9.) The Third Angels Message in Verity

“All power is given into [Christ’s] hands, that He may dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His own righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel’s message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure.” TM 92. (Emphasis supplied.)

This quote from the pen of Ellen White is so full of hope, and the promise of large and glorious things that will happen during the final preaching of the third angel’s message, that one can only wonder how it can have any connection to the actual wording of the third angel’s message as found in Revelation 14:9-12:

“A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.’ This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”

The only hope we see here is that through all the threats of disaster for those who worship the beast and his image, the passage ends with the promise that God will have a people who keep His commandments and remain true to Jesus, or as it says in the KJV, “have the faith of Jesus.” Either way, it is clear that during this terrible time for the people of this world, God will have a remnant who will endure faithfully and obediently through the time of trouble until He delivers them at His second coming.

How do the people of God come to this place of faithfulness and purity? Surely it is not by remaining in Laodicea, lukewarm and self-satisfied that they are acceptable to God while indulging in worldly pursuits and entertainments, fulfilling their religious round of duties, but without the spirit and power of God in their lives. To such professional Christians, Jesus says:

“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” Rev. 3:18.

“Many, I saw, were flattering themselves that they were good Christians, who have not a single ray of light from Jesus. They know not what it is to be renewed by the grace of God. They have no living experience for themselves in the things of God. . . .Oh, that every lukewarm professor could realize the clean work that God is about to make among His professed people!” 1 T 190.

“The one all-important inquiry that should engross the mind of everyone is: Am I prepared for the day of God? Can I stand the trying test before me?

“I saw that God is purifying and proving His people. He will refine them as gold, until the dross is consumed and His image is reflected in them.” Ibid. 355.

So, the work that Jesus wants to do for everyone is a purifying, cleansing work to remove the dross of our present self-satisfied condition. But that necessitates a personal relationship with Jesus that many are too indolent to obtain. It means that we must go beyond works into relationship. Only a deep and continual connection with Jesus can heal our self-satisfaction, pride, and spiritual indolence. But, you may say, I don’t feel satisfied with my spiritual life at all! In fact, I see my failures every day, and I feel so discouraged that I almost despair of reaching the goal of eternal life. My friend, the solution is the same. When you have an intimate ongoing walk with Jesus, all doubt and despair about your salvation will disappear in the security of your love relationship with Him! This is the only thing that can heal the brokenness that sin causes when we try to live without Him as the center of our lives.

I really fear for the people of our modern generation. Who has time to establish meaningful relationships with the people we see every day, let alone a God we can’t see, touch, or feel! The computers and cell phones, the TVs and video games, the movies and DVDs, the music and loudspeakers, even when we shop—how can we ever stop long enough to hear the still, small voice of God amid the din of voices vying for our attention? It takes effort to tune it out and tune into God’s voice in our minds and hearts. It means that we must turn off the media, and have time with God in the morning to set the tone for the day. It means pausing to listen to His guidance through the day, deliberately choosing to retain the connection with Him. It means that we must not let the media be our comfort in the evening, but choose only those things which will permit us to stay connected with Jesus and to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Our God is a jealous God; He will not share a divided heart, for that is exactly what produces a lukewarm condition! Some of God, and some of the world—it is the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil all over again! And THAT brings us back to the third angel, for his message actually incorporates the messages of the first two angels, and then joins with the powerful finishing work of the fourth angel of Revelation 18, who cries with a loud voice:

“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. . . .Then I heard another voice from heaven say: ‘Come out of her my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.’” Rev. 18:1-5.

You probably already know that Babylon means “mixture,“ or “confusion”; but for the purpose of our study, let’s dig a little deeper into the origin of the word “Babylon” in scripture. When God created Adam and Eve, He blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number: fill the earth and subdue it.” Gen 1:29. (Emphasis supplied.) But after some time had elapsed after the flood, the inhabitants of the earth said to each other:

“Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” Gen. 11:4. (Emphasis Supplied.)

