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“I saw another angel
come down from heaven, having great power, and
the earth was lightened with his glory. And he
cried mightily with a strong voice, saying,
Babylon the great has fallen, is fallen, and is
become the habitation of devils, and the hold of
every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean
and hateful bird.” “And I heard another
voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My
people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and
that ye receive not her plagues.” Revelation
18: 1, 2, 4.
This scripture points
forward to a time when the announcement of the
fall of Babylon, as made by the second angel of
Revelation 14 (verse 8), is to be repeated, with
the additional mention of the corruptions which
have been entering the various organizations that
constitute Babylon, since the message was first
given, in the summer of 1844. A terrible
condition of the religious world is here
described. With every rejection of truth the
minds of the people will be come darker, their
hearts more stubborn, until they are entrenched
in their infidel hardihood. In defiance of the
warnings that God has given, they will continue
to trample upon one of the precepts of the
Decalogue, until they are led to persecute those
who hold it sacred. Christ is set at nought in
the contempt placed upon His word and His people.
As the teachings of spiritualism are accepted by
the churches, the restraint imposed upon the
carnal heart is removed, and the profession of
religion will become a clock to conceal the
barest iniquity. A belief in spiritual
manifestations opens the door to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils, and thus the influence
of evil angels will be felt in the churches.
Of Babylon, at the time
brought to view in this prophecy, it is declared:
“Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God
hath remembered her iniquities.” Revelation
18:5. She has filled up the measure of her guilt,
and destruction is about to fall upon her.
However, God still has a people in Babylon; and
before the visitation of His judgments, these
faithful ones must be called out, that they
partake not of her sins and “receive not of
her plagues.” Hence the movement symbolized
by the angel coming down from heaven, lightening
the earth with his glory and crying mightily with
a strong voice, announcing the sins of Babylon.
In connection with his message the call is heard:
“Come out of her, My people.” These
announcements, uniting with the third
angel’s message, constitute the final
warning to be given to the inhabitants of the
earth.
Fearful is the issue to
which the world is to be brought. The powers of
earth, uniting to war against the commandments of
God, will decree that, “all both small and
great, rich and poor, free and bond”
(Revelation 13:16), shall conform to the customs
of the church by the observance of the false
sabbath. All who refuse compliance will be
visited with civil penalties, and it will finally
be declared that they are deserving of death. On
the other hand, the law of God enjoining the
Creator’s rest day demands obedience and
threatens wrath against all who transgress its
precepts.
With the issue, thus
clearly brought before him, whoever shall trample
upon God’s law to obey human enactment
receives the mark of the beast; he accepts the
sign of allegiance to the power that he chooses
to obey instead of God. The warning from heaven
is: “If any man worship the beast and his
image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or
in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of
the wrath of God, which is poured out without
mixture into the cup of His indignation.”
Revelation 14: 9, 10.
However, not one is made
to suffer the wrath of God until the truth has
been brought home to his mind and conscience, and
has been rejected. There are many who have never
had an opportunity to hear the special truths for
this time. The obligation of the fourth
commandment has never been set before them in its
true light. He who reads every heart and tries
the motive will leave none who desire a knowledge
of the truth, to be deceived as to the issues of
the controversy. The decree is not to be urged
upon the people blindly. Everyone is to have
sufficient light to make his decision
intelligently.
The seventh day Sabbath
will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the
point of truth especially controverted. When the
final test shall be brought to bear upon men,
then the line of distinction will be drawn
between those who serve God and those who serve
Him not. While the observance of the false
sabbath in compliance with the law of the state,
contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an
avowal of allegiance to a power that is in
opposition to God, the keeping of the true
Sabbath, in obedience to God’s law, is an
evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one
class, by accepting the sign of submission to
earthly powers, receives the mark of the beast,
the other choosing the token of allegiance to
divine authority, receive the seal of God.
Heretofore those who
presented the truths of the third angel’s
message have often been regarded as mere
alarmists. Their predictions that religious
intolerance would gain control in the United
States, that church and state would unite to
persecute those who keep the commandments of God,
have been pronounced groundless and absurd. It
has been confidently declared that this land
could never become other than what is has been
– the defender of religious freedom.
However, as the question of enforcing Sunday
observance is widely agitated, the event so long
doubted and disbelieved is seen to be
approaching, and the third message will produce
an effect that it could not have had before.
In every generation, God
has sent His servants to rebuke sin, both in the
world and in the church. However, the people
desire smooth things spoken to them, and the
pure, unvarnished truth is not acceptable. Many
reformers, in entering upon their work,
determined to exercise great prudence in
attacking the sins of the church and the nation.
