The First Angel's Message

The First Angels Message of Revelation ch.14:6-10

Have you ever heard of "the three angels messages"? If you were an early Adventist Christian in America you would have heard of them. Today these important messages are being proclaimed still by the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

In this article I wish to look at the first angel's message and to help those of you who have never heard of it before to gain an understanding of it. Here is the Biblical text of the first angels message:

Rev.14: 6: "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."

Here we see an angel that is proclaiming the "everlasting gospel". As Christians we should be declaring this very gospel of Jesus Christ. Here we understand that these messages are messages for us Christians to give to the world.

Who is the "everlasting gospel" to be proclaimed to? ..."to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, " Then we find out that those who proclaim this are to "Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment has come". Here we must understand a bit more information.

Those who proclaim the first angels message were to understand "the hour of His judgment". What judgment? And when did it begin?

The following is what early Adventist Christians believed;

William Miller's views as to the exact time of the Second Advent were based on the prophecy of Dan. 8:14: "unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." that a day in symbolic prophecy represents a year, see Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6. As the period of 2300 prophetic days, or literal years, extended far beyond the close of the Jewish dispensation, it could not refer to the sanctuary of that dispensation.

Mr. Miller held the generally received view that in the Christian age the earth is the sanctuary, and hence concluded that the cleansing of the sanctuary brought to view in Dan. 8:14 represented the purification of the earth by fire at the second coming of Christ. The point from which to reckon the 2300 days is found in Dan. 9:24-27, which is an explanation of the vision of chapter 8. It is stated that 70 weeks, or 490 years, are determined, literally, cut off, as specially pertaining to the Jews.

The only period from which the 70 weeks could be cut off is the 2300 days, that being the only period of time mentioned in the vision of chapter 8. The 70 weeks must therefore be a part of the 2300 days, and the two periods must begin together. The 70 weeks are declared by the angel to date from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem. If, then, we can correctly locate this commandment, we have the starting-point for the great period of the 2300 days. The Bible furnishes us with four tests by which we may determine when the true date is found:--

1. From the time the commandment was given, 49 years were to witness the completion of the street and wall of Jerusalem. Dan. 9:25.

2. Threescore and two weeks from this time, or, in all, 69 weeks, 483 years, were to extend to Messiah the prince, or to the anointing of Christ by the Holy Spirit at his baptism, the word Messiah signifying anointed.

3. Sixty-nine and a half weeks were to extend to the crucifixion,--the cessation of sacrifice and oblation in the midst of the week. Verse 27.

4. The full period of 70 weeks was to witness the complete confirmation of the covenant with Daniel's people. At the termination of this period, the Jews having ceased to be God's chosen people, the gospel would be preached to the gentiles.

In the seventh chapter of Ezra we find the decree which we seek. It was issued by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, B.C. 457. In Ezra 6:14 the house of the Lord at Jerusalem is said to have been built "According to the commandment [margin, decree] of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia." the three kings did the one work; it was begun by Cyrus, carried forward by Darius, and completed by Artaxerxes. [For more on this decree see Eric W. King's article: The 457BC Decree]

The scripture counts this action one decree. That the later decrees were a continuation or completion of that of Cyrus, see Ezra 6:1-14. Taking B.C. 457 as the date of the commandment, every specification of the prophecy concerning the 70 weeks is fulfilled. That the reader may see the reasonableness of Mr. Miller's position on the prophetic periods, we copy the following, which was published in the Advent Herald, Boston, in March, 1850, in answer to a correspondent:--

"It is by the canon of ptolemy that the great prophetical period of the seventy weeks is fixed. This canon places the seventh year of Artaxerxes in the year B.C. 457; and the accuracy of the canon is demonstrated by the concurrent agreement of more than twenty eclipses.

The seventy weeks date from the going forth of a decree respecting the restoration of Jerusalem. There were no decrees between the seventh and twentieth years of Artaxerxes. Four hundred and ninety years, beginning with the seventh, must commence in B.C. 457, and end in A. D. 34. Commencing in the twentieth, they must commence in B.C. 444, and end in A. D. 47. As no event occurred in A. D. 47 to mark their termination, we cannot reckon from the twentieth; we must therefore look to the seventh of Artaxerxes.

This date we cannot change from B.C. 457 without first demonstrating the inaccuracy of Ptolemy's Canon. To do this, it would be necessary to show that the large number of eclipses by which its accuracy has been repeatedly demonstrated, have not been correctly computed; and such a result would unsettle every chronological date, and leave the settlement of epochs and the adjustment of Eras entirely at the mercy of every dreamer, so that chronology would be of no more value than mere guess-work.