This decision was in direct opposition to the command and purposes of God, and was an attempt to protect themselves from the possibility of another flood. Their words show pride, rebellion, and a decision to reject the authority of the God of heaven and be their own gods, just as Lucifer had rebelled in heaven, and attempted to usurp God’s authority.

“This confederacy was born of rebellion against God. The dwellers on the plain of Shinar established their kingdom for self-exaltation, not for the glory of God. Had they succeeded, a mighty power would have borne sway, banishing righteousness, and inaugurating a new religion. The world would have been demoralized. The mixture of religious ideas and erroneous theories would have resulted in closing the door to peace, happiness, and security.” 1 BC 1092. (Emphasis supplied.)

Satan himself was behind the effort to control the earth by this confederacy. But God stepped in and halted its progress. Then He raised up Abraham, the spiritual ancestor of the faithful followers of God through the ages who would keep His precepts and preserve His laws and His truth until the end of time. But the Babylonian principles were still alive in the heart of Satan. He worked in every land and people around the world to establish his kingdom upon self exaltation and mingling truth and error, which well suits the unregenerate human heart.

No, Babylon did not die on the plains of Shinar. Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful king of the golden city of Babylon, was humbled for seven years because of his boastful statement:

“Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” Dan. 4:30.

Likewise, when pagan Rome gave way to the rise of the little horn power of Daniel 7:8, he was described as having “eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.” Through heathenism, and then the mingling of heathenism and Christianity which developed into the Papacy, the beliefs and practices of Babylon have lived on.

Notice that the builders of the tower of Babel, under the control of Satan, wanted to banish righteousness, and inaugurate a new religion. This is exactly what happened during the dark ages. As pristine Christianity gradually merged into the papal power of Rome, the understanding of direct communication with Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary was lost. Religion deteriorated into a round of works and ceremonies, and in that sense, the truth was thrown to the ground, and the abomination of desolation—the papal system—was set up in its place. (See Dan. 8:9-14.)

What powerful words are used here to describe the work of the papal system—The abomination of desolation! The description for “abomination,” in Strong’s Concordance reads: disgusting, filthy, idolatrous, detestable; from the prime root: to loathe, pollute, abhor. Some words for “desolation” are: to stun, grow numb, devastate, stupefy, make amazed, astonished, make desolate, destitute, destroy. God could hardly use more intense words to describe His feelings for the principles and purposes of Babylon!

So far, we have considered only the characteristics of Babylon in past history. But now we must look at the present and immediate future, for the fall of Babylon is the last act in the drama of the history of sin. This brings us back to the relevance of the third angel’s message. This message is in direct response to the second angel, who shouts out his message, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” Rev. 14:8. This announcement will be joined by the urgent warning of the fourth angel of Revelation 18:2, 3:

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the nations of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”

The book of Daniel provides some clues to the circumstances which will bring about the final fall and destruction of Babylon at the end of time. In Daniel chapter five, the story of the last moments of the reigning monarch of Babylon unfolds. King Belshazzar had prepared a great banquet for all his nobles, his wives, and his concubines. As a crowning act of defiance toward the God of heaven, he gave orders for the sacred gold and silver goblets that were taken by Nebuchadnezzar from the temple in Jerusalem to be brought into the banquet so that he and his guests could drink wine from them.

“As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way. . . .

“This is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. This is what these words mean: ‘Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.’. . .

“That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom.” Dan. 5:4-6, 25-30.

What implications can we glean concerning the causative factors that brought an abrupt end to the kingdom of Babylon? Certainly the haughty attitude and pride of the king and his nobles is evident. Also, his deliberate disrespect for the sacred vessels of God’s temple was a brazen act of rebellion. Then the crowning act of drinking wine from those goblets while praising the heathen gods sealed his doom. No amount of good behavior or false repentance could save him from death. The golden crown of Babylon was passed to the silver kingdom of the Medes and Persians.

