Chapter 4: God's Final Warning to Earth

The Message Most Churches Skip

You've heard sermons on Revelation. The beast, the dragon, the mark, the tribulation, the millennium. Pastors love teaching prophecy when it's vague enough to avoid controversy.

But there's one passage in Revelation that contains God's final warning to humanity before Christ returns, and most churches never touch it.

Revelation 14:6-12 describes three angels delivering three messages.

Not symbolic angels. Not metaphorical messages. This is God's last call to a dying world. His final plea before probation closes and judgment falls.

If you attend a Sunday-keeping church, ask your pastor: "When was the last time you preached a sermon series on the Three Angels' Messages of Revelation 14?"

The silence will tell you everything.

They skip it because it exposes what they don't want to address: the Sabbath commandment, the fall of apostate Christianity, and the mark of the beast as Sunday worship enforced by law.

Let's examine what God says is important enough to be humanity's final warning.

Interactive walkthrough of Revelation 14: https://theremnantthread.com/studies/three-angels

Thematic cross-references: https://theremnantthread.com/studies/theme-explorer

Scripture frequency heat map: https://theremnantthread.com/studies/scripture-heat-map

The First Angel: Fear God and Worship the Creator

"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, 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."

Revelation 14:6-7

"The everlasting gospel."

Not a new gospel. Not a different gospel. The same gospel that saves, but proclaimed with specific emphasis in the last days.

What's the emphasis?

"Worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

That exact phrase, "made heaven, and earth, and the sea," appears one other place in Scripture. The Fourth Commandment:

"For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

Exodus 20:11

This isn't coincidence. The first angel is calling humanity back to worship of the Creator, and the memorial of Creation is the seventh-day Sabbath.

Why does this matter?

Because the final battle is about worship. Not casual "praise and worship" singing. Obedience as worship.

The first angel calls people back to true worship: acknowledging God as Creator and keeping His creation memorial: the seventh-day Sabbath.

"Fear God and give glory to him."

Not fear as terror. Fear as reverence, respect, acknowledgment of His authority. Give Him glory by obeying what He commanded, not what tradition substituted.

"For the hour of his judgment is come."

The tense: "IS come." Not will come. Not might come. The judgment has begun.1 The "investigative judgment" beginning in 1844 is a distinctive Seventh-day Adventist interpretation based on the 2,300-day prophecy of Daniel 8:14. While this specific timeline is debated, the text clearly states judgment "is come" (present tense), not "will come" (future tense), indicating judgment has begun before Christ's return. The core point (that judgment precedes the Second Coming) is supported by Revelation 22:11-12: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still... And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rewards are determined before Christ arrives, requiring prior judgment. [Theological interpretation]

This isn't the final executive judgment when Christ returns. This is the investigative judgment: examining the books, determining who kept God's commandments and who followed man's traditions.

The judgment is happening now. While people sit in Sunday services singing about grace, the books are open. The record is being examined. The separation is being determined.

The first angel proclaims: Return to the Creator. Remember His memorial. The judgment has begun. Time is running out.

The Judgment That Began: Understanding the Sanctuary

When the first angel announces "the hour of his judgment is come," most Christians nod vaguely and move on. Judgment sounds abstract. Distant. Theological.

But understanding what began requires examining where it began and why.

God never asks for blind obedience. He explains. And for judgment, He provided a visual aid: the sanctuary.

The Pattern God Showed Moses

When God called Moses up Mount Sinai, He showed him something:

"And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it."

Exodus 25:8-9

Not Moses' design. God's pattern. A copy of something that already existed in heaven.

"Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount."

Hebrews 8:5

The earthly sanctuary was a teaching model: a three-dimensional lesson in how God deals with sin.

Two Apartments, Two Phases

The sanctuary had two rooms:

The Holy Place (first apartment): Daily ministry. Every day, priests entered here to minister for the people. The lampstand, the table of showbread, the altar of incense. This represented ongoing forgiveness: sins confessed, blood applied, record kept.

The Most Holy Place (second apartment): Yearly ministry. Only the High Priest entered here, only once per year, on one specific day. This contained the Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat and God's law (the Ten Commandments) beneath it. This represented final judgment.

Daily work in the first apartment. Final work in the second.

The two apartments weren't arbitrary architecture. They represented two phases of dealing with sin: forgiveness and judgment.

The Day of Atonement: Israel's Judgment Day

Leviticus 16 describes the most solemn day in Israel's calendar: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

"For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD."

Leviticus 16:30

What happened on this day?

