The special calling of SDAs to give the first, second, and third angels’ messages to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. The importance of understanding and experiencing these messages in our lives, so we may reveal and proclaim them to the world. 

<p>The special calling of SDAs to give the first, second, and third angels’ messages to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. The importance of understanding and experiencing these messages in our lives, so we may reveal and proclaim them to the world. </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Tuesday Night Care Group

The Three Angels' Messages

Norman McNulty

The Sunday Law

Father in heaven, we thank you for this time together this evening.

Thank you that there's so many that are eager to be coming together to study your Word, especially during this time.

And I pray that you would speak through me this evening and that we would gain the blessing that we need.

So I actually shared a message for my church this past Sabbath over Zoom, and some of what I share with you this evening will be similar to what I shared with them, but some of it will be more of a study format.

The first thing that I wanna say is this.

Sometimes you hear people say, let's just talk about Jesus and everything is gonna take care of itself.

You hear people say, I'm not so worried about what's coming as long as I know who is coming, but I do want to offer some friendly caution to that kind of a mentality.

Jesus actually gave us prophecy so that we would not be deceived, because he said, many would come in my name saying that I am he.

But there's only 1 manner in which Christ is going to come, and there's plenty of prophetic events that we can have confidence in, and if we have this mentality that as long as I know who's coming I don't need to be so concerned about what is coming, then you could be deceived by the who because you don't know what.

So it is important to know what is coming.

That's why God told us so that we wouldn't be deceived.

And I'm making the assumption in this care group that you all have a very firm and grounded walk with Christ.

And so based on that assumption, I'm going to challenge you to, you know, at a higher level so that, you know, we're looking at prophecy with the understanding that we're grounded in Christ.

And because of that, Christ is the 1 that revealed prophecy to us.

For example, Matthew chapter 24, which I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on, but Matthew chapter 24 is an entire chapter on prophecy in which Jesus gives us the signs of his coming and of the end of the world, and that's connected to Luke chapter 21, which is very similar.

And there's a couple of variations, but it actually helps to clarify some of the issues about the signs of Christ coming out of the end of the world.

So, and then yeah, Mark 9 is connected to that as well.

Those are the 3 prophetic chapters in the Gospels.

1 thing that I sometimes find with Seventh-day Adventists as well is that there is an understanding that a Sunday law is coming, but then there seems to be a bit of a lack of understanding as to how to show that from the Bible.

Now, I may be speaking to the choir here, but I do want to give you a brief overview of how I think we can show very effectively and very clearly from Scripture that a Sunday Law actually is coming.

And 1 of the reasons why I felt impressed to share that idea with this group tonight is that there are a lot of ideas that are bouncing around right now.

And I've seen some things on the internet that have suggested that we might be in the early time of trouble, that we may be in the siege of Jerusalem, prophetically speaking.

And so I'm going to share with you a couple of verses actually from Luke 21 and Matthew 24 to start off, speaking of the Sunday Law, and then we're going to go to Daniel and Revelation to show how you would give a clear Bible study to a non-administ without using any Ellen White quotes.

Although I believe in Ellen White and we're going to use Ellen White here at the beginning of the study.

But if you were just going to show somebody why we believe what we believe about a Sunday Law.

Interestingly in my practice today I was talking to 1 of my co-workers and she's a fine Christian young lady.

She's a Baptist and she's worked with me for probably 6 years, and she of course knows that I'm a Seventh-day Adventist, and we've had spiritual conversations, but today I actually had a conversation with her, and I said, you know, her name is Whitney, I was like, Whitney, I need to tell you some things probably that you've never heard from me before.

I'm like, if this crisis gets worse and it doesn't come back around, and I'm not saying that it's going to get worse and not come back around, it may very well pass.

But I told her, if it doesn't get better, if you start to see leading ministers of the land advocate for Sunday worship, just know that we've reached the end of the world.

And she was very interested, and I actually gave her a copy of a book that I just wrote recently, which this is the book.

