The Third Angel's Message by William Warren Prescott

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 15, 1912

The Third Angel's Message

By William Warren Prescott

In the threefold message of Rev. 14: 6-12 the everlasting gospel is proclaimed to all the world in the generation just preceding the second coming of Christ. This is the one gospel which has been the hope of all repentant sinners since the fall of man. It promises salvation from sin to all who believe on Jesus, who “taketh away the sin of the world.” But in this last preaching of the gospel there is the announcement of the fall of Babylon (Rev. 14: 8), and a warning against the worship of the beast and his image. Verses 9-11. The beast is the same one mentioned in Rev. 13: 1-8, one of whose seven-headed manifestations is the Papacy. The head of the Papacy is the Pope, who is officially designated as the vicar of the Son of God (Vicarius Filii Dei). This title contains “the number of the beast,” as given in Rev. 13: 18, as is shown by adding together the numerical values of the letters composing this expression: Thus: V, 5; I, 1; C, 100; A and R not used as numerals; I, 1; U, formerly the same as V, 5; S and F not used as numerals; I, 1; L, 50; I, 1; I, 1; D, 500; E not used as a numeral; I, 1. The sum of these figures is 666.

The Papacy, represented in this prophecy by the beast, is presented in Dan. 7: 7, 8, 21-25 under the symbol of the little horn; and in 2 Thess. 2: 3-10 it is called “the mystery of iniquity,” and its head is called “the man of sin.” In Daniel's prophecy it is foretold that this power would “think to change the times and the law” (Dan. 7: 25, A. R. V.), and any standard Roman Catholic catechism will show that the Papacy has omitted the second commandment, and has made the fourth read, “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day,” and has divided the tenth commandment into two commandments to preserve the original number. In expounding the fourth commandment it enjoins the religious observance of Sunday, while admitting that there is no authority for this change in the Scriptures. Thus Cardinal Gibbons says: “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday.” —“Faith of Our Fathers,” page 3.

In Roman Catholic writings this change which the Papacy has made in the Sabbath is set forth as a mark, or sign, of its authority. Thus, on page 57 of the standard Catholic catechism entitled “Abridgment of Christian Doctrine,” we find the following question and answer:—

Question.—How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?

Answer.—By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.

In a book with the title “Plain Talk About the Protestantism of To-day,” translated from the French of Mgr. Segur, on page 213 appears this paragraph:—

It is worth its while to remember that this observance of the Sabbath—in which, after all, the only Protestant worship consists—not only has no foundation in the Bible, but it is in flagrant contradiction with its letter, which commands rest on the Sabbath, which is Saturday. It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred the rest to Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord. Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the church.

Thus the call to worship the Maker of heaven and earth (Rev. 14: 7), and the warning against worshiping the beast (or yielding homage to the papal power), will raise a question of authority involving a test of obedience to the law of God as originally given, or of obedience to that law as changed by the Papacy, —the test of Sabbath-keeping or Sunday-keeping. When the threefold message has been fully proclaimed, and the issue has been squarely joined, then those who intelligently yield obedience to the command of the Papacy and disregard God's law, accept the mark of its authority and receive the mark of the beast. The third angel's message warns against this very thing.

Under the symbol of the beast with two horns like a lamb apostate Protestantism, in conjunction with the government of the United States, is represented as enforcing the worship of the beast with ten horns (the Papacy), calling upon the people to make an image to the beast, and enforcing the worship of this image under the penalty of death. The worship of the image of the beast involves the same test of obedience as the worship of the beast, and the warning of the third angel is directed against this worship just as much as against the other.

The fourth commandment sets forth God as the Creator of “heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,” and in this fact is found the basis of his authority as ruler of the universe, and the reason for rendering worship to him alone. Ps. 95: 3-6. In harmony with this, he has constituted the Sabbath a

sign through which his people may know him and his sanctifying power. Ex. 31: 13, 16, 17; Eze. 20: 20, 12. The spiritual observance of the true Sabbath is therefore an acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the true God, and of the deity of his Son, through whom he made all things (John 1: 1-3), and a mark of the acceptance of his saving power in the gospel of Christ. The intelligent observance of another day is a virtual denial of these truths.

Although the power represented by the beast is first permitted to overcome the saints (Rev. 13: 7), yet those who sing the song of Moses and the Lamb are those who have gained “the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.” Rev. 15: 2, 3.

While the worship of the beast and his image is required under the death penalty (Rev. 13: 12, 15), those who offer this worship are threatened with the wrath of God without mercy, and this is the final test of loyalty just before the mediation of Christ for sin ceases. Rev. 22: 11, 12. Those who, like the apostles, choose to obey God rather than man (Acts 5: 29), will sing the song of victory on the sea of glass (Rev. 15: 2, 3), while the beast and the false prophet and those who worship them will be utterly destroyed. Rev. 19: 20. The proclamation of the threefold message of Rev. 14: 6-12 leads those who accept it to the observance of the commandments of God just as they are written, and makes them ready for the coming of the Son of man. Verse 14. Blessed are they who walk in the law of the Lord. Ps. 119: 1. W. W. P.