2:26, 27; 19:11-21; 22:11, 12; 2 Thess. 1:6-10.
1.
No proclamation of the hour of God's Judgment come, has ever been
made in any past age.
2. If such a proclamation had been made many centuries in the past, as
some contend, it would have been a false one.
3. The prophecies on which such a proclamation to men in a state of
probation must be based, were closed up and sealed to the time of the end.
4. The scriptures plainly locate the message of warning respecting the
Judgment in brief space immediately preceding the advent of our Lord, thus
directly contradicting the view that locates these messages in past ages.
1. Has the proclamation of the hour of God's Judgment come, been made in
any past age? If such a proclamation has never been made in past centuries,
there is an end to controversy on this part of the subject. No person has ever
been able to show any such proclamation in the past. The apostles did not 10
make such a proclamation; on the contrary, they plainly inform us that the
day of the Lord was not then at hand. Martin Luther did not make this
proclamation; for he thought the Judgment about three hundred years in the
future. And finally, the history of the church presents no such proclamation
in the past. Had the first angel preached to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people, that the hour of God's Judgment had come, the publicity
of such proclamation would be a sufficient guaranty that the history of the
world would contain some record of the fact. Its total silence respecting
such a proclamation is ample proof that it was never made, and should put
to silence those who make such an affirmation.
2. We are on firm ground, also, when we say that had such a proclamation
been made to the world in ages past, it would have been false. Four reasons
sustain this statement:
3. The prophecies which give us the time of the Judgment, and which
present the succession of events leading down to that great crisis, were
closed up and sealed till the time of the end. We refer particularly to the
prophecies of Daniel. See Dan. 8:17, 26; 12:4, 9. Hence it is evident that
God preserves the warning for that generation which alone needs it. Noah's
warning respecting the flood was alone applicable to those who should
witness it; thus also the warning respecting the Judgment is alone applicable
to that generation which lives in the last days.
4. The Bible locates these messages in the period which immediately
precedes the second advent, and plainly warns us against the proclamation
of the Judgment at hand prior to that time. Here we join issue with our
opponents. Instead of finding that the apostles gave this proclamation, as 11
some teach, we shall find indubitable evidence that they located it far in the
future, and that they admonished the church to heed none that should
precede a given time. If we recur to the book of Acts, we shall find Paul
preaching before Felix of the Judgment to come; and before the Athenians,
that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by Jesus Christ. Acts 24:25; 17:31. But that book nowhere
intimates that Christ was immediately coming to judgment. Peter points his
hearers to the future, saying that the heavens which had then received
Christ, must retain him until the times of restitution. Acts 3:21.
Paul reminds the Thessalonians that he had told them of these things when
he was yet with them. And where could Paul have learned this fact which he
had thus stated to them?
No Protestant will deny the identity of
Daniel's little horn and Paul's man of sin. And as Daniel has brought it into
a series of events which ends with the Judgment and the setting up of the
everlasting kingdom, it is an easy matter for Paul to tell where in this series
of events he stood, and whether the Judgment was the next event or not.
The apostle, therefore, plainly tells them that that day was not at hand. For
the man of sin, the little horn, must arise and perform his predicted work;
and when that should be accomplished, the coming of Christ should
transpire, to consume "that Wicked" with its brightness.
Now, when was the little horn to arise? Daniel was told that it should arise
after the ten horns upon the fourth beast; or, in other words, after the fourth
empire should be divided into ten kingdoms, which was accomplished about 12
five hundred years after Christ. The Judgment, therefore, could not come
prior to that time. But how long was this little horn to have power to wear
out the saints? - Daniel informs us that it should be for "a time, and times,
and the dividing of time. " How long is this period? - Rev. 12 shows that it
is 1260 prophetic days, or years. Verses 6, 14. It follows, therefore, that the
apostle carries the mind forward five hundred years, to the development of
the man of sin, and thence 1260 years for his triumph, before the Judgment
could be preached as an event immediately impending. Whoever will
carefully read Dan. 7, will get the original of Paul's argument in 2 Thess. 2,
and will not fail to see the force of his statement.
The papal supremacy began in 538, and ended in 1798 with the overthrow
of the pope's temporal power. Therefore the warning of Paul against a false
proclamation respecting the Judgment at hand, expires at that time, and not
before; for we will then have reached the point of time when the last
important event in Dan. 7, before the Judgment, has transpired. An angel
from heaven, preaching the hour of God's Judgment come many years in the
past, would be giving a different gospel from that preached by Paul. Those
who locate the angel of Rev. 14:6, 7, in past ages, virtually place upon his
head the anathema of Paul in Gal. 1:8. And, what is of very deep interest,
the point of time at which Paul's warning expires, is the commencement of
the time of the end, - the very point to which the visions of Daniel were
closed up and sealed. Compare Daniel 11:33, 35 and 7:25, and the fact that
the 1260 years' persecution of the saints terminates with the commencement
of the time of the end, will appear obvious. How gloriously does this view
of the subject make the truth of God shine out! for the warning of the
apostle against a false proclamation of the Judgment at hand, expires at the
very point where the seal is taken from those prophecies which show when
the Judgment sits. And it is respecting this period, the time of the end, that it
is said, Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge (on the very subject
which was before concealed) shall be increased. Then the time of the end is
the period in which the Judgment-hour cry, and the subsequent messages,
are to be given. Dan. 8:17, 26; 12:4, 9.