It's called Daniel Practical Living in the Judgment Hour.

You can get a copy from Remnant Publications if you're interested.

But people are searching, and people are interested right now.

So I'm gonna just read to you, let's go to Luke 21.

We're gonna go to Luke chapter 21, And this is discussing, or this is Jesus speaking in verses 20 and 21.

So Luke chapter 20 verses 20 and 21, here Jesus says, And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh, then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein to you." So this verse is describing Jesus saying when you see Jerusalem surrounded by the Roman army that's the time to flee.

That's what we call the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman army.

In Matthew chapter 24, 15 is the parallel verse in Matthew 24, and rather than it being described as the Roman army surrounding Jerusalem, there's a different term that Jesus uses, and we'll see it here.

Verse 15, when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place.

Then verse 16 says, Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.

So in Luke 21, we see it's the siege of Jerusalem with the Roman army surrounding the city.

And Matthew 24 is described as the abomination of desolation when they stand in the holy place, which the holy place was a territory outside of the wall of Jerusalem.

And when the Roman army placed their pagan idolatrous standards in what was considered to be holy territory that was uniting the profane with that which was sacred, that's the abomination of desolation, that's the siege of Jerusalem.

And Ellen White has a statement where there's the prophetic application of this abomination of desolation to the National Sunday Law, and I'll go ahead and type in the reference here in the chat box so that you'll have this.

This is from Testimonies, Volume 5, pages 464 and 465.

Notice what Ellen White says, The time is not far distant when, like the early disciples, we shall be forced to seek a refuge in desolate and solitary places.

As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was the signal for flight to the Judean Christians, So the assumption of power on the part of our nation and the decree enforcing the Papal Sabbath will be a warning to us.

It will then be time to leave the large cities, particularly for leaving the smaller ones for retired homes and secluded places among the mountains.

So LMI makes it very clear there is a time to leave the cities.

That does mean Loma Linda, sorry for those of you who are there, but there will come a time when you do need to leave and the drop dead date for leaving the city, including Loma Linda, would be the Sunday Law.

So when people have said on social media that this COVID-19 pandemic is the siege of Jerusalem, that's a misapplication of Bible prophecy.

It's the National Sunday Law that will be the abomination of desolation, which is the siege of Jerusalem, which is symbolized by being God's people.

That will be the time for God's people to leave the cities at the National Sunday Law.

So don't be confused if you hear people saying that the COVID-19 pandemic is the siege.

The COVID-19 pandemic, if you look in Matthew 24, specifically verse 7, for example, it's a pestilence that is a clear sign that Jesus is coming again.

This pandemic is certainly something the likes of which none of us have lived long enough to have seen.

And I was a second year medical student at Loma Linda when that happened.

And after a few weeks, everyone kind of calmed down.

But then we kind of got on with our lives.

It was 2 cities that were affected, but California, nothing really changed.

We just kind of kept doing what we did and moved along.

But this pandemic has affected the entire world.

Restaurants had signs up saying they're closed till the pandemic's over.

In my town, I'm sure it's worse in some places.

So, I mean, this is definitely a pestilence, and it will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

So, it's certainly possible that if it gets bad enough, and I'm going to share some thoughts at the end that show how this could lead to that, it could get bad that if it doesn't bounce back, if the pandemic just doesn't go away.

Perhaps this could lead to the final crisis of Earth's history, but I'm not here to predict that it's going to be that way.

It's certainly possible that it could let up in the next several weeks or few months, and we will see.

A lot of it really depends on whether or not we as God's people are ready for the final crisis of Earth's history and this is a testing time, a proving ground.

Just to make things a little bit practical, I mean if, you know, the way you're reacting to this internally and spiritually is a good measure of your faith.

Are you ready for the final crisis of earth's history?

If you're complaining like, God, I can't believe you let this happen, and this has messed up my whole life and all of my plans and all of this is the fifth crisis in the last 10 months.

How much more are you gonna throw on my plate God?

