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Eureka

AN EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE
Sixth Edition, 1915
By Dr. John Thomas (first edition written 1861)

 

 

Chapter 14

Section 8.

The Third Angel

 


 
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"And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any one worship the Beast and his Image, and receive a sign upon his forehead, and upon his hand:

10. "He also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of the Deity, which hath been prepared without mixture in 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.

11. "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth until the aeons of aeons: and they have no respite day and night, who worship the Beast and his Image, and whosoever receiveth the sign of his name"

 

"And a third angel followed them;" that is, the two angels treated of in the sixth and seventh sections. His following them indicates, that Babylon the great city has fallen before the third angel-power proceeds to finish the plagues of the last stage of "the Hour of Judgment". In other words, the terrible overthrow predicted in the eighteenth chapter will be complete. Rome will be where Sodom and Gomorrah are, and for a like reason   because of the filthy conversation and unlawful deeds of the spirituals of wickedness in the heavenlies, who are reserved unto a day of judgment to be punished (2 Pet. 2:6-9). There will then be no "Name of Blasphemy" or Papal Dynasty, enthroned upon the Seven Heads or mountains. Popes, cardinals, bishops, priests and deacons; St. Peter, basilicas, and churches, and monastic "dens of foul spirits and all unclean and hateful birds;" with all "the dainty and goodly things lusted after" by the beastly soul of the drunken harlot of the earth  all these abominations will have departed; and, "as a great millstone cast into the sea", will all have subsided into the volcanic abyss to "be found no more at all". This glorious and complete destruction of the temporal and spiritual papal power will have been consummated by the Second Angel which proclaims the fall of Babylon. But something more is necessary than the destruction of the Papacy to the complete enlightening of the earth with the glory of the angel, who descends out of the heaven having great power (ch. 18:1). There still remain "the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her;" and "the merchants of the earth," who trade in the dainty and goodly things peculiar to the bazaars, dedicated by them to guardian saints, and which they call "churches". These kings and priests survive the Sodom over-throw of "the Eternal City". They still occupy their position "afar off" in the ten streets of the Great City; for after Rome has been "utterly burned with fire" by the power of the Lord God who judgeth her, they are said to stand afar off for fear of her torment, and to bewail and lament for her. "Alas, alas," they exclaim, "that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come" (v.4,10, 11-19). But the lamentations of her ecclesiastics are the most mournful and grievous, because the fall of the Papacy by the power of the Lamb, ruins their imposture and thievery throughout the world   "the merchants, or great men, of the earth, by whose sorceries all the nations are deceived, shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore" (v.11,23). 

This class of traffickers in the bodies and souls of men (and the sympathizers with the Papacy and "the Eternal City" are not the only class of traffickers in such wares) in the text under consideration, are the men "who worship the beast and his image, and receive a sign in their forehead, or upon their hand;" termed in verse 11, "the sign of his name". The calamity which befalls their "holy city" evidently fails to transfer their love and worship to the Lamb Power, or Stone of her destruction. They "weep and mourn over her," because her fall ruins their vested interests. Their mourning is not so much their love of the city and its body ecclesiastic, as of themselves. "Brother," said one priest to another, "what a profitable thing this fable of Jesus Christ has been to us!" This is the spirit of the craft - they weep and mourn, not because they discover that the Catholic superstition is a bald and wicked humbug; but because they can no longer utilize it to their own aggrandizement in wealth and power - "for no man buyeth their merchandise any more". This is the secret of their grief!

A common danger cements the union of the kings and princes of the late Babylon's dominion. The Drunken Harlot priesthood, the Eighth Head of the scarlet-colored Beast, and the Ten Horns, "have one mind, and give their power and strength unto the beast" in aid of the common cause. The Eighth Head is the Dictator of the confederacy, styled in ch. 20:2, "the Dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan". The Harlot Priesthood is the False Prophet of the situation, that works miracles before the Beast, and deceives them that had received the sign of the Beast, and them that worshipped his Image before it was destroyed by the judgments of the Second Angel (ch. 19:20). When '"christian nations" go to war, the clergy are always there to prophesy success; and to assure the combatants that the God of battles, who gives the victory, is on their side. True to their calling and character they will be the chaplains of the military establishments of the Beast in the field; and praying to their god of battles, and prophesying victory from their "sacred desks" and "altars" over the Israelitish Antichrist! As usual, they deceive the governments, and all who trust them. By their prophesyings they deceive the worshippers of the Beast, and harden their hearts for the capture and destruction to be inflicted on them by the Third Angel-power. The Beast and kings of the Goat-nations determine to make war against the King of the Jews, and to meet his forces in the field. It is not likely that they will attribute the recent overthrow of "the Eternal City" to power exerted by his will. They will no doubt consider it accidental, and but another phenomenon to be added to the overthrow of Pompeii and Herculaneum . The terrible catastrophe only inflames their wrath, and causes them to "make war upon the Lamb". The Napoleons, the Victor Emmanuels, the Francis Josephs, and the Alexanders, of the day, gather together their armies like swarms of bees, intending to scatter his troops with the whirlwind of their host(*) - "they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me; their rejoicing is as to devour the poor secretly" (Hab. 3:14). They will think to take him by surprise. But the Eternal Father is on his side; there will therefore be to him no cause of fear. Let the reader study Psa. 118, which treats of "the Stone which the builders refused", and he will find the nature of the situation under the third angel manifestation. "All nations compassed me about like bees;" but, as he inquires in the sixth verse, "what can man do unto me?" These armies will rush like the rushing of mighty waters, but "the Lamb shall overcome them" (Apoc. 17:14). "They shall be quenched as the fire of thorns; for by the name of Yahweh will I destroy them." By this Name they are "rebuked, and chased as the chaff of the mountains" before the wind, and like thistle-down before the whirlwind - by this Name, "the King of kings and Lord of lords," the ten horns are overcome. They are conquered by the Lamb with Seven Horns and Seven Eyes; because he is the King Almighty; "and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful". Such disaster as this, saith the prophet, "is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that scatter us" (Isa. 17:12-14).

