By Phil Harris
Prolog
Recently I wrote commentary in response to the adult quarterly lesson that focused on Armageddon and Babylon with supporting references taken from Revelation chapter fourteen. The overall lesson text was so full of assumptions transposed in Adventist “truth” it became an obvious an attempt to defend Ellen G. White.
I realized when writing the quarterly commentary that it would be worthwhile to come back and more fully explore what Rev. 14:1-13 really teaches. To do this we will first examine some of the “little pieces” that support the heresy of the Adventist version of the Third Angel’s Message. Adventism deliberately hides and diverts attention to the critical warning given to us in this chapter of Revelation by altering the gospel message of Jesus Christ. These little pieces of Adventist doctrine I am calling “traditions” because, as Jesus teaches, they depart from and alter the word of God.
Since this blog is limited to addressing the Adventist assumptions that support their false doctrine called the Third Angel’s Message, please understand that this isn’t intended to provide an overall understanding of the book of Revelation. For that kind of depth it is best to begin at the beginning of the book under the leading of both the Holy Spirit and a spiritually mature student of Scripture.
Godly truth versus human tradition
In Mark 7:1-23, when challenged by the Pharisees, Jesus defines and separates tradition from the law of God by teaching what does and does not defile a person:
And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” (Mk. 7:6-9).
What Jesus identifies as sin is any tradition or belief that nullifies what God has commanded. Traditions are a common part of our lives and only become a problem when they alter the Word of God. In Jesus’ life during the time leading up to Calvary, for example, He conformed to many current Jewish traditions that were not commanded by God, such as synagogue attendance on the weekly Sabbath day of rest. The tradition of synagogue attendance did not alter God’s word.
Traditions can range from being neutral practices related to our cultures to being extreme heresies that falsely alter the nature and work of God. The issue of departing from what the word of God teaches, however, is so serious that the Apostle Paul proclaims a curse upon any who would alter the gospel of Jesus Christ:
As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed (Gal. 1:9).
When we sinners respond in faith to the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ, we are indwelt by our Savior’s gift the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then leads us into all truth as recorded in Scripture. Even as we are led by godly teachers, it is the Holy Spirit who guides our understanding of the word of God as we grow spiritually from the time we are born “infants in Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1). Regardless of our level of spiritual maturity, though, our failures reveal our need to have on the “full armor of God” (Eph. 6:12-13) to avoid the devil’s traps which are his hooks. When the devil’s hooks cause us to replace God’s word with traditions, however, they become serious problems.
The hook
In an analogy of fishing with a rod-and-reel, a hook on the end of the line is baited with something that is expected to attract the unwary prey. In our theological analogy, the hook is anything that diverts our attention from or causes us to doubt the meaning and truth of the word of God. Once the “bait” is taken and the “hook” becomes “set” in our lives, we become trapped, blinded by lies. In the Garden of Eden in Eve’s response to the serpent’s bait, she added to what God had said with the words, “neither shall you touch it” (Gen. 3:3). She became hooked to Satan’s trap because her resistance to the serpent was not simply what God had said; it was more than what God had commanded. She added to God’s word.
In my own experience only the power of God through the working of the Holy Spirit can remove a person caught in a spiritual trap. Her response to the serpent’s question, “Did God actually say…..” gave the Serpent an opening, a “hook’, that led both her and Adam into the eating of the forbidden fruit.
The serpent’s hook was baited and set. Adam and Eve took the bait, swallowed the hook with the forbidden fruit, and died spiritually on that very day.
In the Millerite movement of the early 1800s, in defiance of the scriptural admonition that only God the Father knows of the time of the Second Coming of Jesus, William Miller and his followers set a date for Jesus’ return. That day passed, however, without anything unusual happening.
Through pride or whatever else may have been in their hearts, a small group turned to Ellen G. Harmon (who soon became the wife James White) in support of their belief that something of importance had happened on this date. Their refusal to face their error and repent of date setting was all the hook the old serpent needed. After their refusal to give up an unbiblical date, things went downhill fast for them, with one baited hook followed by another and then another.
Before long, Ellen had her false vision in support of the tradition that the Ten Commandments are God’s “eternal moral law”—a notion which, in turn, supports the tradition of “Sabbath-keeping”, the practice central to the naming of the Seventh-day Adventist organization.