Well now you're starting to sound like the children of Israel in the wilderness.

Whereas if you're using this as an opportunity to strengthen your walk with the Lord, then that gold is being refined in the fire, being prepared for the final crisis of Earth's history.

Okay, so let's go to Revelation 13, and this is going to be our study on how we can show from Scripture that a Sunday Law is coming and where that comes from and so forth.

Now We're not going to go through every verse in Revelation 13.

We're just going to look at some of the key verses.

Revelation 13 starts off with this beast that comes up out of the sea.

Revelation 13, once as I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having 7 heads and 10 horns, and upon his horns 10 crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Now I should mention as well that the book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

If you study the book of Revelation, you will get a clearer picture of who Christ is.

The First Angel and the Everlasting Gospel

Father, we thank you for this time together where we can study from your word.

And we thank you for this time that we are living in and for this opportunity to study from the Bible.

And so I pray that you would guide my mind, guide each of our minds.

And I pray that what is presented this evening would be very clear and very understandable and that we would apply what we learned.

So, yeah, there's probably nothing better that I'd like to talk about than the 3 angels messages.

There's lots of things to talk about in the Bible, but for me the 3 angels messages are the most important.

And you saw on this flyer that was sent out, there's this quote from Last Day Events.

You can also find it in Testimonies, Volume 9, page 19, about the 3 angels' messages.

And I'm going to read it as we start this study.

In a special sense, Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers.

They have been given a work of the most solemn import, the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels' messages.

There is no other work of so great importance.

They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention." You know, it's amazing to me that statement where Ellen White says that we as God's people, Seventh-day Admonisters, who allow nothing else to absorb our attention, and that we've been given a work of the most solemn import, which is the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels' messages.

Now I'll admit that growing up in the church and going through our school system I'm not so sure that the 3 angels messages were were taught and presented in such a way so that young people coming out of our schools would be able to give a clear coherent Bible study on the 3 angels messages.

And that's probably where I was when I finished college.

So you know don't feel bad if you don't feel like you know how to give a study on the 3 angels messages hopefully tonight will be a Start or a foundation for you so that you will see the value and the importance of the 3 angels messages and why Seventh-day Adventists make such a big deal about these 3 messages.

And you will find as we study here in Scripture that these 3 messages are not just some random messages, that they are the messages for the time that we're living in.

Now a few weeks ago I gave a study on how to show that the Sunday Law is the mark of the beast and how to show that from Scripture.

So I hope that you'll see in this series of studies just how amazing and how important the 3 angels messages are for us as a people.

Now, what I'm gonna do first, Revelation 14 is where we find the 3 angels' messages.

So I want you to open your Bibles to Revelation 14.

And I want you to look at something, and what I like to do when I teach a topic is to kind of see the big picture first.

And then once you see the big picture, then the detail starts to make a lot more sense.

And so when you look at Revelation chapter 14, Revelation chapter 14 has 3 sections.

So the first section is found in the first 5 verses.

And the first 5 verses are a description of the 144, 000 standing on Mount Zion, which with the lamb, which is Jesus Christ.

So you have 144, 000 standing on Mount Zion with the lamb.

Now, again, big picture understanding here.

The Book of Revelation, the title of the Book of Revelation, is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

And when you study the 144, 000 very carefully, you will find that the 144, 000 stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion because the 144, 000 were transformed into the likeness of the Lamb.

And so this is 1 of the climaxes of the Revelation in that you have the revelation of Jesus Christ through his saints known as the 144, 000.

So the book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Christ is revealed in various ways through the book of Revelation.

1 of the ways that he is revealed is through the 144, 000.

So that's the first section of Revelation chapter 14.

The second section is the 3 angels' messages, and that's verses 6 through 12.

So verses 6 through 12 are the second section of Revelation chapter 14, and you have the 3 angels' messages.

The first angel being found in verses 6 and 7, the second angels' message being found in verse 8, and the third angels' message being found in verses 9 through 12.

