Prophecy
12
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The Eternal
Gospel –
Revelation 14:6 – 15:6
Beginning
Point in Time: When the
Censer is Cast Down (Revelation
8:5)
Ending Point in Time: The
1,265th day of the Great Tribulation
Summary:
The essence
of this prophecy can be summarized in
a few sentences. For 1,260 days, God
will empower His Two Witnesses to
speak through His 144,000 prophets.
The 144,000 will proclaim three
messages* to everyone on Earth. The
first message will contain a demand,
the second will contain an
inflammatory declaration, and the
third will contain an ultimatum.
Circumstances will force everyone to
respond to these messages and our
response will determine our eternal
destiny.
*Note: Actually,
the 144,000 will present four
messages from God during the Great
Tribulation. Three messages are found
in this prophecy and the fourth
message is found in Prophecy 14.
These four messages are easily
understood. When the time comes for
their delivery, those knowing very
little or nothing about the Bible
will be able to validate the
testimony of the 144,000 from the
Bible for themselves.
Introduction:
This prophecy
contains five elements which occur in
chronological order. They are:
- God
sends an outright demand
- God
sends an inflammatory
declaration
- God
sends an ultimatum
- God’s
offer of salvation comes to
an end
- The
victory celebration of the
144,000
Jesus will
not expect human beings to embrace
the testimony of the 144,000 on the
basis of the miracle working powers
which they will exhibit.[1]
Instead, the testimony of the 144,000
will be validated by God’s Two
Witnesses. If a person defies
the testimony of God’s Two
Witnesses, that person commits the
unpardonable sin. The issue of
validation is important because the
devil and his prophets will also work
amazing miracles during the Great
Tribulation. Miracle working
powers will gain attention, but
miracles do not necessarily validate
the testimony of a person claiming to
speak for God. By putting four
messages in a plain, “thus saith
the Lord” format in the book of
Revelation, the essential elements
for salvation will be easy for
everyone to understand when the time
comes. In addition to these
plainly worded messages in Scripture,
the Holy Spirit will strongly impress
each heart with their importance and
validity. The gospel of Jesus
will be clear, unmistakable, simple,
and obvious. If a person
chooses to reject the clearest
evidences of truth and the strongest
influence that the Holy Spirit can
exercise in that person’s heart,
God can do nothing else to save that
person.
Redemption
through Faith or Survival through
Works?
The four
messages presented by the 144,000
will add a dimension to the Great
Tribulation that few people
anticipate. Currently,
millions of Christians believe a
Great Tribulation is coming, but few
understand the coming contest for
souls; a contest between salvation
through faith and survival through
works. After the first four
trumpets occur, everyone will
question the possibility of
survival. God’s deadly
judgments will turn the world upside
down. Out of Earth’s
smoldering ruins, Babylon will arise
with a foolish plan to appease
God’s wrath. Its solution
will unwittingly defy the authority
of Jesus and the testimony of the
144,000. The conflict between
Babylon and the 144,000 forces
everyone into making a
decision. If a person obeys
God’s truth, he will be severely
punished by the authorities of
Babylon. If a person obeys the
laws of Babylon, Jesus will destroy
him during the seven last
plagues. This will be a
“no win” situation that
catches most Christians by
surprise. Regardless of
familial ties, language, culture,
education, religion, or race, four
simple messages from God will
separate mankind into two groups of
people; the sheep and the goats.
The Great
Tribulation Begins
The first
message that comes from Jesus will be
shocking. It will come as an
outright demand and billions of
people will immediately find it
offensive. The 144,000 will
declare that everyone is required to
worship Jesus Christ, the Creator of
Heaven and Earth. This message
will begin on Day One of the Great
Tribulation, when the censer is cast
down.[2]
This demand will be proclaimed and
heard until the 1,260th day of
the Great Tribulation. A second
message will join with the first
message when the composite beast,
Babylon, rises from the sea.
The second message will be highly
inflammatory. This message from
Jesus will declare that
Babylon’s endeavor is false, its
demands are an insult to Jesus and
its ways are blasphemous. Of
course, the second message will make
the leaders of Babylon furious with
the 144,000 and all who embrace it.
