Angelic Messengers and the Eternal Gospel

Well, tonight we're in Revelation chapter 14, verses 6 through 11,

Revelation 14:6–11

where we're going to focus tonight.

We're talking about angelic messengers, but we're going to start reading the

text there in Revelation 14, verses 6 through 11.

Revelation 14:6–11

It says, And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel

to preach to those who live on the earth and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.

And he said with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory because the hour

of his judgment has come.

Worship him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.

And another angel, a second one followed saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.

She who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.

Then another angel, a third one followed them saying with a loud voice,

if anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,

he also will drink of the wine of

the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger.

And he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy

angels and in the presence of the lamb.

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.

They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast in his image and

whoever receives the mark of his name.

Revelation 14, 6 through 11.

You know, people are constantly hoping for a better day, right? We hope for a better day.

Think about it. Politicians promise to bring in better times if they're elected.

World leaders strive to find common ground between nations, seeking to bring

about peace and harmony.

Everybody would like to see the stock market up and crime rate down,

poverty and disease eliminated, right?

The environment preserved and an end to hatred and strife. I mean,

there's that desire for utopia, right?

But here's something important for us to remember is man's efforts to bring

about a better world, however well intended, are ultimately doomed.

Y'all just need to know that from the start. It's not going to happen.

Man's not going to be able to do it.

And they amount to little more than rearranging kind of like the deck chairs

on the Titanic, if you think about it, right, to give everybody a better view as the ship sinks.

Because that's what's happening, right? The truth is not a better day,

but an unimaginable worst day lies ahead for man and his world.

And in the future, as we see here, God will pour out his wrath and judgment

on a scale never before seen.

And only after the earth is utterly devastated, y'all remember the weeks that

we've studied this so far where we're at in Revelation, but only after the earth

is utterly devastated, unbelievers judged,

at the end will be a better day come, that better day coming.

The blessed earthly kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ will come then.

But Revelation has much to say about the coming judgments, by the way.

Like I said, we've already covered some of these. They're the primary

focus of chapters 6 through 11 that we looked at chapters

15 through 19 that are ahead chapters 12

through 14 forming this brief interlude that's where we're

at now in the unfolding revelation of god's judgmental wrath chapters 12 and

13 that we saw have been seen we saw those to recount the events of the tribulation

from satan's perspective and

then chapter 14 that we're in tonight returns to what god is going to do.

And in three visions, this text that we looked at tonight previews the remaining

judgments of the tribulation and the return of Christ.

And so the first vision, verses one through five, was, if you remember,

we covered this already, was of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists,

right, who will appear with the Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Zion at his second coming.

And before us here in verses six through 11 that we just read tonight is the

record of the second vision in which judgment is proclaimed by how many angelic messengers remember,

Well, how many did you see? Remember in the text, there was actually three, right?

There's three angelic messengers. And angels served throughout the scripture as God's messengers.

In fact, that Greek word, angelos, angel, just means what? Messenger.

They were instrumental in the giving of the Mosaic law.

They also brought messages to individuals such as Daniel, Zacharias, Mary, Joseph.

Y'all remember that? The shepherds, Philip and Paul, angels also minister to

and care for believers. We see that throughout scripture.

Matthew 18 tells us that, Acts 12, Hebrews 1.

Angels will play a major role in the end time events.

They'll gather, for one, they were going to gather the non-elect for judgment.

That's found in Matthew chapter 13, verses 41 and 42 and verses 49 and 50.

Matthew 13:41

And they also will not only gather the non-elect for judgment,

that they're also going to gather the elect for glory.

That's you and me, found in Matthew 24, verse 31.

Matthew 24:31

And they're going to accompany the Lord Jesus Christ when he returns to earth in triumph.

We see about that in Matthew 25, 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 7,

2 Thessalonians 1:7

I should say. In fact, in Revelation, angels are involved in the outpouring of God's wrath even.

We saw that back in chapter 8. We saw it in chapter 11. We're going to see it

even down the road here in chapter 16.

But unlike those angels, however, these three angels that we just read about

tonight, described in verses 6 through 11, do not bring judgment.

Instead, they bring astounding proclamations from God concerning the consummation

of the age, if you will, right?

And what is their—these three angels, like I said, they don't appear in sequential

order or chronological order, if you will.

