Judgment Hour Preachers

Judgment Hour Preachers (Revelation 14:6-7)

Introduction

vs.7—…the hour of his judgment is come…

Christ as judge.

The pre-eminent content of the Angel's message is, "The hour of His judement is come." The church goes (is raptured) and God's judgment follows. Not only does this message involve the present judgment that will come on the world in the midst of the seven years, but this message also relates to Christ's coming and judging of the world.

The Truth Unbound

Revelation chapter 14 takes place in the middle of the seven years of God's dealing with the nation of Israel. During the last phase of the judgment of God, the anti-christ will be in rule and will have destroyed or bound all apparent means of the Gospel being proclaimed. However, God has commissioned His angels to speak at this time!

Upon Christ's entry into Jerusalem, fault was found with the loud proclaimations of praise given Christ as the Messiah and King. Christ answered:

Luke 19:40—And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

The truth of God and His claims must be spoken. If men are brought to silence, other things must become vocal to testify for Jehovah. In a time when the anti-christ has successfully burried away in caves, mountains and the wilderness all human testimony for God, the heavens speak and the angels whom the anti-christ cannot touch become preachers in the darkest hour of judgment.

This is in keeping with order of things already gone by. The angels testified just before Christ's first coming and they will again just before His second coming. The angels will testify and preach to all those that dwell on the earth.

Their pulpit will be mid-air and all nations, tribes, tongues and peoples are their audience. Hell may slay, imprison and silence every human witness for God, but it cannot bind the truth! God's Word cannot be bound. It must be heard.

2 Timothy 2:9—Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

1 Peter 1:23—Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

First Message – "The Everlasting Gospel" (vs. 6-7)

Revelation 14:6,7—And 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, 7 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.

We find in verses 6 and 7 all the elements necessary for the preaching of the Gospel: God inspiring a preacher, a pulpit, a message, an audience and a delivery.

The Nature of the Messenger

This is definitely an angel (a Heavenly messenger) that is proclaiming the message John hears. The fact that an angel is preaching reveals that the present dispensation is now undergoing a change and is ready to pass away while another is beginning to take its place.

Of old, angels were employed for the giving of the law, the heralding of Christ's coming and in the judgment time they are conspicuously everywhere taking part in the Divine administrations with regard to our world. But, in the dispensation under which we now are, the charge of preaching and witnessing for God and the declaring of His Word is the ministry of the Church. The preaching of the Gospel is in the hands of men.

It is now the duty of the Church to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all who will believe. Angels are ministers to the heirs of salvation, but not the preachers of the Gospel of Christ to a world lost in sin. The disciples (Acts 5:19), Philip (Acts 8:26), Cornelius (Acts 10:3), and Paul at sea (Acts 27:3) all benefited from the ministry of angels which enabled them to fulfill their own responsibility in preaching of the Word of God. It is not presently the duty of angels to proclaim the Word of Truth, but is the Believer's present duty and privilege.

The Position of his Pulpit

The Angel's pulpit is positioned in the midst of heaven. In Hebrew are three words to describe three levels of "heaven" 1) Shameh means sky 2) Shachaq means firmament and 3) Galgal means heaven as in the place of God's throne. The Angel's pulpit is in the midst of the sky (See Strong's GREEK#3321 mesouranema). Men will hear the voice, but will not be able to silence it. They will try to block their ears and yet will still hear!

This pulpit is also positioned in a time of judgment. The time and season makes the message all that more vital and its delivery so monumentally grave—hear ye him (Matthew 17:5).

The Content of the Message

The manner of its delivery will change, but there will be no change in the message. These angels have the everlasting Gospel to preach. It is the same Gospel the Apostles preached and not another beause there is no other Gospel.

• The Gospel is good news.
• The Gospel is power. (Romans 1:16)
• The Gospel is a warning or forerunner of judgment.

Paul warned the church already about anyone would preach another gospel.

Galatians 1:8—But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

Notice his message:

• Fear God: to be in awe and reverence.
• Give glory to Him: Worship God in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24) as well as in the beauty of holiness (Psalm 29:2).

Psalm 29:2—Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

• For the hour of His judgment is come

The Bible has much to say about judgment. Enoch (Jude 14-15), David (Psalm 1:5), Isaiah (30:18), Jeremiah (4:2), Ezekiel, Daniel (7:10), John the Baptist (Matthew 3:12), Jesus (Matthew 25:31-32), Paul (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8), Peter (II Peter 2:9) and John the Beloved (1 John 4:17) all preached judgment.

• Him that Made it All

We have neglected Him He matters most and truly Him alone who matters! While we gazed into His Heavens, drank of His waters and profited by His earth we failed to honor Him as God. Repent!

The Auditors of the Message

It would seem a strange thing to believe that every nation, kindred, tongue and people hear the angel in the same language and understand what he says. It would take a long time for this angel to go to every nation and kindred upon the face of the earth and speak in each tongue and dialect. However this sermon is presented in a short period of time. The same God that confounded the language of man at Babel will cause them to understand His messengers!

Many testimonies of this particular miraculous power of God have been shared. To remember one account here, we don't have to look that far into history. Oral Roberts while he was preaching in India experienced God work this same miracle. While he preached in English, the people heard in their native languages.

The Delivery of the Message

Though it is the same Gospel being proclaimed…

Revelation 14:7—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.

… yet its manner of delivery has changed. It is no longer the meek and entreating voice beseeching men to be reconciled to God, but a great thundering form the sky demanding of the nations to fear God. The reason given for the change in delivery is the fact:

…the hour of His judgment is come…

The church-period has given place to the judgment hour. When this is understood, the whole matter clears up. Mercy towards the poor infatuated world still lingers in the very hour of wrath. In the heat and height of His indignation, God still remembers mercy.

Habakkuk 3:2—O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

And, when there is no human voice left to speak it, an angel from heaven will speak mid-air proclaiming to the guilty world to turn to God.

This is one of the very last calls of grace to an apostate world. The finality of the coming herald and the limited amount of time in which the people of God have to work, ought to spur us to redeem the time and preach the Everlasting Gospel!