  1. The sanctuary was cleansed. Throughout the year, confessed sins had been symbolically transferred to the sanctuary through blood sacrifices. On the Day of Atonement, those accumulated sins were removed, "cleansed" from the sanctuary.
  2. The High Priest entered the Most Holy Place. The only day of the year the inner veil was crossed. He entered God's direct presence, where the law was kept, to make final atonement.
  3. The people were examined. Any Israelite who did not "afflict his soul" (fast, pray, examine himself) on that day would be "cut off from among his people" (Leviticus 23:29).
  4. Sin was finally removed. The scapegoat carried the sins into the wilderness, symbolizing Satan, the originator of sin, bearing ultimate responsibility.

This was Israel's judgment day. Not a time of condemnation for the faithful, but a time of final cleansing, of permanent removal of sin, of decisive separation between those who had genuinely repented and those who had not.

The Heavenly Reality

The book of Hebrews makes clear: the earthly sanctuary was a copy. The reality is in heaven.

"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."

Hebrews 9:24

Jesus, our High Priest, ministers in the heavenly sanctuary. His blood (applied once, sufficient forever) covers all who come to Him by faith.

However, a detail often overlooked is that the heavenly sanctuary also has two apartments. Two phases. Daily ministry and final ministry.

When Jesus ascended after the resurrection, He began His ministry in the Holy Place: intercession, mediation, applying His blood for forgiven sinners. This was the work of the first apartment.

But the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 pointed to a transition:

"And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."

Daniel 8:14

2,300 prophetic days = 2,300 literal years (using the day-year principle of Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34, as explained in Chapter 9).

Starting from 457 BC (the decree to restore Jerusalem - Ezra 7), 2,300 years brings us to 1844 AD.For the full mathematical proof and historical verification of this calculation, see Chapter 9: The Mathematical Prophecy.

In 1844, the heavenly sanctuary entered its Day of Atonement phase.

Christ moved from the Holy Place to the Most Holy Place. The investigative judgment began. The examination of the books opened. The cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary commenced.

This is what the first angel announces: "The hour of his judgment IS come."

What "Cleansing" Means

"Cleansing the sanctuary" isn't about literal dust and dirt. It's about sin.

When you confess sin and accept Christ's sacrifice, that sin is forgiven immediately. You're covered by His blood. But a record remains. Like the blood on the earthly sanctuary's furniture, a record of pardoned sin exists in heaven's books.

On the Day of Atonement (the investigative judgment), those records are examined. Not to determine if you're forgiven (the blood already covers that), but to demonstrate to the universe that God's mercy is just. That those covered by Christ's blood genuinely surrendered to Him. That their repentance was real, not merely formal.

Daniel 7:10 describes this scene:

"The judgment was set, and the books were opened."

Daniel 7:10

When the examination of each case is complete, the sins of the genuinely repentant are blotted out, permanently erased. The sins of those who claimed forgiveness but never surrendered remain charged to them.

The cleansing is complete when every case is decided. Then probation closes. Then Christ returns.

Living in the Judgment Hour

This is why the first angel's message is urgent.

Since 1844, the investigative judgment has been in session. The books are open. Cases are being decided. We don't know when our name comes up. We don't know how much time remains.

But we do know this: it ends before Christ returns.

"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."

Revelation 22:11-12

When Jesus comes, He brings rewards already determined. That means judgment is complete before He arrives. The decisions have been made. The cases are closed.

We are living in the final phase of earth's history. The sanctuary is being cleansed. The records are being examined. The Day of Atonement is underway.

The first angel calls the world to prepare: Fear God. Give Him glory. Worship the Creator. Keep His commandments. The judgment hour has come.

Prophetic timeline overview: https://theremnantthread.com/studies/prophetic-timeline

The Second Angel: Babylon is Fallen

"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."

Revelation 14:8

"Babylon is fallen, is fallen."

Repeated twice for emphasis. Completely fallen. Morally fallen. Doctrinally fallen. Spiritually fallen. Beyond recovery, beyond reform, beyond hope of restoration. (For the full exposition, see Chapter 18.)

What is Babylon?

The word "Babel" (root of "Babylon") means "confusion" in Hebrew, from Genesis 11 where God confused the languages at the Tower of Babel.2 "Babel" in Hebrew (ื‘ึธึผื‘ึถืœ) is traditionally understood to derive from the root ื‘ึธึผืœึทืœ (balal) meaning "to confuse" or "to mix," as indicated in Genesis 11:9: "Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth." The application of "Babylon" to the apostate church system follows the pattern established by Revelation 17-18, where "Babylon the Great" represents a religious-political system characterized by persecution of God's people, false doctrine, and church-state union. This interpretation has been held by Protestant Reformers and biblical commentators for centuries. [Etymology established; application is theological interpretation] Spiritual Babylon is the system of confusion that mixes truth with error, biblical Christianity with pagan traditions, God's authority with human presumption.

Historical Babylon:

Spiritual Babylon:

Who is Babylon?

Revelation 17:5 identifies her: "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth."

