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Revelation not only predicts the coming
manifestations of the wrath of God (and the
response of the religious and political systems
of Earth), it also reveals four profound
announcements that God shall send to every
nation, kindred, tongue and people. These four
announcements will be more widely known than
AIDS. Time has not arrived
As of this moment, these
four messages are essentially dormant because the
appointed time for these messages has not
arrived. However, do not misunderstand,
Christians are proclaiming elements of all four
messages around the world. However, the four
messages – occurring as a four-part
sequence, require a specific progression of
global events to be universally effective. In
addition, when universal circumstances
become appropriate, these four messages will
penetrate every mind with the brilliance of
sunlight. Even though they can be understood
before their moment of glory, they have not yet
received the power that is to accompany them.
There is nothing more
powerful than a truth whose time has come. Like a
runaway train, timely truth can penetrate
any blockade – whether physical, mental or
spiritual. The key word in the previous sentence
is timely. Timing is everything. And the greater
the resistance, the greater the exposure and
power of timely truth. Just as heat is
generated in an electrical circuit when there is
more power than the circuit can bear, so these
four messages will cause a great controversy
among all people, nations and languages.
The
four messages
What are these four
messages? In abbreviated form they are:
- Obey
God
- Disobey
man’s laws
- Disobey
the devil’s demands
- Do
not receive the mark of the beast
Look at the diagram for
the chronological placement of these messages.
The first of these four messages will begin in a
powerful way just before the censer in Revelation
8:2-5 is cast down. The global earthquake and
attending phenomena that marks the judgment of
the living serves as the starting gun for the
world announcing the Great Tribulation. (Think
about the significance of the earthquake as it
relates to commerce. Can you imagine the
consequences of thousands of collapsed bridges
and freeway overpasses in the USA?) I believe
there will be a short interval of time between
the global earthquake and the sounding of the
first trumpet, perhaps no more than eight
months. During this interval of time, the
144,000 will continue proclaiming the first of
the four announcements – but comparatively
few people will listen or give them due
consideration. Then, the first trumpet occurs,
the world will behold a fulfillment of the first
trumpet that the 144,000 predicted. It is
important to know that the fulfillment of
prophecy does not change the announcement of the
144,000; rather, the first announcement will
receive much greater attention by the people of
earth as a result of the first trumpet. As a
result, more people will respond to the gospel
call.
To appreciate the impact
these announcements are going to have, one has to
understand the events that surround each message
because each message is given in opposition to
what is actually taking place. For example, the
first announcement (in abbreviated form) is
“Obey God.” While every born again
Christian already understands the importance of
this statement, the implication of this message
is that most people aren’t obeying God even
though they think they are! In other words, the
reader must recognize that these four
announcements have two dimensions.
The first dimension is
the revealing of the will of God to all men. The
second dimension is the revealing of the
rebellion within man against the will of God.
Thus, each announcement ignites a higher level of
opposition as it is given until the people of
earth are separated – as sheep or goats.
 Right
to the point
God
uses few words. Speech is a temporal and
momentary means of communication. For example,
over the course of your lifetime, how many
sermons you have heard and forgotten? God prefers
to be understood by His actions because men may
learn much about the nature and character of God
through the study of His behavior over the
millenniums of time. Therefore, His words are few
and far between, and everything the last
generation needs to know about salvation has been
written in the Bible. Therefore, God is going to
speak to the people of the world through His
servant – prophets, the 144,000. These will
present four compelling messages from the Bible
that all will hear. Within the context of these
four messages, men and women, boys and girls
everywhere will hear the gospel invitation: Receive
Jesus Christ as Savior AND Lord so that you can
be saved. To receive Jesus, as Savior is to
recognize that one cannot save himself. Salvation
is only possible through faith in Jesus. To
receive Jesus as Lord is to recognize the
authority of Jesus. If we accept Jesus as our
Lord and Master, we voluntarily become subject to
His commandments. But what brings the properties
of salvation into sharpest focus is this: During
the Great Tribulation, men will enact a number of
laws that will stand in direct opposition to the
laws of God. The result is that the subject of
salvation will become simple to comprehend: One
will not be able to obey God without great love
for God and faith in His promises.
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