Instead, they address issues. They address events that stretch across the tribulation period.

And their messages actually anticipate the judgment of that seventh trumpet

that we're going to see. again in chapters 15 and 16.

I already saw some about it in chapter 11, which includes those final climactic

rapid fire bowl judgments that's going to be at the end, at the end of the tribulation.

So these messengers, they bring here, what they're doing is the messages here

that they bring are designed to produce remedial fear.

It talks about that Luke 12, Hebrews 10.

Graciously leading to saving faith. That's what the goal is.

In fact, I don't think it'd be a bad idea.

Somebody read Hebrews 10 verse 31 if you can get it real quick.

Hebrews 10:31

All right, I got one more. Somebody look up Luke chapter 12, verse 5.

Luke 12:5

One you whom ye shall fear, fear him which is he, has killed,

has power to cast into hell. Yea, I say it.

Yes, and so that's what these messengers, their messages are,

again, are designed to bring about or to produce a remedial fear leading to saving faith.

God's going to graciously offer sinners another opportunity,

if you can believe it, to repent before unleashing the terrifying bowl judgments

that we are going to see in chapter 16.

Brother Ronnie, I don't know how many times God is so gracious to give hardened

sinners an opportunity to repent.

I mean, it's unbelievable. Even here in the tribulation, after all this devastation

has happened, he still, it's not his will that any should perish,

that all should come to repentance. He wants to see people saved.

He wants to see people delivered and he still offers

that but y'all already know that most are not going to have it they're not going

to repent but he this is offered to them before unleashing that terrifying bold

judgments the first angel actually preaches what look about in the text what

is the first angel preaching in verses 6 through 11 in revelation 14.

Preaches the gospel, right? The second angel pronounces judgment,

and the third promises damnation.

So there's an opportunity to repent, preaching the gospel.

The second pronounces judgment if we refuse, and the third promises damnation.

That's eternal destruction, right?

So let's talk tonight. I think this is probably as far as we'll get on this

first angel tonight, preaching the gospel.

Listen to this again. I'm going to review just verses 6 and 7.

And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having eternal gospel to preach

to those who live on the earth and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.

And he said with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory because the hour

of his judgment has come.

Worship him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.

So the specific angel or group

of angels that John saw another angel

distinct from isn't specified in scripture because

you remember he's seen a lot already in his visions right

angels appear in every chapter from chapters

4 through 12 but the nearest the nearest

antecedent if you're looking in the as you're studying

the text and all that is the reference to michael and his

angels in chapter 12 verse 7 that's the

nearest one but the phrase could

also point back to the seventh angel that we studied in

chapter 11 and in any case though

it doesn't matter another of the

countless myriads of angels that we saw back

in chapter 5 is selected for a very special purpose and that's what we see these

three tonight selected for and so dramatically as we look at the text tonight

the angel appears in the sky flying where where's the angel flying mid-heaven right.

Miseronma, midheaven, and it refers to the point in the sky where the sun actually

reaches its meridian, its apex, or its high point at noon.

And from that point, the angel actually would be most visible to those on the earth.

And there he'll also, think about this, be beyond the reach of the Antichrist,

as well as Satan and his demon hosts that we've studied about,

whose activities by that time going to be restricted to the earth.

We saw that in chapter 12, verses 7 through 9.

But the battle that currently rages in the heavenlies between the holy angels

and the demons will then be over at this time.

And so this preaching angel will be unreachable. The world's view of him also

is going to be unobstructed and his ministry is going to be unhindered.

So it's like, look, you're going to hear him, you know? There's just no second

way about it. You're going to hear the message that he has.

You can't get away from it. And by the time the angel begins his ministry, guess what?

The world will have suffered the incredible devastation that we've studied so

far of the seal and the trumpet judgments, remember?

The relentless holocaust will have rocked the globe, raining down all that fire

and stuff like that, and brimstone, all the stuff that is happening.

And during this time, the unbelieving world will have heard the gospel preached, think about it,

by the 144,000 that we finished looking at, Jewish evangelists,

and also the two witnesses, as well as countless thousands of others saved under their ministries.

But despite all that, I have to

come back to this, most of the earth's population will reject the gospel.

We see that in chapter 9, verses 20 and 21. We'll see it in chapter 16.

So thus God graciously, y'all, get this, He graciously sends this powerful angel

to proclaim the gospel to them yet again.