They hoped, by the example of a pure Christian
life, to lead the people back to the doctrines of
the Bible. However, the Spirit of God came upon
them as it came upon Elijah, moving him to rebuke
the sins of a wicked king and an apostate people;
they could not refrain from preaching the plain
utterances of the Bible – doctrines which
they had been reluctant to present. They were
impelled to zealously declare the truth and the
danger that threatened souls. The words that the
Lord gave them they uttered, fearless of
consequences, and the people were compelled to
hear the warning.
Thus, the message of the
third angel will be proclaimed. As the time comes
for it to be given with greatest power, the Lord
will work through humble instruments, leading the
minds of those who consecrate themselves to His
service. The laborers will be qualified rather by
the unction of His Spirit than by the training of
literary institutions. Men and women of faith and
prayer will be constrained to go forth with holy
zeal, declaring the words that God gives them.
This special group of the 144,000 servant
prophets will go into Babylon and lay open the
sins of the multitudes before three different
classes of people. I will explain these three
groups later in this article. The fearful results
of enforcing the observances of the church by
civil authority, the inroads of spiritualism, the
stealthy but rapid progress of the papal power
– all will be unmasked. By these solemn
warnings, the people will be stirred. Thousands
upon thousands will listen who have never heard
words like these. The opening of the Great
Tribulation will be sudden and with it tremendous
destruction of this planet. The first four
trumpets will fall upon earth during quick
succession and our world will be reeling under
God’s wrath and people for the first time
will want answers to their questions. In
amazement, they will hear the testimony that
Babylon is the church-state, fallen because her
errors and sins, because of her rejection of the
truth sent to her from heaven. As the people go
to their former teachers with eager inquiry, are
these things so? The ministers present fables,
prophesy smooth things, to soothe their fears and
quiet the awakened conscience. However, since
many refuse to be satisfied with mere authority
of men and demand a plain “Thus saith the
Lord,” the popular ministry, like the
Pharisees of old, filled with anger, as their
authority questioned, will denounce the message
as of Satan and stir up the sin-loving multitudes
to revile and persecute those who proclaim it.
As the Great Tribulation
extends into new fields and the minds of the
people are called to God’s downtrodden law,
Satan is astir. The power attending the
144,000’s message will only madden those who
oppose it. The clergy will put forth almost
superhuman efforts to shut away the light lest it
should shine upon their flocks. By every means at
their command, they will endeavor to suppress the
discussion of these vital questions. The church
appeals to the strong arm of civil power, and, in
this work, papists and Protestants unite. As the
movement for Sunday enforcement becomes more bold
and decided, the law will be invoked against
commandment keepers. They will be threatened with
fines and imprisonment, and some will be offered
positions of influence, and their steadfast
answer is: “Show us from the word of God our
error” – the same plea that was made by
Martin Luther under similar circumstances. Those
who are arraigned before the courts make a strong
vindication of the truth, and some who hear them
are led to take their stand to keep all the
commandments of God. Thus, light will be brought
before thousands who otherwise would know nothing
of these truths.
Conscientious obedience
to the word of God will be treated as rebellion.
Blinded by Satan, the parent will exercise
harshness and severity toward the believing
child; the master or mistress will oppress the
commandment-keeping servant. Affection will be
alienated; children will be disinherited and
driven from home. The words of Paul will be
literally fulfilled: “All that will live
godly in Christ Jesus will suffer
persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:12. As the
defenders of truth refuse to honor the
Sunday-sabbath, some of them will be thrust in to
prison, some will be exiled, and some will be
treated as slaves. To human wisdom, all this now
seems impossible; but the restraining Spirit of
God shall be withdrawn from men, and they shall
be under the control of Satan, who hates the
divine precepts, there will be strange
developments. The heart can be very cruel when
God’s fear and love are removed.
As the storm of the Great
Tribulation approaches, large classes who have
professed faith in the third angel’s
message, but have not been sanctified through
obedience to the truth, abandon their position
and join the ranks of the opposition. By uniting
with the world and partaking of its spirit, they
have come to view matters in nearly the same
light; and when the test is brought, they are
prepared to choose the easy, popular side. Men of
talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in
the truth, employ their powers to deceive and
mislead souls. They become the bitterest enemies
of their former brethren. When Sabbath keepers
are brought before the courts to answer for their
faith, these apostates are the most efficient
agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them
and by false reports and insinuations to stir up
the rulers against them.