Mother implies daughters. An apostate church system that spawned other apostate churches keeping her traditions.

Mother = The Roman Catholic Church They admit it. They're proud of it. They call Sunday "our mark of authority" (as you'll see documented ahead in Catholic sources). They openly state they changed the Sabbath without biblical warrant. They boast that Protestants follow their tradition while claiming to reject their authority.

Daughters = Protestant churches that kept Catholic doctrines The Reformation protested Catholic abuses. But when it came to the Sabbath, they kept Rome's Sunday. They kept the changed day, the mark of papal authority, the evidence that church tradition can override Scripture.

Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, non-denominational. All keep Sunday. All follow the Catholic change. All are daughters of the system they claim to have left.

"Made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."

Wine intoxicates. Babylon's wine is false doctrine that confuses, deceives, and spiritually intoxicates entire nations.

The pattern reveals itself: Rome changed God's day and God's nature using the same authority claim. They moved worship from Saturday to Sunday without biblical command. They declared God is three co-equal persons despite Jesus saying, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). Both changes required the same premise: that church tradition can override Scripture. Accept one, you've accepted the authority behind both. The Sabbath and the Father's exclusive deity stand or fall together. Chapter 6 examines why Scripture declares one God, not three, and why this matters for understanding who we worship.

The Trinity doctrine itself follows an ancient pattern. Multiple pagan cultures created philosophical triads attempting to reconcile polytheism with monotheism: the Egyptian triad of Osiris, Isis, and Horus; the Babylonian triad of Anu, Enlil, and Ea; the Hindu Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.The Hindu Trimurti (Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, Shiva the destroyer) was formalized in the Puranas around 300-400 AD, roughly contemporaneous with Christianity's formalization of the Trinity at Nicaea (325 AD). The Egyptian triad of Osiris/Isis/Horus and Babylonian triad of Anu/Enlil/Ea predate both. While no historical evidence suggests direct borrowing between these traditions, the pattern is consistent: human philosophical attempts to preserve multiple divine persons while claiming monotheism. "Trimurti," Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed November 24, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/topic/trimurti-Hinduism. Christianity's Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit declared co-equal persons in one God) follows the same pattern. Not necessarily direct borrowing, but the same human tendency: complicating simple monotheism with philosophical constructs rather than accepting Scripture's plain declaration. Moses wrote, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Jesus affirmed, "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord" (Mark 12:29). One LORD. Not three persons. The Father alone.This book's theological position is biblical subordinationism: the Father alone is fully God ("the Father is greater than I," John 14:28; "the head of Christ is God," 1 Corinthians 11:3), and the Son is His literal begotten Son (Colossians 1:15, John 1:14), not co-equal. This was the majority view among early church fathers before the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) formalized Trinitarian doctrine. Not to be confused with Arianism (which claims the Son was created) or Islam's monotheism (which denies the Son's divinity). See Chapter 6 for fuller distinction between subordinationism and Arianism.

Fornication represents unfaithfulness to God, the church claiming to be Christ's bride while serving another master, mixing worship of the true God with traditions of pagan origin.

Church + State union. Religious power using government force to impose doctrine. This is spiritual fornication: using worldly power instead of relying on the Holy Spirit.

"Babylon is fallen, is fallen."

The moral collapse is visible to everyone. Pastoral scandals. Financial corruption. Doctrinal confusion. Split denominations. Empty pews. The world watches churches implode and wants nothing to do with Christianity.

The second angel declares: The system is fallen. It's beyond reform. God's people need to come out (Revelation 18:4, developed further in later chapters).

The Third Angel: The Mark of the Beast Warning

"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall 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 ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."

Revelation 14:9-11

This is the most solemn warning in all Scripture.

Not the most popular. Not the most comfortable. Not the one churches like to preach. But the most serious warning God has ever given.

"If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark..."

Worship the beast = obeying papal authority over God's authority

The beast of Revelation 13 is the same power as the "little horn" of Daniel 7, the power that would "think to change times and laws" (Daniel 7:25). The Roman Catholic Church changed the Sabbath. They admit it. This is their mark of authority.

Image of the beast = Protestant churches enforcing Catholic doctrine through civil law

An "image" looks like the original. When Protestant churches use government power to enforce Sunday worship (like the Roman Catholic Church did for centuries), they create an image of the beast: religious authority using state force to compel obedience.

"His mark in his forehead, or in his hand"

This isn't a physical mark. No microchip, no barcode, no vaccine, no tattoo.

Forehead = belief, conviction, intellectual assent Hand = actions, compliance, work

The mark is received when someone:

OR

The mark becomes enforceable when Sunday worship is mandated by law.

Right now, in most countries, you can keep Saturday without legal penalty. Sunday isn't (yet) enforced. So technically, the mark hasn't been given yet.

