What is the first angel’s message?
The first angel’s message can be found in Revelation 14:6, 7 and reads as follows:
“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—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.’”
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The Everlasting Gospel
God’s people do not proclaim a new gospel to the world—they share the gospel message of salvation which has never changed. That is why it is called “the everlasting gospel.” Even though God may have a special message in the last days, we must always be careful never to de-emphasize or distort the “everlasting gospel” of Jesus Christ. It is the same message of salvation that people in Old Testament times accepted by faith (Hebrews 3:16-19; 4:2; 11:1-40); the same teaching that Jesus Himself proclaimed; the same gospel the disciples preached to conquer the world for Christ; the same gospel that has thundered down through the centuries of the Christian era. And God’s people preach it around the world today.
The first angel proclaims this same simple, saving gospel message but puts it in a new setting—a worldwide one—focused on people who are living in the last days just before Jesus returns. This last-day message calls on people to “fear [reverence] God and give glory to Him [reflect His character].”
Those who are part of God’s church in the days before His Second Coming will demonstrate God’s character of love to the world—not only by their words but also by their lives of dynamic witness. They offer a thrilling revelation of what God can do through human beings filled with the Spirit of Christ (John 15:8).
When will these messages be proclaimed?
When were these Three Angels’ Messages to be proclaimed throughout the world? When the hour of God’s “judgment has come.” Jesus began the work of His pre-Advent judgment in 1844, the year when Jesus inspired people all over the world to begin preaching the messages of Revelation 14.
Learn more: Get your free Bible prophecy guide about the judgment.
A call to worship
This message calls for us to “worship Him who made heaven and earth” (Revelation 14:7). God asks us to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” because “in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth” (Exodus 20:8, 11). In 1844, when Darwin was propounding the theory of evolution, God was calling people back to worship Him as the Creator. At the very time evolution tried to threaten the authority of the Bible, God’s people discovered the seventh-day Sabbath of God’s Word and began to keep it in honor of the Creator of heaven and earth. The seventh-day Sabbath is an integral part of the First Angel’s Message.
