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The
promise of salvation
We
have studied the Two Witnesses of
Revelation 11. They are identified as the
Bible and the Holy Spirit. These two
powers work together for the salvation of
man. The Bible is the testimony of God.
The Holy Spirit is the power of God.
Together, they testify of salvation and
its requirements. Everyone on earth will
hear their message before the end comes.
The clarion message of salvation will
cause great controversy upon earth. The
preaching of the gospel truth will cause
great anger and resistance from those who
love evil, for those who love evil
hate the light.
Every
person on earth will be reached during
the short time-period of the trumpets.
The powerful struggle against the gospel
will only give the gospel greater
attention! Like a great forest fire, the
gospel will first spread through
populated cities and then to distant
places of the world. Persecution will
force people to flee for safety and as
they flee, the gospel will be carried
with them. This is how the gospel will go
to every nation, kindred, tongue and
people. The 144,000 expose Babylons
doctrine as lies and in return, Babylon
seeks to destroy them and their
followers.
There
is a historical parallel to the scenario
in the paragraph above. After Jesus
ascended to heaven, the apostles preached
the gospel of Jesus and the promise of
His return with great power and 3,000
were baptized at Pentecost! The religious
leaders and civil authorities could not
tolerate such interest in the truth.
Therefore, the fires of persecution were
kindled and as the saints scattered to
the four corners of earth, they carried
the gospel with them!
Jesus
warned his disciples, There will
be great earthquakes, famines and
pestilences in various places, and
fearful events and great signs in heaven.
But before all this, they will lay hands
on you and persecute you. They will
deliver you to synagogues and prisons,
and you will be brought before kings and
governors, and all on account of my name.
This will result in you being witnesses
to them. But make up your mind not to
worry beforehand how you will defend
yourselves. For I will give you words and
wisdom that none of your adversaries will
be able to resist or contradict. You will
be betrayed by parents, brothers,
relatives and friends, and they will put
some of you to death. All men will hate
you because of me. But not a hair of your
head will perish. By standing firm you
will save yourselves. (Luke
21:11-19) Two points should be emphasized
from these verses:
- Jesus promised to
give His followers the words to
say when challenged for their
faith!
- Even though the
world will hate you, Jesus says,
You will save yourself by
standing firm.
It
must be emphasized that Jesus has
promised to be with each one of His
children during this time of trial. He
said,
and surely I will be
with you always, to the very end of the
age. (Matthew 28:20)
The Spirit of Prophecy
We
have seen earlier that the remnant is
identified as keeping the commandments of
God and holding to the testimony of
Jesus. (Revelation 12:17, 14:12) We know
what the commandments are, but what is
the testimony of Jesus?
Toward
the end of Johns vision, he was so
grateful to his attending angel that he
bowed at his feet to worship him. But the
angel said,
Do not do it!
I am a fellow servant with you and your
brothers who hold to the testimony of
Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
(Revelation 19:10)
The
angel said the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy. What does this mean?
It means that the remnant have prophetic
understanding through the ministry of the
Holy Spirit. In other words, they will
understand what God is going to do and
why. The remnant will anticipate the
fulfillment of each event and be prepared
for it! Daniel was told, Many
(of the remnant) will be purified, made
spotless and refined, but the wicked will
continue to be wicked. None of the wicked
will understand, but those who are wise
will understand. (Daniel 12:10)
The
remnant will not be caught by surprise.
They will be prepared through careful
Bible study and prayer. Perhaps one of
the clearest evidences of this point is
found in Revelation 17:8. Notice, The
beast, which you saw
will come up
out of the Abyss and go to his
destruction. The inhabitants of the earth
whose names have not been written in the
book of life from the creation of the
world will be astonished when they see
the beast
In other words,
John says the world will be astonished
when Satan appears, while those studying
the prophecies will be prepared!
Three groups of remnant
people
The
apostles were a select group of men. They
were given a special opportunity to learn
about Jesus and the kingdom that others
did not have. For three and a half years,
they walked with Jesus and learned from
Him. He was preparing them for the great
work they must do after He returned to
the Father.
After
the ascension of Jesus, the apostles
received the power of the Holy Spirit. It
was quite an experience. It happened at
the Feast of Pentecost that was 50 days
after the Passover. Attendance at the
feast was required according to
ceremonial law, so Jews from all over
Asia were in Jerusalem at the time. To
expedite the gospel, the Holy Spirit
created a great noise a sound like
a violent wind came from heaven and what
appeared to be tongues of fire appeared
on the heads of the apostles.
This
interruption of the Pentecost service
gained immediate attention, for those
with flames of fire upon them began to
speak in the native languages of the Jews
present.
The
author of Acts says, Now there
were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing
Jews from every nation under heaven. When
they heard this sound, a crowd came
together in bewilderment, because each
one heard them speaking in his own
language. Utterly amazed, they asked;
Are not these men who are speaking
Galileans? Then how is it that each of us
hears them in his own language?
Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents
of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene;
visitors from Rome (both Jews and
converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs
we hear them declaring the wonders
of God in our own tongues! (Acts
2:5-11) This demonstration by the Holy
Spirit caused three things to happen:
- The gospel
immediately transcended the
language barrier, for everyone
heard the gospel in his own
tongue!
- The number of Jews
receiving Jesus Christ and His
gospel increased thirty-fold that
day.
- Those accepting
the gospel carried their newfound
faith to distant lands where the
apostles would never be able to
go.
