THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL.
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. Rev. 14:6, 7.
In these words a special, world-wide proclamation of the Gospel is brought to view. It is the same work of which Christ spoke when He said, "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24:14. This appears from the fact that the next event in the prophecy is the coming of Christ. "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap; for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." Rev. 14:14-16.
PERSONAL TESTIMONY.
The Gospel as a witness is preached to all the earth, and accomplishes its work. It is appropriate that a "witness" should be borne when the hour of judgment is come. The character of this last proclamation of the everlasting Gospel is essentially in the nature of personal testimony. It is no professional preaching, but the telling of a living experience. It arouses the wrath of the dragon, but it does its work. "The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17.
When Jesus Christ preached the Gospel, He did not speak as the scribes, quoting precedents and handing down echoes of the doctrines of the fathers. He drew His wisdom and understanding from God, the Fountain-Head, and lived by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matt. 4:4. Thus the Word of God was His life, and He was the Word made flesh. John 1:14. The Gospel was Himself, and whether He was speaking or not, in every action of His life He was revealing the character of God, and thus declaring the glad tidings. It is "this Gospel," the Gospel as it was made known by Christ, which is to be preached in all the world for a witness before the end comes.
ANGEL WORKERS.
John saw an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having this everlasting Gospel to proclaim to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. This shows that angelic power will be connected with the work, and that the preaching occupies a central place among the angels, receiving the attention and co-operation of every one of them; but it does not mean that men are excluded from the work. There are evil angels spoken of in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, and these are called the dragon. So far as human history knows, the powers there spoken of are composed entirely of men. The Scripture shows, however, that Satanic agencies were {564} directing and controlling in all that was done. So in the preaching of the everlasting Gospel, men seem to be doing the work, but John saw the part acted by the angels. It is encouraging to remember that those who work for God are not left to toil alone. Sometimes it seems so, and hearts grow faint at the opposition of the enemy; but angels of God are with His servants, and superhuman power is at their call. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." Ps. 34:7. "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1:14.
A PURE GOSPEL.
Although this call is the final one, the going out into the highways and hedges to compel men to come in, it is no more than the "everlasting Gospel." It has no new features; rather it goes back and revives the forgotten truths of the Gospel. It is the message that Christ and His apostles preached. It is not found somewhere outside of the Scriptures, but it does include every truth that is given in the Bible. Hence it will be a work of reform, a call to walk in the old paths, a restoration of the practice and teaching of the apostolic church.
The message is given with a loud voice, which shows that it will command attention everywhere, and its burden is, Fear God; give glory to Him; the hour of His judgment is come; worship the Creator. At first sight we might not see what justification there was for describing such a message as the everlasting Gospel, because Gospel means "glad tidings"; but the more we study it, and live it, the more gladness we shall find in it.
GOD OR MAN?
Fear God, and give glory to Him. At the outset we are called upon to abandon the tendency of the age, which is to give glory to men, and forget God. Give glory where it belongs. How much glory is due to men? "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; . . . the grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the Word of our God shall stand for ever." Isa. 40:6, 7. But what of the great nations of the earth? "All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing and vanity." Isa. 40:17.
Suppose we agree to what the Lord says about our being less than nothing, and give Him all the glory, how much better off are we? "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." Isa. 40:31. So that it makes all the difference to us, whether we fear God and give glory to Him or not. If we take glory to ourselves when we are as frail and as helpless as the grass, we are deluding ourselves, and in the hour of need will find that we have trusted in a broken staff. If we put our trust in God, and give Him all the glory, we shall find that "the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him." Ps. 103:17.
WHAT GOD CLAIMS.
Let us see what God claims for Himself, that we may give Him the glory that is due unto His name. He claims to be the Creator. "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob." Good. We will give Him the credit. He created us.
"And He that formed thee, O Israel." Is that so? God formed me? What for? "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" 1 Cor. 3:16. How wonderful! But since I am going to give glory to God, I must allow that He speaks the truth, and give Him the credit for all He says He has done. So I know, then, that my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. That means that the Spirit of God dwells in me. That means a good deal for me, and I am glad of it.
What next? "Fear not; for I have redeemed thee." I wish I could be personally sure, that that was true. But stop, that is doubting God,—not giving Him credit for speaking truth. God says He has redeemed me. So I am really redeemed. Praise the Lord!