In this time of
persecution, the faith of the Lord’s
servants will be tried. The 144,000 have
faithfully given the warning of the three
angel’s message, and are looking to God and
His word alone. God’s spirit, moving upon
the hearts, has constrained them to speak.
Stimulated with holy zeal, and with the divine
impulse strong upon them, they entered upon the
performance of their duties without coldly
calculating the consequences of speaking to the
people of the world that the Lord has given them.
They have not consulted their temporal interests,
nor sought to preserve their reputation or their
lives. Yet, when the storm of opposition and
reproach bursts upon them, some, overwhelmed with
consternation, will be ready to exclaim:
“had we foreseen the consequences of our
words, we would have held our peace.” They
are hedged in with difficulties. Satan assails
them with fierce temptations. The work that they
have undertaken seems far beyond their ability to
accomplish. They are threatened with destruction.
The enthusiasm that animated them is gone; yet,
they cannot turn back. The Seventh Trumpet of God
is about to sound in heaven that will close
probation for all eternity. Then, feeling their
utter helplessness, they flee to the Mighty One
for strength. Many if not all of the 144,000
servant-prophets have been murdered by wicked men
for their powerful testimony about the
commandments of God and His eternal messages of
the three angels. They remember that the words
that they have spoken were not theirs, but His
who bade them give the warning. God put the truth
into their hearts, and they could not forbear to
proclaim it, they have been sealed with God at
the beginning of the Great Tribulation because
they are first fruits of God and the Lamb.
The same trials have been
experienced by men of God in ages past. Wycliffe,
Huss, Luther, Tyndale, Baxter, Wesley, urged that
all doctrines be brought to the test of the Bible
and declared that they would renounce everything
which it condemned. Against these men
persecutions raged with relentless fury; yet they
ceased not to declare the truth. Different period
in history of the church have each marked by the
development of some special truth, adapted to the
necessities of God’s people at that time.
Every new truth has made its way against hatred
and opposition; those who were blessed with its
light were tempted and tried. The Lord gave a
special truth for the people in an emergency. Who
dare refuse to publish it? He commands His
servants to present the last invitation of mercy
to the world. They cannot remain silent, except
at the peril of their souls. Christ’s
ambassadors have nothing to do with consequences.
They must perform their duty and leave results
with God.
As the opposition rises
to a fiercer height, the servants of God are
again perplexed; for it seems to them, they have
brought the crisis. However, the conscience and
the word of God assure them that their course is
right; and although the trials continue, they are
strengthened to bear them. The contest grows
closer and sharper, but their faith and courage
rise with the emergency. Their testimony is:
‘We dare not tamper with God’s word,
dividing His holy law; calling one portion
essential and another nonessential, to gain the
favor of the world. The Lord of whom we serve is
able to deliver us. Christ has conquered the
powers of earth; and shall we be afraid of a
world already conquered?”
Persecution in its varied
forms is the development of a principle that will
exist as long as Satan exists and Christianity
has vital power. No man can serve God without
enlisting against himself the opposition of the
hosts of darkness. Evil angels will assail him,
alarmed that his influence is taking prey from
their hands. Evil men, rebuked by his example,
will unite with them in seeking to separate him
from God by alluring temptations. When these do
not succeed, then a compelling power is employed
to force the conscience.
However, so long as Jesus
remains man’s intercessor in the sanctuary
above, rulers and people feel the restraining
influence of the Holy Spirit. It still controls
to some extent the laws of the land. Were it not
for these laws, the condition of the world would
be much worse than it is now. While many of our
rulers are active agents of Satan, God also has
agents among the leading men of the nation. The
enemy moves upon his servants to propose measures
that would greatly impede the work of God; but
statesman who fear the Lord are influenced by
holy angles to oppose such propositions with
unanswerable arguments. Thus, a few men will hold
in check a powerful current of evil. The
opposition of the enemies of truth will be
restrained that the third angel’s message
may do its work. When the 144,000 give their
final warning that probation is about to close,
it will arrest the attention of these leading men
through whom the Lord is now working, and some of
them will accept it, and will stand with the
people of God through the last seven plagues or
time of trouble.
The angel who unites in
the proclamation of the third angel’s
message is to lighten the whole earth with his
glory. A work of worldwide extent and unwonted
power is here foretold. The advent movement of
1840-1844 was a glorious manifestation of the
power of God; the first angel’s message was
carried to every missionary station in the world,
and in some countries there was the greatest
religious interest which has been witnessed in
every land since the Reformation of the sixteenth
century; but these are to be exceeded by the
mighty movement under the warning of the third
angel.
