Overview of Fear God
- Obeying when we don’t understand the reason why.
- Obedience to the commandments of God.
Today we’re going to look at the next part of the first angel’s message.
Revelation 14:7
saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
What does it mean to give glory to God?
- What is the glory of God?
Exodus 33:18-19
18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
- God’s glory is His character.
- We are called to reflect the character of God.
How can we reflect the character of God?
- Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. - When we sin, we fall short of God’s glory.
- It is impossible to reflect God’s character with sin in our lives.
- What is sin?
- 1 John 3:4
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. - To sin is to break the law.
- So to give glory to God, is to overcome our sins. That means we are commandment keepers.
- We cannot disconnect fearing God from giving glory to Him.
- If we fear God, we are keeping the commandments of God, we are giving Him the glory. It is a natural result.
- We cannot reflect God’s character apart from keeping His commandments.
- Keeping the commandments is the foundation.
What else do we see in scripture about giving God glory?
- Matthew 5:16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. - To glorify God is to be out there sharing the gospel. Letting others see the light of God from us.
- Remember in Revelation 12 it says that they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
- Testifying about God to others is helping in finishing the work of God on earth and helping us to overcome at the same time. It’s a double benefit!
- 1 Corinthians 6:20
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. - We are bought with a price. There God is wanting us to give glory to Him in our bodies and in our spirit.
- That word spirit there simply means breath.
- So God wants us to glorify Him with our life, through our actions and through the words that we speak.
- Our whole life is to testify of God’s character and glory.
What else does it mean to give glory to God?
- 1 Corinthians 10:31
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. - When we give glory to God, we can do that through the things that we eat and drink.
- So the health message is a really important and vital part of the three angel’s messages. Especially here in this first angel’s message.
- How important about eating right and drinking right.
- Prophecy changes our diet.
- Study of the Bible changes our diet.
- Spiritual growth changes the way we eat.
- It is an indicator on the outside that we may know if we are growing in God or not.
- We see this in Daniel 1. The test that God allowed to come upon Daniel and the three friends was a test of diet.
- God cares about how we take care of our bodies.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? - The first angel’s message is the foundation. It gives power to the rest of the messages that are to follow. Just like how Daniel 1 was the foundation to the rest of the book.
- You know we are told that if we can overcome our appetites, we can overcome any sin!
- The first temptation in the garden of Eden was on appetite.
- The first temptation that Jesus had from the devil was turning stone into bread.
- We’ve already mentioned Daniel.
- So many times, the Israelites in the wilderness failed because of their water and their food.
- The test of manna:
- Exodus 16:4
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. - The test of manna was to see if they would walk in His law or not. Whether they would be obedient to God’s commandments or not.
- Exodus 16:4
- How important our diet is. We overlook its importance. It is part of the give glory message.
- It is a test today to see if we are really careful to be obedient to God in everything or not.
Let’s come back to that first angel’s message.
- Revelation 14:7
saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
“the hour of His judgment has come”
- This is the first time that judgment is mentioned in the book of Revelation.
- It is certainly not the first time that we are studying about judgment if you have gone through the Daniel masterclass with us.
- The name of Daniel implies judgment. The whole book of Daniel is about judgment.
- Please go to the church website and listen to that series if you haven’t yet. It’s a preparation for us to help us stand in the time of judgment, to be ready.
Notice the timeline of the three angel’s messages.
- These messages are given before probation closes. Before the second coming.
- There is a purpose of these messages. It is a call for everyone to come back to God. To fear God. To give glory to Him. To worship Him.
- It is the everlasting gospel that has to go to the whole world before Jesus comes back for a second time.
- Everyone has to make an intelligent decision about Jesus before He comes back for a second time.
- It makes no sense to preach this gospel after probation has closed or after Jesus has come.
- So when a proclamation is made that the hour of His judgment has come – it is referring to a time when judgment begins before the close of probation. It is present tense. The time when these messages go out to the whole world, is the time when the judgment begins.
What is the only judgment that we know about that will be started before the second coming?
- That is the investigative judgment that Daniel 7, 8 and 9 talk about. Especially Daniel 8 & 9 that refer to the 2300 days prophecy and the cleansing of the sanctuary.
Remember that there are three phases of judgment.
- Investigative judgment.
- Millennial judgment.
- Executive judgment.
The millennial judgment and the executive judgment both take place after the second coming.
- So the only judgment that it can be referring to is the investigative judgment.
If you are unfamiliar with the judgment phases, please go back and listen to our studies on Daniel in the Daniel masterclass.
So when does this judgment begin?
- 1844 AD.
- That means the first angel’s message on judgment only becomes relevant on October 22, 1844. The time when the 2300 day prophecy expires, because that is when judgment begins!
Let’s have a look at the judgment. What do we know about judgment? What is it connected to?
- Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. - Fear God is connected with judgment.
- Why do we need to keep the commandments of God? Because God is going to judge us based on whether we kept it or not.
- Yes, that is why the devil is working so hard to make people to disregard the commandments of God today.
- But what we do, our outward acts – they matter.
- James 2:12
So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. - We will be judged by the law of liberty. That law is the ten commandments. How do we know that?
- In the previous verse, it talks about the ten commandments.
- James 2:11
For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. - Do not commit adultery. Do not commit murder. James is quoting from the ten commandments. That is the law that he is referring to there.
- So once again we see the magnification of the ten commandments in the book of Revelation.
