FIRST ANGELS' MESSAGE TO THE WORLD.
Revelation 14:6-7 .....'And 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.'

This message as you will see from the above verses is a worldwide message. This isn't just for the Jews or some other particular people, it is for 'every nation, kindred, tongue and people.' Do you see that? It is for EVERYONE.

Notice the angel has something to 'PREACH' to the world. This shows it is symbolic of God's true people giving this message, meaning, if you want to find who God's end time saints are, find those who are sounding this warning and message to the world. Now even though angels still have an important part in helping to give light and power to us, these messages are being given to the world by God's people. And what important message do they have? 'The everlasting gospel'. Did you know that the gospel is an 'everlasting' one, and that it was preached and revealed throughout the Old Testament? ( See 1 Chronicles 16:25-31).

Has the world heard this first angel's message with a 'loud voice'? Yes, between 1843 and 1844 this message was proclaimed around the world with power and has continued to go forward from that time. To learn the history of this message that went forth with power during this time, please read The Great Controversy, from chapter 13.

What does this first angel (messenger) tell the people of the world? He tells the world to ...

'FEAR GOD' - What does it mean to 'fear God'? Does it mean to literally be 'scared' of God? Well, let's take a look at what the Bible says concerning the 'fear of God'.

Proverbs 8:13 ...'The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.'

Psalm 34:11-14 ...'Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.'

So living in the fear of God is to hate the things that God hates - SIN. Which means we are to turn away from all manner of sin and wickedness - And that includes watching sin on the tv or listening to sinful music! So if we are to 'hate sin', then what are we to do? Love righteousness! So to 'fear God' is really to love righteousness. And Jesus said in Matthew 5 that those who 'hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled.' What will we be filled with? The very Spirit and life of Christ Himself.

( See Ephesians 3:14-20)

The first angel's message is designed by God to arouse us to our sinful condition and cause a work of repentance in our hearts.

GIVE GLORY TO GOD' - How do we bring glory to God in our lives? Exodus 33:22 says that God's glory passed by the mount where Moses was, and Exodus 34:6-7 reveals that glory - Jehovah's character: merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. So we are to SHOW God's character in our lives to the world, through the indwelling Spirit of Christ and His righteousness.

"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples." (John 15:8) And how do we bear much fruit? By abiding in Christ (John 15:5).

THE HOUR OF GOD'S JUDGMENT HAS COME' - This is telling us that the 'TIME' of God's judgment is come. Is this talking about the second coming of Jesus and His executive judgment upon the world? No, as there is more to happen in the world after this first angel's message. So this must be some other judgment that is to take place. What did Jesus say in Revelation 22:12? That His reward for all is 'with Him' when He returns. So for Jesus to HAVE His reward to 'give unto every man according to his work' when He returns, a judgment [decision] must have taken place BEFOREHAND to determine who gets what. So in other words, it is a time of 'investigative' judgment and this 'TIME of [investigative] judgment' was prophesied in the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel which our Adventist pioneers proclaimed to the world with a 'loud voice' between 1843 - 1844, and continued to proclaim it.

This 2300 day prophecy foretold a time when the 'sanctuary would be cleansed.' Yes, our pioneers misunderstood the word 'sanctuary', thinking it meant this earth and thus originally thought that this event would be the return of Christ to 'cleanse' the earth. But after re-studying it, they found the truth that the 'sanctuary' was God's original sanctuary (temple) in heaven and that the 'cleansing' of the sanctuary mirrored that of the Old Testament type (day of atonement) wherein the people were to confess and repent (turn away from) all their sin and the high priest would perform a work of removing the people's sin from the sanctuary. Christ is now fulfilling this work in the heavenly temple and the 2300 day (years) prophecy reaches no other date than 1844! From this 'time', God's people have been proclaiming the truth that the '[investigative] judgment has come.'

Are you sacrificing all for Jesus and allowing Him to transform you into His image, so that He can blot out your sins from the record books and from your life? The 'books' are opened and your life is being looked at right now! Soon this investigative judgment will close [the close of probation] and then "he that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still" (Revelation 22:11).

(see Daniel 7:9-10,13)

WORSHIP HIM THAT MADE HEAVEN, AND EARTH, and the SEA, and the FOUNTAINS of waters.' - Do you know what the angel is pointing us to here? He is pointing us to the CREATOR. And where do we find the Creator revealed? We find Him revealed in the creation account and also in the 4th commandment concerning the sabbath. And what does the 4th commandment tell us about creation? That "in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is" (Exodus 20:8-11). So here we find EVOLUTION REJECTED! God didn't just makes the 'basics' and let it 'evolve' over millions of years. We are told that in six days God MADE ALL that is in the world. Also, this is a call to keep the 4th commandment which states that the 7th day (our Saturday) is God's true holy sabbath day. A commandment that has been 'forgotten' through the vain traditions of men!

Exodus 20:8-11 ...'REMEMBER the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed THE SABBATH DAY, and hallowed it.'

The 4th commandment is the only command that reveals who it is we worship. Keeping the true 7th day sabbath (not Sunday) is a sign that we acknowledge God the Father as the Creator and OUR GOD. It is a sign that we are giving allegiance to Him, rather than giving allegiance to man and his 'traditions'.

Revelation 14:12 ...'Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God AND the faith of Jesus.' - Here are the ones who have submitted to the ways of Jesus Christ, and have allowed Jesus to dwell IN them and change their hearts (Galatians 2:20) - Here are the ones who are clothed with the righteous garments of Christ.

NOTE: Does the final message call us to worship the 'trinity' or '3 in 1 god'? No! It calls us to fear God and worship HIM. Who is this 'Him'? It is the Father, the one true God (1 Corinthians 8:6, John 17:3, 1 Timothy 2:5).