Later, a third message will come from
Jesus as an ultimatum. After
the devil physically appears on Earth
(during the fifth trumpet), the
144,000 will warn, “If anyone
worships and obeys the ‘lamblike
beast,’ Jesus will destroy that
person at the Second Coming.”[3]
Finally, a fourth message will be
given when the sixth trumpet sounds
(when Lucifer sets up a counterfeit
theocracy). This message will
be God’s last call to mankind.[4] This
final message will push the undecided
into a firm decision. Those who
refuse to worship Jesus and obey His
commandments will reject the Holy
Spirit. They will worship the
beast and commit the unpardonable
sin.[5] Once
every decision has been made, Jesus
will conduct a special service
in Heaven.[6] He will
terminate God’s generous offer
of redemption with this
declaration: “Let
him who does wrong continue to do
wrong; let him who is vile continue
to be vile; let him who does right
continue to do right; and let him who
is holy continue to be holy.”[7]
Victory
Celebration
The final
event recorded in this prophecy is a
victory celebration in Heaven.
This ceremony will take place on the
1,265th day of the Great
Tribulation. On this day, the
144,000 will be resurrected and taken
to Heaven. They will gather
around the throne of God and sing a
song of deliverance and vindication
just before the seven last plagues
begin. The scene described in
this prophecy (Revelation
15:2-4) is a repetition and
enlargement of the scene presented in
the previous prophecy (Revelation
14:1-5).
It may seem
strange that God would “tack
on” the victory celebration of
the 144,000 to a prophecy that
contains three messages and a scene
that describes the close of
salvation. Do you recall that
we found this phenomenon in
Prophecies 7, 9, and 11? God
sometimes embeds an “odd”
element in an apocalyptic prophecy to
reveal something that could be
misunderstood or easily
overlooked. Because each
element in an apocalyptic prophecy
occurs in chronological order and is
related to the other elements in that
prophecy, we need to look for the
relationship that exists between the
odd element and the rest of the
elements! This process always
produces a wonderful discovery.
In this case, this prophecy concludes
with the victory celebration of the
144,000 because they overcame
the beast. They successfully
presented three difficult messages to
a very hostile world! In other
words, their celebration is included
in this prophecy because they
accomplished the impossible task
(humanly speaking) of delivering the
gospel of Jesus to every nation,
kindred, tongue, and people on Earth!
Consider, for
a moment, the daunting challenge of
being a prophet. When it comes
to enduring physical, emotional, and
spiritual suffering, speaking for God
is one of the most difficult tasks on
Earth. Bible history reveals
that God’s prophets often have a
short life span because the carnal
nature is always hostile to the will
and ways of God. God often
requires prophets to deliver
inflammatory words even though
proclaiming them may be
difficult! Bible history
clearly reveals how God’s
prophets have been scorned, rejected,
exiled, put in dungeons, tortured,
and put to death because the carnal
nature hates God’s authority.[8] Jesus
warned His disciples that they would
be persecuted just as He had been
persecuted.[9] In
fact, the apostle John was exiled to
the Isle of Patmos because he spoke
the words which God gave Him to
speak![10] Like
the prophet John, the 144,000 will
faithfully deliver the Word of God
during the Great Tribulation, day
after day, without regard for the
consequences and their suffering will
be extreme. Most of the world
will oppose the 144,000, but
suffering and persecution will not
intimidate them or stop them.
They do not let up, put up, or shut
up until death silences them.[11]
Therefore, God has planned a great
celebration for them and this event
is found at the end of this prophecy!
Who Will
Deliver the Three Angel’s
Messages?
The Bible
indicates that only the
144,000 will speak for God during the
Great Tribulation. Please
consider the following six items:
- We
learned in Prophecy 7 that
144,000 people will be
selected and sealed (carnal
natures removed) before
God’s wrath (the first
four trumpets) occur.
- We
learned in Prophecy 9 that
John, representing the
experience of the 144,000,
was given a little book to
eat. This book contains the
words which the 144,000 will
speak during the Great
Tribulation. When the
appointed time arrives, Jesus
will make this declaration
from Heaven: “There
will be no more delay.”
The censer will be cast down
and Day One of the Great
Tribulation will begin.
The 144,000 will immediately
go to work, proclaiming the
gospel of Jesus for 1,260
miserable days.
Eventually, the devil and his
forces will kill most, if not
all of the 144,000. On
the 1,265th day of the
Great Tribulation, the
144,000 will be resurrected
and taken to Heaven.
