A Message for Our Times
GOD knows the future, and He has a set “time there for every purpose and for every work.” (Acts 15:18; Ecclesiastes 3:1, 17) He has also pledged Himself to do nothing “that vitally concerns this world ” but He reveals His secret unto His servants the prophets” beforehand (John 15:14, 15; Psalm 25:14; Amos 3:7), and then He holds His servants responsible for warning the world (Ezekiel 33:1-8). They are watchmen on the walls of Zion, who should be able to read the signs on God’s prophetic clock, so they can tell the time and give the warning at the hour of crisis (Isaiah 21:11, 12; 2 Peter 1:19; Romans 13:11; Matthew 16:2, 3); and when God’s hour strikes, He has His agencies in readiness to carry His message to the world.FAFA 216.1
Before the world was destroyed by the Flood, Noah warned the people for one hundred twenty years (Genesis 6:3-13, 22; 2 Peter 2:5); before the destruction of Sodom, Lot gave the warning message to that wicked city (Genesis 19:12-14); and before Christ’s first coming, John the Baptist heralded the coming of the Messiah (Luke 1:13-17). Then why should not so important an event as Christ’s second coming be given proper notice, and a warning message be sent to prepare the world for its final destruction?FAFA 216.2
It is true that the world in general has never received favorably any of God’s warning messages in former ages, and Christ declares that His final warning mill not be heeded any more than His warnings sent through Noah and Lot. (Luke 17:26-30) Yet the message must be given though there are but few who receive it. Here is Christ’s message for our days:FAFA 216.3
“I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.” Revelation 22:16. “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” V, 7. Here we see that the message to be given just before Christ’s second coming is found in the “book” of Revelation. This is specifically given in chapter 14, verses 6-14. Here is presented “the everlasting gospel,” connected with the warning that “the hour of His judgment is come,” and an appeal for a return to the loyal worship of the Creator, combined with a warning against the worship of the “beast and his image,” and against taking “his mark.” Those who receive this message are characterized by the fact that they “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus’.” Revelation 14:6-13. The very next scene is the Son of man coming on the cloud to reap the harvest of the earth, and “the harvest is the end of the world.” Verses 14-16 and Matthew 13:39.FAFA 216.4
The people who give this message to the world must therefore know what is meant by “the beast,” “his image,” and “his mark.” This we find clearly presented in Revelation 13. Let us study this chapter.FAFA 217.1