Revelation 14:6-7 November 4, 2012 #1831 End Times-Reformaiton Page 1
6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
Hi Kids,
What is an angel? It is a living being that God made who doesn’t have a body. Sometimes God had an angel become visible so people could see the angel. Can you think of someone in the Bible who saw an angel? [examples] What was the angel’s job? The angel brought God’s important message about Christmas to Mary, to Joseph, to the shepherds. It told people on Easter at Jesus’ grave that he was alive. It told Adam and Eve after they sinned that they had to stay out of the Garden as it held the sword of fire to keep them from coming back in. Angels are God’s messengers.
If God let us see an angel flying in midair above us, it would have a message to tell us from God. If the church were full of people so that there was no room to put another person, and the angel were flying close to the ceiling, how many people do you think would be able to see the angel and hear what it had to say? Everyone. And that is why John saw God’s angel flying in the sky in what we will hear today. God intends that everyone all over the world hear the angel’s message which promises that Jesus has saved us.
What do people today need to read or hear read to them so that they learn about Jesus? [hold up a Bible] The Bible. This is God’s message. It has all of God’s promises to us written down. How many of the promises will God keep? All of them. How long will his promise last that says he has forgiven all our sins? It will last forever. This is why we keep believing in Jesus.
Dear Redeemed who cherish the gospel message and power,
The verses for today’s sermon were used by Pastor Johann Bugenhagen
Pomeranus in his sermon at Martin Luther’s funeral. He spoke of Luther as the angel with the eternal gospel. The Reformation certainly is one of the visible fulfillments of verses 6-7. But the prophecy is neither a direct arrow to the Reformation or only about the work of Dr. Martin Luther. These verses are in truth a message of God’s comfort addressed to the on-going New Testament Church. The Holy Spirit, who after the previous chapter’s alert against false doctrine, is comforting Christians persecuted during the years of the Roman Empire, those living in the Dark Ages, those manipulated through the times of the Reformation, you and me today, plus those who will succeed us all the way to Judgment Day. And the comforting message is this: NO ONE CAN SILENCE THE ETERNAL GOSPEL!
The message of the book John wrote called The Revelation is a commentary on three truths that God had spoken: One is God promised victory over the devil by the Savior in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The second is Jesus’ guarantee that his Church will be victorious over evil written in Matthew 16:18b “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” The remaining truth tells us that the devil isn’t going to quit attacking us even though he has lost the war. Acts 14:22b records Paul “strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,’ they said.”
The structure of THE REVELATION is an introduction, 7 visions, and a conclusion. We could compare each vision to a grand painting depicting in broad outline the whole history of the church in this present evil world from Christ’s first coming as servant and including his Second Coming as Judge. They are 7 views of the life of Church each emphasizing a different facet of what we must face on earth or enjoy in heaven. They are not consecutive episodes. The all-knowing God unveils the future and reviews the past with events and descriptions portrayed by strange and even fantastic symbolism. This makes it mandatory that the symbolic and figurative language must never be pressed beyond the point of comparison.
Chapter 14:6-7 is part of the 4th painting which is presented as 7 visions. The painting begins with “a great red dragon” (12:2), the devil (12:9), who attempts to destroy Christ himself, but failed. The gospels record this war and victory for us. The Lamb has driven “the prince of this world” (Jn 12:31) out of power by his life and death. “Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God” (12:10). Jesus’ resurrection and Ascension shout to Satan “you have lost the war!” But the Devil isn’t willing to give up. So, Satan now tries to take down as many people as possible with him to hell. He persists in persecuting believers, the Church. But God promises to protect us against the evil one. His gospel message keeps our faith alive, and with faith we are safe.
The painting includes “the beast rising out of the sea” (13:1). This is a symbol for secular governmental powers who have a close alliance with the devil to attack the church. We are told, “the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.” Add to the painting another ally of Satan, “the beast coming up out of the earth.” He had “horns like the lamb, but he spoke as the dragon…he makes the earth and those who dwell in it worship the first beast” (13:12). This beast is known by what it teaches. What message in this world masquerades as religion, is preached by false Christs and government powers alike, impresses the majority, destroys the gospel, and leads to the persecution of Christians? It is the lie that a person has the ability to live the right kind of life to deserve to go to heaven. Every non-Christian religion is based on a person earning his or her way into a blessed eternity. The official teachings of the Roman Catholic Pope condemn anyone who believes a person is saved only by believing in Jesus. The enemy here is those who are in the visible church, yet espouse false doctrine and say it is what Jesus taught.
