Revelation 14:6 –
Revelation 15:6
The Second and Third
Angel’s Messages
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The third
message is an ultimatum. It
will stand in direct conflict
with the demands of the devil:
Revelation
14:9 A third angel
followed them and said in a loud
voice: “if anyone worships the
beat and his image and receives his
mark on the forehead or on the hand,
Revelation
14:10 he, too,
will drink of the wine of God’s
fury, which has been poured out full
strength into the cup of his wrath.
He will be tormented with burning
sulfur in the presence of the holy
angels and of the Lamb.”
Painful
outcome.
When the
image to the beast is set up,
survival will be humanly impossible
unless you can buy or sell. Those
worshiping Jesus will be starved out
or captured and killed --- and the
wicked who will do these horrible
things to the saints of God will
think that they are doing
“God” a service!
(Of course,
they are doing the devil a service.
The problem here is that they will
think the devil is Almighty God!)
Revelation
14:12 This calls for patient
endurance on the part of the saints
who obey God’s commandments and
remain faithful to Jesus.”
Now,
I’ll try to explain a few
things:
First, look
at this passage:
“If
anyone worships the beast and his
image and receives his mark on the
forehead or on the hand….
Revelation
14:10 “….He
will be tormented with burning sulfur
in the presence of the holy angels
and of the Lamb.
Revelation
14:11 And the smoke of
their torment rises for ever and
ever….”
At the Second
Coming, the devil and the composite
beast (the administration of his
global empire) will be thrown into a
lake of fire.
Revelation
19:20 “…. the
two of them were thrown alive into
the fiery lake of burning
sulfur.”
Revelation
19:21 The rest of them [the
wicked] were killed with the sword
that came out of the mouth of Jesus.
This fiery lake of burning sulfur is
ignited at the Second Coming and it
will continue to burn during the
1,000 years.
Notice what
transpires at the end of the 1,000
years:
Revelation
20:10 And the devil, who
deceived them, were thrown into the
lake of burning sulfur, where the
beast and the false prophet had been
thrown. They will be tormented day
and night for ever and ever.”
Consider
this:
When the
devil is released from the spirit
world at the fifth trumpet, the devil
and his angels will take on glorious physical
bodies so that human beings can
actually see them.
Revelation
17:8 “….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, because he once was [visible],
now is not [visible], and yet will
come [up out of the abyss and be
visible].
However, at
the Second Coming, the devil and his
angels will lose their physical
bodies. These bodies will be thrown
into the lake of fire and be
destroyed, but the devil and his
angels are not destroyed. Rather,
they will be separated from their
glorious bodies and put back into the
spirit realm (the abyss) for 1,000
years.
On the
surface, the Bible appears to
indicate that the lake of fire is an
eternal burning fire.
Revelation
14:11 “…And
the smoke of their torment rises for
ever and ever.”
Revelation
20:10 “…They
will be tormented day and night for
ever and ever.”
It should be
easy to see how sincere people can
read these verses – and without
understanding the whole story of
Revelation, they get the idea there
is an eternally burning hell where
people writhe in eternal torment.
However, the
whole Bible does not teach nor
endorse the idea that there is or
will be an eternally burning hell.
The problem is with the use of
language.
The Bible is
not in conflict with itself. Yes,
there are a number of apparent
conflicts, but these conflicts only
make the truth brighter and more
wonderful when they are resolved.
Let’s look at another passage
for a moment as though the book of
Revelation was the only book in the
Bible:
Revelation
14:9 “…If
anyone worships the beast and his
image and receives his mark on the
forehead or on the hand,
Revelation
14:10 “…He
will be tormented with burning sulfur
in the presence of the holy angels
and of the Lamb.
Revelation
14:11 And the smoke of
their torment rises for ever and
ever. There s no rest day or night
for those who worship the beast and
his image, or for anyone who receives
the mark of his name.”
Look at the
same sentence:
This verse is
not talking about endless writhing in
the flames of hell. Rather, it is
talking about Holy Spirit torment
during the closing days of the Two
Witnesses.
The Holy
Spirit will torment everyone with
deep and troublesome stirrings –
even after they have decided to take
the mark of the beast. The door of
salvation is still open, and anyone
who has nor yet committed the
unparabonable sin can still be saved!
This is why
the Bible says:
“….There
is no rest day or night for those who
worship the beast and his image, or
for anyone who receives the mark of
his name.”
The
experience of the wicked can be
compared to that of Pilate’s
wife:
Matthew 27:19
While Pilate was sitting on the
Judge’s seat, his wife sent him
this message: “Don’t have
anything to do with that innocent
man, for I have suffered a great deal
today in a dream because of
him.”
Since the Two
Witnesses are the Holy Spirit and the
Bible, notice what the wicked people
of Earth do when the power of the
Holy Spirit and the Bible ends:
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