everlasting-gospels.gif Redefining The First Angel's Message-1
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April 21  Redefining The First Angel's Message-1

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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 judgement is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. Rev. 14:6, 7.

A powerful message! One that Seventh-day Adventists hear talked about all the time, but one that they probably don't sit down and analyze. So let's do it this morning.

The message has four central teachings. First, the everlasting gospel. For the Millerites the everlasting gospel was more than merely the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. It also included the best of the good news-that Jesus was returning to bring to full reality the blessings made possible by His crucifixion and victory over death. Thus the everlasting gospel included the Second Advent, the resurreciton of those who had died in Christ, the traslation of those still living to meet Christ in the air, and the kingdom of heaven in its fullness. THe everlasting Gospel included all of that and more to Millerites and early Sabbatarians.

The Second part of the message stipulate that it would be preached to all the earth. As a result, J. V. Himes sent Millerite literature to every Protestant mission station in the world. The earliest Sabbatarians, by way of contrast, were quite willing to say that the Millerites had fulfilled the commission during the early 1840s. Only gradually would the Sabbatarians take hold of their missio-logical responsiblilites.

The third part, proclaiming the fact that the hour or tiem of God's judgment had arrived, the Millerites viewed as the Second Advent. For them it was an executice judgment, one in which God passed out the rewards to those who had served Him. Here is a point at which the Sabbatarians would have some fresh ideas, as we will see.

The fourth part, having to do with worshipping the Creator, the Millerites did not especially emphasize. But, as we saw some weeks ago, the Sabbatarians correctly viewed those words as an allusion to the Sabbath as reflected upon in Exodus 20 and Genesis 2:1-3. They linked the Sabbath allusion to Revelation 12:17 and 14:12, verses indicating that God would have a commandment keeping people during the last days. Thus the worship the Creator part of Revealtion 14:7 formed a central aspect of Adventist teaching.

The messages of the three angels of Revelation 14 are God's final ones to a dying world. We need to spend more time contemplating their meaning in our day.

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The Christian life is a battle and a march. But the victory to be gained is not won by human power. The field of conflict is the domain of the heart. The battle which we have to fight--the greatest battle that was ever fought by man--is the surrender of self to the will of God, the yielding of the heart to the sovereignty of love. The old nature, born of blood and of the will of the flesh, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The hereditary tendencies, the former habits, must be given up(TFMB 141).

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