The gospel is the power of God to save every one that believes. All men are in the same condition, having the same need, for God “has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and all who believe are alike justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Since there is no difference in men, no matter in what part of the earth they dwell, God puts no difference between them in the matter of salvation, but purifies all hearts alike by faith.
The third angel’s message is the closing message of the gospel and announces: a) that the Lord is coming soon, and b) that it is the power of God that prepares men for that event. “Give thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col. 1:12, 13).
“All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.” “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isa. 40:6, 8). Here again is the message: Man is nothing, but God is everything; man is weakness, but God is strength; man is sinful, but God is righteousness; man is ignorant, but God is wisdom; man is mortal, but God has life in Himself; and all that God is, He gives to every one who will accept Him; for He “gave Himself for/to us.”
This message is the announcement of the power of God in contrast to the weakness of men, and of His power working and dwelling in weak, sinful men. It is the setting forth of the mind of Christ, and the showing that just as God was manifest in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, so He will manifest Himself in the flesh of every one today who will yield themselves to God, that they also may be emptied of self. --Daniel Peters