It is an interesting fact,
that Christ has marked the time in which these signs were to begin to
appear. Consequently, the messages in question could not be delivered prior
to that time. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. " Matt. 24:29. "But
in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon
shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers
that are in heaven shall be shaken. " Mark 13:24, 25. We think there can be
no mistake that in these scriptures our Lord refers to the papal tribulation of
Daniel the prophet. The signs of his second coming were to commence "in
those days, " but after that tribulation. " In other words, the 1260 prophetic
days would not be quite over, but their tribulation would be ended, when the
sun should be darkened. The sun was darkened in 1780, and the tribulation
of those days was then past, but the days did not expire till 1798. Thus we
have the signs of our Lord's immediate advent just opening upon us, as we
come down to the time of the end, the period when the vision should be
unsealed, and many run to and fro with the word of warning to a perishing
world.
The call to the dinner proving of no effect, the king turns to another people.
We understand this as we do the text in which our Lord tells the Jews that
the kingdom should be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing
forth the fruits thereof. Matt. 21:43. This part of the parable Matthew has
given in a word, that the servants in obedience to the command of their
Lord were enabled to furnish the wedding with guests. But Luke has taken
up this portion with minute accuracy. The dinner indeed was past and the
people to whom it was offered were unworthy of sharing it as guests; but
the purpose of the king was not to be made void. At supper time, says Luke,
a message was sent forth to announce to those that had been bidden, that
supper was ready. We understand that this call to the supper is made to the
Gentiles, and that it is in immediate connection with the second advent. For
we think that none will deny that the supper of Luke 14:16 and that of Rev.
19:9 are the same. Thus we see that there was to the Jews the general work
of bidding the guests, and the special call at dinner time; and that to the
Gentiles there is the general work of the gospel in bidding, and then at
supper time the special call to the marriage supper.
These three calls to the marriage supper (Luke 14:16-24) we understand to
be the same as the three messages of Rev. 14:6-12. The first call to the
supper is "at supper time, " and the first angel announces that "the hour of
His judgment is come. " None will dispute the fact that the judgment and
the marriage supper are in immediate connection with each other. Rev.
19:20. The three calls are not the general work of the gospel in bidding;
they are made at supper time, that is, at the close of the day. And the three
proclamations in Rev. 14, in like manner, are not the general work of the
gospel, but special warnings addressed to the world as the great work of our
High Priest is closing up.
Hence the day of God's preparation is the time for the warning
respecting the Judgment, and the associated proclamations to the inhabitants
of the earth. And how strikingly have we seen the sign which marks the day
of God's preparation fulfilled before our eyes! Since the time of the end
commenced, in which the prophecies relative to the Judgment were to be
unsealed, and many were to run to and fro, and knowledge to be increased,
chariots running like the lightnings have made their appearance in every
part of the civilized worlds. We think this a demonstration that we are now
in the day of God's preparation, and that, consequently, this is the period of
time in which the three proclamations of Rev. 14 are to be made; for the day 15
of God's preparation for the second advent must be the time for the world to
be warned respecting that event.
Such are the reasons, in brief, which establish the fact that these
proclamations are addressed to the last generation of men.
After the Redeemed Stand with the Lamb on Mt. Zion?
- Never. He says, "I go to
prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also. " John 14:2, 3. Then the Lord will not
have occasion to call his people out of Babylon after the second advent; for
from that time onward they are to be forever with him.
-No, never. Isa. 25:8 9;
35:10; Rev. 7:13-17. But the saints are in their patience when the Third
Angel's Message is given, hence that message does not belong to the future
age.
Before 1844?
The next inquiry relates to the past. Have not these messages met their
fulfillment in the history of the church in past ages? - We think not. Our
reasons for this conclusion are, in part, the following:-
(1. ) There is no part of the Bible on which such a
message, centuries in the past, could have been based; hence, had such a
proclamation been made, it would have been without scripture foundation,
and consequently not from Heaven;
(2. ) It would have been in direct
opposition to those scriptures which locate the Judgment, and the warning
respecting its approach, in the period of the last generation. (The scriptures
which sustain these two reasons we shall presently cite. );
(3. ) The history
of the world amply evinces that the hour of God's Judgment had not come
ages in the past;
(4. ) Nor would it be true of past ages, if limited to
Babylon; for Rev. 18:8-10 clearly shows that the hour of Babylon's
Judgment is yet in the future. It is certain, therefore, that the angel with the
proclamation respecting the hour of God's Judgment has not given it at a
time when it would be not only destitute of scriptural support, but would
absolutely contradict their plain testimony.
J.N. Andrews, "Three Messages of Rev. 14" Table of Contents
Index for Seventh-day Adventist Pioneer Writings