Then God switches the scene briefly to heaven and for an instant gives us a glimpse of the Church Triumphant, of the believers whose earthly battle is over. He shows us the crowd that is without sin in front of him in heaven, the crowd we will be part of in our resurrection. We see the eternal victory celebration that awaits every Christian. See, the devil isn’t going to take us down! And now that we have been recharged by the heavenly preview and the assurance of our final victory, it is back to earth we must go.
The brush strokes of 14:6-7 add to the painting the reminder of another promise the Lord has made. Jesus declared, (Mt 24:14) “This Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” What did John now see? “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth.” “Eternal” means that false teachers will never silence the gospel. The time to preach the Gospel will end on Judgment Day. But the promises of the Gospel remain forever.
The “angel” simply is a messenger. And “flying in mid-air” means that no one can say “I didn’t see him.” And since we are talking about his message, the picture is that everyone can hear him. The gospel promise that Jesus has struck the crushing stomp on Satan’s head by resisting every temptation, the announcement, “It is finished!,” and his exit from his grave alive again, is to be proclaimed “to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.” The message is for everyone. It is for the unbeliever to hear and receive a spiritual heart transplant, a new heart that believes. The gospel is for the believer to hear and be nourished so that faith grows in courage to speak and live what God has taught to us. “God wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
The message given to the angel is the gospel. This is the good news about forgiveness through the works done by Jesus which God gives to us in his love. When the angel “said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory,’” that is not the gospel message. It is a summary of the purpose for which the gospel is proclaimed. We are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Eph 2:10). We are to preach the gospel which changes minds and hearts (2). “so that all on earth will fear God and give him glory.
“Fear God,” what did the messenger mean? Go around the world asking that question and the overwhelming first answer will say “be afraid of God.” I say this because unbelievers are the majority in the world. They only know about God that he demands complete compliance to his standard and “I have failed.” “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” (Ps 130:3) The unbeliever is afraid of God “who can destroy both body and soul in hell” (Mt 10:28). But remember that Jesus is speaking to his Church here. He has just emphasized preaching the gospel. And the result that the forgiveness of sins brings is that we are no longer afraid of God through faith. We know that all God’s punishment against our sins was paid on Good Friday.
The angel is urging us as believers to have childlike respect and awe because of grace as the Psalm says (Psalm 130:4) “But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.” This doesn’t mean that the terror fear is never found in a Christian’s heart. We because of weakness of faith are not always as sure as we ought to be of our forgiveness. At such a time we experience some terror of God’s holy anger that punishes people for their sins. In a believer such fear is characteristic of the old Adam, not the new Self. Through faith the gospel comforts and relieves our anxious heart. It will do so through Holy Communion today as well.
With childlike awe and respect for God we “give him glory” by praising him, thanking him and obeying him because he is gracious God who carries out every Gospel promise. These are the “good works” we are created in Christ Jesus to do as fruit of faith in the gospel. We “worship” him alone as his very first commandment requests. We kneel before him with our heart and offer every part of our being and our life as his servant. We live by his word and his word alone.
The angel said, “because the hour of his judgment has come.” It is obvious that Judgment Day had not come when John received the vision. Nor has the day come yet. The Spirit’s point is that the gospel is an urgent message. It alone saves souls. But when a person’s death or Judgment Day arrives, then the time to preach the gospel to save that soul will come to an end. When each person appears before Christ on the Last Day, everyone will kneel before him and confess that “Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”(Phlp 2:10) As a believer we will do so with childlike awe and respect rejoicing to enter heaven. Every unbeliever will do so with terror and despair knowing that hell is their destination.
NO ONE CAN SILENCE THE ETERNAL GOSPEL! To the unbeliever the angel’s message is “think about your Creator whose power and wisdom made everything to bless you, and learn the gospel before it’s too late to find your Savior through faith to enjoy his eternal blessings.” To us believers the message is, “No matter what the Devil tries to do to keep people from hearing about Jesus and believing in him, you are safe and victorious.” The events we call the Reformation show that the Church had not died, and never will. The devil still uses earthly religion and earthly government to try to silence the gospel, but fails because “the gospel…is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe” (Rm 1:16). And the gospel is eternal. Amen.