The work will be similar
to that of the Day of Pentecost. As the
“former rain” was given, in the
outpouring of the holy Spirit at the opening of
the gospel, to cause the up springing of the
precious seed, so the “latter rain”
will be given at the close for the ripening of
the harvest. “Then shall we know, if we
follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is
prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto
us as the rain, as the latter and former rain
unto the earth.” Hosea 6:3. “Be glad
then ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord
your God: for He hath given you the former rain
moderately, and He will cause to come down for
you the rain, the former rain, and the latter
rain.” Joel 2:23. “In the last days,
saith God, I will pour out My Spirit upon all
flesh.” “And it shall come to pass,
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.” Acts 2: 17, 21.
The great work of the
gospel is not to close with less manifestations
of the power of God than marked it’s
opening. The prophecies that were fulfilled in
the outpouring of the former rain at the opening
of the gospel are again to be fulfilled in the
latter rain at its close. Here are “the
times of refreshing” to which the apostle
Peter looked forward when he said: “Repent
ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins
many be blotted out, when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He
shall send Jesus.” Acts 3: 19,20.
The 144,000
servant-prophets of God, with their faces lighted
up and shining with holy consecration, will
hasten from place to place to proclaim the
message from heaven. These men and women of the
144,000 by their voices, all over the earth, the
warning will be given. Miracles will be wrought,
the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders
will follow the believers. Satan also works, with
lying wonders, even bringing fire from heaven in
the sight of men. Revelation 13:13. Thus, the
inhabitants of the earth will be brought to take
their stand.
Their message will be
carried out not so much by argument as by the
deep conviction of the Spirit of God. All the
articles of salvations story has been clearly
presented to the world. The seed has been sown,
and now it will spring up and bear fruit. Because
of the seven trumpets most of planet earth is
almost inhabitable, all of mankind will have made
a conscience choice to either follow the will of
God, obey his commandments and choose eternal
life or take the mark of the beast and totally
rebel against God and choose Satan as their god,
and suffer eternal damnation in the lake of fire.
There will be three
classes of people living here at the end of time.
The first group is the honest in heart,
those people who are used to listening to strong
impressions of the Holy Spirit and doing just
what God asks of them. The second group is the righteous
wicked; these people have accepted the devil
as their master because of his manifestations of
miracles and signs to deceive the world. The
third group is the non-righteous wicked
who does not care to listen to the Holy Spirit or
be influenced by the devil’s minions. They
just want to be left alone and believe in what
they what to believe. Everyone will have to make
an informed decision that is why the Lord will
push them off the fence.
The three angel’s
messages are condensed as follows:
1.
Fear God, worship God and obey His Ten
Commandments.
2.
Have no part in the crisis government that will
form to appease God. Reject its laws and false
doctrines.
3.
Do not submit to the Antichrist or receive his
mark. If you do, God will severely punish you.
The 144,000 will present
these three messages within the context of the
fierce opposition. The call to worship God and
obey His Ten Commandments will collide “head
on” with the religions of the world. The
demands of God’s Law will be contrary to the
laws and demands of the crisis government that
will form. This predicament will produce some
very tough choices. These three messages contain
the “saving” elements of the
everlasting gospel, and as surprising as it may
seem, will completely separate the people of
Earth. People who allow their carnal nature to
reign will reject God’s authority, just as
people who allow the Holy Spirit to reign will
submit to God’s authority. It is simple.
Notice the four-step process that God has
predetermined for the gospel during the
Tribulation.
1.
Everyone must hear the gospel.
2.
Everyone must decide for or against the gospel.
3.
Everyone must be tested in their decision (faith
tested).
4.
Depending on the outcome choice, everyone will
receive either the seal of God or the mark of the
beast.
The first step in
the testing process is the proclamation of the
terms and conditions of the gospel. The second
step is the decision phase. The honest and
heart will make the right choices as the Holy
Spirit and the Bible directs them, even though
they will be threatened with persecution and
death. The point is that everyone will make an
informed decision about the will of God because
the 144,000 will complete their preaching
assignments. The third step will be the
testing phase. This phase will confirm whether
our faith in God is firm and loyal. Last,
God will remove the carnal nature and seal those
who pass the test of faith with a spiritual
nature that has no propensity toward sin! God
will give the sinless nature He originally gave
to Adam to the people who pass the test of faith.
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