"God's Last Pleading With His Children" — another look at the the three angels' messages of Revelation 14 — in the larger setting of the great controversy over the character and government of God. In the last of the sixty-six books, the war that began up in heaven is described as culminating in three final messages of warning and invitation — all sent from a Heavenly Father who wants none of His children to be lost. The first angel speaks of the everlasting good news and calls on people everywhere to make up their minds about their Creator. What is this good news, this eternal truth that has always been and will forever remain the foundation of our trust in God? Can we, like Paul, be so convinced about this truth that not even an angel from heaven could persuade us otherwise? (Galatians 1) The second angel speaks of the final collapse of Satan's opposition in corruption and defeat. The third describes the inevitable consequence of preferring Satan's lies to the everlasting truth. The third angel's message is the most fearsome in all the Bible, and the enemy would have us misunderstand it as the words of an angry God. But all the previous books of Scripture have prepared us to understand the terrible consequence of sin and how God would do anything to spare His children. For one last time our Heavenly Father — the One who would so much rather speak to us gently of the truth — raises His voice in awesome warning and appeal: "If you are bent on leaving Me, I must let you go!" We could trust the God we worship to send these three final messages to the world. In these last days before the end He would not leave His children unenlightened and unwarned. And behind the fearsome wording of the third angel's message stands the God of Hosea crying, "Why will you die? How can I give you up! How can I let you go!" Bible passages included: Revelation 14:6-12. "Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth — to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, 'Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the seas and the springs of water.' "A second angel followed and said, 'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.' "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 of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. 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.' This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus." (NIV) Galatians 1:8, 9. "If anyone, if we ourselves or an angel from heaven, should preach a gospel at variance with the gospel we preached to you, he shall be held outcast. I now repeat what I have said before; if anyone preaches a gospel at variance with the gospel which you received, let him be outcast!" (NEB) Galatians 1:6, 7. "I am astonished to find you turning so quickly away...and following a different gospel. Not that it is in fact another gospel; only there are persons who unsettle your minds by trying to distort the gospel of Christ." (NEB) Galatians 3:1. "You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross!" (GNB) Galatians4:8, 9. "In the past you did not know God, and so you were slaves of beings who are not gods. But now that you know God...how is it that you want to turn back?" (GNB) 1 Corinthians 1: 17, 18. "Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to tell the Good News... For the message about Christ's death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God's power." (GNB) Romans 1:16, 17. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation... For in it the righteousness of God is revealed." (RSV) Jeremiah 9:24. "Let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord." (NIV) Romans 3:25, 26. "For God showed Him publicly dying as a means of reconciliation... This was to demonstrate God's own righteousness... to show that He Himself is righteous and that He sets right everyone who trusts in Jesus." (Maxwell) John 8:32. "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (Williams) ©1984 Graham Maxwell

• published: 12 Oct 2013
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