The following list of Adventist traditions is not in any special order (nor is it a complete list of what could have been mentioned). Rather, my intent is to expose how they lead to and support the false “Third Angel’s Message”. These traditions lead Adventists away from the truth of God’s word into the heresy of a different gospel.
Eternal moral law
The Adventist tradition of separating “moral law” from all the other law of the Old Covenant becomes the “gateway” tradition that opens the door to the deadly hardcore lies of the devil. Old Testament Scripture consistently refers to the laws of the Old Covenant as all one law. However, Adventism assumes that the Ten Commandments define “moral law” as distinct from “ceremonial law” with the assumption that the ceremonial can be disposed of, whereas the moral is a part of the law that existed from eternity past, before creation, and will continue in eternity future. With these assumptions converted into doctrine, Seventh-day Adventists have given special attention to the fourth commandment.
An irony: at the time of creation God gave Adam only one command, an it is not listed as one of the Ten Commandments, nor is it among any of the other laws given to the Hebrew people. Yet violating this one command has resulted in the entire human race being infected with a sin nature. On the day Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit they died, yet Adventism has no understanding of how they could be dead while continuing to live bodily for a few more short years.
Breaking that one law—a law not found anywhere else in Scripture—resulted in spiritual death for the entire human race. To be consistent with Adventist reasoning, that command to Adam and Eve should be one of the “eternal moral laws”, yet God didn’t include it when he gave the law of the Mosaic Covenant to the Hebrew people at Sinai. Since “eternal” (from before time to beyond the end of time) and “moral” (righteous and holy) imply something that applies to all people in all ages, there is an inconsistency with the Adventist definition of moral law.
Some Adventists have tried to say that Adam and Eve broke the sixth commandment—thou shalt not steal—when they took the forbidden fruit. Yet this argument is contrived and illogical. God’s command had been strictly that they must not eat of that fruit, not that they must not touch or take it. It was in EATING it that they would die. It was a unique command.
Sabbath-keeping
The Adventist version of Sabbath-keeping is an interesting tradition to examine. It has been formed primarily around Jewish traditions but has been compounded by the error of many orthodox Christians who also maintain their own traditions regarding the Sabbath.
The Fourth Commandment is simply a command given exclusively to the Jews to keep the seventh-day Sabbath Day holy. To do so they were commanded to stay home, rest, and do no work (even the livestock and servants were given rest on this day) to commemorate how the Hebrew people were once slaves in Egypt where they had no rest until rescued and brought out by God (Deut. 5:12-15).
Yes, the command also points back to when God rested after six day of creation, but it is the Creator who “rested” because His work of creation was finished. He didn’t go back to work on the eighth day, thus making the seventh day an eternally recurring day of rest. Since Jesus is the author of creation (Jn. 1:1-3), it is Jesus who rested after six days of creation and prophetically pointed forward to our Sabbath Rest in Him. Thus Jesus is not only the author of creation, but He is also the author of our eternal salvation. Therefore, His rest at the completion of His finished work of creation points forward to the eternal rest He gives us through the finished work of His blood shed at Calvary for the atonement of the sins of the world (Heb. 4:9-10).
Concerning their commanded weekly Sabbath rest, however, the Jews developed two related non-biblical traditions. The first was the “Sabbath-day’s walk” tradition—the distance they were allowed to walk without violating the command to rest. The second was the introduction of the synagogue where they could come on the Sabbath via a limited Sabbath-day’s walk for the reading of the law. The Jews did not call this weekly assembly “worship” because the only way they could properly worship God was by participating in the yearly ceremonies at the temple preceded with sacrifices to atone for their sins (Jn. 4:19-24). Their yearly sacrifices prophetically pointed forward to the Messiah Jesus Christ who is our eternal Sabbath Rest.
Spirit of Prophecy
The book of Revelation begins this way:
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:1-3 & 8).
This is the revelation and testimony of Jesus Christ. The Apostle John received this revelation of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit via an angel of God (Rev. 1:8 & 19:9-10).
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:9-10).
The book of Revelation is “the true words of God”; the message from Jesus and about Jesus “is the spirit of prophecy”.
Jesus Christ is the “revelation and testimony” of the book of Revelation. The heresy of Adventism is that Ellen G. White is given the title of “spirit of prophecy”. This label is a lie because Jesus the Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, is the one and only Spirit of Prophecy .
Once a person accepts this false tradition of Adventism that Ellen G. White is the “spirit of prophecy”, he or she is hooked and trapped into accepting all the other lies taught by Ellen G. White.
