The prophecy represents the angel who has the everlasting gospel to proclaim to every nation as speaking “with a great voice.” The authority and power of the message are thus set forth. The voice of the Lord speaks in this message, and the power of the voice of the Lord is the power in this message. The movement is under angelic leadership, and the voice finds expression through human lips, but it is the Lord’s voice. It will be instructive to read what the Lord himself has said through the psalmist David concerning his own voice:— “The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters:
The God of glory thundereth,
Even Jehovah upon many waters.
The voice of Jehovah is powerful;
The voice of Jehovah is full of majesty.
The voice of Jehovah breaketh the cedars;
Yea, Jehovah breaketh in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He maketh them also to skip like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild-ox.
The voice of Jehovah cleaveth the flames of fire.
The voice of Jehovah shaketh the wilderness;
Jehovah shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of Jehovah maketh the hinds to calve,
And strippeth the forests bare:
And in his temple everything saith.
Glory.”5 These declarations concerning the voice of the Lord are preceded by an exhortation which seems to connect very closely with the message of the everlasting gospel: “Ascribe unto Jehovah, O ye sons of the mighty, ascribe unto Jehovah . . . the glory due unto his name; worship Jehovah in holy array.” When it is said that “the voice of Jehovah is upon the waters,” it means primarily “the waters of the world’s restless ocean.” Egypt and Babylon stand forth as leading types of organized opposition against the kingdom of God in the earth, and both are closely associated with this idea of the waters: “Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers? Egypt riseth up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he saith, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and the inhabitants thereof.” “Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Jehovah hath both purposed and done that which he spake concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end has come, the measure of thy covetousness.” In the vision of the revelator the harlot, upon whose forehead was written the name, “Babylon the great,” was seen sitting “upon many waters,” and these waters are defined to be “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” It is against Babylon, sitting enthroned upon many waters, and to the people of the whole world, over whom Babylon has claimed the right to rule, that this threefold message is especially directed, and the hope that this message will bring deliverance from Babylon to every one who accepts it is found in the fact that the “great voice” in this message is the voice of the Lord. Read again now what the psalmist says about the voice of the Lord, and remember that the same power there exhibited in various ways is assured by the same voice in this threefold message. The chief issue in this threefold message is concerning the commandments of God. This is shown from the fact that those who are brought out by it are distinguished as those “that keep the commandments of God.” In this message the law of God is to be set before the people of the world with authority, and the same voice which spoke the law at Sinai is the “great voice” of this message. Of the experience at Sinai the record says, “And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud. . . . And when the voice of the trumpet waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. . . . And God spake all these words. . . . And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” From that time until now God has not spoken directly to the people from heaven, but his voice of warning, of entreaty, and of instruction has come to them through human lips, and yet there is the same power in the voice when it really comes to the people. When John the Baptist appeared among men to give a message which would prepare the way for the first advent of our Lord, he was urged to declare who he was, and he replied, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” John was simply the human channel through which the voice of the Lord reached the people in the definite message for that time. In our time a work is to be done to prepare the way for the second advent of our Lord, and in giving this last message we are called to be the channels through which this “great voice” can reach “every nation and tribe and tongue and people,” to present again to them with all the power and authority of Sinai the law of Jehovah, which has been trodden under foot. And this power and authority will be revealed in this message before it closes. It is the power of “the everlasting gospel.”