Notice
the process: Jesus started His ministry
with only 12 disciples. When the Holy
Spirit was given to them at the Pentecost
ceremony, Jesus reached 3,000 more Jewish
people! These new Jewish converts went
home and told even more Jewish people
about Jesus. About three and a half years
later, Jesus sent the disciples to the
Gentiles to gather an even larger harvest
of believers! (Remember A.D. 34
the commission of Peter and the
conversion of Saul?) This is how the
gospel went throughout the world in
ancient times and this is a sample of how
the gospel will go throughout the world
in our day.
In
Revelation, we have process almost
identical to Pentecost First; Jesus
selects the 144,000 people as spark
plugs. These people know the
testimony of the Bible. They have studied
themselves full, thought themselves
straight and prayed for power to give the
message. Jesus then grants the request of
these people for power by giving them the
power of the Holy Spirits
latter rain.
Note:
The term latter rain refers to the
second or large rain that fell in
Palestine in the autumn of each year just
before harvest time. The first rain (a
small or early rain) usually occurred in
the spring of the year and winter crops
were harvested and presented before the
Lord at the Feast of Pentecost. The
analogy is that both rains brought crops
to maturity. The larger and more
bountiful harvest occurred at the feast
of Tabernacles in the autumn because the
latter rain brought the
summer crops to maturity. See Deuteronomy
11:14, Jeremiah 3:3, Joel 2:23 and Hosea
6:3.
God
is unfolding Revelations mysterious
story because the time of fulfillment has
come. Jesus is selecting and preparing
those who will constitute the 144,000
from among those who understand
Revelations story. These in turn,
will explain to the world the actions of
Jesus when He opens the fourth seal.
As
people hear the gospel message, many will
immediately see its harmony and through
faith, accept its truthfulness. Some will
join the Revelation movement and become
part of the first remnant. In effect, the
first remnant is a support group for the
144,000. When the trumpets begin to
sound, the combined army of the 144,000
and the first remnant are prepared for
their work. They fearlessly march into
Babylon to gather the rest of Gods
people who have not heard the everlasting
gospel! Jesus calls to those in Babylon,
Come
out of her, (Babylon) my people, so that
you will not share in her sins, so that
you will not receive any of her plagues;
for her sins are piled up to heaven, and
God has remembered her crimes.
(Revelation 18:4,5) The gathering of the
final harvest consists of three steps:
1.
The selection and sealing of the 144,000
2.
The gathering of the early remnant to
support the 144,000
3.
The gathering of the latter remnant out
of Babylon
The close of mercy
Jesus
does not sneak up on people and close the
door of mercy without warning. On the
other hand, the devil delights to snuff
out life and thus abruptly end their
opportunity to receive salvation. The
apostle Paul understood this quite
clearly. He said,
Today,
if you hear his voice, do not harden your
hearts! (Hebrews 4:7) Jesus is
tenderly calling. He is about to conclude
His work in the heavenly sanctuary. Are
you ready to live by faith? Are you
obedient to His call? If you are, you can
be one of the early remnants. This
opportunity comes as a result of
receiving the gospel!
The
closing of mercy during the time-period
of the trumpets consists of four steps.
They are:
1.
Each person on earth must hear the
everlasting gospel.
2.
Each person will be required to make a
decision about the gospel.
3.
Each person is tested on his decision.
4.
Each person is sealed in his decision.
Mercy
ends for an individual as the four steps
occur. Since people in different lands
hear the warning message of Revelation at
different times during the trumpets, the
sealing of some occurs before others
during the judgment of the living. When
all have heard the final invitation, made
their decision, probation is ended. The
Ancient of Days then dismisses the court.
The proclamation
From
our study on the trumpets, we learned
that corporate probation ends with the
throwing down of the censer. The sins of
earth have reached the point of no
return. The judgment review of the books
in heaven is completed at this time and
the judgment of the living is necessary.
This means that each person will now be
judged. In other words, the trumpet time
period is the hour of Gods
judgment. It is a time of judgment
for the living and the seventh trumpet
marks the end of the judgment process.
Notice how John describes the close of
mercy in Revelation 14:14-20: I
looked, and there before me was a white
cloud, and seated on the cloud was one
like a son of man with a
crown of gold on his head and a sharp
sickle in his hand. Then another angel
came out of the temple and called in a
loud voice to him who was sitting on the
cloud, Take your sickle and reap,
because the time to reap has come, for
the harvest of the earth is ripe.
So he that was seated on the cloud swung
his sickle over the earth, and the earth
was harvested.
Another
angel came out of the temple in heaven,
and he too had a sharp sickle. Still
another angel, who had charge of the
fire, came from the alter and called in a
loud voice to him who had the sharp
sickle, Take your sharp sickle and
gather the clusters of grapes from
the earths vine, because its grapes
are ripe. The angel
swung his sickle on the earth, gathered
its grapes and threw them into the great
winepress of Gods wrath. They were
trampled in the winepress outside the
city, and blood flowed out of the press,
rising as high as a horses bridle
for a distance of 1,600 stadia (180
miles). Several points
need to be made from these verses.
- There are two
gatherings.
Jesus,
the Son of Man, is seated on the white
cloud and is told by an angel coming from
the temple that the time of harvest has
come. The action of swinging the sickle
over the earth symbolizes the gathering
of Gods children into safety.
Everyone has made his decision, so the
harvest is ripe, and mercy is
ended.
Later,
another angel comes from the temple with
a sharp sickle and he is told to gather
the wicked and put them into the
winepress of Gods wrath. This
action symbolizes the gathering or
bundling of the wicked to receive the
wrath of God-the seven last plagues. (Note:
John comments that the amount of wicked
people (grapes) thrown into the winepress
of Gods wrath is incredible!
Remember the third angels message
mentions the winepress.)
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