The Three Angels' Messages

I saw an angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal Good News to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people.

The message is "eternal Good News" — the gospel. It is for every nation, tribe, language, and people. Not regional, not denominational. Global.

He said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and the springs of waters!"

Four imperatives: fear God, give Him glory, recognize the hour of judgment, and worship the Creator. The Creator-language echoes the fourth commandment word for word. The Sabbath stands behind this verse.

Another, a second angel, followed, saying, "Babylon the great has fallen, which has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality."

Babylon in Revelation is symbolic — confused religion that has corrupted truth and seduced the nations. The fall of Babylon is the unraveling of that system.

Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger.

A sober warning against false worship that takes the place of God's. The "mark" is the visible allegiance to a system that has set itself against God's authority.

The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

A statement about the finality of judgment, not its duration. "Forever" in biblical usage often means "completely" — the smoke ascends and the matter is finished (compare Isaiah 34:9-10, Sodom).

Here is the perseverance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

The verse that gives the remnant its identity. Two marks: keeping God's commandments (all ten) AND having the faith of Jesus. Not one or the other — both.

This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Jesus said the gospel must reach all nations before the end. The Three Angels' Messages are the form that proclamation takes in the last hour.

For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

The first angel's message is "eternal Good News." It begins with the gospel — not with warning, not with controversy. Christ first.

He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.

The power that "thinks to change times and law" — Daniel's prophecy of the same system Revelation calls Babylon. The change that has been most attempted is the day of worship.

After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having great authority. The earth was illuminated with his glory. He cried with a mighty voice, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird!"

Revelation 18 amplifies the second angel — the final, world-illuminating proclamation just before the Second Coming.

I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don't receive of her plagues,

God has His people inside Babylon. The call is not to condemn them; it is to call them out.

Cry aloud, don't spare. Lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

A faithful messenger does not soften the message. The Three Angels' Messages are urgent because the hour is.

Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

The Great Commission. The Three Angels' Messages are how it gets carried out at the end.