Heaven and the Holy of Holies
We need to keep in mind that the word “heaven” has several different meanings. Sometimes it refers to the air we breath at or near the earth’s surface; other times it refers to the universe far above us. Finally, “heaven” is the name given to the throne of God with Jesus seated at the side of the Father, signifying that his atonement of the sins of the world was eternally completed at Calvary.
In Ellen G. White’s book Early Writings, page 41, she said in reference to the Orion nebula: “The Holy City will come down through that open space.” From this statement, I as a young Adventist was taught in Adventist schools that heaven had a physical location on the far side of the Orion nebula. Modern science, however, has since forced Adventist teachers to cease making this claim. In other words, the words of Ellen led to a false tradition, while a review of Scripture could have prevented adopting such a false tradition. What Adventist apologists miss is that she is still wrong in what she said, even though the science of her day may not have been able to correct her, because obviously our future heavenly home will not come “down” from a physical position in the universe. God exists outside of what He has created. Coming “down” simply means to come from what isn’t physical onto our “earth made new” where there is no longer sin and death.
Even though present day Adventist theologians have retracted somewhat from the “Orion nebula” reference to heaven, Ellen G. White obviously still held a physical concept, a tradition sourced from elsewhere than Scripture, in her adoption and development of the investigative judgement sanctuary doctrine.
First and foremost, when Jesus ascended into heaven He sat down at the side of his Father. The Father’s side and the Holy of Holies are one and the same place. This fact means that Jesus moved nowhere on October 22, 1844. That lie of Ellen’s is both a tradition and a foundational heresy of hers.
In the earthly temple patterned after the heavenly, sinners brought a sacrifice to atone for their sins because they were people who sinned daily. The sacrificing was done outside the temple in the courtyard. In heaven, however, there are no sinners. Jesus shed his blood here on earth at Calvary and cast our sins from here on the earth to a “place unknown” to be remembered no more. The investigative judgement, however, is a core traditional doctrine of Adventism not supported by Scripture. It is foolish to believe that something that happened here on earth must be replicated in heaven where there is no sin, especially since Scripture makes no such claim.
Tithing
In the old Mosaic Covenant, tithing was only of the produce of the land because the society was agrarian. The whole tribe of Levites received the tithe because they were set apart for God and therefore didn’t have an inheritance in the land. The ordinary Levites would then give a tithe of their tithe to the line of Aaron who were the only Levites qualified to be priests. The priests did not receive a tithe directly from the people.
The Adventist tradition, however, as well as the practice of many other denominations, involves the tithing of one’s monetary earnings. Money is not what God commanded to be tithed in the Mosaic covenant. Many present-day Christians simply assume what Scripture has not commanded.
There is much more that could be said later in another venue about what is wrong with the Adventist doctrine of tithing, but that would be an unneeded diversion for now. Well, OK—here’s a hint: in the new covenant the saints of God are priests, and everything we are or do belongs to our Savior—something far beyond levitical tithing. And we should recall that Jesus our Great High Priest is not of the order of Aaron; therefore we are not bound by Levitical tithing.
The Great Controversy
Many people are unaware that the foundation for the “The Great Controversy” is the heresy that Jesus was once Michael the Archangel and therefore a co-equal with Lucifer. According to Ellen, Lucifer became jealous of Jesus because God the Father elevated him to the position of Son of God instead of exalting Lucifer. Lucifer then rebelled out of jealousy of Jesus and was cast out of heaven, a debacle resulting in Satan and Jesus being in personal combat ever since.
This tradition is not from Scripture and is certain heresy because it limits the sovereignty of God. Jesus is and always has been who He is from before the beginning of time. The Great Controversy does not explain why evil exists in our world. Furthermore, God has no need to justify his righteousness (as Adventism claims he must do) before a world of “watching righteous beings” out there somewhere, especially since such supposed beings would be a product of his own creation.
Remnant
Concerning the “end-times” prophecies of Scripture, Isaiah 11:10-16 is a primary passage that identifies the remnant as being God’s people—the remnant of Israel:
In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea (Isa. 11:10-11).
The Adventist false belief that they are the remnant leads to a twisting of this passage of Scripture:
Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel (Rev. 7:2-4).
