The Cross and the Third Angels message Texts to consider There is one great central truth to be kept ever before the mind in the searching of the Scriptures--Christ and Him crucified. Every other truth is invested with influence and power corresponding to its relation to this theme. It is only in the light of the cross that we can discern the exalted character of the law of God. The soul palsied by sin can be endowed with life only through the work wrought out upon the cross by the Author of our salvation.--Manuscript 31, 1890. {7ABC 458.1} Hanging upon the cross Christ was the gospel. . . . This is our message, our argument, our doctrine, our warning to the impenitent, our encouragement for the sorrowing, the hope for every believer. If we can awaken an interest in men's minds that will cause them to fix their eyes on Christ, we may step aside, and ask them only to continue to fix their eyes upon the Lamb of God.-- Manuscript 49, 1898. {7ABC 458.2}

The Third angel’s message “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:9-12     

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The third angel’s message is a warning to the world of the danger of worshiping the beast and his image. Those who worship the beast, are inevitably worshiping Satan, the dragon (Revelation 13:4, 12:9) Worshiping the beast and his image, and receiving his mark, results in having to drink of the wine of God’s wrath which is poured out in full strength. Those who refuse to worship the beast will be forced to do so or face death (Revelation 13:15). The first angel’s message was a call to worship the God who created the heavens and the earth. Those who do not worship God, worship the beast and his image, they have thus rejected the first angel’s message. Thus, the message of the third angel is a warning of the deadly results of rejecting the message of the everlasting gospel, and of worshiping the beast and his image.

Victory over the beast. 

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Revelation 15:2, after the vision of the second coming, John is shown those who have gotten victory over the beast and His mark. Thus, though the whole worled wil be forced to receive the mark of the beast, there are those who will still get the victory. Revelation 12:11. Those who worship the beast worship the dragon, but those who overcome the dragon do so by the blood of the lamb. Jesus triumphed over satan and his hosts at the cross, and we can become partakers of His victory. Those who would gain the victory over the beast, those who want to overcome the dragon, can do so only by the blood of the lamb.

Thus, the 3rd angels message, warning the world against worshiping the beast and His image, points to the cross of Christ, for this is the only effectual means of overcoming the beast, even in the face of death: s-thinks.blogspot.com

“And they overcame him (the dragon) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Revelation 12:11 The experience with the blood of Christ shed on the cross prevents men form worshiping the beast.

What is the wrath of God “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.” Revelation 15:1    

The wrath of God is contained in its fullness (“without mixture”), in the 7 last plagues Thus the warning about “the wine of the wrath of God” is a warning about the 7 last plagues which are to be poured on the earth before the second coming of Jesus. The outpouring of these plagues is detailed in chapter 16 of the Revelation. Revelation 16:1-2. The 7 last plagues are poured out on those who worship the beast and his image and who receive his mark.

Why does God pour out His wrath? The warning about God’s wrath, demands that we get an understanding of the nature of God’s wrath, and why He pours it out. This will give a better understanding of the third angel’s message, the mark of the beast, and on how it is that we may escape the wrath of God.

Who does God pour out His wrath on? 

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Romans 116-17. “The power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believes.” This power that is available in the gospel, to turn man from sin, is only experienced by those who believe the Gospel; this is to say that the gospel’s power cannot be experienced by those who are unbelieving. It is not enough to just know the gospel, one must come into an experience of the power of the gospel through faith.

With that being said, Paul describes the reason why God pours out His wrath: “…for the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” Romans 1:18. 

