Christendom

Three Angels
Audio MP3

I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven ... saying with a loud voice ... the hour of his judgment is come.—Revelation 14:6,7

David Rice

Revelation chapter 14 describes the present harvest period of the Gospel age. ..Beginning with verse six, three angels appear to John, each one with a message which is part of the “Harvest Message” the saints are privileged to receive during this ending period of the age. These three messages are directly aimed at Christendom.

The first is a message of truth about God’s Plan of the Ages: “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” (Revelation 14:6,7).

The impetus of this message is that it is time for “them that dwell on the earth”—Christians —to grasp with better focus the plan of God. We are in a time of transition. The Gospel age is drawing to a close, and it is time for the Lord’s people to gain a clearer understanding of the truth than the misty conceptions which prevailed so long in earlier times. The essence of the truth is that the ransom given by our Lord Jesus is used to reclaim the world in two successive ages—the present Gospel age for calling out of the world an elect “bride” class, followed by the Millennial age for reclaiming all the remainder of the world, through that class. The fate of the world is not to perish without hope, but to be redeemed, resurrected, and reformed, during the Millennium. By this means all who wish it may receive everlasting life.

This truth has been the magnet to draw out of the churches the Lord’s jewels, and prepare them as a class for their service beyond the vail, enthroned with our Lord Jesus as kings and priests to lead the world back to God during the Millennium (Revelation 20:6).

It is the hour of judgment, and the judgment begins at the house of God. We are under judgment. Part of the judgment of how closely we follow the Lamb, is how much we appreciate the truth of God’s plan for blessing the world through Christ. Our Lord Jesus has returned, and this period of the Lord’s presence, or parousia, is a time for gathering the saints to the nourishing and sustaining “food” of the Plan of the Ages (Luke 12:37).

For this purpose God uses the sacrificial services of the brethren who by word, preaching, travelling, writing, speaking to their neighbors, visiting, studying, encouraging, and giving funds for the distribution of the truth, promulgate the Lord’s truth to all who have an ear to hear. To lead the campaign the Lord uses various leaders and elders, and, in particular, the services of the Laodicean messenger.

The Second Angel

“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Revelation 14:8).

No longer is Christendom the source of the truth. The call of the truth comes from outside the denominations, except to the extent that its voice is allowed to permeate within. Even before the harvest the call of the truth from outside Christendom began in a sense in the Adventist movement, initiated by William Miller, who by profession was not an ordained minister. As his influence increased it was expedient to formally ordain him so his preaching would be more accepted. But he had not been a regular part of the clergy.

In the Seventh Stage of the Church—represented by the ecclesia at Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22)—the special “star,” or light bearer, for the harvest message was a former businessman, who took up the cause of Christ with the ordination of the holy spirit, and the support of the many friends of the truth everywhere, but without the formal recognition of any particular sect of Christendom. Pastor Charles Russell, in turn, extended the call outward to others to come out of the denominations where the truth did not prevail, and assemble where it could be appreciated.

The Third Angel

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:9,10).

The Lord’s people who appreciate present truth, God’s plan of the ages, recognize that the symbols of Revelation are just that—symbols—rather than literal statements. The “beast” in this passage is the same as described in Revelation chapter 13, which Protestants have recognized for centuries as the Papacy, the Roman Catholic Church. The “image” of this beast, also referred to in chapter 13, describes Protestant denominations which have adopted the spirit of Papacy and have not progressed to appreciate the truth of God’s plan. In particular, the Church of England proved to be a system like the original. Like Papacy, the Church of England acquired a dominion, spreading its influence wherever the British Empire went. Like Salome who danced before Herod, this church received “half the kingdom” as it were (Mark 6:21-23). The Church of England has also been a leading force in modern times to induce other Protestant denominations to a cooperative union.

But the Lord’s people are warned that such organizations are not to receive their allegiance or esteem. Those systems were allowed to carry the divine oracles of the truth, as contained in the holy Scriptures, and thus circulate the doctrine of Christ wherever their influence spread. But they are not the institutions Christ plans to use for the blessing of the world in the Millennium. Rather, these systems which do not receive the truth are like the house of Israel which did not receive Messiah and his doctrines at the first advent. Like Israel, they are cast off from further special use. As the chaff was “burned” in the troubles ending the Jewish age, so the tares of Christendom are being “burned” in the troubles ending the present Gospel age.

The third message opening the harvest is a warning that identification with those systems of Christendom will result in spiritual difficulty for the Lord’s people who appreciate present truth. The “torment” refers to the anguish of spirit in the fall of those systems, and the “presence of the lamb” refers to the present time of Christ’s parousia, for he has returned as God’s appointed judge (Acts 17:31). The former systems are to be consumed with judgments from the Lord, and the fire of this judgment will touch all those whose allegiance is to those systems.

Isaiah 52:11 tells how true spiritual Israelites should consider the matter: “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.”

Jehonadab

Revelation 2:20 refers to “that woman Jezebel” as a picture of Papacy, which during the dark times of the fourth period of the church, represented by Thyatira, was an influence of persecution and deception against the Lord’s people. Jezebel was a daughter of a foreign king—the king of Sidon, sister city to Tyre—whose chief deity was Baal. By the marriage of Jezebel to king Ahab, this idolatrous worship came into Israel. It was a picture of how pagan influence permeated Christianity during the rule of the apostasy.

