Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #9 of Revelation, chapter 14, and we are going to be reading Revelation14:6-7:

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

In our last study we saw that this was a transition verse from the end of the church age that ended in May 1988.  The Biblical timeline of history had pinpointed the very day: it was the day before Pentecost in 1988.  The church age had begun on the day of Pentecost in 33 AD.  Therefore, before Pentecost occurred in 1988 and before the period of sending forth the Gospel through the churches could be renewed for another year, God ended the church age on May, 20, 1988 and on the next day, May 21, 1988, on the day of Pentecost, the church age was finished.  God was no longer using the churches and the firstfruits were no longer being gathered and this began the second day of the Great Tribulation period when judgment had begun on the house of God.  Revelation 14, verse 6, is a verse that describes this transition.

God is looking at that transition from the church age to the Great Tribulation in a positive sense, the sense of the sending forth of His Gospel.  Through the sending forth of the Gospel, the firstfruits had been brought in and now the everlasting Gospel (the Word of God which endureth forever) was preached “unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” and we saw in our last study that the great multitude came from the nations of the earth and that is why the four categories of “nation, kindred, tongue and people” are listed.  This indicates the universal worldwide scope of this everlasting Gospel and, as a result, the great multitude did become saved and they would join the “144,000,” the firstfruits, just as it was laid out in Revelation, chapter 7.  First, it would be the firstfruits and, after this, the great multitude.

Here, in Revelation 14, we have the same layout.  The firstfruits are listed in Revelation 14, verses 1 through 5.  Then in verses 6 and 7 the Lord begins to discuss the proclamation of His Word as it would go forth as the Latter Rain to bring in the final harvest.  Then after just a couple of verses He will move on and we will see the switch from the Great Tribulation to Judgment Day, on May 21, 2011, and it has been continuing ever since.  We are living in the Day of Judgment, a prolonged period of time which could very well conclude, after 1,600 days, on October 7, 2015.

Let us look at what this other messenger who is flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach, has to say in Revelation 14:7.  Of course, again, this would be Christ, who is the Word; He is the one who moves in His people to will and to do of His good pleasure as He sends them forth.  The Bible says, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”   In another place we read, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings.”  God can make both statements because when the body of Christ, the true believers, carries the Word of God to the nations of the world, it is the same as the Lord Jesus Christ doing so. 

It is just like when we read that Noah was “a preacher of righteousness.”  We know that Noah preached to the people for the 120-year period he was building the ark and the ark was a testimony in itself.  Then let us look at another passage in 1Peter 3:18-20:

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

This passage is telling us that Jesus preached in the time period of the construction of the ark.  You can go back to the Biblical record of the account found in the Book of Genesis and you are not going to find the Lord Jesus Christ making any kind of personal appearance to preach to the unsaved souls in the world, so how can God make this kind of statement?  Well, remember, that Noah was “a preacher of righteousness,” and as God first gave the Word to Noah as He informed him and increased his understanding and knowledge, He then placed the desire in Noah’s heart to preach and tell his neighbors about the things that were going to take place.  God stirred up Noah to build the ark and to work on it diligently through its completion.  Through all those ways, Noah preached, but Christ preached through him and that is how it has always been when the Gospel is sent forth into the world – it was individual people that went as missionaries to India, China and Africa, but, if they were true men, it was God moving in them to do so.  That is how God accomplishes His preaching. 

Remember, in Matthew, chapter 25, where Jesus gives a parable concerning Judgment Day.  There, all the nations were gathered in order to separate the sheep from the goats and He said in Matthew 25:34-40:

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Christ used those that did become saved as part of His body – He is the “head” and they are members of the spiritual organism of the eternal church.  Likewise, when members of His body go forth with the Gospel and proclaim it, it is also Christ who can be said to be going forth with the Gospel and His feet can be said to be “beautiful” as they carry the “glad tidings of good things” during the day of salvation.  Certainly, God moved in His people in the second half of the Great Tribulation period, during those 6,100 days in which it was His plan to save that great multitude.  The people of God did many good works that God had ordained for them to perform.  Of course, those good works have nothing to do with becoming saved, but they are a result of having become saved (if the individuals had, indeed, become saved), although we know that people can perform these things under the mistaken belief that they are saved.  But people used their time and resources and the Gospel went forth in an unparalleled manner.  Never before had the Gospel covered the earth, as the “waters cover the sea.”  It was everywhere and that was the doing of the Lord Jesus Christ.  God gets the glory.  Likewise, people should be careful because God is the one that is the (ultimate) object of the criticism when people are demeaning, reviling and ridiculing that sending forth of the Gospel as God stirred up His people to do those things.  That is a very disrespectful thing to do since God was behind the work.