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Unrighteousness: “All unrighteousness is sin” 1 John 5:17, and “Sin is the transgression of the law” 1 John 3:4. o Thus we find that God pours out His wrath on those who are disobedient (Col. 3:6). o God’s wrath is a punishment for the transgression of His law. Those who “hold the truth in unrighteousness”: those who know the gospel but do not experience the power of it (because of unbelief); they may have a “form of godliness,” but they “deny the power thereof” 2 Tim. 3:5. o The gospel is the word of truth (Ephesians 1:13) o It is a godly thing to acknowledge the truth (Titus 1:1). This is why this group appears godly, because they acknowledge the truth (even though they don’t have faith in it) o But the power of the gospel truth is denied by their works of disobedience (Tit. 1:16) because they haven’t experienced the power of God to transform them inwardly. o That is how this group holds the truth in unrighteousness God’s wraths is poured out on these. On the disobedient, and those in unbelief, (even if they have a knowledge of the gospel)

Another reason God pours out His wrath:

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“Yea, they made their hearts [as] an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.” Zachariah. 7:12. 

God’s wrath is poured out on those who harden their hearts against Gods law, and reject His prophets’ words. (Notice the direct contrast between these and the remnant mentioned in Revelation 12:17, Revelation 19:10). o Notice, this is the result of continued rejection of God’s word. (Zachariah. 7:11 speaks that they “refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear”). o God continues in His efforts to reach men, and as men persist in rejecting His mercy, the heart becomes like an “adamant (unmoving) stone.”

In summary, these are the characteristic features of those who will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, those who receive the mark of the beast:    

Disobedience and unrighteousness, Unbelief in the gospel Unrighteousness, even among those who profess to believe the gospel. A firm resistance against God and His law, and a persistent refusal to hear the messages which God sends through His prophets. VIABLE

Only 2 groups In the time of the third angel’s message, the period right before the second coming of Christ, there are only 2 groups that are presented as existing in that time (Revelation 14:14-18, there are 2 harvests). 1. The one group is made up of those who worship God, and keep His commandments: Revelation 12:17, 14:6-7, 12 2. The other group is made up of those who worship the beast and His image (Revelation 13:12), and thus receive the beasts mark. This is the group that is to receive the wrath of God: Revelation 14:911, Revelation 13:16 & Revelation 16:1-2.

Quick recap.   

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Those who worship the beast and his image are those who receive the mark of the beast. The third angel warns that this group are going to receive God’s wrath. God’s wrath is poured out on: o The unrighteous, ◌ The ungodly, o Those who hold the truth in unrighteousness, ◌ Those who disobey the gospel, o Those who persistently resist God’s law and the instruction He sends through His prophets Therefore we may understand that the mark of the beast has to do with all of these points (because those who receive the mark of the beast are those who receive God’s wrath.)

Understanding the fact that the mark of the beast has to do with these points, we may get a better understanding on how it is that we can escape the mark of the beast (that which invites God’s wrath).

The cross of Christ and wrath of God. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Rom. 5:8-9 

Only those who are now experiencing justification by the blood of Christ will be saved from the wrath of God.

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It is only by the blood of Christ that will be saved from the wrath of God. Thus Jesus had to shed His blood. In dying the death that Christ died, He has made a way of escape for us from the wrath of God. He dank the cup of the wrath of God. Had Jesus not shed His blood, our sins would not be put away (Heb. 9:22), we would not be saved from wrath.

In order to better understand what it means to be “justified by His blood”, we may look briefly at what the blood of Christ achieves:  

1 Peter. 1:18-19. we are redeemed, bought back, by God through the blood of Christ 1 John 1:7. More than buying us back, It cleanses us from all sins/ all unrighteousness.

The experience of what the blood of Christ does, is experienced through faith in that blood. 

Romans. 3:25. through faith in His blood, Jesus is made our propitiation (the means by which our sins are paid for).

Thus, only those who exercise faith in the blood of Christ as a sacrifice on their own behalf will be saved from the wrath of God, from worshiping the beast and his image and from receiving the mark of the beast.

Faith in the blood of Christ. “Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:9-12  

In contrast to those who worship the beast and His image are those who keep the commandments and have faith in Jesus. Faith means to take God at His word (Matthew 8:5-10), to talk and act as though what He says is true.

Thus, those who are to have faith in the blood of Christ, in order that they might experience its cleansing power, must take God at His word regarding what He has said about the shed blood of Christ.   