CALLED BY NAME.
"I have called thee by thy name." I am so glad to know that God calls me individually, not merely as one in the mass, but He calls me personally by my name. He has established a close relation between Himself and me, and we call each other by name. I am on the roll-call of heaven, the Lamb’s book of life. My name is written there, and it will stay there as long as I go on giving glory to Him, for He says of the stars: "He calleth them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in power, not one is lacking." Isa. 40:26, R.V.
"Thou art Mine." God says it, and I believe it, for I am honoring Him now and believe His statements. I am not seeking glory for myself, for His is "the kingdom and the power and the glory," and I am His, and in Him I have it all. So that when I keep the glory from Him, I wither like the grass, but when I give all glory to Him, He crowns me with glory and honor.
A MEANS OF BLESSING.
Surely, it is a blessed Gospel, glad tidings indeed, that calls me to fear God, and give glory to Him. What riches I find then in His Word! for all the statements I have taken for true are contained in one verse. Isa. 43:1. "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine." Whatever else I find in the Bible I will take by faith, for I am going to honor God by believing Him and obeying Him.
From this we can see that those who obey the Word, "Fear God, and give glory to Him," will be believers in every word that God has spoken; they will not follow Him with a divided heart, but will have the fulness of His power, by faith, in their lives. They will be a Gospel church, full of the fruits of righteousness, and instead of being a reproach upon the name of the Lord, and an occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, they will be an honor to Him, because they will let His power alone be seen in their lives. He will be proud of them, and will send them to every nation and kindred and tongue and people as His ambassadors and witnesses.
"The hour of His judgment is come." This is a large subject, and will be taken up by itself next week.
CREATION IN THE GOSPEL.
"Worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." These words take our minds back to the creation. They call us away from the theories of self-glorifying scientists to the Bible record of creation, and bid us worship the Creator. If we are going to have a part in the everlasting Gospel, we must give the honor and the glory to God, and so we inquire how God would have us worship Him as the Creator. We turn back to the record, and we read that as soon as the work of the Creator was finished, "He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had {565} rested from all His work which God created and made." Gen. 2:2, 3.
THE STANDARD UPLIFTED.
Adam and Eve were the only human beings alive. They were unfallen and they rested with God from all His works, worshipping and adoring Him who had made them and delighting in communion with Him. The seventh day was blessed and sanctified, or set apart, to be observed by all God’s children for ever, in the worship of Him who made heaven and earth. The Sabbath was not for any particular portion of Adam’s descendants. It was for all. "The Sabbath was made for man." Mark 2:27. Those who did not desire to retain the knowledge of God might refuse to honor Him, by keeping holy the day He had set apart for worship, but the household of faith was to keep it for ever. "Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." It was to be "a perpetual covenant." "It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." Ex. 31:13-17.
We find that in the new earth, where the righteous will dwell in the ages to come, the perpetual covenant of the Sabbath will be regarded. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord." lsa. 66:23.
THE GOSPEL SABBATH.
God is now gathering out a people, to be prepared for the Lord’s coming, to carry His Gospel throughout the earth, and be a glory to His name. His Word will be the standard for each one, and He is now revealing defects and errors wherever they exist in order that those who love and honor Him may forsake their own ways, and come "in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Eph. 5:13.
Many have seen that the seventh day, and not the first, is the Sabbath of the Lord, and that in keeping the Sunday they are not worshipping their Creator and Redeemer, but showing honor to men. Yet they hesitate to obey God because of the fear that they will lose situations or business or friends. They put these before the Lord. But the call is to "Fear God, and give glory to Him." How can we say we are giving glory to God, as the Creator of the universe and the One who supplies the wants of every living thing, when we are afraid to obey His voice for fear we may lose our living? Whom are we giving glory to, then? Plainly to some man, either ourselves or our employers. If we will really give to God the glory due to Him, we shall know that He keeps us now and supplies our needs, and we will not be so faithless as to think that the man who does not fear God is more sure of a living than the man who obeys Him.
It is only when such a test comes to us that we realise how little we know of the true God, and how much He has been to us but an empty name. But now God calls to a higher experience, that His servants may be sealed with the seal of the living God. Rev. 7:1-3.