Sermon Summary, Champaign Seventh-day Adventist Church, June 13, 2009

Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.  Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water.

Since the beginning of the movement, Adventists have been keenly interested in Revelation chapter 14.  You can read Adventist pioneers referring to the sum of all their beliefs as “the three angels’ messages."  The message of the first angel is unique for its choice of words.  Whether you read in English or in the Greek original, this is the only place in the Bible where the words “eternal” and “gospel” are used in the same text.   

In what sense is this passage the gospel?  It s is hardly worded as an invitation.  There is no mention of sin or repentance or salvation or Christ.  In fact, if we believe the angel’s words to be the gospel, then the eternal gospel is a command to do three things: Fear God.  Give glory to God.  Worship God.  Those are the three actions:  fear, give glory, worship.  How is this the gospel?     

The mere term “eternal gospel” suggests that there is something unique and final about this statement.  Yes, the gospel is a statement of good news about God's power for salvation.  But to see where that statement really leads, listen as it is transformed and edited by the final crisis.  Now that the judgment has come, it is time to forget about yourself and direct all attention to your Creator.  "Fear God.  Give glory to God.  Worship God who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water."  This is the final form of the gospel.  This version brings the Bible full circle as the judgment points us back to creation.  An opinion written by a judge refers to the underlying legal code, and in the final crisis, the gospel refers us back to the underlying Creator.     

I do not think we can sense the real crisis by simply looking at the world.  There is plenty of trouble in the world, but that has always been the case.  The most compelling reason for sensing a crisis is found in the book of Daniel, chapters 7 – 9, which point to the timing of the final judgment that began in 1844.  The real Day of Atonement is even now in progress, and that is the real reason for declaring a crisis and for taking the messages of the three angels of Revelation chapter 14 to mean exactly what they say.       

If we cannot depend on the world to inform us that there is a crisis, it should be no surprise that we cannot depend on the world to inform us that there is a Creator. I wish we could find seven rocks, each signed by God at the end of a day of creation, but that is not what happens. As Adventist theologian, Jacques Doukhan points out: 

“Significantly, the only Biblical definition of faith occurs in the context of Creation. “Now faith is being certain of what we hope for and sure of what we do not see….By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible:  (Heb. 11:1 – 3)

“To believe that God was and is capable of creating from nothing is to base one’s faith and one’s existence on the invisible.  It is to take a risk.  Creation is the miracle that necessitates the greatest faith.”

Exactly how much we are willing to risk on that belief is not clear unless you recognize the real status of the three angels’ messages.  I am indebted to John Paulien, an Adventist theologian, for a recent article that emphasizes the strong linkage between Revelation chapter 14 and the fourth commandment. (These two passages were our scripture readings this morning.)  The words themselves are similar. The themes are similar.  The structures are similar.  The entire book of Revelation is intentionally centered on an allusion to the fourth commandment.

What all of this suggests is that eventually there will be a way of gauging how serious people are when they profess to believe in a Creator.  The test will be whether they will make His terms of worship so completely their own that this worship becomes who they are.

Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.  Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water.