All that I have said up to this point is a background to exemplify the characteristics of Babylon through the ages, which lays a foundation for understanding the messages of the three angels of Revelation 14, and culminates in the message of the fourth angel of Revelation 18. These messages were powerfully given in the beginning of our church as they preached to the people of their generation, inviting them to move with Jesus into His cleansing work in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. But that work was not finished in their generation. There is yet more understanding and a deeper work to be done now, to prepare the world for Jesus’ soon coming.

“Had Adventists, after the great disappointment in 1844, held fast to their faith, and followed on unitedly in the opening providences of God, receiving the message of the third angel and in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming it to the world, they would have seen the salvation of God, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts, the work would have been completed, and Christ would have come ere this to receive His people to their reward.” 1 SM 68.

“The light we have received upon the third angel’s message is the true light. The mark of the beast is exactly what it has been proclaimed to be. Not all in regard to this matter is yet understood, nor will it be understood until the unrolling of the scroll.” 6 T 17.

“The third angel’s message, embracing the messages of the first and second angels, is the message for this time.” 8 T 197.

“To us, as God’s servants, has been entrusted the third angel’s message, the binding off message, that is to prepare a people for the coming of the King.” 9 T 98.

The question to ask ourselves is: Do I understand consciously and experientially these messages myself? Since the third message embraces the messages of the first and second angels, let’s break them down into components that we can understand. There are three parts to the first angel’s message: 1. The everlasting gospel, or, righteousness by faith. 2. Jesus’ work of judgment in the heavenly sanctuary. 3. The recovery and restoration of the truth about the seventh-day Sabbath as a permanent model of creation and recreation. In order to preach these messages powerfully through the end of time, we must know what they mean in our own personal experience!

While righteousness by faith in Christ has always been the only type of righteousness acceptable to God, this subject is perhaps the most misunderstood. Probably the most common misconception is that “we do our best, and Christ does the rest.” While there is some small truth to this, it gives such a distortion of the reality of what Christ offers us, that we fail to comprehend the recreation of our characters that God holds out for us in the full message of righteousness by faith, which Ellen White states is “the third angel’s message in verity.” Ev. 190.

“The church has gone over to the world in transgression of the law. . . .Daily the church is being converted to the world.

“All these expect to be saved by Christ’s death, while they refuse to live His self-sacrificing life. They extol the riches of free grace, and attempt to cover themselves with an appearance of righteousness, hoping to screen their defects of character; but their efforts will be of no avail in the day of God.

“The righteousness of Christ will not cover one cherished sin. A man may be a lawbreaker in heart; yet if he commits no outward act of transgression, he may be regarded by the world as possessing great integrity. But God’s law looks into the secrets of the heart. Every act is judged by the motives that prompt it. Only that which is in accord with the principles of God’s law will stand in the day of God.” COL 316.

“Human effort without the merit of Christ is worthless. . . .

“Without the transforming process which can come alone through divine power, the original propensities to sin are left in the heart in all their strength to forge new chains, to impose a slavery that can never be broken by human power.” Ev. 192

The real truth concerning the righteousness of Christ is that it is truly His righteousness and only His; but we can have it by a constant, living connection with Him through His engrafted word and the indwelling power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

The key word to remember is connection! In our fallen human nature, we are connected to self—our needs, our feelings, our wants, our concerns. We naturally have the characteristics that are found in Babylon—self exaltation, pride, and rebellion against God and His principles. That is why Jesus said to Nicodemus:

“I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. .  No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and Spirit. Flesh give birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” John 3:3-7.

We are by nature a subject of the kingdom of darkness, and are in agreement with Satan. In order to receive the righteousness of Christ, we must be connected to Him in heart and mind. Then He can impart to us His thoughts and feelings, which is His character.

“If man is to become immortal, his mind must be in harmony with God’s mind.” T. on SB, 116.

“Holiness is agreement with God.” 5 T 743.

“The thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character.” 5 T 310.

