FIRST QUARTER 2023
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #5
APRIL 29, 2023
“THE GOOD NEWS OF THE JUDGMENT”

 

 

"God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Galatians 6:14.

The entire commentary for this week will be presented by E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones.

 

~Todd Guthrie

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The question arises, if the third angel came along and added his sound to the cry of the first and the second angel, do not we have something more to tell the world, than those who labored under the first message had? Well, we certainly can have nothing more to preach than the everlasting gospel. The second angel announces a fact, that Babylon is fallen, because of her apostasy from the gospel. Mark you, the second angel has no new truth to tell; merely a fact, that something has occurred. The third angel merely announces the punishment that will fall on the men who do differently from the truth announced by the first angel. But the first angel keeps sounding, and the three go together; and since the three keep sounding together, and the first is telling the everlasting gospel, that which is to prepare men to stand blameless before God, - and the third angel is telling the punishment that will befall them if they do not receive the everlasting gospel, it necessarily follows that the entire threefold message is the everlasting gospel.

 

Mark it, the first angel proclaims the everlasting gospel; the second proclaims the fall of every one who does not obey that gospel; and the third proclaims the punishment that will follow that fall, and come upon those who do not obey. So, the third is all in the first, the everlasting gospel. Yes, that everlasting gospel carries with it all truth. It is the power of God. That everlasting gospel, remember, is all summed up in one thing,-Jesus Christ and him crucified, and of course risen again. We have nothing else in this world to proclaim to the people, whether we be preachers, Bible workers, colporters, or canvassers, or simply people who in the humble sphere of their own home let the light shine. All that any of us can carry to the world is Jesus Christ and him crucified.

 

Says one, That is taking an extreme view; are we going to throw away all the doctrines we have preached,-the state of the dead, the Sabbath, and the law, and the punishment of the wicked? Throw them away?-No; by no means. Preach them in season and out of season; but, nevertheless, preach nothing but Christ Jesus and him crucified. For if you preach those things without preaching Christ and him crucified, they are shorn of their power, for Paul says that Christ sent him to preach the gospel, not with words of man's wisdom, lest the preaching of the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. The preaching of the cross, and that alone, is the power of God. I say again, the gospel is the power of God, and the cross is the center of the gospel. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Gal. 6:14. To Paul there was nothing else worthy of glorying in, save the cross of Jesus Christ his Lord.— E. J. Waggoner, General Conference Daily Bulletin, March 25, 1891, p. 240.

 

 

God is the Creator of all things. That fact constitutes His right to rule. "Know ye that the Lord He is God; it is He that hath made us, and we are His." Ps. 100:3. "The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it; and His hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God." Ps. 95:3-7. The last proclamation of the everlasting Gospel which is to be preached just before the end, "to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people" as a witness to all nations, the announcement the fulness of which is to make ready a people prepared for the coming of Christ, is this: "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. 14:7. But this knowledge is just that which the Sabbath is designed to keep in our mind. "He hath made a memorial for His wonderful works." Through His work we have salvation; in the works of His hands we triumph; therefore the Sabbath, which makes known to us the wonderful, finished works of the Lord, is that which reveals to us to the full the sanctifying power of God. Thus it is the seal of God, which the Holy Spirit will put upon all true believers who live till the coming of the Lord. And as the forgiveness of sins, when fully appreciated, brings with it the healing of all diseases, and the healing of the body is the outward, visible sign of Christ's power to cleanse from sin, it was most fitting that some of the most wonderful works of healing should take place on the Sabbath day. It was to show that the Sabbath brings God's perfect root to both soul and body.   Whatever God blesses He makes a means of blessing. "God blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." He sent it forth on its mission of carrying blessing to mankind. It is a truth that God has poured out His blessings freely on all men; the very possession of life is the blessing of the Creator; but it is the Sabbath that makes known to mankind the fulness of God's blessing. It brings with it to all who accept it for just what it is, the knowledge of such a blessing as they never before dreamed of, no matter how long they have had experience as Christians. It was given in Eden, and pertains to Eden, and brings the joy of Eden with it. It is, in fact, a remnant of Eden left in this sin-cursed world, to win us to Eden restored. In it we find the power of the world to come. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath," says the Lord, "from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father [and that heritage is Christ]; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Isa. 58:13, 14. Oh then, "taste, and see that the Lord is good." Accept His perfect rest,-His Sabbath,-and keep it, and know now the joy of the Lord.—E. J. Waggoner, Bible Echo and Signs of the Times, December 10, 1900, p. 795.

 

 

"Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." The fruit borne is "the fruit of the light." Eph. v. 9, R.V. Therefore we are exhorted, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt. v. 16. The last message that goes forth,-the last proclamation of the Gospel, which announces the hour of God's Judgment already come,-is a message exhorting to fruit-bearing, in these words: "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. xiv. 6, 7. God is glorified by us only as we bring forth fruit; and it is by His power that is manifest in all creation, that we are to do this.

 

Thus it is that the last message to mankind calls special attention to God as Creator. When the Lord comes His glory is to cover the heavens, uniting with the glory that fills the earth. The glory of the Lord is to be revealed so that alI flesh can see it together before the Lord comes. Isa. xl. 3-5. The cry, "Behold your God!" will be sounded in the ears of all, and they will be directed to the things that He has made in order to see it. Rom. i. 18-20. When they see Him working in the rest of creation, those who wish to bring forth fruit to the glory of God will be convinced that He is able to work as mightily in them, to cause them to bring forth the fruit for which He created them.