But there would be a time of judgment. Ahab died in battle and Jezebel was cast out a window, died in the fall, and was consumed by dogs. The male heirs of Ahab were killed, and even his daughter’s son Ahaziah, king of Judah, died. All this came at the hands of God’s anointed, Jehu, who in this respect represents Christ who judges the apostate systems of Christendom which have so long misrepresented the truth, and persecuted even to death the very saints of God.

As Jehu brought the judgments of God against the house of Ahab and his allies, he came across one Jehonadab who was sympathetic to the cause: “He lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot” (2 Kings 10:15,16).

The Rechabites, like Nazarites, refrained from drinking wine, a practice which spiritually pictures those who refrain from the intoxicating spirit of Antichrist’s teachings (compare Revelation 17:2). In other words, Jehonadab represents the Lord’s people. His sympathy with the conquest of the idolatrous influence of Jezebel in the kingdom of Israel represents the sympathy of the Lord’s people with the necessary judgments of the apostate systems. These systems must be eliminated to advance the righteous kingdom of Christ which replaces them.

By all means, then, we should not feel a spirit of alignment with the apostate systems of Christendom. The persecuted saints in the darker parts of the Gospel age are represented as asking “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10). The present harvest is the time for this judgment, which crescendos with the approach of Armageddon.
 

The Great Company

Revelation chapter seven also speaks of the fall of Christendom. It uses the symbol “four winds” to represent the judgments of this time. The first eight verses show those of the elect class of 144,000, elsewhere referred to as the “bride” class, are all sealed before the blowing of these four winds. Ezekiel 37:9 links the same symbol, “four winds” to the last experiences coming upon Israel which breathe faith into them. Therefore, we conclude that the four winds refer to the closing troubles of the harvest. In this case, the sealing of the saints before this time indicates the time when the 144,000 class is complete.

The remainder of Revelation chapter seven introduces another class, the great multitude, widely referred to as the great company class. The four winds are not held back until this class is completed. Instead, this class passes through “great tribulation,” which is described as a purgative experience. By this means their negligent sins are cleansed from their robes in the blood of the lamb (verse 14).

There are other passages which appear to teach something similar. Genesis 19:23-25 speaks of the destruction of Sodom, with Lot fleeing the area just in time. Sodom is used as a picture of Christendom in Revelation 11:8, “the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt.” In Jeremiah 50:40 Sodom is linked in symbol to Babylon, which represents Christendom. Many see in the escape of Lot at the last moment as Christendom receives its final judgments, the crisis during which the great company receives some final lessons. The great company lingers too long, to its detriment.

In the Song of Solomon there is a contrast between the faithful lover of chapter three, who rises out of her bed and house to seek her Lord, and the less devoted lover of chapter five who fails to rise in a timely manner from her bed and leave her house, even resisting the calls of her loved one standing at the door beckoning to her. At last she rises, but too late to secure the favors she wished. Similarly, those of the great company are slow to leave their creed beds in the “house” of Christendom and consequently suffer the loss of their cherished position as part of the bride class.

Let us be among those who cherish the opportunity to follow the master in every experience, even if it brings discomfort, or is unsettling to our present circumstances. We are called to come out of Christendom, to seek the Lord during the present favorable opportunities, and not linger until the judgments of God crescendo in a mighty way at the close of the harvest.
 

Our Position

It is not for us to participate in the destruction of present systems. In our position on this side the vail, in the flesh, we are subordinate to the powers that be. Likewise, it was not for our Lord at his first advent to participate in any program of rebellion or unrest to bring down the systems of his day. Even his cleansing of the temple on two occasions was but a small demonstration of the purging of that old system, which would be done by other agents of the heavenly Father not quite forty years later, when the legions of Rome took Jerusalem.

Our engagement in the work of judgment presently carried out by our returned Lord is not in destructive activities, or working with carnal weapons. It is to be in heart sympathy with the program being supervised beyond the vail by our returned king and master. The agents of his work are not necessarily righteous and holy ones. Sometimes God, and our Lord Jesus, allow the wrath of men to bring about God’s purposes. It was so when the Romans stormed Jerusalem, when the French mob stormed the Bastille, when the nations of Europe dashed against one another in two world wars; and it will be so when the powers of Christendom fall in the last of the seven plagues predicted in Revelation chapter 16.

Our involvement is to recognize, in the spirit of our minds, that the destruction of Christendom is the Lord’s arrangement, partly as retribution for the past sins of Christendom and partly to clear the way for the righteous authority of the kingdom. We may point others to the fact that such judgments, predicted in Scripture, are part of God’s program, preparing for Christ’s kingdom. We appreciate these activities as part of the march to the kingdom, even if we may suffer some of the consequences at times. Our hopes are for the future blessing of “all the families of the earth” when we are called to join the Lord and the throngs of saints already beyond the vail.

Let our sympathies not lie with institutions of Christendom presently under judgment. With the people caught up in them we have sympathy, concern, and pity. But the passing away of the systems will be in the best interests of all. Christ’s kingdom will be immeasurably better.