“We cannot attain perfection of character if we do not hear the voice of God and obey His counsel.”    SD 90.

“If the eye is fixed on Christ, the work of the Spirit ceases not until the soul is conformed to His image.” DA 302.

You see, everything in Christianity is about disconnecting from the world and self, and connecting with God through Christ. We can try harder to be good, but we can only be as good as a fallen man or woman can be by trying hard to be good. In the depths of our hearts we are still fallen and sinful, prideful and selfish, angry and self-protective. Connecting with Jesus is our only hope!

As I was growing up, I often heard that “justification is the work of a moment; sanctification is the work of a lifetime.” But I never heard that justification happens when I accept Jesus, and sanctification means walking with Jesus moment by moment for a lifetime. In the first model, I am saved when I accept Jesus, and then I spend the rest of my life trying as hard as I can to be a good person so I that I can be saved by the time I die—if I don’t fall off the path somewhere along the way. In the second model, everything depends upon a continuing relationship and companionship with Jesus!

“Justification means that the conscience, purged from dead works, is placed where it can receive the blessings of sanctification.

“Sanctification means habitual communion with God.” 7 BC 908.

“The channel of communication must be open continually between man and his God.” DA 676.

“When this intimacy of connection and communion is formed, our sins are laid upon Christ, His righteousness is imputed to us.” ML 11.

Not too long ago, I was talking to a young man about the need to establish this kind of communication with Jesus, in order to have victory in his life. He had told me that his idea about getting victory over his besetting sins had always been, “read, study, learn the regulations, and then comply.” Of course, you can imagine the results! After many failures, he had been tempted to give up. Now he has set his mind on learning to know God through a prayer/faith relationship, and already is having more success in his Christian experience.

“Unless he makes it his life business to behold the uplifted Saviour, and by faith to accept the merits which it is his privilege to claim, the sinner can no more be saved than Peter could walk upon the water unless he kept his eyes fixed steadily upon Jesus.” TM 93.

“He who lays hold upon the righteousness of Christ may become a perfect man in Christ Jesus. . . .Seeking to follow the example of Christ, we shall grow up into His likeness, possessing more and more refinement. . . .

“Those who are disciplined by the truth . . . will be diligent Bible readers, searching the Scriptures with an earnest desire to understand the will of God, and to do His will intelligently.” TM 150.

“A daily, earnest striving to know God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, would bring power and efficiency to the soul. The knowledge obtained by diligent searching of the Scriptures, would be flashed into the memory at the right time. . . .

“Christ has made every provision for us to be strong. He has given us His Holy Spirit, whose office is to bring to our remembrance all the promises Christ has made, that we may have peace and a sweet sense of forgiveness. If we will but keep our eyes fixed on the Saviour and trust in His power, we shall be filled with a sense of security, for the righteousness of Christ will become our righteousness.” ML 45.

“God offered them [the Pharisees], in His Son, the perfect righteousness of the law. If they would open their hearts fully to receive Christ, then the very life of God, His love, would dwell in them, transforming them into His own likeness; and thus through God’s free gift they would possess the righteousness which the law requires. . . .

“Jesus proceeded to show His hearers what it means to keep the commandments of God—that it is a reproduction in themselves of the character of Christ.” MB 55.

“Connected with Christ, human nature becomes pure and true.” MYP 35.

Does this sound discouraging to you? Is it a standard that seems too high for you to reach? We can find balance and security with these statements which apply to all of God’s faithful followers throughout history:

“When it is in the heart to obey God, when efforts are put forth to this end, Jesus accepts this disposition and effort as man’s best service, and He makes up for the deficiency with His own divine merit. But He will not accept those who claim to have faith in Him, and yet are disloyal to His Father’s commandment.”     1 SM 382. (Emphasis supplied.)

“When we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, we shall have no relish for sin; for Christ will be working with us. We may make mistakes, but we will hate the sin that caused the suffering of the Son of God.” MYP 338.