- That’s why God’s people at the conclusion of this three angel’s messages, the saints are found keeping the ten commandments.
Fear God is connected with the keeping of the ten commandments.
- And now we see judgment – we are judged by the ten commandments.
- It’s all pointing to the law. This is the very thing that the devil hates!
- If he can get us to break the law, he can keep us out of heaven.
Let’s dig a bit deeper:
- Ecclesiastes 8:5
He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment. - Notice what it says at the end there – a wise man’s heart will discern what? Both time and judgment. They understand about the judgment.
Who are the wise?
- Psalms 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.- The wise are those who fear God.
- Proverbs 3:35
The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools.- The wise are those that have the glory of God.
- It is one thing to be in the time of judgment, it is quite another thing to understand and know that we are living in the time of judgment and to order our lives accordingly.
- Those that fear God and give glory to God, will understand the time of judgment, its importance and especially its relevance to them.
- Daniel 12:10
Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.- This was in reference to the understanding of the 2300 day prophecy – which is referring to the time when judgment shall begin.
- The wicked don’t understand. Only the wise do.
- They don’t understand that we are in the time of judgment.
- They don’t understand that we need to keep God’s commandments today.
- Why? Because they don’t understand the prophecies and they don’t understand scripture in general.
So how important it is for us to fear God.
- That is the foundational message really in the first angel’s message.
- The commandments of God.
- To have faith with works.
- To obey even when we don’t understand the reason why.
So friends, what are you waiting for? Some of you need to make a decision to move forward with obedience and faithfulness to God.
- Don’t wait for a better situation with your work. Just make it work.
- Don’t wait for your spouse to be faithful with you. You be faithful first and see how God will work it out for them.
- Don’t expect parents or friends to understand. So long as it’s clear to you, then move forward in faith knowing that He that is with you is greater than anyone else out there.
- Don’t wait for a right season. The best time to put into action God’s words are right now. He knows what He is doing. He knows why you’ve been led to this point. He wants you to trust Him and just move forward with faith.
Fear God and give glory to Him – right now!
- And the gravity of the situation is – we are living right now in the time of judgment. Let us not delay our obedience to God.
- Today is the day of our salvation.
However, the first angel’s message is not finished yet. Let’s go back to Revelation 14.
- Revelation 14:7
Saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
There is a call to worship.
- Worship Him how made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.
- It is a call to worship the Creator God.
- This is very much connected with the Sabbath commandment.
- Exodus 20:8-11
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.- The Sabbath is a memorial of creation. It is a memorial of the Creator God.
- Psalms 96:5
For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.- It highlights who the true God is. He is the One that made the heavens. Anything less than that is a false God.
- This is why the Sabbath is a big topic of contention in the last days.
- The Bible highlights that if we are to worship the true God, we must not only keep all ten commandments, but especially the fourth commandment about the Sabbath.
- Which is also the reason why Revelation makes a big deal about the Sabbath. It’s not a big deal because it’s in our name. God has made it a very important aspect of our Christian experience.
How do we worship God? Firstly by keeping the Sabbath holy. But what else?
- Psalms 96:9
O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.- We can only worship God in the beauty of holiness.
- Fear before Him – there’s fear God!
- But what does it mean to worship Him in the beauty of holiness?
- Romans 6:22
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. - It means we have to be a servant of God.
- It means we have to be free from sin.
- We must have fruit unto holiness.
- Romans 6:22
- We looked at the servants of God all the way back in Revelation John was called a servant of God. Remember the 144,000 are called the servants of God as well.
- And we’ve seen that the 144,000 in Revelation 14 stand before God’s throne faultless! That means they are free from sin.
- That means they understand what it means to worship the Creator God.
- And to be free from sin means that we will be found keeping the commandments of God.
- Comes back to the commandments again! That is the foundation of all that we have looked at in this first angel’s message.
So let’s recap the first angel’s message:
- Fear God:
- Obedience to the commandments of God.
- Obeying when you don’t understand the reason why.
- Faith and works.
- Give glory:
- Reflecting God’s character through a holy, obedient life – remember Romans 3:23. Sin makes us come short of God’s character.
- The importance of the health message.
- The hour of His judgment has come:
- God judges us by His commandments.
- It highlights 1844 and the investigative judgment.
- Worship the Creator:
- It zooms into one of the ten commandments – the Sabbath.
- We need to worship in the beauty of holiness – to be holy is to be free from sin, which means we are commandments keepers.
This is the first angel’s message. This is the first part of the everlasting gospel that has to go to the whole world.
- The commandments of God are good news!
- His holy, sinless character is good news!
- The Sabbath is good news!
- Judgment is good news!
Here’s the contrast that we see in the third angel’s message:
- Revelation 14:9
Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand. - There is a war on worship.
- At the end of the day we will either be worshipping the beast and his image which really is the devil, or we will be worshipping God and His Son Jesus Christ.
- There’s nothing in between.
- So now is the time to commit fully to the Sabbath.
- Now is the time to be careful in keeping of the Sabbath and all of God’s commandments.
- Now is the time to be particular.
- And now is the time to be practicing and asking God to help us to apply all that we know.
- Now is the time to be worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth.
So the first angel’s message is a call to worship.
- We can’t truly worship God unless we are fearing God, which means we are keeping His commandments.
- We can’t truly worship God unless we are reflecting His character through a spotless, sinless life.
- We can’t truly worship God unless we are keeping the Sabbath holy.
A high calling. Something only God can help us with. Let us be found in true worship today.