Romans 5:8. The sacrifice of Christ is the pledge of the love of God Romans 8:30. It is the assurance that God will grant us every promise Revelation 1:5. We are washed of all our sins by the blood of Christ. Etc…

When we take God at His word concerning the promises about the cross, it is then that we get to experience that cleansing blood of Christ.

The formula for not receiving God’s wrath In order to obtain the formula for not receiving the wine of the wrath of God we may ask: How can I gain victory over unrighteousness, and ungodliness? How can we enter into an experience of the power of the gospel and not merely hold the truth whilst still practicing unrighteousness? How can one have a heart that is not like an “adamant stone”, but have one that keeps Gods law?

The gospel itself has the answer. In describing gospel, it is written “for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:1617

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“Salvation”: “You shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” Matthew 1:21. Jesus came to save us from sin, and all unrighteousness is sin (see 1 John 5:17). The gospel, therefore, is the power of God, and it is the power of God to save us from sin, from all unrighteousness. That’s why it is written that in the gospel, “the righteousness of God is revealed.”, because it is His righteousness that is given and it is expressed through the obedience of the believer.

Therefore, the sure escape from “all unrighteousness”, is the power of God in Christ. But it is possible to have a knowledge of the gospel and to still “hold the truth in unrighteousness.” How then do we experience the power of the gospel? The gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” Rom. 1:16 

In order for one to experience the power of the gospel, one must believe the gospel. That is to say that the gospel is not the power of God to the one who does not believe it.

“For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them (the Israelites in the wilderness): but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard [it].” Hebrews. 4:1.   

The power of the gospel (essential for victory over all unrighteousness) does not profit a man who does not have faith. Likewise, the power needed to escape the mark of the beast (which is made up of ungodliness, unrighteousness and rebellion of heart), can only be experienced by faith. One must take it to be true that God can forgive all His sins and that He is powerful enough to change the heart and make it one of willing obedience to all His commandments.

Therefore, the main burden of the 3rd angels’ message, in warning us against the things which will receive the wine of the wrath of God, is in fact a message of righteousness, and that being a righteousness obtained by faith. It is a call to experience power of the gospel by having faith. It is only through this experience of faith that it can be said of the saints that: “here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12

The grace of God versus the wrath of God. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;” Titus 2:11-12. Points to consider about the grace of God:    

It brings the salvation. We have seen that this is none other than salvation from sin. It is grace that teaches us to deny ungodliness. It teaches us to live righteously and godly in this present world. That is to say, the grace of God teaches us to not experience the things for which God pours out His wrath (ungodliness, unrighteousness, rebellion). Thus, the third angel’s message, in warning us of the wrath of God and the things which invite it, has to do with God’s grace. It is only God’s grace that can keep us from these things.

Experiencing this grace: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Eph. 2:8-9 s-thinks.blogspot.com

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This active and saving grace, which grants us victory over the beast and his mark, is accessible only through faith. This faith is a gift from God. We cannot earn it, we cannot buy it, it is not of ourselves, yet we must play our part in receiving this all important gift.

Of those who experience this grace, it is said: “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:10 Freely accessible to all “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Cor. 12:9.  

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God’s grace was sufficient for Paul, the chief of sinners (cf. 1 Tim. 1:15-16), and this grace which has “appeared to all men” is sufficient even for you. The power of Christ can rest upon any man who is weak in order to keep that man from all unrighteousness and ungodliness. God’s power to save is made perfect in those who are weak and helpless. This power can be experienced today through faith, so that none need to drink of the wine of the wrath of God.

That is why, after telling us about the grace of God, the receivers of God’s grace are said to be: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus. 2:13. While Jesus will come in wrath for those who receive the mark of the beast (Cf. Revelation 6:12-16), to the receivers of God’s grace it is a blessed hope.

Summary Thus, the central theme of the TAM is Christ and Him crucified, more than on the symbols of the beast and his mark. Jesus Christ and His righteousness are at the heart of the message; and we, through faith, may be prevented from receiving the mark of the beast and drinking the cup of the wrath of God END.

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