 

But in spite of the fact that that which may be known of God is manifest in all men, and that the invisible things of Him, even His everlasting power and Divinity, are clearly revealed in the things that He has made, people are apt to get so absorbed in themselves that they will walk in the midst of the revelations of His life and power as though they were blind. Therefore God has given us a memorial of Himself, that His wonderful works, and so He Himself, may be remembered. Ps. cxi. 2-4. He says, "I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." Ex. xx. 12. This memorial endures to all generations. Week by week the Sabbath calls our attention anew to the fact that God is the Creator of all things, and that He creates all things very good. Thus we are continually reminded to put our trust in Him for salvation. He is the husbandman, and He keeps His vineyard day and night, watering it every moment. Isa. xxvii. 2, 3.— E. J. Waggoner, Present Truth UK, April 27, 1899, p. 259.

 

 

That the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the pivot upon which turns the controversy of the Third Angel's Message is clear both by the Scripture and by the facts in the case. The three messages of Rev. 14:6-12 are not three distinct and separate messages, so that each one is fully given and past before the next one begins. But rather they are cumulative, the second blending its voice with the first, and the third blending its "loud voice" with the other two, thus making what might be termed a threefold message rather than three distinct messages. Yet they are properly termed first, second, and third, because there is this order in their rise. The first warns of the hour of God's Judgment come, and calls upon men to worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. Then there follows another, announcing the result of the rejection of the first. And then the third angel follows them, warning against the evil which is developed through the "fall" announced by the second, in consequence of the rejection of the first.

 

The first carries "the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nations, 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." When this message, which would have healed Babylon, was rejected, then there followed another, saying, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen," etc. Out of this "fall" there grows the image of the beast and the worship of the beast and his image; therefore "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 without mixture into the cup of his indignation." The first angel speaks of the hour of God's Judgment come. And since "as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law" "in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel" (Rom. 2:12, 16), therefore the third angel follows close upon this, saying, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus will fit men to stand in the Judgment.

 

The first message calls the attention of all men to the Judgment of God, and tells them that its time is come; and the third message follows, telling all men what to do that they may meet the Judgment in peace, that is, "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

 

The first message calls upon men to worship God. They refuse, and are led to worship the beast and his image instead. Then the third angel follows, not only warning against the worship of the beast and his image, but also telling them what they must do to worship God, that is, "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

 

The First Angel's Message commands men specifically to "worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." The Third Angel's Message calls men specifically to "keep the commandments of God." Now is there any part of the commandments of God that points specifically to "Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters"? There is decidedly. Let us read: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Therefore as the first message commands men specifically to "worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters;" and as the third message, following, calls men to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus; and as the fourth commandment, through the Sabbath of the Lord, points specifically to "Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters;" therefore it is certain that in the time of the Third Angel's Message every nation and kindred and tongue and people will be called to keep the Sabbath of the Lord, and so to "worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters," and escape the worship of the beast and his image.

 

The keeping of the Sabbath of the Lord—the seventh day—is the sign that those who do so worship the true God. "Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord." Eze. 20:20. And it is the sign that he is the true God, because it is the sign that he made heaven and earth and all things that are therein. "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for 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." Now as the one great question, above every other, of the Third Angel's Message is whether men will worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters or whether they will worship the beast and his image; and as the keeping of the Sabbath of the Lord is the sign that those who do keep it do worship Him that made heaven and earth; and as the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord; therefore it certainly follows that the keeping of the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord is the one point above every other that distinguishes the worshipers of Him that made heaven and earth from the worshipers of the beast and his image, and is the pivot upon which the Third Angel's Message turns.— A. T. Jones, Signs of the Times, December 15, 1887, pp. 760,761.

 

 

May the Lord in his mercy help all the people to study and believe the solemn truths contained in these prophecies, and then to proclaim them to earth's remotest limits, that the world may be prepared and fully ready for that which, by every evidence on the question, is ready to burst in fury upon it.

 

This is simply what is called for, from everyone who professes to believe the third angel's message. We are in the time when the nations are angry, and when the rulers and leading thinkers of the great nations are fearing daily that this anger will break out in an appalling and universal war.

 

In this time God has a message for all nations, a message not of war, but of peace - the peace of the everlasting gospel. For at this time it is that God sends the everlasting gospel to be preached unto them that dwell upon 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." This is the very message which we profess to be giving to the world. This profession is true; but what are you and I doing to fulfill the profession in living fact to all people and nations?

 

In ancient times God sent his angel to the court of Cyrus to frustrate the counsels of men who would hinder the work of God in the world. In our day also his angels are at the great centers of events in the world, still to hold in check the evil elements, and frustrate the counsels of men who would hinder the work of God in the world. For "I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." Rev.7:1-3.

 

This is the work of the angels in performing their part in this great message of God to the world. You who profess to be engaged in the work of this message, what are you doing on this, our side, of the message? What was Daniel doing in the crisis of the great work of God in his day? You know that he was so earnestly devoted to the work, that he could spend "three full weeks" without weariness in seeking the Lord for a correct knowledge of the situation. What are you doing? Is it too much for you to spend two or three days in that way? In this day when in his word and in the actions of the nations God has so fully made known his counsels for our time, how much time are you spending in seeking the Lord for a correct knowledge of the situation, and of what he would have you to do in finishing his work? O let the spirit and devotion of Daniel prevail everywhere in our ranks today! Then the Spirit and power of God shall prevail, as he longs that it shall in all the world. Then he can "finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth," when through the devotion of his people his great power can have place to manifest itself.

 

This record of the time of Daniel was written for us in this time. Who in this time is there that will not stir himself up to take hold on God, as did Daniel then? It is not now, "Dare to be a Daniel," so much as it is, Who can dare not to be a Daniel? For not to be a Daniel now is surely to fail. — A. T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin, May 16, 1896, pp. 692, 693.