Although this is true of all God’s people who have ever lived, and died in the faith of Jesus, there is a special work of cleansing to be done for those in the final generation who will live to see Jesus come. (Please see GC 425; EW 269-271.) I believe this special work of cleansing to be the judgment of the living. They will then be prepared to receive the latter rain, which gives them power to preach the final message of the third angel, and the loud cry of the fourth angel. Since the special cleansing of God’s remnant people is absolutely imperative to receiving the latter rain and the seal of God, I want to spend some time describing this experience. Without our conscious cooperation, the time of cleansing will pass us by, and we will miss out on the precious privilege of living to see Jesus come.

“God requires His people to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. . . .

“I was shown that if God’s people made no efforts on their part, but wait for the refreshing to come upon them and remove their wrongs and correct their errors; if they depend on that to cleanse them from filthiness . . . and fit them to engage in the loud cry of the third angel, they will be found wanting. The refreshing power of God comes only on those who have prepared themselves for it by doing the work which God bids them, namely, cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 1 T 619.

“We are in the great day of atonement, and the sacred work of Christ for the people of God that is going on at the present time in the heavenly sanctuary should be our constant study. . . .The typical Day of Atonement signified . . . that it was a special season of great humiliation and confession of sins before God. The antitypical day of atonement is to be of the same character.” 5 T 520.

Most people believe that you will not know when your name comes up in the judgment of the living. My experience in this is described in more detail in my previous article, “The Three Angels’ Messages Revisited, and my book, “The Seal of God—God’s Sign of Approval.” But I assure you, there are many who are aware that their names have come up in the heavenly judgment, and are now cooperating with Jesus in this cleansing. It has been our experience that you will know when your name comes up in the judgment when the veil is lifted between the conscious and the subconscious, and you can no longer deal with the present unless you deal with the past.

You see, when Jesus opens our book, He sees the whole record of our lives, from the moment of conception until the present, and how all the past interacts and influences how we feel and what we say and do now. The whole history of our lives has to be cleansed, not just how we feel and act now. It is one thing to have a relationship with Jesus each day concerning the experiences we go through that day. It is quite another to be aware and open to the work of Jesus in cleansing us from the effects that sin has caused us all our lives. How can He do this if we are not aware that we are supposed to be intelligently cooperating with Him in this work? For an example, I will tell you a story of what happened to me just this week.

I have always felt hurt and self-protective when my husband and I have a disagreement, and we are not able to work it through successfully. I have tried over the years to become more and more calm, kind, understanding, patient, and sympathetic when such times occur. But now and then, I still feel the sting of hurt that such occasions cause. Several days ago, this happened again, and I felt very sad and hurt, and went to my office to be alone and pray. The incident was not very big—just a few words that stung my heart. But I could not let it go. I cried and prayed to God for help, but it seemed as though a big cloud was between my soul and God. Presently, my husband came into my room and apologized with tears. I freely forgave him, but my pain and tears did not lift. I confessed everything I could think of throughout our past 58 years of marriage, but nothing helped. So finally I just knelt quietly before the Lord and waited.

At last, a little scene from my childhood came into my mind. I was lying in bed at night, and I could hear the loud, commanding voice of my father in a room downstairs. I knew he was shouting angrily at my mother. Occasionally, I would hear Mother’s quiet voice, and then the angry voice of my father again. I had not thought of this scene for a long time. But I know it had happened more than once in my childhood, and it left memories of pain. Since I am very familiar with the process of Jesus’ work of cleansing hurtful memories, I immediately asked Him to cleanse the records of this memory from my books and from my mind by His precious blood. Then I asked for the Holy Spirit to pour His love, joy and forgiveness into my heart and heal the damage that sin had made in my mind and emotions, and fill me with the mind of Jesus. I also asked for all demons who had access to me through those feelings and memories to be sent to the abyss, and be held there until their eternal judgment. After praising the Lord for this deliverance and healing, I went into the kitchen and made breakfast for my husband and myself, and we enjoyed a lovely mealtime together.