Yet again. And he flies through the sky. The angel, it says in the passage,

will have an eternal gospel to preach.

You know, this is the only occurrence of the neon euangelia.

In John's writings, you know, that verb translated to preach also appears,

we saw back in chapter 10, verse 7.

It's almost, if you think about it, like a multifaceted jewel,

just for a moment tonight. Think about that.

Scripture describes the gospel in various terms, each looking at it from a different viewpoint.

It's just different facets of looking at this. And the gospel is called, let me explain.

The gospel is called the gospel of the kingdom in Matthew chapter 4,

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

the gospel of Jesus Christ in Mark chapter 1, the gospel of God in Mark chapter

Mark 1 · chapter mention Mark 1:14

1, verse 14, the gospel of the grace of God in Acts 20, verse 24.

Acts 20:24

The gospel of the glory of Christ in 2 Corinthians 4, the gospel of salvation

in Ephesians 1, the gospel of peace in Ephesians 6, and the glorious gospel in 1 Timothy.

And here in this passage tonight that we're looking at in Revelation,

it's described as eternal because it provides the means to eternal life.

It's the good news, church, that God will forgive all the sins of those who

repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation,

and by that repentance and saving faith,

take them into his eternal kingdom.

That is the eternal gospel that they're proclaiming.

The eternal gospel preached by the angel is the same one proclaimed throughout all of history.

It's the good news, church, of forgiveness and eternal life in Christ alone.

He will declare that people are sinners facing eternal judgment in hell,

but that God has provided atonement for sins through the sacrificial death of his son, Jesus Christ.

And that message of forgiveness, you think about it, was given even in the Old

Testament times based on, you know, new covenant terms.

In fact, its benefits were applied

to all who truly repented and sought forgiveness and grace from God.

Even though the Savior had not yet died, even in the Old Testament,

in the purpose of God, the merits of the Lamb,

where we learn in scripture slain at calvary

has been granted to all true repentant repenters

i should say in all ages in the

tribulation most people will already be familiar

with the gospel through the preaching of the 144 000 how could they not be right

the two witnesses and other believers like we said but jesus declared if you

remember that before the end comes the whole world will hear the gospel of the

kingdom in Matthew 24, verse 14.

Matthew 24:14

Now, some people have wondered, well, what about those who never hear?

They're going to be hearing, right? There's no one that will not hear this message.

We can be assured, all right? God is not going to have it where,

I mean, it's still, Jesus has not come, right?

As far as coming back to the earth, he's raptured the church.

And so there's still a gracious opportunity here to repent, to hear the gospel

proclaimed, like I said, yet again, because the preaching of this angel will

reach any who still have not heard the gospel message.

And the angel will proclaim the good news that it is not too late.

Y'all remember me telling y'all about missionaries who actually have given reports

when they've gotten to a place that no one has been before, and they talk to

the people there, and they explain back to the missionaries that, yes,

that they, and they talk to them, that an angel came and preached the gospel to them.

There's been stories of that time and again, or they have had a dream where

an angel came and preached the gospel.

Well, that's not so far-fetched because here we see in Revelation that truly

at this point in the tribulation, an angel will proclaim the gospel in the mid-heavens

where no one will have an obstructed view.

No one can reach him. No one can stop him. Everybody will hear across the whole globe. Everybody.

And so at Earth's darkest hours, that approaches. the angel is going to proclaim

the good news that it's not too late.

There's still time to repent before God's judgment resumes.

But again, this angel's message is addressed to who?

Who does it say in the passage there? Who's it addressed to? To those who live where?

On the earth. I don't know if y'all remember this, but that phrase always used

in Revelation to refer to unbelievers.

And the all-inclusive phrase, every nation and tribe and tongue and people,

it stresses that comprehensive, that worldwide nature I was talking about of

the angel's proclamation of the gospel.

And the angel is going to call out, it says here in this passage,

with a loud voice to all unregenerate people everywhere.

His loud voice ensures what? That he'll be heard and it emphasizes also,

church, the urgency of his message.

The angel's message again to sinners is what? Fear God and what? Give him what? Glory.

Fear God. Give him the glory he deserves. Give him the weight he deserves in your life.

He'll call the people of the world to change their allegiance from the beast to the lamb.