But the preparation is happening. Sunday laws are being proposed. Religious leaders call for government-mandated rest days. The infrastructure is forming.

When Sunday worship becomes law, when keeping Sunday is mandated under penalty of economic sanctions, job loss, inability to buy or sell, then the mark is given.

Those who comply receive the mark. Those who refuse and keep God's Sabbath face persecution.

"The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation."

No mercy mixed in. No grace diluting it. Pure, undiluted wrath.

The seven last plagues (Revelation 16). Devastating judgments on those who worshiped the beast and received his mark.

"And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone... and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever."

This is complete destruction, not eternal torture. The wicked are consumed, not preserved in agony forever.3 The interpretation that "tormented with fire and brimstone" and "forever and ever" refers to complete destruction rather than eternal conscious torment is based on comparing Scripture with Scripture. Malachi 4:1-3 states the wicked will be burned up and become ashes. 2 Peter 3:10 describes elements melting with fervent heat. Ezekiel 18:4 states "the soul that sinneth, it shall die." The Greek aionios (translated "eternal/everlasting") often refers to permanence of result rather than unending duration. This view is held by Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and some evangelical scholars (including John Stott and Edward Fudge), though traditional Christianity teaches eternal conscious torment. The core warning remains: those who receive the mark face God's complete and final judgment. [Theological interpretation - annihilationism vs traditionalism] The "forever" refers to the permanence of the result (eternal death), not an eternal process of dying.

Malachi 4:1 confirms: "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch."

They burn up. They're destroyed. They become ashes (Malachi 4:3). Complete annihilation, not eternal torment.

But the warning stands: Receive the mark, face God's undiluted wrath.

But then verse 12 offers hope:

"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."

Revelation 14:12

The remnant. Those who escape the mark and the plagues.

Identified by two characteristics:

  1. Keep the commandments of God (including the Fourth Commandment, the Saturday Sabbath)
  2. Have the faith of Jesus (trust in His sacrifice, not their own works)

Not faith alone (James 2:20 says that's dead). Not works alone (we're saved by grace through faith - Ephesians 2:8-9).

Both together: Commandments + Faith.

Obedience flowing from love (John 14:15). Works produced by genuine faith (James 2:18).

The third angel divides humanity into two groups:

We Are Living in the Time of These Messages

These aren't messages for a distant future. They're being proclaimed now.

Evidence:

  1. The Sabbath truth is going to all nations - More people than ever understand that Saturday is the biblical Sabbath, that Rome changed it, and that keeping Sunday is following man's tradition over God's command.
  1. Babylon's fallen state is visible - The moral and doctrinal collapse of mainstream Christianity is obvious. Scandals, divisions, empty churches, compromised doctrine, worldly entertainment replacing worship.
  1. Sunday law movements are forming - Multiple countries have proposed or strengthened Sunday legislation. Religious leaders increasingly call for government-enforced rest days. The image of the beast is forming.
  1. Global enforcement capability exists - For the first time in history, technology enables worldwide enforcement of buy/sell restrictions. The infrastructure for mark enforcement exists.

The timeline: We're between the second and third angels.

Babylon has fallen (present reality). The mark is forming but not yet enforced (future soon). Probation is still open but closing.

The call goes out: "Come out of her, my people" (Revelation 18:4).

Leave the fallen churches. Stop following the Roman Catholic Church's traditions. Return to God's commandments. Choose Saturday before Sunday is enforced by law.

This isn't comfortable truth. It means:

But what did Jesus ask? "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36)

The Three Angels' Messages are God's final warning. The most important prophecy in Revelation. The message that identifies the remnant and exposes the mark.

And most churches never preach it.

Questions to Answer

If Revelation 14:6-12 contains God's final warning to humanity before Christ returns, and most churches ignore it, what does that reveal about their spiritual state?

You've heard sermons on prophecy, end times, and Revelation. How many times have you heard the Three Angels' Messages explained? If God gave this as His final warning, why do churches skip it?

What does it mean that the third angel's warning, the most solemn in Scripture, specifically identifies those who escape judgment as "they that keep the commandments of God"?

Not "faith alone." Not "grace covers all." "Keep the commandments." It is worth considering which commandment the Roman Catholic Church changed, and which one is largely ignored by 2.3 billion Christians.

When the first angel calls humanity back to worship the Creator and remember His memorial (the Sabbath), and the world continues worshiping on the Roman Catholic Church's counterfeit day, who are they really worshiping?

Worship isn't just singing. It's obedience. Sunday worship when you know God commanded Saturday is not worship of the Creator. That's worship of the institution that changed it.

How much time remains between "the hour of his judgment is come" and probation closing, if these messages are being proclaimed now?

The angels are flying. The warning is going out. The mark is forming. How long will you wait before deciding which day you'll honor: God's or the Roman Catholic Church's?