The Three
Angel’s Messages.
First Angel:
“And I saw another angel flying in
mid-heaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth,
and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with a loud
voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has
come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of
water.”” Rev. 14:6, 7
This first angel’s
message states that the gospel has been preached to the whole world; in chapter
one of this book we saw that we are already very close to seeing the gospel
spread to the entire world.
This first angel
also warns the world to worship God, the creator. Notice once again that God is referred to as
the Creator. This is significant in that it points out one
of the things the earth needs to be reminded of one last time. Times and laws were changed by man, not by
God, and the law having to do with time and that also contains God’s title as
our creator is the law regarding the Sabbath (see chapter five of this
book). Therefore, one way in which we
worship God is by honoring his authorship of everything when we keep holy His Sabbath day—Saturday.
Second Angel:
“And
another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the
Great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her
immorality.”” Rev. 14:8
We saw in
chapter four of this book that “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots…” (Rev.
17:5) was Jezebel, the false church.
What does it mean
that she is the mother of harlots? Well,
if harlots are impure women, and women in prophecy refer to churches, the
harlot daughters of Babylon the great would be false churches joined with the
mother of all false churches.
Protestantism united with Catholicism.
The second
Angel’s message is repeated in more detail in Revelation 18.
“…“Fallen, fallen is
Babylon the great! She has become a
dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of
every unclean and hateful bird. For all
the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings
of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of
the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.” Rev. 18:2, 3
The Holy
Spirit is not working in Babylon; demons and unclean spirits are. Politicians and business people were working
with her and becoming powerful and rich
by doing so. But the religious war is
going badly (one third of mankind is dead) and Babylon is being destroyed. Revelation 18:9-19 describes the despair and
mourning coming from those who followed Babylon and have seen their world
collapse.