Now you have kind of an interlude, if you will, in verse 13, which is a description of the special resurrection, which we may talk about later.

And then the third section is the harvest of the righteous and the wicked, and that's in verses 14 through 20.

So when you look at this big picture in Revelation chapter 14, and as you're studying Revelation chapter 14, this is what you wanna see as you study this chapter.

You have 3 sections, 144, 000 found in the first 5 verses.

The 3 angels messages is the next section, verses 6 through 12, and then you have the harvest in verses 14 through 20.

Here's what that whole pattern is showing us, if you put it all together.

What this pattern is showing us, and then we're going to get into the 3 angels' messages, is that the 144, 000 who stand on Mount Zion with the lamb are produced by the 3 angels' messages.

And I'm going to prove that to you as we study this.

So the 144, 000 in the first section of chapter 14 are produced by the 3 angels' messages in verses 6 through 12.

And then what the whole chapter is showing us is that when the 3 angels' messages produce the 144, 000, the harvest is ripened and Jesus comes back.

So it's a nice big picture that we see in chapter 14.

144, 000, they're a revelation of Jesus Christ, so they therefore stand with with the Lamb on Mount Zion, and they are produced by the 3 angels' messages, and when those 3 angels' messages produce the 144, 000, then we have the harvest, and the harvest is a description of the second coming of Jesus Christ.

So does that make sense to everyone as we set forth on our study.

So hopefully that's clear to you that you see the 3 sections and they fit together very clearly.

So let's look at the 3 angels messages and I'll say this, if we didn't have the 3 angels messages we wouldn't have the Seventh-day Adventist movement, we wouldn't have the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and you're going to see that as we study this.

Okay, so starting in verse 6, Revelation chapter 14, verse 6, and just so you can kind of see that what we saw was the big picture kind of looking at the forest.

Now we're going to kind of look at the detail or the trees.

The reason why we say that there are 3 angels is because when you get to verse 9, it says, and the third angel followed them.

So we understand that in verse 6, that's the first angel, verse 8, that's the second angel, They're not named in such a way.

But verse 9 names the third angel as the third angel.

That's where we get this nomenclature from.

And in verse 6, we see, and I saw another angel.

Now the word for angel in the Greek is the word for messenger.

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." Now you may have heard this verse many times and it can almost become a rote recitation to hear those words stated, but I'm gonna hopefully show you just how deep this passage is.

There's a couple of things that I want to point out before we get into some of the further detail.

First of all is that this message that the angel is flying through the midst of heaven with is for every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, or every nation, tribe, language, and people in modern vernacular.

So I sometimes, I don't think I need to say this to this group because 1 of the things I miss about Loma Linda was the diversity, and you really don't even think about it when you live there.

But when you live in other parts of the country, you have to remind other Americans that the 3 Angels messages are not only for Caucasians in North America.

The 3 Angels messages are for every nation, tribe, language, people group all around the world.

And that's why the Seventh-day Adventist Church is a worldwide church because of the the burden that we have to get the 3 angels messages to the entire world.

And So that's the first point I want to make.

The second point I want to make is that in verse 7, we see that this angel gives this message with a loud voice.

And so 1 of the things I want to say about that is that I've met a lot of Seventh-day Adventists who are embarrassed by the distinctive message that we have as a people.

Now, you know, I'm the type of guy that just kind of tends to shoot straight, so I'm gonna say it the way I think, and that's based on what the Bible says.

The Bible doesn't say to hide the 3 angels' messages under a bushel.

The Bible says that the 3 angels' messages should be given with a loud voice.

And to be specifically particular, the first and the third angel are given with a loud voice.

It doesn't say that about the second angel, but the message of the second angel is repeated with the angel of Revelation 18, where he cries mightily with a strong voice, which that's the loud cry.

So eventually the message of the second angel will be given under the power of the loud cry.

But I just wanted to mention that because I hear a lot of people say, you know, we need to be careful about how we share this message.