- The
Bible says the 144,000 will
be presented to God as
firstfruits of the coming
harvest. They are called
firstfruits because they are
the first to be sealed and
the first of the final
harvest to be taken to
Heaven. They will be
God’s mouthpieces during
the Great Tribulation.
The Bible says, “No
lie was found in their
mouths.” This
means they faithfully spoke
the words which God gave them
to speak without compromise
or deviation. They will
faithfully deliver everything
that Jesus tells them to say
without diluting His words to
avoid personal injury or
rejection.
- In
this prophecy (Prophecy 12),
we will discover that these
three messages are sent to
mankind from God’s
throne. Only the
144,000, those
selected, sealed, and
empowered to speak for God can
deliver these messages.
Only the 144,000 people free
of the carnal nature,
can present the testimony of
Jesus to the human race
without deviation or
compromise.
- At
the end of this prophecy
(Prophecy 12), we will find
the 144,000 in Heaven singing
the song of Moses and the
song of the Lamb. Only the
144,000 can sing the song of
Moses and the Lamb because
they lived through a similar
experience to Moses and the
Lamb! God selected
Moses to lead His people out
of slavery. It took
forty frustrating years for
Israel to arrive at
Canaan’s door, but Moses
accomplished the work which
the Lord gave Him to
do. In a similar way,
the 144,000 will lead
God’s people, under
extreme circumstances, out of
sin’s slavery and into
the sealing experience.
The song of the Lamb is a
song sung by Jesus. The
Father sent Jesus to Earth as
the Lamb of God. Jesus
came to a hostile world so
that the Father could speak
His truth through Him.[12]
Jesus did not deviate from
the words that the Father
gave him and the Jews killed
Jesus. This same
“truth” will cause
the devil and his forces to
kill the 144,000.
Therefore, only the 144,000
can sing the songs of
experience which Moses and
the Lamb sing. The
numberless multitude will
sing a different song.
- Finally,
this prophecy (Prophecy 12)
indicates there will be a
victorious celebration over
the beast and his image and
the number of his name prior
to the commencement
of the seven last plagues.[13] Consider
the following specification
closely: “And
I saw what looked like a sea
of glass mixed with fire and
standing beside the
sea, those
who had been victorious over
the beast and his image and
over the number of his name.
. . .”[14]
This text indicates the
celebrants were on
Earth when the
image of the beast was set up
and the mark of the beast
imposed. There is only
one group of people who can
meet these specifications and
be in Heaven before the
seven plagues begin –
the 144,000. Once we
have examined the story found
in this prophecy, the
inclusion of a great victory
celebration at the end will
make perfect sense!
The
Sequence:
This prophecy
begins with Day One of the Great
Tribulation, the day when services at
the Altar of Incense will be
terminated.[15] When
Day One arrives, I believe the whole
world will be involved with a
horrible war that includes a nuclear
exchange.[16] When
the angel serving at the Altar of
Incense casts down the censer, a
great display of divine power will
impact Earth. The sky will
suddenly become dark, angry clouds
will appear, and there will be an
awesome display of electrical
power. The sky will explode
into huge sheets of rapid-fire
lightning. Deafening and
intimidating peals of thunder will
seem to pile upon each other and the
noise will be so great that everyone
on Earth will tremble.
Meanwhile, groans and voices will be
heard coming out of the Earth.
It will seem as though Earth itself
is trying to speak. Then,
a global earthquake
will break the whole world into
geographic cells. (Maybe there will
be 144,000 cells, one cell for each
of the 144,000.) There will be
no place of safety, no escape from
these phenomena. This
earthquake will destroy thousands of
buildings, power grids, dams,
highways, bridges, antennas,
trestles, runways, and
overpasses. Suddenly, without
warning, in the middle of a nuclear
war, the Great Tribulation
begins. The infrastructures of
the world are ruined. Within
minutes, the inhabitants of Earth
will discover that communication and
travel are next to impossible.
The impact of these phenomena will be
so great that the nuclear war will
end. The nations will stop
fighting each other and Earth will
fall strangely silent. Everyone
will be scared to death. Many
religious people will correctly guess
that Almighty God has signaled His
displeasure with the degenerate
behavior of mankind.[17] As a
result of these horrific events, a
global crisis of apocalyptic
proportion will begin to
unfold. Eventually, nations
will discover that other nations have
also been ravaged and no one will be
in a position to help another.
Everyone will have to do his best to
survive.
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