.
THE FIRST ANGEL'S MESSAGE WARNS THE WORLD TO FEAR GOD AND GIVE GLORY TO HIM - WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FEAR GOD? THE WORLD AND CHURCHES NEED THIS TRUTH!
Malachi 3:16-17 ...'Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.'
The first angel's message is a message that is to go to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." (Rev.14:6). It isn't just for the Jews. It isn't just for a particular class of people, but for the whole world, which is why it says every nation, kindred, tongue and people. It is a message of utmost importance, which is why the message is to be given with a "loud voice." So let us take a look at the message:
Revelation 14:6-7 ...'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.'
There are two questions to answer. But before we do that, let us just quickly confirm that Revelation is NOT 'for the Jews only' as some believe. Who is this end time warning in Revelation 14 for? The WHOLE world - 'every nation, kindred, tongue and people.' So the questions to answer are, what does it mean to 'FEAR God' and WHY are we to 'fear God? The majority of people in the world today and even many in the churches do not know what it means to fear God. Which is why we see so much sin being committed and even embraced by the world and churches at large. The commandments of God have by and large been forsaken by the world AND the various churches and the Word of God has been replaced by the doctrines and creeds of man.
We are told in God's Word that the fear of the Lord is "the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7). The fear of the Lord is "a fountain of life" (Proverbs 14:27). The fear of the Lord "tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil" (Proverbs 19:23). The fear of the Lord is "clean, enduring forever" (Psalm 19:9). But what does it mean to actually fear God?
Psalm 34:11-16 ...'Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.'
Job 28:28 ...'And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'
Proverbs 8:13 ...'The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.'
Proverbs 16:6 ...'By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.'
The fear of the Lord is to hate all sin and evil and depart from it.
The Word of God furnishes us with clear instruction regarding what the fear of the Lord means. It is not to be literally afraid of God, or serve Him with terror. No. The true fear of the Lord is to hate what God hates, which is sin and evil - and depart from it. So if we are to hate evil, then what are we to LOVE? RIGHTEOUSNESS!
Hebrews 1:8-9 ...'But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.'
This is what the fear of the Lord is all about - to hate evil and love righteousness, which is why Jesus said ... 'blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness' (Matthew 5:6). Sadly, even the majority of professed Christians and churches do not understand this truth, which is why God's law is trodden down in the churches and why so much sin is put up with.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 ...'Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.'
Now to answer the second question, WHY are we to 'fear' God? Look at what Revelation 14:6-7 says again above. We are told to 'fear' God, which is to hate sin/evil in ALL its forms, and love righteousness ... "for the hour of God's judgment is come." This first angel's message was first given with a 'loud voice' all around the world between 1843 and 1844, in fulfillment of the 2300 day [year] prophecy of Daniel.
Jesus taught an important parable in Matthew 22 concerning this. Look:
Matthew 22:10-14 ...'So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.'
The wedding garment we all need to be accepted at the wedding is the righteousness of Christ. The king who inspects the guests at the wedding is God the Father and that inspection is taking place right now among God's believers, which the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel teaches. The question is - do you have on the righteous garment of Christ? Most believers will answer a confident YES! to that question, without even realizing what it truly means to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Why was that man at the wedding? Because he was invited and thought he had a right to be there! Why did the foolish virgins ask the bridegroom to let them into the wedding? Because they "believed" in the bridegroom and thought they had a right to be at the wedding!
Matthew 7:21-23 ...'Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.'
I hope you are seeing the significance of this. The man at the wedding thought he should be there, but didn't have the wedding garment. The foolish virgins believed in the bridegroom and thought they should be at the wedding, but were locked out. And many believers will say to Christ at His return 'Lord, Lord', but Jesus will say unto them ... 'depart from me, ye that work iniquity.' They ALL had one thing in common. They did not understand what it meant to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ and continued to hold onto sin, trampling underfoot the law of God.
They did not know what it meant to be genuinely converted in Christ.
Many of us today have a mere profession of faith without true conversion, which is why we see little victory over sin in our lives. The creeds of men are heeded over the Word of God and many are going to be left without any oil during that dark hour when the Bridegroom comes. Many embrace the first part of righteousness by faith - justification - whereby Jesus 'imputes' His righteousness to our record. But they ignore the rest of the process - sanctification - whereby Jesus 'imparts' His righteousness into our lives, literally making us righteous, giving us victory over sin now in this life. And many names will be REMOVED from the book of life due to this. And yes, your name CAN be removed from the book of life (Psalm 69:27-28, Revelation 3:5). Now look at what the apostle Paul said:
Ephesians 4:20-27 ...'But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.'
Romans 8:3-5 ...'For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.'
