“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
A Gospel with No Beginning and No End – Part II
Revelation 7:1-4 indicates that Jesus will select and seal 144,000 people just before the Great Tribulation begins. When the global earthquake in Revelation 8:5 occurs, these people will begin speaking for Jesus and they will testify for 1,260 days. Jesus will give them words to speak and this is how the whole world will hear the eternal gospel during the Great Tribulation. The global earthquake will fracture the world into “small cells.” Travel will be very difficult and I believe each cell will have at least one of the 144,000 in it.
The next events will occur in rapid succession. After the global earthquake, the first trumpet-judgment will occur. (Revelation 8:7) A fiery hailstorm of white-hot meteors will burn up a third of the trees of Earth and all of the grass. The second trumpet-judgment will be large asteroid impact on an ocean, causing huge tsunamis that will destroy thousands of coastal cities and sink ships by the hundreds.
Then, the third trumpet-judgment will occur and a continent will be impacted by an asteroid which will kill millions of people at ground zero and it will shatter geological strata allowing sewage and other poisons to contaminate underground springs for thousands of miles. Poisonous water will kill tens of millions of people. Shortly thereafter, the fourth trumpet-judgment will fall and a great darkness will spread over one third of the Earth. This darkness may be caused by hundreds of volcanoes erupting.
As far as I can tell, the first four trumpets will occur within a period of thirty to sixty days. The death toll from the first four trumpets will be a staggering 25 percent of Earth’s population. When these displays of divine wrath subside, the people of Earth will sit in darkness and silence. Every family will be grieving, stunned, overwhelmed and frightened because they have just witnessed the reality of God’s authority.
I believe the 144,000 will predict the date of each trumpet-judgment. This ability will prove they speak for Jesus. The 144,000 will say many things, but the essence of their testimony will be three simple messages which have their origin in the eternal gospel. The first message will be, “Jesus is Sovereign over the nations of Earth.
Submit to His demands. Worship the Creator.” The Bible describes this message saying, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment [of the living] has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (Revelation 14:7)
Out of fear, almost everyone will agree “in principle” with the 144,000 at first, because the sudden presence of overwhelming destruction indicates that more destruction will be forthcoming if God’s wrath is not appeased. In an effort to maintain some semblance of order, the governments of Earth will impose martial law upon their respective nations. Rationing will be necessary. The leaders of Earth will meet for an emergency summit and the Bible predicts a “crisis government” will be formed quickly.
In light of all that has happened, leaders will conclude that the crisis government must be given authority over all nations for the purpose of appeasing God’s wrath or more destruction will certainly follow. Because of the pope’s worldwide appeal, the Roman Catholic Church will lead a coalition of religious leaders from all religions in this effort to appease God.
The Bible predicts this coming event saying, “And I saw a beast [the crisis government] coming out of the sea [of humanity]. He had ten horns [representing ten political leaders] and seven heads [representing seven religious leaders], with ten crowns [diadems of authority] on his horns [indicating political leaders will exercise authority], and on each [religious] head a blasphemous name [indicating the seven religions of the world are opposed to the authority of Jesus].
The beast I saw resembled a leopard [this parallels the swiftness of Grecia in Daniel 7], but had feet like those of a bear [this parallels the strength of the Medes and Persians in Daniel 7] and a mouth like that of a lion [this parallels the prowess of ancient Babylon in Daniel 7]. The dragon [the devil] gave the beast [the crisis government] his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound [the Roman Catholic Church was wounded in 1798], but the fatal wound had been healed.
The whole world was astonished [bewildered] and followed the beast [did not resist]. Men worshiped [submitted to] the dragon because he had given authority to the beast [the crisis government], and they also worshiped [submitted to] the beast and asked, ‘Who is like the beast? Who can make war [resist the laws of the crisis government] against him?’ The beast [crisis government] was given a mouth to utter proud words [claims demeaning the authority of Jesus] and blasphemies and to exercise his authority [on Earth] for forty-two months.” (Revelation 13:1-5, insertions mine)
Now that you have a short synopsis of how Babylon, the crisis government, will form and what the 144,000 will be saying, you are in a good position to understand the conflict which the eternal gospel will produce. This will be examined next month.