]This is just one example of many times when God has revealed to me areas that need cleansing, healing and blotting out of the books of heaven, and out of my life. One wonderful advantage of these healing experiences is that before the healing, I would react wrongly to some situation before I had a chance to think about what I was going to say. But after the cleansing on that subject, I now hear the voice of God in my mind before I react, so that I can choose my words and course of action before I do or say the wrong thing, and ask for God’s help and guidance. Many are the words I now choose not to say at all, praise the Lord!

Since I am a counselor, speaker and writer, I have the privilege of helping others to go successfully through these cleansing experiences and receive healing and freedom from Jesus. But as we look at the world around us, it is very clear that probation for the world is closing, and so many will be unready. Satan well knows that time is short, and he is desperate to keep as many people as possible from recognizing the call of the Holy Spirit to participate in the final cleansing work that is now going on from the heavenly sanctuary. Through entertainment, media, drugs and alcohol, games and sports, hustle and bustle, cares of life, family turmoil, or whatever can detract people from eternal realities, he is working to keep people occupied until it is too late.

“A work must be done for the people, or many will not be prepared to receive the light of the angel sent down from heaven to lighten the whole earth with His glory. Do not think that you will be found as vessels unto honor in the time of the latter rain, to receive the glory of God, if you are lifting up your souls unto vanity, speaking perverse things, in secret cherishing roots of bitterness.” LS 327.

But I am so glad that there will be a remnant who follow Jesus all the way to the end, and participate in the finishing of the work of the gospel message which Jesus has provided for all who receive from Him the free gift of His righteousness. Remember—the key is connection! Jesus wants to cleanse out of our lives anything that we have connected to in our past or present lives that keeps us from connecting fully with Him now. Then He can flow His perfect life of righteousness into our minds through the Holy Spirit, who will be our constant guide, companion and counselor. To bring every person on earth to make a decision between the principles of God and the principles of Satan is the purpose of the loud cry. In the end, there will be only two classes—those who have heeded the call of Jesus to be cleansed of the sins of Babylon—pride, selfishness, control of others, boasting, breaking the commandments of God—and those who have retained these character qualities of Satan and will be destroyed with him.

“Clad in the armor of Christ’s righteousness, the church is to enter upon her final conflict.” ML 311.

“As the members of the body of Christ approach the period of their last conflict . . . they will grow up into Christ, and will partake largely of His Spirit. As the third message swells to a loud cry, and as great power and glory attend the closing work, the faithful people of God will partake of that glory. It is the latter rain which revives and strengthens them to pass through the time of trouble.” 1 T 353.

What a glorious picture this gives of God’s people finally being ready to cooperate with Jesus until they are fully prepared for the trying time before them! But as the Holy Spirit is withdrawn from the earth, a terrible scene of chaos and trouble will emerge, such as the world has never seen.

“God restrains our rulers; for the hearts of all are in His hands. Bounds are set beyond which they cannot go. . . .The work will go on until the third message has done its work. . . .When Jesus leaves the most holy, His restraining Spirit is withdrawn from rulers and people. They are left to the control of evil angels. Then such laws will be made by the counsel and direction of Satan, that unless time should be very short, no flesh could be saved.” 1 T 203, 204.

God will certainly protect His people through the great time of trouble that is coming. We have nothing to fear except as we fail to prepare for that time. Those who neglect to seek Jesus with all their hearts now, will not be ready for the test of faith that will come upon us then. What a privilege we have in the last, closing hours of earth’s history to glorify God by announcing the last warning message to every person on earth!

“From one end of the world to the other must the message of Christ’s soon coming be proclaimed. The third angel’s message—the last message of mercy to a dying world—is so precious, so glorious. . . .Mysteries into which the angels desire to look, which prophets and kings and righteous men desired to know, the church of God is to make known.” MM 334.

Let nothing discourage us, brothers and sisters! The long, dark night of sin is almost over! We will soon be at home with our Lord.