He'll urge them to no longer fear,

reverence, and worship Satan and the Antichrist, but instead to what?

To fear, reverence, and honor God by turning to his Son.

As the sovereign ruler of the universe, God alone, Father, Son,

Holy Spirit, has the right to be worshiped.

Only God alone. The Bible repeatedly calls people to fear God.

In Psalm chapter 111, verse 10, the psalmist actually declared this.

Psalms 111:10

He said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of what? You remember?

Wisdom, right? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Also in Proverbs 1, 7 and Proverbs 9, 10.

And while Proverbs 23, 17 commands us this, it says, live in the fear of the Lord always.

I don't know if y'all thought about it today, but when you got up this morning

and you started living your life today, did you think about living in the fear of the Lord?

You know, the New Testament, Paul says it's through the fear of the Lord that

men depart from iniquity. That word means literally lawlessness.

It's through the fear of the Lord that men depart from sin. You see,

when we have a healthy fear of who God is, a healthy reverence and all a worship

of who he is, he is God and no one is like him.

He cannot lie. He is the sovereign of the universe, the creator of all.

Do we live our lives in the fear of the Lord?

Do we live our lives mindful that the Lord is with us, that he sees us no matter what?

There's no place you can run from God.

You know, a wise father counsels his son in Proverbs 24, verse 21,

Proverbs 24:21

if you remember, to what?

To fear the Lord and the king.

Fear the Lord and the king. while Peter actually exhorted his readers to honor

all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king in 1 Peter 2 verse 17.

1 Peter 2:17

And in Matthew 10, 28, this will be familiar because Jesus warned,

Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul,

but rather fear him who's able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

See, to fear God is to live in the reality of His holiness, His sovereignty, and His judgment of sin.

It is through the fear of the Lord that men depart from iniquity.

You see, if we truly live in the fear of the Lord always, guess what?

We're going to depart from sin. We're going to say no to sin.

That should be our prayer. Lord, help me to live in your fear today.

You know, it's to love God, to respect Him, to reverence Him,

to adore Him, to hold Him in awe and worship Him. And that can only be done

by loving His Son, the Savior.

Wow. Wow. And in addition to fearing God, men are to give Him what again?

Starts with a G. What? Glory.

Glory that that weight the weight

in your life you know he deserves glory

to be important he is important he

is the supreme importance in our life right he deserves all the glory and that

requirement goes to the very essence of the problem of unsaved people unregenerate

people who even though it says

in romans 1 y'all remember this one even though they knew god Remember,

God doesn't believe in atheists or agnostics, by the way. He says it plainly in Romans 1.

Even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks.

Refusing to give glory, God glory is at the core of man's prideful rebellion. It always has been.

You know how I know in Romans 1 that there are no atheists, no true atheists, even if they claim to be?

Because God says so. He said he has revealed himself to every man and he has

said that his creation testifies.

That he is God. It says plainly there, read Romans 1 again, that every man's without excuse.

God doesn't believe in atheists. He said, I have revealed it to you.

I've shown everyone. I've revealed myself.

And he says, look at creation. It testifies. Wow.

Unbelievers will be called to fear and glorify God immediately because guess what?

What does the angel say here as we wrap up tonight, because the hour of his judgment has come.

Opportunity is fading fast, in other words here tonight.

The bold judgments are about to be poured out that we talked about earlier to

be followed shortly by the return of whom?

Of the Lord Jesus Christ to judge the unbelieving world.

So this is the first occurrence of that word, croesus or judgment in Revelation.

It's going to appear again. We're going to see it down the road in chapter 16, 18, and 19.

But a greek synonym for krisis

or crema it appears we're going

to see it chapter 17 we're going to see it in 18 and 20 and

up to this point in revelation the word wrath has been used to describe god's

judgment the two terms though i want y'all to see this throughout the rest of

the book will continue to be used interchangeably god's wrath his judgment right krisis his judgment.

And so God's righteous judgments are the outpouring of his wrath against the

stubborn and unrepentant world, y'all.

And it would seem that the angels' warnings would be superfluous here because

after all, by this point, people would have experienced the devastating seal

and trumpet judgments we talked about.

The earth will have been devastated by worldwide wars, famines,

earthquakes, resulting in the destruction of the environment, if you remember.

Witnessing terrifying signs in the heavens, been attacked by demon hordes at

this point, all of that will result in death, as we've studied already,

that will be on a scale unprecedented in human history.

