God's Last Pleading With His Children
The book of
Revelation contains God's last loving call to the people of the earth (Revelation
14:6-14). It exposes Satan's plots
and describes the organizations through which he works. It specifically reveals the enemy's final
effort to completely confuse and ensnare the human race. No book has ever been
written with more importance to modern man.
The message is so crucial and imperative that God announces fearful
consequences for all who in any way tamper with it- Revelation 22:18,19.
Listen to these
awesome words from Revelation 14:8 and Revelation 18:2,4,5: "
The message is
clear; those who love truth shall come out of
Do you know what
In this lesson, we
identify
THE 144,000
In lesson 14 we
learned that God will "seal" His servants with "the seal of
God." They then take his final message
to the world.
In Matthew
25:1-13, Jesus gave the parable of "The Ten Virgins." God's people on earth are depicted as ten
young women, waiting for the Bridegroom (Jesus) to come. When He delays, they all fell asleep. "And at
1. What is the number of the people sealed in Revelation 7:4?
Note:
The symbolic
context seems to suggest that the number is not to be taken literally.
The 144,000 are
called the first-fruits, which means that they
are the first to "ripen" to a matured representation of Christ's
character in the great final harvest of earth.
They are the ones who give the Midnight Cry: "Behold, the bridegroom cometh! Go ye out to meet
him!" Matthew 25:6.
2. What are the characteristics of the 144,000?
Revelation 14:1,4-5
Note:
The 144,000 will
be so united with Christ that they are without fault before the throne of God.
3. How does God poetically describe the 144,000?
Joel 2:1-11
4. What is written on their foreheads?
Revelation 22:3-4
Note:
In the Bible,
people's characters were indicated by the names they were given (I
Samuel 25:25). It was quite common
for a change of name to take place when there had been a change of character (Genesis
32:27-28, Acts 13:9).
The thoughts and feelings of the mind
together make up the character. Therefore, the sealed ones will have the
character of Christ (self-sacrificing love) written on their foreheads; they
will have His perfect thoughts and feelings.
THE LATTER RAIN
5. What has happened to make this group so spiritually invincible?
Joel 2:28-29
Note:
On the day of
Pentecost, God's Spirit was "poured out" on the disciples—they
performed miracles, and
1,000 people were converted by one
sermon! This is symbolized as the "early"
or "former rain" of the Holy Spirit.
Joel
6. Were the disciples suddenly given the Holy Spirit on the day of
Pentecost?
Acts 2:1
Note:
Jesus had
instructed them to stay together and "wait for the
Spirit" he had promised (Acts 1:4). For 40 days they prayed and studied
the Scriptures together (Acts
The Holy Spirit had
been there all along, guiding them into love and truth. When they were finally grounded in the truth
("sealed"), the Spirit then physically manifested Himself (Acts 2:2-13)
THE THREE ANGELS'
MESSAGES
In Revelation
14 His latter-day people are pictured as 3 mighty angels with
a message from a Father who wants none of His children to be lost. It is called, "the everlasting
Gospel." ("Gospel" is
old English for Good News.)
7. How widely does God say this message will go?
Revelation 14:6
Note: It
will go world-wide. No one will
be left out. All will clearly understand
the choices before them.
Anyone who wishes
to be a part of God's final movement must include God's
three-point message specific for the last days.
8. The messages are portrayed as being declared by angels. What do angels represent in Bible prophecy?
Revelation 1:1
2 Corinthians 8:23
(I Thessalonians 2:4)
Note:
The word
"angel" simply means "messenger". God is using angels to represent or
symbolize his people in the last days, who will take the good news
to the world! How wonderful; we can be
God's "angels" by sharing his truth!
9. Those on Satan's side will be picturing God as vengeful, arbitrary and
severe. What message will God's true
people proclaim, represented by the first angel?
Revelation 14:7
Note:
The first
angel speaks of "the everlasting good news" ("Gospel" in
Old English) and calls on people everywhere to make up their minds about the
Creator. He spreads the good news, the
eternal truth that has always been and will forever remain the foundation of
our trust in God. He shares the good news about the truth about God and his
righteous ways, because "in it (the Gospel), the righteousness of
God is revealed." Romans 1:16,17
The angel makes an
appeal to worship God as Creator.
The Sabbath will increase in importance in the end, since
it sums up the truth about a God who values nothing higher than the freedom of
His intelligent creatures.
10. What does the second
angel proclaim?
Revelation 14:8
Revelation 18:2,4
Note:
The second
angel speaks of the final collapse of Satan's opposition in corruption and
defeat. The angel proclaims to the world
that
Wine
in the bible represents doctrine or teachings, supposedly about
God; unfermented grape juice is God's truth, and Satan's corrupted teachings,
while mixed with truth, are represented as fermented alcohol. God's Church is represented as his bride;
the fallen church, although claiming to be faithful to Christ, has
committed fornication with the world for want of riches. When it says that it is the wine of the
wrath of her fornication, it indicates the gross misrepresentation
of the truth about God and her determined hostility against him, resulting from
her broken vows (fornication). This disloyalty to her vows cause her to teach lies about
God, much as an estranged spouse would give out false information about their
partner.