Of course this false Adventist traditional understanding of the 144,000, founded upon the lie of the “Adventist remnant tradition”, ultimately brings us to Rev. 14 where, in context, it is really Jewish evangelists who are sealed and receive the Spirit of God. In context, this Jewish remnant go out and preach the one and only gospel of Jesus Christ for repentance to all the world before God pours out the bowls of his coming wrath upon the depraved nations of the world.
The Adventist Lie of the “Third Angel’s Message”
It’s now time to turn to Revelation chapter fourteen, keeping in mind that Jesus is the Source of this revelation, and as as the Source, only He can be the one who is the Spirit of Prophecy. Furthermore, the 144,000 are Jewish evangelists, having virtually no connection with a gentile cultic denomination.
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless (Rev. 14:1-5).
Verse 1 above identifies Jesus Christ the Lamb of God standing on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. When we consider verse 17 as well, we see that the Lamb is also at the same time reigning from heaven. Remember, as the Spirit of Prophecy and fully God, He is both everywhere present (including heaven) and physically standing in Jerusalem.
The 144,000 who have been redeemed from the twelve tribes of Israel (as quoted from Revelation 7 above), are the “firstfruits” (of the end-times Remnant of Israel) for God…for they are blameless.
According to Revelation 14:3, as quoted above, only the 144,000 virgin Jewish evangelist are learning the “new song” that comes from the throne of God.
Then we come to the first of three angels who proclaim the message for the whole world—the message which the 144,000 will also declare: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water” (Rev. 14:7). This call to worship God can only be a call to believe the one and only gospel message of Jesus’ death for the sins of the world, His burial, and His resurrection. In fact, one cannot worship God without having faith in His one and only provision for sin and for reconciliation through Jesus’ blood. This gospel of the crucified and risen Christ has been preached for the past two millennia, because there is no other way for a sinner to receive forgiveness and remission of his sins (Acts 4:11-12).
Next, in verse 8, the second angel informs us that Babylon has fallen because: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality” (Rev. 14:8b). In other words, the focus of God’s coming wrath is upon all the nations of the world because they are drunk with the passion of Babylon’s sexual immorality. Consider and understand that this is what we are seeing all around us in all the world right now. We are in this world and exposed to Babylon’s sexual immorality at this very moment. Only someone living in total isolation could possibly claim to be immune to this danger. Even as born-again Christians, secure in the kingdom of God, Babylon’s immorality is something for which we all may need to search our hearts and repent.
Hidden In Plain Sight
Dear Adventists, understand that these things are what is being hidden from you “in plain sight” because of your false traditions of attaching the “Adventist health message” and the so called “Adventist Sabbath message” doctrine to the biblical gospel with your false Third Angel’s Message. Here is the Bible’s statement of the Third Angel’s Message:
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name” (Rev. 14:9–11).
Adventism says this message is a call to leave “Sunday-keeping” churches. The beast, they say, is the papacy, and Christians who worship on Sunday have followed the beast and have accepted his mark. The true worship to which these angels call humanity, Adventism says, is worshiping on the seventh-day Sabbath.
Ironically, not even in Old Testament times was the Sabbath day commanded by God as a day of worship. Rather, it was a day of complete rest, and no regular “worship service” was commanded for the Sabbath.
To be sure, in verses 9-11 there is a warning that anyone who receives the “mark of the beast” is in mortal danger. However, the lies you have adopted as an Adventist puts you in that dangerous position. The message of the third angel is for you to leave the godlessness of the world and to repent without any further delay, turning to the real biblical Jesus Christ for the eternal atonement and remission of your sins.
Conclusion
If you would learn and understand that the whole of the Mosaic old covenant, including the Ten Commandments, was replaced by the new covenant, then when you read verse 12 you will understand that “the commandments of God” are all the words of Jesus in the New Testament of the Bible. In fact, Romans 8:1–4 explains this truth as Paul identifies all of the obsolete Mosaic law as “the law of sin and death”.
Finally, Revelation 14:13 is a special “assurance of salvation verse” and a comfort for those saints of God who respond to the witness of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. (Not only does Rev. 14:13 assure us of this security, but other texts also confirm our eternal security: Jn. 5:24, Jn. 6:47, Eph. 4:30, and Rom. 8:31-39.)
Revelation 14:13 also exposes more lies of the Adventist tradition, including “soul sleep”, as these saints will never cease to exist. Even if they may be martyred for their faith, they will never be separated from the love of God, because the saints are promised that they will never be without the indwelling and protection of the Savior’s gift of the Holy Spirit.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” (Rev. 14:13 ESV)
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