I wouldn't give a Bible study on the Mark of the Beast to a group of newcomers who've never heard our message before as the very first study, but the Bible says that the 3 angels' messages are to be given to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people So don't tell me that millennials or Gen Xers or whoever the generations that have come after them are now aren't cut out to hear the 3 angels' messages.

The Bible says from the hour of God's judgment till the time that Jesus comes, the 3 angels' messages are for everybody.

And if we're ashamed of that message, to me it tells that we don't really understand the significance of this message.

So I just want to encourage you, and you know, of course there's right and wrong ways to give this message.

I mean, I've seen some pretty negative ways for it to be presented.

But I mean, I get kind of disappointed when I see people and churches and leaders shy away from giving the 3 angels' messages the way God intended them to be given, because the angel gives this message with a loud voice.

So if the angel from heaven gives this message with a loud voice, why as God's people would we be ashamed to share the message that God has given to us to share with the world for this time.

So that's just something that I wanted to mention.

So this message is for everybody, and it's for millennials and any generation that's alive right now.

And it's for every ethnicity, it's for every language group, and it's something that we need to give under the power of the Holy Spirit.

So let's break this down a little bit further.

So verse 6, I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel.

Here's the first key component to the first angel's message.

The first key component is that the first angel has the everlasting gospel.

Now I believe, if I'm not mistaken, Douglas Naa gave a study to you on the Gospel or righteousness by faith.

The Hour of His Judgment is Come and Babylon is Fallen

I'm going to read a statement that was read at the beginning of the series last week, and it's from Testimonies, Volume 9, page 19, just to remind us of the importance of the 3 Angels messages, that this is a time where we definitely want to understand these messages.

So this is Thessalonians volume 9, page 19.

To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world.

On them is shining wonderful light from the word of God.

They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.

The most solemn truths ever entrusted to mortals have been given us to proclaim to the world.

The proclamation of these truths is to be our word.

And I said this last week and I'll say it again as we get into the study this evening, you know, I hear people say we need to make Adventism relevant for the current generation and all of that kind of thing.

And I hear people say that, but when I read the Bible, the 3 angels messages are to be given to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, or every country in the world, every people group in the world, every language group in the world.

And so whether you are young or old, the 3 angels messages are specifically for this time.

And if we stop giving the 3 angels messages, we've lost our purpose as Seventh-day Adventists.

We are to allow nothing else to absorb our attention.

And you know, there are certain things about the 3 angels messages that are not necessarily popular with respect to the world around us, but they are the very messages that the world needs.

And so, you know, I just want to challenge each 1 of you, whatever church you attend, whatever group you go to, don't let anybody ever tell you that the 3 Angels messages are things we shouldn't be talking about right now.

They are the absolute necessary messages for this time.

I was talking to a friend last night as well And we were remembering what it was like to have lived through 9-11.

And the friend I was talking to, he and I were both in Southern California when that happened.

And, you know, very clearly that crisis led to a revival among a lot of young people.

Series

The Three Angels' Messages

The First Angel and the Everlasting Gospel

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

FYI 2009 Seminar by Dwayne Lemon

Now What Do We Do?

1h

Plenary

Closing Charge

54m

The Three Angels' Messages

The Third Angel’s Message and the Faith of Jesus

1h 12m

Talking Points 2nd Quarter 2023: Three Cosmic Messages

03 The Everlasting Gospel

29m

Elijah: Part 1 - Where Is Your Fire?

49m

Delighting in the Almighty

3. Enjoying God to the Fullest

28m

Preparing For the End of Time

1. Why Prayer Matters

45m

The Three Angels' Messages

The Hour of His Judgment is Come and Babylon is Fallen

1h 14m

God With Us

50m

The Three Angels' Message for the Millennial Generation

6. Keep the Commandments of God and Have the Faith of Jesus

50m

Pandemic at the Door

After the Lockdown: Through Trials and Difficulties

27m

Jesus Who?

55m

Sound Doctrine