A Gospel with No
Beginning and No End –
Conclusion
“A third angel
followed them and said in a loud
voice: ‘If anyone worships the
beast and his image and receives his
mark on the forehead or on the hand,
he too, will drink of the wine of
God’s fury, which has been
poured full strength into the cup of
his wrath. He will be tormented with
burning sulfur in the presence of the
holy angels and the Lamb.’”
-
Revelation 14:9
After reading the
third angel’s message above, I
have three questions for you to
consider. First, the Bible indicates
that certain people will be tormented
at the Second Coming with burning
sulfur in the presence of Jesus and
His holy angels. Why does a God of
love do this? Second, why would
anyone obey the beast and
receive his mark? Last, who is the
beast that will impose his mark upon
human beings so that no one may buy
or sell unless he wears the mark?
We will begin with
the last question. The Bible teaches
who the beast that will gain control
of the whole world is the fallen
angel, Lucifer. The devil himself is
the beast that will rise “out of
the Earth” in Revelation 13:11.
How do we know this? Because Lucifer
is the angel king who is released
from the Abyss in Revelation 9:11. In
other words, Lucifer and his angels
will be released from the spirit
realm and they will be given physical
bodies. They will take control of
earth and destroy a third of mankind.
(Revelation 9:15)
God sends a
“destroyer” when people
become hopelessly decadent. For
example, when the Amorites filled up
their cup of iniquity, God destroyed
them with the sword of Israel. (Amos
2:10) When the Amalekites filled up
their cup, God destroyed them with
the sword of Israel. (1 Samuel 15)
When the Israelites filled up their
cup, God sent King Nebuchadnezzar to
destroy Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 25:9)
When Babylon filled its cup, God sent
the Medes and Persians to destroy
Babylon. (Jeremiah 25:12; Daniel 5)
Later on, when Israel filled its cup
a second time, God sent the Roman
general Titus, to destroy Jerusalem
in A. D. 70. (Daniel 9:26) During the
fifth trumpet, the devil and his
angels will be released from the
abyss and during the sixth trumpet,
they will kill a third of mankind!
Mankind will be
powerless. God will permit the devil
to destroy a third of mankind so that
two distinct groups of people will be
left. One group will be worshiping
(obeying the Lamb beast (Revelation
5:6; Jesus) and the other group will
be worshiping (obeying) the lamb-like
beast (Revelation 13:11; Lucifer).
Lucifer is described in different
ways in the Bible. He is represented
as a dragon in Revelation 12. He is
represented as the lamb-like beast in
Revelation 13:11 and he is also
described as “the man of
sin” in 2 Thessalonians 2. (See
Isaiah 14:12-16 and notice how
Lucifer is called “a man.”)
Lucifer is also represented as the
King of the North in Daniel 8 and
11:36-45 because divine judgments
come from the North. (Jeremiah 1:14;
25:9; 51:48) The devil is the angel
king from the abyss (Revelation 9:11)
who rules over a host of demons
(represented as a swarm of locusts)
and he is the Antichrist that will
take control of Earth. (Revelation
17:8) The seriousness of the mark of
the beast is found in the identity of
the beast that imposes his mark on
human beings!
Consider the second
question. “Why should anyone
worship Lucifer and receive his
mark?” In a word, survival. No
one will be able to buy or sell
(survive) unless they submit to
Lucifer’s authority and receive
his mark. The Bible indicates the
mark (Greek: charagma – meaning
an etching) of the beast is either
the number 666 tattooed (etched) on
the right hand or it will be
Lucifer’s assumed name tattooed
(etched) on the forehead of his human
leaders. (Revelation 13:16-18) God
permits the devil to take over the
food supply of Earth for a simple
reason: “….The
righteous will live by faith.”
(Romans 1:17) Because salvation comes
through faith in Christ, the faith of
the living must be tested to see who
will live by faith in Christ!
(Revelation 3:10)
Now, we come to the
first question. “Why will Jesus
torture people who have the mark of
the beast with burning sulfur?”
Here are three reasons: First, those
receiving the mark of the beast will
refuse to submit to God and His law.
Second, those receiving the mark of
the beast will demonstrate they have
no morals or conscience. They will
willingly accept the mark, knowing
that it is evil, in order to save
themselves. Third, those who accept
the mark of the beast will stand in
direct and open opposition to the
authority of the Sovereign God. In
short, everyone receiving the mark of
the beast will be a mirror of Lucifer
and if they had the powers of
Lucifer, they would do the same
things that he would do. God will
torture the wicked with burning
sulfur because they tortured the
saints. God’s wrath against
violence is called restitution. “Dearly
beloved, avenge not yourselves, but
rather give place unto wrath: for it
is written: Vengeance is mine; I will
repay, saith the Lord.”
(Romans 12:19, KJV)
Now that we briefly
examined the three angel’s
message in Revelation 14, I would
like to close this five-part study on
“the everlasting gospel”
with five salient points: First, the
universe is governed by a God of
love. Second, God uses His
magnificent powers to ensure the
principles of love are exalted and
honored. Third, because He is a God
of love, God gives His children the
power of choice. We are free to rebel
or submit to His rule of love.
Fourth, God has allowed sin to
flourish for a period of time so that
the consequences of rebellion against
the principles of love can be seen.
Last, God will destroy all traces of
rebellion at an appointed time and
His universe will be free from the
cancer of sin. I am really excited
about that coming day! Dear friend,
today is the day of salvation, listen
and obey what the Spirit of God is
telling you.
Bob Stout
