Eternal Gospel Part 1

Eternal Gospel: No Beginning and No End – Part I

“Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the Earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.” -Revelation 14:6, italics mine

The Bible says the eternal gospel will be proclaimed to everyone living on Earth during the Great Tribulation. The eternal gospel is a collection of changeless and eternal truths about the Godhead. The eternal gospel is like a molecule consisting of many atoms and each atom represents a specific truth.

For example, one atom represents this eternal truth: The Godhead will rule over the universe forever. Another atom represents this eternal truth: By right of creation, the Godhead owns everything in the universe. Another atom represents this eternal truth: Because the Godhead knows everything, their laws are perfect. Another atom represents this eternal truth: Because the members of the Godhead are love, they granted the power of choice to their offspring. Many more “atoms” are in the molecule of the eternal gospel, but I hope you can see how many truths combine to make up the eternal gospel.

During the Great Tribulation, every person on Earth will hear three critical truths of the eternal gospel. These three truths are represented in Revelation 14:6-10 as three announcements given by three angels. Currently, these three truths do not have the power and authority they will have during the tribulation, but this does not diminish the beauty or truthfulness of the eternal gospel. Eternal truths can be hidden for thousands of years and still be true! However, when the appointed time arrives, there is nothing more powerful than a truth revealed.

Soon, the Holy Spirit will empower 144,000 prophets and they will proclaim the eternal gospel with uncommon power. Everyone on Earth, regardless of culture, language or religion, will hear them. Right now, people’s minds are closed by religious arrogance. God loves us and to open our diverse minds and overcome our preconceived ideas, He will traumatize the human race by a global earthquake and four trumpet-judgments. The nations of Earth will be ruined. The infrastructures of life as we know them will collapse.

World order will collapse and a crisis government will take over. Personal beliefs about God and in God will crumble. In the disheveled and chaotic context of the Great Tribulation, the eternal gospel will radiate with unparalleled power and authority. Three “atomic” truths about Jesus will be proclaimed. The world will hear the truth about His divine authority, the terms and conditions of His salvation, and His wrath for defiance.

The first four trumpets of Revelation 8 will (a) darken the Heavens, (b) burn up a third of the Earth, (c) turn a third of the sea to blood, and (d) contaminate a third of Earth’s drinking water. The 144,000 will point to these judgments saying, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment [of the living] has come. Worship Him [the Creator] who (a) made the Heavens, (b) the Earth, (c) the sea and (d) the springs of water.” (Revelation 14:7, insertions mine)

The call to worship Jesus the Creator will be highly inflammatory to Moslems, Jews, Hindus and other non-Christians who reject the divinity of Jesus. Many Christians will also consider this first call of the eternal gospel to be highly inflammatory because they think they can worship Jesus as they choose rather than according to His laws and commandments.

Jesus is a mystery character. Ask some of your Christian friends if the God of the Old Testament is Jesus or the Father. The fact is, most of the references about God in the Old Testament refer to Jesus. Jesus is Jehovah God, the Yahweh of the Old Testament. Most Christians do not know this. They think the God of the Old Testament is stern, legalistic and deadly, and the God of the New Testament is forgiving, full of grace and life. What a surprise it is to them when they realize that Jesus is the same in both cases!

The Old Testament reveals that Jesus sent the flood that drowned an entire world in Noah’s day. He also sent the fire that burned Sodom and Gomorrah because divine justice deemed it necessary. The New Testament also tells us that Jesus will destroy the wicked at the Second Coming. (Revelation 19:19-21) This behavior seems contradictory to the sweet and lowly character of Jesus as He is described in the four gospels. This contradiction occurs because Jesus functions on two different levels.

As a member of the Godhead, Jesus oversees the sin problem on Earth. As a man, Jesus demonstrated how God wants us to live in a sinful world. The Creator of Earth came to Earth to show us how to please God, not how to be God. Studying the behavior of Jesus in the Old Testament and studying the life of Jesus in the New Testament is thrilling because the “atomic” elements of the eternal gospel are revealed through the actions of Jesus! This is why the book of Revelation exists.

The book of Revelation brings all of the other books of the Bible together to expose Jesus for all that He is. Everything we know about the eternal gospel comes through Jesus. “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to [understand] the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him [through me].’ “ (John 14:6,7, insertions mine)

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