As the seventy weeks must terminate in A. D. 34, unless the seventh of Artaxerxes is wrongly fixed, and as that cannot be changed without some evidence to that effect, we inquire, what evidence marked that termination? The time when the Apostles turned to the gentiles harmonizes with that date better than any other which has been named. And the crucifixion, in A. D. 31, in the midst of the last week, is sustained by a mass of testimony which cannot be easily invalidated."

As the 70 weeks and the 2300 days have a common starting-point, the calculation of Mr. Miller is verified at a glance by subtracting the 457 years B.C. from the 2300. Thus,

2300
457
____
1843 A. D.

But it requires 457 full years before Christ, and 1843 full years after Christ, to make the 2300. Now the decree of Artaxerxes did not go into effect at the beginning of the year 457 B.C., but in the autumn of that year; it follows that the 2300 days would not terminate in 1843, but would extend to the autumn of 1844.

[Above sent to "The Adventist Way of Life" from fellow Christian researcher.]

So in the autumn of 1844 the early "adventist" Christians had understood that "the sanctuary had been cleansed". So in the autumn of 1844 something happened. Dan. 8:14: "unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." But what does this mean?

One must understand what Adventist Christians refer to as the "Sanctuary Message" to have a full appreciation of this first angel's message. Again, this first angel proclaims:

"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.14:6]

Two specific teachings are here proclaimed and only the Seventh Day Adventist Church truly and thus biblically proclaims them! We notice that we are to "worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of the waters." The only commandment that proclaims the God of creation is the 4th commandment, the Sabbath Commandment!

So both the "hour of His judgment" and the "4th Commandment" are a part of this first angel's message. Regarding the 2300 day prophecy and judgement;

"There is a prophetic period which extends to the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary, or the investigative judgment. "And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed" Daniel 8:14. This 2,300 days or actually prophetic years, ended in 1844.

The 70 weeks or 490 years prophecy, and the 2300 days or years prophecy, both began in 457 BC with Artexerxes decree to rebuild Jerusalem. Our Lord based His preaching of the gospel on the fulfillment of the first part of the 2,300 days, or years (Mark 1:14,15), a prophecy which determined the time of the first advent.

The whole period extends to the time of the judgment, just preceding the second advent, and at its expiration a special gospel message is sent to all the world, proclaiming the judgment hour at hand and calling upon all to worship the Creator.

The facts of history answer to this interpretation of the prophecy, for at this very time, 1844, just such a message was being proclaimed in various parts of the world. This was the beginning of the great second advent message which is now being proclaimed throughout the world."

(From Bible Readings For The Home, pp. 245-259.)

So as Christian Adventist's who understand these prophecies we understand that when Jesus continued His work of atonement He began the "judgment for the dead" and "for the Living", the "books were open" when He entered the Holy of Holies in heaven. The blood atonement was complete at the Cross, the applying of that blood continues through the sanctuary service in Heaven. The subject of the sanctuary was the key which unlocked the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. Many Adventist Christians did not understand that God has a "sanctuary in heaven" so they understood that the termination of the 2300 day prophecy would mean the "end of the world".

The doctrine of the investigative judgement is an integral part of the sanctuary doctrine, and relates especially to the fulfilment in antitype of the ancient Day of Atonement service.

So we understand that Jesus Christ is right now in the Holiest of all places in the "sanctuary above" where-in is the Ark of the Covenant where John the apostle saw the "tables of stone", the Ten Commandments. And not one of these Divine Laws has been changed!

John defines it rather as the tabernacle of the Testimony, corresponding to the tent where Moses and the people of Israel experienced the glory of the Lord in the desert after the Exodus (Ex 38:21; 40:34; compare Acts 7:44). It was called the tent of "testimony," or "covenant," because it contained the ark of the covenant. What John sees in vision is the ark in the sanctuary (Revelation 11:19).

While the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, while the sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God's people upon earth.

We are to proclaim this first angel's message in order that we may have a part in bringing the message of Jesus Christ to the world. The Seventh Day Adventist Church is proclaiming this very message! Will you not respond and become "born again"?

Go to the Second Angels Message Now! Click here

Written by Eric W. King [December 4th, 2007]

"The Adventist Way of Life" ministry website offers a page regarding the "2300 day" prophecy which posts the writings of early Adventist, Uriah Smith. You may visit this page by clicking here.