Again, in Revelation 14:7, we see the phrase, “saying with a loud voice,” and it is speaking of that period of the Great Tribulation.  We can see clearly a reference to the “loud voice,” and the everlasting Gospel, the Word of God, was proclaimed loudly to all the world and billions of people saw the message of Judgment Day on May 21, 2011.  It was everywhere, it seemed.  It was on buses, taxi cabs, jitneys in the Philippines or India; it was on billboards and newspapers; it was on television news; it was on the internet; the radio waves were saturated with the message.  The people of God were out on the streets with tee-shirts and signs and tracts.  Millions of Judgment Day tracts went forth into the world.  Without question, it was a loud voice and it was not “done in a corner.”  This was a very public proclamation of the Bible’s message as God unsealed His Word at the time of the end to reveal many truths, but the most important truth was that the appointed Day of Judgment can now be known – it will be May 21, 2011, and the Bible guarantees it.  That was the primary message that went into all the world and that message of Judgment Day coming on May 21, 2011 is the very message we continue to proclaim because it was true and faithful.  That day did begin the Day of Judgment we are presently in. 

I think God carefully made sure that particular message was at the forefront of what was proclaimed.  I do know that there were thousands of billboards in many countries in the world (placed by Family Radio and EBible) and that billboard message was of a praying man and it said, “Judgment Day May 21, 2011.”  It did not say anything about the rapture.  It did not say anything about the “five months.”  It did not say anything about October 21, 2011.  It said: “Judgment Day May 21, 2011” and that message was spread across the world in Nepal, in places in Africa and India, and so forth.  That was the primary message.  We did include other information, but in a far less significant way in the amount of time we spent on it and advertised it.  It just was not as important to proclaim October 21, even though we had thought that would be the end of the world, because we realized that the most important date was the date God would shut the door to heaven.  That is why we had to “pound” that date home because the people who heard this had until that date (May 21, 2011) to seek the Lord while He may be found and to cry out for mercy. 

We focused on that date and we discussed the other things as they came up, but, overwhelmingly, that was the focus of the proclamation and I think we can see God’s hand in that because that was correct just as it was declared.  On that day, May 21, 2011, God did shut the door to heaven and began the judgment process on the world.  Of course, it was a spiritual judgment, but it is a very real judgment, nonetheless, and it was all proclaimed publicly, openly and very loudly.  The people of God are normally humble and meek and shun the spotlight, but they were actively seeking it because the time was short and the message was so urgent; the news had to be spread and, therefore, we made ourselves available to the news media for interviews. 

I remember in one day, over the course of about an hour, God opened up the opportunity for me to do five radio interviews with five different radio stations – some very big and some not so big.  Each interview was about 10 or 15 minutes and then we would go the next, and a third and a fourth and a fifth.  That is a very small example, but there are many examples of a great and effectual door being opened for this proclamation. 

After May 21 and after October 21, some of the same people that had walked with us and proclaimed these things have now turned of a different mind.  I am sorry to say that they have behaved themselves along the lines of Lot’s wife by looking back to the churches, looking back to the world or looking back to former doctrines.  Some of these people try to find fault and minimize the scope of the proclamation that was made, but if it is so easy to get the world’s attention on a subject like Judgment Day, then proceed and get busy and stir up all the people who believe God is still saving and that it is still the day of salvation and get out there with that message.  Go and get out there, if you believe this.  Then get on the airwaves and contact CBS and ABC and NBC and your local stations and tell them your message and see how far it goes.  See how far it travels. 

It is very obvious that some people are stubbornly and proudly hanging onto their insistence that there is still salvation and they refuse to bow the knee to the sovereign right of God to determine, not only whom He would save in His election program, but when He would accomplish their salvation.  It is His sovereign right to shut the door to heaven when He so declares and decrees that the time has come, and He has done that.  If you believe God is still saving, get out there!  But, do you know what?  There is never going to be any future worldwide proclamation.  It would be unlikely to get the attention of even one individual city.  It will never happen again because the Gospel has already gone forth into all the world for a witness to all nations and then the end is come.  We are living in the Day of Judgment and that is the end.