Yet, though they will eventually realize, as scriptures say,

that those disasters are God's judgments, it tells us that in chapter 6, verses 15 through 17,

people will defiantly refuse to repent.

But God, in grace and mercy, will again call sinners to repentance through the

preaching of this angel.

Y'all, I don't know about you, but you probably see tons of examples today where

we're all given the chance. Repent.

You can look at different areas of life. Repent.

Stop doing the evil that you're doing.

You know, come to the table.

You know, that's the message of the Lamb. Come to the table. I want you in my family.

But yet there's that defiance. There's that shaking the fist in the face of God.

And the angel gives one final reason for sinners

to turn from antichrist to god proclaiming that

people here look at this should worship him

who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the springs of

waters the created universe as we saw both offers proof of god's existence that

tells us that romans 1 and it provides grounds for worshiping him as it says

in romans 1 and psalm 19, one through four.

Listen to this. This is so wonderful, y'all.

Psalm 119, one through four. I got to share this. It says, the heavens are telling

of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands.

Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words. Their voice is not heard.

Their line has gone out through all the earth and their utterances to the end of the world.

And then Isaiah chapter 40, verses 21 through 26, it also teaches us that the

Isaiah 40:21–26

creation reveals God's glory and majesty.

Listen to this. Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood

from the foundations of the earth?

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like

grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain.

It spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

Scarcely they have been planted, scarcely they have been sown,

scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but he merely blows on them and they wither.

Come on, church. I mean, and the storm, it says here, carries them away like stubble.

To whom will you liken me that I would be his equal, says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars,

the one who leads forth their host by number.

He calls them all by name.

Because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power,

none of them is missing we're talking

about the sovereign god of the universe because

god reveals himself in his creation men

are without excuse for not acknowledging him again for the wrath of god is revealed

from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress

the truth in unrighteousness because that which is known about god is evident within them,

for God made it evident to them.

For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes,

his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood

through what has been made so that they are without excuse.

Period. End of story. When Paul evangelized Jews, he always started from the

Old Testament scripture.

But when he evangelized pagans, whether simple, common people,

or sophisticated philosophers, he proclaimed that the true and living God must

be worshipped because he is the creator of everything.

Identifying that first cause was the most important part, the most important

question in philosophy before Darwin, if you remember.

And Paul actually introduced them to him.

One they were looking for, right? In fact, Revelation 4.11, we saw this before,

the 24 elders praise God because he is the creator.

Remember what they said? Worthy are you, O Lord, and our God to receive glory

and honor and power for you created all things and because of your will,

they existed and were created.

So the angel's stern warning is that the creator, guess what? he's also the judge.

The creator is also the judge. He's the one people should fear and worship rather

than Satan and the Antichrist.

And the world actually, as they teeter on that brink here, a final disaster

in Revelation, God graciously offers people another chance to repent.

He'll snatch those who heed the warning from the fire of judgment,

like it talks about in Jude 23, and transfer them from Satan's kingdom of darkness

into the soon-to-be-manifest kingdom of his son, Jesus. Amen?

Talks about that in Colossians 1, verse 13. So next week, we'll pick up more

Colossians 1:13

willing with a second angel who pronounces judgment.

But I just got to say tonight, as we wrap up that tonight for this section, can you believe it?

Can you believe God is that gracious and merciful to proclaim the gospel?

Everyone's going to hear everyone if they have it up to that point already no

one's going to go to hell unwarned but can you believe that people still are

going to reject it even after all that,

well we shouldn't be too hard pressed to believe that should we

all we got to do is look at our world and see

how we have a lot of people running

around with reprobate minds reprobate minds

they cannot think they're blind their minds are blind

their eyes are blind spiritually their hearts are

darkened and all they want is evil

all they care about is evil and it's day and night and that they're just consumed

with it and there is no peace right and it's just it's hard to believe that

people would walk away from such a gracious offer and this demonstrating of

a demonstration of God Almighty,

and not only His power, but His holiness and His being the creator of all,

and yet people still don't want any part of it. They don't want to come.

They'll never repent. Doesn't matter what we do, Brother Ronnie,

there are some people who will never repent.

Never. It doesn't matter.

But God still gives them a chance. Still gives them a chance.