“Thine Is . . . the Glory” We have found that “the everlasting gospel” is not a new gospel. It was preached to Abraham; it was preached by John the Baptist; it was preached by Jesus; it has been preached in every age. And yet in this last generation there is a special movement to proclaim this same gospel to all the world. What is the special significance of this particular call to teach “the everlasting gospel”? The answer to this inquiry is indicated in the form in which the message is to be proclaimed. The angel who announces the gospel message “with a great voice” calls upon “them that dwell on the earth” to fear God and give him glory. The old-time gospel of complete salvation from sin is taught in this message of the angel, otherwise it would not be the genuine gospel of Christ; but in order that salvation from sin may be a reality and not a mere sham, there must be a recognition of God as God, and he must be glorified as God. Unless this is done, there can be no salvation from sin. The only other alternative is that self shall be exalted as God, and when this is done, there is neither deliverance from sin nor barrier against sin. This is the philosophy of heathenism, and it is clearly set forth by the apostle Paul thus: “Because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. . . . They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” The true God has made such a revelation of his character to every man that he is without excuse when he fails to glorify him as God. If a man will believe what God has said to him, and will accept the gift of the only begotten Son, “the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance,” he must say with David, “Thine, O Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Jehovah, and thou art exalted as head above all.” To such a one, before whose vision the glory of Jehovah has been unveiled, the commandment has become the fulfilled promise, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” But the heathen refused to accept the revelation which God had made of himself. In place of this revelation they substituted their own conception of God; and having thus formed a god after their own ideas, they put their imaginations into visible form, and thus they “changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” But in thus putting their own imaginations in the place of God’s revelation, they were putting themselves above God.5 In giving expression to this self-exaltation they “worshiped and served the creature [created things] rather than the Creator.” But redemption is creation, and the Creator is the only one who is able to save from sin through the new creation. In turning away from the Creator the heathen discarded the only barrier against sin. In these last days much that passes for Christianity is simply ancient heathenism in a new guise. Professed defenders of the Christian faith have accepted the conclusions concerning God and Christ and the Bible which have been reached by a scientific treatment of the whole subject of God and revelation. A new and false conception of God is being put forward. The cross of Christ and his atoning work in behalf of sinners are being largely superseded by a kind of self-sacrifice which means self-purification, and a general humanitarianism. As the result of the work of the higher critics the infallible Word of God is regarded by many as the fallible word of men. The consequence of all this is that the imaginations of men have been substituted for the revelation which God has made of himself, and the true God of the Bible is not glorified as God. Men do not seem to realize that this is Satan’s final and supreme effort to hide the glory of God’s character from the human family, and to bring men back into the darkness and bondage of heathenism. “It is his purpose to cause the discoveries of men to be exalted above the wisdom of God. When the mind is engrossed with the conceptions and theories of men to the exclusion of the wisdom of God, it is stamped with idolatry. Science, falsely so called, has been exalted above God, nature above its Maker, and how can God look upon such wisdom?” The image making of ancient heathenism resulted in a visible object of worship, the expression of man’s conception of God. Modern heathenism has constructed a mental image of God in harmony with the scientific spirit of the times, and presents this to the world as the God of the Bible. In neither case is the true God glorified as God. In neither case is there any barrier against sin. In both cases man is exalted above God. It is in this generation and under these circumstances that God commissions an angelic messenger to lead those who remain faithful to him in a world-wide movement to reveal the true God in his true character. A great voice is to be heard throughout the earth, saying, “Behold, your God!” “Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!” and restoring the knowledge of God in Christ as the Saviour from sin. Thus will the fear of God be made known, and God will be glorified as God. And in this message there is a barrier against sin. And this is the significance of the proclamation of “the everlasting gospel” in this threefold message.