To help us
understand her total transference of fidelity in God to another, it is further
clarified in Chapter 18, where another angel is sent from Heaven to reinforce
the second angel's message. He states
that she has become "the habitation of devils...," indicating
that she is in total opposition to God while claiming outwardly to represent
Him.
By telling everyone
in
11. What warning does the
third part of God's message give?
Revelation 14:9
Note:
The third
angel describes the inevitable consequences of preferring Satan's lies to the
everlasting truth about God.
Although the message concerns the mark of the
beast, it is so much more than this. The
third angel's message is the most fearsome in all the
Bible, and the enemy would have us misunderstand it as the words of an angry
God. But we know from all the previous
books of Scripture the terrible consequence of sin and how God would do
anything to spare His children. For one
last time our heavenly Father—the same One who spoke gently on the Mount of
Olives and would so much rather speak to us gently of the truth—raises his
voice in awesome warning and appeal: "If you are bent on leaving me, I
must let you go!"
What a privilege we
have in being commissioned to explain to the world that God will NOT
torture or kill his wayward children, to explain how and why the wicked perish
in the end!
SYMBOL OF SPIRITUAL
APOSTASY
12. To whom
is God's message about
Revelation 18:4
Note:
The command is
to God's people. Many are still
in
13. What reasons does God
give for telling his people to come out of
Revelation 18:2-5
Note:
This blatant
description of
14. Under what symbolism
does God picture
Note:
God pictures
This corrupt church
is pictured as sitting on a beast. We know that a beast represents nations,
kingdoms, or governments.
15. What is "
Note:
The symbolism
here is of a great mother-church which has daughters who have
sprung from her. The great Roman church
claims openly to be the mother church and repeatedly makes public
appeals to her separated children to return to her. The daughters who came from her
"protested" and pulled away from the mother and became known as
Protestants. The name
16. What is the source of
the name "
Genesis 10:9,10
Genesis 11:5-9
Note:
FALSE DOCTRINE
INTOXICATES
17. What is the cause of
spiritual
Revelation 17:2,4
Revelation 18:3
Note:
Her wine is
her doctrine or teachings (I Kings 11:2,3,7- cf. Isaiah
44:15,19,20; Jeremiah 25:15-18, Jeremiah 51:7). Her wine (or doctrine) brings spiritual
drunkenness. It causes people to stumble
at the truth, (Malachi 2:8), to flounder spiritually (Ephesians
18. In Revelation 14:8,
what specific reason does God give for
Read Matthew 18:5
cf. Revelation 18:21
Note:
Her false
teachings are the reason God calls people out.
19. What are some of
Answer:
a) That the Ten
Commandments are no longer relevant (see
lesson 13)
b) Sunday
sacredness (see lesson 15)
c) Second chance for salvation (see lessons 8 & 27)
d) Secret rapture (see lesson 8)
e) Eternal torment (see lesson 12)
f) Immortality of the soul (see lesson 11)
g) Counterfeit baptisms (see lesson 30)
Note:
False
teachings about God inevitably turn men away from God. The doctrine of eternal torment has made more
atheists and turned more people against God than any other invention of
Satan.
Another danger is
that when someone reads the plain testimony of the Scripture, but is told to
believe otherwise, he assumes that he simply is unable to understand the
Bible. So he abandons Bible study as too
deep for him.
Further, the
teachings of men anchor people to falsehood and prevent their looking at truth
because they are certain that they already possess it. Jesus refused to accept tradition or the
doctrines of men because such teaching undermine the
truth about God (Matthew 15:3-9).
20. God has declared the churches as FALLEN from their high position in
Heaven. Some feel we should try to
reform the fallen churches. What does
God say?
Revelation 18:4
Note:
The fallen
churches will NOT accept reformation.
Consequently they will receive the plagues and be destroyed. So God commands His people to get out because
he would like to protect everyone from the plagues.
21. God calls Christian people who are in
John 10:16
22. In Noah's day, those
who were to be saved had to enter the ark; believing was not enough! After being called out of
Acts
Note:
The Scripture
is crystal clear on this point. We are
called into one body (Colossians
23. If I remain in
Revelation 18:4
Note:
God sent three
angels to rescue
24. What happens as soon as
everyone on earth has been reached by the 3 Angels' messages?
Revelation 14:14
Note:
Jesus returns
in the clouds to rescue his people as soon as his message reaches every person
on earth! He won't come back until all
people have heard and clearly understand his wonderful plan of salvation and
his invitation for them to live with him eternally in their glorious new home. He will not come until all have made up their
minds; he will force no one. Jesus is
fair; he will make sure that all clearly see the issues.
CONCLUSION
"And the Spirit
and the Bride say, 'Come!', and let him that heareth say, 'Come!', and let him
who is athirst come! And whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely!"
Revelation 22:17.
God has provided a
way for us to be brought into right relationship with himself,
so we can live together forever. Do you
accept God's invitation?
My response to Christ is:______________________________