Thus in "the great day of God Almighty," by the invincible troops of the King of Israel, is the Beast and False-Prophet polity "taken and cast alive into a lake of fire". This third angel judgment, which, like the second, belongs to the plagues of the Seventh Vial, slays Daniel's fourth Beast, destroys its body politic, and gives him to the burning flame (ch. 7:11). By this process the Latin Catholic superstition is eradicated from the kingdoms of Western Europe, which by conquest "become the kingdoms of Yahweh, and of his Christ" (ch. 11:15). The third angel judgments, however, are not expended with this result. Their smoke continues to ascend eis ajonas ajonon, to cycles of cycles, or courses of time which constitute what is commonly styled "the Millennium," because it is a period of a thousand years' duration. The smoke of third angel "torment" continues to ascend to the "establishment of the economy of the fulness of the times", by which time there will be no more Latin and Greek Catholics, Protestants, and Moslems to be subdued. This will be a glorious and blessed consummation of "the war of the great day of God Almighty" in which Israel will have done valiantly (Num. 24:18); chasing their enemies who fall before them by the sword- five chasing a hundred, and a hundred of them putting ten thousand to flight (Lev. 26:8).

The purpose of the second and third angel-judgments is fourfold; first, to avenge the blood of the saints and witnesses of Jesus shed by the spiritual and temporal rulers of the Graeco-Latin nations; secondly, to render vengeance to the rebellious who refuse to obey the gospel announced in the First Angel-proclamation; thirdly, to develop the mercy decreed for Yahweh's land and the twelve tribes of Israel; and, fourthly, that all adversaries being subdued, the surviving population of the earth may rejoice as the reconciled people of the Holy One of Israel, in whom, and in his father Abraham, all the families of the earth are blessed. This fourfold purpose is indicated in Deut. 32, in the words, "To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. Yahweh shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone. See now that I, even I am He (the Promised Seed), and that there are none of elohim (Ahyim Elohim) with me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to the heavens (Apoc. 10:5,6), and say, I am the Living One of the Olahm (or Millennium). If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to thine enemies, and I will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows (the Ten Tribes) drunk with blood, and my sword (Judah) shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain, and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy". Therefore, "0 ye nations, his people, cause ye to rejoice; for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful to his Land and to his people".

When these judgments of the Second and Third Angels are all exhausted, and the smoke of them consequently ceases to ascend, mankind will then come to know that "there is none like the AlL of Yeshurun (the Strength of Israel) riding the heavens in thy help, and with his majesty the clouds. The Elohim of the East elohai kedem, (Apoc. 16:12), a refuge, and underneath the Powers of Olahm (the Lamb with the 144,000). He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy! Then Israel shall dwell in safety alone. The Fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew." Then it may be truly said, "Happy art thou, 0 Israel; who is like unto thee, 0 people saved by Yahweh, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thine exaltation! Also thine enemies shall be proved liars to thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places" (Deut. 33:26-29). 

The "smoke" of verse 11 which ascends, is the symbol of the glory and power of Deity in burning operation against the worshippers of the Beast. Inch. 15:8, it is styled "smoke from the glory of Deity, and from His power". In this place, "the temple" is said to be "filled with" this smoke. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple (ch. 21:22). The smoke is, therefore, His wrath; and while it flames, "no one is able to enter into the nave;" for the nave is the Most Holy Heavenly State, in which the nations hang the trumpet in the hall, and practise war no more.

 

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(*) It is highly significant that the Papal doctrine of Antichrist identifies him with 'satan" who, the Papists claim will set himself up in Jerusalem as king, and attempt to rebuild the ancient Temple. This same doctrine is currently advanced by so-called protestants and evangelists such as Hal Lindsay, whose books advocating this theory have sold in their millions. The teaching of such men is preparing the religious world to join with the Papacy against Christ at his second coming. Christ, of course, will proclaim himself as King in Jerusalem, and announce his purpose to rebuild the Temple as a House of Prayer for all nations. This will be seen as a vindication of the prophetic anticipations of the Papal and Protestant doctrine of the Antichrist, so that they will, the more readily, join in military action against the one in Jerusalem in that day, as required by Rev. 17:14 -Publishers.

 

 


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