Do you see? Jesus told us that we must be born again to enter the kingdom and this is what Paul is speaking of above. We are to PUT OFF the old man with his sins and PUT ON the new which is 'created in righeousness and holiness.' And as we walk with Christ, allowing Christ to truly dwell in us by faith through complete surrender, the 'righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in us.' In other words, we will gain victory over sin and LIVE righteous lives in Christ. This is what it means to be clothed with Christ's righteousness. We cannot be clothed with His righteousness and yet continue to live in wilful sin. This is NOT living in the fear of God. Living in the fear of God is to HATE sin, turning away from it and to LOVE righteousness, walking in it.
Now look at what the Bible says is righteous:
Psalm 119:172 ...'My tongue shall speak of thy word: for ALL thy commandments are righteousness.'
Romans 7:12 ...'Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.'
God's commandments are righteous, which is why at the end of the three angels message we are told that the end time saints are the ones "keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12). But what have the churches done today? They have trampled upon the RIGHTEOUS commandments of God, by rejecting and replacing the 1st and 4th commandments with the creeds of men! The 1st commandment dealing with worshipping God the Father as the only true God has been rejected and replaced with the false trinity idol of Rome. And the 4th commandment dealing with the 7th day Sabbath (our Saturday) has been rejected and replaced with the false Sunday sabbath, again of Rome!
This is the work that the first angel's message did with our pioneers. It aroused them to the seriousness of sin and brought them to the truth that the commandments of God are still valid and binding today, including the 4th commandment concerning the 7th day Sabbath. What did the apostle John see in vision in Revelation 11:19 when he was allowed to see into the temple of God in heaven? The ark of the testament, also known as the ark of the covenant. And what is inside the ark of God's testament? The ten commandments! God showed our pioneers through the first angel's message that the ten commandments, ALL OF THEM, are still binding today. And what did the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel reveal? That from 1844, the investigative judgment, as Jesus prophesied in Matthew 22:10-14, began, to inspect what clothing we truly have on - our own [doing things our own way] or Christ's [living by the will of God]. That time of judgment which began in 1844 is coming to a close. So the question is, are you ready? Is your life fully surrendered to Christ? Have you repented of all your sins and worldly ways? Do you truly have on the wedding garment?
For more on the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel which reveals the truth about 1844, please see our page - 2300 DAY PROPHECY OF DANIEL
Interestingly, the first angel's message also reveals another truth which most churches have turned away from:
Revelation 14:7 ...'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.'
This warning message for the WHOLE world deals with worshipping God the Father (HIM) as the only true God and points us to the 4th commandment which tells us that God 'created heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters' (Exodus 20:8-11). And Jesus confirmed both these points:
John 4:22-24 ...'Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship HIM. God is a Spirit: and they that worship HIM must worship HIM in spirit and in truth.'
John 17:1-3 ...'Father ... this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.'
Matthew 11:25 ...'At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.'
Mark 5:27 ...'And he said unto them, the sabbath was made FOR man, and not man for the sabbath.'
Jesus confirmed that the Father is the only true God, not some strange '3 in 1' trinity god that the various churches worship. The apostles confirmed the same (1 Corinthians 8:6, Acts 3:13). Jesus also confirmed that the 7th day Sabbath was MADE FOR man. When was it 'made'? During creation week, before there was any Jew or any sin. Thus showing it was made for ALL MANKIND, as Jesus confirmed in Mark 2:27. So we have a choice to make friends. We can either surrender our lives to Christ, allowing Him to clothe us with His righteousness, causing us to live righteous lives and keep God's commands. Or we can continue to uphold the creeds of men, thinking that we need not uphold God's commandments and continue living in sin. But you know what the outcome will be! When the king (God the Father) looks at your life (your clothing) during this investigative judgment that has been going forward since 1844, and soon coming to a close, He will see you don't have the wedding garment on and will cast you out of the kingdom.
Friends, Jesus said that all who 'HUNGER AND THIRST after righteousness will be filled' (Matthew 5:6). So what are you hungering and thirsting after? Food? Fun? Money? Possessions? Career? Fame? Or are you hungering and thirsting after the righteousness of Christ? If you are, the promise is sure friends, you WILL be filled with the Spirit of God and your life will be changed from sin to righteousness in Christ. Do you believe? Do you have faith? Let us put away the creeds of men. Let us put away the sins of the old man and let us put on Christ in the 'fear of God.'
Revelation 14:7 ...'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.'
Malachi 3:16-17 ...'Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.'
Please see our following pages for more on this:
THE SECOND ANGEL'S MESSAGE - BABYLON IS FALLEN
THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE - COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND FAITH OF JESUS
SABBATH IS A SIGN BETWEEN GOD AND ISRAEL - BUT WHO IS ISRAEL?